What Public Art Should Express - Holly Gittlein's "Reflection" Over Cottonwood Creek in Wasilla

There isn't a lot of public art in Wasilla.  The last time I can remember a piece of public art here making the headlines was with the controversy over the sculpture The Warrior Within at Wasilla High School.  It seemed to bring the juvenile out in some.  Others looked at the art with more appreciation.

There shouldn't be any controversy, though, over sculptor Holy Gittlein's new baroque adornment, titled Reflection, to a pedestrian bridge over Cottonwood Creek, as the creek passes through central Wasilla.  If you go down there right now, you should be able to watch Coho and Sockeye salmon passing underneath the bridge, on their way up the creek to spawn in Wasilla, Cottonwood, Neklason or Cornelius Lakes.

Compare the image of the new bridge and bright sculpture:

To what the creek at that same area looked like, in this Youtube video I made in April, 2011:

Congratulations, Ms. Gittlein.

I understand the bridge was commissioned by a new organization in the Mat-Su Valley, Envision Mat-Su.

Eight New Batches of Basil Pesto

We've been making basil pesto every year since 1988.  These eight containers are the third set of batches this season.

Yum!

Obama to Jesse Griffin: "Rape is Rape"

In a statement this morning on the ridiculous and pathetic comments over the weekend by Missouri Representative and GOP U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, Obama was quoted as saying, "The views expressed are offensive.  Rape is Rape!"

In Alaska, the President's most unapologetic, suck-up, robot-like supporter has been blogger Jesse Griffin, at The Immoral Minority.  He has repeatedly used his site to condone rape.

He should listen to his President.

Todd Akin, Jesse Griffin and Legitimate Rape

One of several controversies surrounding GOP political figures that surfaced over this mid-August weekend was that caused by Missouri Representative Todd Akin, who is campaigning to take Blue Dog Democrat Claire McHaskill's seat in November.  Here's what he said on a Missouri TV station this weekend:

Here's the transcript:

“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” 

Akin said that even in the worst-case scenario — when the supposed natural protections against unwanted pregnancy fail — abortion should still not be a legal option for the rape victim. 

“Let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work, or something,” Akin said. “I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

What the hell is "legitimate rape"?

Fortunately, we don't have to go any further than the local Alaska blog, The Immoral Minority, and its owner, Jesse Griffin, to get an answer.  He thinks that rape in prison is "legitimate rape":

Somehow I think this verdict knocked that cocky grin right off Schaeffer Cox's face.  

Now he is headed to PMITA prison. And in my opinion it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy.

That was penned back on June 18th, when Shaeffer Cox was sentenced to a long term in Federal prison.  PMITA, by the way, are the initials of Pound Me in the Ass, which, in the context of the term, means forcible rape of male prisoners.

By announcing "it couldn't happen to a more deserving guy," Griffin was fully endorsing not only a criminal act, but also giving a sort of legitimacy to this awful product of a criminal justice system gone amok.

Griffin wasn't alone back then at The Immoral Minority in endorsing criminal sexual assault in our prisons.  At the time, I wrote about the sickening comments at his blog:

I sent well over 100 people back to prison, while working to assure thousands of others were released back into public life after serving their time. 

Nothing sickens me more in regard to incarceration, prison or prison life than wishes for sexual violence upon a prisoner, female or male.  That young males bound for prison will be forcefully sodomized while institutionalized is a meme,  most notably, commonly. and carelessly shown through "Bubba" references 

Anyone who wishes rape upon another person, or predicts such ill treatment, while at the same time not doing anything to reduce chances of that occurring, is a scoundrel.

This summer, a close friend who had read both Griffin's disgusting trash and my response, asked me if I thought Griffin had learned from my column.  I told him, "I hope so, but probably not."

But a tweet on the Todd Akin matter today, forced me to check The Immoral Minority for the first time in a while:

As if on cue, The Immoral Minority is back to wishing for the "legitimate rape" of Schaeffer Cox:

He'll make someone a lovely wife in prison.

and:

I agree, and I'm thinking that's why he wants to cut a deal. He's already been road-tested by several and has decided life would be better on the outside.

Griffin moderates every comment at his site.  Continuing to promote rape, as he does, is a major stain on our progressive blogging community in Alaska.  

He is no better a man than Rep. Todd Akin.

Current Positions of the Main Elements of Shell's 2012 Arctic Drilling Fleet

Currently, here are the positions of some of the main elements of Shell's ships and rigs that are attempting to drill at least one exploratory well in the Arctic, as the end of the season looms closer:

Anchor setting tug, Tor Viking II:  66.42113° / -167.9843° (Map) - course 190 degrees, 8.5 knots

Offshore supply vessel, Nanuq:  Moored off Pt. Franklin:  71.08024˚ / -160.8226˚ (Map)

Emergency storage tanker and diesel supply vessel, Affinity:  Moored near Nanuq, off Pt. Franklin:  71.08024˚ / -160.8226˚ (Map)

Icebreaker Fennica:  71.22069° / -161.6863° (Map) - westerly course, current speed 8.1 knots

Drilling Rig Noble Discoverer:  53.91687° / -166.622° (Map) - moored in Broad Bay, Dutch Harbor

Drilling Rig Kulluk:  Position data blocked.  Believed to be moored near Noble Discoverer

Anchor-laying tug, Alviq:  No transponder connected to marinetraffic.com.

