Young denying reality, as usual

Don Young: natural comedian.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, Young is convinced that there will be no Democratic takeover of Congress next week:

"I'm predicting we're not going to lose any seats," Young said. "My prediction is as good as anybody else's. The day after the election, we'll see who was right."

Hmm. I seem to recall another arena in which Young thinks his opinion is "as good as anybody else's": climate change science.

Alaska's lone congressman, Republican Rep. Don Young, went so far as dismissing the [Arctic Climate Impact Assessment] on Arctic climate change. He called it ammunition for fearmongers.
"My biggest concern is that people are going to use this so-called study to try to influence the way and standard of living that occurs within the United States," Young said.
"I don't believe it is our fault. That's an opinion," Young said. "It's as sound as any scientist's."

Representative Young is very unhappy with the Daily News, but its editor isn't worried:

"I would say that Don Young remains as articulate, clever and accurate as ever," Dougherty said.

I would agree with that considered judgement, and compliment editor Dougherty on his sagacious character assessment.

Repeal the Imperial Presidency

News stories, editorials, and blog posts critical of the Military Commissions Act keep appearing. Now the Berks County, Pennsylvania, Democratic Committee has passed a resolution calling for the Act's repeal:

Whereas by allowing the suspension of habeas corpus the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is in violation of Article One of the Constitution,

whereas by allowing the commander in chief to make the determination on what constitutes torture the Military Commissions Act of 2006 is in violation of the Geneva Convention.

Resolved that the Berks County Democratic Committee urges Congress to immediately vote to repeal the Military Commissions Act of 2006 and to pass a law that adheres to the Constitution of the United States and the Geneva Convention.

But this is only one part of the task.

For those of you who still don't think that the "Imperial Presidency" that Bush, Gonzalez, et al., are attempting to create is much of a big deal, take a look at this article on the revision of the Insurrection Act and the virtual repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act, via Section 1076 of the Defense Authorization Act for the Pentagon. Apparently not one senator noticed the seriousness of this vote, not even Senator Leahy of Vermont, who has since decided that it's worrisome. It was signed by Bush on the same day that the Military Commissions Act was signed, and gives Bush the authority to

declare a "public emergency" and station troops anywhere in America and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of the governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public disorder."…The law also facilitates militarized police round-ups and detention of protesters, so called "illegal aliens," "potential terrorists" and other "undesirables" for detention in facilities already contracted for and under construction by Halliburton.

What it does is, in effect, repeal the Posse Comitatus Act, which protects the public from use of the military against it.

Ryland at a boy and his computer puts it nicely:

Why is this bad? It sounds reasonable on the surface - if there's a flood or a terrorist attack, and the local cops can't handle the resulting disorder, send in troops to help. But the Posse Comitatus Act already says that military troops cannot be used as cops, so what it really accomplishes is to allow the president to declare martial law for any reason, including to arrest and detain protesters. All he has to do is say that people protesting the war are causing a threat to order, and that the local cops can't handle it - bam, martial law. Bye-bye, free speech zones.

I'm seriously beginning to wonder if the mid-term elections coming up will be the last national elections we ever have.

Yep, Ryland, me, too. And it is our Congress that is handing these powers to the president on a silver platter, rather like the Roman Senate gave to the Caesar, and how the Reichstag gave to Hitler through the Fire Decree and the Enabling Act. But then, as Kate-A points out, posse comitatus was endangered quite a while ago:

State and Federal troops have been deployed domestically many times to enforce State and Federal "law".

The time to yell about "gutting" the Posse Comitatus was a long long long long time ago. Posse Comitatus has been ignored at the whim of any president who wanted to ignore it. The government is now officially stamping a smiley face on what government has always done.

Germany was a democracy in 1932, but the government gave dictatorial powers to Hitler, and that was all she wrote.

Looks like we're heading the same direction. Gee, thanks, Congress. (Don Young, yea; Lisa Murkowski, yea; Ted Stevens, yea)

Ralph visits Ester

Sort of. Ralph Seekins recently came out to the fire station to visit with the firemen and talk about the station expansion that the EVFD has been trying to get since, oh, 1986, maybe longer. This is the first time I've ever heard of that Seekins has come to Ester to find out what folks out here want. He's never been to the Eagle, to my knowledge, unlike Gary Wilken, who would come by to talk to his constituents at least once a year.

Perhaps he's a little more worried by Joe Thomas' campaign than he's been letting on? Quite a few people out in the Ester area aren't happy with Seekins. Thomas has been talking to Esterites at the Fourth of July potluck, the post office centennial, and the annual fire department meeting. I think he was at the fall ECA meeting, too, but I'm not sure about that. At any rate, Thomas has been paying attention, and Seekins hasn't--at least not to Ester. People appreciate it when a candidate or a representative makes an effort--and notice it when they don't.

Couldn't have said it better myself

Phil Munger has written an interesting little piece on the media and Don Young. He quotes Howie Klein of Down with Tyranny:

(Howie Klein) writes “FBI insiders, or at least those with inside info from FBI employees familiar with the Abramoff case, are betting that almost instant indictments are looming for Alaska's Don Young, Florida's Tom Feeney, John Doolittle, Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter, Ken Calvert and Dirty Dick Pombo of the Golden State and Phil English and Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania, as well as for former GOP Crime Boss Tom DeLay.”

So, not only may Representative Young be in the minority party come November 7, he may be up on charges. But of course, this is sheer speculation at this point.

Still, an interesting thought, no?

Benson closing the gap

According to a press release from the Benson campaign, a new poll conducted by Hays Research Group on the 24th and 25th showed that both Don Young and Diane Benson lost ground with the voters. Young, who had on the 20th polled 52%, dropped to 43%, and Benson went from 36% to 34%--which means she is now only 9% behind Young, instead of 16%. That's just in one week, with the election less than two weeks.

I suspect people are upset with Young's unwillingness to actually campaign (although he doesn't normally make these tours of the state as a congressman...) and his failure to debate the issues. But I bet Benson's mostly negative campaigning hasn't helped lately. People are going to want to hear what she stands for, and what she plans to do, in more detail.

What is it with walls?

George Bush has signed the American-Mexican fence/wall bill into law today, and the Israelis have been building their "Separation Wall" between Israel and Palestine for some time. If you ask me, this is idiocy.

Didn't anybody learn anything from the example of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain?

Or, Why Minor Parties Aren't Taken Seriously

Dillon at An Alaskan Abroad caught this little item in the Anchorage Daily News:

Green Party candidate David Massie, who is rarely invited to these head-to-head matchups among the candidates, talked about taxing dandelions.

Why? The first reason would be to satirize the way government is always taxing things, he said. "Second, is if you actually did that, people would have dandelions in their yards, and if they did, they could make dandelion wine, and be taxed on that."

When a candidate says something stupid like this in a major party, it doesn't do the party much harm. Candidates say silly things all the time (just look at Don Young!). But when a minor party candidate says something like this, it reflects badly on the party. Never mind that the Green Party of Alaska has tried to get Massie off the ballot (he wasn't registered Green until the last day of filing, and didn't qualify as a legitimate candidate by our bylaws, and hasn't participated in GPAK meetings). Massie is most emphatically not endorsed by the Green Party of Alaska, but he's the fruitcake who gets quoted.

The interesting thing here is that Andrew Halcro was threatened with removal from the ballot if he didn't get a running mate, but the Green Party is saddled with a nut they've tried to get removed--even though he has no running mate--because, says the Office of Elections, we could, if we wanted to, provide the nut with a lieutenant governor candidate.

Right. So if no Green except Massie voted for Massie, would that still make him our candidate on a one-choice primary ballot? Massie got a grand total of, lessee, 926 votes. I suspect this total has more to do with the party line he ran on than with him personally.

But of course, I've never met him. Maybe he's not a nut. But the delightful quote above sure doesn't inspire much confidence.

Liar, liar, pants on fire!

Did we catch ol' Georgie in a big fat lie? Oh, yes, we did! Shame, shame on you, Georgie! Bad boy!

Runs with the sheep

Okay, now this is just too good to be believed. In criticizing the media for finding fault with elected officials (easy to do because they're out there in public where all their mistakes are visible and affect many, many, people), Don Young said this:

“A person can be the cleanest individual, but has a brother who likes to run with sheep,” Young said, adding that those who haven’t grown up on a farm might not know what that means.

