Prescott Bush's Grandson Addresses the Knesset

Note to Knesset and the U.S. Press:

1. Those Nazi tanks had been built partly through creative financing by George Bush's grandfather's Nazi business partners.

2. Prescott Bush continued to help finance the Nazi war machine for exactly ten months after the Wannsee Conference. He only stopped financing the Nazi war machine when the U.S. Government forced him to do it.

3. The U.S. Senator quoted by the president in the speech, was a far-right Republican, Senator William Edgar Borah, of Idaho.

The cognitive dissonance of Prescott Bush's grandson being the darling of the Israeli right is far, far too difficult for our mainstream media in the USA to even touch, let alone treat with honesty.

Gryphen covers other aspects of Bush's disgusting remarks.

Diane Benson Featured in Article About Women Candidates

AK-AL U.S. House candidate, Democrat Diane Benson, is one of the woman candidates featured in an article published on the progressive web site, Truthout, late last week. The article, by Maya Schenwar, is titled Women in the Running.

Although the article starts out by stating the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination has opened doors of perception and acceptability for other woman candidates as well, Schenwar notes that "the struggle for women's voices to be heard in the political sphere will be far from over.

"Despite all the focus on Clinton's gender over the course of her campaign," Schenwar continues, "there's been surprisingly little discussion of the gender makeup of the political system as a whole."

The author briefly mentions the ongoing campaigns of Maryland activist Donna Edwards and former Kansas City, Missouri Mayor, Kay Barnes. But it centers around Benson's Alaska campaign, and old-school Democratic Party perceptions that men are more electable than women. Schenwar cites a Gallup poll, taken before the 2000 election, that found "more than three-quarters of Americans reject the idea that, 'On the whole, men make better political leaders than women do.'"

Alaska's Diane Benson, who garnered about 94,000 votes against Don Young in 2006, while spending only something over $200,000 in a grassroots campaign, compared then rather favorably against the gubernatorial campaign of Tony Knowles and Ethan Berkowitz. The latter males, while spending well over $1,000,000 on their campaign against a woman they outspent by over $300,000, pulled in only about 97,000 votes. And they lost in a three-way race against two Republican-oriented tickets.

In 2006, the Alaska Democratic Party was discouraged by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's then-chair, Rahm Emanuel, from supporting Benson's campaign against Young. Emanuel's strategy of concentrating on supporting male candidates who favored anti-union free trade treaties, lax regulation of the mortgage industry, and were willing to rubber-stamp George Bush's war policies, was contrasted in 2006, by Democratic National Committee Chairman, Howard Dean's 50-state strategy, which tended to back more progressive candidates, and far more females than did Emanuel.

After the 2006 elections, as the corporate media credited Emanuel's strategy as having brought control of the U.S. House to the Democrats, more savvy observers wrote that had Dean's strategy been followed more fervently, the Democratic Party's pickups would have been more considerable. And far less likely to enable George Bush's failing, flailing policies.

The now-disgraced Jake Metcalfe's fervent support of Rahm Emanuel and his anti-progressive policies in 2006, have been replaced in 2008's Alaska campaign map, by Emanuel's warm embrace of Ethan Berkowitz's campaign. Emanuel has emerged as the most fervent member of the Joe Lieberman-founded, anti-net neutrality, anti-union, pro-international deregulation group, the New Democrat Coalition. The NDC is, in reality, a kind of Blue Dog Democrat lite. Though Berkowitz has stated to me, that "under no circumstances will he feel obligated to Emanuel for the [Emanuel's] largesse," that's not likely, though, for any freshman member of the house. Berkowitz has to sound tough, though, to face off against the considerably tougher, considerably taller, Benson.

Benson has pulled in endorsements from the National Organization of Women, the National Women's Caucus, the Alaska Women's Caucus, and is garnishing increasing material support from Emily's List, one of the country's most effective PACs. Recently, when two Alaska state-level functionaries of the National Womens' Caucus participated in a fundraiser for Berkowitz, they were admonished by the national organization.

Benson's support in Alaska's Native community is growing rapidly. There are several reasons for this, not least of which was the Native and women's rights communities' responses to Anchorage Daily News reporter Lisa Demer's May 1 article, Native Women Address Violence Rates. Benson, who before the article, had participated in scores of such confidential conferences in Alaska and elsewhere, once the horrific specifics of her years in foster care as a child became public, decided to use the scrutiny this violence is now getting as an opportunity to bring more attention to this important issue.