Oil response barge, Arctic Challenger:  docked in Bellingham Bay, undergoing system installation, modification, testing and certification.

Text of Julian Assange's Thank-You Speech Today in London

Posted by El Telegrofo of Ecuador

I am here because I cannot be closer to you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your resolve, and your generosity of spirit.

On Wednesday night, after a threat was sent to this embassy, and the police descended on the building, you came out in the middle of the night to watch over it, and you brought the world´s eyes with you.

Inside de embassy, after dark, I could hear teams of police swarming up into the buildings throuhg the internal fire escape, but I knew that there would be witnesses. And that is because of you.

If The UK did not throw away the Vienna Conventions the other night, that is because the world was watching
The next time somebody tells you that it is pointless to defend those rights we hold dear, remind them of your vigil in the dark before the Embassy of Ecuador, and how, in the morning, the sun came up on a different world, and courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice.

And so, to those brave people. I thank President Correa for the courage he has shown in considering an granting me political asylum.

And so I thank the government, and the Foreign Minister, Ricardo Patiño, who have upheld the ecuadorian Constitution and it´s notion of universal rights, in their consideration of my case.

And to the ecuadorian people for supporting and defending this Constitution.

And I have debt of gratitude to the staff of this embassy, whose families live in London, and who have shown me hospitality and kindness despite the threats that they will received.

This friday there will be an emergency meeting of the foreign ministers of Latin America in Washington DC, to address this situation.

And I am greatful to the people and governments of Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Argentina, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, and to all of the other Latin American countries who have ome to defend the rights to asylum.

To the people of the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweeden and Australia, who have supported me in strenght, even when their governments have not. And those wiser heads in government who are still fighting for justice. Your day will come.

To the staff, supporters and sources of WikiLeaks, whose courage and commitment and loyalty has seen no equal.

To my family and to my children who have been denied their father. Forgive me. We wil be reunited soon.

As WikiLeaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression, and the health our societies.

We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America. Will it return to and reaffirm the values it was founded on? Or will it lurch off the precipice, dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world, in which journalists falls silent under the fear of prosecution, and citizens must whisper in the dark?

I say it must turn back. I ask President Obama to to the right thing. The United States must renounce its witch hunting against WikiLeaks. United States must disolve is FBI investigation. The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff, our supporters. The United States must pledge before the world that it will not pursue journalists for shining a light on the secret crimes of the powerful.

There must be no more foolish talk about prosecuting any media organization, be it WikiLeaks or the New York Times.
The US administrations war on whistleblowers must end.

Thomas Drake, and William Binney, and John Kirakou and the other heroic US whistleblowers must-the must-be pardoned and compesated for the hardships the have endured as servants of the public record.

And the Army Private who remains in a military prison in Fort Leavenworth Kansas, who was found by UN to have endured months of torturous detention in Quantico Virginia, and who has yet-after two years in prison-to see a trial, must be realeased.

And if Bradley Manning really did as he is accused, he is a hero, an example to us all, and one of the world´s foremost political prisoners. Bradley Manning must be released.

On thursday, my friend, Nabeel Rajab, was sentenced to 3 years for a tweet.

On friday, a Russian band (Pussy Riots) were sentenced to 2 years in jail for a political performance.

There is unity in the oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination in the response.

Julian Assange Thanks Wikileaks Supporters from the Balcony of the Ecuadorean Embassy in London

Kevin Gosztola at firedoglake has written the most detailed rundown of Assange's fairly gracious speech.

Shell Oil - Spilling Oil from Bellingham Bay to Nigeria - Right Now!

Here's the Arctic Challenger, with oil containment booms placed around it in Bellingham Bay, after three or more oil spills were discovered.  The State of Washington is not happy.

That was mid-week.  Today, it has been announced that Shell is once again spilling a lot of oil in the Niger Delta:

The oil giant Shell is being accused of a new oil spill in southern Nigeria. The Nigerian NGO Environmental Rights Action says it has observed an "extensive" spill on the Brass River in the Niger Delta. Shell has shut down an oil processing site but denies claims of a large spill. The news comes days after Exxon Mobil acknowledged a separate oil spill in the Delta. A U.N. report one year ago said the region will already need 30 years and around $1 billion to at least partially recover from environmental damage caused by major oil companies over several decades.

Daniel Ellsberg on the Ecuadorean Political Asylum of Julian Assange

Special Bonus - Cenk Uygur rips into the New York Times story from Thursday on Assange:

Sex, Lies and Julian Assange - The Complete Australian Documentary