KUAC isn't news, apparently

The giant flap around programming changes has apparently faded away to nothing, at least in the media. The KUAC Community Task Force, which met from November to January (eight meetings with the full group plus probably that many again in subcommittee meetings) came out with their final report more than two weeks ago, but KUAC hasn't even posted all the minutes of the meetings yet, never mind the report; the News-Miner hasn't had any stories about it; the Sun Star hasn't written up anything yet either (although their previous coverage was pretty good); and the last time the KUAC Listeners Alliance posted anything was in late December.

So what happened? There was tremendous interest at the Community Forum. Has the issue simply died away, forgotten by the public in the face of new scandals and excitement?

Diebold eats our votes and our democracy

An article by Lisa Demer in the January 24 Anchorage Daily News highlights an important but (curiously) overlooked issue in Alaska's last statewide elections:

The state Division of Elections has refused to turn over its electronic voting files to the Democrats, arguing that the data format belongs to a private company and can't be made public.
The Alaska Democratic Party says the information is a public record essential for verifying the accuracy of the 2004 general election and must be provided.

The Democrats put out a release on February 15, basically saying that the delay in releasing this information (the state temporarily relented) was unjustified.
But yesterday, the Alaska Division of Elections decided that our votes, our democracy, should be kept proprietary. Here's the quote from the article:

The Division of Elections initially said Jan. 19 that the file could not be released because it was proprietary information belonging to Diebold Election Systems, the contractor hired to provide Alaska's electronic voting machines.
Several days later, Diebold consented to the release of the records. But the Division of Elections, after two extensions totaling more than two weeks, denied the request.
The state is making major improvements to protect the security of its computer systems, and giving up the database presents "numerous security risks to the State of Alaska government," Darrell Davis, the state's chief security officer for computer technology, wrote in a Feb. 21 letter to the Division of Elections.

And this, of course, reminds me of a little gem of a quote from our old pal Josef Stalin: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."

The land of the not-so-free

The latest attempt to enshrine religious bigotry in our state constitution has been brought forth by (surprise) John Coghill, Bob Lynn, Mike Kelly, and Ralph Seekins and the Senate Judiciary Committee. In essence, it says you can't pay benefits or incur obligations etc. to a couple if they aren't offcially married. Lots of attention is being paid to the same-sex couples, but common-law heterosexual couples would also be blasted by this amendment. It is utterly, grossly, despicably appalling that these busybodies think it's just dandy to mess about with job benefits just because they have a massive phobia about certain sexual (or marital) practices. They claim that it will "defend marriage", as though marriages are falling apart due to job benefits like this in Massachusetts, or Denmark, or wherever else same-sex or common law marriage or civil union is legal. And, of course, it reflects the will of the majority (given that the public passed a discriminatory marriage definition a bit ago)—but it also is a clear example of the tyranny of the majority oppressing a minority. Sheesh! Just how silly can they get? Here's the verbage:

A RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the section of the Constitution of the State of Alaska relating to marriage.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
* Section 1. Article I, sec. 25, Constitution of the State of Alaska, is amended to read:

Section 25. Marriage and related limitations. To be valid or recognized in this State, a marriage may exist only between one man and one woman. No other union is similarly situated to a marriage between a man and a woman and, therefore, a marriage between a man and a woman is the only union that shall be valid or recognized in this State and to which the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage shall be extended or assigned.

* Sec. 2. The amendment proposed by this resolution shall be placed before the voters of the state at the next general election in conformity with art. XIII, sec. 1, Constitution of the State of Alaska, and the election laws of the state.

At least the public seems to be viewing this as the folderol it is.

As Marsha Buck said, "What happened to liberty and justice for all?"

California shows some gumption

...but Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) doesn't (she voted for reauthorization). Murkowski (who has announced that she believes it is now a "stronger, better piece of legislation") and Stevens, of course, are not opposed to the Act. California just became the eighth state to pass a resolution urging protection of civil liberties and expressing serious reservations about the misnamed USA PATRIOT Act. Alaska was the second state: Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Colorado, and Vermont are the others that have decided freedom from a nosy and possibly dangerous government is a good enough thing to try to protect.

Perhaps a few other states will get on this freedom bandwagon now.

Giving it all away

An article by Edmund L. Andrews that appeared in the New York Times today had me shrieking out loud in rage.

The federal government is on the verge of one of the biggest giveaways of oil and gas in American history, worth an estimated $7 billion over five years.

New projections, buried in the Interior Department's just-published budget plan, anticipate that the government will let companies pump about $65 billion worth of oil and natural gas from federal territory over the next five years without paying any royalties to the government.

Not only that, but the Bush Administration and the House Republicans are trying to do in the windfall profits tax that the Senate passed in the fall.

When a country's aristocracy loots its own treasure houses, that country falls, hard. Africa keeps getting ridiculed for the many nations there run by predatory, selfish "presidents" who have looted their countries' treasuries. France went through several bloody revolutions because of, among other things, corrupt and inept (and spendthrift) kings. And what else are our reserves of oil and natural gas but treasures? The brazen willingness of the neocon White House and its toadies in Congress to screw us all in favor of Big Biz is emboldened because, hey, apparently forty percent of us prefer to be led around by the nose and to believe whatever we're told.

