Alaska Women Reject Palin: Authors of 'Our Bodies, Ourselves" speak out

Alaska Women Reject Palin

Alaska Women Reject Palin is a grassroots movement challenging the claim that Palin’s value system and political ideologies reflect all Alaskans, all women and all middle-class American families. We urge voters to examine Palin’s position, policies, and prior record, and to vote in November on substance not on gender or stereotype. We are non-partisan, and we claim average Alaskan women and men across the political spectrum among our supporters. McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was insulting to all people who care about the policies that affect their country, their families, and their future.

At issue are Palin’s record and position on issues important to most women and families including support for victims rights, families and social programs, the role of religion in government and public schools, reproductive rights and sex education, and environmental issues, climate change and energy development.

In response to a largely one-sided representation by the media of Alaskan’s view of Palin and to the obvious bid by the McCain campaign for women’s votes, we hosted a non-partisan “Reject Palin” rally on September 13, 2008. Attended by more than 1,500 women and men from as far away as Fairbanks and Homer, this was the largest political protest in Alaska’s state history. National and international media covered the event (see media/blog links to the right), and it has inspired others across the nation to speak out (see ‘we are not alone’ links to the right).

We are now building on the success of the rally and focusing our energy on connecting with undecided voters in battleground states like Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, New Hampshire, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

WHAT CAN YOU DO? Help get information into the hands of voters who may need it.
- Engage with undecided voters you know on the issues.
- Write letters to newspaper editors in battleground states and
identify yourself as an Alaskan woman.
i.e. Miami Herald
- Forward this site and other informative sites to undecided
voters.
- Volunteer for the Obama campaign.
- Travel to a battleground state.
- Make a donation to Planned Parenthood (PP). In Sarah Palin's name.
When you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here's the secure link to donate at Planned Parenthood's website: https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000_inhonor
You'll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. We suggest you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters: McCain for President 1235 S. Clark Street 1st Floor Arlington , VA 22202

If you wish to contact us directly about any of the above or ideas you have please e-mail us at akwomenrejectpalin@gmail.com. We will continue to update this site, so check back often.

An Alaskan reflects on events to date

About a week after Sarah Palin had been selected by John McCain to be his running mate for Vice President, I published a diary on Daily Kos called “Sarah Palin: My Alaskan Opinion.” Although I’ve been around here for more than 5 years, I didn’t diary much those first few years. This was my first one to make the rec list, and it helped stimulate a lot of discussion about what was and wasn’t true about the Governor of Alaska. At that time, she had just given her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, and despite all kinds of buzz about her performance there, she was largely unknown outside Alaska. Now, just six weeks later, it's something of an understatement to say that Sarah Palin is no longer unknown. With the benefit of that knowledge, I’d like to revisit the subject of Sarah Palin from My Alaskan Opinion. Since writing that first diary, so much has happened. First of all, Palin stopped talking about selling the jet on eBay, because it wasn’t true. She tried to get as much mileage out of the “thanks, but no thanks” on the Bridge to Nowhere, but after being called on it by everyone from David Letterman to the Teletubbies, she eventually dropped that little gem from her repertoire. Not to worry though, she’s made up for that with loads of new material (and all of it crap). The investigative report by Steve Branchflower on “Troopergate” has been completed, despite considerable pressure by the McCain campaign to delay or derail it altogether. In the process though, Palin turned the Alaska Department of Law over to the McCain campaign, who sent Ed O’Callahan to join Meghan Stapleton on a “hit squad” that dragged the names of numerous good Alaskans through the mud. What started out as a bipartisan authorized investigation ended with a similarly unanimous 12-0 vote by the legislative council to release the results to the public. And in truly Orwellian fashion, despite the conclusion that Governor Palin abused her power and behaved unethically, she conducted an interview with local media in Alaska saying that the report actually cleared her of any wrongdoing. Many other Kossacks have diaried the pathological nature of Palin’s lies, so I won’t spend more time there. And with each passing day, new revelations about the Palin vendetta against Trooper Mike Wooten come to light. Suffice it to say though, she won’t be seeing any 80% approval ratings again any time soon (see: Hell Freezes Over). Also at that time, Palin had not yet done a single media interview. She started off with Charles “Charlie” Gibson of ABC, and completely fumbled the ball on the subject of the “Bush Doctrine.” One might think that any mother who is sending her eldest son into harm’s way to fight the first war waged under the Bush Doctrine might take a minute or two to understand the reasons why he might come home wounded or worse, but not our Sarah. She followed that lackluster performance with a Sean Hannity worship session that was more tee ball than softball. And then came Katie Couric of CBS, and the steady drip, drip, drip of stupidity that ensued. Little did I know that my very own Governor reads every newspaper and magazine in the world. I mean, wow. Given that, you’d think that she might remember the recent Supreme Court ruling in favor of Exxon vs. thousands of Alaskans for punitive damages from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill of 1989. But no, perhaps they didn’t cover that as deeply in her copy of “Le Monde.” After being beaten up by lil ‘ol Katie, it was back to Faux News for a Parent-Teacher conference with John McCain. Talk about embarrassing. To date though, still no real press conferences, still no “Meet the Press.” As I wrote on September 6, if she can’t stand up to Larry King, how will she be able to stand up to Vladimir Putin? As I suspected, Palin managed to memorize enough buzzwords to not pass out during the October 2 Vice Presidential debate. But her “Chatty Cathy” performance didn’t impress too many mammals, including this group of Alaskans watching at a local theater in Anchorage.

