Good to Run, Even if Wet

We're staying in NW Portland, not far from our apartment when I spent six months here on sabbatical.  We're not in the section I ran most often. Today I got to go run.  It's all familiar, but the details of which roads dead end into paths into the park are fuzzy. 

It turned out to be uphill most of the time (coming back was much faster) and I knew there was a trail somewhere through the wooded park.  This on the left is that trail, but going the wrong direction.  I just couldn't find the trail connection on the other side of the road. 

 So I turned around and went back pretty much the same way I came, varying the streets a little.  I haven't run for about three weeks, but shoveling snow has kept me reasonably fit, but it just doesn't compare. 

On the right is a runner/biker by-pass for a tunnel.  

I think we're headed for the Japanese Garden later.  It was one of our favorite nearby destinations.  I used to run by or through it regularly.  It's beautiful rain or shine. 

Portland Wedding - Kennedy School, All Saints Parish, Two Brothers, and Pearson Air Museum

We're in Portland for a wedding.  Wednesday I got a call asking if I would serve as the best man.  I've known M for over 30 years and we're the kind of friends who may not talk often, but when we're together it's like we haven't been apart.  We went to his first wedding in Anchorage many years ago.  When I had sabbatical in Portland for 6 months in 2003-2004, we spent time with M and his wife who was seriously ill with cancer and needed dialysis. 

We've had several other trips to the Portland area in the last five years and stayed at M's place.  One time he banged on our door about 10am and said, Hey, Alaskans, get up and see what's on TV.  It was McCain announcing Palin as his VP choice. 

Jordan Room at the Kennedy School

So, when his original best man was unable to come at the last minute, I said yes.  M said that the other guy had even written a speech.  So I said to be sure to send it to me.  (It served me well.  Thanks Reb.)  And M told us we should be at the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday.  Unfortunately, we weren't due in until 4:40 and the rehearsal was scheduled at 4 with the dinner at 6 at the Kennedy School.  I just assumed the Kennedy School was a Catholic School that was big enough to have rooms where for events like this dinner.

Kennedy School Hallway

We got to Portland half-hour late.  We checked in bags - something we almost never do, but we got so much mileage last year that we qualify for free bags and we'll be in LA a while and we had gifts to pack.  Fortunately as I headed for the rental car J said, don't we have luggage to pick up?  Well, the Kennedy School isn't far from the airport and we arrived at this jammed parking lot about 6:20pm.  There was a parking attendant who said we could park in one section if we were staying at the hotel.  Hotel?  At a high school?  We found a parking place and walked in.  There was a bar near the entrance.  What kind of school is this?  We wandered the halls til we found the front desk and where we were supposed to be.  The Jordan room.  We passed some restaurants and other parties.  We got to the Jordan room.  There were only a few people there.  The rehearsal had run late. 

It turns out the Kennedy School is an old Portland Elementary School that had closed down and was bought and converted into an entertainment place, but as you can see, the blackboards are still up in the rooms.  With chalk. 


From the Kennedy school website:

Since its 1915 opening, this historic elementary school has been a beloved fixture of its Northeast Portland neighborhood. McMenamins renovated the once-abandoned scholastic gem and turned it into Portland's most unique hotel. Here you'll find 35 comfy guestrooms fashioned from former classrooms (complete with original chalkboards and cloakrooms, private baths and telephones), a restaurant, multiple small bars, a movie theater, soaking pool, gift shop and a brewery (just wait until the principal hears about this!). Extensive original artwork and historical photographs cover the walls, ceilings, doorways and hallways.

Fascinating example of recycling.  I enjoyed having my brain teased like that.





Today we went to All Saints Parish for the wedding mass at 1:30.   I wasn't the only one whose flights didn't get them to the rehearsal dinner and I'd had detailed instructions on what was going to happen and what I was supposed to do and it went off well.  If I messed up, no one said anything to me about it.  I didn't lose the rings.  (The seven year old had one tied onto a pillow, but the priest said that children were less predictable than adults.)

And after the wedding was over, the sun even came out and brightened the stained glass windows. 

The wedding had been at 1:30 and we hadn't had lunch so on the way home as we passed Two Brothers Grill - a Croatian restaurant - we decided this looked like a good place to eat.  It was.  And this being Portland, they even had a vegetarian section on the menu.  J ordered some Turkish coffee along with her meal.  






