Wednesday's UAA Subsistence Community Forum

The University of Alaska Anchorage is finishing up a week of events centered around "sustainability." Wednesday evening, three Alaska Native leaders discussed subsistence at the UAA/APU Consortium Library. They then answered a variety of questions from the audience of about sixty people.

Listening to the three reinforced an impression that I've gained from volunteering for and working with Diane Benson since 2006: Alaska would be well-served if we made far better use of our talented Alaska Native leaders. Each, addressed different aspects of the importance of subsistence lifestyles to their cultural heritage. And each, in his or her own way, spoke of the inherent spiritual values they, their families and their communities have gained from the subsistence aspects of their heritage.

Tim Andrew, Natural Resources Director for the Association of Village Council Presidents, spoke of the importance of sustainable fisheries along the lengths of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. Andrew is a commercial fisher on the lower Yukon. Last week he wrote a letter on behalf of the Council, urging help at the upcoming Anchorage meeting of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, that will be addressing Bering Sea by-catch and Yukon and Kuskokwim River-bound salmon.

Anna Phillips Davidson, from the Alaska Conservation Foundation, sounded almost Buddhist in her descriptions of how subsistence and the humility of gathering and enjoying can help one to see the good in others. At least that is what I got out of her very positive takes on the relationship between subsistence and understanding continuity.

Larry Merculieff, Director of Seven Generations Consulting and Deputy Director of the Alaska Native Science Commission, is one of Alaska's most profound thinkers. He's also one of Alaska's best storytellers. That's saying something. Merculieff's talk was laced with gems of wisdom, many displayed in delightful parables, gathered from the rich experiences of his life.

Several from the audience were Alaska Natives. Some gave testimonial to how they've realized the deep importance of their cultural heritage, how much they miss it in the city, and how much non-Native impacts on their communities have taken from those who live there.

As I listened to the speakers, the interesting questions or testimonials, I kept on hearing Emmonak elder Nick Tucker's statement from February 20th coming back into my mind:

We want to get restored back to who we are.

After the talk and QA session - which could have gone on until 10:00 - I met a few people in the audience, exchanging cards. I'm hoping to help Tim Andrew get the word out on the upcoming North Pacific Fisheries Management Council by-catch quota meetings, too.

image - Tim Andrew, Ann Phillips Davidson, Larry Merculieff

UAA Holding Lively Debates on Alaska Rural Sustainability and Subsistence

As I've observed and participated in the Alaska subsistence debate over the years, participated in subsistence myself, I've usually sided with those who give weight to basic subsistence rights for rural Alaskans first.

For several years, particularly during the gubernatorial administrations of Steve Cowper, Wally Hickel and Tony Knowles, it seemed like each legislature would be called back into special session to consider another approach to "solving" the problem.

Title VIII of ANILCA defines subsistence and its rural preference provisions. It is Federal law, and is in conflict with the Alaska Constitution.

Most of these legislative special sessions have been attempts to reshape a clearly defined rural, mostly Alaska Native, preference. Each special session tried to sell a new brand of snake oil.

With more and more citizens, realizing that rural Alaska issues are becoming important again, and the poignant efforts of Emmonak elder Nick Tucker being highlighted most of 2009, we can expect this year to bring focus back onto subsistence more than any year in over a decade.

On Wednesday, March 4th, the University of Alaska Anchorage Community Forum will host a panel on subsistence. Here's their information:

COMMUNITY FORUM Wednesday, March 4th 7:00 to 9:00pm, UAA/APU Consortium Library, LIB 307

The Future of Subsistence

Panelists include:

-Larry Merculieff of Seven Generations Consulting
-Anna Phillips Davidson of the Alaska Conservation Foundation
-Tim Andrew of the Association of Village Council Presidents

Panelists will discuss the challenges of applying traditional ways of knowing in subsistence management, and the legal frameworks evolving to accommodate subsistence activities.