Despite what “Famous Person” had to say, Joe Biden won this debate hands-down, and all Sarah Palin got was another smackdown by Tina Fey. Can’t say this came as any surprise. In the past 6 weeks, I’ve learned an awful lot about my Governor that I didn’t know before (accent on “awful”). Like the fact that the State had paid her per diem for sleeping in her own home for more than 300 nights. Didn’t know that before. And that as Mayor of Wasilla, her city charged rape victims for the forensic kits used to gather evidence. That was a new one for me, also. And the whole thing about her being blessed by a witch doctor came as a bit of a surprise, too. She seemed to have softened her stance on global warming, but in the end she still opposes protecting polar bears. But the most disappointing revelation by far is that my Governor was far more willing than I ever dreamed to embrace the politics of “fear and smear”. The little glimpse of it during her acceptance speech was just a sneak preview of what was soon to become a torrent of slime. To further her own personal ambitions, Sarah Palin has dutifully read whatever trash the Karl Rove wannabees scrolled across her teleprompter (as an aside, I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the top guy's name rhymes with another word for “poop”). Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, “Obama isn’t like you and me.” The logical conclusion of all this heated rhetoric is that members of the audience shout back things like "traitor" and "kill him!" and are not repudiated for doing so. I think I speak on behalf of many, many Alaskans when I ask “Governor Palin, have you no shame at all?” And speaking of other Alaskans, that has absolutely been the best part of the last few months: meeting so many other intelligent, creative, progressive Alaskans. From the “Alaska Women Reject Palin” group, who started out as a handful of women having coffee together, and decided to let the rest of the country know that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women. I put together a few videos from the September 13 rally, and with over 110K views and 450 comments, am truly grateful to have been able to help these brave Alaska women speak their minds.

The organizers of this rally endured harassment and death threats, but they touched a real nerve in the Alaska community. Building on the success of that first rally, a group known as “Alaskans for Truth” held a second rally two weeks later to demand that State of Alaska employees honor their subpoenas in the Troopergate investigation, and also to demand the resignation of the Attorney General who had advised them not to testify.

In the process, I met even more amazing Alaskans, like bloggers Shannyn Moore and Linda Kellen-Biegel, as well as Representative Les Gara, who wrote this terrific diary here at Daily Kos. These people, along with Mudflats and Progressive Alaska have done yeoman’s work getting the word out to the rest of the country that the Sarah Palin they were hearing about was a myth. The night of the first rally in Anchorage, Big Ed Schulz held a Town Hall meeting in Anchorage, where hundreds of Alaskans showed up, and dozens stood and spoke out about the Sarah Palin we know (and don’t love). After the taping was over, Ed spoke for about 20 minute about how he got where he is today, and why he’s a Progressive, and where he thinks we need to go as a nation. His closing words were truly inspirational, and I thank him for coming to Alaska to hear the truth for himself, and help share it with others. In early October, Anchorage residents turned out one more time to show their support for Barack Obama. Being 3.5 hours by plane from Seattle, Washington, we can’t get Senator Obama or Biden to make the trip here. Nor can they afford to send Michelle or Hillary or Bill, either. Despite this limitation, Alaskans turned out to hear their next Mayor and their next U.S. Congressman speak, and we outnumbered a concurrent McCain Palin rally by hundreds of participants.

