Sunday 14 March 2010

Open thread - UPDATE: Hiking in Juneau, the mysterious "b-roll" and a broken promise

I would like to share with you the work of another citizen of the world, Ted Sieger.

Ted Sieger was born in South America but was brought up in Australia and Switzerland, where he now lives. He is a cartoonist, illustrator and award-winning animator.

This is a treat for the whole family. Enjoy!



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UPDATE (by Patrick):

Our Alaskan friend Barb Dwyer has written a terrific, "must-read" blogpost about the famous "Hiking in Juneau" video which was shot in late February 2008 and which features Governor Sarah Palin who is supposed to be 6 months pregnant (although nobody knew about it at the time, not even her own family).

You can go to the website of Alaska HDTV and see the full high-resolution version of the hiking video there.

It's great quality, especially if you enlarge it to "full-screen". This is by far the best footage we have of Sarah Palin in the late stage of her "pregnancy"

Lower resolution:




On their webpage, Alaska HDTV boasted: "Yes, we have B-Roll footage of Palin for purchase. We have footage she was pregnant. There was no affair with Scott Slone, and is not the father. No, Palin never drank the coffee. and Alaska HDTV is not Owned by FOXNews. Scott is available for interviews and appearances to qualify this production with Sarah Palin"

In addition, Scott from HDTV said in a comment: "Tomm, I do have b-roll from the shoot of Sarah. In reviewing the footage, yes she is pregnant."

However, since a few days ago, these statements are only available anymore as a "cached page" and have been removed from the Alaska HDTV website.

Barb Dwyer reports that Alaska HDTV told him after he specifically asked for the footage of this b-roll that Alaska HDTV would charge $ 200 PER SECOND for the footage of the mysterious "b-roll" which would show, according to Alaska HDTV, without any doubt that Sarah Palin was indeed pregnant! So I guess that we just have to make a collection here for about, let's say, $ 1 Million in order to be certain that Sarah Palin was in fact pregnant. What a bargain! Let's go for it! Or maybe I should call my old friend Soros and tell him that we have already burned the previous millions he gave to us, and that we need another one! Alaska HDTV, here we come!

Also, Scott from Alaska HDTV told Barb Dwyer in his response that "her handler knew" (about the pregnancy). Really, Scott? Not even her own family knew about the pregnancy at this point - so why do you think that "her handlers knew"?

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In addition, I recently found in my video archive the original, uncut version of the interview which NBC anchor Brian Williams had with Sarah Palin on October 24, 2008 and in which she promised to make her medical records available to the public (for "curiosity-seekers"). An empty promise - and we all know the reason why she broke that promise.




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UPDATE 2 (by Patrick):

Let's forget Sarah Palin for a while and talk about what the Huffington Post called the "Texas Textbook Massacre". During the next decade, students in Texas will study from textbooks which contain conservative ideology rather than historical facts, following a "no liberal" policy, as the Houston Chronicle already reported in 2009.

Full steam ahead into the conservative brave new world!

However, in these situations, as awful as they are, it's also important to keep the humor - and the people on twitter are doing just that. The #texastextbookfact hashtag became an instant hit on twitter - check it out, it's hilarious!

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UPDATE 3 (by Patrick)

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UPDATE 4 (by Patrick):

Please don't miss the excellent article by Leah Burton on "godsownparty" about the "Texas textbook massacre".

Leah cites from an article by Ed Tubbs - it's chilling:

"The board insisted that references to Margaret Sanger be included because “she promoted eugenics.” Also insisted upon was language that would tout Ronald Reagan’s “leadership in restoring national confidence,” following, as it did on Jimmy Carter’s weaknesses. Also to be included as essay assignments for Texas students, “describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.” The board also required consideration the contributions of “great Americans” that included Billy Graham, Newt Gingrich, and William F. Buckley Jr., and that students were to compose essays noting the contributions of these Americans. Diminished to the maximum extent achievable were positive references to Thomas Jefferson, because of his Deist proposition there ought to be a “wall of separation between church and state;” a proposition the Texas board members cannot abide. "
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