The Four R's - Rendition, Rosencrantz and Guilderstern..., Rent, The Reader

We found our way back to Blockbusters. We'd been away so long that I found three movies just in the R section and then J got another one when she took those back.

We liked Rendition and The Reader a lot. Rosencrantz and Guilderstern are Dead we probably need to get again when we aren't so sleepy. I think Tom Stoppard is one of, if not, the best playwright alive. I first became aware of him when I saw a fantastic university production of Arcadia, then began to see he'd been involved in other things I liked, such as Shakespeare in Love. But his work requires a clear head. There's lots of very cerebral humor and we just weren't up for it. Need to go back and reread Hamlet before watching it again.

Rendition was both a tight dramatic adventure movie with good actors - Jake Gyllenhaal, Meryl Streep, and a great cast of Arabic actors as well - that also talked to an important issue of our day - secret prison camps and torture and kidnapping. While the Cheney types keep talking about the lives that are saved through torture, they never discuss the innocents who are needlessly tortured based on some minor suspicion, who eventually offer confirmation of the whatever the interrogators want to hear, leading to more innocent suspects. I also liked that the Arabs in the movie spoke Arabic with subtitles instead of dumbing it all down to English. In the world, not everyone speaks English, and certainly not when they are talking among themselves. The US is far away from non-English speaking countries (except Mexico). So most Americans see non-Americans on television and in movies, where they usually speak English. It's important to have movies portray them speaking their own languages. Movies have a powerful effect on how we understand the world. Even if we know intellectualy that they don't really speak English, we know, viscerally, from the movies, that they do.

The ending was disappointingly Hollywood. Unless they can show me where a CIA officer felt sorry for a captive and helped him escape, I think sweetening the end for American audiences almost ruins the movie. Making all the loose ends in the length of a movie isn't an easy task. The best movies manage to do it. I wasn't completely satisfied, but it kept my attention all the way through. I'm sure there is an ideological divide among viewers. This is clearly an anti-Bush policy movie and those who think fighting terrorism is the most important thing in the world will not be happy with this movie. There was also an interesting documentary on rendition and prison camps also on the DVD.

The Reader raises all sorts of questions. Here, the characters are almost all German, but the cast isn't. They do have German accents though and I'm sure it was much more accessible being in English. (I've already discussed the issue recently of acting cross-culturally in a post on the play Man in the Attic - which also took place in Germany.) The Reader based on a 1995 German novel Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink. While the focus of attention on this movie has been on the Holocaust, it also raises issues about sexuality that I think are even more interesting. I say this only because the Holocaust seems to be covered so much. While sexuality is everywhere in our culture, it isn't usually dealt with frankly and realistically. In this case, a 15 year old boy is seduced by a woman 21 years his senior. By the end of the movie it is clear that this relationship has seriously damaged him emotionally and he's been unable communicate seriously with anyone.

Lots of men probably have the same symptoms from various causes. I've always wondered whether early sex with an older partner is ALWAYS the negative that we assume. Can an older person introduce sex in a positive way to a younger one? I suspect the difference in ages is relevant, that 15 is probably on the young end of the scale, but that each person is different. Clearly its lasting effects in this story are permanent debilitating scars. But, and this is a big but, how much of the scarring was due simply to the short affair and how much to the fact that the boy, later, as a law student in a small course on the Holocaust, attends the trial of - and he didn't know this in advance - his former lover who is convicted of murdering Jews as a Nazi concentration camp guard. Would he have gotten over the affair if it weren't for the second half? I know there are people who say that any sort of relationship like this is bad, and it clearly is for many if not most. But I don't know what research exists that looks at those who had such relationships and went on to have happy and healthy lives.

Anyway, a good, serious movie with no sweetened endings.


Rent. We made it through the whole movie, but we kept looking at each other and with a look that said, "Why was this a big hit?" Maybe those folks in the 20 - 40 range could relate better to all the issues brought up about relationships and compromises, but that's told a million different ways. This one just didn't connect.

Warm and Smokey

Warm days - into the high 70s/low 80s - and smoke from wildfires all around the State. Worked in the yard and cleaning out the garage the last couple of days. Trying to make room for summer visitors in the house. More room in the garage means I can move things out there on their way to finding new homes.





Here's a picture of the same view, on a normal, clear day, but without any telephoto. This is much more common. It feels a bit like Chiang Mai with warm air and haze.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

This post is better if you have the music from the video on in the background.