This Friday, Benson and Berkowitz will be attending the Hispanic Affairs Council of Alaska's candidate forum. Don Young, Gabrielle LeDoux and Sean Parnell are also invited, but will probably be phoning in to the forum. The questions, to be handled by Mat-Su Valley Democratic Party activist, Erick Corduro, will be on immigration, education, healthcare and the economy.

images: top - Alaska's long-standing peace activist, Ruth Sheridan, military mom-peace activist Diane Benson, WWII U.S. Navy Veteran and transportation visionary, Lorna Kanus; middle - Diane Benson on her Harley at the 2006 Memorial Day commemoration at Byers Lake; bottom - Diane Benson - not in heels - and Ethan Berkowitz at this winter's AFN Convention in Fairbanks

Ron Senungetuk is This Year's Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist

Longtime Alaska Native Arts pioneer and visionary, Inupiat Eskimo Ronald Senungetuk, was honored Monday at the Elvira Voth room of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts as the Rasmuson Foundation's 2008 Distinguished Artist.

Julie Decker, in Icebreakers, her wonderful book about Alaska visual artists, describes Ron's work as being "inspired by Scandinavian design of the 1960s and Alaska Native art before Western contact." The vibrant motion of his stick figures, has always reminded me more than a bit of Paul Klee.

Back in the 1969 Fairbanks ANCSA hearings in Fairbanks, Senungetuk submitted a statement that fully showed the deep processes he underwent in his formative years as an artist. Although his statement was about the interaction of Alaska's First Peoples with the new immigrant populations here, and observations he had made from his extensive travels in the Arctic north - both within and outside of Alaska - rather than about his art, it shows the depths of his thinking on how people have to adjust with each other to interact:

"As a person who has experienced two cultures, I am not very different from others. I am somewhat bicultural, that is, I do know and appreciate Eskimo way of life. At the same time, I am able to live in an urban community. If there were no choice and if there were no opportunities, I would probably feel very much at home in a village. Yet, I am not practicing the Eskimo way of life. To do so, I think would be an attempt to stop time. Even though hunting rights are valid, the Eskimo way of life, I feel, must not be preserved for the sake of tourists and the industry that relates to tourists. On the other hand, one can’t really divorce or remove oneself from his identity. There are certain values that happen to be valid and they are valid even for non-natives.

"Some of these values are successfully demonstrated in Greenland. When I went to Greenland in the summer of 1967, I was able to compare educational developments of Natives in Greenland and Alaska. The first language in Greenland is Greenlandic which is an Eskimo dialect written and taught in schools. The second language is Danish. Some great delicacies in Denmark are from Greenland that were once part of Greenlandic diet. Some Greenlandic heroes or legendary figures are just as important in Copenhagen as in Godhaab. Even though Danish way of life is apparently a good way of life, the Greenlanders are not trying to do everything Danish and the Danish government is not trying to shove every thing Danish to the 40,000 Greenlandic individuals either. Instead, the Danes are assisting the intensely proud Greenland Eskimos to retain some of the best of the Eskimo culture and they are trying to introduce best of the western culture. Even thought the effort can be criticized, it must be acknowledged for self-pride and generous justice and equality of men it allows."

Nineteen other Alaska artists were also honored, either with project grants or fellowships. I was honored with a fellowship that will help me in my work on six ongoing or projected compositions.

image by the University of Alaska Museum of the North

Guest Post by Vic Kohring

The other day, I asked longtime friend and Vic Kohring advocate Fred James to either write a guest post for Progressive Alaska on Vic's current situation, or to ask Vic to write one himself. Today, Vic called me. We talked a bit, and I urged him to finish an essay he had already been polishing. I told him I'd be happy to print it, as I received it. He sent it this evening, appending the essay with his closing remarks from last Thursday's sentencing:

The media as a whole, with a few exceptions, has been a lynch mob and will not be satisfied until I'm in prison. My innocence matters little to them. Some folks have tried to be open minded and look at things objectively, for which I'm grateful, because in reality our government had no interest in seeking truth and justice. The prosecutors goal was to nail a politician and get another notch on their belt. They were aided by Judge John Sedwick who made numerous rulings, all against me, making it impossible for the jury to have complete information which would have cleared my name. I was warned right after last fall's trial began that Sedwick has a reputation for being pro government and pro prosecutor, and his conduct in court certainly reflected that. As a judge, he is tasked with running a fair and open trial so that justice is done, not constantly impeding the process. It was a real eye opener and very frustrating as I naively believed judges were honest. What a rude awakening.

