Breaking New Frontiers -- Congratulations, Matthew Mitcham!

The Advocate has a profile of this great Australian diver. Needless to say, although Matthew isn't the first openly gay Olympian medal winner, NBC coverage of his triumph, unlike that of many other countries, failed to mention this important fact, only referring to his "personal issues and family issues," while narrating his appearance in the ten-meter platform event.

I Meet Obama at the Fair

he's the one on your left...

Making Pesto

We finished harvesting our Sweet basil and Lemon basil today. We grow it in the greenhouse.

Some years we've grown as many as seven kinds of basil - Sweet, Lemon, Thai, Purple, Cinnamon, Persian and Genovese. We've been growing basil since 1988, when we lived in our old house near the west end of Fairview Loop, on the other side of Wasilla.

This year, we kept it simple, because we travelled so much while the stuff was growing. And this year, we combined the Lemon and Sweet basil into one pesto blend, rather than keeping them in separate batches.

The kids love pesto. They always have. It isn't really cheap to make in Alaska, unless you grow your own basil. Most of the farmers' markets up north charge far more for basil than do markets in the lower 48. A few years ago, I bought three shopping bags completely full of basil in a farmers market in Des Moines, Washington, for $12.00. The pesto we made in Seattle went up to Julia's house in Bellingham, where she shared it with her college room-mates.

Pesto freezes better than any other vegetable product we store. We've eaten pesto that has been frozen for five years, that still tastes better than anything one could buy in most stores.

McCain to Pick Romney? Well, Let's Make Sure Alaskans Know How That Choice Feels About McCain

Saturday Progressive Blog Roundup - August 23 2008 - Part Two: Dennis, Holly, Linda, Morrigan and Writing Raven Arrive in Denver

Alaska's bloggers and Holly Miowak Stebing, our state's winning essayist, have arrived in Denver, for the 2008 Democratic Party National Convention. I don't know whether or not Holly has a blog that does Alaska politics, but three progressive Alaska blogs will be covering this very important event regarding America's future.

I'll be very busy during the convention week, teaching at UAA, helping to hire ex-Ethan Berkowitz campaign workers for the Diane Benson project, and continuing to write music to a new production of Shakespeare's As You Like It. But PA will also try to relay information to readers from Alaska Real, Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis, and Dennis Zaki's Alaska Report Blog.

Judy and I are watching the last weekend of the Olympics. And the speech Joe Biden made this afternoon in Illinois. He's saying, "Yes - We CAN!" to crowds full of young people.

Yes, young people - we can. And - yes, young people - the Republicans have failed you on a monumental scale. Not only have they trumped the Ronald Reagan mortgaging of your future by electing an eight-year administration that cut taxes on the most wealthy during a time of war, they sold the notes on the mortgages to people who will now control those kids' futures in ways we can't yet imagine.

And, the Republicans have chosen to put a person up there to bring us into the next phase of this who wants to keep your kids, grand-kids and great grand-kids fighting a flawed war paradigm without oversight. Forever and ever.

Our accountant, her husband, Judy and I were comparing images of GOP clone children to kids reacting to Democrats today.

The GOP kids conjure images of children under the control of Jim Jones or David Koresh:

Our Democratic Party events through 2008 seem to be a degree beyond the opposite of that:
I hope that Alaska Democrats can mobilize hundreds more young people like Holly Miowak Stebing to help our younger kids figure this out.

image of Ms. Stebing by Linda Kellen

2008 Alaska State Fair Parade - Democrats Rock!

Before the start of the parade - Diane and Mark hugging:
The parade marching Democrats forming up:
Benson's Alaskan Golden Bear, leading the parade:
Campaigners:
Judy and Dewey:
The Benson Golden Bear thrilling kids - our future:
Alaskans for Clean elections, passing the Reviewing Stand. Hopefully, they're our future too:

Also at the Parade - Alaskans For Clean Elections Signs & Materials

There will be signs and other materials from Alaskans for Clean Elections at the parade. Diane Benson, Ethan Berkowitz, Mark Begich, Wally Hickel, Vic Fisher, Katie Hurley and a host of other prominent Alaskans in public life, have heartily endorsed this ballot initiative. The Anchorage Daily News fulsomely endorsed it in a column last week.

Here's a guest post by Jim Sykes on this:

The most important vote on August 26th

Ballot Measure 3, public funding for campaigns, is known as Clean Elections because it takes special interest money out of our election system. Despite it's enormous success in states that already use the system, opponents are slinging mud with untruths and misleading information.