We just lost our girlfriend governor. You know, the "hottest Governor in the country" that we've had this rocky relationship with. It started out pretty good. She stood up against Frank and said ethics was the most important thing in life. And we'd never had ethics before and we loved it.

But then John caught her eye, dangling before her much more than we had to give. She was flirting with states all over the country, humiliating us. But when they dumped her, we took her back. It was hard to see her with all those others, but damn it she was "hot!" and she was our governor, no one else's, even if she was so high maintenance.

But now she's made it official. She broke up with us on Friday. She doesn't like ethics with us any more. It seems it didn't just get boring, she's started to hate it. When she was in charge, she loved it. But now that we decided that we wanted to call the ethics shots, she's no longer into it.

And while she told us it was over and she was going to her secret hiding place, she must have her cell phone, because all these other guys are suddenly over at her place and they're as love struck as we once were. She's teasing them. Yesterday they each got to make out with her for ten minutes on the beach, and then she went on to the next guy.


Sorry, different metaphors keep trying out for the role of explaining Sarah Palin. Today, I've been taken over by the high school metaphor. Let's try a variation on this theme.

OK, I graduated high school before Palin was born and I'm sure things are different now. But when I was in high school, there were different cliques.

The soshes (from social) were the 'in' crowd. The beautiful people of high school, they defined what was cool and not. (Has 'cool' been in all this time, or did it go away for a while and come back?) Even among the soshes there were rival cliques. They had minor differences, but they all wore the right clothes, drove the right cars, hung out at the right places, and dated the right people. The cheerleaders (Title IX wasn't even an idea then) and the football players were the inner circle.

Then there were various others castes. The nerdy people were smart, but hopelessly dressed, socially inept, and a bunch of loners. Some soshes used the smarts from time to time for help with homework and exams (and helping them gave the nerds the illusion of temporary coolness), but the in crowd laughed at them behind their backs and sometimes, if necessary, would humiliate them in public.

And then there were others who simply didn't count at all. They weren't well dressed, they weren't cool, and they weren't even smart.

I can't help seeing Palin as one of the soshes. Popularity is the most important thing. The image has to be maintained - cool clothes, being with the right people, doing the cool things. Basically looking good. Going to class is a social event and homework is so boring. She'd been a sosh in Wasilla, but when she moved to Juneau, it was like changing schools and she had to work her way in.

She used some of the nerds to come up with AGIA. They realized she wasn't too smart, but she was beautiful. They loved it when she walked around with them, holding their hands, leaning up against them, as they walked past their usually untouchable rivals the oil team. The team had been busted for gambling with the legislature and were temporarily on probation.

But when John, that college guy, caught Palin's eye, all bets were off. She quickly tried to act college. But she was out of her league. But when they wanted her to be a pit bull - hell that was easy, it was her natural behavior and hiding behind a facade of nice was so tiring. Well, that relationship didn't work out, but a lot of other college guys started panting after this hot high school chick.

But for a while, she came back to finish high school. But it wasn't any fun any more. She even stopped going to class at the end of this last semester to hang out with some college guys. And those nerdy chicks with the blogs started getting brazen and telling people that she wasn't pretty without all that make up, and who was buying her clothes, and they put up posters all over school every time she dallied with another guy. Who are these bitches?! But no matter what she said, they wouldn't leave her alone.

And so now she's announced that in her sophomore year, she's dropping out. I don't need you guys, I'm bored with you. I don't need to do my homework, the college guys like me just the way I am.

Deciding Which Public Information to Release

If you want to see the maturity of Alaskan bloggers, go look at Henkimaa's post "The 2 Million Dollar Meme." Mel writes a term paper on the Palin claim that $2 million has been spent on dealing with 'frivolous' ethics complaints. Mel pulls together ADN stories as well as posts from various blogs (yes, full disclosure, even this blog) which have covered the Personnel Review Board's report that only $300,000 has been spent on these, 2/3 of which was for Troopergate which Palin filed against herself. Mel posts a variety of charts.

Palin's counterclaim is that she's counting the cost of all the time others besides the Personnel Review Board spent. One line from a new ADN article from Sean Cockerham Mel quoted caught my eye:

It is a per-hour calculation that the Palin administration put together, involving time spent by state lawyers deciding which public information to release as a result of all public records requests, time spent by governor's office staffers responding to media inquiries about ethics complaints, and time technicians spend on retrieving requested e-mail, among other things.