One of Sedwick's most egregious decisions was to preside over my trial. He had a blatant conflict of interest because of the battles I fought with his wife. As much as the media has downplayed the matter, twisted the facts and omitted crucial information in their typical way, there was real animosity between Deborah Sedwick and myself occurring over a two year period. Judge Sedwick turned down my motion a few weeks ago (the latest among a substantial number of motions I filed since last year) asking for a new trial because of his conflict. He glossed over the requirement by federal law to remove himself from a case if a "reasonable person" could possibly perceive a conflict. Instead, his response addressed irrelevant issues that distracted the reader from the fact that he violated federal law. His words were misleading. I sponsored legislation that eliminated his wife's job and cut literally millions of dollars from her budget while she was Commissioner of the Department of Commerce, to her strenuous objection. I was chairman of the budget subcommittee which authorized funding for her department. She was appointed to a new position after my bill became law, but did not know she would be appointed to the newly merged department until mid 1999. Before then, all she knew was that I was working hard to eliminate her prestige and power and job as the highest salaried commissioner in state government (over $110,000.00/year in salary and benefits). In fact, she was subjected to the stress of her job being eliminated for the 1-1/2 years I worked on my bill and opposed me every step of the way. Yet Judge Sedwick says he has no knowledge of these significant and dramatic events and never discussed with his wife her difficulties encountered because of me. That's unrealistic. Spouses naturally discuss their problems with each other, particularly when one's job is being threatened. The Anchorage Daily News and Channel 2 News purposely omits this information to keep me from appearing credible. In addition, Judge Sedwick lives directly across the street from Bill Allen, the government's primary witness relied on heavily to convict me. They have lived next to each other for about six years according to records with the State Division of Elections. Their houses are 65 feet apart. If any one of the jurors admitted to similar connections, they would have immediately been removed from the case. The judge was very clear in his set of instructions during the jury selection process. Yet he himself did not follow his own rules. As mentioned, he is required by federal law to excuse himself from a trial simply if a perception or appearance of a conflict exists. That's all. The standard is low and precise. Sedwick went far beyond perception or appearance as there was an actual conflict--and a substantial one as I documented in my motion. Deborah Sedwick and I were major political and philosophical opponents for years which evolved into personal animosity. My evidence documenting this includes affidavits from three people (filed with the court with my motion) who personally witnessed the antagonism. There are other witnesses too who've since stepped forth.

During the trial, I reached the point where I sensed I had no chance to win because of the judge's hostile, angry attitude and multitude of rulings against me. He made it impossible to succeed by literally controlling the entire proceedings to his benefit. I now realize he was trying to protect himself, not create an environment that would allow my innocence to be proven. He ruled against me on change of venue, habit evidence, suppression of evidence, FBI interference, closed hearing and many more. I've been informed it was highly unusual for a judge to reject every single request, especially considering all were reasonable and solidly backed up with case law. Sedwick's rulings eventually caused me to wonder if he had something personal against me. I concluded it was because I am a conservative Republican and a long-time vocal advocate of less government. I could think of nothing else at the time. I've also been told my philosophy likely made me an automatic target of the government and motivated them to focus on me. Then I learned after the trial that Sedwick is married to one of my biggest political and personal opponents. I wouldn't have learned of this had not Deborah Sedwick showed up at the end of the trial. If she had stayed away, I probably would not have known to this day. My initial reaction was to ask, why is one of my biggest enemies at my trial? Was she there to gloat? It was astonishing.

