Some Spanish Words That Caught My Fancy

I think it becomes clear why I liked these words - they are literal and thus easy to remember.  But I mentioned them to a couple of native Spanish speakers and they had never actually thought about them being literal and they smiled when they saw it that way.




paraquas  parar = to stop  (bus stop is parada)  and aguas = waters

It rained our first few days in Buenos Aires and then it didn't rain for the rest of the month we were in Argentina.  These folks are carrying paraguas.



anteojos  ante = before    ojos = eyes

He's wearing anteojos.




medialunas   media = half    lunas = moons

The medialunas are on the bottom of this pastry display.  This is more a metaphor.  If it's not clear what the arrow is pointing to - those are croissants.  I didn't zoom in to just the croissants because everything else looks so good.

The moral of “Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood” seems to be “who doesn’t miss the good old days when cars had fins and white men were the heroes of everything?”

The title quote comes from Mary McNamara's beautifully ruthless* critique of "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood."  Her review helped crystalize part of my reaction to the Democratic debates this week.

Kenneth Turan's review of "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" in the LA Times last week was positive.  He acknowledged that he wasn't a Quentin Tarantino fan, but said this was a different Tarantino.  Turan saw Reservoir Dogs at Sundance.

"When a visibly pained audience member asked Tarantino in the Q&A how he justified the film’s tidal waves of violence, the director almost didn’t understand the question. “Justify it?” he echoed before just about roaring, “I don’t have to justify it. I love it!”
Over the next quarter-century, little has changed. To enjoy Tarantino was to embrace his preening style, to share his reductive view of cinema and the world and violence’s preeminent place in both.
I was a chronic dissenter — I still get occasional grief about my “Pulp Fiction” review — so how is it that I reacted with distinct pleasure to the writer-director’s 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood'?"

I didn't see either of those films.  I'd heard about the level of violence (much directed at women) and decided I didn't need to buy a ticket for films that glorify violence.

[*How can I enjoy a 'beautifully ruthless" critique on the one hand, and shun a violent and bloody film?  Well, one is just well strung words, the other strings bloody images across the screen.  Do we really think that Hollywood and the video game industry have not been primers for mass shooters?]

But given Turan's approval this time, I was thinking about going.

But a few days later,  Mary McNamara, also reviewed the movie in the LA Times.  She came after the movie, mercilessly from a different angle.  Here's more than I'd normally quote, but it's all relevant to my follow up about white males' difficulty understanding why others have problems with their past behavior.

"Nostalgia is fun, and fine when used recreationally; but it’s time to face the dangers of our national addiction to reveling in visions of the past that are, at best, emotionally curated by a select few and, at worst, complete nonsense."

"Watching two middle-aged white guys grapple with a world that does not value them as much as they believe it should, it was tough not to wonder if that something was the same narrow, reductive and mythologized view of history that has made red MAGA hats the couture of conservative fashion."

"Whatever the reason, as I shifted in my seat waiting for the film’s climax, Tarantino’s elegy for a time when men were men and women were madonnas, whores or nags and the only people who spoke Spanish were waiters — “Don’t cry in front of the Mexicans” is an actual line played for laughs — began to feel ominously familiar.
If nothing else, 'Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood' laid to rest the notion of Hollywood liberalism — any industry still so invested in sentimentalizing a time of studio fiefdoms, agents played by Al Pacino in a wig-hat and white-guy buddy movies can hardly be considered progressive.
When times, it is implied if not directly stated, were simpler.
Even though they weren’t. Ever.
Unless you were a member of the white, male, Christian, heterosexual, able-bodied, culturally conforming, non-addicted, mentally well, moneyed elite, there was literally no time in history that was simpler, better, easier, or greater. For most people, history is the story of original oppression gradually lessened through a series of struggles and setbacks.
'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood' is a masterpiece of nostalgia porn. . . Whether it’s the resurrection of leg warmers or fedoras, the British class system, Winona Ryder or, heaven help us, Charles Manson, nostalgia is the new sex and the exquisite museum-like quality of the detail found in period films and television series is its porn.

