Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Juneau, Nov. 10, 1939 - "My Last Hanging"

I'm not sure why this page popped up yesterday (Nov. 9) because it doesn't seem to be at all related to what I was googling.  But there it was.  And just in time to post it on the 71st anniversary of the grim event.  This is originally from an Anchorage Daily News story.  The man hanged  was Nelson Charles of Ketchikan.  (Weird English idiosyncrasies - the past tense of "to hang," meaning to kill someone by hanging him with a rope is 'hanged.'  The past tense of "to hang" meaning to hang something (like a picture) is 'hung.')
 
Here's an excerpt from the University of Alaska Justice Center website:  [It turns out the Justice Center post was put together by local blogger Mel Green.]
My Last Hanging—Thoughts on an Execution (Juneau, Nov. 10, 1939)  by John L. Gaffney

. . ."What did he say?" someone asked, leaning forward.
     "No talking after he comes out," I answered, and at least two others answered with me. Then we all fell silent. We looked at our watches; I put my wrist to my ear to hear the ticking. It was 17 minutes before 9 o'clock.
     I looked first at the trap, then at the pit. It looked a long way to the bottom, and so damp and dark, like a dungeon. He would fall four feet, they'd said. That was a long way, too.
     Now there was another sound outside the door. Two clergymen appeared and took their places on the platform, just a foot behind the trap.
     There were more sounds at the doorway. This would be it. First the marshal appeared, his arm holding someone else's arm, his body half-hiding another man. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, three of them were there: the marshal, a deputy, and between them a man — a Native — I had never seen before. He was the man.
     Then I learned I had been wrong about one thing: I'd decided he would not face us, but stand sideways; but it was not that way. He stood there, not more than 15 feet away, looking at us. He looked as we had expected, like the full-blooded Native he was. He wore blue serge trousers, black shoes, a white shirt, and a dark tie, well-knotted and in place. His hands and arms were bound tightly to his sides with canvas bands.
     Seconds ticked away. A few inches behind me, at my right side, water dripped and struck the boards. Like drops from a faucet: steadily, just so fast, no faster. The marshal shook out another long canvas strap and stooped to adjust it about the man's legs. As he finished his task, he stepped back a little.
     "Is there anything you'd like to say, Nelson?" he asked.
     We expected a brief negative nod of the dark head, but he spoke — his voice a half-sob — whispering, barely more: "I am innocent of killing my mother-in-law," he murmured. "I don't want to hang. I still say I am innocent."
     His head was bowed forward. You could feel if not see the hot tears in his eyes. You could feel his trembling in your own body.
     Had I any thought of a criminal about to pay for his crime? Any thought of a disreputable and dangerous killer about to give his life for the one he had taken? No — nothing like that. Only that a man was about to die. That there — almost within reach — was a man like ourselves. A young man. Who somewhere had a wife, had once slept an untroubled sleep, had only the day before laughed and hoped for life.
     I was aware as I sat there of some unusual feeling that was strange to me. It was vague then, with no time to fathom it. But now I know: It was the certainty, the sureness of it. I knew for the only time in my life that within minutes this man who now lived as I lived would be dead. A stone. Lifeless, cold and stiff. . . [emphasis added]  [for the whole piece go to the Justice Center link.]

From a different  UAA Justice Center page:
Nelson Charles was a 37-year-old Native fisherman and World War I veteran, married with a daughter. Newspaper accounts indicate that Charles was probably not an Alaska Native, but a Native American from the Puget Sound area. He was arrested and convicted for the September 4, 1938 murder of his mother-in-law, Cecilia Johnson, in Ketchikan. Both Charles and Johnson had been drinking heavily at the time of the murder. The Alaska Native Brotherhood petitioned President Franklin Roosevelt for a commutation of Charles' sentence to life imprisonment, but Roosevelt did not respond. Charles was hanged in Juneau on November 10, 1939 (Lerman 1994, 1998. For a full account of Charles' trial and hanging, see Lerman 1996; see also Gaffney 1995, which provides an eyewitness account of Charles' execution.)



