London Philharmonic Members Suspended for Signing Pro-Palestinian Letter of Support

The title page to Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, showing how he scratched out the name of Napoleon Bonaparte, after Napoleon declared himself Emperor

I. The London arts scene is one of the most energetic, creative and cutting edge on the planet.  Young artists flock there from all over the world to take part in its visual arts shows and showings, new dramatic works, musical premieres and what not.  All these elements are combined in cinema, happenings and multi-media events that challenge categorization.

At the same time, London is home to hundreds of very traditional arts presenting organizations, companies, ensembles and venues.  The brash avant garde arts scenes and the venerated institutional ones sometimes intersect.  I've been fortunate to witness that happening in trips to London dating back into late in the last century, participating in it in 2005.

protest signs outside the London premiere of The Skies Are Weeping at the Hackney Empire - Nov 1, 2005

2011 has seen a rise in artistic resistance to cultural events celebrating the expanding apartheid policies of the government of Israel.  The London arts scene has a centuries old relationship with Jewish artists that may be unique.  Alone among the great European cities, London did not see its vibrant Jewish community fractured and dismantled (as with Moscow and St. Petersburg) or utterly destroyed (as in Nazi-occupied Europe) during the 20th century.

There is a battle going on now in London between activist Jewish artists - some very young, others quite established - who are taking acton against apartheid Israel, and the mostly older Jewish arts supporting community of patrons, managers, board members and event-attending subscribers.  Although this same battle is happening in some U.S. cities, such as New York City and in the San Francisco Bay area,  London is the central front.

This past month has seen the possibly long-term suspension of an unnamed violinist in the London Philharmonic "after she allegedly launched an anti-Israel "rant" when Israeli musicians appeared at the Royal College of Music before the concert at the Royal Albert Hall earlier this month."

Soon afterward, when those Israeli musicians, members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, performed at a popular Proms concert, a group of mostly Jewish musicians interrupted the performance several times, breaking out in Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" from his 9th Symphony, with new lyrics:

Israel, end your occupation:
There’s no peace on stolen land.
We’ll sing out for liberation
’till you hear and understand.

Ethnic cleansing and apartheid
Should belong to history.
Human rights cannot be silenced:
Palestine will soon be free.

Some London reviewers and commentators observed, as did The Guardian's  Erica Jeal, after the demonstration, that its crudeness "seemed to turn the audience – many of whom were no doubt sympathetic to the protesters – into avid supporters of the Israel Phil."  She was there, I wasn't.  But if the immediate impression, watching the orchestra members try to put more meaning into their playing in response to the open hostility, backs Jeal's assertion, the lasting one may be of deepening hostility to cultural programming of organizations such as the Israel Philharmonic, that have direct ties to that country's government.

As the ramifications of the Proms outburst began to play out, word spread that four members of the London Philharmonic who, along with many other UK artists, had signed a letter protesting the upcoming concert, had been suspended for their action, by the LPO, for "up to nine months":

In a statement, Tim Walker, the LPO's chief executive, and Martin Hohmann, its chairman, said the suspensions sent "a strong and clear message that their actions will not be tolerated … the orchestra would never restrict the right of its players to express themselves freely, however such expression has to be independent of the LPO itself.

"The company has no wish to end the careers of four talented musicians but … for the LPO, music and politics do not mix."

They added that the orchestra had no political or religious affiliations and strongly believed in the power of music to bring peace and harmony to the world, not war, terror and discord.

The LPO suspended cellist Sue Sutherley and violinists Tom Eisner, Nancy Elan and Sarah Streatfeild until June 2012 after they signed a letter as members of the LPO denouncing the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) as an instrument of the country's propaganda.

Other signatories of the letter are prominent Jewish London musicians.  In response to the suspension, over 100 artists have signed a letter protesting the punitive action:

Leading names in the arts industry have criticized the London Philharmonic Orchestra's (LPO) suspension of four members who opposed a London concert by Israeli musicians.

In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, filmmaker Mike Leigh, actress Miriam Margolyes and 115 other prominent arts figures said they were "shocked" and "dismayed" at the suspension of the four musicians, and urged the LPO to reconsider its decision.

"One does not have to share the musician's support for the campaign for boycotting Israeli institutions to feel grave concern about the bigger issue at stake for artists and others. There is a link being created here between personal conscience and employment which we must all resist," the letter said.