This isn't in quotes in the article, so I'm not sure Palin actually said this or Sean has worded it this way, but as I understand it, no one should be deciding which public information to release. ALL public information should be released.

Palin is also quoted as saying she didn't take the filings personally, she's just concerned with all the money it's costing. Yeah right! This just doesn't square with how often and how emotionally she's mentioned it. Why was this mentioned, say, in her resignation speech? On the other hand, I have said that some of the complaints are pushing the line of what we consider acceptable. For instance, all politicians use their offices as stepping stones to higher office and campaign while in office. And for an Alaskan, physically so far away from DC, more time is required. But, ethics review offices, such as the Municipal Board of Ethics, have a pre-screening process with which they screen out 'frivolous' filings. It doesn't take that much time. I think she's taking her cue from the hate-radio guys - never back down from anything you say. She said two million and she's going to go with that no matter the contrary evidence.

Anyway, check out Henkimaa for one of the most indepth Alaskan blogger reports. As I say, this is a professionally prepared report on the topic. (OK, I said term paper above, but my grad students' term papers were often as good or better than reports the government pays for.)

McNamara and Palin - Wrong Stories

Robert McNamara died today at age 93. Lots of others are covering this story. I want to pull out a quote played today on NPR from the movie Fog of War.

"We saw Vietnam as an element of the Cold War, not what they saw it as - a civil war. We were wrong."

McNamara was usually characterized as a 'technocrat.' Over 30 years ago, management scholars Blake and Mouton developed their managerial grid where they identified two characteristics of managers - people orientation and task (production) orientation. McNamara came to the Department of Defense in the Kennedy administration from the Ford Motor Company, clearly a task oriented person. He had a Harvard education and had through his task orientation and mastery of details, done great things for Ford.

I would argue that Palin tends to be more of a people oriented person and mastery of the technical details of getting the job done are not her strength.

I think though that there is another issue that caused failure for both - they both used their skills to push the wrong story.

McNamara told us that his story going into the Vietnam war was "The Cold War" but it should have been "Civil War."

In the Cuban Missile Crisis, at the end, I think we did put ourselves in the skin of the Soviets. In the case of Vietnam, we didn't know them well enough to empathize. And there was total misunderstanding as a result. They believed that we had simply replaced the French as a colonial power, and we were seeking to subject South and North Vietnam to our colonial interests, which was absolutely absurd. And we, we saw Vietnam as an element of the Cold War. Not what they saw it as: a civil war. [also from NPR]

I think that Palin's problems too, are based on a story that is at odds with most people in the US. It's a story, apparently, based on a strong belief in a fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity. It's based on relatively sheltered life with a small set of family and friends and experiences which never seriously challenged her story. Combine this then with her people orientation - which values loyalty (taking care of your own and expecting them to stand with you) - and a weakness with details and analysis of complex issues.

So, it is understandable when Palin is startled by the animosity towards her and it might explain her vitriol in attacking those who challenge her. But I think that while many of the issues that have been raised against Palin are petty, the real issue is the antipathy to Palin's story. Perhaps one day, an enlightened Palin, like a more enlightened McNamara, will say something like:

"I saw good and evil as established by Fundamentalist Christianity, not as they saw it as defined by the Constitution of the United States. I was wrong."

June 2009 Google Search Hits and Misses

I've been doing occasional posts on interesting Google terms people use to get here and how successful their searches have been. This time I've grouped the searches based on how close I think they got to what they were looking for.


Where Google does well:

how to dehydrate alcoholic beverages - got to a post on an Alaskan who says he's close to having dehydrated beer for campers.

There have been a number of people searching variations on those words. I thought it was interesting that domain name of the searcher was: US Dept of Treasury


the soor mulk cairt - I had to look this one up myself; I didn't remember putting it in a post. And I didn't. This phrase was in a comment made by Scotsman Mirksome Bogle on a August 2007 post. He has such a knack for catching the actual sounds.

tutsiroll tamarind - I described tamarind as having a color and texture a little like a tootsie roll and Google figured this out despite the unique spelling of tootsie roll.

lec aphorisms - This went to my post on famous people born in 1909 which included a short bio of Stanislaw Lec which included some of his aphorisms such as these:

Some like to understand what they believe in. Others like to believe in what they understand.

In the beginning there was the Word -- at the end just the Cliché.