And he has chosen as his driving force an actor upset because he is no longer seen as hero material and his loyal stuntman companion, who may or may not have murdered his wife. That this death is treated as a joke, and the wife visible only once, in flashback, as a braying nag in a bikini, could be viewed as an indictment of the Playboy-cartoon misogyny of the time. Could be, if Cliff were not portrayed with such charming tough-guy chivalry. If this guy murdered his wife, she probably deserved it .
So for Cliff’s wife anyway, not such a golden era.

I haven't seen the movie, so I can't tell you that she nailed it.  But Tarantino would probably tell you his film doesn't have to follow her rules, and so, at worst, she doesn't have to  follow his either.

But all this discussion about nostalgia for an age when healthy, etc. white males had it best, intersected with thoughts I had about the criticisms of Biden in the debates - particularly about his being friendly with extreme Southern racist Senators and his support of the Omnibus Crime bill.

OK, public policy is complicated and few bills are 100% what the sponsors and supporters want.  There are some who would argue that the mass incarceration of black men had already happened and that the bill didn't contribute that much more, plus it included the Violence Against Women Act. (Which Bernie Sanders says is why he voted for it.)  But others, who understood better what was happening, like Marian Wright Edelman, wanted less emphasis on punishment and more emphasis on prevention.  Indeed, the bill greatly damaged Edelman's relationship with the Clintons.

My thoughts had been along the lines of:

• Policy is complicated and to pass bills, sponsors have to compromise.  
• But ultimately, this was a response to crime fear and was a get tough bill that included the 3 strikes you're out provision that has been so problematic.  
• Can you fault Biden, the bill's sponsor?  

 One can say that he was trying to fight the increase in crime, but that he was using traditional means - more police, stricter punishment, more prisons - and not listening to the minority communities who wanted more prevention money.  If he wasn't such a good friend with racist Southern Senators, might he have had a more progressive understanding of the issues?  Maybe.

When we judge politicians on their past actions, it's reasonable to give some attention to what were the common beliefs at the time.  But I really want our elected officials to be insightful to the extent that the see way ahead of the contemporary wisdom of the day.  I want officials who understand the underlying causes of a problem and look ahead to the best - not the most popular - ways to attack the problem.

Because, if Biden becomes president, his past behavior is likely to be the best predictor of his present and future behavior.  And he wasn't the deep thinker who saw through the flaws of his bill, how it would affect the prison population, or how preventative provisions needed to be included.
 
I want a president who sees, and acts on, a greater vision than current public opinion.  But I also have to weigh in whether he could have gotten such a law passed.  Just as Democrats can't get a lot done while McConnell is majority leader in the Senate.

But I think McNamara's review also points out how easy it is for the privileged in society to NOT see what is happening to the rest of society.    Perhaps if he had spent more time with Southern blacks he might have had a better understanding of the perniciousness of the criminal justice systems in the southern states were.  But I also watched the Watergate hearings live.  It was when I first learned that there were very intelligent Southerners.  Without people like Sen. Sam Ervin, Nixon would never have resigned.  So, yes, in a legislature, it's useful to maintain cordial relations with people whose ideas you abhor.

But Biden was also the chair of the committee that vetted Clarence Thomas.  He regrets how he handled that now - that's good - but dad he had a more insightful understanding about sexual harassment, had he not been surrounded by privileged white men, perhaps Anita Hill would have been treated with more respect.  You can say that 'our national consciousness has evolved" since then, but lots of people were outraged back then as they were more recently.

Even LA Times movie critic Kenneth Turan, who went against the grain in his earlier reviews of Tarantino's work, missed this other interpretation of "Once Upon A Time."  This interpretation that the less privileged, the victims of sexism, racism, homophobia, and on and on,  have of things.

Of course, we all see films differently because we all have different experiences in life which enable us to react  positively or negatively with some things in a film but not others.  So we all see different things in the same films.  I don't know how I would have reacted to  'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' if I saw it.  I grew up in LA in the 50s and 60s so there is surely a lot of 'nostalgia porn' for me to get off on in the film.  (Though I was off teaching in Thailand when the Sharon Tate murder happened.)  But as soon as I read McNamara's review, I understood immediately what she saying.  I'm not certain that Biden would think here concerns would outweigh the 'cool stuff.'