"Why should it be so dangerous for artists to speak out on the issue of Israel/Palestine? We are dismayed at the precedent set by this harsh punishment, and we strongly urge the LPO to reconsider its decision," it said.

There seems to be growing support for the suspended musicians in other arenas too. At the classical music forum, Bright Cecilia, commentator Philodor writes:

There's going to be a lot of trouble over this. Presumably the Musicians' Union is organising now. If they've got any balls they'll ballot for a strike. You can't have orchestral managements running about suspending musicians for signing a letter.

Musician unions are interesting organisations. If a management annoys an orchestra sufficiently they can easily find themselves with a very solid strike on their hands. Musicians are trained, for years, from childhood, to play together. Which means they also go on strike together.

Watch this space. If I was a member of the LPO I'd vote to strike. Their management needs knocking down a peg or two.

That forum post launched a wild debate.  Forum members have posted their correspondence with the LPO organization, some framing the question at hand - can we as artists stand by idly as Israeli apartheid grows? - in recent historical perspective.  At issue is the contention of the LPO manager and board that their organization is apolitical, and that the members, by affixing LPO behind their signatures in the protest letter, violated ensemble policy.  Defenders of the LPO Four feel that their having identified themselves that way was not at all what the director and board took it to be.  Here's one example of that argument, in a letter written to director Walker by Serenus Zeitblom:

I am afraid that because of its close links with the Israeli government, and the way that the Israel PO has continued to act as a cultural flagship for a state whose policies in Palestine are systematically in breach of UN resolutions and international law, any concert by that orchestra is a political event. I'm afraid it is simply naive to argue otherwise - in this case music cannot be above politics, in the same way that a visit from a state-sponsored orchestra from South Africa in the apartheid era could not be above politics. There are far bigger issues at stake here than whether members of one orchestra should argue that another should not play - in fact it is the four suspended players whose actions were seeking to keeping politics out of music.

I am also surprised to see that you write that political and religious views should be private. I am not aware that this was an issue about religion - while Israel is officially a Jewish state there are many Jews who oppose its policies in Palestine and many non-Jews who support them. Are you saying that considerations of religion were taken into account in the suspensions? And if you really mean that religious beliefs must be private, would you suspend a Sikh player for wearing a turban? Or a Jewish player for wearing a yarmulke? Or a female Muslim player for wearing a headscarf? In every case they are making public their religious affiliation.

Philidor, responding to a comment at the forum, writes:

[I]t makes strong tactical and strategic sense for everyone concerned about Israel's conduct to support a Western classical music boycott. I live in central London and use public transport almost daily. Why should I get blown up because the Israeli state has slaughtered yet more Palestinians and manufactured a fresh batch of terrorists to torment us all? Israel must behave, and if they won't, they must be disciplined using lawful and legitimate weapons which are effective. A classical music boycott is just such a weapon. This brouhaha proves its effectiveness.

II. In the early 1990s, Seattle bronze sculptor Peter Bevis and I created a multi-media lecture that we toured in Alaska and Washington, called Artists as Environmentalists. We described our activities and those of others, confronting ecological catastrophes worldwide, as arts chroniclers and organizers.  We bemoaned the lack of strategic approach toward mobilizing artists against egregious industrial and government practices that damaged the environment or spoiled renewable resources irredeemably.

In the mid-90s, I gave a lecture several places, including at the Juilliard School in NYC and at the Cornish Institute in Seattle, titled The Social Responsibilities of Composers. I've brought back a short version of that recently, which highlights some little known facts about composers from Beethoven to Aaron Copland, who raged against the machine just as fervently as Bob Dylan.

Orchestras these days, whether it is in London, NYC, LA, Seattle or Anchorage, are firmly rooted in supporting the status quo.  In Anchorage, for instance, our Anchorage Symphony's board chair routinely rotates between a high-level executive from Exxon, followed by one from Conoco-Phillips, followed by one from BP, followed by one from Wells Fargo, then back to Exxon - and so on.  The large donors to the ASO and most orchestras tend to be people who do not want contentious social, environmental or political issues to aurally poke at their smug satisfaction in the concert hall.

Orchestras in The West (Central and Western Europe and the English-speaking world, plus Israel, Japan, Singapore and China) treat composers of new music as "content providers."  If a divisive or radical subject is presented by almost any of these ensembles, it inevitably needs to be cloaked in metaphor so thick any immediacy is lost.

