Anti-Defamation League Promotes The Dissemination Of Pro-Gay Propaganda To Grade School Kids Down To The Kindergarten Level

In their efforts to combat anti-Semitism, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) uses a multi-faceted strategy. Not only do they engage in continuous real-time damage control, but they also seek to preempt the development of new anti-Semitism. Part and parcel of this strategy is to identify, produce, and promote literature and other materials for young kids in an effort to combat the evolution of racial, cultural, and gender stereotypes during their most formative years.

Such efforts are directed by what is called the Miller Early Childhood Initiative of A World Of Difference Institute. Through this Initiative, the ADL provides anti-bias workshops and materials designed to train early childhood educators, caregivers and family members to help children understand, respect and appreciate differences. In keeping with this Initiative, the ADL has identified a list of books which they claim can preempt stereotyping. The ADL believes that books not only are mirrors in which children see themselves reflected, but that books also serve as windows to the world which can foster children's understanding and respect for their own and others' cultural groups, and help them to see themselves as members of a greater global community.

Some of the books on the ADL's recommended list are indeed helpful in breaking down racial, cultural, and gender stereotyping in advance. A book entitled "Ballerino Nate" attempts to combat the stereotype that ballet dancing is only for women. Another book entitled "Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World" attempts to combat the stereotype that cooking is just for women. Books like these actually refine our culture without corrupting it, teaching young kids to rise above base limitations.

But the ADL's list also includes books of a more sinister nature -- books which actually promote the normalization and celebration of homosexuality. To add insult to injury, these books are promoted as suitable all the way down to the kindergarten level.

Daddy's Wedding
Written by Michael Willhoite
In this sequel to “Daddy’s Roommate,” Nick is asked to be the best man at his father’s and Frank’s wedding. In this story, Nick talks about the gathering of family and friends, the food and the ceremony.
[Grade Level: K - 2]

King and King
Linda de Haan (Author), Stern Nijland (Author)
The queen of a small, unnamed country presses her son to take a wife so that she can retire. The prince, who "never cared much for princesses," caves in and agrees to wed, but none of the potential spouses appeal to him, until Princess Madeleine shows up and the prince falls in love with her brother, Prince Lee. A "very special" wedding ensues and everyone lives happily ever after.
[Grade Level: K - 2]

Mom and Mum are Getting Married
Ken Setterington (Author), Alice Priestley (Illustrator)
When Rosie’s two moms tell her about their decision to get married, she is disappointed that the small celebration planned will not afford her the opportunity to be a bridesmaid or flower girl. Rosie finds another option — she and her brother will carry the rings—and a happy wedding ensues. Marriage of same-sex couples is normalized and celebrated in this story without the issue ever being explicitly raised as contentious or a matter of right and wrong.
[Grade Level: K - 3]

The three books listed above clearly promote the idea that homosexuality is merely just another way to express love. One book is even explicitly billed as normalizing and celebrating it. This is not cultural refinement; this is cultural corruption.

Whether homosexuality is driven by nature or nurture is a debate still raging, although evidence seems to be tilting towards nature. But in any event, homosexuality is still best described as an emotional disability, since it's driven by misrouted lust. Teaching young kids that they must go so far as to celebrate homosexuality in the otherwise commendable campaign to counteract bullying not only goes too far, but risks actual anti-gay backlash. That which one is officially proscribed from criticizing always becomes more attractive. The ADL can and should do better than this; until they cease promoting homosexuality as a desirable alternative, they should be viewed as a destabilizing force in society.

Anchorage Attorney Tara Clemens Preparing To Join The Dominican Order And Become A Cloistered Nun At The Corpus Christi Monastery In Menlo Park, California

Tara Clemens

Here's something that doesn't happen every day. An Anchorage attorney with more than her fair share of beauty and brains is preparing to walk away from a life of almost-guaranteed secular prosperity and enter a much different world -- a life of contemplative service to God.

Catholic Anchor Online reports that 31-year-old Tara Clemens, who co-founded the female-run law firm of Helzer-Clemens LLC in Anchorage, Alaska, is preparing to take the next step towards entering the Dominican Order and becoming a cloistered nun. Clemens has already completed what is called an aspirancy, which consisted of a month-long visit to the Corpus Christi Monastery in Menlo Park, California, in February 2010. She is now preparing to enter what is called a postulancy, which would be Clemens’ second step in the eight-year discernment process toward taking final, life-long vows as a cloistered nun.