I'm wondering if Michael Rovito, the author of the Frontiersman article in which this gem appeared, was able to keep from snorting out loud when Young proffered this sage bit of folksy wisdom.

Um, so what exactly are you trying to say here, Rep. Young? That the media shouldn't report on bestiality in your family? Or was that some lobbyist you were thinking of? It's pretty clear that the sheep in Congress these days are all playing follow the leader, and rubber-stamping whatever Mr. Bush wants. (Young's actually a bit of an old goat, striking out in odd directions from time to time, no matter what the criticism.) (Oh, hyperbole is SUCH fun!)

Young is obviously a natural comic. Now that Mr. Whitekeys has retired, perhaps Young could take up the baton?

Benson benefits

I've had a lot to say here about the general yuckiness of Don Young, but I haven't said much about why I think Diane Benson would make a better representative than he would. Here's a couple of reasons right off the top of my head:

1. Benson's a woman, a Tlingit, and actually spends most of her time in Alaska. She has very deep roots in this state. She's taking the time to talk with as many people as she can, from all walks of life. She seems to me to really care about people and their concerns. I think that the fewer rich white men supported by corporate money and the more minorities and women supported by ideals and your average joe that we have in Congress, the better for all of us.

2. Benson's a Democrat. It's a sure bet that at least the House of Representatives will be controlled by the Democrats after November, and that means that all those cushy committee appointments Young has right now will be whisked out from under him if he remains in office. Even with his seniority, he is going to lose his clout—and so will Alaska, unless we elect a Democrat. If Benson wins, then we will have a representative, who, though a freshman, will still be a member of the majority party. And that will be very important. The Congressional Democrats will want to hold onto Alaska, and will try to make Benson's first term a successful one, because helping her will help the party hang onto that seat in the next election.

3. Benson, unlike Young, can see the evidence in front of her eyes, and knows that we need to invest in alternative energy. That's where our future is. I've been running a series of articles by Brian Yanity on alternative energy resources in Alaska, and this state is a phenomenal powerhouse of wind, water, and sun. It's amazing, and I'm glad to see a candidate emphasizing this.

4. She's also addressing the health care crisis, and recognizes that getting health care affordable means that everybody benefits: "Healthier employees make better workers." (Young's got a 0% rating on public health votes by the American Public Health Association.)

5. Campaign finance reform!

6. She has a brief list of the basic issues and legislative goals on her website, but this doesn't reflect one of the best things about her: she's ELOQUENT. I heard part of her testimony at the Fairbanks Borough Assembly meeting on the Rumsfeld resignation resolution, and she was articulate, expressive, clear, and heartfelt. She spoke beautifully.

Dumb and dumber

Thought I'd add how I really feel about the entire Don "Dumber" Young situation. Did anyone hear his interview with KFAR yesterday? It was priceless!!!! Don should do Mastercard commercials.
I bet our Congressman is dumber than yours!

Diane Benson giving Don Young a scare

Don Young is treating Diane Benson, a Democratic Party candidate, as though she's a third-party candidate. It's interesting that she's being treated rather the way she was by Ulmer when she ran as a Green in 2002. (Shoe's on the other foot, hey, Dems? This is the problem with this kind of exclusionary, undemocratic tactic: it comes back to bite you. The party in power plays dirty....)
But Benson has a good chance of winning, more than perhaps any other candidate running against Young for quite a while. Benson showed 47% to Young's 53% in a straw poll by the League of Women Voters here in the Tanana Valley, and 36% to 52% in a more recent poll. That's better than anybody's done against Young in a long, long time, certainly better than last time (2004: Young 71%, Higgins (Dem) 22%).
Young is in trouble this time. According to the Anchorage Daily News:

Young calls himself the fourth most powerful congressman in America, but Metcalfe said that just puts him in a Republican clique that includes House Speaker Dennis Hastert, in trouble over his handling of the sex scandal involving House pages; former Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, indicted on charges of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws; and former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California, now in prison after pleading guilty to taking bribes.
Young's leadership PAC donated $5,000 in September 2005 to Cunningham's defense fund, according to an online database of Federal Election Commission records operated by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
Other edgy topics for Young include his reported connection with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his campaign contributions from executives with Veco, the oil field services and construction company now under investigation by the FBI for possible influence peddling.
Veco executives have been Young's No. 1 campaign contributor since 1989, sending more than $200,000 his way since then, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Benson's got mostly grassroots support: 99% of her campaign contributions are coming from individuals. Only 56% of Young's contributors are individuals; 36% comes from political action committees.

After 33 years, we need some new material

Okay, folks, I'm taking a clue here from Volker Pispers and Helmut Kohl: It's been thirty-three years of Don Young, most of my adult life--no, wait--ALL of my adult life and then some--and it's enough! He's lampooned himself for so long that his bloopers are predictable. Comedians and editorial cartoonists can imitate Don Young better than he can lampoon himself (I mean, be himself)! We need some fresh material, somebody new we can make fun of!

I mean, come on, we've been making fun of Young since before he was elected the first time! There's only so long that joke about being beaten by a dead man, or living in a mailbox in Yukon, or the anecdote about him swearing at high school students while castigating obscenity, can get a good laugh.

Or maybe not. Perhaps there's a few chuckles to be got out of him yet.

But it would sure be nice to see a new face up there on the podium where we could be suprised by fresh, new possibilties. Personally, I don't think Young can be beaten for sheer entertainment value (although he certainly could be bested when it comes to, oh, something like attendence in Congress) . I suspect that Diane Benson won't embarrass herself with stupid gaffes about the public being "waffle-stompers" or "idiots." So we probably couldn't make fun of her that way. And the issues she's concerned about seem pretty relevant and down-to-earth, so I suspect we couldn't make fun of those--they make sense to too many people. Her legislative aims seem pretty worthwhile, too.

Nope. I bet we'd have more fun with watching the Republicans in Congress puffing up like frogs when she gets to work in Congress--somebody who's not out of touch with Alaska, with the Bush, with the ideas of fiscal responsibility and ethical campaigning and working for a living...

Heh. Now THAT would be funny.

(Bet you can tell how I plan to vote this election, hey?)

Done! Done, I tell you!

Bleah. Finally I am done with yet another issue of the Republic. Just have to take it in to the printer, and I can relax (right after I finish with the distribution and subscriptions and data entry, that is...).

I've been doing this now for almost nine years. That's quite a while. This part, the last four or five days before printing, are always hellish. I stay up until the wee hours of the morning, writing announcements and cramming things in and trying to make sure I haven't forgotten everything, routinely working miracles of layout that nobody else will really notice or appreciate (except for my husband, who gets to chuckle over my cries of exultant triumph when I cram a 700-word article into a 600-word space). This issue was a doozy--32 pages, 8 more than my usual, and with several last-minute items.

Of course, I always forget something, or have to bump something because there just wasn't room, and when the paper actually comes out my eye immediately locks on to the obvious typo on contents page or my editorial or in the main spread.

It always takes me at least 24 hours longer than the point at which I think I'll be done in just one more hour. Without fail. And for some reason every month I keep thinking that yep, I'm almost finished, just another hour. You'd think I'd have figured it out by now.

Nope.

But when that paper comes out, and I'm at the Eagle handing out contributor copies to my neighbors, and I see half the bar with their nose in the magazine--ah, the satisfaction. People actually want to READ the thing.

Makes me feel like I'm doing something worthwhile after all.

Another reason the Military Commissions Act is bad

The National Post, a Canadian newspaper, reported today on a US military gag order placed on a lawyer, Lt.-Col. Colby Vokey, for Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who has been in Guantanamo since he was 15, in 2002. He is now 20 years old. Khadr charges that he has "been beaten, held for long periods in stress positions and locked up in solitary confinement for months at a time."

So why the gag order? Well, it turns out that the paralegal, St. Heather Cerveny, working with his lawyer, overheard a conversation by Guantanamo guards in which they bragged about striking or beating detainees, apparently as a regular practice. The Post interviewed Vokey, Cerney, and Muneer Ahmad, a criminal defense lawyer also working on behalf of Khadr.

