Don't Vote

This is from PittsburghWil

Voting Early

I decided to vote today. It took 30 minutes, the longest I've ever waited. Of course, everyone who wants to vote now until Tuesday goes to one place. The Alaska ballots are pretty easy. All the information is on the page and you just fill in the circle next to the candidate you want. My mother's California ballot was much more difficult. All the names and ballot measures are listed in a booklet. It has numbers for each candidate.
Then you have to go to this computer card and blacken the right number.
This shouldn't be so difficult for the designers to figure out. The California ballot introduces a lot more opportunity for the voter to make a mistake than does the Alaska ballot. And hand counting - should that be necessary - is easier, particularly if the voter didn't do it quite right. Making it computer friendly should NEVER sacrifice voter friendly.

Boreal [Northern Hawk] Owl Visits the Hard Way

4:07pm




A loud thump on the window, but I can't see anything.

4:09pm Outside there's a good sized bird lying in the driveway below the window. But it is moving. I went in and called the bird treatment and learning center. They said to wait a bit to see if it gets up on its own. If not, wrap it in a towel, put it in a box, and bring it in.




4:15pm The bird is sitting up and looking around. Our neighbor comes by. Things are improving. Later I look up Alaska owls and decide it's most likely a Boreal owl. [Dianne, whose knowledge of birds I always defer to] says in the comments below, that this is a Northern Hawk owl. The key point that got me to think it was a boreal owl, was its size. This was not a big owl.]

About 10” long, the Boreal Owl has a chocolate brown back with large white spots and white underparts streaked with brown. Its off-white facial disk with a distinct black border, short tail, yellow bill, and white forehead spotting are distinctive field markings.

The whole story is on the video.


[No, I'm not that anal that I was tracking the time. But my Canon Powershot was.]

Good to see so many conservatives supporting a convicted felon

It's normally liberals who try to put a human face on America's prisoners. Republicans have claimed to be strong law and order folks who endorsed stiff sentences for criminals. But today's Anchorage Daily News letters show a softer, more compassionate conservative streak in Alaska.

"I was disappointed by the conviction of Sen. Ted Stevens. I do not believe the prosecution acted with integrity and I believe there is an outside agenda to remove Sen. Stevens. I will not be swayed in my loyalty to the senator."

Fortunately, the Republicans have been in control of the Justice Department for the last eight years (did I really say that?) so LaVon can't blame the Democrats for this. Clearly the outside Republican agenda is to vacate one of their sure seats in the Senate so the Democrats can get a veto proof majority. I think I heard that story about how losing the election will help Republican fund raising.

"He has given his all to the state of Alaska and now Alaska has the opportunity to stand by and show the same support and dedication that he has shown it and its people. Alaskans now have the opportunity to fight for someone that has fought so hard for others."

About this sacrifice for Alaska stuff. Being a US Senator is one of the great power trips available in the US. You meet the most powerful people in the world. You get to subpoena other powerful people and dress them down in front of the world. And once you're elected, you really have to screw up to get voted out of office. Come on now, he's gotten a lot more than he's given. It was so good, at 84 he wasn't ready to walk away. When someone thinks they can't be replaced, they need to be shown the world can live without them.

"He was tried and convicted by what I consider a kangaroo court and not by a jury of his peers as called for in the Constitution. The whole trial was tainted with prosecution lies and misconconduct."

What would be a jury of peers? US Senators? Rich, white folks? Why not Americans? Oh, yeah, these jurors probably weren't 'real' Americans. But even that 'real' American Sarah Palin has said Ted should step down. Or is that so she can step in? Being stuck in Juneau when there's a chance to get back into the center of national political power is going to be tough. It's true the prosecution slipped up. But that's why we have an adversarial system. Stevens had the best lawyers money can buy. They challenged what happened and got one of the witnesses off the list. But if these prosecutors lied throughout the whole trial, you'd think Brendan Sullivan would have let the whole world know about it.

"What a travesty - an unjust verdict resulting from a patently unfair trial, following an indictment based on erroneous information. No doubt the case will be overturned by less partrisan minds on appeal, but in the meantime, Outside interests are doing their best to throw a monkey wrench in the Alaska Senate race."

