Nothing But Singing to Do

If it weren't for the picture, you might think the headline would be to an article about Don Young's future with the Justice Department. But that was the title of Saturday evening's Anchorage Opera Dark Night recital, featuring soprano Kate Egan, mezzo-soprono Marlene Bateman and pianist Juliana Osinchuk.

It was also a CD launch for the three artists, who have been working for well over a year on this. Their preparation showed in the concert. And then some.

The artists played songs by seven composers. Though the composers - Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Saint-Saens, Faure, Purcell and Britten - are familiar, most of the songs were recital rarities. Which made their incredibly polished performances all the more dear.

At a reception afterward, I got to introduce Juliana Osinchuk to Diane Benson. Both are among the most important of Alaska artists. Both have recently been shaken by family tragedies: Juliana's husband, Mark Dawson, passed away in 2006. And Diane's son was terribly wounded later that year, in Iraq.

Juliana, as usual, is deeply involved in many projects. I'm hoping to work with her again soon.

Diane, has mostly had to set aside her career as actress, writer, director and producer, to challenge Don Young and others for our sole seat in the U.S. Congress.

The evening she was called by the Department of the Army to be notified that her son was injured so badly he wasn't expected to survive, Benson had just returned from a tour of Western Alaska, where she had presented her monodrama about Alaska's Martin Luther King, Elizabeth Peratrovich. When the phone rang she was preparing for an audition the following morning for a new play she had written and was to enact.

The resulting fight to help her son save himself, and what she learned watching our veterans recover from the monstrous crimes of this war, created her next role.

It isn't a play, though.

image of Diane Benson and Juliana Osinchuk

Hats Off To Dennis Greenia and Richard Mauer

For over two years, Dennis Greenia has been the main source of information on Don Young's contacts with Jack Abramoff, and on Young's role in turning the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands into a slave empire. His research was key to my October 16, 2006 article on this for Down With Tyranny.

Cited in my article from 19 months ago, was also the research on some of Young's Abramoff contacts mentioned in articles for the Anchorage Daily News by Liz Ruskin.

Since October, 2006, I've written over 20 articles for Down With Tyranny, Daily Kos and Progressive Alaska on Young's ties to Abramoff, and about the continuing research being done by Greenia and by the Diane Benson campaign in this area.

Today's Anchorage Daily News has a very comprehensive article on this by Richard Mauer. Mauer, like me, has been in direct contact with Greenia on deepening the research. Dennis, or Dengre, as he is known to DailyKos readers, pays very generous tribute to Mauer in a diary he's written this morning on Mauer's article over at DailyKos. And Mauer cites the importance of Dengre's research in his piece.

And I'm very happy that Richard's dedication is paying off here. His Young-Abramoff article today is the best research article at the ADN since Mauer teamed up with Tom Kizzia to write an article publshed February 10, about some of the shady aspects of Ted Stevens' relationship to the Seward Sea Life Center.

It is important to note, though, that over 80% of the information in Mauer's article was already out there, in very similar format, in my October 16, 2006 Down With Tyranny article on the same subject. At the time of that article's publication, Diane Benson's 2006 campaign manager drew it to the attention of editors and news directors of all major Alaska media outlets, Nobody called back. The lack of response upset me enough then, that, upon the urging of Aaron Selbig, I wrote an appeal to the Alaska MSM, for Insurgent49. I'm going to reprint that appeal now, to give a little bit of historical perspective:

October 27, 2006
Media Coverage of Young's Corruption Seriously Lacking
by Philip Munger, insurgent49

The past two weeks have seen the publication of several articles about Don Young that clearly show him unfit for continued service in the U. S. House of Representatives.

I documented twenty contacts between Young and convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff in an article published at two web sites. The Anchorage Daily News has written three times in the past week about aspects of Young’s arrogance and questionable campaign practices. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner covered most of the points about the Young-Abramoff ties in an article published Saturday that asks more questions about those ties.

On Tuesday, the Juneau Empire featured a story by Pat Forgey that highlighted Young’s highly questionable contributions to the legal defense funds of Representatives Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Tom DeLay and Bob Ney. Of those three, Cunningham is now serving time, Ney about to begin serving, and DeLay soon to go to trial. Also on Tuesday, a high traffic web site posted an article about Abramoff that questions how long Young and several other Abramoff-tainted congressmen can remain free, even should they win re-election on November 7.

The last article raises interesting questions about how Young’s future is tied to the pace of revelations coming from Jack Abramoff’s cellblock desk. The article’s author, Howie Klein, a retired recording industry executive and co-founder of ActBlue, an organization which has raised over $14,000,000 on-line for progressive candidates this cycle, 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.”

Klein further states “there are a whole lot of GOP solons from low information districts who will be re-elected only to face almost immediate indictment and the same eventual fate as former GOP congressmen/current prison inmates Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney.”

Don Young is the number one recipient of political funding from Veco, a firm being investigated by the FBI. Our sole congressman didn’t even attend his own committee’s September hearings into BP’s business failures in Alaska. When he returned to Alaska for the October congressional recess, a time during which most incumbents of both parties are campaigning furiously, Young has chosen to campaign for one hour only – at Wednesday’s KSKA/KAKM debate. The rest of the time, he claims, he’s “traveling as a congressman.”

