Political Correctness Republican Style: Ban On Term "Climate Change"

Here's a hypothesis I'm proposing:

When Democrats ask people not to use certain terms and phrases, it tends to be words that are demeaning or hurtful to categories of people.

When Republicans ask people not to use certain terms and phrases, it tends to be words that reflect truths they want to deny.

Is it true or not?  I'm guessing it might be, but I'm starting with way too little real evidence.  But here's just one example:  Expunging 'climate change' in government agencies.

From the Guardian:

"Staff at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have been told to avoid using the term climate change in their work, with the officials instructed to reference “weather extremes” instead."

From Politico:

"A supervisor at the Energy Department's international climate office told staff this week not to use the phrases "climate change," "emissions reduction" or "Paris Agreement" in written memos, briefings or other written communication, sources have told POLITICO. 

Employees of DOE’s Office of International Climate and Clean Energy learned of the ban at a meeting Tuesday, the same day President Donald Trump signed an executive order at EPA headquarters to reverse most of former President Barack Obama's climate regulatory initiatives. Officials at the State Department and in other DOE offices said they had not been given a banned words list, but they had started avoiding climate-related terms in their memos and briefings given the new administration's direction on climate change. . . 

A DOE spokeswoman denied there had been a new directive. "No words or phrases have been banned for this office or anyone in the department,” said DOE spokeswoman Lindsey Geisler."

Florida Center For Investigative Reporting:

"The state of Florida is the region most susceptible to the effects of global warming in this country, according to scientists. Sea-level rise alone threatens 30 percent of the state’s beaches over the next 85 years. 

But you would not know that by talking to officials at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the state agency on the front lines of studying and planning for these changes. 

DEP officials have been ordered not to use the term “climate change” or “global warming” in any official communications, emails, or reports, according to former DEP employees, consultants, volunteers and records obtained by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. 

The policy goes beyond semantics and has affected reports, educational efforts and public policy in a department that has about 3,200 employees and $1.4 billion budget."

Fortunately, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) is a Congressional, not Executive, agency, so it, apparently can still write about climate change.  Their report, dated Sept. 28, 2017 doesn't mince words:

"Why GAO Did This Study
Over the last decade, extreme weather and fire events have cost the federal government over $350 billion, according to the Office of Management and Budget. These costs will likely rise as the climate changes, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. In February 2013, GAO included Limiting the Federal Government's Fiscal Exposure by Better Managing Climate Change Risks on its High-Risk List.
GAO was asked to review the potential economic effects of climate change and risks to the federal government. This report examines (1) methods used to estimate the potential economic effects of climate change in the United States, (2) what is known about these effects, and (3) the extent to which information about these effects could inform efforts to manage climate risks across the federal government. GAO reviewed 2 national-scale studies available and 28 other studies; interviewed 26 experts knowledgeable about the strengths and limitations of the studies; compared federal efforts to manage climate risks with leading practices for risk management and economic analysis; and obtained expert views.
What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that the appropriate entities within the Executive Office of the President (EOP), including the Office of Science and Technology Policy, use information on potential economic effects to help identify significant climate risks and craft appropriate federal responses. EOP entities and the Environmental Protection Agency did not provide official comments on the report."

Actually, they do mince words.  The opening of this overview talks about the research in a way that gives deniers lots of cover:

"The methods and the studies that use them produce imprecise results because of modeling and other limitations but can convey insight into potential climate damages across sectors in the United States."

Maybe that's there for those folks who only read the first paragraph of so.  The rest is pretty alarming, though from what I can tell, they are very conservative in their estimates of the costs of not dealing with climate change - both through lowering carbon emissions and mitigation efforts to deal with the impacts of climate change.

You can see their overviews here and the whole forty page report here.

But I need to keep collecting more examples of what Republicans complain about as 'political correctness' and the words and phrases (and in the case of 'taking a knee' actions)  they don't want others to use.  Will my hypothesis hold up.

I'd note that I've discussed political correctness before and basically it refers to someone or organization using their power to keep people from using certain words or espousing certain ideas.