What else can say? Brendan Sullivan was there for Stevens to point out any erroneous information. It is true that the prosecutors messed up and that could be the basis for overturning the verdict. But I'd like to know if you also wrote in to complain about Outside interests (like oil companies supporting Republican candidates, like the Mormon church fighting for the One-man-one-woman marriage Constitutional Amendment) or is it only when they oppose your position does outside influence become bad influence?

Denial is a natural reaction as one faces the contradictions between one's world view and the way the world really is. Come on now. Senator Stevens is 84. He's testy when someone challenges him on anything. He's been convicted. I'm glad you see him as more than a felon. That you recognize that rather than calling him a criminal, we should call him a human being who has, among a lot of other positive things in his life, committed a criminal act.

I hope you folks who wrote these letters will recognize that most of the people you read about in the newspapers who get convicted of something, are the same. The act that got them into the newspaper is just one small part of their lives. (Ok, I know, for some it is a definite pattern. But even then, it's worth finding out how they got on that path. I bet you'll find for most career criminals, it started early and there was probably a pretty messy family life. So maybe in the future you'll consider something early childhood education funding, parent training, and other, 'evil' social programs.)

Some of you probably aren't in denial, but you owe Uncle Ted something and a nice letter to the editor will do the trick. But you should have the decency to tell the rest of us this is just a gesture.


Kangaroo Court picture from here.

Anchorage's Korean Tofu House after Nick and Norah

After watching Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist yesterday, we ate at one of our favorite places - a Korean restaurant. While Thai food might be easy to like the first time you eat it, say, like ice cream, Korean food, for me it at least, was more like asparagus. It took a while to appreciate it. Or maybe I just never had any good Korean food. But that changed when friends took us to the Noodle Shop. When they went out of business ( Yak and Yeti is in their old shop) we went looking for another place like that. Someone suggested the The Tofu House which turned out to be even better.

Despite the name, they also have meat dishes too. But we love the boiling tofu soup (it's cooked in metal bowls and it is literally boiling still when you get it) that is on the menus under the glass on the table tops. And meals come with this large array of side dishes.

It's on Fireweed (515 W). Coming west from C Street - past the Greek Corner on the left, and then past the car wash on the right. It's in the next little mall on the right. Prices are very reasonable. This spread cost us $21 I think.

Nick and Norah? It was playful and fun. I guess I better watch The Thin Man to understand the reference (Nick and Nora are the characters in The Thin Man). If it was deep, I missed that part. And what ever happened to the recording they made in the studio? Is that the premise for the sequel?

Note: While Google throws up quite a few Nick and Nora's - not just on blogs- but it appears that Nora is actually Norah. In The Thin Man, it's without the h.

Schadenfreude and Ted Stevens' Conviction

I know that a lot of you out there are jumping with joy at the news of Ted Stevens' conviction today. There are reasons to feel good if you've believed he's guilty or arrogant or if you're working for Mark Begich.

Taking pleasure in another person's suffering is a universal emotion. The German's have a word for it - Schadenfreude.

But watching a man go down, a man who like all of us has flaws, yet also worked most of his life to help his state using the talents he had, shouldn't bring anyone joy. We're all imperfect. We all will have times of grief. And I imagine most of us would like a little slack from others at that time.

Is it possible to mix the feelings of triumph and sadness? To feel good about the carrying out of justice and bad about the personal fall of Ted Stevens? Ted Stevens' recent statements don't make it easy to feel sympathetic. He seems completely defiant. ABC reports him saying today:

"I will fight this unjust verdict with every ounce of energy I have," Stevens said. "I am innocent. This verdict is the result of the unconscionable manner in which the Justice Department lawyers conducted this trial. I ask that Alaskans and my Senate colleagues stand with me as I pursue my rights. I remain a candidate for the United States Senate."

Yet his reaction - his total cluelessness of why he was on trial - is part of the sadness.

Philosopher John Portmann seems to make distinctions similar to mine above, at least as described by Perez Zagorin reviewing Portmann's book, When Bad Things Happen To Other People.

[Zagorin's voice] Persons with a well-developed moral sense who experience schadenfreude are apt to feel a certain amount of shame and unworthiness at being possessed by this emotion even momentarily. Is it not mean-spirited and detestable to be glad when bad luck or adversity strikes someone else, even an enemy or rival, and much more so in the case of a friend? . . . Portmann, however, would relieve us of some of our guilt on this score by means of various distinctions. He believes that schadenfreude is rational and therapeutic in certain circumstances, and makes the important point that it can include a sense of justice when we regard the bad things that happen to people as deserved punishment for their actions. He strives consistently to distinguish between pleasure in the justice of someone's suffering and pleasure in the suffering itself. [emphasis added.]