I had the vegetarian stuffed cabbage with corn meal. 



And we had time to stop at the hotel and get ready for the party at the Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River.  About ten minutes from our hotel in NW Portland. 


The museum is in what we were told is the oldest still standing hangars in the US.  I couldn't find that on the Fort Vancouver website, but there was this (and more):

"Vancouver's Pearson Field is one of the nation's oldest operating airfields. Aviation first came to Vancouver in 1905, when Lincoln Beachey flew from Portland in a lighter than air craft and landed on the polo field at the Vancouver Army Barracks. Continuous fixed wing aviation made its debut in 1911, and the facility, dedicated as Pearson Field in 1925, played host to a number of aviation milestones over the years. It remains to this day a busy general aviation airport. The Pearson Air Museum and its Murdock Aviation Center are part of Fort Vancouver National Site."

The reception was a lot of fun and the kids had plenty of space to run around and to make and fly paper airplanes.  I met a lot of interesting people including a former Peace Corps volunteer (one of only a few groups in Yemen), a former special ed teacher, a former Attorney General of Oregon, and a Chinese calligrapher to name just a few.

And while I thought the cake looked like it was cardboard, it was a delicious combo of white and chocolate.  


A long and eventful 24 hours.  And the start of what I expect will be an interesting and happy marriage.

Spectacular Chugach Views on Flight from Anchorage to Portland

The flight cancellations over the last couple of days due to snow in Seattle and some ice and heavy rain in Portland meant the flight was packed.  But it was sunny and crystal clear in Anchorage - and -5˚F didn't matter. 

So just lean back and enjoy the views.

Icy Cook Inlet

Foraker (l) and Denali 150 miles to the north

Glenn Highway North at Eagle River

Lots of Snow on the Chugach Mountains

 

This is about 12:30 pm.  The sun is getting higher on the southern horizon, but still low enough to cast these long noontime shadows.

Remember, these are all taken through the not totally clear plastic windows of an Alaska Airlines plane, with a small Canon Powershot that I have to reset for distance for each shot.  (I'm sure there's a way to make it stay.)

Fjords into Prince William Sound

The captain said we were flying over Cordova, otherwise I wouldn't have  known.  We went there by ferry last summer and it looked totally different.

If this one were near Anchorage, I would say it was the pattern of the waterways at low tide.  But I'm not really sure.  It's off shore.  But is it low tide or just frozen solid?  Here's another one below.

And soon after this we were flying over clouds until we got under them to land in Portland. 

Why Kokayi Is Going To Lose A Lot Of Weight In Juneau

A friend of mine has decided that kids going hungry here in Anchorage isn't right. He's working to End Child Hunger by 2015. He's been pushing a bill that would put $2million into feeding kids at school.   The legislative website tells you this:

BILL: SB 3	SHORT TITLE: FUNDING FOR SCHOOL MEALS
BILL VERSION: CSSB 3(FIN)
CURRENT STATUS: (H) FIN	STATUS DATE: 03/07/11
SPONSOR(s): SENATOR(S) WIELECHOWSKI, ELLIS, DAVIS, EGAN, FRENCH, KOOKESH, MCGUIRE, MENARD, PASKVAN, THOMAS REPRESENTATIVE(S)Kawasaki, Petersen, Kerttula, Munoz

TITLE: "An Act providing for funding for school lunch and breakfast; and providing for an effective date."


See where it says "Current Status" above?  The (H) means House (of Representatives) and FIN means Finance Committee.  It passed the Senate last year pretty quickly.  And then it went to the House Finance Committee on March 3, 2011.  It's been there ever since.   Since the Legislature is on a two year cycle, and this is the second year, it's still there.  

Note that the first sponsor is Wielechowski.  He's an Anchorage Democrat who has also been a strong opponent of HB 110.  That's the bill the Governor wants that will give the oil companies a $2 billion a year break on their taxes.  Each year.  In exchange for vague words about more jobs and investment.  Words.  Not even written down.  No commitments.  

Kokayi is planning to wait until Feb. 6 to see if the Finance Committee co-chairs will let the bill out on to the House floor for a vote.  If they don't, he's pledged to fast until they do.  





I'm betting he's going to lose a lot of weight.  