Most recently I wrote about what I dubbed 'Republican political correctness' and Colin Kaepernick.  Rather than repeat what I said then, I'll just let you go to the link.  That post has links to earlier posts on the topic.

I would note that this climate change example is basically a form of censorship in an attempt to stifle discussion of what I think is the greatest threat to humanity.  And it's similar to the NRA's successful campaign to prevent the Center For Disease Control from doing research on gun violence.  Without data, scientists can't 'prove' anything.  Now that is real political correctness.  "You can't study what we don't want you to study."

Anchorage Heats Up And I Get Myself To The Rock Climbing Gym

We had a bit of snow that seemed to have waited to fall until after we got back in town.  Our street stayed white and sidewalks did too.  It looked like it was going to stick.  I biked to the University library to see how my mountain bike would do.  No problems.

But today it was 47˚F when I checked this morning, with lots of wind.  Sidewalks looking better, our street looking better (from a cyclist's perspective.)  So off to my meeting by bike.

You can see how blustery it was.  The flags waved north, west, and south at different times.





At the meeting I realized that my route home could easily take me by the year old rock climbing gym that I'd never been in, but had decided, watching climbers on El Capitan last week, to check out when I got back.  So here's a look at the Anchorage Rock Climbing Gym.



 


It started with Aaron who told me about their intro class that meets M,W,F 7-9pm and S 1-3.  For $20 you get rental equipment and two hours of introduction to how to use things at the gym.  He suggested bringing a partner, and there was another guy at my meeting who just been at Yosemite too and was interested.





Here's the big room.  Not exactly El Cap, but still very impressive.  I asked Aaron how this gym ranked nationally.  He said it's not in the top 10, but probably in the top 20.  I also asked about nearby places to climb.  I know people climb ice along the Seward Highway in the winter, but he said that's a very different activity.  Rocks face near Anchorage tend to break a lot.

Still in the big room.














Then I went up stairs where they have smaller walls.

And there were lots of kids climbing here.











And there is lots of equipment to rent.

Here's a close up of part of the wall and some of the climbing holds.  Skyaboveus identifies a number of these ways to stay up on a wall.  They list:

• Jugs
• Mini-jugs and incuts
• Slopers
• Pockets
• Pinches
• Crimps and Chips
• Edges
• Side Pulls, underclings, and gascons

You can get specific descriptions of each at the Skyaboveus link.

A nearby eating and drinking establishment even has a sign directed at people walking out of the climbing gym.   If you can't read it, you can click on the picture to enlarge and focus.  

And later today I saw it was 50˚F on our backyard thermometer.  The record high for October 25 is 50˚F in 2002.  So I looked on line to see if our backyard was just a hotspot.  But there it was.  We'll see tomorrow if that's the official high.

The King Of Thailand Cremation Ceremony This Week

The King of Thailand passed away on October 13, 2016.  There has been a year mourning period and the Royal Cremation Ceremony takes place in Bangkok this week.  Below is a photo of the His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej at Sanam Luang, where the cremation ceremony will take place in Bangkok,  at the royal ploughing ceremony in 1969.  I wrote more about this when the King died last year.  

Below is from an email I got as a member of Friends of Thailand, a group made up of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who served in Thailand.

"Royal Cremation Ceremony of His Majesty King Bhumibol AdulyadejOffering Ceremony of Sandalwood Flowers on October 26, 2017At Wat Thai Washington DC, Silver Spring, Maryland(Foreigners and Friends of Thailand are invited) 

**********
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, widely regarded as Thailand's moral compass and a staunch supporter of Thailand – United States relations, ruled the country for more than seven decades until his passing on October 13, 2016. The country has been in an official year of mourning since then with many Thais choosing to wear black in remembrance of his boundless and gracious kindness.  

Thai Buddhists often wait a week or more before cremating their dead but royal funerals are exceptional and over 12 million Thais have paid their respects to the late King at the Grand Palace in Bangkok since last October.  

The royal cremation ceremony will last from October 25 - 29, with a series of ceremonies and processions transferring the urn and relics to and from the crematorium at Sanam Luang in Bangkok. The actual cremation day is on October 26. For many Thais this cremation ceremony will be their first experience of a royal funeral of a monarch and will allow them to pay a final tribute to His Majesty the late King.  

