AIFF 2012: Mormon Missionaries Fall In Love, or . . .

"East High student returns to Anchorage as an actor in Anchorage International Film Festival film, or . . ."

"Sometimes Skype really sucks."

These were all potential titles for this post.  

I got an email from Harold Phillips saying he was in "The Falls" which would be showing at the Anchorage International Film Festival  

Tuesday Dec. 4 at the Bear Tooth at 8pm

and he and one of the two main characters would be coming to the festival if I was interested in talking to them.

Local Boy Returns Triumphant is a great story line.  So we arranged to do a Skype interview.

Bad Skype connection

This was one of the worst skype connections I can remember.   Here's a screenshot.  This wasn't even the worst part.  The audio kept going in and out.  We tried recalling several times with only marginal improvements. 





They even moved to another room, which was a little better, but the audio and video were not synched making conversation difficult. 


Harold Phillips, one of the actors (not one of the two missionaries), moved to Anchorage when his father was transferred to Ft. Rich.  He's a 1989 East High grad and when his father was transferred away, he liked Anchorage enough that he decided to stay on his own,  spending two years in the UAA Theater Department  before going off to finish his degree in Bellingham, Washington.  He eventually ended up in Portland, following a woman, whom he eventually married.

While he does some part time work, he sees himself as an actor and gets most of his income through acting.  He hasn’t been to Anchorage in five years and is looking foward to the trip and to seeing friends and spending some time over at the Theater Arts building at UAA the day after the Tuesday night screening. 



Jon Garcia graduated from film school at Portland State University in 2009.  He was already working on this film at the time.  When I asked him what parts of film making he liked the most and least, he quickly responded, “I like the writing.”  He actually started out as a singer/songwriter and got involved in a movie, and one thing led to another.  He really couldn’t think of any part he didn’t like.  The film was made on a tiny budget - $7,000 I think for the filming and then some more for post production work which took him two years. 


This is a movie about two Mormon missionaries on a mission in Eastern Oregon who fall in love, with each other.  Jon’s not Mormon.  And the Mormon setting just sort of happened as he was working on the script.  It wasn't what he started out to do.  He spent about six months intensively researching the Mormon church, including talks with some gay ex-Mormons whose stories provided some of the scenes in the movie.

 The video  improved a bit in another room, but not the audio

He’s hoping Anchorage Mormons come to the showing.  He and Harold emphasized that it was not offensive.  Mormons who have seen the film have told them that, and that it rings true.  Though in a YouTube interview he says that people have pointed out some things that wouldn’t have happened - like someone working without a partner.  That, he said, had more to do with lack of funds for another actor.

Of course, anyone can be offended by something that seems innocuous to others.   I understood that most of the Mormons who’ve attended showings of the film were lapsed Mormons including some who discovered their sexuality in their missions like the two main characters.  That group, apparently, have given Jon lots of positive feedback.  I’m sure for many devout Mormons, having this subject matter in a movie, no matter how well intentioned, will be offensive.

On the other hand, I also understand that lots of Mormons have gone to see the Broadway musical, "The Book of Mormon" and The Salt Lake Tribune's headline on its review was

'Book of Mormon' musical called surprisingly sweet

They acknoweldged that

"Many believers — especially older viewers or those easily offended — would see it as a blasphemous assault on scriptures . . .

"[b]ut the satire and tone were not as hostile as many Mormons feared . . .

 "I was expecting to be offended," said Anne Christensen, a 22-year-old LDS New Yorker, "but was pleasantly surprised by how incredibly sweet it was."

"Her mother, Janet Christensen, added: "It's not G-rated, but they treated us with affection. And they did their homework."

After watching the trailer for "The Falls", seeing a 20 minute YouTube interview with director Jon Garcia, and talking to him and Harold tonight via Skype, I suspect they've gone for the sweet too, but without the South Park sarcasm and profanity. (The Broadway musical was done by the folks who bring you South Park.)

So Anchorage Mormons should feel ok about attending "The Falls" here Tuesday, Dec. 6.[4]  [That's only a week from Tuesday.] Since it's part of the film festival's Gayla program, the gay community is likely to be there too.  It would be cool to have a discussion of the film afterward with the two different groups represented in the audience.  It's not an easy topic for many, but one that Anchorage folk across different political persuasions need to discuss. 

And East High grads - one of your alumni is in the film and will be there.  So you might want to cheer him.  Not sure the UAA theater students will have much time as they get ready to finals that week, but think of it as a good study break. 

Harold is definitely planning to be here.  Unfortunately the actor who was originally planning to come can't do it.  So now Jon is trying to get here as well, so there should be discussion with the film maker(s) after the showing.

People who know Mormons might want to let them know about the film. 

Here's the trailer.



The Falls trailer 2 from Jon Garcia on Vimeo.

Note, this film was invited to be the feature for the Gayla program and is not in competition.  

Oh &%$#!!!!!!!!!!!! - Gout or Fascia Trouble?

It started to hurt yesterday while walking around the house.  The instep seemed to be the ringleader.  J wondered if it could be gout - which I've had in the toes, but never here.  I looked up gout and instep.

Gout is an extremely painful inflammation of the joints caused by a buildup of needle-sharp uric-acid crystals.

The big toe is the most common target, but gout can attack the feet, ankles, knees, and hands as well.   (From Health.com)

 Feet.  So it was possible, so I took one of my gout pills before dinner.   I get an attack so infrequently that while I know shrimp and beer are foods to avoid, I don't have the whole list in my head.

Looking it up now, I see some problems from yesterday:

Foods with the highest purine content include liver, organ, and game meats, sardines, mussels, anchovies, herring, and beer.
Foods with moderate levels of purine include red meats, chicken, fish, asparagus, mushrooms, peas, beans, lentils, cauliflower, and spinach. (from webmd)

 Choosing meats to eat is very tricky when you're on a restricted gout diet. In general, white meat is a better choice than red meat. However, there are some exceptions. Beef and pork are slightly less dangerous than turkey, goose or lamb, for example, while chicken and duck tend to be the safest choices meat-wise. (from Sympton Find)

I did eat the turkey liver in the morning.  And about six asparagus at dinner. And dark meat is my favorite.

I posted all these foods two years ago here.  The old list includes oatmeal which I eat most mornings.  I have avoided beer and shrimp  - which clearly preceded an attack once - and I've had no symptoms eating other foods that are forbidden - mushrooms, other seafood, like samon. 

This morning, when I got up, the pain was excruciating (see picture of my foot above) when I stepped on it.  It was bearable lying in bed doing nothing.  I took another gout pill and called the doctor.  My doctor of 30 years retired this past summer.  He was the doctor I could email from anywhere and I'd get a quick terse reply about what he thought and what to do.  I'd been thinking I should visit his replacement before I needed to. Just because I'm used to knowing my doctor.   Well, she wasn't in and the doctor I saw wasn't sure it was gout.  Sounded more like fascia problem to him, but not sure how that would have happened.

Under your skin, encasing your body and webbing its way through your insides like spider webs, is fascia. Fascia is made up primarily of densely packed collagen fibers that create a full body system of sheets, chords and bags that wrap, divide and permeate every one of your muscles, bones, nerves, blood vessels and organs. Every bit of you is encased in it. You're protected by fascia, connected by fascia and kept in taut human shape by fascia.  (From Runners' World)

Pain and tenderness associated with planter fascia strains are usually felt on the bottom of the foot between the heel and the base of the toes. Plantar fascia pain may be increased or decreased by stretching of the arch. In mild cases of plantar fasciitis, the pain will decrease as the soft tissues of the foot "warm up," however, pain may increase as use of the foot increases. In more severe cases of plantar fasciitis, pain may increase when the arch is stressed. Often the sufferer of plantar fasciitis will feel pain in the morning until the plantar fascia warms up. Foot pain at night may be a sign of plantar fasciitis as well as other possible problems. (from Medicine Net)

It does hurt when I stretch my toes up and down.  But I haven't done anything to strain my foot lately.  In fact I've been pissed about my lack of exercise since I banged my ribs two weeks ago after my bike tire hit some ice, shortly before I hit the ice. 

 Meanwhile I'm not a happy camper.  Though either the colchicine or the pain killer is starting to deaden the pain a bit.  Foot problems like these make me grateful that my body works as well as it does. (I did give thanks for that yesterday.)  And make me more tolerant of those whose bodies give them more trouble and more willing to share my surplus mobility with those who don't have as much.   

Thanksgiving Lemmings

This is a map of planes in real time over the United States at 6:30pm Wednesday night Alaska time.  You can check this site yourself at flightradar.   Most of these people - I'm guessing all of these planes are pretty full - have suffered TSA to be with family for Thanksgiving.

It would be nice to have our kids here and my mom, but I wouldn't want to subject any of them to a Thanksgiving weekend flying experience.

Here's Southcentral Alaska - Anchorage , Matsu, Kenai, and Prince William Sound - about the same time.  When you zoom into a smaller area the planes aren't so crowded together.  At flightradar you can put your cursor on any plane and it shows you the airline and flight number.  Then, if you double click on the id, it gives you lots more information.  I didn't do that when I got the original screen shot, but I just did another EVA plane that was just leaving Anchorage and here's what I got:

EVA638

© Timo Jäger [CGN-Spotter]

• Airline: Eva Air
• Flight: BR638
• From: Anchorage, Ted Stevens (ANC)
• To: New York, John F Kennedy (JFK)
• Aircraft: Boeing 747-45EF (SCD) (B744)
• Reg: B-16483
• Altitude: 27800 ft (8473 m)
• Speed: 480 kt (889 km/h, 552 mph)
• Track: 90°
• Hex: 8990C2
• Squawk: 0
• Pos: 61.2999 / -147.769
• Radar: T-F5M
• Cockpit View
• 
  

Cockpit view would be cool, but it says I need a Google Earth plug in.  I have Google Earth, but it's not working with the flightrader site.  I wonder if it is really a cockpit view or a Google Earth view from where they are.   Google Earth is showing Anchorage dressed for summer.  So is flightradar for that matter.



I've got enough things in my life pulling my attention in different directions, and I never quite understood how it would make my life better, so I've not signed up for Twitter.  But every now and then I do end up there and try to figure out how it's supposed to make my life better.

And I found a picture of the airtraffic map here.   Then I tried to figure out where it came from, since I didn't see a link to the source or any source.  I tried to embed the whole tweet, but all it gave me was his text.  I can cut and paste that myself:

Andrew Kaczynski ‏@BuzzFeedAndrew

This is insane. The number of planes currently in the air for holiday travel. pic.twitter.com/WEYOgIv4

Anonymous: Robin Hood of the Information Age or Looming Tyrant?

Is Anonymous a modern Robin Hood stealing information from the rich and giving it to the poor?  [Let me warn you, this is going to be a think-as-I-write post.  Somewhat rambling, raising questions without many answers.]

Or should we be concerned about Anonymous' certainty in their judgment about who deserves to be punished and their willingness to exact that punishment?

Is it ok as long as they reveal government and corporate coverups?  If they temporarily shut down computers at naughty corporate entities as a warning like a parent punishes a child?

Where is the line they shouldn't cross and who will stop them when they do?

Is this civil disobedience or is it like self appointed militia groups who take it on themselves to punish people illegally crossing into the USA?

Are these reckless adolescents (behavior, not age is the criterion here) experimenting with their power?  Why would we come down harder on these folks whose goal, at least now, is openness, than we do on those who experiment with new forms of financial instruments, who experiment with sending troops and weapons into countries across the globe?  The difference is that Anonymous are outsiders shooting their arrows at the those with power.  The reckless businesses whose experiments destroy the earth or feed us harmful chemicals to make a profit are inside the power club.  The insiders are far more powerful and dangerous and one could argue that Anonymous is merely trying to expose that danger.  But what will happen when Anonymous gets inside the power ring? 

The other day I posted a video tape from Anonymous warning Karl Rove that it was watching his computers.  Then after the election Anonymous posted a letter saying they had aborted an attempt by Rove to steal the election by tampering with the Ohio voting machines.  I'm waiting to see how long the mainstream media wait before picking up the story.


Are they trying to find ways to confirm the reports?  Are they waiting for bloggers to do their leg work?   Essentially the evidence I've seen includes how the 2004 Ohio election mysteriously switched from a Kerry lead at 11:13pm after a minute long computer crash into a Bush lead; that there was a similar crash around 11:13pm this year in Ohio;  and Rove's on air meltdown when FOX decided to call Ohio for Obama.  The explanation, supplied by the Anonymous letter is that Rove's operatives couldn't steal the election this time because they (Anonymous) had set up a firewall with a new password.

A Thom Hartmann video in a link I posted added Carl Unger's Boss Rove account of the 2004 Ohio election events to strengthen the evidence.  I got an email today linking an article by Thom Hartman and Sam Sack that puts that evidence in written form and a little more cleanly. 


While looking for the Anonymous video I posted, I also saw there were a lot of other Anonymous videos.  Like this one addressed to Pedophiles.  Its language caught my attention.  I understand that if there is one cause that most people would unite against, it's probably pedophiles.  But let's look at some of the language in the video.

"Pedophiles, we will come for you.  We will find you.
We will shut down your websites and kick you out.
You are not welcome here and we have had enough of you.
Leave our children alone and  and while you are at it  leave the rest of the planet alone.

This is not a threat, this is a promise.
We will hunt you down and exterminate you like cockroaches.
You are the lowest form of life on this planet and it is time for you to be extinguished.
We are the ones that will do this task."

It was the cockroach line that caught my attention.  Why?  This Daily Kos post criticizing Rush Limbaugh for calling President Obama and liberals 'cockroaches" explains:

In 1993-94, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines was a Rwandan radio station which appealed to the Hutu population, with its combination of bawdy humor, popular Zairean music and racist propaganda against the Tutsi. "It frequently referred to Tutsis as "cockroaches" (example: "You [Tutsis] are cockroaches! We will kill you!"). The station was especially popular among young people, who made up the majority of the Interahamwe militia, which carried out the slaughter. Once the massacres started, RTLM radio actually broadcast the location of groups of fleeing Tutsis, so that the Interahamwe could track them down and machete them.

Repeatedly, announcers at RTLM referred to the Tutsi "cockroaches," reducing them to creatures less than human, disgusting and disease-ridden vermin. "A cockroach gives birth to a cockroach... the history of Rwanda shows us clearly that a Tutsi always stays exactly the same, that he has never changed." Human Beings are hard to kill, hard to hate, hard to eliminate, but the "Invenzi" were Tutsi cockroaches, and needed to be stepped on and crushed. Their elimination from the Earth would actually be a service to humanity.

[As an aside, just as gays don't choose to be gay, I suspect that pedophiles don't choose little children as their sexual turn on.  Are they really cockroaches or are they the victims of whatever programmed their sexual desires?  I can hear everyone saying, but they should never act on those desires.  Of course they shouldn't.  But who amongst you could keep such a pledge?  That's not to say that pedophiles should be allowed to fulfill their desires, but perhaps there's a more humane way to keep them away from their sexual prey.  Just raising a train of thought here.  I don't know the answers, but I think we need new questions on this topic.]


As I looked at the different YouTube videos available that were billed as messages from Anonymous I wondered how one could tell if a video was really from Anonymous or not.  Or is that the point of Anonymous?  It wouldn't seem to hard to just use an old Anonymous video - the visuals are mostly the same - and learn how to imitate the Anonymous voice.  There's probably an App to make you sound like Anonymous.

I did notice that they all say at the end of each video:

We are anonymous.
We are legion.  
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.  

Expect Us.

My New Testament knowledge is pretty sketchy so I had to look up "We are legion' to find out what exactly it meant.  Most definitions say it means "we are everyone."  But apparently there are many interpretations, such as this one from Religion-Online:

One evident slap at Roman rule in Mark is the story of Jesus healing the demoniac that no one had the strength to subdue. Jesus asks the man’s unclean spirit for its name. "My name is Legion; for we are many," replies the man, using the Latin word for a large unit of Roman troops. The demons beg Jesus not to send them out of the country, but instead into a herd of swine; when he obliges, they promptly rush down a steep bank into the sea. Horsley believes the symbolism is unmistakable: Jesus takes control of the Roman forces who have brutalized people and foretells the army’s demise.

Others emphasize the demonic nature of Legion.

 So, we have Anonymous as Robin Hood, as Rwandan mass murderers, and as a crazy man in a biblical reference.  Probably none of them and maybe all of them are potentially accurate.

Going in a totally different direction, it's been a while since I first realized that  the Second Amendment was anachronistic and if people wanted to fight against a corrupt government, success would be through computer hacking, not through guns.  Anonymous seems to make this case well.

And perhaps we should consider a constitutional amendment to protect people's rights to computers and access to the internet.

In any case, hacking has the potential for serious abuse as well as good. 

And to the extent that Anonymous has major victories, what will stop evil imitators from using their hacking skills for evil?  If the allegations that Rove stole the Ohio vote count, (a big if, that I need more evidence for, but which I don't dismiss either), then it's already happened.

But even more troubling is the thought of what happens to people who gain power and begin to think they are omniscient?  And start picking more cockroach targets? Not just pedophiles?   Targets we might not so readily agree with.  Say iPhone users. 



Spinning out the Anonymous idea even further, what happens if others get inspired to go after organizations they feel are evil?  The Anonymous for Life folks take down Planned Parenthood's website and publish the names of everyone who has gotten abortions from them?  Ford wipes out Toyota's data bases.  UCLA erases every USC sports victory and every USC diploma from the records.  If the US and/or Israel can hack into Iran's nuclear power plants, why can't someone get into power plant computer systems anywhere and shut them down?

Is there a limited number of people capable of carrying off such activities?   And of those with the skills, what percent are prone to use them for evil?  I suspect that the absolute number of people who could potentially pull a lethal computer hack off is pretty big. 


In my mind, civil society works because people voluntarily cooperate.  They cooperate because society allows them enough of what they need that they have a vested interest in keeping things working.  So the way to prevent crimes is to create societies where everyone has a good chance of a decent life.  We can never prevent the stray psychopaths or discontented oddball, but we should be striving for societies where the most people possible have a good chance for a good life.  That's not the direction the US has been headed lately.

I'm for as much information equality as possible.  Too much secrecy, in my mind, is far more dangerous than too much exposure.  To the extent that Anonymous has exposed secrets that never should have been secret, that's good.  To the extent that they might fulfill their Superhero fantasies by stopping the theft of elections, that's probably ok.  But power has a tendency to corrupt.  Some who gain this kind of power, realize how dangerous it is and back off.  But others begin to believe they deserve their power and that they know better than everyone else.

Let's see, do I have any evidence for that?  I believe it to be true, but it falls more in the opinion based on personal experience than on hard evidence.  And I'd come down pretty hard on people's personal experience that comes to conclusions I don't hold.  So, I guess I'm just spinning out ideas here as I ponder the future of Anonymous and their hactivities. 



 There's even a documentary on Anonymous called "We Are Legion:  The Hacktivists". 
You can watch it and decide for yourself.  This is called the old version.  Wired discusses the release of the film and changes from one version to another.

Alaska Native Republican Shootout Supporter Loses in Southeast Election

[UPDATE Nov. 21:  The final tally had Kreiss-Tomkins ahead by 32.   KCAW reported that Thomas, when asked if he'd ask for a recount, replied

“I’m not going to say because I want the suspense to lay there. The guy was such an a–hole,” he said. “You know, he lied on so many things and he was supposed to run a clean campaign and he didn’t. So I’m just going to wait.”
Thomas also didn’t hesitate to make his feelings known about the results of the election.
“The district just committed hara-kiri,” he said. “They just didn’t realize what they had as far as seniority and leadership position.”

Not a lot of class, I'm afraid.  But I'd wager that he'll ask for the recount.  He's still in the free recount zone.]


Bill Thomas, the Republican representative from Haines,  seems to have lost reelection by 28 votes.  Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins of Sitka is now ahead with 100% of the votes counted.   Thomas can request a recount.



From the Division of Elections website:

HOUSE DISTRICT 34
		Total
Number of Precincts		15
Precincts Reporting		15	100.0%
Times Counted		8398/13964	60.1%
Total Votes		8207
Kreiss-Tomkins, Jona	DEM	4110	50.08%
Thomas, William A. "	REP	4082	49.74
Write-in Votes		15	0.18%

 Recount?

According to BallotPedia  (They make things easier to find than the Alaska statutes):

There are no automatic recount provisions in Alaska election law, except in the event of a tie vote for two or more candidates for the same office for which there is to be elected only one candidate. A recount may be requested by a defeated candidate or ten voters within a particular precinct or state house district. Recount requests must made by filing an application with the elections director within five days of the state review of the votes . . .

If the difference between the number of votes cast was 20 or less or was less than 0.5% of the total number of votes cast for the two candidates for a contested office, the state bears the cost of the recount.  Otherwise the application for recount must include a deposit of $300 per precinct, $750 per state house district, and $10,000 for a state recount request.

The difference was more than 20 votes, but less than 0.5% (which would be 40 votes if there was a total of 8000) so he wouldn't have to pay for the recount.  He has nothing to lose by asking for a recount. 


Thomas and the Shootout

It may be fitting that we learn this the week of the Great Alaska Shootout, because Rep. Thomas put money into the budget to subsidize rural Alaskans' flights to Anchorage to attend the basketball tournament.

KTUU reported in June:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The University of Alaska Anchorage says more than 1,500 people could receive free plane tickets in November -- funded by an appropriation from the state’s capital budget -- from 18 Alaska cities to Anchorage with the purchase of tickets to the 35th annual Great Alaska Shootout. House Finance Committee co-chair Rep. Bill Stoltze’s (R-Chugiak) office confirmed the source of the funds Friday afternoon.

The committee’s other co-chair, Rep. Bill Thomas (R-Haines), pushed for the $2.5 million appropriation to UAA. He said the money was meant to keep the Shootout alive, but didn’t come with restrictions on what UAA could do with it.

Dermot Cole had a blistering editorial on this, also last June, in the Fairbanks News Miner.


Loss of Minority Legislators Due To Redistricting

If this vote count holds, it would make the second Southeast Alaska Native to lose after this redistricting. Also, the legislature's only black member, Senator Bettye Davis lost after her district was gerrymandered to take away her base constituents and add much more conservative and white Eagle River into her district.

Meanwhile, Richard Mauer at the ADN has reported that the attorney who represented the parties challenging redistricting has a new filing in to prevent the current redistricting map, which was a temporary fix so there would be something in place for the 2012 elections, from becoming permanent.

In his filing with the Supreme Court, Walleri said his evidence shows the 2012 redistricting plan "resulted in the destruction of the Senate bipartisan coalition, and the racial gerrymandering in HD 38 greatly contributed to achieving that result." Wallari is a Democrat who has represented Native groups in past redistricting battles in Alaska.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/11/13/2691904/fairbanks-lawyer-accuses-board.html#storylink=cpy

The impact of the redistricting on minority legislators was a topic I've been wanting to write about, but I've been swamped with other things.  I'll try to get to it before too long.  

Extraordinary Financial Gifts

“What the president’s campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote,” Romney said during a call with campaign donors Wednesday.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Republicans are distancing themselves from Romney's comment.  Here's a prime example: 

“We as a Republican Party have to campaign for every single vote. If we want people to like us, we have to like them first. And you don’t start to like people by insulting them and saying their votes were bought. We are an aspirational party,” Jindal said.

OK, but not dissing most of the population is only one reason to pull back from this comment. But whose supporters get the most extraordinary financial gifts?

More likely the Republicans don't want people to start talking about the much more direct and lucrative financial benefits they send their supporters.  After all, corporations would not be meeting their legal obligations to their shareholders if their political contributions weren't investments to increase their corporations' future income. 

And political investments seem to be remarkably efficient and lucrative for those who are skilled at it. 

The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4?op=1#ixzz2Chg6Ktk3

The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this bad since the Roaring Twenties

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/15-charts-about-wealth-and-inequality-in-america-2010-4?op=1#ixzz2Chg6Ktk3

The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) reports on Pentagon Contractors, – Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon:

• The average worker in the U.S. earned $45,230 last year. These CEOs were paid more in an average day than the average American worker was paid all of last year.
• According to a 2011 Congressional Budget Office analysis, the median compensation (including basic pay, allowances for food and housing, and tax advantages) for enlisted U.S. military personnel with ten years of experience was about $64,000. Thus, the Pentagon could afford to pay the salary of 335 soldiers with the money from just one top defense contractor’s compensation package.
• The CEOs of these top Pentagon contractors are also making significantly more than their own workers. According to a Deloitte study, the average wage (just salary, not benefits) for the entire aerospace and defense industry in 2010 was $80,175. For the price of one CEO then, these firms could pay the salary of 268 defense and aerospace industry workers.
• Even compared to other CEOs these Pentagon executives are making an enormous amount of money. An Associated Press study of S&P 500 CEO’s (i.e. the largest publicly traded companies) found that the typical CEO received $9.6 million in total compensation last year. Thus, the top Pentagon contractors could afford two CEOs with the compensation they’re using to pay their current CEOs.

These five CEOs weren’t even the highest paid heads of Pentagon contractors. That honor goes to David Cote, the CEO of Honeywell, whose $35.7 million compensation package made him the sixth highest paid CEO in the U.S. last year, according to the Associated Press study.

Now these companies know enough that they have to give to both parties, but they seem, over time, to give more to that party that seems to think that military power is the best way to lead the world and got us into the Iraq war.  The chart below from Open Secrets
shows political contributions by defense contractors:

Screen shot from Open Secrets

And the accumulated effects of Republican tax policies and deregulation have resulted in the greatest wealth disparity in over half a century.  (And they couldn't have done this without the cooperation of Democrats.)

Business Insider offers 15 charts in "15 mindblowing facts about income wealth and distribution in America" starting with one titled,

"The gap between the top 1% and everyone else hasn't been this great since the Roaring Twenties."

The other 14 charts are of interest too.

And, by the way, if Obama was trying to help the 99%, and minorities in particular, maybe that was good policy.

The Washington Post shows us that minorities were hurt from Bush policies way more than whites in the recession:

Between 2005 and 2009, the median net worth of Hispanic households dropped by 66 percent and that of black households fell by 53 percent, according to the report. In contrast, the median net worth of white households dropped by only 16 percent.

The median net worth of a white family now stands at 20 times that of a black family and 18 times that of a Hispanic family — roughly twice the gap that existed before the recession and the biggest gap since data began being collected in 1984.

So, yeah, I think Republicans, probably are acting rationally, finally, when they start distancing themselves from Romney's remarks.   Oh, that last line of Jindal's "We are an aspirational party."  I don't think you're there yet.  Success used to be much easier for white males because of the all the extra barriers non-white folks and women faced.  While many still exist, many have come down and now white males have to work harder to get what they used to get coasting.  And I suspect that's behind a lot of Republican anger.  See this Jon Stewart riff on O'Reilly and Goldberg complaining about losing traditional America. 

November Shadows

It's barely a month before the winter solstice and the Anchorage sky doesn't get very far up the southern horizon these days.

The shadows are stretched out.

Unless the shadow surface is very close to and parallel to the original.







And the bare branches of the tree are softened seen as shadows through the shades.

Annonymous Warned Karl Rove Two Weeks Before

OK, if Anonymous could monitor Karl Rove's communication system, they can back date a videotape on YouTube.  But, for what it's worth, as we are learning about Anonymous' letter saying they stopped Rove from stealing Ohio on election night, here's the video they say they posted two weeks before.

Rove shouldn't have been so surprised when FOX was ready to call Ohio for Obama if he had heeded, or even seen, the warning.



[UPDATE Nov 18 10am: Sorry, I was working on a project with someone and took a break and posted this,  then went back to the project, so I didn't realize that blogger ate the link to the video.]