President George W. Bush is expected to sign a new bill next week on the special military commission system for detainees in the war on terror held at the U.S. base in Cuba.
"This is more than a coincidence," said Ahmad. "Sgt. Cerveny's sworn statement reveals exactly what is wrong with the new law. It permits the abuse of detainees to continue, it immunizes wrongdoers and it strips the courts of the power to ever hear complaints of such abuse.
"The president wants us to believe there never was abuse at Guantanamo and that there isn't abuse now. Sgt. Cerveny's statement shows that just isn't true."

There's good reason the American Bar Association opposed the Military Commissions Act.

Correcting a serious error about Don Young's vote

My, Representative Young is getting a lot of press from me these days. I made what is, to my mind, a significant error in my critique of Don Young's voting record. In item #9, where I took him to task for not having shown up to vote on the USA PATRIOT Act, I accused him of having gone ahead and voted for extending the sunsetted provisions. I looked this up at the time, but evidently not on a reliable website. Young did not, in fact, vote to extend. So far as I can tell, his Libertarian streak was going strong, as he voted against every extensionof its liberty-infringing powers.

My apologies, Rep. Young. I just wish your Libertarian streak was functioning when you voted on the Military Commissions Act.

Go fly a kite!

Wired News had this interesting article today on a windpower turbine that uses kites to generate electricity at high altitudes.

This idea has been explored in the form of "flying electric generators", too: tethered windmills that fly at 15,000 feet or higher.

Kite flying: fun and good for the environment, too!

Don Young isn't crowing about this vote

Interesting. When I go look at Don Young's website, I find a list of all kinds of bills he's proud to have voted for and announces all over in press releases and whatnot, but he's not letting on that he voted to allow the president to have despotic powers. I checked out his campaign website, too, and although he's got lots of military and homeland security bills that he voted for listed, his vote for the Military Commissions Act is nowhere to be found.

Funny, that.

Holding Rumsfeld accountable in Fairbanks

Last night, and the Thursday before, the people of the Tanana Valley turned out to hold Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld accountable for the lousy job he's doing. In a government by the people, it is vitally important that, if our elected representatives are unwilling to hold their appointees accountable, that the people do it themselves. And it's quite clear that the White House and Congress are unwilling to call incompetents on the carpet.

There were so many people that they weren't able to finish taking testimony on resolution 2006-37 (PDF), and so will be holding a special meeting next Wednesday. That makes three meetings on this subject. The testimony has been running about three to one in favor of the original and strongest resolution.

Contact the borough assembly here.

Back to the bone

Fairbanks will get what it pays for, and apparently, it doesn't want to pay for much. The propositions that Fairbanks voters passed on Tuesday are going to hurt them, despite the crows of victory right now.

A certain city firefighter was at the Eagle last night, and he's looking for a new job. He figures he has a few months before the money runs out, but he's tired of being on tenterhooks about whether Fairbanks gives a rat's rump about public safety. And apparently, the city doesn't. Or at least, the voters seem to think that the staff of the police and fire departments and whatnot don't need to make a living.

Well, Fairbanksans, you will find out just how much things actually cost when the city council, et etc., has to start cutting services, so start writing up your new propositions now for next October's ballots to set things right.

Government does certain things much better than private enterprise, volunteer groups do certain things better than government or private enterprise, and private enterprise does some things better than either. But no one mode of getting things done is The Answer to All. Fairbanks is going to find this out the hard way, it looks like.

Why hemp is illegal

Great Britain has seen the light. In 1993 the ban on hemp cultivation was overturned in the UK. (Hemp is still, stupidly, illegal in the US, of course.) A quote on it from this article in the Guardian:

The hemp community has been shouting about the environmental benefits of the plant for years. An oft-quoted statistic is that hemp has more than 25,000 natural uses - ranging from food and oil supplements, made from its seeds, to strong industrial materials processed from its woody outer core. It is fast-growing and can thrive in British soil with little water and with no pesticides or other soil-polluting chemicals.

So why was it illegal there? Well, according to Kenyon Gibson, a researcher and author of the book, Hemp for Victory,

the misrepresentation of hemp as a dangerous narcotic has been pushed for decades by international conglomerates, who are well aware of the threat that the plant poses to their trade.

"It was the large multinationals who helped ban hemp decades ago, and it's the large multinationals who are still ensuring that natural alternatives to their products are being sidelined even in this time of environmental chaos," Gibson says. "Look at how many trees we could save by investing in a global hemp paper industry. Look at its potential to contribute to natural ethanol, yet we're lagging behind countries such as Brazil which are making great strides in creating fuel from domestic products."

"I'm a war [crimes] president!"

Given the load of folderol Bush presented us on Iraq and Saddam, I am continually amazed at the follow-the-leader mentality exhibited by Congress, even in the most blatant, egregious war powers pushing that Bush does. I was incorrect on the Military Commissions Act: it doesn't provide for retroactive exoneration/pardon/CYA for possible war crimes committed by this administration to 2001, it covers their butts all the way back through 1997.

I'm not sure if it will cover our Pro-Torture Congressional Trio, though...wonder if they've considered that?

Mike Musick wins a seat on the assembly!

Mike Musick was elected to the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly yesterday, with a resounding 62 percent. The News-Miner has an article about the results, and here's what they say about Mike:

The race for the vacant Seat G pitted Musick against [Bonnie] Williams, with Musick taking 62 percent of the votes.

“I think we both ran a good, positive race,” said Musick, who credited his win to help from his wife, Ritchie.

In his campaign, Musick, the project manager on the recently completed Cold Climate Housing Research Center, promoted energy efficiency as a way for the borough to save money and called for training programs to prepare residents for gas pipeline jobs. He said the assembly should also consider property tax exemptions for seniors and others....

[Charlie] Rex and [Nadine] Hargesheimer both expressed confidence in Musick’s addition to the assembly. “I think Mike’s going to be a good assembly member,” Rex said. “He’s well-versed on borough issues.”

I think his election was in part a result of the general annoyance that the electorate felt for Bonnie Williams, but I think the other part was just that Mike made good sense and he listened to people. Pretty much what you want in an elected official.

And this makes the first win for a member of the Tanana-Yukon Green Party in far too long. I think that as people like Mike get into office, more of the public will realize what Green philosophy, government policy, and public service means, and will stop succumbing to the fear-mongering tactics and stereotypes thrown out there by the likes of Don Young.

Young: champion of the religious state

This is getting ridiculous. How many bad votes can one US Representative make?

Representative Don Young voted for HR 2679, the Public Expression of Religion Act. The bill prevents lawyers who've won suits against the government for violating the separation of church and state (known as the Establishment Clause) from collecting attorneys fees. This means that the lawyers have to take these cases on pro bono or be brought by those wealthy enough to sue the government (it's not cheap to do this). If the goverment has been found guilty of breaking the law in this manner, it should have to pay for the costs of bringing a lawsuit to get them to straighten up, it seems to me. In fact, as constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky points out in this Washington Post column, there is legal recognition of the barrier money plays for individuals, and a federal statute to provide for paying for fees in the event of a "defendent who acted wrongfully", in this case, the government.

The Public Expression of Religion Act is a deliberate attempt to prevent people from suing the goverment for wrongful action in supporting religion. (Attorneys don't get paid if they lose the lawsuit.) It's just one more attempt to cripple our Constitution.

The Pro-Torture Trio: Ted Stevens, Lisa Murkowski, and Don Young

All three members of Alaska's Congressional delegation have voted for unprecedented expansion of powers for the president. And when I say unprecedented, I mean NO president of the United States has ever been trusted with this much sheer control over the lives (and deaths) of suspected criminals. Note that word: suspected. Not convicted, not proved, simply suspected. For those of you out there who really are conservatives, not just knee-jerk follow-the-leader types, consider that the Military Commissions Act eviscerates the power of the courts and utterly shreds the Constitution. Our Declaration of Independence included these famous words: "all men are created equal". Not, "all citizens of our land": ALL men. Citizens, noncitizens, whatever. The principle has been expanded over time to include women, too: people. All people are deserving of equal protections, equal rights. Even those suspected of crimes. Even those who have actually committed crimes. Rights are not privileges: they are inalienable, something you can't just toss because it's inconvenient.