With so many young performing musicians in London and other European "classical" ensembles, we will probably see moves afoot to bring more "immediacy" and direct action on global issues into the concert hall.

In the United States, Alaska composer John Luther Adams may be the best example of a first-rank composer who, although quite good at cloaking his messages in metaphor, is embarked on a major project to put an issue that is very contentious in U.S. politics - global warming - front and center:

[Adams is composing] a new piece, “Become Ocean,” [which] will debut with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra in 2013. The work is described as “a one-hour long global warming piece about the melting ice caps and rising oceans.”

Ironically, major funding for this new work appears to be coming from the Heinz Foundation, an organization not quite ready to reject the paradigms stifling the world of the performing arts.

Popular music has always provided far more examples of artists raging against one machine or another than has "classical" music.  It is hard to find a social, political, human rights or environmental topic upon which serious orchestral composers have latched that has enough examples to become a category.  There is one exception, though  - The Holocaust.  Back in the late 60s, one of my mentors, a Jewish composition professor, told me the two things that I should consider, to help get a career established:  Marry a very rich young woman (he had), and write a composition about The Holocaust (he hadn't.  Yet).  "The grants and job offers will leap at you, Phil," he assured me.

I did neither.  Perhaps I'll write a work about The Holocaust someday, but so many profound masterpieces already exist.  Whether I'm writing about the mechanized response to battlefield death of our American military, Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina, The Exxon Valdez oil spill, September 11th or Rachel Corrie, the same muse guides me as guided Arnold Schoenberg in A Survivor from Warsaw,  Henryk Górecki in his 3rd Symphony, or Dmitri Shostakovich in the opening movement of his 13th Symphony or his 2nd Piano Trio.

Perhaps soon it will be as easy for classical musicians or composers, such as the dynamic young Australian-American composer, Melissa Dunphy, to get her Gonzales Cantata performed as it is to have Steve Reich's Different Trains produced.

Those who see the lives of performers, composers and other artists as having to be disassociated from current political and societal struggles, as being manageable to the extent of making all art that isn't created within strict norms "out-of-bounds," or subject to severe sanctions like year-long or lifetime suspensions (sometimes known as "blacklisting"), will hopefully see a series of musical, photographic, sculptural, dramatic and poetic Tahrir Squares staring them in their faces as this decade broadens.

Contrasting UN Speeches: President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas

Below is the part of Obama's UN speech on Wednesday, regarding a Palestinian state:


Here is Netanyahu:


And Abbas. The Israeli delegation, led by Foreign Minister Lieberman, left the hall as Abbas came in. What a great negotiating partner. I posted only the parts of the Obama an Netanyahu speeches that had to do with Israel and Palestine. Here is Abbas' entire speech, as you won't find it posted anywhere else in the Alaska blogosphere:

Part One:


Part Two:


Part Three:

The Rabid Throngs at Another GOP Nutcase Candidate Debate Thank an American Hero for His Service

NRDC Says Oil Companies Can Easily Extend Life of Alaska Oil Pipeline 30 Years or More

Record amounts of investment money and equipment are pouring into Alaska this past year, to develop new oil output, despite industry and right-wing claims that ACES has stifled such activity.  The right and the oil industry also claim that much more oil throughput is needed, or the pipeline will freeze shut.

That has now been debunked. 

The Natural Resources Defense Council has issued a report claiming that for a little more than Sarah Palin handed over to TransCanada for her imaginary ACES gas pipeline, Alyeska and the oil giants operating here could extend the life of the current line at least 30 years:

WASHINGTON (September 21, 2011) –  The useful life of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) can be extended by at least three decades through modest improvements that also will yield profits at least ten times the upgrade costs, according to a new study by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The study debunks claims by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company (“Alyeska”) that its pipeline will need to be shut down unless additional oil is allowed to flow through it.

``Our study exposes Alyeska’s big lie that more drilling should be allowed—so that more oil can be shipped through its pipeline,’’ said Chuck Clusen, NRDC’s director of national parks and Alaska projects. ``Alyeska’s claim is a transparent ploy to force the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. It’s not going to happen.’’

NRDC’s study, prepared by Innovation & Information Consultants, Inc., of Concord, Mass., and Orlando, Fla., comes on the same day as a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Arctic Refuge.