That's what I was doing above - trying to make distinctions between different aspects of the event. Happiness over the fact that the high and mighty are brought to justice just as the powerless are, seems perfectly normal and justified. Pleasure over the suffering of a fellow human being, in this sort of situation, while also perfectly normal, is probably less justified. Perhaps age softens the edges of righteous indignation, makes me more sensitive to the pain of an octogenarian ending his previously distinguished career this way; allows me to feel comforted that justice has been done, but saddened that a man of such intelligence, drive, belief in his own causes, should have strayed onto this path.

Zagorin is not so charitable to people who take pleasure in others' pain.

This distinction, though, is psychologically so difficult to sustain that I would guess that the two sorts of pleasure continually merge. In an example mentioned by Portmann, the blessed in heaven, according to the great theologian Thomas Aquinas, both see and rejoice in the torments of the damned. This conception, which astounded Nietzsche by its cruelty, is schadenfreude at its highest, and it confirms my opinion that a God who inflicts eternal punishment on his creatures is one of the most wicked and immoral ideas the Christian religion ever introduced into the world. It is also among the reasons that make me question whether, despite Portmann's lucid arguments, schadenfreude can ever be a healthy and justifiable emotion and is not simply a base and nasty feeling which we should do our best to resist and overcome.

It seems to me reviewer Zagorin is incapable of accepting the ambiguities that Portmann suggests. "Base and nasty" seem pretty judgmental terms on his part as well. Should we be condemning those who take pleasure in Stevens' plight as strongly as we would condemn someone who has abused his position of power? My belief is that only when one is completely accepting of one's own self, can one feel truly charitable toward others who are in distress, particularly those who have gotten there through their own actions. Charity towards those less fortunate can easily stem from an unconscious relief that it is them and not me, and helping them can be a self satisfying demonstration of one's superior circumstances. (Before you attack on that one, look carefully at the word 'can' in that sentence. It doesn't have to be that.) Charity toward someone who has brought it onto himself is much harder, but probably a purer form of charity.

If Obama supporters really want change, we are going to have to talk to McCain supporters, find common ground with them, understand their fears and hopes, and fashion policies that allay rather than inflame those fears. It's not about winners and losers. If we don't change that dynamic, then it is business as usual. Dancing gleefully over Stevens' conviction makes more unlikely Obama's chance of bringing Americans together. It only salts the wounds of Stevens' supporters who will wait until they can get their revenge. And Democrats in power will fall victim to the same sorts of ego imbalances that have afflicted Republicans and give those now out-of-power folks their opportunities to enact that revenge.

Taking great joy over Stevens' fall also excuses us from our complicity in

• electing him over and over again
• greedily taking all the goodies Stevens has sent our way from DC
• not taking action to change the system which ensures that lobbyists gain enormous power over legislators because of the need for campaign money

So, my concern about Schadenfreude is not simply a moral one, but much more a practical concern.

• First, let's not heap scorn on Stevens as a way to excuse ourselves, voters in a democracy, from our own share of the blame in accepting this corrupt system we have. ("What can I do, I'm only one person?" is not an excuse. What did you try to do? How quickly did you give up?) We have to be involved because legislators who fight the system - look at Ralph Nader - do not get elected.
  
• Second, if the people of the United States cannot talk to each other with respect and understanding, Obama's possible presidency won't accomplish anything of lasting importance.

Free Wifi at PDX (Portland)

I'm at PDX waiting for my flight from Portland to Anchorage. I keep posting about airports with free wifi (Anchorage, Reno, Portland, ChiangmaiJuneau, Taipei) because I think it's important for people to have access to wifi in transit and I want to alert travelers to where there is free wifi for all at an airport.







My Portland weekend is over. I had good times with friends, but also want to respect their privacy so haven't blogged about them. Also, kept busy and not blogging for 24 hours or more is a luxury. It was hard to get a good picture from the car, but there was a lot of yellow and orange and red outside of Portland.





