Most People Don't See Government Until It Stops Working: Reality Catching Up With Republicans

When government works, for most people, it's invisible.  We drive on government built roads. We (particularly white men) can mostly do our daily tasks without much fear of crime because of police and the courts.  We get clean water out of the faucet and most food is free of immediate health hazards* because of government food inspections.  We can take weather into account in our planning because of the US weather service.  The list goes on and on.

In most cases, it's only when government stops functioning normally, that we notice it.  Street lights are out and potholes don't get fixed.  The water is dirty or stops running at all.  Crime goes up.  And hundreds of things we take for granted can no longer be relied on.

We are approaching the so called Fiscal Cliff - when the Bush tax cuts and automatic sequestration (budget cuts) take effect at the end of the year if no budget deal is worked out by Congress and the President.

There's already been plenty of attention to the fact that Republicans will lose their fight big time if the Bush tax cuts expire.  Not only will taxes go up for the wealthy (which Obama wants but the Republicans don't), but they will go up for everyone.  And Republicans are likely to bear the blame.

But less noticed is the potential effect of sequestration.  When government stops working is when people will start to realize all the things their taxes pay for.  And that's when the fifty year war against government waged by the Republicans will be exposed to all but the most ideologically blinded.  It's then that people will realize how much benefit we get when people cooperate to do those things they can't do as individuals and which the free market can't provide without government help.  Things like public health, public roads, public parks, public safety, public education, utilities like electricity, water, and sewers, and the list goes on and on.  We've already seen what happens when government doesn't play it's role to monitor financial institutions.

When these government services start to disappear and the private sector can't replace them fairly and humanely, people will begin to understand all the things they get because of the public sector and because we share the expenses for our mutual benefit through various fees and taxes.

I'm not saying it's perfect, not by a long shot.  But neither is the private sector.  That's clear to anyone who has flown on any airline lately or had a $30 late fee plus hefty finance charges added to their credit card bill because it was two days late, or was pressured into a no-down payment home loan only to lose their house down the line. Or has seen the pollution left over by unregulated private corporations.

Obama's win, along with the Democrats picking up seats in both Houses of Congress, plus the approval of same sex marriage by voters in three states, was the first Republican ideological balloon to be burst by the prick of reality.

The result of their "Just Say No" legislative strategy now bringing us close to automatic tax hikes,  not just for the rich, but everyone else as well, is the second balloon to soon burst.

And when people start seeing how much their lives have been enhanced by collective cooperation through government - because  these programs will get cut back or disappear  with automatic budget cuts - the third balloon will burst.  They'll see how much that we take for granted exists because of government.  And then the Republican "Government is the Enemy" balloon will burst.

I realize that for many men, competition is everything, and for some, the personal impact of losing is painful enough that they will sacrifice their family and community to not lose.  And the nature of our electoral politics probably means that those who get elected are more competitive than the average.  But if the Republicans can't swallow their pride and say 'uncle,' they will lose more than the Democrats and we will all wake up in a new world in January. 

But Congress can  pass new laws then to start cleaning up the mess.  And the most politically palatable new laws for the Republicans will be tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year.  They couldn't possibly hold up those cuts if those above the threshold are excluded, could they? Will they really do this so then they can say they are cutting taxes rather than raising them now?  Just for ego?

And putting money back into the budget will be more difficult, but if they persist in their government scapegoating, they will be known in the future as the party that destroyed the United States. 


*I understand that there are hazards and hazards and that while the government is monitoring traditional food borne diseases, they are less vigilant of long term chemical hazards in our foods.

I also understand that both parties have good and not so good characters and that neither has a monopoly on rightness or stupidity.  But at the present, in my view, the Democrats' models of the world are much closer to how the world really works and Republican stupidity is in greater supply than Democratic.  

Thai King's Birthday Message Good For Us All To Heed

King Bumiphol's 85th birthday today (Dec. 5) is a holiday in Thailand.  The king is not well and there are many questions about what will happen when the world's longest reigning monarch is gone. 

But today he made a public appearance and offered these words to the Thai people - facing considerable political conflict - which is also applicable to many other parts of the world:

"I always believe that your compassion and good wishes to one another will be a significant factor in creating a unifying force in any group and also in the country," His Majesty said.

"If Thais truly hold these values in their hearts, they can be assured that the country will be safe and will survive regardless of what situation the country is in. Dharma will protect you from all harms,'' he said in his brief address from the balcony at the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall.