Mrs. Sedwick was reluctant to shake my hand when I extended it while attempting to greet her during a break in the trial. She was speaking with two other people ten feet from the courtroom doors at the time. She glared at me as if she wanted to grab me by the throat. She clearly was still angry after all these years. I felt like telling her to "Get over it. Get a life," but stayed silent. Judge Sedwick said nothing of his marriage to Deborah during the trial, despite being required by the Judicial Code of Conduct to declare any conflicts including those involving family members and spouses. Of all people, he should know of this law better than anyone as he is the Chief Judge of the entire U.S. District Court in Alaska. The law is very clear. In addition, three federal judges reviewed my conflict of interest motion and concluded that without a doubt, Sedwick should have removed himself from the case and granted me a new trial. Instead of insisting another judge do so, he himself ruled on my motion a few weeks ago requesting his removal and a new trial. Despite his substantial conflict, Judge Sedwick ruled himself blameless. It was unbelievable. Then he himself administered my sentence this week. I honestly thought he would have another judge do so given his conflicts of interest. By not removing himself, I was then left to wonder if his sentence reflected the antagonistic relationship between his wife and myself. I will wonder for the rest of my life if my years in prison is pay back.

Yet another of Sedwick's numerous rejected motions occurred this week. He ruled against my motion to allow a juror to be questioned in court by my lawyer. As it turned out, the jury gave no credence to the government's many false allegations including my nephew's summer internship, request for a personal loan (never received) and request to borrow a pick up truck (never received) as they were not proven. The jury only considered the thousand dollars in gifts for my daughter. Nothing more. Everything boiled down to this one item. I was told that even this one was shaky as it was based on a video taped comment by Bill Allen while in a drunken state. The sentence therefore should have been based on the one item (daughter gifts) as opposed to the sum total of everything. The judge's decision on my motion blocked this crucial information from being presented in court and he consequently based his sentence on the fictitious larger number instead of the thousand. Of course the media ignores this despite my reference to it in my sentencing remarks (see below) and my press conference.

Instead of a sentence which should have involved no time, I'm going to prison for years. Note how former Fairbanks Mayor Jim Hayes received five and a half years by the same judge (Sedwick) last week involving the theft of $450,000.00, versus my three and a half years for a thousand dollars in gifts for my daughter, a tiny fraction of money in comparison and no bribes involved. It's an incredible double standard.

In addition, the liberal media savaged me throughout my years in the legislature. I became a constant target because I bucked the trend to increase government. They obviously picked up the pace when my office was raided by five armed FBI agents in 2006 and did their best to try and convict me before my trial even began, regardless of the truth. They behaved like blood thirsty jackals. There were 14 months of non-stop hostile reporting which I'm certain tainted the jury pool. If I could sue these people for slander I would. Yet the judge rejected my request to have the trial moved outside Alaska. It was a very reasonable request. I presented Sedwick with a mountain of evidence (hundreds of photo copies) demonstrating the media bias. He didn't even explain his decision other than to say I can get a fair trial and "sees no problem." His lack of concern was astounding. In another case in Alaska, Joshua Wade was granted a change of venue by a same U.S. District Court judge despite far less media coverage. Judge Sedwick's colleague on the bench ruled that the change was vital as the media prevented Wade from getting a fair trial here. Yet Sedwick denied my request despite ten times the coverage. Another double standard.

I remain optimistic I will prevail on appeal. I truly believe if I can get a trial in a different location where the jury pool hasn't been tainted and a judge with no personal ax to grind, I would easily be exonerated. I was told the jury last fall initially voted 10 to 2 to find me innocent on all charges despite the judge working overtime against me instead of being open-minded and trying to facilitate a fair process. They ended up being swayed by a very vocal and opinionated jury foreman who is a federal government retiree, the type of people who nearly always opposed me.

Last, I readily admit it wasn't a good idea for me to accept gifts from a long time friend of 14 years--at least one who I thought was a friend until he stabbed me in the back with his lies on the stand. But gifts are not illegal and there were absolutely no bribes involved and no intent to commit a crime whatsoever. I wouldn't even know how to commit such a crime if I wanted to. This situation never should have risen to the level of a crime and no charges should have been filed. I've had to fight the prosecution's manipulations, the lying of witnesses, a biased judge with a huge personal conflict and a probation office that wrote an erroneous pre-sentence report full of unproven allegations (which the judge used to further justify his sentence). This entire scenario made it impossible to win. It was a true witch hunt. However I go to prison with my chin up and a clear conscience, so I'm going to be fine, especially with the knowledge that I have a strong case for appeal. If I have to defend myself from a prison cell, so be it. I look forward to being cleared and serving my community once again.

Vic Kohring
May 13, 2008


Sentencing remarks

Honorable Judge Sedwick,

I stand before you not to plead for mercy as others have done before me. Instead, I'm here to proclaim my innocence. I don't believe I received a fair trial last fall which is why I did not prevail in this court room.