Throughout the United States, the Royal Thai Embassy, the Permanent Mission of Thailand to the United Nations and Consulates-General, Thai communities and Thai temples will observe the cremation ceremony by offering sandalwood flowers on the cremation day of October 26. Ancient Thais believed the sandalwood fragrance will lead the soul of the deceased to heaven.  

In Washington DC area including Virginia and Maryland, the Royal Thai Embassy and other Governmental Offices along with Thai Community and Wat Thai Washington DC (MD), Wat Tummaprateip Washington DC (MD), Wat Yarnna Rangsee Buddhist Monastery (VA), Wat Pa Nanachart (VA), Wat Pa Tesrangsee (VA) and Wat Pasantidhamma (VA) will observe the offering ceremony of sandalwood flowers at Wat Thai Washington DC(13440, Layhill Road, Silver Spring, Maryland 20906)Thursday October 26, 2017From 05:30 am – 06:00 pm 

You may consider attending the ceremony at time of convenience from 5 am onwards, or preferably from 05:30 – 07:00 am. Below are details of the cremation ceremony at Wat Thai Washington DC: 

• 05:30 am Merit-making ceremony 

• 06:00 am Watch the cremation ceremony live from Bangkok 

• 06:30 am Offering Sandalwood flowers begins 

• 07:00 am Food Offering to monks (breakfast) 

• 11:00 am Dana / Lunch 

• 06:00 pm Offering sandalwood flowers ends 

• 06:30 pm Cremating sandalwood flowers 

Dress code: Full dress / Black or dark dress / Mourning 
Sandalwood flowers : Intricate cremation flowers representing the daffodil made by volunteers will be provided for you to offer at the ceremony on October 26. The daffodil or “dararat” in Thai was His Majesty King Bhumibol’s favorite flower and often presented to Her Majesty Queen Sirikit during their stay in Switzerland. Daffodil or Dararat is offered to loved ones as a symbol of honor, bravery and hope. Dara means star while Rat is a precious gem. This dararat cremation flowers also reflect the love the Thai people have towards His Majesty King Bhumibol remembering his seven-decade long reign and uncountable contributions. 
Food & Beverage : Provided by Team Thailand in Washington DC and the Thai community 

Parking and Shuttle Service : For your convenience, two parking lots nearby Wat Thai are allocated at your own risk with shuttle car services available from 5:00 am to 01:00 pm."

I imagine one of the Buddhist temples in Anchorage will have some ceremony as well, but haven't made contact yet.  

Four Time Iditarod Winner Dallas Seavey Denounces Iditarod Board Over How They've Handled Positive Drug Tests Of His Dogs

Watch the video tape Seavey posted yourself. The jury's job is to evaluate who is telling the truth and who is not.



Seavey certainly sounds sincere here and the facts, as he presents them, logically raise serious questions. But as a former union grievance rep, I learned long ago there are always facts that my client was leaving out and that I had to reserve judgment until I heard from others involved.

I'd also note that everyone denies the charges.  How many years did Lance Armstrong strongly deny the drug charges?  And a series of baseball champions denied allegations too, until they finally admitted them.  

Those things make it harder for someone who is really innocent.  Plus someone does not win four Iditarod races by being timid.  I'm sure Seavey has ruffled a few feathers over the years.  But at this point, I think the Iditarod board is going to be hard pressed to respond as convincingly.

Co-Housing In Anchorage - Six Years Later Ravens' Roost Has Been A Reality For A Year

Back in late 2011, J and I went to some meetings of a group that was starting up a co-housing project in Anchorage.  They were at the stage of announcing what they were doing in public to get other interested folks to join them.  I posted about two of the meetings here.  Here's a definition of co-housing from that post:

"Co-housing is a word coined by Chuck Durrett*, an architect who studied co-housing in Denmark in the mid-80's. Co-housing was his version of the Danish “bofællesskaber.” which his website says "directly translates to “living communities."

[*Not only does it say this on his company's website, but they even have the Oxford English dictionary entry that credits him and his partner with the term.]