OK, if conservatives say that progressives are gullible to believe this, they'd be right. There's just about the same combination of fact and fantasy that FOX news uses all the time. But what I see Progressives saying on the internet, is not "Yes! This happened," but rather, "If this really happened . . ." The video says that Anonymous will turn over all their evidence to the proper authorities so Rove can be convicted. Well, let's just wait and see what comes next. But maybe someone should confiscate Rove's passport in the meantime. Just a precaution, not nearly as harsh as putting people in Guantanamo for years because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

More Fred Douglass Intrigue - Fighting Prop 8 and Fake Descendents

The recent post on the appropriation of the name and legacy of ex-slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, got one reader to do more research.  Meanwhile my email to the Frederick Douglas Family Foundation president Kenneth Morris was answered.  So what did we find out?

Thanks to great sleuthing by an Anonymous commenter, I got to this Amicus Brief to the California Supreme Court case that invalidated Prop. 8 which had banned same-sex marriage.

Did you see the Frederick Douglas Foundation, Inc.?  We'll get back to this below, but first let's look at where we are.  We have some more information and more questions. 


1.  There are a number of organizations using Frederick Douglass' name.

• Frederick Douglass Family Foundation -  run by actual descendents of Douglass and whose mission is to fight modern slavery in the US and around the world
• Frederick Douglass Foundation - set up to promote Black Republicans with a heavy emphasis on religion, whose mission includes anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage positions.  This is the organization that the previous post focused on.  I speculated that they looked like a typical Koch Brothers front, appropriating Douglass' name.  I don't know for sure who founded them or when.  Their website has the name of their founders.  Is this the Frederick Douglas Foundation that was founded in 1988 in Montana that is no longer current with the IRS?  It's not clear.
  FDC says they have many branch organizations and the Frederick Douglas Foundation of California website has much of the same information and words as the original.
• Frederick Douglass Foundation of Washington, DC - This appears to be connected to Howard University, was founded in 1985 at least, and in 2010 was listed as having assets between $100,000 and $499,999.



Directions to source in Anon Comment at 11:15pm

• Frederick Douglas Foundation - This one seems to be/have been located in Maryland.  Anon commenter got the previous link which goes to a Baltimore notice of foreclosure for a building and from their a copy of a form filing for non-profit tax exempt status that is signed by a Frederick Douglass IV.  

Frederick Douglass IV is a performer who claims to be the great-great-great grandson of Frederick Douglass.  However this long Washington Post article seems to find no evidence of that and considerable evidence that the relationship is made up.  This was also what Kenneth Morris said in his email to me.  Lots of people make a living doing impersonations of famous people, but they don't claim to be actual descendents of them.

The anonymous commenter to the original post also uncovered a link between the Frederick Douglass Foundation and the California Supreme Court case on same-sex marriage.

One of the amicus briefs was filed by three organizations - one of which was, you guessed it, the Frederick Douglass Foundation.

Anonymous sent this link to a google-document - the amicus brief filed by, among two others, The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Inc.  court offered this information:

FRAP RULE 26.1 CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Amicus The Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE) is a California corporation and states that it has no parent corporation, that it issues no stock, and that no publicly held corporation owns any stock of CURE.

Amicus The High Impact Leadership Coalition (HILC) is not a corporation but is a service of Oasis of Hope International, Inc., a Maryland corporation. Oasis of Hope International, Inc. is not a publicly held corporation, it issues no stock, and no publicly held corporation owns any stock in HILC or in Oasis of Hope International, Inc.

Amicus The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Inc. (FDFI) is a Maryland corporation, issues no stock and has no parent corporation. Therefore, no publicly held corporation owns any stock of FDFI.

While I try not to jump to conclusions, it seemed pretty clear which of the Frederick Douglas foundations would be interested in opposing same-sex marriage.  It's a key part of their stated values.  What I hadn't noticed on their website was the Inc. after the name.  I went back and found this at the bottom of their webpages:

Copyright 2012. All content and rights are reserved by The Frederick Douglass Foundation, Inc. corporatio 

And here it says, "a Maryland corporation."   

Now I understood why Anonymous had believed that the Frederick Douglass Foundation was the Maryland entity.  And I realized that the page he'd sent me to was where Maryland corporations are listed and searchable.   

But I resisted that idea at first because the documents there were signed by Frederick Douglas IV.  While it seems that he's created the link to Frederick Douglass, he doesn't seem to be a right wing ideologue.  He's an entertainer who has found a following by dressing up like Frederick Douglass.  

So we still don't know for sure where the Frederick Douglass Foundation - that supports very conservative black politicians and opposes abortion and same-sex marriage - is legally registered.  Or who their backers are.  

But we do know that the setting up of their organization and some affiliates - the California one I listed above for example and a New York one I also ran across - and paying three attorneys to write an amicus brief doesn't come cheap.  And I can't imagine there are deep pockets among Republican blacks who want to support this sort of organization.  