As the country is struggling with a deep political division, the King mercifully granted the general public a rare audience and graciously offered his sage advice for all Thais to live in harmony while expressing gratitude for their unwavering faithfulness.

"The wishes and oaths of allegiance that you have taken are so evident. I thank you and all Thais who have come here en masse.

"The compassion, good will and unity that you have demonstrated today make me happy. You have greatly boosted my spirits,'' the King said before the huge gathering of his loyal subjects at the Royal Plaza. [From The Nation]

AIFF 2012: No Minors Were Kissed In Shouting Secrets

Korinna Sehringer's Shouting Secrets was an audience pleaser Sunday night.  It was the story of family gathering together when the mom has a stroke.  It's an oft told story that reunites everyone, tensions raised by dealing with the possibility of Mom's death, to pick old scabs in their relationships or to finally heal. 

Lots of secrets were shouted in and around the hospital.  The story was good, the pacing was good, the music was good. What makes this film special for me, is that the family is Native American, acting like any American family. This is a film about a family dealing with its issues.  The family just happens to be Native American. 

Here's Sehringer in video taken before and after the film was shown. (The title of the post gets explained in the video too.)





From my white perspective, I didn't see anything that I think might be offensive to Native Americans, but that said, for some Native Americans (or fill in any ethnic or religious group you want) just the fact that the movie was conceived and directed by someone from outside the group would be offensive, and there may well be problems I just missed.  But it had Native Americans in most of the roles and Sehringer said Native American feedback had been good.

This is just one more film festival example of good films, films often better than what gets distributed to theaters, that have to struggle to be seen.

It plays again Friday at 3pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.  Background note: It's hard for an interviewer who hasn't seen the film (and even for one who has) to ask questions of a director she hasn't already answered many times. The trick is for the film maker to try to sound like it's the first time. I talked to Korinna briefly on video before the showing. Then afterward she answered questions from the audience. Both cover similar ground. So I've just edited in a little of the pre-screening interview onto the after-screening Q&A.

AIFF 2012: Go Ganges - Respectfully Irreverent Trip Down The Ganges

Somewhere in the film Go Ganges, JJ says something like, "At some point you just have to accept all the confusing differences and embrace them and then it's wonderful."  (That was a very rough paraphrasing.)

It's that willingness to go with the flow, to be curious about India, to try to understand some Hindi and to get permission from the holy man and from the river itself before taking off on their adventure,  that both allows them to have thoroughly enjoy themselves in the often difficult conditions of India and to make a movie that reflects their affection for the country.  Doing some yoga and learning some Hindi is one level of commitment, but when you put a plastic tube up your nose and pull it out your mouth, you show you're willing to go the extra kilometer. 

And knowing that, their humor - most aimed at themselves - is warm and friendly.  This is a wonderful way to see India and to see how audacious ideas which seem crazy to normal folks aren't necessarily crazy. 

A delightful sequel to Paddle to Seattle and good for the whole family.

It shows again Saturday at 4pm at the Alaska Experience Theater.  This is definitely a feel good movie.

Here are JJ and Josh answering questions after the film:

AIFF 2012: Truth Dripped off the Screen from the Film Between Us

Between Us had a good audience in the tiny theater downtown.  I wasn't looking forward to watching two couples duking it out, but I quickly got pulled in.    Truth dripped off the screen as the four people  revealed secrets about themselves and about each other.  Sometimes they worked as couples, sometimes as individuals, sometimes the women teamed up, sometimes the men, as alliances shifted constantly.  It wasn't easy to watch, but these secrets weren't simply these four people's secrets, they were the secrets of all of us.  Powerful.  'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' came to mind and I even stopped at Blockbusters to see if they had a copy so I could compare them.  (They didn't.) 

OK, that's my first impression.  Let's let it settle and see how I feel later.


It plays again Friday at 8pm at the Bear Tooth.   


Here's an answer from an interview of director Dan Mirvish by Kerry at the Napa Valley Film Festival last month.

4) As both the film’s Director and Writer, how did you come up with the idea to write the script for “Between Us?”
There was talk on Broadway of turning my last film, “Open House,” into a play, but during all my meetings, I asked if anyone had any good plays that would make good film adaptations. I read stacks of them, turned down the one that became “Ides of March” and chose “Between Us.”  It seemed to fit where I was in life: married, with young children, and struggling for some sort of artistic integrity. I got together with Joe Hortua, the playwright, and he liked my ideas for a filmed adaptation. So we collaborated on the screenplay that kept most of the dialogue that made the play so successful but added elements and restructured it in a way that I think make it work cinematographically.

Longish Rolling Earthquake Hits Anchorage

I heard it, then felt the house shaking.  This was not a jolt, but a shaking.

The radio is saying it was 5.7.   The USGS says 5.8.

No damage, but it was long enough and shaky enough that I had time and concern enough to get up and go to a doorway.

AIFF 2012: Paddle To Seattle Guys Do the Ganges - Tonight at 8pm

Sunday  hunkered down and decided I needed a new strategy (well, actually a strategy period) for the festival.  It's now down to seeing as many of the films in competition in as many categories as possible.

So tonight (Monday) it's Between Us at 5:15 at Alaska Experience Theater.  This is a feature in competition.  The festival website blurb is:

In this darkly comedic drama, two couples reunite over the course of two incendiary evenings where anything can happen. Grace and Carlo are a newly married New York couple who visit their old friends Sharyl and Joel in their huge Midwestern home. But despite their wealth, the hosts are in a violently destructive marriage. Two years later, the couples reunite in New York, but now the tables are turned as the young couple struggles with their marriage, parenthood and financial woes, only to discover that their old friends are even more successful and much happier than they were before. Featuring Julia Stiles and Tay Diggs. Based on the hit Off-Broadway play of the same name. Adapted by original playwright Joe Hortua.

So, I go for marital discord while my wife is in Seattle and then maybe get some more light hearted fair with Go Ganges. (8pm at the Bear Tooth.) Paddle to Seattle won an audience award here in 2009 and it was a delightful kayak trip from Skagway or Haines to Seattle.  The guys didn't take themselves seriously at all and it was a great contrast to the testosterone filled Mt. St. Elias where 'every step could be your last' narration and belittling the American climber who decided not to go on to the top.  

This time they are in India and that should be fun.


Yesterday I ended up missing the morning and early afternoon programs.  I needed a break and there were things I needed to do around the house.

But I saw two worthwhile films which I want to write about at length later.  The first was a documentary in competition - The Road To Apartheid -  which compared the Israeli occupation of Gaza to Apartheid in South Africa.  While this was clearly a one-sided piece with some glaring omissions, it's a film about an important world issue that needs to be seen and discussed.  Unfortunately, the topic is one that many people don't want to hear, especially if the message counters their existing story about the issue.  I'll go into this more after the festival is over.  It plays again next Saturday at 1 at the AK Experience Theater.

The 8pm film was Shouting Secrets.  I was a little skeptical going in - family discord on the res was the image I had from the blurb.  But it turned out to be a fine film - the most enjoyable and satisfying film I've seen so far.  I have video of the director which I want to post before the next showing at 3pm on Friday at the Alaska Experience Theater.  I know it's when many people are still working, but how much do you get done on Friday afternoon anyway?

I think Alaska Natives will particularly enjoy seeing Native Americans portrayed like normal people on the big screen.  Yes, there is family discord, but it's simply human family discord, not Native American family discord.  In fact Swiss director Korinna Sehringer said that she originally wrote with a middle class white family in mind, but decided to change it to make it more universal and more interesting for her.  The result was a very moving film that happens to be about a Native American family that everyone can relate too. 

Democrat Kreiss-Tomkins Holds Lead After Recount

Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins, according to the bio in the state elections booklet (pdf), graduated from Yale in 2012.  The 23 year old from Sitka took campaigning seriously and beat Republican incumbent Bill Thomas by 34 votes in the regular election.  The results of the recount today have been posted and while Thomas gained two votes, he still lost by 32 votes.

Photo from Jonathon for State House FB page

The left side (red numbers) are the original tally and the right side (purple) are the recount, which isn't totaled in the photo.  The absentee votes are missing in the whiteboard, but below is the final count from the Division of Elections website. 

This is the second Alaskan Native and third minority incumbent to lose due to redistricting, despite the fact that the redistricting board said over and over again that its main goal was to meet the Voting Rights Act requirements, which required that the districts continue to have the same number of native majority districts.  This district was not covered because of, well, it's fairly confusing, but with definitions of native majority districts shifting, this one was only a slight native majority originally, a category that no longer mattered by the time the board finished in spring 2012.  But the fact is, the Alaska Native presence in the legislature is now diluted by one more.  (We can talk forever about the legitimacy of measuring this way.  I would say in the big picture it does matter, but in any individual election, it may not.)