But that's what Don Young, Ted Stevens, and Lisa Murkowski have done: they've tossed out the Constitution because it's inconvenient. They've endorsed the Administration's use of torture, and they've endorsed the Administration's "right" to get away with it scot-free. They've voted to change the War Crimes Act, they've retroactively protected the president and his administration for any war crimes they may have committed or authorized since 2001, they've voted to redefine the infliction of severe pain or rape so that it doesn't come under the heading of torture, they've voted to allow the use of coerced evidence and secret evidence which the accused can respond to but can't see...in short, they've voted to turn the United States into a "decidership".

But of course, it's not just noncitizens who can be imprisoned without charge, tortured, etc. Citizens can be stipped of their rights, too.

Lynndie England was convicted in 2005 for doing far less than what this bill will allow. Doesn't that make you feel proud of what America has become? One set of barbaric rules for the peons, and another for the rulers.

A craven Congress kowtows to the king

Well, the Military Commissions bill passed in the Senate, and our senators were among those voting to allow the president to do whatever he wants to whoever he wants, a privilege not granted to monarchs since 1215.

I quote from the New York Times editorial of September 28, "Rushing Off a Cliff":

These are some of the bill’s biggest flaws:

Enemy Combatants: A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted.

The Geneva Conventions: The bill would repudiate a half-century of international precedent by allowing Mr. Bush to decide on his own what abusive interrogation methods he considered permissible. And his decision could stay secret — there’s no requirement that this list be published.

Habeas Corpus: Detainees in U.S. military prisons would lose the basic right to challenge their imprisonment. These cases do not clog the courts, nor coddle terrorists. They simply give wrongly imprisoned people a chance to prove their innocence.

Judicial Review: The courts would have no power to review any aspect of this new system, except verdicts by military tribunals. The bill would limit appeals and bar legal actions based on the Geneva Conventions, directly or indirectly. All Mr. Bush would have to do to lock anyone up forever is to declare him an illegal combatant and not have a trial.

Coerced Evidence: Coerced evidence would be permissible if a judge considered it reliable — already a contradiction in terms — and relevant. Coercion is defined in a way that exempts anything done before the passage of the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act, and anything else Mr. Bush chooses.

Secret Evidence: American standards of justice prohibit evidence and testimony that is kept secret from the defendant, whether the accused is a corporate executive or a mass murderer. But the bill as redrafted by Mr. Cheney seems to weaken protections against such evidence.

Offenses: The definition of torture is unacceptably narrow, a virtual reprise of the deeply cynical memos the administration produced after 9/11. Rape and sexual assault are defined in a retrograde way that covers only forced or coerced activity, and not other forms of nonconsensual sex. The bill would effectively eliminate the idea of rape as torture.

Apparently, the Republican Party line is that accusation = guilt, the end justifies the means, our intentions will pave the way to Heaven, and torture is a-okay.

From a September 26 letter to Congress signed by 609 legal scholars:

the bill's provisions rewrite American law to evade the fundamental principles of separation of powers, due process, habeas corpus, fair trials, and the rule of law, principles that, together, prohibit state-sanctioned violence. If there is any fixed point in the historical understandings of constitutional freedom that help to define us as a people, it is that no one may be picked up and locked up by the American state in secret or at an unknown location, or without opportunity to petition an independent court for inspection of the lawfulness of the lockup and of the treatment handed out by the state to the person locked up, under legal standards from time to time defined by Congress.

So, don't you feel all warm and fuzzy now?

What in the HELL are they thinking?

The House passed it. The final bill number was apparently HR 6166; the Senate version is S 3930. And Don Young traded our freedom away.

We are SO screwed.

Young may vote for HR 6054

I called up Representative Young's Washington office this morning, and spoke with a staffer there, trying to find out how Young plans to vote on the belowmentioned mess of a Military Commissions bill. The staffer wasn't sure, but thought that Young was leaning toward voting for it. If this bill passes, there goes 600 years of basic protections.

I registered my urgent request that he NOT vote for this, based on concern for its habeas-stripping provisions and the lack of a check by the judiciary on the executive. The staffer wanted to know if I was military. The problem is that this bill doesn't just cover the military, or military situations, or times of war.

Again, I quote Lederman:

if the Pentagon says you're an unlawful enemy combatant -- using whatever criteria they wish -- then as far as Congress, and U.S. law, is concerned, you are one, whether or not you have had any connection to "hostilities" at all.

This definition is not limited to Al Qaeda and the Taliban. It's not limited to aliens -- it covers U.S. citizens as well. It's not limited to persons captured or detained overseas. And it is not even limited to the armed conflict against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, authorized by Congress on September 18, 2001. Indeed, on the face of it, it's not even limited to a time of war or armed conflict; it could apply in peacetime.

Contact Don Young about this--we are potentially in deep trouble, folks.

An unchecked Executive branch

HR 6054, the Military Commissions Act (PDF), is a mess. The draft legislation approved recently 20-19 in the House Judiciary Committee would "make the President the sole arbiter of the meaning of the Geneva Conventions" and would strip the courts of their ability to oversee the Executive. No habeas corpus or civil actions, by anybody. Senator McCain's defense of this crap is horrific. As one writer put it, what did the administration do to break him when the Viet Cong couldn't?

The new amendments broaden certain truly obnoxious powers and muddy everything, rather than "bringing clarity". I quote Marty Lederman:

It is worth noting one thing about the breadth of the habeas-stripping provision, both in the new draft and in last week's version, that has thus far received inadequate attention in the public debate. That provision would eliminate the right to petition for habeas for all alleged alien enemy combatants, whether or not the detainee has been determined to be an "unlawful" combatant -- indeed, even if the detainee is deemed a lawful combatant (e.g., a POW) -- and no matter where they are detained, including in the United States.

Or, as Hilzoy on Obisidian Wings put it, "We can all be enemy combatants!"

Lucky us.

Balkinization has an ongoing review of this legislation, as does Obsidian Wings.

Devine pillow fight

and no, that's not a typo. Hans and I watched Waking Ned Devine last night. I've seen it before, but it was delightful to see it again. I laughed so hard my sides hurt. For those of you who don't know this movie, it's about a tiny village (52 residents) on an Irish island. One of the residents wins the Irish lotto, and dies from the shock of it. His buddies find him dead with the winning ticket in his hand, and (after a beatific vision) realize that Ned wanted them to have some of his "chicken dinner". So now the trick is to get the whole village in on the scam...

Among the scenes that live in my memory is of the old farts riding a motorcycle at top speed, in the nude, through the countryside...

Anyway, after recovering from laughter, Hans and I had a marvelous pillow fight. He knows some tricky martial pillow art moves, though, complete with sound effects and "Haieeeee!" exclamations. Very good sideways feints. But I got him pretty good, until he trapped both my pillows (we were double-fisting it). Of course, then it was a draw, because he couldn't whap me without letting go of my weapons of down-filled might, whereupon I'd whap him upside the head good. (He had to take off his glasses.)

Don Young casts the right vote

Young voted against HR 4844, the Federal Election Integrity Act, which aims to prevent noncitizens from voting (as though this is the most urgent problem with our voting system right now). SitNews has an excellent article on the subject. He was one of three Republicans voting against it (why does EVERYTHING seem to come down on party lines these days?), but it still passed, 228 to 196. The bill requires photo ID when voting, plus--and this is the stickler--proof of citizenship. The League of Women Voters is not happy about this.

Now, how many of you out there have proof of citizenship? And how many of you are thrilled by the idea of a national ID card, which, in essence, this would require?

Representative Young, I blasted you in my editorial, but you did good here. I'm just sorry it wasn't enough to prevent the bill from passing. And I'm really sorry that Congress is wasting its time on legislation like this, instead of dealing with the fundamental problems in our electoral system, like the unverifiable Dieboldization of our votes.

Resign, Rumsfeld!

Last night at Mike Musick's meet & greet at the Golden Eagle, Luke Hopkins told me about a resolution on the borough assembly consent agenda (PDF) for the September 28 meeting, introduced by Hank Bartos and Guy Sattley, that will call for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation (PDF). KUAC had a short bit about it this morning, in which Bartos demonstrated the support for this by military families by playing a telephone message from the father of one of the Stryker Brigade soldiers killed. Bartos, like others, thinks Rumsfeld is doing a very bad job. Among those others are six generals.