I was stunned when I learned after the trial you are married to one of my biggest personal and political enemies from my years as a legislator, who showed up at this very court at the end of my trial. Federal law and the Judicial Code of Conduct required you to excuse yourself from my case even if a perception of a conflict existed and to avoid the appearance of partiality that might reasonably be questioned. You judged yourself blameless despite a mountain of evidence documenting the antagonistic relationship between your wife and myself occurring over a two-year period. Furthermore, you live directly across the street from the government’s star witness who was heavily relied upon to convict me. Your houses are just 65 feet apart. You did not speak one word of these conflicts and I knew nothing of them until after the trial. I’m so disappointed that the very person who now holds my fate in his hands--you--is married to the person who’s job I eliminated and who’s budget I cut millions of dollars from and developed personal animosity. There’s no way this could not be viewed as a conflict by any reasonable person. I now stand before you waiting to be sentenced to prison and will forever wonder if your sentence will be because of the battles I fought with your wife. That is incredibly unfair.

There is something I will admit. I exercised poor judgment when accepting cash gifts for my daughter form a longtime friend--or at least someone I genuinely believed was a friend until he betrayed and turned against me. I will also admit I did not live up to my personal standards and expectations of my community. So I apologize to all who expected me to set a higher ethical standard. It may not have been right, but in no way were bribes involved. There were no criminal acts and I absolutely had no intention to commit any crime whatsoever.

My words, “Let me know what I can do to help; my door is always open to you; feel free to give me a call anytime” was my mantra as a legislator, words I spoke thousands of times in the course of doing my job. It’s ironic that these very words have now been used against me by the government to erroneously claim they represented a bribe. My words and frequent offer of help were genuine and heartfelt and intended simply to be a good representative--not anything corrupt. Unfortunately, your ruling on Habit Evidence prevented my supporters from testifying on this issue. I had a list of 82 people willing to testify on my behalf who were turned away.

The resulting conviction has destroyed me. I am bankrupt and penniless, my house is in foreclosure, I’ve lost my job and career, my wife is divorcing me and I’m losing my family. The total cost to me including lost wages is approaching a half million dollars. But my spirit is not broken and I remain strong.

My attorney and I attempted to conduct ourselves during the trial with integrity. There was no lying, manipulation or taking things out of context as was done against me--just an honest presentation of the facts. I do not lie to anyone at any time. I used to believe in my government. I swore to uphold and protect the principles of our country and constitution as a legislator, but do not respect those who manipulated it.

I must follow my conscience and stand up for my rights even if I have to pay a price. I refuse to cower before you in hopes of receiving a lighter sentence, and I know I’m risking retribution by standing my ground as I’m subjecting myself to this court’s wrath. But I shouldn't have to fear retribution by defending myself. I simply can’t in good conscience express remorse for something I did not do. I intend to continue vigorously fighting for my rights and eventually prove my innocence, but will only be exonerated if I receive a fair trial with a fair judge. The truth will only be revealed if my case is heard before jurors untainted by bias and if all evidence is provided the jury.

I want to thank the jury and sincerely appreciate their efforts but wish to let them know they did not have all the relevant informant needed to determine my innocence. I must continue defending myself and go through the appeal process, even if it means doing so from a prison cell. I beseech everyone in this state who believes in truth and justice to join me in insisting that our government treats its citizens with honor and decency. I for one shall not rest until justice prevails.

If I had committed wrong doing, I would admit it and accept punishment. But my conscience is clear. I did nothing criminal. I was a little naive, I will admit to that. I must assert my innocence as I owe it to my family and friends and the thousands of people who elected me to the Alaska Legislature, all of whom I sincerely thank for their support. All I ask for is to be treated fairly and be given an opportunity for a fully open and fair trial which I’m convinced would result in my exoneration.

Thank You.

Vic Kohring
May 8, 2008

image of Vic Kohring by Dennis Zaki

Rumors & Deadlines

No sooner did ex-Representative Vic Kohring declare, outside Anchorage's Federal courtrooms last Thursday, that, "my conscience is clear.... I did nothing criminal.... I was a little naive," than people speculated, "who's next?"