Many who tried to enlighten were hanged from the lamppost. Burning stakes do not lighten the darkness.

hoover women agents - Got to my post on women in the fbi. I'd say this one was a direct hit. And it's a pretty good post too. Talks about the first women agents - a few before Hoover who left within a year of his becoming the head of the FBI. And how the next ones got in after he died.


high wire michael fajans - Bullseye again. High Wire is a series of paintings of a magician by artist Fajans at the Seattle Airport. I put the whole set of pictures into a video for the blog. If this person wanted to see those pictures, he got exactly what he wanted and there doesn't seem to be anything else posted with all the pictures. If she wanted some history about the paintings, then this is not a bullseye. But because of the query, I've added two brief descriptions of the paintings to the post. I also learned, much to my dismay, that Fajans died in 2006, in a motorcycle accident in Seattle.

high school geography test - This query came from New Jersey and got exactly what was requested - some of Ropi's high school geography test questions in Budapest. It's not as bizarre as it sounds since the test was in English. There was even a link to the whole test.
most interesting google searches - Another direct hit. But there are a number of posts on interesting google searches. Why this one and not the others?





prison talk i will self surrender to the us marshalls - Got to a post about Vic Kohring self surrendering. Was it helpful? Not sure what the viewer wanted so I can't tell.


Chanot Thailand - My post on Chanot Chumchon. is about a type of chanot, but should get the person a bit closer to what they were looking for. A chanot is a deed for property and Chanot Chumchon is a community deed for property. This one took some things from the internet, but then a fair bit of questioning of my colleagues at the office in Thailand to put together.





On the paper, but no Cigar:

what to avoid with cracked ribs got one of my reports on my son's broken ribs after he was hit by a car, but I don't think he quite got what he was after.







Missed the Target

They did get a word, but not what they wanted.

onunwor pronunciation - (from Columbus, Ohio) here's the google summary the person got:

What Do I know?: February 2008
... Gray of bribing then-East Cleveland mayor Emmanuel Onunwor involving a no-bid, ...... The pronunciation is easy to remember - “In Sea”) Land Reform ...
www.whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html

It's got onunwor and pronunciation. But this is one of those situations where the two words come from two totally unrelated posts. When you click, you get a long page of February 2008 posts which includes the first post listed about the Cleveland Mayor. But not the second one. My post does NOT help the reader figure out how to pronounce Onunwor's name.


"what does not guilty mean?" speeding - The google result only had two entries! A main and a secondary reference to this blog. Pretty amazing that they could find only one website with “what does not guilty mean?” and a variant of ‘speeding’. Why didn’t it offer pages without the ‘speeding’ variant? Anyway the person got two posts on the Kohring trial. The first one didn’t have the phrase in it. The second post - Kohring Day 7 - had Kohring’s attorney’s closing argument which included the sentence, “What does not guilty mean?” It also had, later on, the word speed: “He was a frequent flyer with Joyce Anderson. Should have had her on speed dial.”

celticdiva everquest - Here's a Google problem. I have celticdiva on probably all my posts, because it's one of the Alaska blogs I link to. So if someone puts that in with something else, they'll score both. And I have a post which mentions everquest - it was a post noting the passing of Gary Gycax, the inventor of Dungeons and Dragons.





Does Google Have a Sense of Humor?


living next to a telephone poll - I love typos like this that turn out to make sense, but not as intended. This reader got to a post looking at the affect on polling of the increased use of cell phones.

are bugs a problem going up to alaska in july? - You know how Google sometimes asks, "Did you mean: XYZ?" Well they did this time too:

Did you mean: are drugs a problem going up to alaska in july?

Google, are you making jokes about the quality of Alaska dope in July? Coming up as number 2 out of 643,000 hits is my post “Catching Up - Thai Bugs”. While the word Alaska appears on the blog itself, it is not in the post. I can’t believe there aren’t posts on Alaska bugs in July that shouldn’t have been better matches.


Click this link for other posts on interesting Google searches.

Too Nice To Be Inside - Quick Catch Up

Falling behind on some things here, so here is a quick catch-up post.

BS called to see if I wanted to bike on Wednesday and we had a great time riding from Bird Point (Seward Highway mile 99) to Girdwood and back on the bike trail made from the old road that clung to the cliff and I was always behind an RV going up at 15 miles an hour. Much better as a bike trail.






Bear scat-
terd
along the trail








On the way back we stopped at the view point that looks up the valley. We'd seen gulls and a raven harassing an eagle on a tree top, but I waited too long to get my camera out of my pocket trying to get closer. It flew off and over us before I had it ready.