But he'd be a lot better than our current president and he'd have around him people who do get it, now, not 30 years from now.  I think flaws like this can be pointed out without doing much damage to a presidential candidate Biden were he to nominated, because the Republicans don't even understand these complaints.  But they'll try to exploit any divisions among Democrats.

I have a lot of other thoughts about the debates, but I'll save them for a different post - if I get to it.

How Long Ago Did Humans Emerge? Putting Today Into Perspective.

Edited from a timeline in Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari:

Years Before The Present
3.8 billion	Emergence of organisms
6 million	Last common grandmother of humans and chimpanzees
2.5 million	Evolution of the genus Homo in Africa.  First stone tools
2 million	Humans spread from Africa to Eurasia. Evolution of different human species
500,000	Neanderthals evolve in Europe and the Middle East
300,000	Daily usage of fire
70,000	Emergence of fictive language. Sapiens spread out of Africa
30,000	Extinction of Neanderthals
16,000	Sapiens settle America. Extinction of American megafauna
13,000	Extinction of Homo floresiensis. Homo sapiens the only surviving human species.
12,000	The Agricultural Revolution. Domestication of plants and animals. Permanent  settlements.

Let's put the US experiment in democracy in perspective.  Let's step back from 24 hour cable news that requires sensationalizing the unimportant to keep viewers watching.  Let's step back from Facebook and Twitter and Instagram which make what happened 10 seconds ago the most important event in history.  Until the next post five seconds later.  Sapiens destructive nature has sped up the destruction of the environment that we depend on, but not quite that much.

But let's also pay attention to the fact that where sapiens go, other species go extinct.  I've abbreviated the timeline from Sapiens.  I've left out the last 5000 years.

Chancellor "Ask Me Anything" Session With UAA Community

It was already standing room only when I got to the meeting with UAA Chancellor Sandeen.  With the governor's budget cuts, and the Board of Regents' declaration of exigency, the university is scrambling.  We still don't know how the final state budget will emerge and then there's the kickoff of the campaign to recall the governor to add to the uncertainty.

There were questions from students -

• why haven't there been support teams to help students cope with working, parenting, protesting, and school work when everything is so uncertain?  
• why haven't we had a Native Students director for the last few years?  
• Will I be able to get my classes and graduate?  
• Will engineering be in Anchorage or Fairbanks and can I finish my degree?  
• I'm a theater major, what's going to happen with the arts?

Answers were basically -

• we don't have many answers ourselves, we're trying to cope ourselves and just getting ready to respond,  this meeting is the start
• we were ready to hire when positions were frozen, 
• we're going to make sure all students are able to graduate, either here, or elsewhere, and 
• they're focusing on work preparation degrees, but I believe arts programs are work preparation and Anchorage is the arts center of Alaska, so I'm pushing hard to keep those programs.  

There were questions from faculty and staff -

• what happens when UAA and UAF each have grants that stipulate only one per institution if we combine into one institution?  
• what sort of structure can we expect for administrators?  
• what do we tell prospective students who we've been working with when they ask if UAA will have the programs they want?  
• will faculty be involved in the restructuring?

There was even less certainty here.  (Here's what I heard, though I didn't take careful notes since I was in the standing room section.)

• we don't know.  We'll have to work with the agencies as we transition.
• the HR department has already gone through this and if it's a model, the services will be centralized, fewer positions on campus
• things will work out, there will be places for them somewhere, but right now we don't know any details
• the president's plan calls for making restructuring proposals first and then allowing participation afterward, maybe those will be tentative proposals [don't hold your breath, the President has been trying to make one unified university since he got here and now he's got his way to do it]

Chancellor Sandeen was impressive.  She's only been here less than a year, but she was warm, caring, and listened and she sounded honest and sincere.  The audience, at one point, stood up and applauded her work so far.  She said that she hasn't for one iota of a second regretted her decision to come here, that she loves the community here and we'll work through this.