Persons Executed under Civil Authority
in Alaska, 1900-present
Year
    City
    Name

    Race
1902
1903
1921
1921
1929
1939
1948
1950
Nome
Sitka
Fairbanks
Fairbanks
Fairbanks
Juneau
Juneau
Juneau
Fred Hardy
Homer Bird
Mailo Segura
"John Doe" Hamilton
Constantine Beaver
Nelson Charles
Austin Nelson
Eugene LaMoore
White
White
Unknown
Native
Native
Native
Black
Black
1957
1959
Death penalty abolished in Alaska
Alaska statehood

We know that there were a lot more murders in that time in Alaska.  The chart and what follows are from the same Justice Center webpage:
After prolonged debate, the Alaska Territorial Legislature abolished capital punishment in 1957 in a briefly worded measure stating, "The death penalty is and shall hereafter be abolished as punishment in Alaska for the commission of any crime" (Lerman 1994). The abolition measure was sponsored by Warren Taylor and Vic Fischer. According to Vic Fischer, one factor motivating abolition was apparent racial bias in the application of the death penalty (Lerman 1994). A number of attempts have been made to reintroduce capital punishment to Alaska since 1957, but all so far have failed.
 So, back in 1957 Alaskans already understood that non-whites were more likely to get a death sentence than whites.  The rest of the country has only just been figuring that out.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

UAA Career Fair, Peace Corps, Army, Cloud Rip, Snow Biking, Hunger, Cosmetics, and More

I didn't have my camera yesterday, so I'm making up for it today with some shots of things I saw today walking over to the career fair at UAA to sit at the Peace Corps booth for a while.


A cloud caught on a 
cosmic nail.  Through the rip, blue 
checks in on the earth.


 I wrote in an earlier post that we don't use chains in Anchorage.  As I wrote it I was thinking, well sometimes I've seen postal vehicles with chains, and here is another exception. Maybe that's why I focused on cars in the other post.







And cyclists use chains.  But they use them in the summer too. 










I found a couple of interesting, but totally unrelated websites when I first googled "Eat Like the World" but nothing about this UAA event.  Here's what I'm guessing this is about from the University of Central Missouri:

A hunger banquet is a tool to demonstrate the distribution of food among the people of the world. We in the US - even the hungry in the US - have it much better than many people in the world. Guests draw tickets at random that assign them each to either a high-, middle-, or low-income tier and receive a corresponding meal.
  • The high-income tier are served a sumptuous meal.
  • The middle-income section eat a simple meal of rice and beans.
  • The low-income tier help themselves to small portions of rice and water.
Why are we presenting a hunger banquet? It is a tool to build awareness to hunger issues that occur around the globe and around the block. Many of us have an extra can of food that we could share with someone. Many of us have an extra afternoon that we could spend helping the needy in our own community. Many of us have an extra few dollars that could make the diffence for someone who didn't eat last night. Many of us can help, and most of us are willing to do something. But we need to know how to help and what we can do. We are presenting the Hunger Banquet to raise money and collect food for the needy in our community, nation and world. We are presenting the banquet to help you help your neighbor.
If you want to know more and/or make reservations you can email uaaisa[AT]gmail.com. 




Finally, I got to the career fair.  There were lots of employers, not all that many students. 







The Peace Corps table (Joe there in the green Gambian shirt) was right across from the Army table.  They had a video showing people going through training the whole time.  We had nothing (stuff was sent up from the Seattle Peace Corps office) that had a big Peace Corps on it.  We had lots of brochures.  So I went home and got some big photos, and old photo album, a Thai fish trap, and some other odds and ends.  I did meet some interesting folks. 







*While I was looking for a link online relating to the "Eat Like the World" poster, I found this from "The Shepherdess' Mantle" a story from August 1960 copy of The Ministry  about Merrilee who is talking to her Aunt Anne about her upcoming marriage to a Minister.  I thought it was an interesting historical perspective. 
". . . And what about cosmetics, Auntie? Everybody wears them nowadays. You look really out of place without some kind of make-up."
"Yes, I suppose so." Aunt Anne sighed. "It is too bad that God's people cannot bear to be peculiar people any more. Oh, I don't mean that they should be conspicuous," Aunt Anne hastened to add. "But most of our young people today think they have to dress like the world, eat like the world, and most of them want to act like the world. They have completely forgotten that we are to be in the world but not of the world.
"Adventists should be the best-groomed people in the world. Their skin should be the fairest and the freest from blemishes, for we are supposed to eat right and keep scrupulously clean. Their nails should be clean and well filed. Their figures should be finely proportioned through exercise and diet. Their hair should be neat, well-groomed, and attractively arranged, whether long or short. Who says we are not allowed to use creams to keep the skin soft and lovely? Or lotions and powders? Cosmetics are not necessarily wrong. But when girls think they must wear artificial color on their hair, lips, cheeks, and fingernails, that is extreme, unbecoming to a Christian, and unnatural."