NRDC’s study concluded that by investing as little as $539 million to $721 million, Alyeska can prolong its pipeline’s life for at least 30 years, while maintaining a minimum daily flow rate of 150,000 to 200,000 barrels per day. That investment would result in approximately $12 billion in additional profits and an equal amount to Alaska’s state coffers in the form of additional royalty and tax revenue.

“Thus, making a modest investment with an extremely high payout will mean that TAPS can continue to operate and is not in danger of being shut down in the near future,’’ the study said.

“Contrary to the industry’s ‘the sky is falling’ claim, TAPS is not in danger of being shut down without drilling in environmentally sensitive areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Arctic Ocean,” Clusen said.

Here's a link to where you can download the entire study as a PDF file.

Two Huge Chiogga Beets - Updated: Take Your Pick, Todd

 

I pulled all of what's left of the first crop of beets this afternoon.  Some were roasted lightly, then peeled.  They are now smoking in the smokehouse for about six hours.  

These two I'm not sure what to do with.  A visiting friend suggested I give them to Todd Palin "'cause he could use a pair....." 

Any ideas?

Updated - Take your pick, Todd:

Under the Weather

I've had a severe cold all weekend that got worse late yesterday - like the weather.  Just enough energy and good nature to post a few recent pictures - from yesterday.  Above, the view from our living room  window, as the fall colors are in full display.

Below, two sets of tomato plants in varying stages of late ripeness.

Joe McGinniss on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show Monday

Joe McGinniss, author of The Rogue, which comes out tomorrow, and I reviewed Saturday, was on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show Monday, for most of an hour.

My name came up, in context of my June 1997 discussion with Sarah Palin at the Wasilla Assembly of God, at which she and I had just performed, so to say.  There's a minor error in how Joe relates how I became curious about Palin's belief in young earth creationism at that time.  He states that I found out about Palin's belief through my wife.  That wasn't the case.  I found out through a variety of means, partially through a former member of that church, who certainly doesn't want to be named.  But mostly, through discussions with other parents or school teachers involved in support groups in the school district's ELP program.  Many of us were concerned about Palin's earlier efforts to stack the Mat-Su School Board with creationists.

Otherwise, an interesting interview by somebody who professionally prepared himself for the subject.

Here's the audio of the interview:

Erin and Hig (Plus Two Kids) Embark onto Malaspina Glacier

The Most Rugged Alaska Family Ever

Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman left Anchorage for Yakutat on Thursday, along with Katmai and Lituya, on the first leg of their journey on ice for two months.  They will be there to document climate change on the largest glacier in North America.

They hope to compare the ice levels there to those documented During Russell's expeditions in 1890-92.  Russell had embarked on exploration of the area between upper southeast Alaska and Icy Bay in 1889.  They took a number of photographs, some of which give away their locations.

Russell Expedition Members - 1890

Not enough has been written about Israel Cook Russell.  He wrote several books on the physical geography and geology of North America. Two Russell Glaciers, one on Mt. Rainier, the other feeding off of Mount Bona, Mount Churchill and University Peak in the Saint Elias Mountains; a Russell Fjord in upper Yakutat Bay (famous for being isolated periodically by advances of Hubbard Glacier); and Mt. Russell, in the Alaska Range, just east of Mt. Hubbard - all honor his scientific and exploration legacies.

Russell, according to a 2008 MA thesis by Patrick D. Sylvestre, through his activities, lectures and writings, "merged an environmentally-aware style of prose with scientific observations meant for a mostly professional audience. In doing so, he revealed himself to be a person searching for a new method of communication that could help repair the emerging conflict between professional science, aesthetic preservation, and utilitarian conservation.

"Russell found that he could develop a keener appreciation of science and nature through outdoor adventure and with compatible intellects in more formal, urban settings."

He networked  well, and had met many of the great explorers from earlier in the 19th century:

Russell worked directly in the shadow of some of the most famous and influential military and scientific explorers of the American West. He was acquainted with Grove Karl Gilbert, John Wesley Powell, and C.E. Dutton through his employment with the U.S. Geological Survey and through his status as one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.  

Russell was also acquainted with some of the leading environmental writers of the late nineteenth century. He had contact with the preservationist John Muir through their mutual association with the American Alpine Club, and with the conservationist Gifford Pinchot through the National Geographic Society. 

These men, each a significant actor in the evolution of western American exploration and the emergence of a national environmental consciousness, influenced Russell in one way or another. Israel Russell helped bridge the gap between the late nineteenth-century‘s scientific explorers, who looked at how nature could best benefit man, and the late twentieth-century‘s environmental explorers, who looked at how man could best benefit and appreciate nature.

I've been a longtime fan of Russell's work.  I've also been a longtime follower of Erin and Hig, having produced their first two big lectures in Anchorage.  So it is exciting to see a merging of the historical work of Russell with the ongoing efforts of Higman and McKittrick.

My, has the world changed in those 111 years!

Russell could photograph the expedition:

So can Erin and Hig:

But our modern adventurers blog, use satellite phone for communications, twitter, facebook, and post their adventures in almost real time occasionally on YouTube:


Just before they left their yurt outside of Seldovia, KBBI's Aaron Selbig interviewed them for Alaska Public Radio. Here's a link to the segment, which features young Katmai, describing aspects of his upcoming trip.

Good luck you guys!

Warren Keogh's Letter to the Editor of The Frontiersman on the Tea Party-Inspired Recall Petition

Here's part of Mat-Su Assembly member Warren Keogh's response to the recall petition submitted to the Borough for approval last Thursday.  It is a letter to Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman editor, Andrew Wellner, in response to Wellner's query to the assemblyman.

Wellner had written:

A copy of a recall petition against you landed in my inbox today. I was wondering if you could spare some time to discuss it.


-Andrew

Here's Keogh's response, a letter to the editor, so to say:

Hi Andy,


I've been pretty busy on a variety of matters..


Regarding the recall petition....


People clearly have a right to petition to recall any elected public official.  In this case though, it certainly looks like a politically motivated effort rather than one based on "competence."  People in public office often have backgrounds in business or nonprofits, and some continue their affiliations.  As far as I know, simply disagreeing with an elected individual's position or vote on any issue is an everyday occurrence, but it's certainly not grounds for recall.  I think the record will show I've been fair, open-minded, and willing to meet people face to face, and to openly discuss any issue, including the Wishbone Hill Coal Mine Project, as I did Thursday night in a community council meeting and in recent assembly meetings.


Although there is no requirement to talk about earlier affiliations, I made them clear during my Assembly campaign.  They are listed under "Experience and Qualifications" on my 2010 assembly campaign website, posted in July of 2010 and they are still available online:


http://www.warren2assembly.com/2010/07/17/hello-world/


While I don't believe any of the assertions on the recall petition demonstrate "incompetence", nor are they grounds for recall, I will address them.


Regarding my past service as an officer of the Chickaloon Community Council and the Castle Mountain Coalition, my term expired with the former and I resigned from the latter before I filed as a candidate for assembly in 2010.  So far as I knew, I severed all ties with these organizations. Apparently, no one changed my status as registered agent.  When I discovered this in May of 2011 I notified the state of my earlier resignation.


Regarding matters of funding received by nonprofits who support or oppose coal development, I have no knowledge of that.


Regarding my May 10, 2011, e-mail correspondence to the Alaska Mental Health Trust, it speaks for itself.  I do not oppose coal development, but ask for additional information.  I believe that is one of my duties as a member of the Assembly.  Same goes for my comments made during recent assembly meetings.  They are a matter of public record, and I stand by them.


There are many, many issues relating to coal development in the Valley, and the Wishbone Hill Project in particular.  I encourage you to report on all coal matters, especially the politics, money, and business of coal at the local and state government level.  I also hope we can learn more about the public health, public safety, and environmental impacts of the Wishbone Hill Coal Mine.  I hope you report on them as well as this recall petition.


Thanks.


Warren Keogh
Assembly Member, District 1
Matanuska Susitna Borough

Comparing Four Books That Critically Address Sarah Palin

I.  I finished reading Joe McGinniss' new book about Sarah Palin, The Rogue, last night.  It is due to be released Tuesday, after having gotten more pre-release coverage than any of the other books critical of Palin had managed to garner.