Who Signed Petitions To Recall Dunleavy? Here Are Some Folks Who Did Today In Anchorage

I got there a little before 5pm.  There were lots of folks already.

Vic Fischer, one of the writers of the Alaska Constitution and one of the sponsors of the recall petition being interviewed.








And below are some of the people who signed this evening.  Mostly I left out faces.  For those whose faces are in here and want them out, my email is in the upper right.  Let me know.  I've also blurred signatures that I thought might be legible on petitions.

Blast From The Past - Charter for the Development of the Alaska North Slope

This was originally posted on February 2, 2009.  It's been read a few times in the last day or two by people whose computers leave the following tracks: "Alaska State Government."  It's about a fund that was set up at the merger of ARCO and BP that was required to donate a certain amount to the University of Alaska annually.

Just so interested parties know what's being considered by someone in our state government.

..............................................

When I wrote a post about the Conoco-Philips ads in the ADN some time ago, the "Charter Agreement" came up and I wrote:

I also know that CP makes other contributions to the community such as $100,000 to the Museum in 2007. And there was a $3.68 million gift to the University of Alaska also in 2007. But we need to put an * on that. The University of Alaska press release on the gift also says,

The annual gifts stem from a charter agreement between the oil companies and the state regarding the BP merger with ARCO in the late 1990s. Part of the charter agreement identifies public higher education as a top priority for charitable donations . . .

So a minimum amount of contribution is required by this Charter Agreement that was a condition for the BP-ARCO merger. I called Scott Goldsmith, the author of the ISER report, to find out how to get access to the Charter Agreement.He wasn't sure if he ever actually saw a copy, but said he'd check for it tomorrow. [Update: I also called UAA Advancement and later the UA Foundation called and said they would find the Agreement and email it to me .] On the internet, nearly all references I find about BP or ConocoPhillips contributions to the University have that standard clause in them.

Well, a few days later, I got an email from the University of Alaska Foundation with a copy of the charter. But we were in high gear preparing to go to Thailand and what with the traveling and getting into things here, I didn't get around to posting that agreement. (It's down below) I haven't had a chance to study the whole charter, but I expect there is plenty to chew on.

For the time being, let's just look at the part that discusses community charitable contributions:

D. Community Charitable Commitment. Within three months after the merger is completed, BP and ARCO [what BP wasn't allowed to buy of ARCO because it would have given BP monopolistic power in Alaska eventually became Conoco-Philips if I got this right] will establish a charitable entity dedicated to funding organizations and causes within Alaska. The entity will provide 30% of its giving to the University of Alaska Foundation and the remainder to general community needs. Funding decisions by the entity will be made by BP and ARCO, with the advice of a board of community advisors. BP and ARCO will provide ongoing funding to this entity in an amount that is equal to 2% of BP's and ARCO's combined aggregate net Alaska liquids production after royalty times the price for WTI. Specific entity funding levels will be calculated annually on the same date each year, referencing the liquids production and the average NYMEX WTI prompt month settlement price for the 12 months immediately proceeding the calculation.

So here are some questions I have:

1. Who monitors these contributions to be sure that they are making the contributions required?
2. How do members of the public find this out?
3. Are they contributing what they are required to contribute?
4. Are they contributing more than they are required to contribute? (If not, can either company seriously claim to make charitable contributions? This was simply a business deal, a required cost of doing business in Alaska and not really charitable donations.)
5. Who is on these boards and are the meetings announced and public?

A quick Google search got me to the BP website. Searching there for charter agreement I got a copy of the 2007 annual report on the Charter Agreement for 2006. It is four lines over four pages - for the whole charter agreement. Plus a cover letter to Governor Sarah Palin. The part on charitable giving says this:

COMMUNITY CHARITABLE GIVING

The BP Board of Community Advisors met in February, 2006, at which time they
reviewed 2005 community spend [sic] and plans for 2006.

BP spent more than $10.2 million in support of community programs in 2006,
consistent with the formula detailed in the Charter.

Approximately $3 million was contributed to the University of Alaska Foundation
(1/3 of community investment).

ConocoPhilips's website gave me this message:

Connection to server www.search.conoco.com failed (The server is not responding.)