Arctic Entries - Anchorage Story Telling

I'd heard about this project before, so when I got the email about Monday night's story telling I wanted to go.  But we also wanted to see the German movie playing at Bear Tooth - Soul Kitchen.  It looked like we could do both.  Soul Kitchen was ok, but nothing special.  But it got out at 7:15 pm which gave us time to boogie down to Cyrano's for the story telling.

So, here's their deal:

What’s Your Story?

In the spirit of “This American Life” and other urban storytelling events, Arctic Entries brings Alaskans to the stage to share their personal stories, funny, sad, and sweet. At each performance, 7 people each tell a 7-minute true story relating to this show’s theme, along with performances by local musicians. Let Arctic Entries warm you with great homegrown stories. Monthly performances from September-May at Cyrano’s Off-Center Playhouse in Anchorage.

Proceeds benefit the homeless.  Supported by the Storytellers’ Guild of Anchorage.

Dr. David Baines
 Stories are powerful and if you have a good story that you really believe in, it will be compelling for the audience.  And these were.
Max Rafferty






  • Wayne Johnson •  how he got into fencing.  
  • David Baines, who was a late replacement, • medivacing a patient out of Dutch Harbor.  
  • Jeff Ellis • being a wax technician for the Australian cross country ski team at the Vancouver winter Olympics.  
  • Dave Rittenberg • his last day at work at an Appleby's in New Hampshire.  
  • Regan Brooks • the only time she [Update Sept 10, 2015:  I'm getting rid of the original language here at Regan's request because people are finding it on google and not actually looking at the post and in her current career, it's causing problems, because, as I said in the earlier update, it isn't what it appears. deleted, deleted, deleted] [UPDATE April 27, 2011:  Future employers - this isn't exactly what it sounds like, so if you're concerned, ask her about it in the interview]
  • A psychiatrist named Kennedy was recruited from the audience to replace one of the story tellers whose back had gone out •  treating a patient with the Vines.   
  • Max Rafferty •  his efforts to build morale (mostly his own it seems) at a tech company in the early 1990s. 

 As you can see, the intimate space at Cyrano's was packed - they even had people sitting on pillows in front of the front row.

The next one (from their website again):

Monday, December 13th at 7:30pm at Cyrano’s Off-Center Playhouse, $7 tickets at the door
“The Holidays” – Stories of the families we choose, the ones we don’t, the traditions we celebrate, and the festivities of the season
Storytellers TBA

This is live entertainment for less than the price of a movie.  And it was really an optional donation so people who really (that means you don't have lattes every day) can't afford it.  The proceeds go to help the homeless.

Monday, November 08, 2010

I Found My Camera

My camera is with me most of the time these days.  It takes photos, video, and audio.  It's an important tool for this blog.  So when I couldn't find it last night, well, I wasn't worried, because I knew it would turn up.  But it wasn't in any of the normal places.  The place in the bedroom where I empty my pockets.  The same place downstairs.  My desk.  In any of the pockets of pants and jackets I wore.

So, I forced myself to stop looking for the camera and to just clean up areas of the house.  If I look for something, I will just move things around and end up more frustrated at the end.  If I start cleaning up, I may not find what I'm looking for, but I will have accomplished something, and may find things I didn't know I was looking for.







We have a drawer near the kitchen phone that has accumulated a serious collection of useless items.  Here are a few things I found in there. 


I don't know how much money, if any, is on the REI card. I really have a problem with gift cards because a large percent of them are never redeemed. 


I have no idea who Merry and Jack are or where those matches came from.  It long predates our even being married. 


I do remember this clipping from the classifieds.  I couldn't believe a mastodon was for sale and really wanted to buy it, but it was out of my price range.  But I kept the clipping in the drawer.





And then I went downstairs to clean up the room that has become a storage room and where I have been making some progress.  And there, on the table, under things I'd sorted, was my camera.  And I also found this painting of a hoopoe.   Now that I have my camera back, I can start blogging again.


Sunday, November 07, 2010

Pry my turnip from my cold, dead hand

[This post got way out of hand.  It's sort of a stream of research - reporting what I find as I find it - that you just have to follow along.  Toward the end I sum up a bit - here's what I say:
This is billed as a food safety bill.  It gives the FDA more power to set and enforce regulations  to promote food safety.  Its supporters include consumer groups.  But also organizations that normally oppose regulation because they or their members are regulated.  So what have they been given in exchange for their support?  That is the big question. 