I've been aware that this group bought property** (along Abbot Loop Road between Elmore and Lake Otis) and had built units and people had moved in.  A year ago September it turns out.  And I'd been meaning to go to one of their open house events, but just never got around to it.





Yesterday we went to their pumpkin carving event to see the reality of this deliberate housing development by people who want to share a sense of community that is being lost in this faster and more commercialized world.


This looks more like a condo association than a commune.  In a condo situation, people tend to be looking for affordability and perhaps someone else to take care of the landscaping and maintenance.  The condo association meetings and rules are the headache they have to put up with in exchange.

Here's a view from the parking lot.  There are housing units on the left and the big greenish building in the middle is the common room where the pumpkin carving was happening.  (And yes, the snow waited until after we got back home early Saturday morning.)





And here's the inside of the big common room.   The kitchen is that open area in the back right.

And here's a closer look at the kitchen area.  The architect for this project is one of the residents of Ravens' Roost too.

The wood for this counter (with the bins underneath) came from spruce trees (if I remember right) that were cleared to build the property.










Chris offered to be our guide and show us around when Tony, whom we'd met at a couple of returned Peace Corps volunteer events, had to leave for another activity.  It turns out Chris is also a returned Peace Corps volunteer.  I think he said he was in Swaziland.

This atrium is a neat feature.  If you look at the top picture, this is inside the building on the far left.  There are one story units on one side and two story units on the other.  This is in between them.  And this space is connected to the common room as well.  I like the idea of a warm 'outside' where you can go and socialize with your neighbors in the winter time without having to get all your warm clothes on first.  

Chris took us to another building where they have a wood shop.  Since the architect lives here, there are a lot of projects that he does or supervises that helps improve people's living spaces.

One example was lofts in the one story units.  They're one story, but with high ceilings.  He also makes things for the common areas as well.  I'd love to have access to a wood shop like this, especially if there was someone who would guide me a bit on how to use all the tools.  





  Aside from the main building with the housing and common room, there are other units on the property, including some still under construction.   





In co-housing, a key ingredient is to have shared space and community with folks.  Each unit is privately owned by the occupants, but they have common spaces, and there are group dinners four nights a week, though not everyone goes to all of them, or even most of them.  As we talked with Chris and others, we learned that the meetings are often tedious as they work to reach consensus on major decisions.

I don't know what research has been done on the characteristics of people who can get along in group settings like this.  I don't think it's simply something like political orientation.  I think it's more about agreement on levels of civility, ability to abide by rules established for the common good, respect for others as human beings, and an ability to communicate and work out differences.  Tolerance for other views is important.

We were tempted at the beginning, but when they picked their location, we lost interest.  We're too attached to our ability to walk and bike to key places around town and they're just a little too far out to be able to do that.  And we do like our yard.  But as we get older, a community like this with mixed ages - not just other old people - is very appealing.

Most impressive to me is that a group of volunteers, in their spare time, pulled off a vision like this.  No speculator developers did this with the hope of a big profit.  These were just every day folks with the hopes of creating a friendlier and more cooperative neighborhood.

**As I understand it, they bought the property from folks who homesteaded up there and still live there.  They didn't want to sell to a developer who would fill up all the land with houses.  They liked the co-housing idea.  The agreement was the couple could stay in their house until they wanted to move or passed away.  The house is still there separated from Ravens' Roost by trees.

Thanks Chris for the tour and update. I'm delighted to see that this project has made it into reality and I know you've all put a lot of hard work into it.

“He knew what he signed up for ..."

Our president has gotten a lot of criticism for the insensitivity of this comment to the mother of a soldier killed in an ambush in Niger.  Deservedly so.  

But I'd like address the notion that "'he knew what he signed up for." I'd argue that soldiers tend to see the glory of war and becoming a man, but not the terror and agony of war.  Partly because veterans tend not to talk about the grisly details of war.  Partly because war and soldiers are so glorified.  

Soldiers Don't Talk

This letter is from a German officer, Rudolf Binding, who had studied medicine and law and was 46 years old when WW I broke out.  So he was well educated and older than most soldiers, yet he writes about how unknowable the reality of war is to those who haven't been in it.  From Spartacus, Letters From Soldiers, WW I.