The following questions will be addressed:

-What are the challenges to use and applications of traditional ways of knowing in western science and subsistence management?
-Are legal frameworks evolving to accommodate subsistence activities?
-How may subsistence activities and values adapt to climate change in Alaska?
-What other challenges are there to the subsistence ways of life in Alaska?

On Thursday, February 19th, the University of Alaska Debate team hosted a debate and discussion. The debate question was "Should the state of Alaska devote resources to sustain rural villages?”


Alaska Public Radio Network carried a long feature on this, on February 20th. It featured Larry Merculieff, who will be part of Wednesday's discussion, as one of the public participants. Merculieff had this to say:

[Alaska's Native people] don't want something for nothing. I remember sitting just six years ago in front of the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, arguing for 1% of the human take of halibut, in Alaska shores, for Alaska Native peoples. One percent. And we got a counter-argument from member of the council that said, "Well, if your population increases, do you want another 1%?"

Wow. Wow! And they got - what? 98% for sport and commercial fishing.

Tlingit activist, artist and political iconoclast, Diane Benson, echoed Merculieff in her statements. Benson said:

Rural New York and urban Southern California don’t sustain themselves. We all sustain each other to one extent or another.

Emmonak has some of the strongest people of spirit anywhere. They are not people looking for a handout.

Regarding the situatation this winter in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Benson added:

If this had happened in Wasilla, if something somehow had prevented people in Wasilla from getting food or fuel, we would have all helped out without thinking anything about it.

Every single person deserves safety, and that responsibility has not been satisfied.

image of Pitkas Point and Yukon Cohoes - oysters4me; Copper River smoked Sockeye - PA

Curt Menard, Mat-Su Borough Mayor, Passes Away

From the Anchorage Daily News story by S. J. Komarnitsky

Mat-Su Borough Mayor and former state legislator Curt Menard has died, a spokeswoman for the borough confirmed today.

Menard was elected mayor in 2006 and had previously served as state senator and representative for the Valley. Borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan said that even though he'd been sick, his death came as a shock. He'd been coming into the office and working as late as last week.

"I'm stunned," she said. "He was just a great mayor."

Menard was diagnosed in 2003 with multiple myeloma, a relatively rare cancer formed by malignant plasma cells in the blood.

He underwent treatment for a year, and the cancer was in remission for about two years. But in 2007, he announced that tests discovered the cancer has returned with a tumor in his neck.

Menard took a medical leave but was working again when he died.

In addition to serving as a legislator, Menard was a former pilot and for years worked as a dentist in the Valley. He lost his right arm in 1975 to an electrical shock while he was attempting to mark power lines on a small hay field he used as a landing strip.

Afterward he trained himself to use his left hand and his prosthetic hook on his right arm and continued as a dentist until recently.

Curt was my first dentist, when we moved to the Mat-Su Valley from Prince William Sound, in 1983. His late son, Curt Menard II, was our kids' orthodontist. I loved to argue with Curt when he was in the Alaska Legislature. He was a fairly conservative Democrat, and a good listener.

photo by Patty Sullivan, Mat-Su Borough

These Guys Predicted This Economy, uh - Three, Four Years Ago - Dr. Doom & the Black Swan

Palin's Insulting Remark on Sen. Kim Elton

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could have shown some class today, in her public announcement on the event of President Obama's selection of Juneau Alaska State Senator Kim Elton, to be the director of Alaska affairs for the U.S. Department of Interior. The governor's statement began:

"Senator Elton pledged his allegiance to President Obama last summer."

No he didn't. He supported candidate Obama.

I can't remember the last time a governor of Alaska made such a rude, insulting statement toward a fellow Alaskan who has just been elevated to a higher responsibility. As Anchorage Daily News commenter cs654 noted:

Gov. Palin's understanding of the U.S. Constitution is evidently as chillingly erroneous as was her stated understanding of the role of the Vice President. Her statement in response to Sen. Elton's announcement was: "Sen. Elton pledged his allegiance to President Obama last summer." Actually, no one in government "pledges allegiance" to anyone or anything than to "the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands." This misunderstanding lies at the very heart of our governor's view of government and the people who serve therein.