The opponent organizations say the regulations will continue the destruction of small farms by including them in the regulations when the real food safety problems come from the large industrial farms.  And then there are those who see this as far more ominous - a large scale conspiracy to capture the rights to control food and drugs by large corporations.  

It's Sunday, and even with an extra hour, I have other things to do.  So consider this a heads up on this issue. ]




A letter to the editor that caused me to pause and google this week.  I'm still uncertain about this.  There are aspects that resonate with me and parts that don't square with things as well:

Pry my turnip from my cold, dead hand
It reminds me of "The Gulag Archepelago," by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, when I hear about "The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010," wherein it will become illegal to buy, sell and trade home-grown produce.
I don't know about you, but I like to garden. I'd think, that in the great country of the United States of America, we'd be free to grow our own sustenance.
Our country was founded by can-do people, who took life into their own hands, and didn't wait for permission by some king.
I'd like to see who's going to stop me from growing a turnip or two.
Lillian K. Staats
Wasilla

OK, I understand that there are huge food and huge pharmaceutical companies that are working to corner the market so they can improve their profits.   Martin Khor at Thirdworldnetwork summarizes this:
There is growing worldwide opposition to the granting of patents on biological materials such as genes, plants, animals and humans. Farmers and indigenous peoples are outraged that plants that they developed are being 'hijacked' by companies. Groups as diverse as religious leaders, parliamentarians and environment NGOs are intensifying their campaign against corporate patenting of living things. . .
In Alaska we know about the conflicts between subsistence, even recreational fishing, and huge corporate fishing. And the fight over labeling genetically modified salmon. 

So I looked up the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.  It turns out to be S510 and it's called "FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010."

GovTrac.US keeps tabs on federal legislation and gives us an overview, a summary, and the whole bill.  Here they post the Congressional Research Agency's  summary of the FIRST TWO SECTIONS of the bill:

12/18/2009--Reported to Senate amended. FDA Food Safety Modernization Act -
Title I - Improving Capacity to Prevent Food Safety Problems
Section 101 -
Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to expand the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to inspect records related to food, including to: (1) allow the inspection of records of food that the Secretary reasonably believes is likely to be affected in a similar manner as an adulterated food; and (2) require that each person (excluding farms and restaurants) who manufactures, processes, packs, distributes, receives, holds, or imports an article of food permit inspection of his or her records if the Secretary believes that there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to such food will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
Section 102 -
Authorizes the Secretary to suspend the registration of a food facility if the food manufactured, processed, packed, or held by a facility has a reasonable probability of causing serious adverse health consequences or death to humans or animals.
Then they list the bill's supporters and opponents:

SupportOppose
Consumers Union
Center for Science in the Public Interest
Food Marketing Institute
Consumer Federation of America
National Restaurant Association
General Mills
National Association of Manufacturers
International Dairy Foods Association
American Public Health Association
Grocery Manufacturers Association
American Bakers Association
International Foodservice Distributors Association
National Consumers League
American Frozen Food Institute
National Confectioners Association
Snack Food Association
Trust for America's Health
Produce Marketing Association
United Fresh Produce Association
American Beverage Association
American Farm Bureau Federation
American Veterinary Medical Association
Kraft Foods North America
Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP)
Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention
National Fisheries Institute
Pew Charitable Trust
International Bottled Water Association
National Coffee Association
American Grassfed Association
National Family Farm Coalition
Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund
Weston A. Price Foundation
The John Birch Society
Raw Milk Association of Colorado
Farm Family Defenders
Small Farms Conservancy
National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association
Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

OK, there are some names among the supporters that, at first blush, one might think have the interests of the American public in mind.  Doesn't Consumers Union put out Consumer Reports?  Yup.  Here's what they say about the bill:

A half-billion recalled eggs? Let’s fix this already!

When we can’t even trust the eggs in our refrigerators, there’s an obvious problem with our food safety system. Yet a bill that would help prevent deadly outbreaks and hold producers of unsafe food accountable – rather than wasting time and money tracking down problems after the fact – remains stuck in the Senate.

Help us move this bill now! The House passed its food safety bill more than a year ago, and since then there have been 60 recalls – including a half-billion eggs! A new report on the companies that produced the recalled eggs found chickens living among rodents, maggots and 8-foot-high piles of manure.