There are a lot of pumpkin stands around outside of Portland. And in Portland tonight I saw a lot of people in costume. I'm still opposed to moving holidays to the closest convenient day. Doing that means that the god of efficiency is overtaking the god of tradition. Washington and Lincoln's birthdays - once separate holidays - have been lumped into President's day and put on a Monday so people of have three day weekends. Memorial Day used to be May 31, but it too got moved to a Monday. Fourth of July on the second of July would be weird, but if we just call it Independence Day, they might be able to get away with that sacrilege.


I didn't know that 'free cracking' existed, but today I got it.

Air Art and Snacks

I flew from LA to Portland today, via Reno, on a smaller plane that didn't fly as high. The air was clear so I got to see the art of nature and man from above. Sculpting the landscape. First, suburbs north of LA in their continuous push into the hills. Little (from the air) matchbook housing developments.
The houses moving closer and closer to the hills. Some even jumping up onto the tops of the hills.

Further out still, little isolated houses spreading like weeds.

And here's what I refer to as air ag art. The beautiful shapes made by farmers' fields from above, contrasting with the harsh natural landscape.

The dam.

And then I got my bag of Mama Mellace's Chedder stix mix. Look at the little stix. Then look at all the ingredients. But, according to the cover, no cholesterol or transfats. How can such a tiny piece of 'food' have that many ingredients? (Like usually, you can double click the pictures for a better view.)


This was somewhere in the area of Yosemite. The pilot didn't point things out so I'm not sure exactly where we were. As we flew into Reno I saw how Lake Tahoe sits above Reno, held in check by a small range of mountains.

Visiting Marty in Portland, will be back in Anchorage soon.

Free Wifi at Reno Airport

Priscilla Shanks Tried to Teach Palin to Say Nuclear

In the upcoming Sunday Times Magazine, Robert Draper tells the McCain campaign story as series of attempted narratives. I'm partial to the term narrative, because I believe that an important part of how humans think is through stories. They simplify getting all the facts. You get enough to figure out which narrative to pin on a politician or anyone or any situation.. Campaign managers work hard to get the best possible narrative pinned onto their candidates and the worst ones on their opponents. .

The narratives Draper says the McCain campaign struggled through are:
NARRATIVE 1: The Heroic Fighter vs. the Quitters
NARRATIVE 2: Country-First Deal Maker vs. Nonpartisan Pretender
NARRATIVE 3: Leader vs. Celebrity
NARRATIVE 4: Team of Mavericks vs. Old-Style Washington
NARRATIVE 5: John McCain vs. John McCain
NARRATIVE 6: The Fighter (Again) vs. the Tax-and-Spend Liberal

Narrative 4 - Team of Mavericks is where we get the background on how Sarah Palin got picked. Ultimately, it seems anti-climatic. Given this is a nine page article, there's not a lot of particularly interesting meat. All of it is just filling in details, documenting a story that isn't particularly remarkable. However, the one part confirmed something Alaskans have been wondering about is this part on Palin's voice coach:

While all of this was going on, an elegant middle-aged woman sat alone at the far end of the bar. She wore beige slacks and a red sweater, and she picked at a salad while talking incessantly on her cellphone. But for the McCain/Palin button affixed to her collar and the brief moment that Tucker Eskew, Palin’s new counselor, spoke into her ear, she seemed acutely disconnected from the jubilation swelling around her.

In fact, the woman was here for a reason. Her name was Priscilla Shanks, a New York-based stage and screen actress of middling success who had found a lucrative second career as a voice coach. Shanks’s work with Sarah Palin was as evident as it was unseen. Gone, by the evening of her convention speech, was the squeaky register of Palin’s exclamations. Gone (at least for the moment) was the Bushian pronunciation of “nuclear” as “nook-you-ler.” Present for the first time was a leisurely, even playful cadence that signaled Sarah Palin’s inevitability on this grand stage.

So who is Priscilla Shanks? There are a lot of hits for her on Google, but most of them are empty. Her Linkedin profile says this:

Priscilla Shanks’s Summary

12 years independent public speaking and media consultant in on-air broadcast training to broadcast journalists and those making the transition from print to broadcast journalistm

10 years experience as adjunct professor at New School for Social Research teacihng [sic] Public Speaking for Professionals

Currently in private practice preparing professionals and authors for media appearnaces, training executives, doctors, CEO's and business leaders in profit and non-profit organizations for their range of public speaking engagements.

On retainer to ABC Network News and CBS Network News and in private practice to broadcast journalists.