He has refused to participate in public forums across the state with Democratic Party nominee Diane Benson, who has turned into a highly credible candidate who resonates with our serving military and their families, with veterans, with the Native community at large, and with the growing number of voters here who have “had enough.”

Meanwhile, Young defends his threats, cancellations, and contributions of donor funds to questionable criminal defense organizations in an imperious manner.

This has been handled rather poorly, in most part, by Alaska media. Alaska editors and reporters need to begin connecting the dots very, very soon in a responsible and comprehensive way on the patterns of abuse of power by our sole representative in Congress. Should Young be re-elected and then indicted for his activities without a deeper coverage of his shortcomings by the Alaska press, Young’s indictment will also be an indictment of the Alaska media’s inability or unwillingness to fully do it’s job.

Jeff Cohen at the APC Conference - "This Isn't Only Newsworthy, This is HUGE!"

Jeff Cohen, founder of the Park Center for Independent Media and endowed chair/associate professor of journalism at Ithaca College, was one of the main guests at the Alaska Press Club's annual conference, now wrapping up in Anchorage.

At the conclusion of his Saturday afternoon lecture, I asked him if the fact that the biggest contributor to the Ethan Berkowitz campaign so far is the neo-con, pro- Iran War political action committee, run by Illinois U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel, known as Our Common Values, is "newsworthy."

Cohen's reply, delivered emphatically, was, "This isn't only newsworthy. This is huge! If the local media doesn't cover this, and cover it closely, it will be a sad day for Alaska."

More on Rahm Emanuel and his PAC.

More coming...

Saturday Alaska Progressive Blog Roundup - April 19, 2008

I spent most of yesterday, and I'll be spending several hours today at the Alaska Press Club's J-Week 2008 Conference at the Anchorage Senior Center.

The picture at left is of Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, Leonard Pitts. Jr. reading from an essay by Irma Bombeck, during his talk about creating a narrative voice. His talk was one of the day's highlights.

So was the discussion in mid-afternoon on combating racism in Alaska - more accurately, Anchorage - broadcast media. The three panelists for this event, which had been scheduled late in the week, were Nellie Moore, John Active, and Jeff Cohen, the founder of the national media watchdog group, FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting).

This discussion was spurred by the incident last week of those two creepy jerks from California, and their racist comment about Alaska Native women. The community's reaction to this was part of the discussion. But concern about radio commentators' involvement with former Anchorage assemblyman Paul Bauer, and continuing and deepening concern about anti-Islamic hate speech on talk radio from Eddie Burke and Dan Fagan, drove much of the hour's comment from audience and moderators alike.

Cohen, who has been fighting this kind of garbage for years, had some suggestions for using the anti-Alaska Native comments and the community's reaction, as a platform from which to challenge Clear Channel Radio, the owner of the offending station, to offer some sort of community programming.

I got to meet two progressive Alaska bloggers, Theresa, from My Fairbanks Life, and Ishmael Melville from Kodiak Konfidential. Today, I get to meet Libby Casey, from Radio Icebox.

I also got to meet Dan Fagan, who came over to introduce himself after he had finished participating as a panelist in a forum on Global Warming and the media. He told me he reads Progressive Alaska every day, with a strange look I couldn't quite decipher.

I've got to head back into Anchorage for the second full day of the conference, and for tonight's song recital at the Discovery Theatre, featuring Kate Egan, Marlene Bateman and Juliana Osinchuk. They'll also be launching their new CD.

Why Lisa and Ted Voted Against Investigating Don

This is the short answer.


The long one is that "IOKIYAR!"

That's LOL Speak for "It's OK if you're a Republican."

The U.S. Constitution - or what will be left of it when George W. Bush has finished using it as his toilet paper for eight years of GOP diahhrea, might stop you or me from breaking the law, but if Don Young or another Republican does it, that's just fine with Ted and Lisa.

image courtesy of Howie Klein at Down With Tyranny, who is helping do some research on Veco's replacement as an insidious force in Alaska politics, the Neo-Con PAC, Our Common Values.

Why Isn't This Man Happy?

Having been working on opposition research on Congressman Don Young (R - Pork) for the past 21 months, I have to say that watching him finally unravel between now and August will be one of the more rewarding periods of my life. I'm not wringing my hands in glee, though. I'm satisfied that this man's incredibly complex karmic past is catching up with him.

As I wrote on January 5 to Washington D.C.-based Alaska correspondent Robert Dillon, "When [Young] was responsible for the welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, he sold their and the guest workers there into a criminally-connected slave regime that will take years to undo. For that alone, he's the worst bad act our state has inflicted on the national soul."

Young has been the most frequent target of Progressive Alaska's wrath over the past five and a half months. And for good reason, to say the least. PA has actively sought more information on Young through that time. This blog was instrumental in keeping Young from being elevated to a higher degree in the Masonic order at an Anchorage ceremony, by making public Alaska Masons' concerns that no Mason under investigation by the FBI had been so elevated here in the past. PA has been there whenever Young has stumbled. And PA is helping those whose quest is to bring Young's questionable activities to light, whoever or wherever the investigators might be.