The list of calls for resignation is growing longer.

Satanic values

The inversion of values in the modern Newspeak of politics comes out clearly in this, the most appalling and clearly BAD idea I've seen yet coming from the "Christian" Right: The Traditional Values Coalition ("Empowering People of Faith through Knowledge") is all for torture.

The Traditional Values Coalition asked members of Congress to support President Bush's reform of prisoner treatment policies because "this is a war unlike any other we have fought -- the enemy is faceless and deliberately attacks the innocent."

Oh, really? you mean the innocent have never been attacked before? Ever?

TVC Chairman Rev. Louis P. Sheldon said American military and intelligence experts are hampered by a vague "outrages upon personal dignity" statement in Article Three of the Geneva Convention of 1950.

Actually, "outrages upon personal dignity" is pretty easy to determine. Sorta like right from wrong. (Here's a hint, Rev: torture is Wrong.)

"We need to clarify this policy for treating detainees," said Rev. Sheldon. "As it stands right now, the military and intelligence experts interrogating these terrorists are in much greater danger than the terrorists. Civil suits against our military personnel are tying their hands as they try to get vital information which will save the lives of our young military people and the innocent."

Um, like those who've been accused of crimes that haven't been proven? Like, lessee, the Canadian computer consultant who was falsely accused by people who'd been tortured, and was tortured himself into confessing crimes he didn't commit?

"Our rules for interrogation need to catch-up with this awful new form of war that is being fought against all of us and the free world. The post -World War II standards do not apply to this new war.

Nope. Apparently only medieval standards apply.

"We must redefine how our lawful society treats those who have nothing but contempt for the law and rely on terrorizing the innocent to accomplish their objectives. The lines must be redrawn and then we must pursue these criminals as quickly and as aggressively as the law permits.

And if the law allows for a presumption of innocence or for humane treatment of the accused or for, lessee, civil rights, well, then, to hell with the law! Or at least, change it so we can ignore all that pesky civilized stuff, like no terrorizing the innocent to accomplish our objectives.

"And since this debate is, at its very core, about preserving the traditional value of prosecuting injustice and protecting the innocent, TVC will score this vote in both the House and the Senate. We encourage all of our supporters and affiliated churches to contact their elected representatives and let them know we support President Bush's efforts to update our methods of interrogating terrorist detainees in order to provide greater protection for our troops and the innocent."

Yes, indeed, that IS what this debate is about. Too bad that this value is about protecting ALL of the innocent and prosecuting ALL injustice, whether it is committed by Their Side or Our Side. Looks to me like the good reverend is only concerned about bad things done by people he lables as enemies, and isn't too worried about bad things done by the people he votes for. Because, of course, in his eyes, the means justifies the ends.

What an appalling, spiritually impoverished excuse for a religious leader. He is the embodiment of exactly the opposite values that he claims to be fighting for.

Stevens: champion of the big guy

Well, Uncle Ted is proving himself, once again, champ for the guys with the bucks, and to heck with the good of the community or the little guy. Kudos to Alaska Report for spotting this delightful column at the Nation on how ol' Teddy is going to try to shove through that stupid telecom bill that will destroy Internet neutrality. Just so you know who's paying for his vote and influence, take a look at this page at the Center for Public Integrity, showing contributions from 1998-2004 (or 2000-2004, depending).

He's accepted a fair chunk of change from the media moguls. According to Open Secrets, Stevens has accepted $225,250 from the Communications/Electronics sector in the 2006 election cycle alone, putting him in the top 20 (Ms. Clinton is number 1, interestingly). Between 2001 and 2006, Stevens accepted $530,833 from this sector. Seventy-four percent of Stevens' overall contributions come from Outside. If you look at the industries supporting Stevens for this same period, you get some interesting numbers (Open Secrets explains why the numbers don't add up):

1. TV/Movies/Music: $195,871
2. Lawyers/Law Firms: $181,392
3. Air Transport: $173,650
4. Lobbyists: $166,784
5. Defense Aerospace: $111,000
6. Oil & Gas: $103,940
7. Retired: $102,650
8. Telephone Utilities: $99,550
9. Telecom Services & Equipment: $96,700
10. Real Estate: $89,450
11. Misc Defense: $88,000
12. Transportation Unions: $85,000
13. Computers/Internet: $84,162
14. Sea Transport: $82,891
15. Defense Electronics: $80,750
16. Leadership PACs: $72,310
17. Food & Beverage: $66,850
18. Securities & Investment: $61,562
19. Health Professionals: $58,700
20. Public Sector Unions: $55,000

One of these donors, Verizon, paid for a poll that "Tubes" Stevens has been spreading around as evidence that the public doesn't want Net neutrality. Too bad it's a slanted poll.

Even the American Electronics Association thinks what Stevens' bill will do is bad for the ferment of creativity and commerce that the Internet provides. They've written a report called "The Case for Net Neutrality".

So it looks like the entertainment industry is the main thrust behind his antipathy toward internet neutrality: he is #2 in the Senate, behind Hillary again, in donations from the TV production and distribution industry for 2005-2006. I guess now we know why he confused "pipes" with "tubes': he must have been thinking cathode-ray tubes, not Internet carrying capacity of cable...
Interesting what you can find out here, hey what?

Going solar: Not so SNAPpy

Looking further into prices for my solar power setup, it appears that a grid-worthy inverter will cost more than $1,000, which would almost double the cost of setup of a solar photovoltaic system for the office. Eventually, I'd like to feed back into the grid, and it would pay for itself pretty quickly, but I just don't have that kind of cash on hand. So, no SNAP for the Republic.

At least not yet.

Hans and I went down to ABS Alaskan and took a look at the various goodies they have there--so delightful. I filled out the electric load form incorrectly, apparently, and so it looks like I'd be using less power than I thought. I hope.

Going postal in Ester

Today about 60 to 100 people gathered at the Ester post office to celebrate the centennial of postal operations in Berry & Ester. Bill Akiss roped me and Frank into speaking, and a bunch of postal bigwigs were there, along with Ruth Jasper, several campaigning politicians, and about every wasp and yellowjacket left in the village. It was great. The theme was "100 years of serving the arts and mines in Ester", or something like that. Lots of artists brought their paintings and sculptures and whatnot to display, we had carrot cake, and extremely excellent special cancellation stamps and envelopes. VERY cool. I spoke about how the community saved the post office, which saved the village in its turn. Frank talked about hearing Led Zeppelin for the first time on the post office grounds-to-be in 1971. "I haven't been the same since!"

It was great fun. Many photographers were taking pictures, and I plan a big story on it in the next Republic.

Going solar: a SNAP

Well, I'm going to see about becoming a SNAP producer for GVEA. My little list of electrical equipment for the Republic office produced a rather larger electrical load total than I expected, and when I count surges for things like the heater startup and a coffeemaker, it gets a bit pricey. So I called up ABS Alaskan and Todd Hoener, Esteroid in charge of the Sustainable Natural Alternative Power (SNAP) program at Golden Valley Electric Association.

Looking over the basic requirements for a producer, I have to purchase and install the electicity-generating equipment (i.e., the solar panels, etc.), get an electrical permit, fill out the applications and agreements, and pay for hookup with GVEA (misc. fees and account setup, working out to $110 bucks plus line extension, which could be pricey). Then there's all those inspections and whatnot.

Only one problem (well, aside from all the cash): if I set up on this program, will I be able to power my office off of my battery when GVEA has its inevitable midwinter power outages?

Road kill

This week's Carnival of the Green has a story on it by Jacobito about a personal experience with a hit-and-run driver who (probably) killed a bicyclist right next to him. Jacobito muses on the daily sacrifices to the almighty automobile that we make:

We seem to think secular society gave up sacrifice years ago, or that sacrifice only occurs by soldiers in war to consecrate the nation. I don't know though. More people die in car accidents than all our wars combined.

Who are the real victims of sacrifice? Who is really consecrating the nation, making it sacred? Or are we consecrating something else? What? Cars? Transportation? Speed? Oil? Technology? Individuality? What is the meaning that all these bodies, like the one I saw last night, give and to whom or what do they give it? Its easy to say thats its meaningless death. I don't think so though. The consistency, normalcy, complacency, and universality of such deaths in the USA are too blatant to ignore. If the highway is our national graveyard, the cars the tombstones, the police and ambulances the priests, then what is the prayer that ties it all together?

I've been bicycling quite a bit this summer, to and from work about 5 or so miles each way. The road is littered with corpses: hares, birds, squirrels, voles, wasps, bumblebees, butterflies, dragonflies...our roads are paved with deaths, most of which we don't notice. There are the deaths from impact, the deaths from air pollution, the deaths from oil spills, the deaths from cancers caused by chemicals made from oil, the deaths from wars over oil.

We drive Death to his appointed rounds, enablers and apprentices, all of us. Switching to ethanol, or electric, or hybrid, won't relieve us of this. Driving less, or more slowly, will. Yet, the car has given human beings an incredibly valuable freedom, and this is why all those bloody, flattened corpses are ignored. The ability to leave one's little hamlet and go somewhere else without taking all day to get to the next little village, or a week to get to the next city, is a driving force in our vibrant modern cultures. The ability to move, to go, to explore is now available to the mass of people, not just the wealthy or crazy few.

Still, cars are expensive, in more ways than one. Bicycles give a similar freedom, although not as fast; so do scooters and motorcycles and small cars. These all cause a lot less damage then do the big cars Americans seem to love so much.

Small is beautiful!

Esteroid running for borough assembly

Or is Mike Musick an Esterite? Ah, the perennial question...but never mind that. Mike's running for Seat G (Guy Sattley's seat) on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly. His opponent? none other than Bonnie Williams! I'm hoping to have an interview with the two of them for the next issue of the Republic. Ought to be interesting reading, don't you think?

Why we shouldn't re-elect Don Young

I've been working on this editorial, going through Young's voting history public commentary (and they ARE appalling). Here's what I've got so far: so much seniority the guy's a fossil (we need some fresh ideas); actually bragging about bringing in pork (he really likes being known as a spendthrift and source of government waste!--think bridge); privately funded trips; homophobia; really rude and discourteous language to just about anybody, including high-school students; according to Young, there is no such thing as global warming or shrinking glaciers; again, per Donny-boy, his opinion is of equal weight to the years of study and analysis conducted by thousands of scientists worldwide; major campaign funding for years from VECO, Wal-Mart, and Carnival Corp. (the cruise ship company)--big biz from Outside, note; votes for the bankruptcy bill (you know, the one that screws you in the event of major medical or weather catastrophe), the Energy Policy Act (the one that gave all those tax breaks to the oil companies and hardly any support to renewable energy), and for the National Uniformity for Food Act, that prevents Alaska from requiring farmed fish labeling or GM fish labeling....

anyway, that's a start. If anyone out there has some other reasons why we shouldn't re-elect this man, let me know. I'll be writing 'em all up and putting 'em in my editorial.

Uncle Ted doesn't want you to know

what the feds are spending your money on. He's put a hold on a bill that would provide information to the public on federal spending. The bill is sponsored by Tom Coburn (R-OK) (who tried to block the oinker bridge) and Barack Obama (D-IL) and is called the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. It would create a database open to the public where citizens can track government spending.

According to Stevens, though, he's concerned about bureaucracy and having a cost-benefit analysis on such a database.

Hmm. Didn't realize he was concerned about government spending. Wouldnta thunk it, what with that bridge money and all...

A programmer's confession

Clinton Eugene Curtis was hired to create a hidden vote-rigging program in the Florida 2000 election. This testimony means extremely hot water for Tom Feeney (R-Florida), who hired him to do it, and implies hot water for all those elections (like the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004) that Greg Palast has been jumping up and down about. He testifies that if the vote is off of the exit poll in any significant measure, the election is probably rigged, since the vote could be flipped, say, 51 to 49 percent. The company he worked for, Yang, had a spy in their midst who was convicted of attempt to sell secrets to China, but got only a fine and no time, apparently. Curtis decided to testify because of this.

Check out the video on the link above, and then think about this: we had an election here in Alaska in 2004 in which the exit polls did not match the results. Don't use those touch screen voting machines. In fact, since absentee ballots are on paper, it might be better to use those.

A bad week

Chris Barefoot, Ester village resident who wrote about the 2004 tsunami and Koh Phra Tong, Thailand, in a letter and later in an article for the Republic, died a couple of days ago, very suddenly. Chris was a good man, and had been planning to go back to the island of Koh Pra Tong for the winter to help them create a community-controlled tourist industry. He had quit his job at the University of Alaska, found a housesitter, and was going to leave in a few weeks.

He's going to be missed.

Wish list

Here's what I'd like to see for the Republic:

• a regular fossil fuel industry investigative column
• a regular economics column
• a regular fishing/marine science column
• regular alternative energy articles
• regular recycling/how-to articles (how to skin a moose, how to compost, gardening, etc.)
• regular recipes and cooking articles
• regular voting/participatory democracy/community-building articles with solutions and investigative reporting
• regular arts reviews and reports (a gallery beat)
• regular history articles, particularly the history of Ester and the Tanana Valley

I get lots of opinion, politics, reviews. I'd like some other stuff.

Groundbreaking!

Yesterday, right after Ed Clarke of Soils Alaska went in and bored a couple of soil samples on the library property, Scott Allen went in with his bulldozer and did some stump removal. All of a sudden we have a drive and rough clearing where the starter building will be! A bunch of us went over to look yesterday evening, and then another group later on. It's all very exciting. Looks like there's a lot of silt. Woo-hoo!

Library concert--wahoo!

The concert for the library was FANTASTIC! Those of you who didn't make it, you really missed out. I'm sort of mildly interested in local music, and never really excited about big-name musicians coming to town, but this--this was incredible. We ended up with twelve musicians:

• Tim Easton
• Rod Picott, a last-minute addition to the lineup, a guy from Maine and a really good musician with a wonderful voice and beautiful songs.
• Leah Probst and Leighton Nunez of Lousiaska.
• Jeff Kanzler, Eric Graves, and George Gianakopoulos. I know George from when we were taking painting classes at the U; I'd never heard him or the others play. Really good.
• Nate Montgomery and a guy named Josh who played together in the first set. Also really good. I hadn't really heard Nate play much before; I was impressed.
• Marie Mitchell, Jen Otey, and Sherri Hadley (I think--first name definitely Sherri). Marie (formerly of Lousiaska) and Jen played at the last library lallapalooza, so it was good to see them helping out the library again.

I had a wonderful time. A bunch of us librarians were over at big tables by the stove with the cool library t-shirts that Jamie Smith designed for us. We sold a BUNCH of the longsleeved shirts (it was a tad wet and dreary out there) and quite a few of the shortsleeved. We did well, had a blast, and met a bunch of really neat people.

Death of an artist

Pat Davis, eldest daughter of Neil Davis, died on Monday due to cancer. Pat was a marvelous artist, a jeweler, sculptor, spinner, and just about anything she put her hand to. She frequently had a whimsical quality to her work, a lightness and joyfulness that is evident in just about all her pieces, even the yarn she spun. (I've got a few balls of these.) She ran a shop in Wasilla for several years called Chain Reaction Studios, and moved back to Ester a couple of years ago. She was my next-door neighbor, and I didn't get over to see her enough. Visit your neighbors and your friends, folks. They won't always be there.

There will be a memorial for Pat out at the Musher's Hall on Farmers Loop on August 19.

Below is an example of her artwork (or will be, once I get blogger to work). This is a crocheted (or maybe knitted?) wire jellyfish that was part of a show she had at the Artworks September 2004. She was making ceramic sculptures this summer, and these will be on display at the memorial.

Going solar: natural lighting

Natural lighting is, naturally, going to be of limited use during the heart of the Alaskan winter, but during the twilight hours of fall and spring should help quite a bit down at the office. There seem to be, other than yer average window, of which I have four, two basic types of non-skylight type solar light:

1) the hybrid solar light, which uses optical cables to transmit light from the building's exterior to its interior. I found one company offering it for commercial application. You have to call to find out the price, which makes me suspect it's out of my league. Here's some links to stories about it (PDFs, by the way).

2) the tubular skylight, essentially a skylight affixed to a highly reflective tube ended by a diffuser inside. Brands include the Sunpipe, Solatube, Sun-Tek Tube, etc.