It's critical to clear up this mud with actual facts. Please visit www.alaskansforcleanelections.org and ask people to pass on the link. Alaskans from all political stripes are featured in videos. Find the You'll Fact Check page to debunk myths from opponents (right hand menu) and important reference documents (left menu). Right now Ballot Measure 3 is a toss up. Now is the time Alaskans need win Clean Elections to get the special interest money out of elections with a system that's proven to work well.

Ballot Measure 3, Clean Elections, is pretty easy. If you want to continue with special interest money dominating our election system, you probably won't support it. If you want less influence from special interest money, real competition for ideas and issues and a better democracy, vote yes.

Public funding for campaigns, known as Clean Elections, is a voluntary add-on to our current election system. The Clean Elections system has proven encourage more and better candidates, including more women and lower income candidates, while severely reducing the influence of special interests. Candidates who choose to raise private funds can continue to do so under the current system.

4 out of 5 voters support this system in states with the most experience--an enormously high level of support. Opponents say the system is bad and doesn't work, yet if that were true, states that have the system would have gotten rid of it.

Whether we know it or not, our current system allows bunches of our public money to fund some campaigns partially through political favors, paybacks and sweetheart deals on state resources. The federal indictment against Sen. John Cowdery made it clear:

"COMPANY VP told COMPANY CEO on two separate occasions that the only leverage COMPANY A (Veco) had to change votes on the 20/20 PPT (Petroleum Production Tax) legislation is through campaign contributions and by hosting fund-raisers."

Contributions became a gateway for bribes. Veco mostly bribed those who received its contributions. The 2006 PPT vote was worth over a billion dollars a year to Veco and big oil.

That amount could have funded Clean Elections for 200 years. The $9 per year per Alaskan per year estimated cost is tiny compared to the paybacks to funders that our current system invites.

Join Walter Hickel, Tony Knowles, Arliss Sturgulewski, Vic Fischer, Jim Whitaker, Janet Kincaid, Katie Hurley, John Havelock, AARP, the Alaska Women's Political Caucus, and many other Alaskans from across the political spectrum and vote YES on 3. Make Alaska's election system the best it can be.

Jim Sykes

PO Box 696, Palmer, AK 99645

Saturday Progressive Blog Roundup - August 23 2008 - Part One: State Fair Parade Edition

Please join the Alaska Democrats, the Mat-Su Democrats, several Democratic Party candidates for state legislative seats, and Diane Benson & Mark Begich, running for seats in the national legislature, at the Alaska State Fair Parade this morning. See my post from yesterday for help on parking and gathering between 10:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. this morning.

AK-AL US House candidate Ethan Berkowitz, running against Benson for a chance at the seat in November, will be in Kenai today at noon until 4:00 p.m, for Industry Appreciation Day.

AK-AL US House candidate Diane Benson will be at the Alaska Democratic Party booth today, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The booth is at the south side of the fair, near the Red Gate, just to the north of the bar in the tent.

PA welcomed the Alaska Dispatch to our roster of Progressive Alaskan Media on August 14. In today's web edition, I noticed another one of my favorite Alaskan journalists being featured on the Dispatch pages - Rosanne Pagano. She wrote a great vignette about living in the South Addition section of Anchorage.

I wish I could say as much about Amanda Coyne's short, shallow take on how the word got around yesterday, through a series of e-mails with a picture attached, trying to implicate the Fairbanks Diane Benson office in a move, described in one e-mail, as "she's getting ready to endorse Ted!"

Yeah, right.

Ms. Coyne manages to craft a story that leaves the Berkowitz campaign with the last word on this, without - once again, Anchorage media - noting that the figures the Berkowitz Communication Director cites as being a credible poll - were provided to the media by a person who only ceased raising money for the Berkowitz campaign 24 hours a day, seven days a week, last Tuesday morning, as a result of Progressive Alaska's actions. The "poll" was taken weeks ago.

Some people got sucked in by the pollster's total lack of care for what should be a standard - if you're fundraising for a candidate at the time you take a poll for that candidate, you really should make a disclaimer. It should be a no-brainer, as many respondents to our poll on this over the past week have indicated.

The only media outlet to print an Ivan Moore disclaimer on this, to my knowledge, has been the Anchorage Press.