Elton's role in the actions leading to the Branchflower investigation were within the bounds of what would normally be expected of members of the Legislative Council, who voted unanimously for their investigation.

This may be a fine opportunity for Sen. Beth Kerttula to move up to a senate seat she would win anyway, should there be a special election. Juneau Democrats are deciding about their recommendations right now.

One rumor coming out of Juneau this evening is that Palin has already decided to refuse to honor the picks of Juneau Democrats, and will nominate an anti-choice Catholic or Evangelical Filipina-American Democrat, forcing Juneau Democrats to reject a minority woman for the seat.

Update - Tuesday 2:50 p.m: Note to strong Palin supporters visiting PA today:

There are several comments here today supportive of Gov. Palin and her statement yesterday. There are now a couple that are dismissive of Sen. Elton. All these make claims either to Palin's being mishandled by the media on this, Elton's perfidy in how he handled his Legislative Council responsibilities last summer, or both.

I welcome all of you to Progressive Alaska!

I also invite you to be specific. For instance, can any Palin supporter link to or describe a specific statement by any earlier Alaska governor on the occasion of a national level job being offered to an Alaska legislator, that starts out on a negative, personal note? I've offered lunch to anyone who can do that.

And just what is it that Sen. Elton did last summer that was "snide and dishonest?" I missed it. Again, please be specific.

image by DZ

Another 2008 Award for Progressive Alaska...?

Over the weekend, I encountered the most bizarre internet character to stalk me since "Jeff Pezzati," back in April, 2004. This new guy's nom de blog is Dash RIPROCK III.

Dash Riprock was a character on Beverly Hillbillies. Here he is, played by Larry Pennell, in a skit that also features the great comedienne, Nancy Kulp:


The creators of Beverly Hillbillies originally wanted to name the prototype Riprock character Homer Noodleman.

Pennell, who had earlier starred in what may have been one of the ten worst TV series flops of all time - Ripcord (we actually got one of the Ripcord parachute guy toys for my younger brother Gene for his birthday in 1962) - was a spoof on stars like Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter, and probably a riff on characters such as Kookie, from 77 Sunset Strip. The character Kookie's full name in the series was Gerald Lloyd Kookson, III.

Hmmmm.... Dash RIPROCK III, Gerald Lloyd Kookson III.... a coincidence? I think so.

But a real weird tie-in between the Dash Riprock character of old and the one who may be stalking Progressive Alaska, is Nancy Kulp's tie-in to the new Riprock's mantra, posted at the top of his web site:

Dedicated to Bitter Small Town Americans Who Cling to Their Guns and Religion

This new Riprock is obviously referring to a statement made by President Obama, while campaigning in California early last year:

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them..

"And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

"It's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Nancy Kulp, the original Riprock's secret desire, ran for congress in one of the Pennsylvania Congressional Districts referred to by Obama - The 9th, in 1984. That seat is now occupied by Bill Schuster, who inherited it from his dad, Bud, who defeated Nancy.

Cue Twilight Zone theme? Not yet.....

So this internet character, Dash Riprock III, has a web site called The Hooterville Gazette, and a niche at Townhall.Com. He checked into my life early Sunday, in the comment thread to An Open Letter to John Ziegler:

Ah Yes, the venerable Mr. Munger. Why am I not surprised at your thoughts on John Ziegler? Not many understand that you started all that Palin Dinosaur nonsense. I've been watching for you since then. Loved that YouTube video of you delivering those poems. Did you affect a lot of social change with that???

I'm not even going to conduct a vote. You are The Hooterville Gazette's Idiot of 2008.