In Iowa, however, they're a little smarter. There it's only 29% who think things are just dandy.

The canary continues to sing

Well, well, well. The Honorable U.S. Representative Don Young has been implicated in the Abramoff scandal. Still, nothing really rotten has come to light yet.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, ol' Stevens and Young have "rung up more than $180,000" on travel paid for by private interests, an above-average use of privately funded travel (I'll say!). Both of them have had 20 trips since 2000 paid for by private groups. Lisa Murkowski, on the other hand, has only accepted 3 since 2002.

I think there's something to be said for not having members of Congress in office for several decades. They get blasé about this sort of thing.

Back on the ballot!

The Green Party of Alaska is back on the ballot! Here's a bit from the press release:

Superior Court Judge Stephanie Joannides granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the State of Alaska from denying the Green Party equal benefits accorded to other Alaska political parties....

The Green Party challenged the law that restricts a ballot test of 3% to only one statewide race--3% of the vote in the Governor's race. If there's no Governor's race, 3% in the U.S. Senate race. If there is neither a Governor's race or US Senate race, then 3% in the U.S. House race. Sykes added, "The idea that only one statewide race can qualify in a certain year doesn't pass the 'red-face' test. The 1998 Governor's race attracted the fewest number of voters of three statewide races."

The case number is 3AN-05-10787CI.

This battle for ballot access is ongoing across the country, and the Democrats aren't helping the cause of democracy when they try to prevent minor parties from gaining access to the ballot. As usual in Congress, they've given their bill a deceptive title: "Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act". Since it will effectively prevent people from having any choices other than Republican and Democrat, it will actually PREVENT the public from having more influence. Just the same old two halves of the same old team playing the same old game we've been seeing in American politics. Yippee.

More on GVEA board positions

Apparently, GVEA board members get an excellent compensation package: health benefits, a travel per diem that makes the university look like a piker (somewhere around $350/day as opposed to oh, $40/day), $250-$600 per meeting (they meet monthly)...et cetera. It works out to around $22,000/yr. Maybe less, depending. Not exactly a bad deal for a "volunteer" position. But you are expected to work your buns off.

So: any volunteers out there willing to apply for candidacy? Contact the MACs!

It would be really nice if we had more forward-thinking board members.

GVEA board nominations

Golden Valley is accepting nominations for board members in Districts 4 and 7, Fox and Chena Hot Springs Road and Nenana to Cantwell. The electric association is one place where people can make important changes in the direction of our energy production, right here in the Interior. GVEA has tied itself to oil and coal (remember the infamous "Clean Coal" project? ick), and paid a lot of lip service to alternative energy, but not actually done much to get us using wind or sun. Tom DeLong's election to the board last year was a hopeful sign of postive change, as was the introduction of the SNAP program, but it's just so little so late. We should have been doing this sort of thing 20 years ago.

And now, of course, we're paying the price, every month. Just think what we'll be paying in another 10 years if we don't get on the stick!

Dragonhead mint and musk oxen

One of the more exciting things done in the world o' science at land-grant agricultural institutions is look at the domesticability of wild species. Cases in point: musk oxen have only been kept in captivity since about, oh, 1964, when the Musk Ox Domestication Project and farm was started. Now, what makes more sense? use an animal that can withstand 100 degrees below zero, or import some sheep that has to be kept indoors half the winter? Besides which, qiviut is MUCH warmer, softer, and longer than wool. And it doesn't shrink.

Today at the School of Ag we received reviews of a paper on dragonhead mint, studied in part to see if it is worth domesticating as an agronomic crop.

This kind of thing is really really intriguing to me. We limit ourselves terribly when we use only domesticated crops. Think about it. How many grains do we use? Barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, quinoa, rice, rye, teff, wheat. I'm sure there's a few others, but how many? not all that many, really.

More transportation follies

Okay, so the center u-joint got fixed up. Pretty basic. But the ball joints are screwed up too. New appointment scheduled for next Monday, but on the way into work this morning, the car is making such scary noises that Hans drops me off and heads to a third handy car repair shop, where they tell him that it's the entire drive train that needs fixing, to the tune of $1,500. Fix one part and it will get munched by the others, so we have to do it all at once.

We just can't do that right now, what with the new heater and the previous car repairs and the cord of wood and tank of water and the 150 gallons of oil and the impending pumping of the septic tank which I don't know how we're going to afford anyway...

GAHHH!

Birthday Bash rescheduled!

The 7th annual birthday bash for the Republic has been rescheduled to the 12th of February, hopefully far enough out there that the really cold weather will be over with. Hartung Hall can't stay warm enough at 45 below.