I'm a supporter of all three Democratic Party candidates for Don Young's congressional seat, in that all three are far, far more suitable to represent all Alaskans than is Young. I've been a Diane Benson volunteer for the past 21 months. Some of my closest friends are Jake Metcalfe or Ethan Berkowitz supporters. Lately, some of my close friends who support Ethan and I have gotten into it - in a friendly way, to be sure. But when they try to diminish the role Benson has played in bringing Young's borderline (or over-the-border) criminality to light, it strikes a nerve, because Diane's role in this process has been, to say the least, pivotal.

As the U.S. Senate attempts to force the House to investigate in a joint select committee the unconstitutional changes Young and his staff made to the 2005 omnibus transportation bill (the Coconut Road insertion), don't expect the Anchorage Daily News to mention that Diane Benson was the first person in public life to ask for an investigation in this matter. Almost eight months ago.

Benson's campaign presented this great TPM Veracifier video to the Alaska public back in September, 2007:



Don't expect the local media to mention that the Benson campaign was the first to note that Young's legal expenses would go over $1,000,000 in early 2008.

Don't expect the media to note that one of the supporters of the Ethan Berkowitz campaign already, is the Alaska chief of Veco's Alaska successor, CH2M Hill. That's the CH2M Hill that last summer negligently spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons radioactive sludge waste on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and then tried to hide the facts of the case. Berkowitz was also a recipient of Veco cash up until at least 1998.

Progressive Alaska calls upon all Democratic candidates in Alaska to return any contributions given them by CH2M Hill, or from the company's employees, until the company fixes the mess they made at Hanford.

image of Don Young by Dennis Zaki

Condi Must Go - Lisa, Ted & Don, Too!

The United States has executed Japanese Army officers for doing what Condoleeza Rice and her colleagues told our military and intelligence people to do. Both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House have voted to condone so-called enhanced interrogation techniques," that are in reality torture.

Once out of office, many people in the Bush administration will be unable to travel to many countries, as they will be liable for arrest, trial and long imprisonment for their war crimes. I believe that all of our political figures who have voted in support of these war crimes should be held accountable too. I think all our candidates running for office this fall should be asked by our supine media whether or not the candidates support "enhanced interrogation techniques," such as "waterboarding."

I put an anti-torture bumper sticker on my car yesterday. Already, it has gotten me more dirty looks, cars pulling into my lane right in front of me and then slowing down, and other irrational driver responses than my Diane Benson and Drop Don bumper stickers have gotten me in months.

George Bush's Longtime Crusade Against Global Warming

Just kidding.

Watching the President explain his record on the environment is one more episode of Orwellian word abuse. Hearing him use the words "rational," "realistic" and "cost-effective" almost hurts my ears. Although he's claiming that meaningful moves toward markedly reducing CO2 emissions would wreck our economy, he's already done that, while encouraging wasteful energy use on every level of our society.

The guy on CNN asks, "What does all this mean, what the president asks?" All I can guarantee is that George Bush doesn't understand much of what he's reading.

The president's approval rating is already at 23%. The majority of those still approving of his conduct before this speech were probably global warming and climate change deniers, and millennialists still hoping he will bring on the promises of the Book of Revelations. For them to see him pretending to outdo Al Gore is going to drive the man's popularity down into the mid-teens.

I am so sick of listening to him talk down to Americans, in his tiresome, petulant way.

Diane Benson on National Web Radio

The highly rated web radio outlet, Antiwar Radio, interviewed AK-AL Democratic Party candidate Diane Benson yesterday. As one might expect, interviewer Scott Horton concentrated on Benson's opposition to the Iraq War, but he asked her questions on a range of issues during the 25-minute interview.

The program has recently interviewed such people as Howard Zinn, Glenn Greenwald, Ray McGovern and Noam Chomsky.

You can listen to the interview here.

Diane Benson and Alaskan Veteran's Aviation Outreach's Maurice Bailey


The author of this article volunteered for and donated to the 1978 and 1980 campaigns of Rep. Don Young (he was then a Republican), volunteered for and donated to the Alaska Democratic Party when Jake Metcalfe was chairman, has volunteered for and donated to Diane Benson since July, 2006; and he or his wife have donated to the current Jake Metcalfe and Ethan Berkowitz campaigns.

This Couldn't Have Started Without Don Young

Don Young helped his now-imprisoned buddy, Jack Abramoff, to enable the Tan crime empire create a slave colony in the Commonwealth of the Mariana Islands. The so-called "guest workers" there, are kept locked up, forced to endure prostitution and subsequent forced abortions, threatened, and once used up, sent back to where they came from - usually flat broke and broken in body and spirit.

Don and Jack set up the sweet deal that allowed the goods made for Tan by these slaves to be marketed at your local clothing store as "Made in the USA."

Like Rep. Bob Schaffer (R- CO), in the video above, our Representative, Don Young, denies ever having dealt with Abramoff. As Kris Pierce and I were able to establish back in September 2006, though, Young is lying, just like Schaffer.

youtube courtesy of Talking Points Memo's Veracifier