So, we kept corresponding over he course of yesterday. Checking him out, the guy adores Sarah Palin and John Ziegler - not necessarily in that order. He also appears to despise my young friend, Max Blumenthal.

I was hoping the award was real. Homer Noodleman III may actually award it to me. The real ones I got last year already are tied between the very real and prestigious, and the somewhat real and almost humorous.

This award - Hooterville Gazette Idiot of 2008, will have to go into a new category. He wanted a picture of me, so I sent him a few I found on the web.

image - Larry Pennell and Ken Curtis in Ripcord

Alaska Newspapers' Videos of the Graham-Palin-Parnell Yukon Trip

These are the YouTube versions of the videos that have been posted at the Bristol Bay Times and Tundra Drums web sites since Friday.

Part One has Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin arriving in Russian Mission, greeting people, and addressing a crowd in a meeting room. Part Two includes Alex deMarban's transcription of Nick Tucker's fascinating exchange with Gov. Palin.

Part One:


Part Two:

Update - 3:15 p.m: Commenter TLS at The Mudflats attached a complete transcription of the Nick Tucker-Sarah Palin YouTube at today's Mudflats long thread. I went through it, made a couple of minor changes. Here it is:

Russian Mission. SP meeting residents. Scene is inside a building with a large crowd, lots of background noise, quite crowded, all are dressed in outdoor clothes. Video is shot from behind Nicholas ‘Tucker (NT) mostly over his left shoulder. Audio picks up who he is talking to, but does not pick up his comments very well, so the video has his comments in text on the screen.

Starts with NT shaking hands with LTG Parnell, who says, “Thank you for being here.”

NIcholas introduces himself .

LTG Parnell: Hi Nicholas, nice to meet you too. Are you a good blogger? Aren’t you a blogger?

NT: I’m not a blogger.

Parnell: No.. OK. (unintelligble).. that was a very good one.

Scene cuts to a few moments later with NT talking to SP.

Someone off screen says to SP : This is Nick Tucker.

SP: So nice to meet you.

NT: I’m Nick Tucker from Emmonak.

SP: From Emmonak? So good to be here

NT: First of all I want to thank you, for the fact that you acknowledged the needs of our people, not only in Emmonak, but throughout, and as a common citizen, I have deep respect for government because they have power and I don’t.

SP : You know….(unintelligible).. (gives NT a hug)

NT: And one of the things is, don’t forget us. The thing is, this is temporary help but we need sustainable jobs, fisheries.
And you know, we’re an oil rich state, and from our cries and our suffering we have allowed other people coming into

SP: Yes,…Yes..

NT: (unintelligible)… Now look what happened.

SP: So here’s what we are trying to do, also. Allowing our young people in rural Alaska … to recognize it is their resource… and development of these resources needs to …..

NT: We need you to come out and make sure you get things done for us. Because you can, you can help us with the Denaili Commission and any other resource that we can come up with. BIA’s helping right now and who else can we look up to?

SP: Right. So, working together, you and the local communities and state government, we’re going to be able to allow the economies to be revitalized and job opportunities for the young people.

NT: Yes, I appreciate your help but that’s barely enough. We want to get restored back to who we are. The Native people are very strong people and this is probably the only time that they cried out for help.

SP: I recognize that.

NT: They’re hungry, I mean they’re not starving, they’re hungry. On your way home, you can read my original letter. These are from real people that started the outcry....

SP: OK

NT:....and respect for who they are.

(NT motions toward a women standing to his right. SP turns toward the woman and puts her hand on the woman’s back. The woman says “Hi”, and SP says “How are you doing” . We also now see a second woman next to the first .

SP to second woman:
SP: So nice to meet you, what is your name?
SP turns toward 2nd woman and bends over to hear the name.
2nd Woman: (unintelligble)
SP Turns back to first woman.
SP: What is your name?
1st Woman: Natalia (hard to hear the name)
SP: So nice to meet you Natalia.
NT (handing SP the letter): You know the oil money and everything else came out of our land.