Unless consumers speak out and demand better inspections, testing and oversight of food producers, we will continue to face costly and deadly recalls. 
Tell your Senators to pass the food safety bill and to support an amendment that bans the chemical BPA in childrens' food and drink containers. Safer food can’t wait!
So, they see this as a consumer protection bill that will improve food safety by beefing up [no pun intended, really] food regulation and inspection.   So does the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
S. 510, FDA Food Safety Modernization Act.  Senator Richard Durbin.  S. 510 requires food companies to implement food safety plans.  Food companies would be required to register every two years.  Food companies would be required to conduct a hazard analysis and implement preventive measures on their production lines to ensure the food they produce is safe and meets performance standards set by FDA for controlling hazards.  FDA would be required to inspect high risk food processors at least annually and all other food processors at least once every four years.  Food importers would be required to ensure their foreign suppliers comply with U.S. food safety laws.  FDA may require high risk foods to be certified as complying with U.S. requirements for safety.  Certifications would be performed under a program for accrediting third-party certifiers to audit foreign food companies for compliance.  FDA would set standards for the safe production of fresh fruits and produce.  The bill strengthens enforcement authority by allowing FDA to:
  • Order recalls;
  • Detain unsafe food when inspectors find it; and,
  • Set traceability requirements.




But then there are the other groups like the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), General Foods,


NAM is against more federal regulation. 

Official Policy Position

The National Association of Manufacturers recommends more emphasis on creating a favorable business climate through decreasing unnecessary manufacturing regulation by the government. The benefits of appropriate regulations are clear and supported by the public. The issue is how to enable the regulatory system in America to provide for these concerns without unreasonably impeding innovation, research, development and product deployment.
Click Here for the NAM's Complete Official Policy Position on Regulation »

Why would they support a bill that increases regulation?  One reason may be that a federal bill would preempt state regulations.  It's easier to deal with one set of federal regulations than 50 different sets of state regulations.  But what's in the bill that this normally anti-regulation group supports?  I don't know, but it's a question to pursue.

Then there's the National Fisheries Institute, which is another industry organization.  It has a "Truth Squad:"

About the NFI Truth Squad

When working on a news story about the seafood industry it is important to understand that many of the prepackaged, ready-made tools that some sources provide are not always what they appear to be. Those staggering statistics and that convenient sound bite science often appear to fit perfectly into a narrative but is it, proverbially, too good to be true?

Many stories about preserving fish stocks and pollution in seafood seem like harmless "responsible" reports when in reality they are tales based on misinformation peddled by an array of environmental activists and lobbyists who go to great pains to obscure their strategies and ultimate agenda.

Known as environmental non-governmental organizations or ENGOs, often they promote ocean conservancy or lobby for environmental protections—and some do a responsible job of it. But others distort facts, twist science and compromise public health with campaigns that confuse consumers and most importantly they rely on the press to tell "their" story.

Welcome to the NFI Truth Squad, where we will introduce you to how these environmental organizations and activists masquerading as independent doctors and researchers frequently offer contradictory and unproven ideas about eating fish that are alarmist and bankrupt.  

In the end we will ask the tough questions but it is up to you to find the answer.

The Featured Environmental Groups and Activists:

Consumers Union [there are eight more on their list]

So, the National Fisheries Institute is supporting the same "Food Safety" legislation as The Consumers Union. Even though the first group on the National Fisheries Institute "Truth Squad" hit list is the Consumers Union.

Wow, this just gets weirder and weirder. Their "truth" about the Consumers Union is that a biologist who used to work for them and wrote unflattering reports about NFI turned around and asked NFI for a consulting job. That's it.  I thought a key tactic for dealing with people who oppose you was cooptation - to hire them yourselves for five times their current salary.

They even publish his letter to them, which you can judge for yourself. I think it's an attempt to get them to be less doctrinaire in denying the dangers of mercury and other fisheries problems so that, in fact, more people will eat fish. Why is NFI backing this? What carrot do they get? That genetically modified salmon won't be labeled as such?

And then there's the International Bottled Water Association.   If you want to know about them, one, not very flattering, place to start is the movie Tapped,  which played at the Anchorage International Film Festival last year.  Water is seen by many to be the biggest world-wide resource issue of the future, making oil seem minor.  And large corporations are already trying to lock up the world's water supplies so people have to buy this critical to life commodity from only them.  What are they getting from this bill?