Other people haven't gotten sucked in. Katie Hurley, for example, shows in this interview why I've said many times over the past 13 months, Alaska is the most in-flux political environment in the country. Here's Katie, covered by the Anchorage Daily News political reporter, Sean Cockerham:

Katie Hurley, a former Democratic legislator and a participant in the Alaska constitutional convention, said it's a stronger Democratic primary field in the U.S. House race than in the past. Hurley said she probably won't know which candidate she's voting for until she gets into the voting booth on Tuesday.

"It's good to have competition," she said.

But - wait a minute!

Uh, oh..... Maybe Amanda's right. Dennis Zaki has a picture of a Benson volunteer putting a Ted Stevens bumper sticker on his car.

And a Youtube of that same campaign volunteer delivering some mysterious looking documents to Sen. Stevens' Anchorage campaign office, while he thinks nobody is looking:

That's good enough proof for me, too. Sorry, Amanda.

disclaimer - the author of this article has donated to both the Diane Benson and Ethan Berkowitz campaigns this cycle, and has been volunteering for Diane Benson since 2006 (while he's not secretly working for Ted Stevens)

A YouTube of Sen. Toobz

This dang thing has been up there since Wednesday. Progressive Alaska has commented about it twice now. This is only the first six and a half minutes of the program. Sen. Stevens descends further and further into rudeness and acuity problems as the hour goes by. The YouTube makes it easy to just click here, and learn:

A Sea of Democrats at the State Fair Parade - This Year!

This was taken at the 2006 Alaska State Fair Parade in Palmer. It has been cropped, so you can't see the leash extending from now-Gov. Palin's hand to around the waist of now-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell.

Some things have changed since then. Palin is now Governor; Parnell is now Lt. Governor, and he's hoping to take U.S. Rep. Don Young's seat in Congress.

Some things haven't changed. The leash is still there.

Other things have changed too. Here is what the Mat-Su Democrats looked like on February 4th, at our caucuses:
And here's what the Democratic Party caucus goers looked like at Begich Middle School in Anchorage, that same day:

Tomorrow morning, come march with Alaska Democrats at the Alaska State Fair Parade in Palmer! Several candidates are organizing their own contingents, to march together, but you can march anywhere in this large mix, that will mingle, so that we'll see a sea of Democrats!

The parade starts at 11:00 a.m. But you want to get there early. Groups of Democrats will be organizing by 10:30 a.m. in the area between the east side of the old Railroad Depot, and the Palmer Police and State Trooper buildings.

Here's our Mat-Su Democrats' announcement:

When:	Saturday, August 23rd 2008, at 11:00 AM
Where:	Downtown Palmer
Info:	Well it's Alaska State Fair time again. We are looking for participants to march in the Alaska State Fair parade for the Alaska Democratic Party on Saturday, August 23, 2008. The parade beings at 11:00 A.M. in downtown Palmer. We are asking for everyone who wants to march in the parade to meet next to the Railroad Depot in downtown Palmer between 10:00 and 10:30. The theme for the parade is "Bring on the Fun". If you were a volunteer at the State convention, please wear your green convention volunteer t-shirt for the parade. If you have any questions or want more information: call Patty Windel 357-5696 (H) or 232-9436 (C), Kathy Jackman 745-0260 (H) or 355-1892 (c) , Nancy Guiley 376-1160 or 232-9485 (c).

A Special Note: I've been at the Alaska State Fair Parade almost every year for the past 25 years. Here's some advice:

Get there early, and plan to be there a while. Downtown Palmer is a real small town, and the State Fair Parade is great! If you get into the downtown area by 9:30 a.m. you'll beat the crowd. You can park off toward the east end of town (toward the mountains), or a couple blocks west of the parade route (near the Glenn Highway and Fred Meyer).

If you have family that will not be marching with you, an hour before the parade starts, the Mat-Su College Community Band plays Sousa marches, polkas, rhythm-and-blues and patriotic music for an hour in the plaza in front of the old railroad depot. They're good. I know - they were my band from 1995 to 2007.

If you want to be able to exit quickly after the parade, park on the Fred Meyer side of the parade. There are state fair traffic restrictions in the area. But you can drive the Glenn Highway right through from Anchorage to Palmer, and it shouldn't be very busy in mid-morning. Here's a link to State Fair parking information, if you're planning on going to the fair after the parade.

images:
Sean on leash - the governor's office
Wasilla February Caucus - Progressive Alaska
Anchorage February Caucus - What Do I Know?