But we did watch the green-violet swallows. In Thailand I gave up on trying to identify the swallows. They fly too fast to catch in the binoculars and would never land where I could see them. But this one in the tree was sitting in the sun with the green and purple iridescently brilliant. But of course it turned around when I was taking the picture.






There were a couple of free to use binoculars at the rest point, so I tried out my camera in the eyepiece.





The tree trimmers came by Thursday morning. We'd planted trees long ago to have a screen between us and the neighbors, but the birch have gotten so tall that we're getting less and less sun in the yard. I've read the Cooperative Extension pamphlet on why you shouldn't top trees, but Scott Gage promised to do it in a way that wouldn't kill the trees or look weird. He said those rules of trimming came from the midwest and east where they had 100 year old oak trees that people wanted to top and people get carried away with the rules. Anyway, they did it so well that the before and after pictures are too hard to tell what they did.




And last night we went to see episode 3 of midnight soap scum. I thought last week's episode better. It seemed there was less satire and more farce last night. I still don't know why the swimming pool scene was there, but maybe it will be revealed next week. There was a program this time so I can recognize some of the actors that particularly impressed me. Rebekah Franklin is close to Tina Fey in her spot on

portrayal of Sarah Palin. Steve Deloose, well, I've never met him out of character, so I don't know how much he's acting here. But his character of Phillipe-Auguste is a kick. And Mama Rose Mary, the narrator is my favorite. She takes over between the scenes. Last week she had a huge blond wig and red outfit. Last night, despite the relatively normal dark wig and Alice in Wonderland dress, her incredibly bitchy and attention needy persona made her the star of the show for me. (People who were there will all agree, because they know if they don't, she'll embarrass them in front of everyone next week.) She's on the far left in the picture.

Celebrating the Buddha's First Sermon Today

Along with American Independence Day, today is also Asanha Puja. After a frenzy of people worrying over a speech Alaska's governor gave yesterday, it seems appropriate to spend time on a sermon given about 2500 years ago.

Asalha Puja (known as Asanha Puja or Asarnha Bucha in Thailand) is a Theravada Buddhist festival which typically takes place in July, on the fifteenth day of the waxing moon of the eighth lunar month. It commemorates the Buddha’s first sermon in the Deer Park in Benares and the founding of the Buddhist sangha. In Thailand, Asalha Puja is a government holiday.
The day is observed by donating offerings to temples and listening to sermons. The following day is known in Thailand as Wan Kao Pansa; it is the first day of vassa, the Theravada rains retreat.
(test and picture of Buddha under tree below from Wikipedia)

J and I went to join in the celebration at Wat Alaska Yanna Vararam. I knew about this because I've been trying to keep up my Thai by studying with one of the monks every Tuesday.


People from three different wats (Thai temples) joined together to celebrate and there were 12 Thai and Lao monks.


Don't worry, it was ok to take pictures. The monk even gave me his camera and asked me to take some for him too.

So what did the Buddha say in that first sermon? Well, I would say this text is worthy of a lot more time than we've given Governor Palin's resignation address which I doubt will be looked at in 20 years, let alone 2500 years.

Here's part of an account of it from one of the Buddha's disciples:

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying at Varanasi in the Game Refuge at Isipatana. There he addressed the group of five monks:

"There are these two extremes that are not to be indulged in by one who has gone forth. Which two? That which is devoted to sensual pleasure with reference to sensual objects: base, vulgar, common, ignoble, unprofitable; and that which is devoted to self-affliction: painful, ignoble, unprofitable. Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

"And what is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding? Precisely this Noble Eightfold Path: right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration. This is the middle way realized by the Tathagata that — producing vision, producing knowledge — leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to Unbinding.

"Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress: Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful.

"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the origination of stress: the craving that makes for further becoming — accompanied by passion & delight, relishing now here & now there — i.e., craving for sensual pleasure, craving for becoming, craving for non-becoming.

"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the cessation of stress: the remainderless fading & cessation, renunciation, relinquishment, release, & letting go of that very craving.

"And this, monks, is the noble truth of the way of practice leading to the cessation of stress: precisely this Noble Eightfold Path — right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

The Text of the Sermon comes from accesstoinsight.org. where you can get the rest of it. See below for the copyright information on using this text.

My understanding of all this is amateur at best. But my experience living with Thais in Thailand 40 years ago, was that no one is exhorted to live a certain way. People aren't condemned for not following the path, but rather, the path is explained and people may follow it or not. The path, that is to nirvana, to escaping the cycle of life.