The list of those opposed are the people you might expect - groups for local farming, small farms, etc.  In a letter to Senators, the National Family Farm Coalition tries to distinguish factory farms from small family farms:
All of the well-publicized incidents of contamination in recent years – whether in spinach, peppers, or peanuts – occurred in industrialized food supply chains that span national and even international boundaries. The food safety problems in this system can and should be addressed without harming the local food systems that provide an alternative for consumers.
The growing trend toward healthy, fresh, locally sourced vegetables, fruit, dairy, and value- added products improves food safety by providing the opportunity for consumers to know their farmers and processors, to choose products on the basis of that relationship, and to readily trace any problems should they occur. ]

The National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association emphasizes that the bill will speed the demise of small farms and increase industrial farming where the main food safety issues arise:
S-510 will have the unintended destructive consequence of eliminating small farms and consumer access to local food. The main threats to food safety – by the government’s own admission – are centralized production, centralized processing and long distance transportation. The food safety bills will increase these risk factors by further consolidating agriculture into fewer, larger industrial farms through enormous regulatory burdens that small farms cannot endure. Small farms and farmers markets are an important economic engine, environmental safeguard and national security asset. There is not a history of food borne illness from farmers’ markets or small farms.

Then there's the Weston A. Price Foundation.  Who?  I'd never hear of the them. But when I saw their mission statement, it makes sense they are opposed:
The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated nonindustrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price's research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in animal fats.

The Foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism. It supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies. Specific goals include establishment of universal access to clean, certified raw milk and a ban on the use of soy formula for infants.


One glaring anomaly amongst this group that wouldn't normally be thought to associate with progressives is the John Birch Society - the far right group that was prominent in the 1960's but that doesn't not mean much to most people today.  It would make sense that they are against this because they are against government regulation.  Here's part of what the John Birch Society says on S 510:

Senate Bill 510 has already passed committee and is on the Senate calendar. It calls for enhanced expansion of FDA authority over small farms, ranches, and other food producers, establishes burdensome administrative requirements for large and small operations, and arbitrary legal authority to recall “unsafe medications,” the definition of which is not clearly established; if in line with the global standard set by Codex Alimentarius, “unsafe medications” could extend to dietary supplements and herbal products. There is language that currently exempts from heavy regulation dietary supplement manufacturers and packagers. However, the FDA and its agents are notorious for interpreting regulations their own way.
Okay, the basics are there.  This is billed as a food safety bill.  It gives the FDA more power to set and enforce regulations  to promote food safety.  Its supporters include consumer groups.  But also organizations that normally oppose regulation because they or their members are regulated.  So what have they been given in exchange for their support?  That is the big question.

The opponent organizations say the regulations will continue the destruction of small farms by including them in the regulations when the real food safety problems come from the large industrial farms.  And then there are those who see this is far more ominous - a large scale conspiracy to capture the rights to control food and drugs by large corporations. The opponents are those who are trying to be mainstream alternatives to what we have today.  Sort of like the solar energy and electric car folks 30 years ago.  



Food Freedom makes that last point somewhat dramatically:
S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act,  may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US.  It is to our food what the bailout was to our economy, only we can live without money. 
“If accepted [S 510] would preclude the public’s right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and eat each and every food that nature makes.  It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.”  ~Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower

The Sponsor - Sen. Richard Durbin

So, who is the sponsor and how did he get this coalition of supporters?  Sen. Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois is billed by Wikipedia as one of the most liberal Senators.    I know that Illinois is a farm state with lots of corn.  Presumably his big donors are industrial farm interests, right?  GovTrack says, in its Money and Donors section on Durbin,
The top campaign contribution to Durbin in 2007-2008 was $94,035 from employees of Simmons Cooper LLC.
 OK, we're getting close to figuring this all out.  We just have to look up Simmons Cooper.  And they are . . . no wait, the pieces don't fit neatly into the puzzle, look:
Today, the Simmons firm continues to work on the front lines of several groundbreaking pharmaceutical trials, including several on a national stage. We have represented thousands of pharmaceutical clients and recovered nearly $200 million in verdicts and settlements.*
The Simmons firm has experience in litigating complex medical matters. We have taken a leadership role in standing up for individuals who have been injured by dangerous or defective drugs
They go after the drug companies for consumers.  In the liberal ideology, they should be representing large pharmaceuticals.  What's in this for them?  Influenceexplorer says they gave $4.27 million to politicians from 2001-2010, all of it to Democrats, most at the federal level.   Another specialty area of theirs is Intellectual Property, which is a concern of some of the opponents of S510 who believe large food and pharmaceutical companies will have more freedom to patent foods products such as genetically modified foods.  But that's just speculation.


What I see at this stage:

1.  There's a bill that nominally strengthens the government's ability to regulate and implement food safety in the US.

2.  There may be negative side effects that hurt small farmers and others trying to offer healthy options to industrialized farming.  Such groups oppose the bill as it now stands. 