"I have not written to you for a long time, but I have thought of you all the more as a silent creditor. But when one owes letters one suffers from them, so to speak, at the same time. It is, indeed, not so simple a matter to write from the war, really from the war; and what you read as Field Post letters in the papers usually have their origin in the lack of understanding that does not allow a man to get hold of the war, to breathe it in although he is living in the midst of it. 

The further I penetrate its true inwardness the more I see the hopelessness of making it comprehensive for those who only understand life in the terms of peacetime, and apply these same ideas to war in spite of themselves. They only think that they understand it. It is as if fishes living in water would have a clear conception of what living in the air is like. When one is hauled out on to dry land and dies in the air, then he will know something about it.
So it is with the war. Feeling deeply about it, one becomes less able to talk about it every day. Not because one understands it less each day, but because one grasps it better. But it is a silent teacher, and he who learns becomes silent too." [Emphasis added.]

There were 39 responses to a Quora question (there are over 100 now as I write) about why soldiers often don't talk about war.  Military1 reposted two of the answers.  First from Michael Hannon:

"I once read a reply to a question: “For those who understand, no explanation is necessary; for those who don't, no explanation is possible.” We are forever changed. There are many reasons why a vet does not want to talk about their experience. Likely many are still processing that experience."  [Emphasis added]

He also adds this related comment::

"Know that every vet does not like to hear, 'Thank you for your service.'
Thank me for unimagined feelings of terror, fear of the unknown, questions on trust that will never be answered, seeing indescribable fear in others and incapable of helping them, learning my confidence has limits, questioning my ability to protect anyone … the ‘thank you’ often awakens unwanted reminders of confusing memories."

The second was from  Roland Bartetzko:

"War takes its toll on every human psyche. It changes profoundly how you think about yourself and the world around you. I saw soldiers that were fighting a war for more than four years. From kids they turned into serious old men. One says for every year of fighting in a war you get 10 years older. These guys barely talked at all anymore."

A slightly different view of this comes from Afghan-war reporter Ann Jones in Mother Jones.  She describes the contrast between what they got compared to what they expected when they signed up.  She writes about those killed or wounded in the war, about the silence as they are whisked away to be buried or to have their shattered bodies repaired:

"Later, sometimes much later, they might return to inhabit whatever the doctors had managed to salvage. They might take up those bodies or what was left of them and make them walk again, or run, or even ski. They might dress themselves, get a job, or conceive a child. But what I remember is the first days when they were swept up and dropped into the hospital so deathly still. 

They were so unlike themselves. Or rather, unlike the American soldiers I had first seen in that country. Then, fired up by 9/11, they moved with the aggressive confidence of men high on their macho training and their own advance publicity."

The theme of all these comments is that soldiers have no clue of what they are getting into.  They don't know in part, because those who do know, according to these writers, don't talk about the real stuff.

Our culture glorifies war

Not only is there silence about the terrible realities of war, but we glorify soldiers and war. We regularly thank them for their service.   It's not that the negative information isn't available.  These quotes above all come from the internet and are readily available to those looking.  But most aren't looking to be dissuaded.  They're looking to become men, to be heroes, to follow family tradition, to get education funding when they get out, or to escape dysfunctional families or poverty.  I read a number of books about war as a teen - works like Upton Sinclaire's World's End which made the horrors of war clear to me.  Books that showed me that the soldiers on both sides got into their uniforms the same way - through recruitment to a higher nationalist, patriotic cause.  Taught me that the soldiers on both sides were more similar to each other than different.

The silence of those who have experienced war, is intensified by the unrelenting glorification of war and soldiers.  From Hollywood movies, video games, to history books, to family traditions, to military recruitment posters, and to the respect soldiers are given (verbally at least, but not in terms of help once they get back to the US).

Look at this army recruitment video.  It's a call to serve one's country, to be part of something bigger than yourself, to be a hero.  It doesn't show anyone dying or learning to walk on a new prosthetic, or committing suicide.




The heroic music, the emphasis on saving lives, the medical images, the theme of being trained to solve the world's problems.