Funny movie by homegrown Ester Dome denizen

I reviewed this movie back in 2002, way before the producers had managed to get it out to a distributor. We (family members of the co-producer and screenwriter, Brian Wescott, and us neighbor types) got to see Christmas in the Clouds from a demo tape made to entice producers and distributors. It was a stitch. I said then, and I say now, that it is worth seeing twice. Since that winter, the movie has won scads of awards and praise. Brian, who was my next-door neighbor while we were growing up, has worked on historical documentaries and a few dramas. Now it's playing at the Loon, I'm happy to say, and I intend to go see it again.

Brian has a small part in the film, too, and is currently its publicist. Check out this interview!
An excellent flick.

What the Democrats aren't doing

...and what the Greens have been yelling about all along that the Dems were too weak-kneed to, and why I still think voting for the Democrats (as well as the Republicans) is a bad idea.

They say the Democrats are "united against Alito". But will they filibuster?

Ya keep voting for the lesser evil, eventually all you get is two evils, with the greater one in control...this year, it's past time to vote your conscience.

Global warming works in mysterious ways

Gee, it's only 41 below in Ester today. According to Hans' mom, it was down to -20 degrees Celsius in Essen, but it's since warmed up to 0˚C.

Finally, winter comes to Alaska. No actual cold snap yet, though (I know, it's cold, but temperature alone does not a snap make). The weather is variable, there hasn't been an inversion, but the ice fog is thick, thick, thick.

Yet, the polar ice was at a record low this year. (Here's links to the International Arctic Research Center, which is studying the problem, and here's a popular article about it.)

Exhaustionized

More on the exciting world of Frozen North Living for all you southerners who've never experienced 40 below, or for you cheechakoes who are experiencing it for the first time: the water went out. At first we thought it was frozen, but it turned out we'd just run out. Whew.

We realized yesterday that our arctic entry, previously heated and now blocked off to conserve heat (we're still heating with wood, remember), holds several gallons of latex paint. Or what used to be latex paint, and are now squat metal-wrapped cylinders of solid latex ice. All those buckets are clearly labeled "PROTECT FROM FREEZING".
Um.

Meanwhile, back at the transportation facility, our truck, recently fixed, was diagnosed with bad u-joints. As in, ominous gravelly sounds issuing from the passenger side front wheel, and soon from the driver's side front wheel, too. Appointment with a new car vet, on this side of town (heh—we learned something!).

So Hans takes the day off work today (Monday) so the car can be fixed. He spends the day taking out the Monitor heater and putting in a new Toyo, with interesting sprays of No. 1 diesel oil occasionally livening up the living room decor mid-installation. Much yelling, mopping, grumbling, etc. Now the house smells like oil. Or rather, smells more intensely like oil (we never quite got rid of the oil smell from before). We call shortly before five to check on the truck's progress, and learn that the parts haven't come in so Jeff the fixit man hasn't been able to work on it.

Much frustration, thumping of handy horizontal surfaces. We reschedule for Thursday.

Because the car was out and I've been wiped out what with all the exciting catastrophes this week and last, I decided that there was no way on earth that I was going to make it in for the last KUAC Task Force meeting...but I get to make black sticky rice for dinner and the Toyo is now cranking out the BTUs. We're comfortably toasty, and that's a lot.

Oh, yeah. The water froze up for real this evening. At least the cats are now a lighter shade of gray, almost white in places.

Cool cartoons

One of the other things I'm trying to do with the paper is expand the editorial cartoons section. Mostly I'd like to work on the local Alaskan cartoonists, but they haven't been submitting much lately. But some of the national ones are absolutely excellent. Some, like Khalil Bendib, Keith Knight, and Mikhaela Reid, I found via Green Pages. Others, like Andy Singer, Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man), Tom Tomorrow (This Modern World), Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead), etc., I found through the Funny Times (GREAT paper).

New design

Okay, the new paper is out! My favorite time of the month. Here's the new look: a single photo for the front cover, no stories, so it will appear more like a magazine. The inside front cover will include a more detailed table of contents, and the back cover will have a mailer space to put an address label and stamp, just like the big guys. With any luck, the inside back cover will feature a full-page ad! But we'll see.

The joys of hot water

Margaret and Jeff Rogers let us borrow their shower last night; it's amazing how good it feels to get rid of eau d'huile (contradiction, I know...) and that smoky smell from the wood stove. The stuff clings to hair, clothing, skin, glasses, whatever. We got a load of spruce delivered, and now are keeping warm(er).

Updates: Mike Musick did not make it on the assembly, but Nadine Hargesheimer did, and I'm not unhappy.

Our car is FIXED! it RUNS! YAHOO! our car vet checked it out again, and it turned out that the replacement alternator was bad, too. So they put in another new one, and this one is fine.

Transportation is a wonderful thing.

The paper is at the printer. Update soon on new design.

Assembly update

The candidates for assembly have been narrowed down to 7 finalists, among them Mike Musick (yay!); the Republic will not have interviews with any of the candidates in part because of the sequence of events beginning January 12 (add backed-up plumbing to the list--perhaps it wasn't Friday the 13th but the full moon that was the problem?). Mike is knowledgeable about planning, zoning, and building issues, so I'm hopeful for his chances.