3.  Consumer protection groups are supporting this bill, presumably because they see those aspects of the bill and discount the negative aspects.

4.  Large industrial food corporations and their organizations (such as Kraft, Food Marketing Institute, General Mills, International Dairy Foods Association. Grocery Manufacturer) are supporting the bill along with the National Association of Manufacturers, which as part of its policy opposes government regulation.  Obviously, these folks are getting something in exchange for their support.  I think this is the key to understanding this bill and which gives credibility to those organizations which oppose the bill in such strong language.  

One last note.  Charles Lindblom, in his  classic "Science of Muddling Through," argued that rather than agree on goals, members of Congress, agree on ends.  If they had to agree on the goals first, nothing would get done.  Each player sticks his own interest onto a piece of legislation.  That's why legislation seems so disjointed and unfocused.  This legislation may be an example of that.  There's something in it for Consumers Union and for the National Fisheries Institute who it appears are usually adversaries.  Just a thought.  The question is which of the supporters is getting the better deal and who is buying into short term gains in exchange for long term losses?  And who is left out of the deal altogether? 

This was meant to be a short post, just calling attention to the original letter and saying I don't know much about it, but here's just a bit to peak your interest.  Consider it a rough first look.

Saturday, November 06, 2010

Walking Conditions - Dicey to Good





When you live in Anchorage you live in at least two different worlds:  the green one and the white one.  But also the light one and the dark one.  Right now we are shifting from green to white and light to dark.  It's a time when my running schedule gets shredded as the streets and paths go from smooth to crusty to snow covered, the temperatures drop, and it's dark more.  I have to slowly get into a new rhythm.





We've just had snow and rain mixed this week with temperatures above freezing in the day and below at night.  So the ground - especially where cars go - is pretty challenging.  You walk differently when the ground has ice and snow - more carefully, lest you hit an icy spot and need to catch your balance.  It's not a conscious thing, your body just adjusts. 




The bikes are still out.  I walked today so I could see what the conditions were like.

Daylight Savings Time - Alaska's Failed Legislation to End It

Anchorage sunrise 11/5/10 at 9:41am - this shot 10:15am
Daylight savings time was initially introduced to save energy.  But studies today raise questions about how much energy is actually saved (seems to depend on where you live) and have raised new questions about the negative impact on health.  This National Geographic article summarizes these arguments.  From that article, here's a bit of history:

It wasn't until World War I that daylight savings were realized on a grand scale. Germany was the first state to adopt the time changes, to reduce artificial lighting and thereby save coal for the war effort. Friends and foes soon followed suit.
In the U.S. a federal law standardized the yearly start and end of daylight saving time in 1918—for the states that chose to observe it.
During World War II the U.S. made daylight saving time mandatory for the whole country, as a way to save wartime resources

Here in Alaska, House Bill (HB) 19 was introduced in the first session of the 26th Alaska Legislature by Eagle River representative Anna Fairclough.  But it died.

[Translation:  Each legislature meets for two years - the term of a representative (senators have four years).  So each Legislature has a first session - year one - and a second session - year two.  Alaska became a state in 1959, so by 2009 there had been 25 legislatures of two years for that fifty year span.  In 2009, the 26th Legislature began.  In 2011, the 27th Legislature will begin its two year run. ]

HB 19 wasn't a very long bill:


CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 19(L&C)
01 "An Act exempting the state and its political subdivisions from daylight saving time;
02 and providing for an effective date."

03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
04 * Section 1. AS 44.12 is amended by adding a new section to read:
05 Article 5. Standard Time.
06 Sec. 44.12.400. Exemption from daylight saving time. Under 15 U.S.C.
07 260a, this state exempts itself and all of its political subdivisions from observation of
08 advanced time, also known as daylight saving time, between 2:00 a.m. on the second
09 Sunday in March and 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday in November in each calendar
10 year, and the entire state and all of its political subdivisions shall observe the standard
11 time that is otherwise applicable during that time period.
12 * Sec. 2. This Act takes effect January 1, 2011
[Translation: CS=Committee Substitute, meaning that the original bill has had changes made by one or more of the committees that review the bill and that now stands as the substitute for the original bill.   L&C = Labor and Commerce Committee]


I got to one hearing of this bill on March 18, 2010 where the Senators Menard and Olson took phone testimony on this bill and sponsor Fairclough also testified.  There was a stack of emails and letters that came in on this bill.  At the time I went through them and counted.  There were 62 for HB 19, 18 against, and four had other options, like get the US to change, but not just Alaska.]