And while the letting go of desires for pleasure may seem extreme to Americans, we do understand that people should give up 'vices' such as alcohol and drugs because while these may cause temporary pleasure, they cause long term discontent. Desires for food beyond what we need to stay healthy, for inappropriate sex, for possessions beyond what we really need, are also seen as offering short term pleasure at the cost of greater long term harm.

From my limited understanding of Christianity, I don't think the message is significantly different from that of Jesus five hundred years later. The desires for more than we need, lead to the problems of discontent from unfulfilled desires, jealousy of others, anger, etc. Only when we let go of these desires, can we experience a peace that is a greater solace than all the desires. Obviously, I'm not there and can only cite what I've been told.

But I think this is all good to think of the day after our governor announced her resignation. What sorts of desires led her to where she is today? What sorts of desires have caused many to take joy in her apparent fall from grace? What desires lead Alaskans to covet the Permanent Fund but be stingy about paying taxes? We are all humans and should be looking for ways to bring comfort to our fellow humans, not pain. If we offer help to those around us and refrain from bringing them pain, our community will be better for it. I'm not exempting myself here.


And we can take these messages not just from Buddhism, but from all the world's religions. Let us reject those religious leaders who interpret their holy texts as sources of hate and intolerance and war, and embrace those who see the messages of peace, tolerance, and love.

Let's show love and compassion to our politicians too. That doesn't mean giving them a pass when they do wrong. But our corrections of them, like our corrections of our children, should be with caring. Not with glee at their pain.


Provenance:
©1993 Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.
This Access to Insight edition is ©1993–2009 John T. Bullitt.
Terms of use: You may copy, reformat, reprint, republish, and redistribute this work in any medium whatsoever, provided that: (1) you only make such copies, etc. available free of charge; (2) you clearly indicate that any derivatives of this work (including translations) are derived from this source document; and (3) you include the full text of this license in any copies or derivatives of this work. Otherwise, all rights reserved. For additional information about this license, see the FAQ.
How to cite this document (one suggested style): "Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta: Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion" (SN 56.11), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, June 7, 2009, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html.

Palin's Loyalty to Alaska Forces Resignation - Tea Leaf Time

[Cut to the chase: looking at this press release, sentence by sentence, I get one message: " Something bad is going down and I'm quitting so it doesn't hurt Alaska."]

A friend called me to ask what I knew.

S: About what?
KS: About Palin's resignation.
S: You're kidding.
KS: No, I thought you might know something you can't print.
S: I know much less than some people think.

OK, it's tea leaf time. All I have is the press release to sift through. If you want to skip down to the press release which is below the tea reading, click here.

Warning: I'm just looking at the words in the press release here and what they suggest and don't suggest. I'm not second guessing whether it was written in good faith or with a clear understanding of what it implies and doesn't imply.


Quote 1

“People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska,” said Governor Palin. “Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.”

". . . serving [Alaska's] people is the greatest honor I could imagine" implies

• So, I'm not resigning because I want to.
• Being President of the US would not be as great an honor.

Early Palin fan, and someone I never expected to quote, Jonah Goldberg, suggests in a letter to Palin published in the National Review and reprinted in today's ADN that Palin's got great charisma but needs to get up to speed on the issues.

So here’s my advice. Stay home and do your job and your homework. You’ll still be a national figure come the primaries. But if you can’t surprise your detractors with your grasp of policy when you re-emerge on the national stage, you won’t win the nomination. More important, you won’t deserve to.

By resigning, she's not taking his advice to do her job. If she were planning to take his advice about doing her homework so she can be a national figure in 2012, then why would she make serving Alaska the highest honor imaginable? And why not some word that would just hint at doing some homework?

Quote 2

“I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement.

The right path for Alaska, she seems to be saying, is without her as governor. Why would that be? Has she been watching Sanford do damage control as he tries to hang on as governor of South Carolina? (No I'm not suggesting he's Trig's daddy.)


Quote 3

“Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose.

Ok, deciding not to run for reelection (without the context of the earlier quotes) could be for many reasons. She could then be free of state obligations as she prepared for 2012.

She does play her maverick theme (isn't 'politics as usual' more or less the opposite of maverick?) which could be seen as a hint that she's going to be in the national race again.

Except, what does "in this climate" mean? It doesn't sound like she's talking about a good climate. The press release has an Anchorage byline and here the sun is shining brightly and it's about 70˚ out. So she isn't talking about weather. What exactly is she referring to?