So yes, I have learned a lot in the past few months. I’ve learned a lot about Sarah Palin; about the hearts and spirits of so many of my fellow Alaskans; and also about myself. Of course, had Sarah Palin not been nominated for VP on the Republican ticket, none of this would have happened. I know so many of my fellow Alaskans have been in the forefront, helping bring the real Sarah Palin to light. Thanks to all of you that I've met along the way, and I look forward to seeing you on November 5 so we can get to work on that recall petition.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Authors of 'Our Bodies, Ourselves" speak out

A Letter from Some of the Original Authors and Founders of Our Bodies, Ourselves*

Forty years ago, in discussions that led to the writing of 'Our Bodies, Ourselves,' we began to express our need for accurate information about our bodies and for quality health care for everyone. Our voices joined the voices of hundreds, thousands, and now millions throughout the world in asserting that these needs are basic human rights. We are proud to be part of this global women's health movement. So it is with great sadness that we watch Sarah Palin's candidacy negate so many of the advances women across the globe have made over the past four decades.

We cannot support her for the following reasons:
She stands beside McCain in backing insurance industry lobbyists who push to erode existing health benefits for workers and for the poor. Under his plan fewer people would be able to afford coverage. Women have the most to lose from these changes because so many women are not only responsible for themselves but also for their children and families.
She is opposed to government help for people suffering from this severe economic downturn. Looming deficits and mortgage foreclosures hurt families, especially single mothers, who are generally among the lowest paid workers in our society. Her running mate has openly stated that he is against Equal Pay for Equal Work.
Disregarding the best environmental science, Palin's energy policy relies too heavily on off-shore drilling. We can no longer afford to feed our dependency on oil. We must instead seek healthier, greensolutions to the energy crisis, solutions which, in the search for fossil fuel alternatives, will create new US jobs.
The Republican platform contains no plan for making improvements to the nation's deteriorating infrastructure, a plan which wedesperately need and which will create new jobs. It also perpetuates the anti-regulatory climate that has created the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression, affecting women and single mother families the most.

Palin does not provide a well-reasoned, practical educational policy for preparing our children for a 21st century global job marketplace. Indeed, her views on scientific theories about evolution and globalwarming imply that she would like to see intelligent design (creationism) taught in public schools along with the theory of evolution and that she does not believe human activity has a major effect on global warming.
She turns back the clock on hard-won reproductive rights, advocating against a woman's right to choose abortion even in the case of rape or incest. She opposes Roe vs. Wade and would likely nominate Supreme Court Justices who would criminalize abortion. What's more, she endorses abstinence-only sex education programs for teenagers, which have been proven ineffective and have actually increased the numbers of unwanted teen pregnancies.

These are some of the reasons why we cannot support Sarah Palin. We ask the women of America to look carefully at her candidacy. If she were to become president, she would endorse the policies that have shaped the Bush regime, an administration which lied about the supposed "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq and led us into the disastrous war that has spilled so much blood and damaged our country's standing in the world.

We urge you to explore these topics in reasoned discussion within your own communities. We know that one day a woman will lead this country with wisdom and skill, but we, the undersigned, do not believe Sarah Palin is that woman.

Ruth Bell Alexander, Pamela Berger, Vilunya Diskin, Joan Ditzion,Paula Doress-Worters, Miriam Hawley, Elizabeth MacMahon-Herrera, Pamela Morgan, Jane Pincus, Wendy Sanford, Norma Meras Swenson.

*For identification purposes only - we are not speaking for the current organization, which is non-profit and does not participate inany electoral campaigns.--
Laura X, founder/director of the former National Clearinghouse on Marital and Date Rape
Women's History Library(510) 524-1582
Berkeley, Ca.
WEB SITE: http://ncmdr.org/