It's a Totally New Game

First, please be patient with me.  I'm working in an environment where trust is very important. Some people feel they've been burned by the media and they know of blogs that focus on dishing dirt. I've got to gain some trust before I can blog about work.  That said, most  people have been incredibly nice, both at work and in town. I've also been working long hours, which leave little access to non-work topics and little time to write.  I barely even got to see the blue sky and sunshine that was out part of the day.

But I have  been expecting the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. I've had some thoughts as this decision was coming up. They've all probably been made by others, but I haven't seen anything.

1. I think with this decision, the fiction that the Conservative court would be a strict constructionist court and not an activist court is revealed to all who are open to the obvious.
2. When  the majority says this is about free speech and people's right to hear all views,  they are either:
a. exceptionally duplicitous,
b. ideologically blind, or
c. incredibly naive.

We know from modern advertising, from the Nazi, Soviet, and North Korean Propaganda machines, and from Fox News, that if you say something often enough, if you know how to appeal to their emotional fears, you can get many of them to believe anything. With corporate interests unleashed to spend as much as they want on political propaganda, the idea of free speech, the idea of democracy is endangered by a huge imbalance of money to shape how people see the world. (I haven't read the decision yet, so if you have, please make appropriate adjustments where I mischaracterize the scope of the decision.  If you haven't read it either, take what I say about the specific direct consequences with a grain of skepticism.)

3. Is this the end of democracy in the US and the beginning of a corporate dictatorship? Not necessarily. There are still some limits.
a. There are things like the internet, though if corporate interests can buy laws that favor them to take over and control access and content, the internet may not last as a mild west of free speech.
b. Nothing lasts forever. Even the powerful become smug and fall. But how bad will it get before that happens?
c. There are already people working on a Constitutional Amendment to limit individual constitutional rights to living human beings and not corporate entities.  But will corporate America's new expanded spending freedom create advertising against such an amendment kill it?
d. Will there be an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court that would allow Obama to shift the balance? Probably not.
e.  Will the perceived-as-more-enlightened corporate wealth at the Googles and Apples counter  the more conservative companies?  I suspect their messages may sound somewhat different, but they also, are large corporations, that have common interests with the Bechtels and Exxons.

My parents grew up in Germany, so it is a reference that I have some knowledge of. I don't raise these analogies lightly.  My comparisons here are not to concentration camps, but to the manipulation of language to shape people's view of the world.  The Nazis were elected to power democratically. In his two volume diary, I Shall Bear Witness, Victor Klemperer (cousin of the conductor Otto Klemperer), documents his daily life as a Jewish professor in Germany during World War II. His parents had converted to Christianity and he had been baptized if I remember right.  He was married to an Aryan. He'd also seen combat in WW I. All these factors gave him more protection, longer than most other Jews. He writes about daily life, how he slowly loses parts of his University job until it is totally gone.  He chronicles the erosion of other rights as his options are restricted more and more.  But he also documents the use of language by the regime to encourage support for the government and the war effort through manipulation of language to disguise setbacks on the battlefield and to create the idea of a great Aryan nation and the racially inferior others.

While these ideas are spread throughout Witness, they are extracted and expanded in Klemperer's Language of the Third Reich (LTI: Lingua Tertii Imperii).  The link is to the Google book version.  It is pretty academic as it attempts, through exhaustive counting of the use of words and the evolution of the meanings, to show how language was manipulated to control what the German people thought.  (You can enlarge the text below by clicking on it.)

You can already see this happening among many Fox addicts. They live in a Fox shaped reality.   A more accessible, though limited, glimpse into LTI is in Wikipedia's coverage of this book.  
 
My great concern about this court decision is how it takes off the limits on corporations' ability to shape how we view the world, using the tools they've perfected by selling us cars and deodorant and, increasingly, candidates.   Up to now, there have been limits on how much corporations can spend,  But now they will market their sacred role in society and demonize those who oppose them with far more power at elections.  One has to twist logic to the extreme to believe this is about first amendment rights.


Here's a related BBC video on Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays, who took his uncle's ideas from psychology and used them to create what we know today as public relations. (Thanks for this link goes to a commenter on the Victor Lebow post.)




Wikipedia says of Bernays:

Combining the ideas of Gustave Le Bon and Wilfred Trotter on crowd psychology with the psychoanalytical ideas of his uncle, Dr. Sigmund Freud, Bernays was one of the first to attempt to manipulate public opinion using the subconscious. . .

Adam Curtis's award-winning 2002 documentary for the BBC, The Century of the Self, [the video above] pinpoints Bernays as the originator of modern public relations, and Bernays was named one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century by Life magazine.^[2]

Already, there is scurrying to study how this decision is going to affect a myriad of state laws across the country, including in Alaska.  The most obvious impact will be on campaign limits and campaign disclosure laws.  This may well prove to be among the most significant Supreme Court decisions of the century.  I take solace in the fact that nature seems to move toward balance, and when a system goes off into one extreme, it comes back.  So, Nazi Germany fell as did the Soviet Union.  But if this tips the balance as greatly as I suspect, and in a way that allows sophisticated marketing techniques to shape the thinking patterns of enough people to win elections into the future, then how far will this swing us, before we come back to some semblance of the sort of democracy we know today? 

Blogger Reputations

The word blogger doesn't conjure up the best image in many people's minds.   So, for the time being, my blog isn't going to cover any legislative issues.  So, for today, here are some pictures.  Above are what I'm pretty sure are juncos I watched while eating breakfast.

And this was the clearest view I've had since we got here as I walked the short distance to work.

And these two totems are on my way too.


And it looks like spring with these rhododendron buds.

And the sun was even out. This is from the State Office Building Lobby through the window.

Day 1

Blue sky over mountain
Into to Capitol
Scurrying people
Office crowded
Is he in?  Sorry
How does this phone work?
It’s broken
Called maintenance
Hi, I’m X from Rep Y’s office
Is he in?  Just left
List of bills
Revenue forecast
We found the chair in storage
Where does this go?

Carry the bill
Eat at desk
Make a list of questions
Hi, I’m G.  Welcome
Assign to committee
Wildlife calendar?
Down to chambers
Girl scout color guard
Alaska Flag Song
Open session
Back to office
Will I ever figure this out?
Does anyone ever pause?
Reception tonight.
Where’s that meeting?
Needs to sign, is he in?

Short Jog Along Flume Trail

Taking running advice from non-runners is never a good idea. Yesterday our friend drove us up our street (so far we'd only gone down into town) and showed us the start of Perseverance Trail and the Flume trail across the way as well as the creek trail in the middle that goes to Cope Park.  When I asked about running it as a loop, he seemed to think it was a bit far.   Well, today I decided to explore what all was there.  The first picture is not far from our place, looking down Gold Street along the east side of downtown Juneau. (from 1 to the bottom of the map) (Juneau readers, please indulge my exploring your well known paths.)  But I was headed in the opposite direction, and fortunately, I'm already pretty much at the top of the hill.  From here it loops to the right onto Basin Road.

There were people walking their dogs along here, still some houses, but very quickly I'm into pretty dramatic scenery.  Well, with the very steep mountains all around Juneau, it's all in dramatic scenery. 





At 2 there's a bridge and a branch to the Flume trail.  But I wasn't sure and went over the bridge and up what appeared to be a trail, though it was covered with snow and there weren't really obvious footprints.  I think it was a trail, but it looked like it was going up and I knew that wasn't right so I backtracked to the bridge and took this picture up Gold Creek  (Basin Road here is blocked to cars during the winter) toward Perseverance Trail and Juneau's gold mining origins.  The second picture of the creek looks to the bridge to the Flume Trail.

So I got to the Flume Trail.  It's really pretty short.  So, what's a flume?  Not exactly an everyday word.  According to Wikipedia:

A flume is an open artificial water channel, in the form of a gravity chute, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow. Often, the flume is an elevated box structure (typically wood) that follows the natural contours of the land. These have been extensively used in hydraulic mining and working placer deposits for gold, tin and other heavy minerals. They are also used in the transportation of logs in the logging industry, electric power generation and to power various mill operations by the use of a waterwheel.

And that's exactly what this is.  A wooden box following the contours alongside a creek.  And while this is Gold Creek, I had to use almost the full citation because it was the last purpose that was important here -  electric power generation. 




Here's more from the sign at the end of the flume (3 on the map.)  The sign was pretty hard to read - it wasn't just the photo - so I did find the same description in PDF form.

And from here I had a glimpse through the trees back into the modern world - Juneau and Douglas across the water. 









Now I was out of the woods and back on a street with houses.  And very quickly came to the sign pointing to the stairs to the cemetery. 



We'd passed the cemetery yesterday as we were being driven around, so I figured the cemetery was probably a good way to go. 

 

Steep stairs down.   Then past the cemetery and past this brightly colored house.  I'm starting to realize that although Juneau has longer days in the winter than Anchorage, in Anchorage we probably get more light.  We've been here about five days and I don't think I've seen any blue sky, let alone sunshine.  I remember coming to Juneau once in May and it was sunny for the three days I was there.  But the people in Juneau said it was the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth days of sun for the year.  So, a brightly painted house like this adds a little cheer. 

And then I was in Cope Park.  Just a stairway from home. 

I've played tennis at this park tennis court once.  But that was summer.  Is this why they invented green tennis balls?

And then the stairs back up.

Back on 7th Street and almost home

I hadn't noticed this sign before. I'll have to follow up and see what exactly they study.



All in all, it turned out to be a very short and easy run.  The post took longer to put up.  [If you ever wonder why blogspot bloggers like to post large pictures in the center of the page instead of alternating left and right like this, it's because this is a pain in the neck to do on blogger.  The pictures and text do not show up in the composing window the way they will on the blog.  Even the preview, while closer, isn't accurate.  It's only when I actually post this that I'll know if it worked or not.  If not, I have to go back in and move things around.  Blogger, are you listening?]

For people who haven't been to Juneau (probably most of you), the map just shows downtown which is pretty small (manageable by human power.)  There is more of Juneau further north and south as well as Douglas Island.  It's been Alaska's state capital since 1906.  According to Wikipedia, the 2008 Census population estimate was 30,988 and the

 area of Juneau is larger than that of Rhode Island and Delaware individually and almost as large as the two states combined.

Bamboo Grows in Juneau

Juneau is NOT Anchorage.  At 61˚ North latitude, Anchorage is north of Stockholm and Olso (both 59˚.)  Juneau is 58˚.  (Belfast and Copenhagen are 54˚, Amsterdam 52˚, London is 51˚, Seattle is 47˚, and New York City is 40˚N.)  We visited an old friend yesterday afternoon and he has bamboo, not just growing, but thriving, in his front yard.  That shouldn't be a shock since bamboo grows in Beijing where it can also get cold in winter.  Being right on the water keeps Juneau temperatures from getting overly hot or overly cold. 

But we Anchorage folk assume that a foot of snow on the ground in January is going to stick around a while.  Well, here's a picture I took our first night, when we'd just gotten into our apartment. 

And here's the same view, today, five days later.

I'm going to do an exploration jog.  We were going to head out to the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, but it turns out that is in the valley, not downtown where we could walk.  Joan has figured out the bus system a bit, but we're not even sure it runs on a holiday.

Unpacking and Setting Up the Office

Saturday the three of us staff members met at the office to unpack the boxes that had been shipped from the Anchorage office.   This is part of the glamorous work of being a legislative staffer.  Rep. G. and his wife arrived on the Alaska ferry from Whittier about ten am.  People said it was a three day crossing and part of the trip had some decent swells.  We also compared notes about what we'd heard in the training, both from the presenters and from other staffers. 

We all had one experience in common.  When we told people who we were working for, people who've been here before, immediately said, "Oh, Mr. Amendment."  Rep. G has the reputation, we were told, over and over again, of fixing details in bills.  We also hear - this we knew already - that he's smart, extremely decent, and that he'll work us hard.  

We unpacked the boxes with books and put them onto the shelves in chronological order (the series of law books) but decided we should wait for Rep. G to come in to let us know how we wanted the other stuff put away.  All of us are new this year, so we have to rely somewhat on staffers from other offices until we get our bearings. 

Here's Ted.  Another question I got from people when they learned I was in Rep. G's office was, "Are you an attorney?"  Well, Ted is headed for law school. 

And, Gretchen, the other staffer, recently graduated from law school graduate and passed the Alaska bar. 

We took a lunch break.  Gretchen went to walk her dog and Ted and I went to pick up the suitcase he had driven down for us.  The snow was off the steep hill where we live so it was an easy haul.  Then we met back in the office with Rep. G.

Some of it was pretty mundane - where the chairs go, where to file things, settling which staff member is going to focus on which committees and who would be in charge of basic office functions.  There's scheduling and making daily calendars, constituency work, monitoring emails, etc. 

Friday Afternoon Training Sessions

The ethics was in the morning.  J met me in the State Office Building for lunch.  I saw in the newspaper that on Fridays they have an organ concert at noon.  They also have public access wifi from the state library in the building. 

The music was mostly what I'd call merry-go-round organ music.  Inspiring in a very casual way.  You can read several articles on the history of the organ the Puget Sound Theater Organ Society website.  It begins like this:

In 1928, W.D. Gross, pioneer Alaska theater owner, had the organ built for his Coliseum Theater on South Franklin Street. The instrument complemented silent movies and was used until 1926, when talking motion pictures replaced the silents.
 

Obviously, they didn't mean 1926.  It did say it was moved to another theater in 1939. 

The afternoon sessions included presentations by the Building Manager, the Chief of Security, a Fire Safety person, people from the Supply Office and Mail Room, the Accounting Supervisor, people from the Print Shop and Documents offices, the Legislative Information and Teleconferencing Offices, the Director of Legal Services, the Legal Research Manager, and the Librarian.

Everyone was knowledgeable and seemed genuinely interested in making sure we knew what services they provided and how we could contact them and use them efficiently.  They all conveyed that they knew there was lots to learn and it was okay to ask 'dumb' questions.  Someone in the accounting office warned us to be careful what information we put down on accounting documents ('use your office addresses and phone numbers, not your home info') because this is all public information should someone care to ask for it.

The Legislative Information Office was particularly interesting to me.  I was vaguely aware of them but going to the downtown office to participate in a teleconference with legislators seemed pretty intimidating and I was skeptical about the impact.  But I'm ready to take a second look.  The people at that office do outreach into communities across the state to help people be more comfortable about coming in and participating.  I would imagine their impact would be greater in rural communities than in Anchorage where there are so many people.

It would be interesting to know whether people on the other end feel the same way about the LIO.  Did I feel intimidated because of my own expectations or because of how it is?  Since I've never actually tried to go to a teleconferenced hearing, I guess it was my own bias.

But a lot of what goes on in Juneau is also available online.  Here's a link to one of the State pages.
Here's part of that page below:

The Legislative Research Service conducts research for legislators on non-legal issues. Their webpage includes a list of links, including a page where you can search for old reports they've done.

Around 3:30 we moved over to the House Finance Committee Conference Room which is on the fifth floor of the Capitol Building.  (I'll try to discuss the key buildings later when I figure them out.)  This was lead by the chief of staff of the House Rules Committee and included the House Sergeant at Arms, the Chief Clerk, the House Records Supervisor, and one more person who wasn't on our agenda and whose title I think was Rules Committee Aide. 

The Lounge was mentioned.  As I understood it, this is where Reps can go eat and relax.  The only other people allowed there are Sergeant of Arms staff such as the pages.  Staff are not even allowed to knock on the door.  If staff needs to get a message to their legislator, they have to give a note to a page.  But there's a new service this year - again, this is what I understood was said - so that staff can order sandwiches from the Lounge as a separate window. 

They also went through the protocol for the House Floor.  Again, legislators only, plus pages and other Sergeant of Arms staff.  Notes must go through the pages.  Staffers (and the public) can view from the gallery, but even there, no cell phones, no texting, no flash photography.  No disturbances. 

The Chief Clerk went into detail about paper work necessary for moving bills along and how to track them.  Chit sheets are long, narrow yellow sheets with the names of each of the representatives.  I'm not completely sure what these are used for - I think they help keep track of who is supporting bills and I think someone said they were used for voting before electronic voting.  The Rules Chair, we were told, would no longer require these be turned in with each bill.  When we recounted this to Rep. G he had a big smile and highly praised the Rules Chair for this move. 

The Records Officer said all meetings - except  subcommittee and task force meetings - are recorded digitally and then transcribed.  Staff could borrow the equipment for those other meetings if they wished.  I understood that all these are made available on line.  I'm not sure if the recordings are or just the transcripts. But I think the recordings.  I think these can be found on the Media page above. 

It's Sunday morning.  We were supposed to meet in the office at 9am to do more unpacking.  We have a friend coming to meet us at 10:30.  I got to the office and no one was there.  So I checked my messages and they'd decided to come in later, so I took advantage of the break to catch up on the blogging.  But I have to run now.  Have a good Sunday.  The snow is pretty much gone from the streets and sidewalks now.  Just the shrinking berms where snow was pushed and the green areas still have snow. 

Ethics Training Session

We did three and a half hours Friday going over the ethics standards.  This is territory I know pretty well, in general, but I don’t know the details of the State Law, so this was useful.  