The ragtag pack of local bloggers shouldn't amount to more than a cloud briefly hiding the sun for a serious presidential candidate. Does she mean the Vanity Fair article, and the public debate among Republicans that's going on about whether she's fit to run for President, is raining on her parade? But that storm is in the Lower 48 and shouldn't disturb her being Governor of Alaska.

Not only isn't she going to run for reelection, she's not going to be a lame duck. She uses her disgust with 'politics as usual' to explain her stand on lame ducks. Let's play that logic out. Once you are reelected to your last allowable term, you are a lame duck. So, you should just quit after you are elected if it gets cloudy? Maybe everyone should be limited to one term. But then everyone would be a lame duck... You can see where that logic leads.

Or is this just a cover for why she's going to be the first Alaska governor to quit before her term is up? I think Nixon was the first (and only) US president to quit before his term was up. People generally don't quit when things are going well, even when they are rocky. Just when they are disastrous. [Correction: Wally Hickel quit as governor of Alaska to accept an appointment from President Nixon to be Secretary of the Interior, a position that greatly impacts Alaska.]


Quote 4

It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.

Duty? As governor she has an official duty, but if she resigns, then she won't have that official duty. But I can accept that she feels a personal duty to protect Alaska. But we're still talking about Alaska, not the US.

so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption

What's the interruption? She's pulling out, as I read this, because something is going to happen that would interrupt Alaska's journey to the future if she were Governor. So it isn't something about the state, it's about her. Something that would interfere with her running the state. Maybe there's another way to read this, but that's what it says to me.

I can't make hide nor hair of "best to make a difference this summer and I am willing to change things." It comes out of the blue in this sentence. The only thing preceding that suggests change is needed is hidden between the lines.


Quote 5

I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

This sentence leaves some hope for Palin supporters. She'll be around to help, not just at the state level, but national as well. But this, in the context of the whole press release, is what she'll do with her new spare time, it isn't the reason she's leaving Juneau.


Quote 6

The list of her accomplishments is too long to quote. Just go down and look at it.

This list could be interpreted, as writing the first draft of her legacy as Governor. Optimistic Palin supporters could see it as part of her resume in her application for the US Presidency. If the body of the press release had even had a hint of moving to bigger and better things, they might take heart. But it doesn't. I won't even touch the questions about the legitimacy of the list or what is missing.

Using logical analysis to parse what Sarah Palin says is sort of like using a tape measure to see how good a concert was. But by looking at what's written in the press release (as well as what's not), I don't see hint at better offers - I doubt Obama has asked her to be ambassador to Russia. Maybe she's started to realize how much work writing a book is and doesn't want to risk the $11 million. But the press release itself is all about her love of Alaska and not wanting to interrupt the State's progress. The basic message I read from this: "Something bad is going down soon, and I'm going to resign from office so that my problems don't interfere with the State's well being."

But now that we know there's a cat in the bag, can she keep it in there for three more weeks?

.................................................................................


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-167

GOVERNOR PALIN ANNOUNCES NO SECOND TERM

NO LAME DUCK SESSION EITHER

July 3, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin announced today that she will not seek a second term as Governor of the State of Alaska and will relegate the
power of governor to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell in order to serve Alaska’s best interests. Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will move into Parnell’s current role.

“People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska,” said Governor Palin. “Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.”

Standing outside her home in Wasilla, Alaska, Governor Palin reflected upon some of the administration’s accomplishments for Alaska as she approaches her final year in office.

“I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement. “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success. I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

The transfer of power will occur following the Governor’s picnic in Fairbanks on July 26. At that point in time, Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell will be sworn in and Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume his role as Lieutenant Governor.

Governor Palin will spend July 4th in Juneau.

###

Selected Accomplishments of the Palin Administration

General
· Transferred more control of public issues to the local level Natural Resources
· Created the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office to oversee responsible development
· Held the line for Alaskans on Point Thomson that encouraged drilling
· Restructured the state’s oil taxes to create a clear and equitable valuation formula for our oil and gas
· Initiated and implemented the largest energy project in the world through the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act
· Removed government from the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands
Ethics
· Ushered in ethics reform
· Cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions affecting development Fiscal Notes
· Slowed the rate of government growth
· Worked with the Legislature to place billions of dollars in savings
· Vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars in capital budget line items
· Reduced Alaska’s dependence on federal earmarks by nearly 85%
· Eliminated state-funded personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, and junkets
· Refused a pay raise, along with the Lieutenant Governor Education
· Provided unprecedented support for education initiatives Public Safety
· Filled long-vacant public safety positions over the last year Corrections
· Broke ground on the new state prison Fish and Game
· Maintained biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance Environment
· Established first sub-Cabinet on climate change
Legal
· State’s rights protected in two recent victories handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court





For those who must know, the tea is a Chinese jasmine. Labrador tea would have been more appropriate, but I'd have to go pick some first.

Catching Palin's Numbers

From innumeracy.com:

Innumeracy: A term meant to convey a person's inability to make sense of the numbers that run their lives.

........................................................................................


There's nothing wrong with appearing pretty and being bubbly. These are great attributes for a politician. But there has to be substance as well. Andrew Halcro wrote last year:

I've debated Governor Palin more than two dozen times. And she's a master, not of facts, figures, or insightful policy recommendations, but at the fine art of the nonanswer, the glittering generality. Against such charms there is little Senator Biden, or anyone, can do. . .

"Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers, and yet when asked questions, you spout off facts, figures, and policies, and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and I ask myself, 'Does any of this really matter?' " Palin said.

So, when we get some facts from Palin's office, we should pay attention. Last week, this press release was made available on the state website:


Which closed with this:

The critical part of that State press release, the part where we get Palin's version of facts, is that last sentence about spending "millions of dollars."

At the time, Phil at Progressive Alaska wrote:

I suspect that statement is complete bullshit. Millions of dollars means from $2,000,000.00 on up, if I am correct.

I challenge Alaska's mainstream media to attempt to determine just how much this has cost Alaska taxpayers, and to have it broken down, case by case.

Well, in today's Anchorage Daily News, Sean Cockerham met the challenge:

Ethics complaints against Gov. Sarah Palin and top members of her administration have cost the state personnel board nearly $300,000 over the past year, almost two-thirds of which appear to be from the Troopergate investigation of the governor.

But Sean doesn't quote that "millions of dollars" charge from the June 23rd press release. All he says in the article is this:

The governor's office has said 15 "frivolous" ethics complaints against Palin or her staff, some on issues raised by bloggers, have been dismissed with no findings she violated the executive branch ethics act. "How much will this blogger's asinine political grandstanding cost all of us in time and money?" she asked about a March complaint.

It seems to me that the most significant part of this story is the gap between the Palin allegation last week and the actual cost of the complaints. Deducting the Troopergate costs - which resulted from Palin filing a complaint against herself so that the friendlier Personnel Board would review it instead of a Legislative Committee - the cost of complaints was down almost to $100,000.

Anyone who knows anything about math knows that an error of that magnitude is outrageous. It's like estimating a $100,000 house to cost about $2 million; a $10 scarf to cost $200. Either way it reflects poorly on the Governor's office. Either they were just lying or they are innumerate.

OK, the press release adds in public records searches, but the way they figure those charges is also grossly inflated and seems to be aimed at preventing people from gaining access to public records. At best it would still leave a huge magnitude of error.

There's a reason Palin doesn't use facts. This became clear during the presidential campaign. She's not on top of facts that matter in her job.


The second significant part of this whole fiasco, is the tone of the press release which makes it sound like people who file complaints are 'outrageous' and 'malicious' and 'asinine.' I understand that talk show hosts use divisive and derisive language to boost their ratings.

But the governor of all the people of Alaska should recognize complaints for what they are: a way for people to get accountability from their elected officials. Sure, there are people who maliciously file complaints, though I think in these cases the people filing the complaints believe they have legitimate grievances. But that's why we have courts and review boards to sort things out. I think that active gadflies serve an important purpose. When politicians know their actions and words will be questioned in the newspapers, on television, and on blogs, they will document their positions better before acting. That's how we get better government. Besides, professional review boards have standards that complaints must meet before opening full hearings to get rid specious filings.

My advice to the governor is to put on a happy face and welcome any charges because that will allow a legitimate review board to get all the information and to show the public what really happened. And to embrace the critics for making her do her job better. Remember: honey, not vinegar.

But I'm afraid that the governor's folks, unlike the talk show hosts, take this all very seriously and personally. It's as though they see themselves as force of goodness and light and anyone who opposes them must be allied with the forces of evil.

So, one last thing. Sean, why didn't you point out the discrepancy between the "millions of dollars" statement and the actual amount? Or did an editor cut it out? That itself would be an interesting story.