Tuesday Sept 21 - Permanent Fund Check Amount Announcement Day

I botched my last PFD post - I didn't read carefully enough about the difference between sending out the old checks that were left over (today Sept. 16) and the checks for 2010 (October 7).

And I couldn't find any information on when the exact amount would be announced.  Today I called the Governor's office in Anchorage and they told me the date the amount will be announced is Tuesday, September 21.

As I said in the previous post, a  July 31 ADN article predicted it would be pretty close to last year's $1,305 - between  $1,250 and $1,320.


I would also note a comment from Anonymous in Ohio, who raised questions that I think are not uncommon from people Outside [Alaska jargon for everywhere not in Alaska.]  So I'm including Anon's comment and my response here.

Anon:
As a resident of Ohio, which sends more money to the federal govt than it receives back in federal funding, I am interested to know why Alaska sits on a fund with $35 Billion in assets, pays its citizens a 3 figure dividend from that fund every year, even when the fund has negative earnings in the prior year, yet gets more than double in federal funding what it sends as tax revenue. Why doesn't Alaska use that $35 B to build infrastructure, improve schools, and provide basic services to the villages? Do Alaskans pay federal tax on their permanent fund dividend? I actually find it rather distasteful to learn Alaska is taking federal funding while divvying up $8M among its residents.

My response to Anon:

Anon from Ohio, answering your questions could take up a few whole posts. But just briefly,
1. The US Government owns 60% of the land in Alaska. So a lot of money that comes to Alaska is related to managing your land here in Alaska. This includes a mountain officially named after a favorite son from your state and which your Congress members refuse to allow to be changed back to the name given by the original Alaskans. (The key opponent, Rep. Regula retired in 2009, so maybe there's hope now.)
2. Alaska has a large military presence and a lot of the federal money goes to that.
3. Alaska only became a state in 1959. Ohio has had over 200 years of statehood and federal help to develop necessary infrastructure. We have lots of catching up to do.

Do we deserve all the money we get from the feds? I'm not sure, but there are unique and justifiable reasons why Alaska gets so much federal money.

Why shouldn't we use the permanent fund now? That's a reasonable question. It was set up on the grounds that the oil was not a renewable resource and that one generation of Alaskans shouldn't squander the wealth and leave nothing for future generations. The idea is that when the oil money runs out, there is a fund that has been saved, which the state can tap to help pay for government. I would call that prudent management.

However, many Alaskans have taken the dividend so for granted, that they would oppose allowing the fund to be tapped to run the government. But as oil revenue runs out, the dividends of the fund should be able to pay for a good portion of our expenses. It's like a trust fund for the state.

Don't get me wrong. You're asking legitimate questions, but I'm guessing, Anon in Ohio, if you lived here you would be collecting your annual check and not want to dip into the principal.

Relaxing View of Waldron Lake

I managed to squeeze a run in this afternoon, and that helped clear my head, but I'm tired.  These three days with Tim Wise in town have been great, but busy.  So, here's a picture from Sunday when the weather was so spectacular.  This is Waldron Lake (near the soccer fields) from the bike trail just south of Tudor between the Seward Highway and Lake Otis. 

Anti-Racist Tim Wise on Conservative Talk Radio Today at 9:30 and 10am

[UPDATE:  10:30am - Here's what happened.  They put Tim on early at KWHL and I missed it totally.  What I heard was pretty disgusting and shows that if Bob and Mark learned something about Native Americans, what they learned didn't transfer to other groups.  I may address it in another post.  The discussion with Dave Stieren was good.  Dave asked serious, hard questions and Tim responded just as seriously.]


I didn't have time to post the video from last night at UAA.  It was pretty strong, but the audience at UAA was right with Tim.  Anyway, this morning Tim is on

KWHL 106.5 at 9:30 am.   [UPDATE: He's on KFQD -750AM - doesn't seem to have been on KWHL]

Tim Wise Signing Books at UAA Tuesday Night

This is with Bob and Mark who earlier this year had a segment called Cash for Tlingits which caused a serious reaction from Native Alaskans.  This resulted in the First Alaskan Institute and Healing Racism in Anchorage to begin 'conversations' with the two dj's involved as well as other station staff members.  Bob and Mark have issued apologies that were not viewed as pro forma, but really showed an understanding of why people were so offended and angered. 

This is a talk show and their audience hasn't gone through such a transformation, so this could be interesting.


At 10am, Tim will go down the hall and Anchorage Media Group to one of their other stations - KFQD 750 am - and will be on the Dave Stieren show.

Here's some of KTUU's description of the press conference (there's a video at the link too) after the discussions:

. . .After several months of ongoing meetings, the radio duo says the process has been illuminating. 

"Everything I've learned in the last three months has made me a better human being," Colavecchio said.

When KBFX “The Fox” shock jocks Woody and Wilcox were called on the carpet in 2008 for making a racist and sexual joke that targeted Native women, the outrage led to serious consequences, including a two-week suspension of the hosts.

"And they got taken off the air and there was a huge backlash against the Native people and it was -- oh, and there was all these just horrible, disparaging comments, and how we couldn't take a joke," Rowan-Hellen said.   [Actually, Healing Racism in Anchorage and the Native Heritage Center (I think) worked with them in a similar fashion with a similar result.  It just wasn't made as public at the end as this incident was.]

But everyone involved in this incident hopes the outcome of this effort will take wing in a different direction. It was Rowan-Hellen who called for a face-to-face meeting with Lester and Colavecchio.

"I didn't want things to be done in anger, because I was angry," Rowan-Hellen said. "What I wanted was to sit down, so that Bob and Mark had my face in mind, so they knew me as a person -- so they could see, and that hopefully they could see what they were doing was hurtful."

Lester said he was surprised at the response.

“I was overwhelmed with the feeling of forgiveness,” Lester said.

The turning point came when Lester and Colavecchio attended a totem-raising at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and met Alaska Natives who were fans of their show and were excited to see them. Colavecchio said he felt the kind of shame you feel when you hurt someone who loves you, and still embraces you.

"It transcends words," Colavecchio said.  

The First Alaskans Institute's Liz Medicine Crow says words are also where healing can begin.

"In the Tlingit culture, one of our values is to speak carefully and understand the power of words," Medicine Crow said.

"The Bob and Mark Show's" involvement doesn't end with Wednesday's news conference. The hosts and their station have pledged to do more to promote some of the positive aspects of Native culture.

A group called Healing Racism in Anchorage has planned several events this month.

Contact Rhonda McBride at rmcbride@ktuu.com

 It was pretty foggy last night after the UAA presentation and it's still foggy this morning.

This is Going To Be One Nasty, Tacky Election

I recently had a post about how some people aren't affected by facts that contradict what they believe and how emotion and personal narratives, the stories one has about how the world works.  As someone who thinks facts are important - would you like your doctor operating on you based on her opinion or based on scientific evidence? - I also recognize that we are all ruled by emotion as well.  And we need both to be rounded human beings.

So I'm posting this video, not because I personally like it, but because it shows that the Democrats are abandoning any semblance of rationality and reasonableness and going for the truly tasteless in hopes it will work for them like it does for Republicans.  This is an anti-Joe Miller ad that says it's from Blue America,  Outsiders who seem to think Alaskans  read at a 3rd grade level.  I wonder where they could have gotten that idea?

From the Blue America website:

Blue America '10

Among Blue America pages you will find actions dedicated to specific endeavors, like defeating Blue Dogs, rewarding members of Congress who have been fighting for meaningful health care or for ending the disastrous occupation of Afghanistan. There is even a page dedicated specifically to giving props to progressive hero Alan Grayson and one dedicated to the best challengers running for the U.S. Senate this year. I'm kind of partial to the one that Digby came up with to send a message to the Inside the Beltway Establishment by supporting BETTER Democrats, the non-corporate kind.

Whistling Vivaldi at the Anchorage School District with Tim Wise

Tim Wise met with ASD teachers and administrators today and talked about a lot of situations where racial stereotypes - on the part of the students as well as the teachers - affected students.  He cited a book called Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele.  The title, he said, comes from a black kid who found that at night when he walked near whites, they tended to cross the street and/or clutch their purses much closer.  He started whistling Vivaldi in these situations and white folks stopped avoiding him.   An interesting story that reminds me of black male friends and acquaintances who tend to dress up when driving to lower the odds of being stopped by the police.

Wise cited a number of other studies some of which are in the Vivaldi book.  Here's an example from a review of the book by Coert Visser

Experiment 2: Aronson, Lustina, Good, Keough, Steele & Brown (1999)
In this experiment, the researchers asked highly competent white males to take a difficult math test. In the control condition the test was taken normally. In the experimental condition, the researchers told the test takers that one of their reasons for doing the research was to understand why Asians seemed to perform better on these tests. Thus, they artificially created a stereotype threat. In the experimental condition, the test takers solved significantly fewer of the problems on the test and felt less confident about their performance.

You can listen to an Claude Steele on Talk of the Nation back in April this year.

And if you are in Anchorage, you can hear Tim Wise at UAA Wendy Williamson Auditorium tonight (TUESDAY, SEPT 14) at 7:30pm.  Free.  Parking around Wendy Williamson is also free from 7pm. 

Tim Wise 10am Alaska Time on Talk of Alaska Now

Turn on KSKA right now - 90.3.  Or your APRN station around Alaska.


Here is in the workshop last night in the Mountain View Credit Union 1 community room.

From the APRN website:

Talk of Alaska: Racism

Fri, September 10, 2010
Years ago, the best-selling book “Black Like Me” showed White Americans discrimination they never had a chance to see.   Now the book “White Like Me” points out once again that it is all too easy to be totally un-aware of racism.  But that doesn’t mean it disappears.   The author of “White Like Me,” Tim Wise will be the guest on the next  Talk of Alaska.
HOST: Steve Heimel, APRN
GUESTS:

• Tim Wise, author, “White Like Me”
• Callers Statewide

PARTICIPATE:

• Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air)
• Send e-mail to talk [at] aprn [dot] org (comments may be read on air)
• Call 550-8422 in Anchorage or 1-800-478-8255 during the live broadcast

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, September 14. 2010 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide

Anti-Racism Workshop with Tim Wise Goes Well

[Disclosure:  I'm on the steering committee of Healing Racism in Anchorage, so I'm both reporting and promoting this.  But I wouldn't be involved if I didn't think it was very important and if we didn't have good programming.]


We had limited the workshop to 35 participants, but a few more showed up, and so we squeezed them in.  Squeezed around small tables gave us an intimacy, which, along with a good dinner, brought us closer together.  Here's Tim Wise responding to someone's comment.

Much of the workshop was discussion in our smaller groups.  We began with people saying what they hoped to get out of the workshop.  Then, while the group ate, Tim synthesized what we'd said into two basic areas:

1.  How do respond to individual incidents, and

2.  How to respond to structural racism.

We then worked in our groups to make lists of why people hesitate to speak out when faced with racial discrimination - whether jokes, disparaging comments about a group of people, or structural obstacles based on racial stereotypes.  It was a long and interesting list.  I don't think I got half of what was raised in my notes.  But here are some of the reasons. (Of course, the discussion was much richer than this.)

1.  People don't like confrontation, want to be polite.
2.  Fear - of retaliation, of being ostracized
3.  Exhaustion - it happens so often that people are just too tired to try to explain what is wrong
4.  Don't think it will make a difference
5.  There's unequal power - one has to complain to people in authority
6.  Feeling all alone in the situation
7.  Too emotional when it happens to be articulate and 'reasonable'

Related to this was the question of whose responsibility is it for white people to be aware of racism and its effects on people of color and on whites themselves.

There were also some suggestions for taking action.

1.  Sometimes one should wait until both sides are calmed down so the discussion can be more productive.
2.  Humor and the arts are often ways to defuse or make the point.
3.  Facts are useful, but (as I posted the other day) they won't necessarily change someone's opinion.  At that point counter narratives are necessary to get people to understand.  That is, telling one's own story and own pains to counter the other person's story of how things work.  Often people simply have no experience and hearing someone's story will expand their own narrative.
4.  Ask questions rather than give answers.  "Why do you think that?"  "I don't get it.  Can you explain to me why you think that is funny?"  "Do you have any data to support that?"
5.  Tim offered a two step option:
Step 1:  Personalize the lesson - give an example from your own life
Step 2:  Depersonalize the critique

• talk about the situation and the behavior but not the person.  
• acknowledge that you yourself have on occasion succumbed to such thinking. 
• acknowledge that even the best intended people think or say racially biased things because our society has conditioned us to think that way. 

We had people from a wide set of backgrounds and the discussion was rich and helpful.  This is the sort of safe setting in which to talk about race that  Healing Racism in Anchorage creates for our six week classes.  A mix of guided large and small group discussions to share experiences and perspectives grounded with factual information and lots of participation.  The next such class will begin Wednesday, September 22.  There's more information at the Healing Racism in Anchorage website.

Tuesday morning you can listen to Tim Wise on KSKA (91.1 FM) Talk of Alaska in Anchorage (and APRN stations around Alaska as well as online) from 10 - 11am.

And there's a free talk at UAA's Wendy Williamson Auditorium at 7:30pm.  Parking around the auditorium after 7pm is free.

Student Loans and Private For-Profit Colleges

I know someone, let's call him Mike, who has attended a number of for-profit colleges, mostly on-line.  They've promised him all sorts of things and helped him get student loans from the government. 

Charter College Graduation - Faculty

After he graduated from high school - a questionable achievement from a small rural school where a relative was involved in deciding who graduated - he applied to University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA).  They told him, after he took some tests,  he had to take a number of remedial courses.  This seemed like a hassle so he looked around online and quickly found schools eager to enroll him for online classes, and they would help him get federal student loans.  The tuition at all these private colleges was MUCH higher than at UAA.

I'm writing about this because of a NY Times editorial  today about new regulations for colleges regarding student loans.

The Obama administration has proposed tough and much-needed regulations for lucrative for-profit colleges. Industry is predictably pushing back hard, with legions of high-priced lobbyists and organized letter-writing campaigns. The administration must hold its ground.

The final rules, due out in November, must be strong enough to rein in businesses that have made an art of enrolling students who have no chance of graduating and stripping them of state and federal grants and loans. Besides ending such abuses of students, the regulations are needed to protect taxpayers, who foot the bill for waste and abuse in the college aid program.

Lt. Gov Campbell - Grad Speaker

Mike has never finished a program, but has huge debts now that likely will never be paid.  The money goes from the government loan program to the college.  Then the student owes the money.  If he doesn't pass his classes or pay his debt, the college still has the money and he has the debt. This is someone with developmental problems.  He can do many things well and seems normal, sort of. He's a good person, but there are serious gaps in his cognitive abilities. 

He's been taking classes at Charter College and recently went through graduation, though he hasn't completed all his coursework yet.  We were invited and attended at the Atwood Center in the Performing Arts Center downtown.  

I've been wondering how to address this event and this seems like a reasonable context.  I don't know how good the classes are.  Mike told me that basically you just have to go to class and pay your bills.  But that's just one person's story.  I'm sure that you can learn things.  I'm sure he's learning something.  But can you get a degree without learning much?  It sounds like the answer is yes.  And they charge a lot more than UAA and it seems there is a big incentive to get the student loan money that is available. 

In Lobby after Grad Ceremony

After hearing Mike's tales of woe, and how he talks about his $40,000 student debt which - has resulted, almost, in an AA degree - I tend to think that some sort of legislation cracking down on these private colleges (and public colleges that have large numbers of defaulting loans from students) needs to be passed and enforced. 

Of course, there's a much larger context to discuss - what is the purpose of a college degree?  What kind of jobs really require one?  Should everyone go to college?  What sort of status does a college degree confer?  There are complex issues, but they'll have to wait for a different post.

Tim Wise - Native American Calling Monday Morning

Tim Wise was picked up at the airport Sunday night.  I've been working on getting little things ready for his visit - name tags and food (it's going to be good) for the workshop and other sorts of last minute work. 

You can listen to Tim Wise on Native American Calling on KNBA Monday Morning.  That's 90.3 FM in Anchorage.  But this show is going nation-wide and you can call in.  Here's information from their website:

Native America Calling Airs Live
Monday - Friday, 1-2pm Eastern (9-10amAlaska Time)

To participate call 1-800-996-2848, that's 1-800-99-NATIVE

Monday, September 13, 2010– Healing Racism in Anchorage:
Several incidents with overt racist overtones divided the city of Anchorage, but a group called Healing Racism in Anchorage is determined to bring people back together. They are holding a series of events that take the issue of racism head-on, including bringing in “one of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation.” Are white people just too insensitive when it comes to what they think is funny, or is it that Native people can’t take a joke? Guests are author/anti-racist activist Tim Wise and Liz Medicine Crow (Tlingit/Haida) of the Alaska Native Policy Center.

I'm not sure how much work Tim has done with Native American groups, so I suspect he'll be doing some learning in this setting, but this should be interesting.  

If you aren't in Anchorage you can listen to it on affiliate stations in Alaska and 15 other states - mainly those with significant Native American populations.  Here's the list below.

At the end of the list of states, there's an internet hook up, so you can listen live on-line even if you don't have this on a local radio station.  For the Alaska stations click on the link.

ARIZONA
KUYI	FM 88.1	Keams Canyon
KGHR	FM 91.5	Tuba City
KNNB	FM 88.1	Whiteriver
	FM 89.9	Cibecue
	FM 105.3	Vernon
KOHN	FM 91.9	Sells
KPYT	FM 100.3	Tuscon
Radio Phoenix	http://radiophoenix.org	Phoenix
CALIFORNIA
KIDE	FM 91.3	Hoopa
COLORADO
KSJD	FM 91.5	Cortez
	FM 91.1	Pleasant View & Dolores
	FM 104.1	Mancos
KSUT	FM 91.3	Ignacio - Southern Ute Tribal Radio
IDAHO
KISU	FM 91.0	Pocatello
MONTANA
KGVA	FM 88.1	Fort Belknap
Brave Nation	http://bravenation.stlabre.org/	Ashland
NEW MEXICO
KABR	AM 1500	Alamo
KUNM	FM 89.9	Albuquerque/Santa Fe
	FM 91.9	Espanola
	FM 91.9	Taos, Las Vegas
KRRT	FM 90.9	Arroyo Seco, Cuba
KRAR	FM 91.1	Cimarron/Eagle Nest
KBOM	FM 88.7	Socorro, Nageezi
KCIE	FM 90.5	Dulce
KGLP	FM 91.7	Gallup
KTDB	FM 89.7	Ramah/ Pinehill
KSHI	FM 90.9	Zuni
KSJE	FM 90.9	Farmington
NORTH CAROLINA
WPVM	FM 103.5	Asheville
NORTH DAKOTA
KEYA	FM 88.5	Belcourt
KMHA	FM 91.3	New Town
KABU	FM 90.7	St. Michael
OKLAHOMA
KCNP	FM 89.5	Ada
KGOU	FM 106.3	Norman
	FM 97.9	Ada
	FM 103.1	Siminole
KROU	FM 105.7	Oklahoma City
OREGON
KCUW	FM 104.3	Pendleton
KWSO	FM 91.9	Warm Springs
SOUTH DAKOTA
KLND	FM 89.5	Little Eagle
KILI	FM 90.1	Porcupine
UTAH
KRCL	FM 90.9	Salt Lake City
	FM 90.9	Park City
WASHINGTON
KSER	FM 90.7	Everett
KSFC	FM 91.9	Spokane
KYNR	AM 1490	Toppenish
WISCONSIN
WOJB	FM 88.9	Hayward
WYOMING
KWRR	FM 89.5	Ethete
INTERNET (additional)
Native Voice One		http://www.nv1.org/

He'll also be doing a workshop for US Fish and Wildlife employees in the early afternoon and a public workshop in the evening which is sold out.

But you can also listen Tuesday morning on Talk of Alaska on KSKA and in the evening at a free event at Wendy Williamson Auditorium at UAA at 7:30 again Tuesday.

Rafael Nadal's Uncle

The New York Times had an article by Karen Crouse on Rafael Nadal's uncle who is his coach and, well, his uncle.  In today's world one has to be skeptical of everything we read, but it would be nice to know that Toni Nadal is really the guardian angel he's portrayed in the article.  We all need an uncle like this in our lives.

“I am happy when Rafael plays good tennis, but I take more pleasure when people say Rafael is a very good person,” Toni Nadal said. “For me, it is so much more important to be a good person.” 

. . .After the match, his uncle talked to him about his demeanor. “I tell him you must be always grateful of the life,” Toni Nadal said. “I think one of the most important things I say always to Rafael is to have a good face. Because in this life, the ball going out is not a very big problem.” 

“When you think you are the king of the world,” Toni Nadal said, “you are really stupid in my opinion because in this life every person is important.” 

Well, before hitting the post button, I just had to see what others said about Toni Nadal.  It's not all good.  In a June 2009 post, Khalid Siddiqui writes at Bleacher Report:

Hey jou fan!!!! What jour problem? 'Ow dare jou cheer for anywon except my Rafa? Jou stupid French don't know greatness when jou see eet. Jos becoz Rafa eez from Spain..."
(And the rant continues.)
Seriously, Toni Nadal has emerged as a completely sore loser . . .

The Guardian also covered this incident.

And there's a June 2010 Tennis Country piece about Toni's illegal coaching:

World Number One, Rafael Nadal, was fined $2000 for illegal coaching by his long-time coach, uncle Toni, during a match at Wimbledon last week.  As his comments in his post-match press conference below indicate, Nadal did not believe that he had received illegal coaching.  However, Rafa does seem to state that his uncle Toni did “coach” him during other matches in the past, which is clearly against the rules.  This admission by Rafa is actually quite surprising and disturbing given that coaching from the stands is not allowed in men’s professional tennis.

In his post-match press conferences, Nadal said the following:

Was it fair to be warned about coaching? You looked very angry.
RAFAEL NADAL: Sometimes, yes. Not today, in my opinion. But, yes, sometimes in the past Toni talk maybe too much. And when it happened, and the referee or the umpire give me an advice, and if it is continuing, later a warning.  But not today, in my opinion. Yeah, no. . .

Interesting that Karen Crouse didn't mention these other two incidents in her story.  The first three pages of her archived NYT stories are mainly about tennis, swimming, and golf, so she is a regular sports writer.  She had to know about the illegal coaching incident because it was in June this year.  My skepticism is, once again, proven, unfortunately, to be well founded.  Even the NY Times gives us a puff piece that leaves out important information.

If Toni Nadal had stories written about him daily, it wouldn't be necessary to mention the previous issues - people would be expected to know about them.  But there aren't that many stories on Toni.  For many, if not most, readers, I'd guess this is the only one they've read that focused on Toni Nadal, so it needs to be more balanced. 

While I think Uncle Toni is still probably a great influence on nephew Rafael, he's not quite as perfect as Crouse portrays him.  And none of us are.