Our media don't look critically at these kinds of US military recruiting videos.  Maybe they should look at our military ads the way this CNN piece critiques an ISIS recruitment video.

Maybe then the vulnerable teens who are enticed by these kinds of ads will be more savvy and get a better sense of what they are getting into.  (Probably most would not.  But some would.)





I'd guess the soldiers who died in Niger didn't even know where or even what Niger was when they signed up, let alone expect to die there.

Mario And Marlene After Their 3 Day El Capitan Climb

After watching the slackline walkers at Lost Arrow, we took the shuttle to El Capitan and looked up at the giant rock to look for climbers.  I could only find a couple.  (I did not take my telephoto lens on this trip, so this was the best I could do.)

Let's put this into the context of the whole rock.

I know a lot more now about El Cap (as the rock climbers all called it) than I did when I talked to Mario and Marlene.  I've watched several El Cap climbing videos and realize that where I saw a big rock, the climbers saw various routes and various features that are all named and ranked by difficulty.

At the meadow below El Cap,  I asked this photographer which climbers he was following, he said all of them.

Which leads me to believe, now that I have had  time to poke around online, that he might well be Tom Evans who has a website call Elcapreport.com which I got to because I saw several vehicles with that url on them in Yosemite.  He's got much better shots (yes that telephoto does much better than my camera) there, with a set of photos of climbers on El Cap from this week.



There can't be two photographers who know as much as he did about all the people on the mountain. (Well, sure there can, but I'm betting it's him.) Marlene and Mario (in the video below) are in the background. They had started up the Triple Direct route on Friday and reached the top on Sunday and had just hiked down when I met them.

This is probably a good time to just watch the video.  Remember these two had just spent three days climbing El Cap and a fourth hiking down with heavy packs.  I didn't quite catch what they were saying about their route, but I've looked up the routes on El Cap, and it was clear they were talking about Triple Direct.  So listen for it.




I took this screenshot from Triple Direct El Capitan.

It looks a little different with the shadow, but you can figure it out on my picture above.

We went back to El Cap when we drove home on Tuesday.  Here are some more pictures to help you put this all into some context.  In the one below, you can see some climbers, and you can see what I mean about all the crevasses and other features that, if you take time, you'll get to recognize.

Click on any of these images to enlarge and focus - I saved some in higher res than normal

On Tuesday, I walked through the woods closer to the base.  Here's a sign I passed on the way.

And another:

Here's a look at part of the base from a clearing.

Again, saved this in higher than normal resolution, so click to dramatically enlarge

And here's most of El Cap from below.  The wide angle lens does distort it, but this gives a better sense than the other pictures of how big this mountain (It really seems more like a rock than a mountain) is.  (I googled "Is El Capitan a mountain?"  Wikipedia calls it a "vertical rock formation.")

And here you can see El Cap on the left (and Half Dome on the other side of the Valley in the distance) just before we entered the tunnel out of the valley and headed south.  It was still a bit smoky, but not near as bad as when we got there.  

After talking to Marlene and Mario and watching some YouTube videos of people climbing El Cap, I'm more inclined to see these folks as much saner than lots of people think about climbers.  You have to be pretty well organized to undertake an adventure like this.  These people are not, as many of the tourist observers at Yosemite seemed to think, suicidal.  They have lots of equipment to ensure their safety.

Here are two YouTube videos that get you much closer to what it's like to climb El Capitan.
These are two very different stories of climbers on the same mountain.  Both fascinating stories that fill in a lot more than I got this week.




These videos show us how much more we are capable of than most of us think.  But it takes work.



I think I need to check out the rock climbing wall when I get back to Anchorage.

Why Voter ID Laws Work To Block Legit Voters, And The Same Logic Will Throw People Off Insurance

Part of me has watched the battles over voter-id laws with relatively little personal investment.  Yes, I could see the laws were aimed at blocking black and poor voters and students by making it harder to vote.  For those who don't have drivers' licenses, passports, other other official photo id's, it could be difficult.  And if you don't think these laws were aimed at potential Democratic voters we have examples like Texas where  student id's were not permitted while gun licenses were.  Even the US Supreme Court refused to overturn lower court rulings that blocked the North Carolina and Texas voter id laws.