I've felt for a long time - knowing what I do of the historic and historical backgrounds of political corruption in our state over the past 35 years - that by going after these little guys and pawns of oil industry service company Veco first, the Feds were setting examples for others. Other, bigger players, upon whom their eyes are now fixed.

If you leave out Bill Allen and Rick Smith, all of those who, so far, have either been convicted, or have copped a plea, took far less money than your average white collar criminal. Jim Clark took no money for himself at all. The sentences were weighted upward slightly, in light of the prosecutors' and judge's declarations that these people have "violated the public trust."

One deadline passed the first Tuesday in May, the unwritten "drop dead" date after which it is six months before a Federal election. Though there is no written rule, recent policy in the U.S. Department of Justice has been to bring no new criminal charges against anyone running for a Federal office any later than six months before an election in which the suspect is running. The concern has been that such indictments would change the nature of the elections beyond what could be termed the "non-political."

But there is another deadline looming: The June 2 filing deadline in Alaska. One might argue that should one or more of the future indictments of somebody who has already filed for office occur after the June 2 deadline, it would play heavily to the advantage of any candidate or candidates left standing who have already filed. And, it would fail to give due consideration of how reachable that office might be to any potential, but undeclared candidate, who had been otherwise deterred from filing before the indictment or plea.

The Alaska Report's Corrupt Bastard Club page has a good photo gallery of the usual suspects for the category of "who's next?" I'd add a few names, but my wife has cautioned me once before not to do that. So I won't.

image by Dennis Zaki

Superdelegate Blake Johnson - "Enough About You, Let's Talk About Me!"

Guest post by Celtic Diva

Alaska Politics Blog did a post on the Alaska Superdelegate question:

Alaska's four superdelegates are still evenly split - one each for Obama and Clinton and two who haven't committed to either.

"This probably the most monumental decision I have made in my life," said Cindy Spanyers, an uncommitted superdelegate from Juneau. "The overwhelming importance of it is weighing on me and causing me to reflect and think about my values, Alaskan Democrats, the future."

Blake Johnson, the other uncommitted Alaskan, seems to be enjoying the attention.

"Basically we're getting an opportunity to talk to people we never would if we had committed," said Johnson, who lives in Kenai.

He said he was recently on a teleconference with Hillary Clinton, for example. Johnson said he takes the opportunity to push Alaska issues and lobby to have the candidates spend some time here.

Uhhh...Blake...it's not supposed to be about you and the famous/powerful people YOU get to meet. If you want to do the state some good, why not "spend some time" with the man who is actually going to be the nominee? Why not announce for Obama when every Superdelegate who does so is making headlines instead of waiting until the end when no one will care?

Alaska Democratic voters, of course, were a lot more pro-Obama than the state's superdelegates. Obama got 75 percent of the Democratic vote in Alaska's February caucuses.

I find it interesting that Kyle Hopkins chose to end the post this way...making it clear that the Superdelegates aren't as "pro-Obama" as their Alaskan Constituents.

It makes their "waiting" posture even more quetionable. Are they thinking about helping Hillary Clinton overturn the clear winner?

This all reeks of "politics as usual" and is one more example of why the Superdelegate system needs to go.


If you want to contact these Superdelegates and let them know how you feel--with respect and manners, please--here are the emails:

Blake Johnson - blakedemocrat@gmail.com

Cindy Spanyers - menno@ptialaska.net

I'm also including the Democratic Chair who has declared for Clinton:
Patti Higgins - patti@alaskademocrats.org

May 11 PA Arts Sunday - Part II --- The Juneau Bach Society

Guest post by Dennis Harris

We aren't really fanatics, but none of the members of the Juneau Bach Society orchestra and chorus would put in the hours and hours of rehearsal necessary to perform the Kappelmeister's works if we didn't have an immense love for the simultaneous complexity and simplicity of his music.

Bruce Simonson, the Society's conductor and musical director, is, like most of his performers, not a professional musician. He's a computer programmer who majored in mathematics in college. A few of the Society's singers and players are music teachers, but most of us have day jobs ranging from driving taxis to practicing law, nursing to marine biology.

Bach's music attracts performers from teenagers to septegenerians. Our lead second violin is 17, our most recent mezzo-soprano soloist and our second horn player for the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 were both 18, and one of our violists was 79. Regardless of age, we all appreciate the challenge of performing Bach's music well.

