Anchorage to Tok

We're having breakfast at Fast Eddy's in Tok. The Griz, where we've eaten before and is homier, is moving and is closed today. The sky's been clear and the fall scenery beautiful.

Mile 72 out of Anchorage Sunday afternoon.  (We finally got on the road about 2pm.)

 

Sun on the Matanuska River.

Looking at the river in the other 

 direction

 

The windshield's starting to get dirty.

Mt. Sanford in the late afternoon sun.

Moon rising behind Mt. Sanford.

I almost forgot these mooncakes Des sent for the Mid-Autumn Festival.  I had one before bed.  MMMMMMMMMM!

We'd been aiming for Porcupine Campground between Glenallen and Tok.  We got there about 8:15 last night at dusk.  But it was closed.  Here's a picture this morning of us parked by the closed gate of the campground.  Even though it was in the 60s yesterday, it must have been in the 20's this morning.  We did hear an owl (Great Horned, I think) during the night.

The sun was up as we pulled out around 8 this morning and drove the next 60 miles to Tok.

And it was sublimely beautiful.

I think the omelet was made by a serious carnivore.  The vegetables were essentially raw and thrown into the egg.  No seasoning whatsoever.  It wasn't till I got some tabasco that it any taste. 

Murkowski Courts Jewish Voters on Yom Kippur

Lisa Murkowski stopped by at Temple Beth Sholom at the end of services today as people were breaking the fast.  I took advantage of her presence to talk to her about how US embassies mistreat people applying for visas.  I'd written her a letter about this about five years ago after observing how callously Chinese visa seekers were treated in Beijing.  And two weeks ago the New York Times had a piece about German Opera and Theater director Peter Stein who canceled his planned work on Boris Godunov at New York's Metropolitan Opera because of how he was treated by the US consular officials in Berlin.   As he explained it:

In June he went to the consulate in Berlin for a work visa for the Met job and was forced, he said, to stand for hours in a stifling room with 50 other visa applicants. When he finally reached the consular official, “He said to me, ‘Why don’t you laugh?’ ” Mr. Stein recounted. “I said, ‘I stay here for two and a half hours standing and I am an old man.’ ”

The officer replied, “ ‘In this case you will not have a visa,’ and sent me away,” Mr. Stein said. Mr. Stein said the experience left him humiliated and deeply offended.

The same sort of treatment went on in Beijing - elderly folks had to stand for hours waiting to get visas.   And the officials have this same sort of arbitrary power to capriciously turn people down like this.

Murkowski agreed strongly that this was not a good way to win the hearts and minds of people around the world. 

The people I asked thought it was a little tacky to campaign at the synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, but thought it was normal for American politics.  They also pointed out that Scott McAdams was there ten days ago for Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the High Holy Days, which I hadn't noticed.

NOTE:  I did not have my camera with me during services.  It was out in the car though and I got it after services when I found out Murkowski was there.  Maybe this blogging thing is getting to be too much.

It's Yom Kippur - Time to Reflect and Ask For and Give Forgiveness

I've been pretty busy with Tim Wise here this week, plus we're taking off Sunday (if we can get our stuff together), and I've a backlog of potential posts to work on, so I really haven't had any time to write up anything even moderately decent about Yom Kippur which makes Saturday a do-no-work at all day.  So, with the benefit of Blogger's ability to schedule posts, I'm going to suggest you check out a post I did in 2007 about Yom Kippur.  It begins like this:

Yom Kippur Thoughts

So exactly why does a skeptical agnostic spend most of his day in the synagogue, fasting and praying? Several things come to mind.

1. It's good to have some days where you check out of life as usual and sit and reflect on how you are living your life.
2. The Jewish High Holy Days structure that sort of meditation. Thousands of years of collected wisdom have been invested into this. A lot of the stuff makes good sense in very modern and practical ways. . .  [The rest is here.]

Cost-Effective Justice

Alaska Common Ground is bringing to Anchorage

• a Republican State Legislator - Jerry Madden - who, they say, led a successful reform of the criminal justice system in Texas;  
• Criminal Justice Consultant to the Department of Corrections’ Prisoner Re-entry Task Force - Linda Mills; 
• a President Emeritus of the for State Courts - Judge Roger Warren - who will talk about evidenced-based sentencing practices.  
 

 I know, you didn't know that the criminal justice system had been reformed in Texas.  Isn't that the state that has the most people in Death Row?   I guess it's time to get my Texas prison stereotypes adjusted.   


Anyway, Saturday you can learn everything you want to know about this topic for free at Marston Theater in Loussac Library, 9am - 4:30.  


But I don't think they're going to handcuff you to the seats, so you can probably come late and/or leave early if you can't spend the whole day.  I won't be there because it's Yom Kippur and I'll be fasting and thinking about how I can be a better human being in the coming year.









[I ran into some Alaska Common Ground members back in August planning this forum and took the photo then.]

More Signs That Lisa Is Running?

I went to the season introduction at Out North Thursday night - more on that later.    I ran into Pico there and he told me he'd been at the campaign sign graveyard near Ship Creek.

I'm not quite sure where this was but he said there were lots of old, large campaign signs for all different candidates. Theaters like Cyranos and Out North sometimes recycle them when they are making sets.

Anyway, he took these pictures of men gathering the Lisa Murkowski signs and putting them into a truck. Is this a clue about what she might announce Friday?

[All the photos in this post courtesy of Pico.]

Is Lisa Going To Run?

APRN's interview with Lisa Murkowski today suggests that Lisa is still thinking about doing a write-in campaign.  (Today's (Sept. 16) news isn't up yet on their website, but you should be able to get it here by tomorrow.)

But one of the signs that says to me that there's a very good chance she'll try is Paul Jenkins.  He's been a Republican Party insider for years.   He's done a couple of opinion pieces in the Anchorage Daily News - one strongly urging Murkowski to run as a write-in and the other vehemently attacking Joe Miller.

On September 4 he did a piece titled  Murkowski Was Classy But Wrong,
(wrong for not attacking Miller)  which included this:

With Miller in the race, and her on the sidelines, Democrats have a real chance against Miller, who too easily is painted a far-right tea party whack-job and a Sarah Palin clone who channels Joe Vogler and tilts at windmills. Many people find him very scary. Miller's malarkey plays well to the GOP's sometimes irrational far right, living in its own fantasy world, but he may be unable to clinch the seat when the rest of Alaska catches on.

Then on a September 11 there was,   Miller is full of whoppers, and they keep getting bigger

In this piece he quotes "a pal" named Izzo:

"The bigger the fib, the better. It's like that Hitler deal, lie and lie large, or something like that. It helps, of course, if your audience is dumber than a wet sock.

"That mook with the Democrats, McWhatshisface, can't even answer questions. My man Miller makes up the questions -- and the answers, too. He's great."

He ends his imaginary conversation with Izzo (and the piece) with:

So, what you are telling me is that not only did he lie about Lisa Murkowski and her stands on the federal stimulus, abortion and Obamacare during the primary, his campaign planks and his promises to voters are shaky, too? I ask.

"I'm just saying," Izzo says. "Ya gotta love this guy.

Why would anybody buy this stuff? I ask. Miller's a guy who, three days into the story, did not even know some preacher was about to burn Qurans in Florida. How could any Alaskan be manipulated into backing him? How long before his supporters get it? Who are these people?

"Suckers," Izzo says with a big smile. "Suckers."

Probably I'm naive,  but I can't see how Jenkins could come out and support Miller after trash talking him like this.  And he's surely not going to support a Democrat. So that leaves Lisa as a candidate.

 [Update:  Someone emailed me a quote from Paul Jenkins saying he had to support Tony Knowles over Sarah Palin for Governor. 

Voice of the Times, 11.3.2006

By PAUL JENKINS

May the Lord have mercy on my soul. I think I have to vote for Tony Knowles. That's right. Tony Knowles. ...

 And remember, Knowles lost to Palin.]

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.