HB 110 is the highest priority of the House Republicans and the Governor.  Now that all the politicians that went to prison for corruption are out, it seems like things are getting back to how they were.  

I'm guessing that as long as Wielechowski is going to fight to block HB100 in the Senate (and he's not alone on that - Republicans and Democrats defeated it last year) S3 isn't moving.  That's how they play the game in Juneau.  Wielechowski's bill to fund school breakfasts and lunches (we're one of the few states that doesn't provide state money for that even though most other states are in a financial pinch and we've got $2 billion a year to give back to the oil companies).  I doubt that co-chairs Stolze (Chugiak/South Matsu) or Thomas (Haines) will move the bill until HB 110 is passed through the Senate.  And even then chairs have been known to just let a bill die as a form of punishment.  I don't know for sure that's what's happening.  Maybe they just think $2 million to feed hungry kids is a waste of money as opposed to getting $2 billion back into the oil company coffers.  

What are you going to do to help Kokayi End Child Hunger in Alaska by 2015?   He's got links at his site to write a letter and to join the peanut butter drive.

Fire and Snow

It's almost a month past the winter solstice.  It's 4:20pm and an office building is catching the reflection of the setting sun through the snow covered trees.  Official sunrise was 9:50am for a total of 6 hours and 41 minutes.  That's a gain of 4 minutes and 28 seconds from yesterday. 

The unrelenting snow storms we've had since Halloween have paused and we've had nearly a week of sunny, if cold, days.  Even though this is winter, the increasing light brings hope of warmer and sunnier days.  And J and I are getting ready to head south for several big events - a wedding and two 90th birthdays.  Fortunately, the redistricting board trial ended Tuesday (they were ready to go through Friday) and so I've had time to catch up with my life and most things I wanted to do before we left are getting done.  An important step - the house sitter is ready to move in as we move out. 

UAA Provost Michael Driscoll - New Indiana University of Pennsylvannia Presdient

Pennlive reports:

Driscoll - Image from Pennlive

University of Alaska provost and executive vice chancellor Michael Driscoll, 50, was hired by the system's board of governors to succeed David Werner, who has served as interim president since August 2010.
Driscoll will start on July 1 at a salary of $275,000, which will be the highest salary of the 14 presidents working at system schools.

I noticed this morning a lot of google searches for "Michael Driscoll University of Alaska" going to a post about the UAA Faculty Senate meeting with President Gamble in which Driscoll is mentioned. So I googled him myself to discover his new appointment which had been posted 45 minutes earlier at Pennlive.  The story begins by saying that as proof that they did a nationwide search, they got their new president from as far away as Alaska.

“Corporations are NOT people! Money is NOT Speech!” Anchorage, Friday, 11-1

January 21, 2012 is the two year anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Citizens United which essentially gave corporations the first amendment rights and removed spending limits for corporate political speech.   In Alaska we saw the impact of this in last fall's write-in campaign by Lisa Murkowski.

Move To Amend is holding a rally at the

Anchorage Federal Courthouse

7th and C Streets

Friday January 20

 11-2pm

This is part of a national drive to amend the US Constitution to say the bill of rights applies to human beings and not corporations.  Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has submitted one amendment and Alaska's Sen. Mark Begich was one of the first to sign on.  

Voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina have already seen the changes this has caused in the caucuses and primaries, with millions of dollars of third party ads.  Jack Gillum at Huffington Post writes:

Forget kissing babies on the campaign trail. The millions of dollars' worth of political advertisements airing before the early primary elections are turning out to be money well spent: The ads have affected primary results more than other forms of campaigning, including personal appearances by candidates, campaign speeches or town hall meetings, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

I was in Juneau in 2010 when the decision came out and I posted on the hearings in both state houses as both Republicans and Democrats worked to do damage control by adding disclosure requirements for any corporate donations.  Alaska didn't have disclosure laws because corporate political contributions had been banned altogether. 

I had a chance to talk to Curt Karns who is helping to coordinate the Anchorage event.

Applying Gingrich's Muslim Endorsement Statement to Christians

Newt Gingrich was asked the other night if he would endorse a Muslim-American running for US president.  He had a long response (video below), which ends with:

"A truly modern person who happened to worship Allah would not be a threat," Gingrich replied. "A person who belonged to any kind of belief in Sharia, any kind of effort to impose that on the rest of us, would be a mortal threat."

That's sort of how I feel about Christians (and Jews and others) running for President.

"A truly modern person who happened to be a  Christian would not be a threat.  A person who belonged to any kind of literal belief in Biblical Law, any kind of effort to impose that on the rest of us, would be a mortal threat."

There's a lot of worthy stuff in the bible, as there is in the Koran, but there's also a lot of 3000 year old tribal customs.  I'm not ready for a Christian extremist who believes the earth is 6000 years old and wants that taught in schools. (Newt, do Christians have to be modern persons too?) I don't want someone who will cherry pick phrases from the bible to support his personal emotional issues to impose as law.

 If a person believes the bible is literally true, and is the word of God, we're in serious trouble.  They would have the same zeal and belief in their infallibility as suicide bombers and the extreme Jewish Orthodox settlers.  Because they believe God is on their side, political opponents are seen as infidels and agents of Satan.   

Currently phrases are lifted to justify crusades against gays and gay marriage:

If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. [from twopaths]

But supporting laws that require marriage be "between a man and a woman" ignores other references in the bible to men (kings even) having multiple wives.  Seems pretty arbitrary to me.  And they don't see the irony in their use of the slippery slope argument that gay marriage will lead to polygamy!


Gingrich voices concern in the video about how Muslims treat women as though women did well in the bible and as though there were no biblical laws that require the stoning of women (and men.)  Who can predict which laws a Fundamentalist Christian might want to impose on us?  There's a lot of strange stuff in Deuteronomy to choose from.  Is this, for instance, the basis for those who oppose abortion even in the case of rape?

Deuteronomy 22:28-29

New International Version (NIV)

 ²⁸ If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, ²⁹ he shall pay her father fifty shekels^[a] of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.

It seems many fundamentalists pick obscure passages that raise funds and also passions against some marginal group, while ignoring more critical standards, such as the honoring the sabbath (the fourth of the Ten Commandments).  Has anyone seen  Fundamentalists picket in front of Walmart (or anywhere else where people worked) on Sunday lately?

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.  [from Catholic Version of Ten Commandments]

How many of you have manservants and maidservants?  And what about the stranger within the gates?   There is a lot in the bible about welcoming strangers, but it seems to me so called Christians are in the forefront to lock the borders and deport aliens, aka strangers.

So, no, I don't want Sharia law imposed on us.  Nor do I want Christian or Judaic biblical law imposed on us either.  I think the danger of Christian law being imposed is far greater than Sharia law.  It's already happening.  Maybe the questioner should have asked about imposing biblical law too.


Here's the Gingrich video from TPM.



One can ask how someone can rant against Muslims and not see the same danger in their own religion. Partly I think this stems from being so immersed in one's own religion that one sees it as the obvious, one, true religion. I also think there is a capacity in human beings to compartmentalize. Islam is in one compartment of the brain and Christianity is in another. They simply never see the two compared, side to side, except in a good-bad dichotomy. But who knows?

Alaska Redistricting for the Masses Part 2: The Board Process

• Part 1 looked at Why We Have Redistricting?  Part 1 will help with understanding some of the legal requirements the board had to balance and key terms needed to understand the process and the court case.
• Here in Part 2 I'm going to briefly go over what the board did.
• Part 3 will look at the trial, which ended today. 

Part 2:  The Alaska Redistricting Board

The Board Members are appointed by different officials.  The governor appoints two members, the Speaker of the House appoints one, and the Senate President appoints one.  The last member is appointed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.  The first three positions above are held by Republicans and their appointees are all Republicans.  The Supreme Court Chief Justice appointed a Democrat.  The board consists of three white males, one white female, and one Native female.  Four Republicans and one Democrat. Two are former legislators, two are realtors, and one is the CEO of a Native Corporation.  They come from Kenai, Kodiak, Kotzebue, Fairbanks, and Juneau.  (That’s right, no one from Anchorage.)  Here's a list of the members with pictures and brief bios.

All the board members were appointed by September 2010 and met in December and also went to training on redistricting, the Voting Rights Act (VRA), and how to use the redistricting software.
Board staff was hired, offices secured, furniture, computers were secured.

The Census Data were received on March 13, 2011 and they had their first public meeting in Anchorage on March 15.  The state constitution requires they have a draft plan ready in 30 days and a final plan ready in 90 days from receiving the census data.

There were three key outside groups that also submitted plans.  Alaskans for Fair Redistricting (AFFR) was mainly union and native groups.  Alaskans for Fair and Equitable Redistricting (AFFER) was basically the Alaska Republican Party, some native groups (Calista), and other unnamed funders.  The Rights Coalition was the Democratic party and some other groups.

After the 2001 Plan, AFFR successfully sued and got significant changes in the plan.

All the Board meetings were open to the public.  There was a website, Facebook and Twitter pages, There was a very ambitious public hearing project which had the board traveling all over the state, mostly in teams of two members.

The Voting Rights Act expert, Dr. Lisa Handley was hired on April 9 and met with the board twice by telephone and once in person.  Her main job was to advise the board about the benchmark the Department of Justice would hold them to (That’s the 3-2-1 plus 3 senate mentioned in Part 1) based on the 2002 districts and the racial voting patterns of elections in the last ten years.  She also advised them on the percentage of Natives that would be needed in the new districts to meet the VRA requirements on the new plan.

The board set up a strategy to first do the districts in Southeast Alaska, because they were going from five house districts to four and they had one Native house district and one Native Senate district in the benchmark (2002) plan.  Because of the loss of population and because they are mostly separate from the rest of the state, they were going to be difficult.  Next they wanted to do the rest of the Native districts to be sure they would meet the benchmark requirements.  That left the urban areas for last.  One Board member, Robert Brodie from Kodiak, voiced concern about there not being enough time to do redistricting for over 70% of the population at the end.

PeggyAnn McConnochie took the lead for Southeast and that process was very open.  McConnochie and Marie Green were the leads for the Native districts and that process was also pretty open.  Board member Holm worked on Fairbanks, pretty much by himself and was approved without a lot of discussion by the Board.  Most people were not familiar with Fairbanks or the implications of the maps drawn.  Matsu was, in my recollection done mostly by staff.  Chair Torgerson worked on various maps.  Bob Brodie also worked on various areas, as I recall, doing work on Matsu, Anchorage and Eagle River, Kenai in particular.  He [Brodie] was the one member who regularly challenged the Chair's approach to all this.  [A reader emailed me that I had these last two sentences mixed up and it was misleading.  Fixed now.]

The plan got done in time for the June 14 deadline.  The VRA expert got a draft plan around that time and a final report explaining to the DOJ why she thought it met the requirements of the VRA in August.  The plan was sent with lots of documentation to the Department of Justice.  Board staff and two members - Torgerson and Green - went to DC to meet with DOJ officials during this time and notice of preclearance arrived in October.

There were 30 days after the plan was  completed for anyone to challenge it in Court.  The City of Petersburg, the City of Fairbanks, and two people (Riley and Dearborn)  from Ester/Goldstream filed three separate suits.  It was determined the trial would be in Fairbanks.  Eventually, Petersburg and Fairbanks dropped out but the Ester/Goldstream suit stayed and that was the challenge before Judge McConahy.

I’ll end here for now and try to do an overview of what happened in the court case soon. That's harder because I had to listen in by phone and it just happened and I'm still processing what went on.  But this and Part 1 are probably good background for understanding what happened in the Fairbanks courtroom.

Redistricting Trial is Over

The Board's attorney Michael White has completed his closing argument, there were complimentary words by the judge at the end for all involved, discussion of housekeeping items, which I only partially grasped, and it's over. 

White's closing seemed more efficient than Walleri's in terms of content per word.  There was a bit of cliche court room hyperbole ("not a shred of evidence" is one example) but overall, it was more fact based, and more focused on a list of specific points.  I wasn't sure about much of his argument - I simply don't know enough to judge.  Right now I'm too fried, not to mention behind on other things I have to do, to write more on this now.

The judge did say he would like to get the decision out by the first Monday in February.  Mr. White requested a Friday because of the expedited time line and the Board's need to give 48 hours notice of a meeting.  The first Monday is Feb. 7, the first Friday is the 4th.  He also said there is no time for motions of reconsideration and made mentions of appeals and the Supreme Court. 


I have absolutely no idea how the judge is likely to rule.  I need to go through the two closing arguments again and try to make sense of them.  But even then, there are too many issues of law that I don't know or understand to be able to figure out how the judge might rule.