As a singer, I appreciate most the way that Bach layers the vocal parts into patterns that sparkle with variations of the same tune, often with chords that are quite dissonant until they resolve into the ultimate chord at the finale. When my bass section gets on a roll with one of Bach's choral fugues, especially when our baroque orchestra is on the same roll, it's every bit as exilharating as when I'm in the groove playing a harp solo in front of a tight blues band with a big horn section.

Bach wrote so many choral pieces that Bruce always seems to find one or two for every concert that fit current events as well as the time of year. His choice for our concert last Saturday and Sunday was Cantata No. 34, O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung Der Liebe (O eternal fire, o fountainhead of love), a cantata for Pentecost (which will be this Sunday). The closing chorale is "Friede über Israel", (peace over Israel), based on Psalm 128, verse 6:

Friede über Israel!
Dankt den hochsten Wunderhänden,
Dankt, Gott hat an euch gedacht.
Ja, sein Segen wirkt mit Macht,
Friede über Israel,
Friede über euch zu senden.

Peace on Israel!
Give thanks, for the hands of the Most High that work miracles,
Give thanks, that God has thought of you
Yes, his blessing works with power,
To send peace on Israel,
To send peace on you.

How appropriate for these troubled times!

Dennis Harris sings bass with the Juneau Bach Society and the
Juneau Symphony Chorus, volunteers with the Cross Sound Festival,
the Juneau Symphony, and the Juneau Jazz & Classics Festival, and
plays slide guitar and the most blues harp in Alaska

May 11 PA Arts Sunday - Part I --- The Song of the Earth

I first met Fairbanks composer and community activist, John Luther Adams, in late November, 1987. The Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra was performing the premiere of my Chugach Symphony, under the baton of the late Gordon Wright. John was one of the percussionists in that performance.

I had been looking forward to meeting John. I had just gotten back into composing music three years before, after hardly writing a thing for over ten years. John, at that time, along with Maestro Wright and Anchorage's George Belden, were the best-known Alaska composers. Even at that time, John had the most resonant, authentic voice among the four of us.

After the December, 1987 performance, John told me that, in early rehearsals he hadn't liked my new symphony, but had warmed to it intensely. He called me, only partially in jest, "Alaska's Bruckner."

Although Anton Bruckner's nine huge, hour-long symphonies are majestic, sweeping landscapes of the mind, they are also regarded as utterly simple in their straightforward thematic content. Almost simplistic. So I asked John which of these aspects of Bruckner he meant.

"Both," was his reply.

Since then, I haven't written another symphony nearly as long as the 35-minute Chugach, and only two other works that are longer. But John, has since written a series of majestic, sweeping landscapes of the mind, utterly simple and straightforward in their daring combination of overt simplicity, masking covert complexities.

His series of compositions, and the commercial CDs of performances of them, have since marked John Luther Adams in my mind as Alaska's most powerful living artist. He's probably become a more important national and international figure, than an Alaskan one, though. Although John has long been appreciated in the Fairbanks arts community in which his art matured, Anchorage performers and listeners have had difficulty approaching John's sound palettes with open ears and minds.

The arts community that embraced Adams's music first was the so-called "downtown" music culture of lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village, beginning in the late 1980s. The writer who chronicled John's growing resonance and fame, was Kyle Gann. At the time, Gann was one of two critics writing about serious NYC music for the Village Voice. Leighton Kerner wrote about The New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, performances at Carnegie Hall, and so on. Kerner covered the uptown scene.

Gann, who was and is an avant-garde composer, covered the downtown scene. Gann's Village Voice columns took early notice of Adams. In Gann's 1997 book, American Music in the Twentieth Century, he describes Adams's mature voice as on that has "deepened into a beautiful language of bitterseet chords and cyclic rhythms, complemented by joyously totalist tempos superimpositions in his percussion music."

Alex Ross, perhaps the finest writer in the USA on serious music these days, has profiled John in the May 13 edition of the New Yorker. Ross seems to have a special affinity for music of the far North. His brilliant 2007 essay on Finnish master, Jean Sibelius, which centers on Sibelius's 5th Symphony, may be the best essay on Sibelius ever written. His articles on Icelandic composer and performer Bjork cover the other end of the Northern musical culture gamut.

