The words of RFK Jr. are with me as I realize how much we have to do to counteract what began with Reagan and now we have the tool. We have this, the internet, blogs, connection.
This comes from the brother-in-law of a dear friend. I feel a little fragile putting it on here, but it is the truth and we need to get it out there. I am not posting the picture as I don't see it as relevant in the moment to these words that we must observe. I have always thought Alaskan women must be special, men, too. I always had a hankering to move that way, though Sarah Palin has poisoned that dream for me. Here are the words from a true Alaskan. It begins with the words from my friend's brother-in-law.
This photo is the Kilcher Family Homestead Cabin. Following is a fascinating narrative from Mairiis Kilcher, an old friend of ours whose family homesteaded in Homer, Alaska before there was a road. Mairiis has always been a role model to me. She's tough and gritty as well as sensitive, artistic and politically astute. Extraordinary as she is she's not unlike many other Alaskan women. Alaskan women truly are a different breed. Read on and thank you Mairiis.
I am a 66 year old , Alaska born ,pioneer woman. Sarah Palin does not represent my values and my beliefs, nor those of countless Alaska women, who have also hunted, fished, raised families , and cared for a disabled family member while earning a living . I come from a large homesteading family and grew up in a one room log cabin with 7 brothers and sisters. We hunted and fished, out of necessity, not for recreation. My father was one of the 55 writers of the Alaska Stare Constituion and a former State Senator. My niece is the singer, Jewel. . I operate a small farm and run a small tourist business, while my husband drives school bus. I am the only woman member of the Fox River Cattlemen's Association. I am a songwriter, folksinger, stone carver, and wildlife photographer. I have worked in the salmon and crab canneries as a girl, on road construction crews, have gone to college , travelled overseas, raised a family, and have a child with special needs. Most of the Alaska women I know--whether captains of their own fishing boats, or business owners or artists or executives or doctors or secretaries or just plain moms,--we all share the same passion for bettering our communities, for protecting our environment and educating our children to be wise stewards of the earth. Sarah does not speak for us! She has done nothing in her less than 2 years as governor to help the women of this state. .
If there is going to be a woman in high office, it should be someone who was not just pulled out of a hat for political purposes to distract the public from the really important issues via their media hype and focus on her good looks and down home hockey mom appeal. We need someone who has worked hard, state by state, to earn their right to be nominated . We deserve someone who has put in time in the world arena, who knows how to work with many different kinds of people, someone who can relate to large cities as well as small farm towns, someone familiar with black neighborhoods or immigrant border towns, who can unify rather than polarize. Someone who understand the ways of the world beyond Alaska's borders! Someone who would only use war as a last resort. We love Alaska, we are strong , independent, thinking and capable Alaskan women who do not base our vote on gender, race or religion, but on the issues. In no way, does Sarah reflect our views or share our concerns, and we are insulted that the McCain propaganda machine is making it sound as if we are all supportive of her. They are using her, to distract us all from McCain's lack of personal appeal and same old same old political rhetoric. They are trying to make the bridge from nowhere into their own idea, when in fact is was the democrats in Alaska who were against it most. They make her come across like some kind of heroine, a glamour figure, a role model for American women. NOT!
We abhor her stance against protecting Alaska from Global Warming, she shows no concern for the threat it poses to Polar Bears and countless first Alaskans who depend on the sea mammals for their very lives.
We ask: Why is no one making a big deal about the fact that Palin opposed the ALaska Clean Water Initiative (proposition 4)--which would have imposed tighter restrictions on large scale mining operations?
We ask: what has she done for women in our state? What has she done for health care in our state.? Nothing . I am at this moment too broke to afford even a pair of drugstore reading glasses, let alone expensive designer Sarah Palin glasses!
We ask: Why aren't the news media talking about of the fact that Alaska passed a law to legalize same day shooting of wolves and bears from an airplane as a means of "predator" control--so the likes of Sarah Palin can shoot more moose? Why are not more people outraged that our woman governor could tolerate such barbarism? What kind of woman enjoys or tolerates killing for sport in the first place? Is that being pro-life? What kind of message does that send the world ?
We ask: Why is no one making headlines out of the fact that she supports development of the biggest open pit gold mines Pebble Mine--a Canadian, not a U.S. company) ) in the world--which would sit right at the headwaters of the biggest SALMON fishery in the world , destroying thousands of square acres of pristine wilderness for the greedy few with the potential to pollute Alaska's waters with toxic waste? And she calls herself a fisherman, and a champion of the fishing industry?
Not all Alaskans support drilling in ANWR, and I am one of them. Lets find new ways to make energy, or more efficient cars. I want my Alaskan parks and refuges left wild and unscarred for the benefit of my grandchildren. Enough Alaskan wilderness has been ruined already by rampant logging, drilling, mining and over fishing! All Sarah Palin wants to to do is drill, baby , drill.
Most terrifying of all, do we really want a self described PIT BULL as our next vice president, (and , God forbid, president) Do we really want a gun toting , shoot from the lip, in your face, religious extremist who believes God is on her side? I thought we were fighting a war against those kinds of guys!!.
Who can we contact to bring our concerns to the attention of the American public before it is too late? Will the Obama campaign contact us and invite us to speak out around the Nation, so we can tell the world we are insulted and ashamed to be associated with Sarah Palin? Call me, I am ready and willing to go..
SIncerely,
Mairiis Kilcher , Homer, Alaska