SP: I’ll read …(unintelligble).

NT: We want you to think about this. We have a long way to go. The healthier, more jobs in the villages, more opportunities, you wouldn’t have to come back to us…..

(Now we see a young girl in background standing next to the 1st woman).

SP: Also, Mr Tucker, we’ll let people know, young people in these areas also, that its not just the jobs inside the villages, but good resource development jobs with the mining and with the oil production and fisheries even if they are outside the villages. Like my husband, who grew up in Dillingham, the native village of Dillingham, He’s worked on the North Slope these years, so he could come back to the village and participate in the community, then go off to work again, then come back. That’s the ideal way to work.

NT: Our culture is too tied into us. It’s hard for us to live in Anchorage because of all the discrimination and things like that.

SP: Right. See that’s what these resource development jobs allow, just like with my husband, he didn’t have to leave forever the village, he would be gone, .. be off….and that’s understood (unintelligible)

NT: Like her, (motions toward the young girl standing in beside him) she’s going to grow up to take care of us. She will need a job.

SP: Yes

NT: They will. I don’t do politics. I come from the heart and the sorrow of our people.

SP: I respect you for that, Thank you, Thank you so much. I appreciate that and I’ll read (this).

End of Video

Gov. Palin's Video Address to Alaska Native Village CEOs

Part One:


Part Two:

CNN TV on Their GOP Presidential Preference Poll

Open Letter to John Ziegler

Dear Mr. Ziegler,

Max Blumenthal is one ballsy web journalist. His concept of where political analysis and commentary are going has a lot more balls than yours does. Yours is closer to eunuchism than it even is to the bullshit most critics complain it to be.

You seem to have an idea Max Blumenthal doesn't have any balls. At least you had the guts to tell him to his face. He confronted you at the CPAC fiasco. He may end up making you the highlight of the CPAC fiasco. Unlike you, I think that making you the biggest joke of 2009 CPAC would show this young guy has balls.

He was pissed you had tried to scam him to get an interview. I don't blame him. I'd be pissed too.

He stood there for over five minutes while you yelled, moved back and forth, swore, pointed your finger, and belittled him. He just came back, asking normal hardline questions, trying to get you to actually provide unbiased information. The way he did that showed he has balls.

When Max came to Alaska to cover Sarah Palin, he showed he has balls. The first places he went to interview people about Palin impressed me. His interview technique was so straightforward, I was taken aback. I thought - "kid has some balls."

He interviewed librarians and museum workers. That only took intelligence. Then he went to Todd Palin's favorite gun store, Chimo Guns in Wasilla, and hung out for a while. He convinced the folks there he was genuine.

In Wasilla, he interviewed some intensely over-motivated charismatic and fundamentalist Christian Palin supporters in environments I thought might put him in grave physical harm. He took my comments in stride, then asked for help with his camera prep work.

I know you came up to Alaska to do a story on Sarah Palin too. You should watch Max's footage, compare it to yours. Yours was classic old school suckup. Max's was Journalism 2012 Master Class. That didn't take balls. Brains helped, though.

I' ve got a hunch Max isn't just smarter and more ballsy than John Conrad Ziegler. He worked his ass off when he was in Alaska.

A big part of your job is to help Palin raise $70,000.00 per day over the next 1,000 days. I wish Max had gotten you to comment on that, but - as I said - he was pissed. And, to be fair, Conrad, I think Max took the middle name thing a bit too far.

But, John, Palin isn't going to be able to raise an average of $70K per day for 1,000 days. You were one of the first people called upon to help do that. It'll take balls for you to accept the role of being the Talis Colberg of Far Right failed mockumetaries. Max is starting to paint you into that corner, isn't he?

Phil Munger

Ziegler interviewed after Max's interview:


Max Blumenthal's interview with John Ziegler at 2009 CPAC: