Radioactive Steam Escaping Fukushima Underground Cracks Indicative of Broad New Problems

Drag and variety show nets $3,170 toward an Alaska vet’s home

--- by Bent Alaska

A fundraiser comprising drag queens and LGBT youth at Mad Myrna’s in Anchorage on Saturday night netted over $3K+ for a severely wounded Alaska veteran to help build him a handi-capable/handi-accessible home.

Event organizer Caleb Pritt was pleased with the result.

“I am simply overwhelmed with the generosity and compassion so many showed last night,” said Pritt.

“Too often, in society we see the military and veterans on one side of the political spectrum while on the other you have female impersonators and LGBT youth and activists. This is encouraging to me to see these two communities come together and raise money for a worthy cause.”

Pritt, who is also one of the performers and is known on stage as Diedra Windsor Walker, singlehandedly collected, over $2.5K in auction items from Alaska businesses. However, one of the biggest money making events of the evening is when local Alaska radio/television personality and professional auctioneer Cary Carrigan was auctioned off to be dressed in drag and perform a number. Pritt estimates Carrigan’s performance raised a sizable amount of the money raised.


Other performers included female impersonators Mariquita, MeMe, Rosey Rotten, Alexis Kellie, Jovy, Tiare’, and D’Licious and other local entertainers including Baina Kandi and opera singer Lisa Willis.

The benefit was held on behalf of Chugiak native Sgt. Latseen Benson. More about the fundraising effort for Benson can be found Homes for Our Troops: Latseen Benson. (Donations towards Benson’s home can also be make there.) Benson is the son of 2006 Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress and 2010 Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, Diane Benson.

“I am so thankful to Jeff Wood and the entire staff of Mad Myrna’s, the members of the Imperial Court of All Alaska who assisted in this effort, Grant Aviation, Village Inn, and so many more businesses and individuals who gave of their time, their talents, their auction items and raised money for a great cause,” said Pritt. “A group of drag queens and LGBT Youth raising money for a severely wounded veteran is something even Hollywood wouldn’t think up, but it shows how united Alaskans can be in a good cause. I hope our example spreads across this country and is a way to unite, rather than divide communities.”

Pritt said he hopes to make this an annual event.

[Judy and I were there and had as much fun at Mad Myrna's as we've had anywhere all summer!]

Sen. Leahy Preparing Legislation to Strip Funding from IDF Units Suspected of Human Rights Violations

The Senate has restricted U.S. military aid in the past to countries implicated in serious human rights violations. Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan have had military funding withheld when evidence surfaced of war crimes or endemic rights violations.

Vermont U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy has been working on possible legislation to target three Israeli units for a similar cutoff: Shayetet 13, the naval commando unit that killed eight Turks and an American on the Mavi Marmara, the undercover Duvdevan unit, and the Shaldag unit of the air force.

Sen. Leahy has been considering this move since early summer, but the news broke today, with a story in Haaretz:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a long-time friend of Leahy's, met with him in Washington two weeks ago to try to persuade him to withdraw the initiative.

According to a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, Leahy began promoting the legislation in recent months after he was approached by voters in his home state of Vermont.

A few months ago, a group of pro-Palestinian protesters staged a rally across from Leahy's office, demanding that he denounce the killing by Shayetet 13 commandos of nine Turkish activists who were part of the flotilla to Gaza last May.

Leahy, who heads the Senate Appropriations Committee's sub-committee on foreign operations, was the principle sponsor of a 1997 bill prohibiting the United States from providing military assistance or funding to foreign military units suspected of human rights abuses or war crimes. The law also stipulates that the U.S. Defense Department screen foreign officers and soldiers who come to the United States for training for this purpose.

Leahy wants the new clause to become a part of the U.S. foreign assistance legislation for 2012, placing restrictions on military assistance to Israel, particularly to those three units.

Leahy says these units are responsible for harming innocent Palestinian civilians and that no system of investigation is in place to ensure that their members are not committing human rights violations. According to Leahy's proposal, U.S. military assistance to Israel would be subject to the same restrictions that apply to countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and Jordan.

Apparently, Leahy let the Israeli government know early on that he was contemplating applying the same standards to the IDF that we assign to the other three countries to which we give such aid.

According to Jason Ditz at Antiwar.com, the Israelis are arguing that they have satisfactory mechanisms in place to police their soldiers when such claims as human rights violations occur:

The proposal had Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak holding secret meetings with Leahy earlier this month, during which Barak demanded that the bill be withdrawn from consideration. It does not appear that it was successful.

Barak’s argument, apparently, was that Israel’s military has “broader powers” than the judiciary within the US military and that Palestinians are supposed to approach the military advocate general with complaints of abuse.

Leahy’s bill would oblige Israel to set up some system to ensure that its armed forces are not committing human rights violations.

In the case of the naval commando unit, Shayetet 13, serious questions are outstanding as to exactly how the nine Mavi Marmara victims died.  Eyewitness accounts and forensic evidence point toward some of them having been summarily executed after the vessel was seized.

In the case of  the Duvdevan Unit, there have been many examples over the years of  human rights violations.  Here's a description of one of the most recent:

An Israeli soldier who shot dead a Palestinian man as he lay in his bed has been exonerated. Another soldier involved in the incident was discharged from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for acting “unprofessionally.”

The killing took place on January 7, when soldiers from the Duvdevan unit, described by the IDF as “a professional elite unit specializing in close combat, camouflage and assimilation into hostile territory,” raided a Hebron apartment building in search of five Hamas militants. They mistakenly stormed the home of Amr Qawasme, who lived above where the wanted men were thought to be hiding, and opened fire almost immediately after encountering what they described as “suspicious movement.” It turns out Qawasme was in his bed. His relatives say he was sleeping. Two soldiers shot the 65-year-old Palestinian man in the head and chest, splattering the bed and the surrounding area with blood and killing Qawasme instantly.

In the case of the Shaldag Unit, little has come to surface recently, but they operate mostly outside of Israeli borders and very little within the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

Sen. Leahy has direct responsibilities in this area, as he is chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee's sub-committee on foreign operations, and as noted above, is seen to be consistent in how he wants to review our relationships with the funding of military operations, equipment or performance of foreign military units we help finance.  And, as noted above, he has developed fairly close personal relationships with some of the Israeli government figures with whom he has dealt over a long career in the Senate.

Leahy has won his past three elections by 72%, 71% and 62%.  He doesn't come up again until 2016.  Such a bold opening move on pushing legislation like this by a highly respected senior Senator against Israeli prerogatives in our Congress may not be entirely unprecedented, but it seems to me that this is an important development.

The Israeli press and American anti-war press will cover this, but if the Israelis cannot convince Sen. Leahy to drop his idea, or get other Senators to act directly as their agents to get it derailed, the proposal or bill will eventually attract some MSM attention.

I doubt it will pass, though.  The subcommittee is quite conservative, even by Senate standards.  If it does become law it will be a sign of major change in how our national legislature deals with aid to Israel.  Leahy's targeting of three units with particularly egregious records is a sign of shrewdness on his part.

The Israeli claims that their military is held to a higher standard than any other armed force in the world are no more true than they are when the U.S. makes those same claims.   Internal investigations of war crimes by any military force tend to get results like the house arrest of Lt. Calley and so on.

Freedom and the Fight for Ethical Government

--- by Jim Sykes

Ethics hang in the balance at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly meeting Aug. 16 as two very different ethics ordinances are scheduled for consideration on the same agenda. Two months ago, Ordinance 11-060 was introduced to eliminate the all-volunteer ethics board and replace it with one paid administrative hearing officer (at $120 per hour), who would serve as cop, investigator, judge, jury and executioner.

People from all walks of life — veterans, homemakers, former and current ethics board members and others from every part of the political spectrum — testified unanimously against it. Yet, the poorly conceived ethics board elimination proposal still appears on Tuesday’s agenda.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that the assembly is considering the original proposal of reforms developed by the ethics board (Ordinance 11-022), which was sent to the assembly in February. The ethics board reform proposal reorganized, and updated the existing law and included huge cost-saving measures, even greater than those suggested by the ethics board elimination proposal (Ordinance 11-060).

After an assembly work session Aug. 2, it now appears that the original ethics board reform proposal (11-022) will be used as the vehicle for consideration, but that is where the good news ends.

One idea from the work session could take away the right of a resident to file an ethics complaint unless he or she paid a $1,000 filing fee. Another would hand over most of the process to a paid administrative hearing officer and relegate the ethics board to being advisory only — similar to the proposal to eliminate the ethics board. It would also take away current ethics board abilities to initiate a complaint, amend a complaint or issue its own opinions. Basically, these ideas would take away our rights as residents and take the teeth out of the kind of good government oversight Americans and borough residents expect from their government.

Up until now, the assembly has supported a strong and independent ethics system. However, since 2006, two cases that incurred high attorney’s fees are now being used as excuses to gut the ethics process. In fact, the ethics board was rewriting the borough code when it recognized the need to find less expensive and more efficient ways to accomplish the ethics process. Those recommendations are included in the ethics board reform proposal 11-022 and they eliminate two current attorney positions that tend to cost the most money.

Where the ethics board held tough was support for an independent investigator to make sure that the same person who investigates it does not make decisions about the case. That preserves the rights of everyone involved. Without this guarantee of investigative independence, it would be like having the prosecuting attorney also be the judge. An independent attorney would, of course, incur some costs. But those costs tend to be very limited, and it may be possible to use an administrative hearing officer, at $120 per hour, so long as it is not the same one who conducts the hearing. Just as we know freedom isn’t free, neither is a good government ethics process.

An administrative hearing officer could be helpful to efficiently screen a complaint and focus the board on the issues of determining probable cause, investigation of facts and facilitating an adjudicatory hearing. Responsibility, at each decision point, should be formed by the deliberations of the volunteer ethics board members — similar to a jury — not a lone paid hearing officer. A hearing officer might be helpful to the board as it writes a decision to make sure the reasoning clearly applies the law to the facts of the case — again as the facilitator, not the decision-maker.

Ethics board reform proposals in Ordinance 11-022 are solid. Any improvements need to be well thought out and any attempt to weaken the ethics board or its process should be kicked aside.

People who care about pending ethics legislation can testify Tuesday, Aug. 16 at a special meeting from 4 to 6 p.m. and again at the regular public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m.

The ethics board reform proposal Ordinance 11-022, and the ethics board elimination proposal can both be read on the Mat-Su Borough website under pending legislation.

Copyright © 2011 Frontiersman

[Jim Sykes served as ethics board chair during most of the development of reform proposals 2007-09]

People Concerned about Ethics Meeting 5:30pm Monday, August 15 Colony Inn

--- by Jim Sykes

Care about Borough Ethics? The Assembly is poised to either get rid of the Ethics Board or weaken it this Tuesday, but they could pass a measure (Ordinance 11-022) that would actually improve the current law..

Janet Kincaid has generously offered meeting space at the Colony Inn (next to the Borough building)  5:30pm Monday, August 15th. 

Purpose will be to update people on the Ethics Ordinances up before the Assembly during two separate meetings  Tuesday, August 16th, to answer questions and strategize.

There will be a brief summary of objections to good ethics raised by Assembly Members.

A brief summary of inclinations of support among Assembly members.

Time for questions, ideas and suggestions about what points need to be made at the Special meeting Tuesday from 4-6 p.m. and then the Public Hearing beginning at 7 p.m. and possible ways to educate Assembly Members.

Please come and bring friends and neighbors who care about good government.

Thank You!

Cilantro-Pistachio-Lemon Pesto

 For once, we've been presented with an embarrassment of cilantro.  It doesn't happen very often to Alaska gardeners.  The batch seeded in late June turned out so splendid that we want to use every leaf petal.

Should I turn it into a pasta ingredient?  Directly, as part of the pasta dough, or indirectly?

Let's try indirectly.

The mating of cilantro with pistachio kernels is a natural match, but few people get the nuts, unless they are still in the shell.  A pound bag of the shelled nuts costs less than $20.00 at some large volume stores.

The first time I bought a bag, it was because I wanted to eat a bunch of them without the time and hassle of tweaking them out of their little houses.

I discovered that I missed the obsessive moves one makes going after the kernels, taking five or ten out of a bag at a time, and then finding a place to put the empty shells, as I chomped on the little kernels.

Realizing we'd have a huge burst of cilantro in late summer, I got a new pistachio bag last month.  Now it is time to finally make cilantro-pistachio pesto.

If you've made basic basil-pine nut pesto, you probably know that it tastes far better homemade than anything store bought.  This is more important with cilantro-pistachio pesto, because lemon or lime juice is a component of many recipes. In some, the rind is also important.  There's no way to substitute the freshness of newly squeezed and shredded citrus to anything available in a store.

We put up a lot of basil pesto as an uncooked freezer product.  It stores well for several years.  Cilantro-pistachio pesto might be more problematic.  I'm putting five batches in the freezer, so I can see.  But on my wife's advice, we won't add the lemon until it has thawed for use.

Here's a basic recipe for cilantro-pistachio-lemon pesto:

2 cups cilantro leaves*
1 cup pistachio nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
2 or 3 garlic cloves
juice of 1 lemon
finely shredded rind of 1 lemon

Cut the garlic cloves into quarters or smaller.  Shred the rind of the lemon, then juice the fruit.  The cilantro leaves can include upper fresh stem material, if it is choice.  It adds fiber to the product. Compact the leaves a bit firmly to get your 2 cups worth.  Blend briefly, then push side debris in the blender down into the mix.  Blend again, and spoon into whatever destination you've chosen for this ambrosia.

Like other pestos, this one can be used in many ways:

alone, on freshly cooked pasta
as a coating to a baked dish - added late in the cooking
as part of a vinaigrette
with mayonnaise added, as a garnish to spread

We served our experimental batch on Friday, mixed in with Bulgar wheat.  Yum.  It was far less weighty than if we'd had it with pasta.

No salt is necessary in this pesto, because the pistachio nuts have already been salted rather fully.

There are variations to this recipe.  Some include lime as a lemon substitute.  I can imagine tangerine.  Others toss in some pepper or another.

Basil pesto is invariably linked to shredded cheese like Parmesan.  Cilantro pesto does not beg for cheese.  We haven't used any with it yet.  What do you think?

First Movement of My New Choral Work on Trees: Feltleaf Willow

I'm posting this for markfromireland, whose Saturday chorales at firedoglake are always a favorite there.  Mark's new web site, Saturday Chorale posts many videos of choral works - old and new.

I'm composing a set of four very short a capella wordless settings for eight-part chorus in response for a request for a work from the Anchorage Concert Chorus.  Each will be about a tree that grows at our place in Wasilla, Alaska:  Feltleaf Willow, Sitka Spruce, Paper Birch and Diamond Willow.

This chorale, Feltleaf Willow, is to be vocalized with "Ahs."  Some of the others are using harder sounding vocables, with biting consonants, like "K" and "D" and "Teh."

This is the first time I have used Quicktime's capability to capture video shots on my computer screen.

The result isn't very spectacular.  Actually, it sucks.  I'm not sure how to get better overall results for a project like this.  Maybe someone has a suggestion or two.

What you see is a Finale file of my chorale, scrolling on by, with the green vertical line indicating where you are in the notation.  What you hear is a very poor audio rendition of the sampled sounds of female and male voices, using the samples of a software program called Garritan Personal Orchestra.

Hopefuly, humans will start singing the completed set this Fall.

The New Trail to Gold Cord Lake at Hatcher Pass

In 2007 through 2009, a new trail was built from the Independence Mine area at Hatcher Pass, up to Gold Cord Lake.   The old trail went directly up a rock fall that adorned the creek that drains the lake.  It was fairly vertical, with a moderate amount of exposure, especially considering how many families took little kids up the path, because the hike is short and quite convenient.

The new trail is almost twice a long as the old direct route.  It is far safer for families with little kids, though.  Judy, Strider and I hiked it today.

Judy hikes a lot more than me, and has done the new route before.  It was my first time up the new trail.  Some of the new rock stairs are quite pretty, the way they seem to highlight the other native rocks around them.

The park people have erected some barriers, to keep people off the old trails, some of which are being replanted with local flora.

This set of stairs had several rocks that must weigh over 500 pounds.

Another long, wide staircase.

Part of a series of staircases.

The top of the new trail, as it converges with the old one, just to the west of the lake.

Overlooking the western edge of Gold Cord Lake, looking down on Independence Mine valley, the peaks around the summit of Hatcher Pass, and a bit of the lower Knik River basin in the background.  I counted 52 people up at the lake, by far the most people I've ever seen there.

The southwest corner of the lake, with its shades of blue, green, azure and aquamarine.

Home for an Alaska hero: A fundraiser for Sgt. Latseen Benson

Mario Andretti and Latseen Benson

--- by Bent Alaska

Army Sergeant Latseen Benson of Chugiak was on his second deployment to Iraq in November 2005 when a bomb blast caused the immediate amputations of both of his legs.  Now Sgt. Benson needs your help to get a specially adapted home that will him the opportunity to live a life with the freedom and independence he fought to preserve for this country.
Join us this Saturday for a fabulous night’s entertainment as we raise funds to build a handicapable home for Sgt.  Benson and his family.

Latseen is the son of ally to the LGBT community, Diane Benson, who was Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in 2006 and Lt. Governor in 2010.

So what about entertainment?
We have female impersonators like :

• Mariquita
• MeMe
• Rosey Rotten
• Alexis Kellie
• Jovy
• Tiare’
• D’Licious
• Many, many, many more….

BUT we will have other talents of local entertainers like :

• Kelly Lee Williams, Comedian
• Baina Kandi, Anchorage’s local show host
• Lisa Willis, local opera singer
• Many, many, many more…..

We also have an auction and hopefully Mikey La Choi will be the ever wonderful auctioneer. So far we have :

• Hand crocheted American flag blanket
• Lunch with Elvi Gray Jackson & Diane Benson
• Gift certificates to local restaurants
• Much, much, much more……

We hope you can make it, but if you can’t, you can still help by visiting Sgt. Benson’s page at Homes for Our Troops and donating there.

• Date/time: Saturday, August 13, 9:00 PM to midnight
• Location: Mad Myrna’s, 530 E. 5th Ave. in downtown Anchorage (see map)
• Cost of admission: Cover will be $10 and the money raised will be going to Sgt. Benson through Homes For Our Troops.
• Further info: See Facebook event page. To learn more about this project go to Homes for Our Troops: Latseen Benson.

Homes for Our Troops has a video about Sgt. Benson. Watch:

Valley Victory: DeVilbiss Veto Over-Ridden by MSB Assembly 5 to 2

Trunk Road Roundabout - image by PA

This past week, taking his cue from Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss vetoed the Assembly's approval of putting the possibility of $31 million in road bonds on the ballot, for Mat-Su voters to decide for themselves:

The assembly decided Tuesday to put road bonds on the ballot, but the mayor vetoed the measure.

and:

Devil biss [sic] has vetoed the measure.

Assemblyman Mark Ewing said that as far as he can tell, the mayor was acting on advice from Anchorage officials.

[According to Assembly member Mark Ewing], “the mayor’s down in Sitka right now and he’s talked to (Anchorage) Mayor (Dan) Sullivan and they’ve scaled their bonds back to $25 million. We’re really in a dilemma, we’re down to the 11th hour and the mayor’s out of town.” [emphasis added]

 Then, Thursday evening, at a special meeting of the Assembly:

Voters will decide on more than $30 million in bonds for road projects after the Mat-Su Borough Assembly overturned a Mayor Larry DeVilbiss veto of the package.


The assembly decided Tuesday to put road bonds on the ballot, but the mayor vetoed the measure, but his roadblock didn’t last long, with the assembly voting Thursday 5-2 to overturn the veto. It was the latest in a back-and-forth debate about what type of bond question to put on the Oct. 4 ballot.

Part of the reason this vote turned out the way it did was that over the middle of the week, various local organizations mobilized, asking voters to get in touch with their Assembly representative.  They did.

Here's part of the bulletin sent out by Friends of Mat-Su:

YOUR VOICE IS NEEDED- MSB MAYORAL VETO OF ROAD BOND PACKAGE

Dear friends,

We are writing to you with an urgent request contact to ask you to take action and contact Mat-Su Borough Assembly members today.  Just a few hours ago we learned that the Mat-Su Borough Mayor decided at the last minute to issue a veto of the recent roadbond package currently up for consideration by the MSB Assembly.  There is a meeting scheduled at 6 p.m. this evening in the MSB Assembly chambers where the Assembly could take action on the veto for the road bond package.

WHAT?
The Assembly has unanimously voted in the past to put a road bond package on the October election ballot for voters to consider.  The road bond requires $32 million of Borough funds to be included in a 55-50 funding split with the State of Alaska and includes projects Borough-wide.Apparently, the Mayor has issues with certain aspects of the package.   Considering this he has decided to issue a veto that will hold up the entire package and effectively eliminate several important community projects.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT?
This last minute veto is unfortunate and irresponsible.  If the veto is successful, it will effectively terminate two important projects included as part of the package for paved trails and pathways in the communities of Sutton and the Butte.  These projects have gained widespread support by local residents and will provide countless benefits for the local communities and all borough residents. 

Projects targeted:
 1. A paved pathway about 2.7 miles long in Butte extending an existing paved pathway from Plumbly Rd. to the Knik River bridge along the Old Glenn Highway.

2. a paved pathway about 0.4 miles long from the Sutton Elementary School to the Glenn Highway.

What can you do?
Please send an email or call all Assembly members now to ask for the support in keeping these items in the bond package.  If you are able to attend the meeting in person this evening it would very helpful to show a presence of support.

Further more, tell Assembly members that the current package as was proposed was voted on and approved unanimously by the majority of the Assembly at their last meeting and to ensure that these important projects in Sutton and Butte are protected.

It worked - along with the efforts of other local grassroots organizations and individuals.  Whether or not the package gets voted in, the voters themselves, instead of Larry DeVilbiss and Dan Sullivan, will get to decide.


note - the author is a lifetime member and Secretary of the Board of Friends of Mat-Su