But, I thought, the Left should focus its money and time on just getting people their id's rather than fighting the laws.   I know that it means finding all these people, but it might be more productive.

Well, I don't think that anymore.  Recently I got a notice from my health insurance company  that in order to keep my wife on as a dependent, I needed to send a copy of our marriage certificate and some other recent bill with both our names that show we still are together at the same address.  (I'd note it wasn't really my health insurance company, but rather a company contracted by them, or maybe the State of Alaska, to audit the health insurance company.)

I knew that we had a copy of the marriage certificate somewhere and so I didn't pay much heed.  But as I started looking for it, I couldn't find it.  I did get a lot of things cleaned out and thrown away.  I called and asked,

"Look, why now?  We've been married 46 years and no one has ever asked for our marriage license.  Nothing has changed.  And yes, I can send you a bill that has both of us named at the same billing address."

No, we need a copy of your marriage license AND the bill.  I asked for the the rule or regulation or law that required that.
"I don't have it."
"Can I talk to your supervisor?"
"No one is here."

I persisted and she finally said to call the State of Alaska retirement system.  They told me new federal regulations now require an audit to insure that dependents are verified with appropriate official documentation to prove the relationship.

I looked some more.  I found a couple of our wedding invitations and made copies of wedding pictures.  I knew this wasn't likely to do any good, but with our natural gas bill showing us with the same last name at the same address as of this month, I thought I tweak their common sense and humanity.

The response was they have neither.

So I went online to find out how to get a copy of our marriage license.  If you have a computer and internet access and a credit card and you know how to use all this stuff, it isn't that difficult.  But it does cost $15 for the copy and $9 for processing.  And if you aren't careful, the default setting is overnight delivery for another $24.  I had to back it up before I pushed the pay button to get USPS mailed for free.  And it will take about three weeks it says.  (And it isn't the county that does this, but another private contractor.)

I have access to all those resources - computer, internet, credit card, money, and knowledge to do all the work.  But I'm sure there are people who don't and will lose their dependents' insurance coverage because of this new law.

And I now have a very personal understanding of why the new photo voter id laws have the affect of blocking people from voting.  It's mildly insulting and highly absurd to insist only on a copy of a marriage license for people who have been dependents on their insurance for over 40 years.  And not accept other evidence of their marriage.

I understand that there are people who will abuse the system.  But human common sense used to take care of this sort of obsessive auditing.  No one asked for proof that I was really married to my wife when we arrived in Alaska and I filled out the University paper work and got covered by their insurance.  We had the same last name and two young children.  That was enough.  Proof of marriage might have been asked of people who might appear not married - different last names, not living together, etc  And it might be requested when there is a change in status.  You check the people who do not meet the common sense tests.

This over legalism represents a breakdown in humanity and community.  But we've had bureaucracy for a long time without this sort of anal legalism.  This does seem like an intentional move to force some people off of insurance.

Just as the voter id laws are intended to prevent people from voting, not to prevent fraud.

Here's a Mother Jones article that backs up my comments about voter id laws.  It starts with an example that is very similar to our situation with the health insurance.

"You can’t say Andrea Anthony didn’t try. A 37-year-old African American woman with an infectious smile, Anthony had voted in every major election since she was 18. On November 8, 2016, she went to the Clinton Rose Senior Center, her polling site on the predominantly black north side of Milwaukee, to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton. 'Voting is important to me because I know I have a little, teeny, tiny voice, but that is a way for it to be heard,” she said. “Even though it’s one vote, I feel it needs to count.'”

My Perfect Yosemite Moment - 8 AM Hike To Mirror Lake

The fantasy spurred this trip to Yosemite was a chance to relive the magic I remember of Yosemite as a kid.  So Monday morning I got up early, caught a shuttle to the Mirror Lake trail, then wandered up the trail, by myself.  Well, just me and my camera.  I paused a bit reading the sign that warned of Mountain Lions and that you shouldn't go alone.

It's such a beautiful trail.  My pictures don't do it justice.  But for an hour or so, I was alone in Yosemite hiking to through the quiet woods to a spot I remember vividly as a little kid.  There were warnings that by October the lake is really mostly sandy beach, but I was willing to try to find some reflection in Mirror Lake.