Neither of these puppies are cheap. But then, neither are windows. I will undoubtedly go for option 2--eventually. As I noted below, I've already got the hole in the roof for a stovepipe which I won't need, so I might as well put a tubular skylight in there and brighten up that corner.

All kinds of banned books at OUR library

Here's our logo, courtesy Jamie Smith. It'll have a red book, rather than green. The t-shirts we've ordered for this batch are simply in black and white, though. Later we'll do another batch (more shirts, aprons, mugs, nightshirts). We'll see how this first big bunch go.

Banned books in the Ester library:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
the Harry Potter series
Catcher in the Rye
Justine
Juliette
Howl
Das Kapital
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Goosebumps
A Wrinkle in Time
Go Ask Alice
The Color Purple
The Handmaid's Tale
Flowers for Algernon
A Light in the Attic
Ordinary People
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret
The House of Spirits
Slaughterhouse Five
Lord of the Flies
To Kill a Mockingbird
Native Son
The Dead Zone

I'm sure there's lots of other books that offend people, plus a bunch that please people, too. Ideas will do that.

More on the library concerts

In addition to Tim Easton, local musicians Jeff Kanzler, Nate Montgomery, and Leighton Nunez will be playing at the Malemute on Sunday the 12th. This should be good.

The bidding on the house concert is picking up (now that there's only three days left), so maybe we'll do all right on that, too.

Amy Luick and I went down to Raven Screens on Monday and ordered t-shirts for the library. We just squeaked in under the wire to get them on Friday. Two hundred library dogs reading "Howl", in fuscia, orange, blue, green, white, gray, and natural. And probably some other colors I've forgotten about. Woo-hoo!

Bus riding survey

The Fairbanks North Star Borough is looking into expanding the number of routes. Public transportation is going to become more and more important as the price of gas goes up and up. While I've been biking in to work this summer, I doubt I'll continue doing it in the winter, and I probably won't be skiing in, either. (Although who knows? I might--we'll see.) If there was a bus from Ester to the university in the winter, I'd take it!

Many many years ago, they had a line to Ester, but it was at weird times (not around work start and end times). If the borough does start an Ester line, they should buy hybrid buses or some other variety of clean green machine. Heck, maybe they should build a light rail line!

Going solar: getting the village involved

Okay, I know this is a bit far-reaching at the moment to think of Ester as being a solar-powered village, since I don't even know if the Republic will be able to do it, but a girl can dream...

One development that's been stirring things in this direction around here is the work toward building a new library. At our various meetings about what we want to see and where we want to build it, supporters of the John Trigg Ester Library have expressed a lot of enthusiasm for making the new building as green as possible.

There are quite a few people in the vicinity of Ester who use alternative power (wind, sun) in their homes (Jeff Rogers and family were off the grid entirely for many years) and who are keen on sustainable building practices. Composting toilets and superinsulation are all the rage. Our dumpster diving team is probably the largest and best in the Tanana Valley. Esterites are all about cold climate housing research.

So perhaps it's not so far off the mark after all. The village is ALREADY involved, and I'm just finally jumping on the bandwagon.

Going solar: panel possibilities

Back in the old days, solar panels (photovoltaic, that is) were made from wafers of sliced crystal sandwiched together with, essentially, wiring (material to transmit the electricity generated) in between the crystal slices. Nowadays, they can be made from spray-on plastic of the electrical transmitting variety (tho' these are experimental and not very efficient). What I can easily buy, of course, will be much different than the cutting-edge technology still being experimented with at research institutions. Here's a little list of what I've been finding on the web:

Photovoltaic glazing or thin film photovoltaics: This is a system of photovoltaic panel sandwiching used in windows, such as shown here on Wisconsun, or it is photovoltaic window glass, or it is a film that covers the glass and generates and conducts electricity (very good in big high-rise buildings). As I don't have much in the way of window space in the Republic, these options aren't very useful for conversion of this rather non-solar building into a solar one. I do, however, have good roof space. Many thin film photovoltaics are flexible, which is a valuable property, and can be mass produced easily, but don't necessarily have good efficiency.

Organic photovoltaics: These are systems using carbon-based films or organic polymers. Global Photonic Energy Corp. is one company developing this technology. Capturing a wider spectrum of light and converting it to electricity makes a PV cell or panel or sheet more useful and efficient. These types of panels are also flexible, and keep getting described as "nanotechnology"--they're concentrating on molecular levels of construction, here.

Quantum dot photovoltaics: These are high-efficiency nanotech photovoltaics. Basically, they are nanocrystals embedded in a colloid. These can be incorporated in a film or flexible sheet, but are still experimental.

These are pretty cool, but they're not going to be all that available for a while yet. Solar panels operate more efficiently at cold temperatures (lucky Alaskans!) The more I look, the more it appears that, if I'm willing to learn a whole lot about wiring and electricity and widget-tinkering, I can wangle a decently cheap system. (Of course, the question becomes, do I really want to DO all that, or just pay somebody else to do it and not have to think about it?)

I've been finding some nifty, not necessarily related, sites in the process of looking this stuff up:

Captain Ozone (Go take a look. Go on. I dare ya.)
4 Hydrogen (Really clean power.)
The Energy Blog (The Energy Revolution will change your lifestyle!)

Going solar: electric load

The first step to going solar is figuring out what one's electric load is. A load in this sense is any item that draws power, from a telephone to a lamp to a circular saw to a computer monitor. A local company, ABS Alaskan, has a handy page with forms for determining how much power one uses. I can always look at my electric bill, too, but GVEA doesn't tell me anything other than the total usage. It doesn't let me calculate the electricity draw for all the powered appliances and tools and widgets that I have in my office, nor what my potential peak use could be.

Here's ABS's step-by-step how-to list:

1. List all your electrical appliances.
2. Determine the power draw for each item. This means wattage, and whether it runs on alternating or direct current. (Amperage and voltage can be used to figure the load, too, if wattage isn't listed.)
3. Estimate appliance usage time, in hours per day.
4. Look for extra efficiency, or where the load can be reduced.
5. Determine your AC power needs: find the AC appliance with the highest wattage, then figure out how many AC items will be plugged in at the same time and add that together. (This helps you determine the size inverter you will need.) Also check to see what the start-up power draw is on each AC appliance (some things, like refrigerators, draw way more on start up than they do once they've gotten going). This will help determine the power surge requirements for your electric load, and thus the size of your inverter.

Here's ABS's load calculation form.

Going solar

Solar power, I'm told, is actually a viable option in Alaska. Jim Sykes' place in Palmer is powered with the sun (Sykes, if you didn't already know, is a frequent Green Party candidate in Alaska and one of the party's founders in this state), so I know from personal acquaintance that it's possible. I edited the third edition of the Solar Design Manual for Alaska, and it was an interesting job; lots of good information in that book. The main problem with going solar is that the initial outlay of cash is hideously expensive for those of us with tight cash flow. So I doubt our house is going to get solar panels any time soon.

However, the Republic office may have the option. There's a handy hole in the roof (former stovepipe) that could fit a light tube, and since the office doesn't require much electricity (enough to run the computer, monitor, printer, scanner, and lights), the business may be able to afford the ghastly amount of moola I'd have to shell out. I'm checking into electric load and system prices now. One nice thing about having a business is that one has business expenses, and these aren't viewed by the IRS in the same way that plain old household expenses are.

It's still pricey, though. A solar panel that would do the job is going to cost me $650 to $1000 smackers, and I still have to get the battery and converter and all that. I'll keep you all updated as I find out more.

Easton in Ester

The Ester library is having another fundraiser. We've signed the lease for the last bit of property on Village Road, so now we have the whole east side to put our library and gazebo on. Which will take cash to build!

Fortunately, Tim Easton, who plays wonderful folk/rock/cool music stuff and has been up to Ester several times before, has decided he'd like to do a benefit concert for the library! So on Saturday the 12th of August, I will be at the Malemute to listen to him play some truly excellent music. There will be at least one opening act, Jeff Kanzler, whose name I don't recognize but he is a local musician. He's been recording with 10th Planet Recording, which speaks well of his music in itself.

With friends like these, the library is sure to do well! Thank you, Tim & Jeff--and especially thanks to Jeff Stepp, who came up with the idea and has been helping organize this event.