Why do I think that is the extent of the oversight? Even BP didn't think it was important enough to proof read it carefully. Am I being too cynical? Did the Governor's office demand back up information so they could see how the 2% times the price of WTI? I don't know. What about all the other issues in the Charter? What sort of scrutiny do they get? Just this brief annual report?

Since I'm pretty busy right now in Thailand, I'm going to have to hold off on pursuing these questions. Though I might send them to my representatives in the State Legislature.

Meanwhile, here is the rest of the Charter. I hope other bloggers and non-bloggers start reading it carefully to see whether the oil companies are living up to the agreement. I guess first we ought to figure out which state agencies are responsible for keeping track.

Charter for Development of ... by Steve on Scribd

In Argentina, There Was A Love That People Showed For Each Other

I don't have pictures, because these moments came when I didn't have my camera out, and because I'm hesitant to intrude in intimate moments, but let me give you several examples of the caring I saw among people in Argentina.

1.  People greet each other with hugs that include cheek to cheek contact

I don't know the rules of who hugs who like this.  Certainly family members, but also work colleagues, friends, and even we received this treatment from people.  This contact is male-female, female-female, and male-male.  I think this - I want to say intimacy, but maybe it's because my US cultural perspective sees it that way - physical contact breaks down barriers that handshakes can't.


2.  I saw lots of fathers really enjoying being with their young children

Men would have their kids on their shoulders, or mock battle with them, men would become little kids themselves in their play with their children.  And there was an obvious love that sparkled in the eyes of parent and child and showed in the natural smiles they shared.  I'm not saying there aren't cold fathers in Argentina, just that I saw a lot more pure love showing than I see in the US.

3.  Mate bonding

I've mentioned mate in a few posts already.  It's a kind of tea that Argentines (Uruguayans and Chileans) drink from small gourd cups through metal straws. I guess gourds were the original cups, but they also use ceramic cups.  Everywhere you see people with their mate cups and a small thermos to replenish the hot water.

Bus drivers, people walking down the street, teachers, everybody drinks mate and it's a ritual.  People don't toss their mate cups the way Americans toss their latte cups.
But I'm talking about mate again here because people share their mate.  They share their metal mate straws.  The only thing like it I can think of in the US would be people sharing a joint.  

     Here's the bus driver on one of our tours adding hot water to his mate.













And here he's sharing his mate with the guide.

  

4.  Airplane Safety Video

Aerolíneas had an animated safety video - all the stuff about seat belts, oxygen masks, that we see or hear every time a flight is about to take off.  What made this animation different was that when the mother put the child's oxygen mask over his mouth and nose, the mother lovingly and ever so fleetingly (and unconsciously) she strokes the child's cheek.  And when the mother is shown helping the child get on his life rest, again, she reassuringly tousles his hair.

I've never seen anything like that in an airline safety message before.  And while there are commercials that show that sort of thing, I don't think I've ever seen one as natural as this.  I could be wrong, but I felt like the artist just put the love into the animation and no one objected.  Though it's quite possible they spent hours debating this.  But for me, the outcome was one more example of a human bonding that I saw lots of in Argentina.  (We weren't in Chile or Brazil long enough to make such observations.)


OK, that's it.  In this time of great interpersonal nastiness unleashed by the US president, I thought it important to shine a little lot of these acts of love.  I have no illusions that Argentinians aren't capable of evil - they demonstrated that in the 70s and 80s.  But these moments of caring did catch my attention.

Your Mind Is A Garden - Anchorage Garden Club Garden Tour 2019

I love going on the garden tour each summer.  It gets me to neighborhoods I don't know and it gives me ideas and inspiration to imagine what I could do in my garden (and I'm ok with a small change here or there, I'm not interested in a yard that gets on the tour - I know how much time and Miracle Grow that would take and I'm trying to be organic.).

But I love to see what others have done.








Probably the most endearing garden for me was actually two gardens - neighbors.

The guy lives on the left and the lady lives on the right.  She's the gardener, he's the handyman/laborer.  These planters are on his wall.  His explanation was something like, "She asked if she could put plants along my house and I said sure.  But it was starting to get to sissified so I had to make more macho."  So he used car parts and they look great.