Joyce Anderson, the Administrator of the Legislative Ethics Committee, went through a long Powerpoint and fortunately we all got copies so I can go back and remember what was said.  We also got copies of the Standards of Conduct Handbook (pdf). A key point early on, from the slides,  was:

Two aspects to being ETHICAL
Knowing right from wrong
Having the moral willpower to do what’s right (discipline)

So yesterday’s session was designed to help us know right from wrong.  There seemed to be five key areas though considerable time was spent on gifts. 

1. Gifts
1. No gifts over $250 from anyone.
2. No gifts from lobbyists.  Period.
2. Separating Political and Personal Activity from Legislative Activity Paid for by the State 
1. Don’t do Legislator’s personal chores while on the Legislative payroll
2. Don’t do any campaign related work while on the legislative payroll
3. Constituent Services
   
1. Legislators and staff may help constituents determine how to get through the state system, but may not advocate for constituents dealing with state officials
4. Potential conflicts of interest must be Disclosed
5. Other  
1. Legislator or legislative employee may not disclose information deemed confidential by statute.
2. Legislative Employees may not file a letter of intent or declaration of candidacy to become a state or national candidate
3. Legislator or legislative employee may not request or accept compensation greater than the value of the services performed. (To prevent companies from ‘hiring’ legislators in the interim as a form of ‘gift’ rather than serious employment.)
   

I think that those are the basic areas.  But the handbook in the picture is 121 pages long because there are lots of exceptions, gray areas, and examples.  Here's a little more on some of those categories.



Gifts

The $250 limit is cumulative from any one person or entity, but there is no limit on how many people a staffer could get up to $250 worth of gifts from.  This includes everything from Money, Loans, Services (Cleaning, child care, legal advice, etc.), Entertainment, Hospitality (stay at a home, room at a hotel), things (flowers, clothes, etc.), Promise or Other Form.  (Promise of payment whether it's carried out or not.)

Also, there’s a distinction between gifts connected to one’s legislative status and gifts NOT related.  But this too can become complicated if a person is both a good friend or relative and also has business affected by the legislature. 


With lobbyists, there are a couple of exceptions on the no gift policy. 
First the basic rule:

Gifts from a registered lobbyist OR immediate family OR a person acting on behalf of a lobbyist are prohibited.

Exceptions:

1. Food and drink (for immediate consumption)
1. Lobbyist must report to APOC if the value of food and beverage exceeds $15
2. Gifts from an Immediate Family Member (spouse or domestic partner; OR parent, child or sibling under certain circumstances (this means the lobbyist is the immediate family member)
3. Contributions on behalf of a charity or charity event
4. Contributions to a charity
5. Compassionate gift

Let’s clarify.  A lobbyist can take a legislator or legislative staff member out to eat, but only up to $15.  If over $15 it has to be reported.  This includes not just the legislator or staff member, but also their the spouse or domestic partner.

However, “If the food and beverage is provided as part of an event open to all legislators or employees, no disclosure is required.” (Handbook, p. 29)

Charity events are also a big thing in Juneau apparently and it is okay for a lobbyist to buy a ticket to a charity dinner and give the ticket to a legislator or legislative employee.  There is a limit of $250 per lobbyist per legislator per year for charity events. So, if there were a Haiti Rescue Chairty Dinner next week, a lobbyist could buy and give five $50 tickets to Rep. G for him and his staff and wife  to go.  BUT, the Alaska Legislative Council must approve the charity event in advance.

A compassionate gift is when there is a health-related emergency, catastrophe, or tragedy.  To qualify it must have prior written approval from the chair of the Legislative Council and Ethics Committee and some other requirements.  Flowers, fruit baskets, etc. do not require pre-approval. 


Separating Legislative and Personal Status is intended, in the case of staff, to keep the staff from doing the legislator’s personal chores while on the state budget.  The only things staff are allowed to do while being paid by the State are activities that are legislative functions.  The Powerpoint slides tell us, however,

"There is no definition of 'legislative purpose' in the Legislative Ethics Act"

And sometimes the line is blurred.  An example from the handbook (page 10):

Q:  May a legislator or legislative employee ask or allow staff to pick up a clean shirt at the dry cleaners if the legislator or employee just spilled ink on the shirt being worn and must soon attend a meeting?
A:  Yes, this falls within the infrequent and unusual situation rule. 

Staff are not allowed to schedule non-legislative events on the legislator’s calendar, however, they are allowed to record such events, made by the legislator, on the calendar to avoid double booking the legislator.  There's an attempt, in these examples, to have rules but recognize that there are times when it's reasonable to make adjustments.

Also in this category is separating legislative and campaign functions.  So there are strict rules against using State funded legislative newsletters to campaign.  Factors for evaluating if something is allowed include:  Timing (how close it is to the election); Content (is it legislative or candidate info?); and Audience.  But mentioning anything about one’s campaign is prohibited.  Newsletters are not allowed 60 days before an election unless there is prior approval. 

Legislators are not allowed to do any campaigning from the office.  However, if someone calls and asks a campaign question, the staffer doesn't have to just hang up.  The staffer can  refer the caller to a campaign phone number or website.  This same ‘receptive’ rule is in effect if, say, the doctor's office called to change an appointment.  A staffer could check the schedule and change the appointment time. 

Constituent issues.  Legislators and their staff are allowed to assist their constituents with problems with State agencies - say an issue over their Permanent Fund Check.  The assistance is restricted to helping the constituent determine the right office to contact, understand the procedure, etc.  The legislator or staff is NOT to take the role of advocate or tell the State agency personnel how to resolve the problem. 

Disclosure.  There are situations when legislators and staffers must file official disclosures.

Gifts

1. If Legislative related
1. aggregate total under $250 from same person/entity in a calendar year, NO disclosure required. 
2. aggregate total over $250 from same person/entity in a calendar year (some are permitted)  disclosure required.
2. If Non-Legislative related 
1. - over $250 is required and disclosure may be required

Other required disclosures:

1. Membership on a Board of Directors
2. State Benefit and Loan Programs
1. there’s a long list of programs (from the Violent Crimes Compensation Board and Right of Way Easement to the Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund)
2. -State Contracts and Grants, if annual value is $5000 or more 
3. Close Economic Association
1. If there is a financial relationships between legislators, legislative employees, public officials (as defined in Statute) and registered lobbyists
2. These might include any business or employment or even rental agreements
4. Financial agreement to represent a client before a state agency, board or commission

The group that interprets the law is the Select Committee on Legislative Ethics composed of

Public Members - Dennis ‘Skip’ Cook (Fairbanks);  H. Conner Thomas (Nome), Gary J. Turner (Chair)(Soldotna); Ann Rabinowitz (Anchorage); Herman G. Walker Jr.  (Anchorage)

Legislative Members - Senator Gary Stevens (Alt Senator Joe Thomas);  Senator Tom Wagoner (alt Senator Bill Wielechowski);  Vacant (Rep. John Coghill moved to the Senate) (Alt.  Rep. Carl Gatto);  Rep. Berta Gardner (Alt. Rep. Les Gara)

I don't recall hearing what the penalties are for violations.  I guess I should look that up.

This is a lot to swallow in three and a half hours.  Just to write this post, I had to go back through my notes and the handbook carefully to be sure I had it right. And I don't guarantee that it is all correct.  But it gives a sense of what all is involved.

That was just the morning session on Friday.  But I'll stop here and try to cover the other afternoon later.

Meanwhile, rain and wind are quickly getting rid of the snow.  I've had a hard time getting to good wifi spots, plus there's just been a lot to do. And the ferry from Whittier arrived this morning carrying lots of legislators and staff members and their cars.  Monday is Martin Luther King's Birthday Holiday, so the session begins on Tuesday.  But things are starting to happen.  We spent part of today unpacking the boxes that arrived from the Anchorage office.

Snowy Juneau

Here's looking down our street this morning at downtown Juneau as I went to this morning's ethics training session. 

The wisdom of this kind of stairway is a lot more obvious when it's snowing than in the summer. This means there's an alternative to getting down the hill on an icy sidewalk.

ADN Outsources to Philippines

I forgot to mention this.  When we canceled our Anchorage Daily News  home delivery before we left.  It took a while to get the operator who turned out to be in the Philippines.  Last time we canceled was in October last year and I didn't notice then that the person wasn't in Anchorage.  Maybe it was already outsourced.  I understand that businesses do this to save money by centralizing their phone answering services nationally and I understand that the ADN is owned by McClatchy.  But still, calling to tell your local newspaper should temporarily stop delivery being answered by someone in the Philippines seems a bit much.  I wonder how much they save by doing that?  And what happened to the person who used to do that in Anchorage?