From my post at that time:
Rep. Fairclough testifying to Sens. Menard and Olson
Rep. Anna Fairclough, the bill sponsor, responded to the comments received through the mail, email, and by phone today.  She said there were two reasons that have real justification for not changing:

1.  People in Southeast Alaska have a real issue because they are basically in Pacific time, so they get less light in the evening while the sun comes up 3am at solstice.
2.  The difficulty in coordinating with people outside of Alaska.  (I think this was the second one)

 If you have strong feelings about daylight savings time let your legislator know. (That link doesn't reflect this week's election, but most of the incumbents stayed on.)

My personal feelings are that in Alaska it probably doesn't matter one way or the other except in Southeast, which is the result of having the state in one time zone.  In the winter it's going to be dark and in the summer it's going to be light.  And I don't mind getting an extra hour this weekend in the fall.  But I hate losing an hour of weekend in the spring. 

My tweak to daylight savings would be, in the spring, to make the change (skip ahead one hour) at 4pm on Friday afternoon.  Then people at work would get to go home one hour early.  Yes, I know there are all sorts of potential economic impacts, but not much work gets done in the last hour of Friday afternoon anyway and people would feel happy to get a free hour and would spend more on entertainment that weekend to offset the loss.  (Gross generalization based on gut feeling but absolutely no evidence.) 

So remember tomorrow, you've got an extra hour this weekend.  Spend it with your kid(s) or parents. 

Friday, November 05, 2010

Frozen Drops Are Not Fractals, But They're Nice Too






I got an email about a fractal show in the new planetarium in the new science building at UAA, and given the sunshine, but icy streets and walkways, I decided to walk rather than bike over.  That probably was a mistake.


I guess it's too small to read, but it says "doors remain locked until show is over."  Some things you have to be on time for.   At 12:34, they were already started.  Two more disappointed souls showed up just after I did.


The day was beautiful and not too cold (around 0˚ C), so I thought I'd just go out looking for real life fractals. 



So I wandered back out of the building to see what I could find.






I sort of knew what fractals were, but I couldn't have given you a strict definition.  I checked when I got home.  This is from a website on fractals for kids.  Just about my level.  You can click on the links to see more explanation of what each of these three properties means. 
Fractal Properties
    Self-similarity
    Fractional dimension
    Formation by iteration
I thought I might find some fractals in the snow and ice all around, but it wasn't to be.  But what I saw was still nice.   I think this birch came closest to having fractal properties.



 But these frozen drops really got my attention.


There's a whole other world inside this drop, frozen on the end of the spruce needles.  I apologize for these pictures not being better.  I really needed a tripod so I could hold still enough.  But this is a large magnification from my pocket sized Canon Powershot.  It's like having a little microscope in your pocket, because you can take a picture and then enlarge it on the screen to see this world you couldn't see with the naked eye.

If you look closely you can see these are two different drops.














As you can see, it doesn't take much to keep me entertained.  It wasn't that long ago that most of humanity's entertainment came from observing nature.  

This was the ice that formed on the water in the gutter.

How Big is Africa? Readjusting Your Brain

This blog's underlying theme - though it might not always be obvious - is how do we know what we know? This image surely must challenge how you know the world.


From Information is Beautiful via ConBon Thanks!

Great New York Times Election Results Map

Click here (not on map) for interactive version
While checking on the results for the black candidates for Congress, I found this  New York Times interactive map where the cursor highlights individual districts and numbers and percentages.  It was the easiest way to check different races around the country. 

In some places it was hard to find a specific district until I realized I could click on the map and enlarge it.

Also, knowing your geography helps a lot.  And putting Alaska and Hawaii in Mexico doesn't help.  They could have approximated the real locations by moving the map legends around a bit.  But they live in New York so even if they knew, they wouldn't care.  (Do I sound bitter?  Sorry.  Maybe if New York showed up regularly in the Gulf of Mexico on maps, they'd understand how we feel.)



Election trivia I picked up along the way:

Democrat Adam Smith won a seat from Washington State.


And a lesson from Minnesota on the importance of where you put the district lines:

  • In Minnesota District 4, Democrat Betty McCullum beat her Republican opponent by 56,000 votes.
  • In Minnesota District 5, Democrat Keith Ellison beat his Republican opponent by 99,000 votes.
  • In Minnesota District 6, Republican Michele Bachman beat her Democratic opponent by 39,000 votes.

    The Democrats' left over votes were 4,000 less than Bachman's 159,000.