And she's put these monster lilies on his side too.

Her side was more genteel.  No auto or biker parts.  And he was responsible for the wine bottles.  He said a brick edging would be too ordinary.  And in answer to my question, no, he didn't have to drink all the wine first.  Lots of bottles came from a recycling place.  He was worried that they wouldn't make it through the winter, but has found out that they do fine.

It was in this yard we saw this 2017 Oregon eclipse T-shirt and it was only then that it dawned on me that in Argentina we saw zero eclipse merchandise.  Nada.  Kind of nice that people go to see a natural phenomenon without having to turn it into cash.

We also saw this license plate on the tour.  I can imagine a pro and an anti-GOP interpretation, I'll leave it up to each to imagine what it means.

What I love about the Anchorage Garden Club Garden Tours is that they are the opposite of pretentious.  People wear what they have on.  And you can have a garden that, while full of interesting flowers and veggies, can also have a bunch of trucks in the yard too.

This last one was pretty packed with plants in every planter.  If you look closely you can see those giant sunflowers.


And I did spend a few hours in my yard today with the tour as inspiration.

GCI Sends Us A Bill, ADN Ends Door Step Deliveies

When I went through the mail that had accumulated while we were gone, I came across an envelope from GCI.  Inside was a bill.  For $0.00.

Even odder than the amount, is the fact that we don't have any accounts with GCI.  Our cell phone isn't with them and our home line and internet aren't either.

I did call to check.  The person there suggested our other accounts don't have long distance and that's why.  But they do have long distance.  She said she'd remove us from the list.  But how did we get on the list?  A mystery.

[As I look at it now again, with the picture - do you think Alaska Airlines gave them my information?  I don't think the reservations line people will know the answer and it's Sunday so the administrative offices are closed.  Is it even worth the effort to find out?  There are much more important things to do.  And that's how 'the people' are worn down, by so many, to borrow a word from those fighting racism and sexism, micro-attacks that it's hard to choose our battles intelligently.]

And when our newspaper delivery began again when we got back home, it wasn't at our doorstep.  I had to look around before spotting it at the bottom of the driveway.  It was halfway up the driveway the next day and in the flowerbed the next day.  And a little wet from the rain, despite its plastic wrapper.

With only a few exceptions, our paper has been reachable without stepping out of the house for as long as I can remember.  What gives?  We must have a new carrier.

When the Anchorage Daily News didn't call to check if our delivery had begun again - as they usually do - I called to ask that our carrier go back to doorstep delivery.  (I put in a small tip each time the bill comes to thank the delivery person for getting it on doorstep.)

But I was told the ADN has changed their delivery policy to not having the delivery folks get out of their vehicles.  Driveway delivery.  Well I can deal with that now, but come winter, I don't really want to look through the snow to find the paper, let alone have to get dressed and shoed just to get the paper.  But that's their new rule.

I understand that newspapers are being squeezed.  But these sorts of cost saving measures don't sit well with me.  Do I need a hard copy?  I managed on the trip to read it online.  But I already read way too much online and enjoy holding the paper copy over breakfast.  And doing any of the puzzles on line is a pain.

Apparently I'm not the only one calling about this.  I was immediately put through to a supervisor who was pleasant enough, but the decision he has to defend is not a user friendly one.

Am I getting old and crotchety and resistant to change?  I'm sure that's an element in this, but really.  This is something I'm willing to spend a little extra for, but I don't have that opportunity.  I want to support my local newspaper, and for that reason I'll probably go along with this in the end, but they're making it harder and harder..

And all those leaves in the driveway - it's only July.  I think the heat and the aphid are responsible. It's not fall yet.

Alaska Now Is Like a Home Invasion - What Do You Do When Your Governor Is The Terrorist Destroying Your State?

Imagine people in your house hauling out your furniture, setting off bombs in different rooms, and tearing out the wiring, plumbing, and foundation and nobody can do anything about it.

If someone physically destroys university property, he can be arrested.  But if the governor destroys the university through line-item vetoes, and he's got 22 legislators on his side, we're just screwed.