According to this separate August 5th Catholic Anchor article (which also triggered a short thread on Free Republic), this was neither a snap decision nor has it been an easy process. Tara Clemens was raised as an Evangelical Protestant. She was working full-time and attending law school, but she wasn’t much involved in a faith community. The summer before her final year in school, she took stock of her life and realized she wasn’t where God wanted her to be. So she asked the Lord to show her what church He wanted her join. Shortly thereafter, a coworker invited her to Mass. In the process of trying to "evangelize" her co-worker out of Catholicism, Clemens actually became more attracted to Catholicism; you could say the hunter got captured by the game. After graduating from law school, Clemens moved to Alaska, studied for the bar exam and began the official steps to become Catholic. She became active at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage.

Former Miller Campaign Manager Paul Bauer Reveals How Disagreements Over Campaign Strategy Led To His Departure From The Joe Miller Campaign

A Los Angeles Times article entitled "Lisa Murkowski, Joe Miller ready for drawn-out count in Alaska" offers some interesting insight into the Alaska U.S. Senate campaign, some of which has not yet found its way into the Alaska media. For example, the Times discloses that Lisa Murkowski announced that she had retained attorney Benjamin Ginsberg to head her team overseeing Alaska's upcoming write-in ballot count, which will now begin on November 10th and is expected to last three days. Ginsburg was counsel to the Bush-Cheney presidential campaign and played a key role in the 2000 Florida recount. Ginsburg was also involved in the Coleman-Franken recounts in Minnesota. Joining Ginsburg will be Tim McKeever of Washington, D.C., who was Ted Stevens' longtime campaign manager and attorney, and Scott Kendall from McKeever's law firm. Murkowski also said she's starting "the Alaska Voter Protection Fund" to pay for her legal work, and will be soliciting contributions.

The Times also discloses that Joe Miller believes many write-in votes are likely to be successfully challenged. "Previous write-in campaigns in Alaska have demonstrated that as much as five to six percent of returned ballots have not met the standard to be counted as a valid vote," he said in a statement. And the Times also mentions that Alaska Republican Party officials will function as honest brokers and have no plans to go into the ballot count as Murkowski's adversaries. "Getting into battles with the Murkowski camp at this point isn't going to create any more votes for us than it would have [had Miller won]," party spokesman Casey Reynolds said. "So I would imagine we're going to work cordially and professionally with them. Obviously we'll be coordinating with Joe Miller, but from here on in, I would imagine a cordial and professional relationship with the Murkowski campaign."

But most intriguing is information about the circumstances leading to the departure of Paul Bauer as Joe Miller's campaign manager. It now turns out that the famous dustup between Debbie Bauer and Fagan protege Dave Stieren, who got a talk show slot on KFQD with the help of Dan Fagan, may have actually been the straw that broke the camel's back. It appears Paul Bauer may have had disagreements with Miller over campaign strategy which served to grease the skids for Bauer's departure. Here's the key excerpt from the Times article:

Paul Bauer, who ran Miller's primary campaign, said Miller failed to exploit backroom connections between Murkowski and the state's old-guard Republican establishment, and erred by refusing to be more upfront about his own background.

"Joe should have never given her the opportunity to run. After the primary, he should have finished her off," said Bauer, contending that the party establishment gave only pro-forma support to Miller in the general election.

Bauer's disagreements with Miller led to his departure from the campaign and to his replacement by relatively inexperienced managers.

"I tried to tell him many times, 'You might as well go for it'" and take on the party", Bauer said. "But his view was, 'I can't be fighting the party when I'm trying to run an election.' I said, 'the party's already fighting you.'"

Paul Bauer was fired from the campaign on August 13th, 2010. At the time, Miller was in the midst of an historic charge from 40 points back in the polls in late July to victory in the August 24th primary. The momentum continued even after Miller hired Barrow lawyer Robert Campbell as his new campaign manager. Being a retired Army NCO, Bauer, who operates an immigration reform website known as Alaskans for Legal Presence, decided to be a good soldier and said little about his departure, expressing his intent to continue personally supporting Miller.

But it was after the primary that the "death by a thousand cuts" began to be inflicted upon the Miller campaign. Some were self-inflicted. Not a week went by in which there wasn't some sort of unfavorable revelation. The greatest damage to Miller's campaign was inflicted by his refusal to release his Fairbanks Borough personnel records, his refusal to voluntarily disclose the circumstances surrounding his one-time misuse of Borough computers, his temporary embargo of the Alaska media, and, of course, the confrontation between Alaska Dispatch gonzo journalist Tony Hopfinger and a private security firm at the Central Middle School campaign event.

None of these problems happened on Paul Bauer's watch. All of them happened on Robert Campbell's watch. Thus it is not inappropriate to suggest that Robert Campbell, through his inexperience and incompetence, may have unintentionally helped torpedo Miller's chances of election, particularly by providing an incentive for Lisa Murkowski to return through the back door as a write-in candidate. Of course, since Joe Miller was the candidate, the primary responsibility for his loss will be his should he lose. But as I suspected all along, Miller was not getting good advice from his senior campaign staff. It should be noted that Joe Miller himself has not publicly criticized anybody on his staff, however.

The chances of Joe Miller being declared the winner of the Senate race are admittedly not good. Here are the latest numbers:

-- Write-In Votes: 83,201, 40.95 percent
-- Joe Miller (R): 69,762, 34.34 percent
-- Scott McAdams (D): 48,034, 23.64 percent

It is obvious that the overwhelming number of write-in votes are for Lisa Murkowski. How many? Let's say only 90 percent of the write-ins turn out to be for Lisa. That would still leave her with 74,881 votes, over 5,000 ahead of Miller. It's more likely that as many as 95 percent of the write-ins are for Lisa. Alaska election officials have been ambiguous over what would constitute a valid entry.

The fight would be over "voter intent," with the Miller team questioning if a particular write-in vote was meant to be cast for Murkowski or not. The state hasn't been clear on what's allowed. Minor misspellings of Murkowski's name are probably OK, but simply writing "Lisa M," for example, could be an issue. State law calls for voters to fill out the last name of the candidate, or his or her full name as it appears on the candidate's declaration to run. But there will be NO COMPROMISE on the oval. Ballots that include a write-in name but don't have the oval filled in won't be counted, election officials have said. Filling in the oval is a requirement of state law.

Thus it's looking more and more like the only "Miller time" to be found in Alaska will be at The Oaken Keg or The Brown Jug.

Liveblogging The 2010 Alaska General Election Results; Lisa Murkowski In The Catbird Seat

The results of the 2010 Alaska general election are now filtering in. They were first posted only in PDF format on the Division of Elections website so far, but are now also available in HTML format. They are also now being posted on the Anchorage Daily News website.

Alaska Dispatch is live-blogging the election, providing stories HERE. Anchorage Daily News gallery of 47 photos available HERE.

Update #5 (final): As of 2:37 A.M., with 99 percent of precincts counted:

U.S. Senate: Joe Miller further slips to 6.8 percent behind
-- Write-in Votes: 81876, 41.00 percent
-- Joe Miller (R): 68288, 34.20 percent
-- Scott McAdams (D): 47414, 23.74 percent

Joe Miller has no intention of conceding; he remains confident that he can win. The state mailed more than 30,000 absentee ballots but won't begin counting them until next Tuesday. Until those are counted, it's premature for the race to be considered a Murkowski victory.

KTVA Channel 11 General Manager Jerry Bever Fires Two Producers Involved In "Phonegate" Incident With Senate Candidate Joe Miller

Some good news today! Alaska Dispatch reports that KTVA Channel 11 has fired two producers involved with the so-called "Phonegate" incident, in which the audio transcript gave the impression that the staffers were hoping to uncover a child molester on Joe Miller's staff or at a Joe Miller rally. You can read the transcript and listen to the audio HERE, and read KTVA's initial equivocal reaction HERE.

The producers have not been identified by name. But neither KTVA news director Staci Feger, assignment editor Nick McDermott, nor any other KTVA reporters were involved in the recorded conversation.

KTVA General Manager Jerry Bever issued a press release announcing the decision, and this time it's unequivocal. The full press release is available HERE in .doc format, readable by any Word-compatible processor. Bever was particularly eager to show that the producers' behavior was not in accordance with KTVA's standards. Bever wrote, in part:

General Manager Jerry Bever stated, “As we worked through this fact-finding process we noted that actual story assignments for that day had already been decided before the recorded conversation took place. At no time did any of the elements associated with the recorded comments become part of any coverage or broadcast. The recorded conversation in question specifically involved how that evening’s Miller rally might be promoted and the ensuing dialogue went down hill from there. These particular comments were not in line with KTVA standards.”

As a result of this incident, the two producers involved in the recorded conversation are no longer with the station. As a matter of policy KTVA did not identify the staff members involved, however KTVA clarified that neither the News Director, Assignment Editor Nick McDermott nor any other KTVA reporters were involved in the recorded conversation as previously reported by the Miller campaign.

KTVA believes that its actual broadcast coverage of Miller has been sound and fair during this election cycle and the history of our coverage speaks for itself. Bever noted that in the coverage of this issue, FOX News correspondent Dan Springer reported that in a review of recent Miller coverage by KTVA, Fox News could not find any articles or stories that showed any obvious bias or hit pieces against Joe Miller.

Bever said that KTVA has contacted the Miller campaign to set up a meeting in order to make amends. I strongly recommend the Miller campaign be magnaminous and accept the olive branch being proferred. KTVA actually did more than expected; I would have been satisfied with a one-week suspension without pay. So although KTVA remains a distant second to KTUU Channel 2 in both prominence and professionalism, they took a certain step towards closing the gap.

Some people will note the disparate treatment meted out to the KTVA staffers vs. KFQD's reinstatement of Dan Fagan. But there's a difference -- while KTVA is a hard news organization, Dan Fagan, as a talk show host, is also an entertainer. Thus the bar should be higher for a hard news organization than for a talk show host.

Now, for the remaining question; when will Alaska Dispatch at least suspend Tony Hopfinger for provoking that dustup at Central Middle School?

Alaska Judicial Retention Election: Vote Yes On Judge Richard Postma, And No On Justice Dana Fabe, Judge Patrick McKay, Judge Sharon Gleason, And Judge David George

Update #2: Have now included the election results with the summaries on the judges. All judges retained by the voters except for Richard Postma.

Update #1: Added Judge Sharon Gleason to the "No" list. According to the Children Justice website, Judge Gleason has a reputation for bending over backwards on behalf of abusers in child custody and DV cases. Hat tip to former Eagle River Assembly candidate Anthony Lemons for the link.

In the November 2nd, 2010 general election, we Alaskans have the opportunity to "judge the judges". Twenty-eight of Alaska's judges are up for retention.

The vast majority of judges have been vetted and approved by the Alaska Judicial Council. The portal page for all their recommendations is available HERE. However, there are four of them requiring further analysis. Two of them have already been discussed on this blog. My recommendations on all four are presented below (after the jump):

Alaska U.S. Senate Candidates Sound Off On Global Warming In Anchorage Daily News Q&A; Joe Miller The Best Choice For Energy Independence And Affordability

The Anchorage Daily News has compiled a series of Q&A responses for each candidate in the Alaska U.S. Senate race. You can find the input for each candidate at the links specified below:

-- Joe Miller (R)
-- Lisa Murkowski (RINO)
-- Scott McAdams (D)
-- Fredrick Haase (Lib)
-- Ted Gianoutsos (Ind)
-- Tim Carter (Ind)

In this post, we will compare the candidates' positions on global warming. For simplicity, only the top three candidates are compared. Scientific records, supplemented by some observed conditions such as the contraction of glaciers, do indicate a steady warming trend. What's in dispute is how much humans are contributing, and whether or not intrusive and expensive abatement measures which would disproportionately victimize low-income people are justified. Each candidate was asked two questions about global warming:

KFQD General Manager Dennis Bookey Appears On Dan Fagan's Program, Denies That John Tracy Communicated Any Legal Threats To Him

The Dan Fagan program is back on the air on KFQD 750AM in Anchorage, and the station's general manager Dennis Bookey was the first guest. Bookey denied that there was any threat of a lawsuit directed towards the station.

The interview took place during the first half-hour of the program. Bookey clearly stated that John Tracy did not threaten a lawsuit or to "take action". Bookey characterized the exchange as being cordial. Bookey then described the process leading to the one-day hiatus. He got a number of complaints directed to him. Because he hadn't had an opportunity to listen to the whole program, Bookey decided it would be a good idea to ask Fagan to take a one-day standdown with no loss of pay while he and the legal staff analyzed the Thursday program to determine if there had been any breaches of the law or electioneering. They ultimately determined that no violation of the law occurred.

Dennis Bookey pointed out that he personally disagreed with much of Fagan's politics. He also questioned whether Fagan was qualified to judge whether or not the state of Alaska acted legally when they decided to break precedent and make a list of write-in candidates available upon request at each polling station. Bookey pointed out that Fagan's instigation of Operation Alaska Chaos generated confusion, with which he couldn't allow the station to be associated. So Fagan has agreed not to put out information which would confuse people in the future.

Dan Fagan was not directed to apologize or do any other public penance for his actions.

Just prior to the interview with Dennis Bookey, Dan Fagan justified the action he took on Thursday. He said that as people called in, he heard genuine enthusiasm and hope in the voices of people for the first time. He strongly reiterated his opinion that the list of write-in candidates constitutes a violation of Alaska law. But Fagan also denied that his free speech rights were trampled upon, acknowledging that when he is behind the KFQD microphone, his free speech rights are limited by the specifications laid down by the station's owner. Fagan also paid tribute to the tolerance exercised by KFQD's management, noting that only twice in eight years has the station asked him not to discuss a certain topic. He also noted that both times, it was in response to a complaint by John Tracy.

Fagan has just revealed that he got a message from Senator Mark Begich telling him to hang in there. He criticized Lisa Murkowski for trying to silence Fagan.

As far as I'm concerned, if Fagan is satisfied with the outcome, I'm satisfied as well. This issue can now be considered put to bed.

Free Speech "Crisis" Over, Conservative Shock Jock Dan Fagan To Go Back On The Air At KFQD; John Tracy Scrambling To Cover His Tracks

Our earliest indication that the "Dan Fagan crisis" would be short-lived and would end well was published in the Alaska Ear column on October 31st, when Sheila Toomey wrote that KFQD manager Dennis Bookey had merely told Fagan to take the day off on Friday October 29th and that Fagan would be back on the air in his normal 2-5 P.M. time slot on November 1st.

This has indeed been confirmed by Dan Fagan himself. In this column on The Alaska Standard, Fagan not only states that he'll be back on the air, but that one of his guests will be Dennis Bookey. By temporarily sidelining Fagan on Friday, Bookey's intent may have been primarily to throw a bone to the "Lisaholics" who were baying for his blood, and to mount a preemptive defense against a possible FEC complaint of "electioneering" by the Murkowski campaign. KFQD's attorneys have reviewed Fagan's controversial Thursday show, and concluded that Fagan had done nothing wrong. It also looks like that, unlike other local jocks who have sinned against the Cult of Political Correctness, Fagan won't be forced to embark upon an elaborate and humiliating campaign of public penance.

Fagan defends his role in launching Operation Alaska Chaos. He maintains the state of Alaska decided to illegally assist Murkowski by printing a list of write in candidates and the 146 people who filed last minute "write-in" candidacies were not going to stand by and do nothing. They were determined to minimize the state's effort to stack the deck in favor of Murkowski. But Fagan's promises of a free trip to Hawaii were clearly a joke.

If there is a "bad guy" in this deal, it's John Tracy. Tracy, the former KTUU Channel 2 news director and current CEO of Bradley-Reid, called Dennis Bookey on Friday demanding that Bookey sanction Fagan, saying that he would be forced to “take some action” if nothing were done. Tracy, who is also a media consultant to the Murkowski campaign, apparently checked with Murkowski campaign manager Kevin Sweeney before calling Bookey; it is suggested that Sweeney may have called Murkowski and got a green light from her before giving Tracy his own green light to proceed.

Meanwhile, stung by the ferocity of public backlash against him and the Mukowski campaign, to include criticism from national heavyweights such as Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, John Tracy is now scrambling to cover his tracks. In an LTE entitled "Write-in appeal was attempt to tamper with the election", published November 1st in the Anchorage Daily News, Tracy continues to stubbornly insist that Fagan was trying to tamper with the election, claiming that Fagan was attempting to throw the election into confusion and get votes for Lisa Murkowski thrown out. Tracy says he cited Fagan's own on-the-air statements to KFQD management and they took the action they deemed appropriate, claiming that there were no threats of any kind. Of course, direct threats were not necessary; the implicit threat of a cash-flush company and campaign against a much less financially-powerful radio station was enough to prompt Dennis Bookey to at least throw a bone to the Lisaholics.

So, who's up and who's down?

-- UP: Dan Fagan, who handled this incident with class and didn't dump on his general manager Dennis Bookey, but also stood tall and defended his actions.
-- EVEN: Dennis Bookey, who effectively balanced free speech concerns with the need to defend his operation against possible judicial terrorism.
-- DOWN: John Tracy. Once the highly-respected news director of KTUU Channel 2, who, along with Steve McDonald, built KTUU into a trusted journalistic powerhouse, he now reveals himself to be just another common corporate thug and political hack.