The Republican dominated (4-1) Redistricting Board did get approval for their plan from the Department of Justice, and clearly they were not trying to bump off a Republican incumbent, but that is the result. The redistricting plan that established the voting districts for the November 2012 election was approved as a temporary plan to be reviewed further by the Alaska Supreme Court. There just wasn't enough time to get a permanent plan approved. The plaintiffs who originally sued have challenged the plan again  after the election, so there is a chance that districts may yet change before the next election.

AIFF 2012: 16 Months In A Brooks Range Cabin - Tom Irons' Arctic Son

Tom was waiting to see Rousseau's Children when I met him.  His (and Jean Aspen's) film, Arctic Son, is about his family's 16 months in the Brooks Range. 




Arctic Son plays today (SUNDAY, DEC 2) at 8pm at the Alaska Experience Theater. And again next Saturday, Dec. 8, at 3:30pm at Out North.

AIFF 2012: Movie Overdose

Started at 11am downtown to see Native Tongue - four short films.  I had to take J to the airport by 1pm so it was iffy if we were going to see the fourth film.  They started about 20 minutes late and the fourth one - Lapse - didn't start.  We decided not to wait - it was 12:30 already and no movie is more important than getting my wife to the airport on time when I'm not going to see her for a week.

Mossadegh was very good.  I've posted on this at length, before I saw it.  I'm not going to give detailed reviews here because I saw way too much, my brain is fried, and I need time to let it digest.  But I do think Calcutta Taxi was the best of the three we saw this morning.  It told several different stories and neatly came back to the same critical scene and each time we had a new layer of understanding.  A very complex trick which gave the film  significantly more content than and richness than one would expect from a 20+ minute film.  Suddenly Zinat . . . held up well in my second viewing.  A powerful film.

Off to the airport, stopped for bananas, then home for lunch, then back downtown to see Confine.   I kept thinking, in the tiny Alaska Experience small theater, that this was not the best use of my time.  It was a very well made movie, but the story was not one I wanted to be watching - a model who had confined herself to her luxurious apartment in London after a disfiguring car crash, now a hostage to a psychotic woman who's taken over her flat.  Blood, gun, knives, canes.  But I'm also beginning to believe that this film is going to stay in my brain.

I was in a daze after that and ended up across the hall for the Snow Dance documentary Rousseau's Children about Yul and Ruth Kilcher's children.  A Swiss team filmed the first generation - now in their 50's to 70 - who grew up in their Swiss father's dream of raising them in Rousseau's  state of nature.  In this case Homer.  I've heard about this family since we got to Anchorage 35 years ago and met Yule once or twice, so it was interesting, but not great.

Waiting for Rousseau's Children I met Tom Irons the director of Arctic Son and did a video of our short chat.

Then back to the small theater to see People of a Feather.  Powerful.  Island in Hudson Bay people whose lives, historically depended on the eider duck.  Lots of great shots of the ducks, seal hunting, and the people who depend on these animals and the ice.  A global warming threat I never knew about was a factor in their lives.  Hydroelectric dams release fresh water into the oceans out of the normal season causing serious problems with the amount of ice, quality of ice, and the animals' ability to survive.

Then home for a quick dinner, phone call from my wife on the ferry to Bainbridge, and then off to Bear Tooth for Lad: A Yorkshire Story.  A very satisfying evening - maybe more when I've had time to reflect.

I stayed for the 10 o'clock shorts because one of the shorts in competition wasin the group, but it took forever for Cockatoo to be played.  But I did enjoy many of the shorts.  I'd mention That Which Once Was as particularly catching my attention.  The story takes place in 2032 at an orphanage for global warming refugee children and uses ice as a fitting icon for the title phrase.  The opening balloons took too long for me, but after that is was just right.  You can see the whole film at the link.

I also learned that Lapse was never shown.   Technical problem.  Bummer.

Seeing so many different kinds of films in one day forces my brain into trying to figure out how to distinguish different types of films and ways to evaluate them.  I'm sure that will perculate into a post before too long.

No idea what to tell people for Sunday, except look at the schedule and have fun.