It's like watching a terrorist in slow motion, like in a dream in which you can't move. This is what's happening in Alaska.  The governor is systematically destroying the state.  This is no hyperbole, no exaggeration.  And we're struggling to figure out how to stop him.

Brother Francis Dunleavy

"JPMorgan Chase JPM  agreed to pay $410 million to settle charges with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for manipulating electricity prices in the same markets Enron used to play its dirty tricks." And who did the dirty tricks for them? "Saddled with loss producing assets, the team at the Houston-based principle investments unit developed several bidding strategies which turned out some juicy profits.  Reporting directly to Masters, [Francis] Dunleavy and his team showed how “asset optimization strateg[ies]” managed to  turn out tens of millions of dollars in profits from units that lost millions at market rates."  From Forbes.

Our governor got elected with considerable financial and other backing from his brother Francis and from the Koch brothers (via their Alaskans for Prosperity).  And now he's making our state defenseless in the face of Outside resource extractors by destroying the independent expertise at the university that can challenge rosy corporate reports that assert 'no harm will be done.  The environment will be better when we are finished.'  And destroying the government's ability to monitor what they do.  And setting up a brain drain that will set the state back to Territorial days.

Once in office the Kochs gave him Donna Arduin (who practiced trashing states in Illinois, California, Kansas and Florida) to start taking apart those government structures that people most use - education, health, the Alaska ferry. The university is taking a 40% hit (which will cost much more in federal and private grants.) Even normally conservative Republican legislators have joined with Democrats to put the money back into the budget. But enough Republican legislators (22) held with the governor and the legislature couldn't get the necessary 75% of the legislature to override the governor's vetoes.



There have been protests in the streets, at the legislature. People have overwhelmingly testified against the cuts at every legislative hearing. People have called, emailed, and mailed legislators and the governor.  People are reading the parts of the constitution that talk about impeachment and recall and trying to figure out if the language covers his actions.  The constitution does require the state to " establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the State, and may provide for other public educational institutions."  The University Board of Regents has already declared financial exigency.
The constitution also says "[t]he legislature shall provide for the promotion and protection of public health."  The Mayor of Anchorage has already declared a Civil Emergency in anticipation of the impacts of the governor's budget cuts on health and safety and homelessness.

Lawyers are, I'm told, working on lawsuits to stop this madness.

Not unlike at the national level, Alaskans are trying to figure out how to stop invaders, who got into the governor's mansion via election,  from destroying the state as we know it.

Our instincts tell us to keep within legal bounds as we watch him cut vital organs out of the university and kill the Alaska Marine Highway - the only 'road' that goes to many communities.  Imagine a governor bombing major highways so they are totally unusable.  That's what he's doing.

Everyone would love to physically remove the governor from our house to stop the damage.  Or twist the arms of enough (8) legislators until they vote to override the vetoes.  When is a coup justified?  We're too used to the rule of law, we don't know what to do when our elected leader, violates all norms of public participation, is set on destroying key institutions, and is immune to the pleas of the overwhelming majority of the population?

Letters to the editors use logic and reason, but our governor's logical assumptions are rooted in the orders he gets from the Koch brothers and their representatives, not the residents of Alaska and their representatives.  His mantra is "balanced budget, $3000 Permanent Fund Dividends, and no taxes" an unworkable formula.

When the dust settles, we'll probably find lots of legal violations on the governor's part.  One of his first moves was to privatize the Alaska Psychiatric Institute and turn it over, in a no-bid contract, to an Outside company with ties to Donna Arduin.  I'm sure there are lots of other acts like that.

While people continue to do battle some of us need to be working on the emergency recovery plans, but I don't think FEMA helps out with human caused disasters. (Well, they do help if someone causes a forest fire, but if your elected officials are the vandals?)

Obviously this is not just an Alaskan dilemma.  The White House has similarly been invaded.  But the attack on the university and its research capabilities is particularly troubling and a warning to people in other states.  This war on public education and science is, at least partially, aimed at making it harder to fight corporate 'expertise.'  This is going to happen in other states if it hasn't already.