My best guess at this point is it's wealthy, white, conservative deep pockets, like the Koch brothers. 

Saying No To Grover Norquist's No Tax Pledge

While poking around for information on "Tim Johnson" for  another post  I came across this puzzling story about  Republican US Representative Tim Johnson from Illinois who resigned shortly after winning the primary election.

The Huffington Post reported in April:

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Veteran Illinois U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson intends to drop his bid for a seventh term and retire, a Republican official said Wednesday.
Johnson was expected to make a public announcement of his decision Thursday, said the official, who spoke directly with Johnson but would confirm the decision only on condition of anonymity in order not to pre-empt the congressman's formal announcement.

The reason for the 65-year-old Johnson's decision was not clear, but the official said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Johnson, known for taking positions at odds with his party colleagues and his attempts to call every resident of his district, was considered a strong candidate for re-election in November to his seat in eastern Illinois' 13th Congressional District. He is just two weeks removed from a primary victory over two candidates.

Then I came across this post from Freakout Nation, quoting Think Progress saying that Rep. Tim Johnson had repudiated the no tax pledge

Today [March 9, 2012], Norquist lost another devotee, with Rep. Timothy Johnson (R-IL) saying that while he signed the pledge for his first election, he now considers Norquist’s stance “disingenuous and irresponsible“:

“I would never in a million years have considered this as some kind of a locked-in-granite pledge. Frankly, I didn’t even remember it. That shows you how obscure it was to me,” Johnson said.
“My understanding was then, as I remember it, and certainly now, is that nobody could possibly ever in a million years, in their wildest imagination, expect you to sign something that was right before a primary election and then you’d be locked in on that position the whole rest of your career. Particularly something like taxes and particularly when the national debt 10 and a half years ago was $6 trillion and now it’s going to be $17 trillion.”[...]
“Nobody could lock themselves in perpetuity into a position like that. That’s like saying you’d never vote for armed intervention in a foreign country, until we get attacked”…“I’m not saying I’m even committed now to a tax increase, but I think anybody who doesn’t indicate their willingness to look at revenues — expiration of tax loopholes, tax credits, increase in contribution to Social Security, which is a tax, and otherwise — would be disingenuous and irresponsible.“

It may be tempting to think that this bucking of the pledge led to pressure to drop out.  I have no proof that is the case.  A New York Times article cites family and redistricting and shows him to have already been a very independent Republican.  There's no mention of the no tax pledge.  Another Republican, Rodney Davis, replaced Johnson and beat Democrat Bill Gill by 1,287 votes. (An Independent candidate took another 21,000 votes.  Looking at his positions, I would guess the Independent drew more votes from the Democrat than the Republican.)

The Think Progress post mentions several other Republicans who are not pledged to the tax cut.

"The pledge “restrains your ability to think creatively,” said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE). “I don’t care to be associated with it.” “I will not sign another pledge,” said Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA). “We have to have the flexibility to do the right thing for American people.” “Have we really reached the point where one person’s demand for ideological purity is paralyzing Congress to the point that even a discussion of tax reform is viewed as breaking a no-tax pledge?” asked Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)."

The Hill reports other defections:

"Fewer incoming members of the House and Senate have signed the pledge against tax increases run by Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, in a reflection not only of the seats that Democrats gained but of the success they’ve enjoyed in vilifying Norquist.

About a dozen newly elected House Republicans refused to sign the anti-tax pledge during their campaigns, and another handful of returning Republicans have disavowed their allegiance to the written commitment.

With Democrats picking up seven or eight seats, that means the pledge guides fewer than the 218 members needed for a majority. In the Senate, where Republicans lost two seats, just 39 members of the chamber are pledge-signers, according to the group’s records. That is a drop from 238 members of the House and 41 senators  who committed to the pledge at the start of the 112th Congress. . ."

“'I don’t want to sign a pledge that’s going to tie my hands,' Ted Yoho, a GOP congressman-elect from Florida, told The Hill. “I need free rein to do what I think is right for the people in my district and the country.”
Yoho is no fan of taxes, calling them “a necessary evil, it appears.” He said one reason he did not sign the pledge was that he had never met Norquist. “To sign a pledge to somebody that’s not a member of Congress or part of my constituency, I don’t think would be very prudent,” Yoho said.
Susan Brooks, a newly elected Republican from Indiana, offered a similar explanation on the campaign trail, spokeswoman Dollyne Pettingill Sherman said. 'She just took the position that she was not going to sign pledges,” she said. “That doesn’t mean she’s for tax increases. She’s not. She was very clear about it.'"

Like the Wizard of Oz, the Grover of (n)0's, has power only as long as people believe in him.  And when they pull the curtain back and find out he's just a crotchety old man, his spell over the Republican politicians will be over.