When Ross went to Fairbanks to visit Adams last month, John took Ross down to Lake Louise, to give him a feel of Alaska, from John's viewpoint. I suppose it worked, as the article is fascinating. The New Yorker's on-line version of Ross's Adams article features a recording of John's 2006 work, Dark Waves, commissioned by the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra's Musica Nova group (note - I was a member of the group that year).

Alex Ross decribes Dark Waves as "one of the most arresting American orchestral works of recent years, it suggests a huge entity, of indeterminate shape, that approaches slowly, exerts apocalyptic force, and then recedes. Every instrument is, in one way or another, playing with the simple interval of the perfect fifth—the basic building block of harmony—but at the climax the lines coalesce into roaring dissonances, with all twelve notes of the chromatic scale sounding together."

I teach music appreciation at UAA. My students are all supposed to attend at least one concert in the community during the semester, and write an essay about the experience. Perhaps the most fascinating essay of the spring, 2007 semester was one written by a USAF E-8, who had recently returned from Iraq, and was about to head out for his third deployment in Afghanistan. What he saw in Adams's Dark Waves was at times frightening, at times overwhelming, but, ultimately comforting and embracing. "It almost makes me wish I could return to my beginning, but helps me accept that I can't," was the line the airman used that resonated most with me.

Ross's blog, The Rest is Noise, is my favorite blog about music, from a New York resident's viewpoint. The articles are full of useful hyper-links, and Ross's photographs are always a treat.

images - John Luther Adams, top, and Alex Ross, bottom

Saturday Progressive Blog Roundup - May 10, 2008

Growing plants in my greenhouse. So far, we've been eating lettuces, cilantro, choys, lots of arugula, beet greens and baby kale. Also growing in the greenhouse, are tomatoes, peppers, basils and cucumbers for inside growth. And there are cabbages, broccolis, zucchinis, artickoke, burdock, rosemary and and verbena for transplanting.

Two new progressive Alaska blogs are being added this week:

The Rogue Wave: Kodiak City Councilman, blue water deckhand, Alaska Report contributor, and community activist Terry Haines has started a blog. He hopes to concentrate on fishery labor and justice issues, among other things.

The Fireweed: Philip Loring is an anthropologist, working on an advanced degree at UAF. He describes the Fireweed thusly:

It is my hope that the Fireweed will become a respected venue, indeed community, for changing minds, through the sharing of socially- and culturally-relevant knowledge, story, and spirituality. Here you will find poetry, ’scholarly’ articles, rants, indeed anything and everything that is relevant to healthful peoples, communities and societies. Everyone is invited to share.

We will talk about food, god, art, sex and power, though not necessarily in that particular order. In doing so we will be kind to one another, because as brothers and sisters we are in this together, but with passion, because these issues are the most important issues we shall ever face. These conversations must be political because the problems we face are political, social because our neighbors are the ones we must be able to rely on, free because power is relative and fleeting, liberal because there is truly no “one right way to live,” and nevertheless conservative and humble because elders know much more about life than we do.

This past week was a busy one for Southcentral Alaska's progressive bloggers. Former Alaska Democratic Party chairman and U.S. House primary candidate Jake Metcalfe ended his campaign Wednesday, which had begun last summer in Washington, D.C. The next day, former Alaska GOP State Representative Vic Kohring was sentenced to three and a half years in Federal prison. Kohring's defiance at sentencing was markedly different from the demeanor of Pete Kott and Tom Anderson at theirs.

Steve Aufrecht, recently returned from work in Thailand, took a close look at Kohring's mindset in three essays at What Do I Know?. Dennis Zaki, in his new blog, commented on the quality of Steve's analysis. Zaki's Alaska Report Blog had the best video of Kohring's long conversation with reporters after the sentencing.

That's about all I got to cover on this today. As I was writing the update, kids started waking up. Our son moved back from Anchorage for the summer at the end of the week. Friends from UAA are staying, waiting for planes back to Sitka, Utah, other places.

And God flicked the winter-summer switch overnight. Judy and I spent most of the day raking, mowing, moving, pulling, hauling. It was such a beautiful day here.

image of our dog, Strider, on our cruising dock, this evening.

A Brief History of War Since the 1930s

I wrote a poem about food fights - in my high school cafeteria - as a metaphor for war, back when I was a kid. It has long since disappeared, but this team has come up with the best of the best in that regard. Here's a key to the menu. It helps to check the menu out before you watch.