Here's a bit of the trail that goes through different kinds of terrain.

It's about a mile hike from where the shuttle bus lets you off.  And relatively flat.  Not like the Vernal Falls hike.

Later I thought about all the huge boulders everywhere and how it's clear that they come from the walls of granite that surround you everywhere in Yosemite.  They most come down sometime.  Fortunately, not while I was there.



And everywhere you are, if you look up, you see those massive chunks of granite towering above you. The wide angle lens takes away the closeness and sheer size of rock, but the regular lens can't catch the whole rock.

I didn't see any mountain lions, but I did see a huge pile of pretty fresh bear poo.  I'll spare you the picture, but I did check with a ranger because it was very different from the bear scat I'm used to in Alaska.

And there was enough water to get a good mirror image of the mountains of  rock above.












It was still very smoky from the Northern California fires.  Our car had ash on it each morning.

With the low water level revealing the sand, it looked a lot like a Zen garden.


And here's one of those walls above Mirror Lake.

It was a magical hike.  All alone on this beautiful trail.  I didn't see anyone until after I'd been at the lake about 20 minutes.  It was what I went to Yosemite for and was wonderful.

Lost Arrow And Other Fun In Yosemite Today [UPDATED With YouTube Video]

I have so many pictures of so many things, but I want to give you a preview here.


Here's how we first saw the Lost Arrow, though we didn't know what it was called at the time.  A man was looking through a humungus telephoto lens up at this jutting rock high above us.  Here's the start of the legend of the Lost Arrow from the Yosemite library website.

"Tee-hee-neh, a beautiful Indian maid, was betrothed to Kos-soo-kah, a young brave, who was fearless and bold with his spear and bow. At dawn on the day before their marriage, Kos-soo-kah made ready with other strong braves to go forth into the mountains to hunt bear, deer, rabbit and grouse for the wedding feast. Before leaving, he slipped away from the other hunters to meet Tee-hee-neh, his bride, who was waiting nearby.As they parted Kos-soo-kah said, “We go to hunt now, but at the end of the day, I will shoot an arrow from the cliff between Cho-look, the high fall, and Le-hamite, the Canyon of the Arrow-wood, and by the number of feathers you will know what kill has been made.”  [There's an editor's note that says this legend may be fictitious.  I guess that refers to the fact of it being a legend, not the story itself.]

The rest is here, along with other Yosemite legends.



Our second view of the Lost Arrow was from the Lower Yosemite Falls view point where you get a better sense of where it is.  Here's some more history of it from a climbing website, SummitPost.

"There aren't many climbs in Yosemite that lead to a true summit. But of those that do, the Lost Arrow Spire has to be one of the most famous and exciting of all. The Lost Arrow Tip was first climbed in 1946 by a party that used some rope tricks to rig up a tyrolean traverse, a popular way to end the climb today. The first actual climb to the top was accomplished by Yosemite pioneer John Salathe and Anton Nelson in 1946. They climbed the Lost Arrow via the Lost Arrow Chimney ( V, 5.10a ), the first grade V big wall done in the U. S. Today the Lost Arrow Tip and tyrolean traverse return are one of the classic climbs of Yosemite!"

It's at 6912 feet.  And all that is leading to the fact that the man with the big telephoto lens pointed out that there were ropes from the Lost Arrow to the rock to the right and someone was crossing it.  I didn't have my telephoto with me, but in this shot below, you can see the rope and the black silhouette of the climber to the right of the Arrow.  The black spot on the left seems to be, well, a spot.  

click image to enlarge and focus a little bit

This led us to wander further down the valley to see if we could see the "dozens" (we were told) climbers on El Capitan.  That's for another post.


[UPDATE 10/18/17:  When I uploaded a video with two El Capitan climbers, my video got posted with a bunch of El Capitan videos.  Which made me realize I should find a Lost Arrow video there too.  There are a number (obviously since people doing this want to document their feats!)  So here's one from Agustín Copp showing this traverse.





And here's Andy the Slackliner crossing.