Too good to pick just one

This issue of The Ester Republic was just too much fun! And I got it done early. It won't hit the newsstands until this weekend, but the contributors and subscribers are already getting their copies (usually they don't start getting them until after the distributors do). I received so many great photographs that I wasn't able to print use all the photographers or all the excellent photos; I couldn't choose! Monique Musick had so many beautiful shots that I ended up with four different covers.

Carnival of the Green #35

I am absolutely delighted to be the host of this week's Carnival of the Green! I've been lax lately about checking out the Carnival posts, but now that I'm hosting it, I've been going and checking out all the cool info out there on green and Green doings. The originators of the carnival are City Hippy and Triple Pundit. Here's what City Hippy says about the carnival:

[It] is a summary, a digest, of the green blogosphere. When we say green we mean sustainability issues etc as opposed to plain old general Green Politics.

A different blog hosts the carnival each week. Last week, starting July 3, it was Headway Youth, by Phil Smith in Newcastle. Next week, beginning July 17, it will be hosted by Powering Down, by Aaron Nuline in North Carolina.

So--on to the carnival!

Jennifer Killpack-Knutsen at Jen's Green Journal has started a blog community called Climate Crisis Action Team, featuring ideas on how to avert global warming. Her carnival post is a Planet Cool Down Tip: Eat locally produced food. Good advice!

On the topic of eating, GrrlScientist at The Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) has a few tasty tidbits about insects on her post, Bugs: They're Not Just For Birds Anymore! As Grrl says,

Now that you've eaten all that barbeque for the holidays, have you thought about barbequing scorpions, tarantulas, crickets, and worms? After all, they are the protein source of the 21st century! I always wanted to know how to cook those cockroaches in my apartment...maybe with vinaigrette?

The foodies among you may prefer this:

PT Ford at Why Travel to France explores an eco-friendly getaway in Provence called "Apres La Sieste". The facilities were built completely with recuperated raw, natural materials from the region and took two years to build by the owners, a young couple who left the rat race of Lyon to live a more sustainable and calmer lifestyle in beautiful southern France. Ah, la belle vie en France me manque! (thanks to PT for correcting my French)

And across the Channel:

You've heard of eagle owls in England if you've read Harry Potter: now read about the deeper issues these birds provoke. Wildlife artist and field biologist Carel Brest van Kempen muses on his blog, Rigor Vitae: Life Unyielding, on the wildlife management and philosophical implications of eagle owls invading (or is it colonizing?) Great Britain.

In the far East:

Harlan Weikle, managing editor and co-founder of Greener Magazine, comments on some public transportation in Tibet:

Completion of the Qinghai-Tibet Sky Rail last week marks an end from to the traditional autonomy of remote Tibet, but the environment may soon intercede and once again, Tibet will be an island in the sky.

But on to politics and global warming:

On the website The Business of America is Business, Starling David Hunter examines the Asia Pacific Climate Conference held in Sydney, Australia back in January, and what The Dirty Half Dozen who met there did and did not discuss.

Idiot/Savant at No Right Turn twits the New Zealand government on its bold (not) policy leadership in Planning to have a plan to deal with climate change.

Centrerion Canadian Politics offers a few thoughtful posts on the state of Canadian politics and an interview with Elizabeth May, Green Party leadership candidate (this is part 7 of a multipost inteview--earlier parts are also available at Centrerion). The blog also has an editorial by Professor of Economics Philippe Ghayad, who, while not so convinced about global warming, nevertheless has some tax solutions to environmental problems. Read Creative Taxing Can Save the Environment and Le Centre's preface to it.

Is it 2008 yet? Sally Kneidel, PhD, co-author of Veggie Revolution, writes about Bush's latest denial of global warming as fact, and about his promotion of corn ethanol as a solution to our dependence on Persian Gulf oil. Er, maybe.

Francis Stokes of Sludgie ("We are all products of our environment. Which explains a lot."), provides the hilarious and appalling first in a series which profiles the worst offenders of the environment in Washington: Profiles of Jackassery. Senator James Inhofe gets nicely roasted here. I can't wait to see Rep. Don Young get his!

Acidifying oceans

We are in trouble, folks, even if the right-wing punditry and the White House want to pretend it's just a little inconvenience or a bugaboo dreamed up by them "eco-terrorists": the pH of the oceans is changing due to too much CO2, and it's killing the coral reefs, which will be disastrous for the food web. Between that and the too-warm water and the melting ice (also taking a toll), we are going to learn just how dependent we are on the rest of the biosphere.

Perhaps it really is time for a Philo Dufresne-type response. Greenpeace has the right idea, I think, but this just isn't enough. You, me, and the Ralph Seekins of the world have got to pay attention. Unfortunately, it's the last type of person I'm worried about.

At least I've been bicycling. I wonder if the Republic could get a small business grant to install solar panels?

An interesting standoff in Ohio

Bob Fitrakis, the editor of The Free Press, has been running for governor of Ohio on the Green Party ticket. The Ohio media, by and large, is pretending that Fitrakis doesn't exist, which is interesting, given that the elections office (run by his opponent, the infamous Kenneth Blackwell) refused to so much as look at his better than 12,000 petition signatures (they only needed 5,000) for a month, thereby deftly delaying the Fitrakis campaign by two months (it took them a month to certify). Funny, the Democrats and Republicans were certified right away (could it be because they only have to turn in 1,000 signatures?).

Fitrakis and the Greens, in case you didn't know this, along with the Libertarians, went after the egregious corruption evident in the 2004 election in Ohio while Democrat Kerry sat on a $50 million war chest (supposedly collected to go after fraudulent voting improprieties, but somehow never used for this).

It's amazing to me that the Ohio media would avoid the hot issues that Fitrakis has dug up for them--what, actually act like members of the Fourth Estate?

Go, Bob, go!

Murky's smiling face

Well, yesterday in the mail Hans and I received a lovely little glossy green brochure addressed to "ALASKAN HOUSEHOLD" and labeled "The ALASKA Gas Pipeline", featuring the governor's cheerful face (from about 20-30 years ago) and lots of little factoids about how great his neato-keeno gas contract is. Plus, there was a note about how the brochure only cost 17 cents each (paid for by the Department of Revenue for public outreach). Not including postage, and time and benefits for the people who designed it. Being in the publishing biz, I know that in order to get the print cost down to 17 cents each, they had to order a LOT of these things, which adds up to quite a bit. Too bad it didn't include a rundown of the other proposals out there, like the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, so we could actually make an informed choice. No, this is just a little piece of pretty gubenatorial propaganda, full of very suspicious statements and missing a heck of a lot of important information:

"National leaders, including President George W. Bush and House Speaker Dennis Hastert, have made clear their support for this project"

Now, this wouldn't be the same George W. who has unstintingly and consistently supported large corporations' profits and welfare over that of the public, would it? And it wouldn't be the same Dennis Hastert who's been implicated in the Abramof scandal and hastily dumped $70,000 to charity to get rid of certain possibly tainted campaign contributions, would it? The same Hastert whose #4 campaign donations come from the oil & gas industry?

The flyer does mention oil:

New money to the state doesn't just start with the gas pipeline, it starts with oil tax reforms that will kick in now, giving Alaska its fair share of oil revenue.

But of course, it doesn't mention that oil is a separate issue from gas, and that there is no reason whatsoever to connect the two in a gas contract, and that right now the contract is illegally attempting to change taxes contrary to the Stranded Gas Act, and to backdate a change to justify this atrocious contract.

Here's what Dermot Cole had to say about this:

Under the Stranded Gas Development Act, the Murkowski administration does not have the legal authority to negotiate a gas line contract that would significantly alter tax rates on existing oil and gas production.

In fact, the law specifically prohibits negotiations that would change taxes on existing oil production.

The governor has proposed to solve this problem by amending the law to allow the inclusion of oil negotiations, making it retroactive to Jan. 1, 2004.

This brochure also doesn't happen to mention that we would be locked in to this decision for decades, with no possibility of changing it if we find out we get a raw deal...

But never fear, legislators like Ben Stevens say we don't have an option but to pass it now, because of the upcoming elections. Nice to know that these bozos are thinking of our welfare, rather than whether they'll get their job in Juneau, huh?

Richard Fineberg has some useful things to say about oil and gas and this particular contract.