Since the end of the 2008 presidential election, four critical books that either solely addressed Palin's shortcomings, or devoted a portion of the volume to them, have struck me as outstanding in one way or others:

Bloggers on the Bus by Eric Boehlert
Going Rouge edited by Richard Kim and Betsy Reed
The Lies of Sarah Palin by Geoffrey Dunn
The Rogue by Joe McGinniss

Blind Allegiance by Frank Bailey, with Jeanne Devon and Ken Morris, seems to have fallen flat, though, mostly because it is a dull read, and when one finishes it, one suspects the collaboration didn't manage to gel into something that could have combined the strengths of the authoring partners, but mushed instead into a poorly disguised coverup for what Bailey didn't want us to know, and a wounded representation of what might actually be in those emails.  Geoffrey Dunn, who reviewed Blind Allegiance for The Anchorage Press in late August, is even more critical of the book's shortcomings:

Like Palin in Going Rogue, Bailey leaves out some critical information in Blind Allegiance - information that he had most certainly access to, because it's information that involved him. And in so doing, he made me realize that Blind Allegiance, for all its inside revelations is, in fact, a second, albeit more subtle, cover-up involving Troopergate.

Dunn goes on to describe material that was leaked to him "subsequent to completing my book."  He writes:

The documents were records of statements given during the Petumenos investigation by Bailey and his sidekick Ivy Frye, and, taken with the findings and conclusions of the Petumenos report, point to a conspiracy of sorts in framing the collective response by Palin's inner circle to the Troopergate investigation in the late summer and early fall of 2008.

Dunn then lays out aspects of the conspiracy in such a way that one can't but wonder why Devon and Morris could have felt they had clean hands while working with Bailey.  After all, the two collaborators have supposedly seen thousands of the emails that didn't make it into Blind Allegiance.  Whether they were merely incurious, or accommodating in helping Bailey in what Dunn seems to indicate may be a possible criminal coverup, we may never know.  Based on Andree McLeod's findings in going through the emails released by the State of Alaska, I've believed for some time that this may be the case.

Dunn questions the honesty of Bailey, regarding the latter's sworn testimony to the Petumenos Inquiry:

When the Petumenos Report was released on November 3 - the day before the national election - Bailey says "I welcomed what I eventually came to understand was undeserved vindication." Say what? "Eventually came to understand?" Bailey knew at the time it was undeserved.

According to Bailey, in finding that there was "no probable cause Governor Palin violated the state's executive branch ethics act in her dismissal of Walt Monegan," Petumenos "relied predominantly on [Palin's] testimony to arrive at this conclusion." But Petumenos made no such claim in his report. In fact he cited the testimony of several witnesses who "gave sworn depositions to independent counsel" - among them (guess who?) Frank Bailey, who made no mention of this deposition in his book. In fact, Petumenos specifically identified Bailey (page 36 of the Petumenos Report) as providing corroborative testimony that Palin knew nothing about activities being directed by her husband and Bailey against Wooten.

In fact, Petumenos devoted significant attention to Bailey in his report. He goes over in detail Bailey's now notorious conversation with Lieutenant Dial. Bailey's testimony, according to Petumenos, directly contradicted that of Walt Monegan and also Colonel John Glass of the Alaska State Troopers. Bailey makes no mention of this in his book, either. Moreover, Petumenos noted that "Bailey also corroborated the Governor's assertions with respect to her concern about the Commissioner's lack of progress on trooper recruitment as part of discussions regarding replacing Commissioner Monegan with Mr. Kopp in July of 2008." Again, no mention of this in Bailey's book - the fact that he was a corroborating witness to Palin throughout the investigation.

Dunn goes on to tackle that subject. He details Petumenos' attention to Bailey's relationship to Palin administration emails, raising this question in conclusion:

Again, no mention of this Petumenos finding in Blind Allegiance. But it raises the obvious question: Does Bailey have access to any other relevant emails that were not provided Petumenos and which are relevant to Troopergate? Certainly the October 3, 2006, email had direct probative impact on the scope of the Petumenos investigation and was not included in the "exhibits" of evidence provided as a formal addendum to the Petumenos Report. Are there others?

Of course there are.  Essentially, many feel the authors of Blind Allegiance have a lot to answer for before that book can be fully assessed historically.

Bailey's book pays scant attention to bloggers in Alaska or elsewhere.  It leaves out a lot of previously known information about Palin's absorbtion in new media and social networking tools.

II.  All the way back in early 2009, Eric Boehlert's look at how such tools, particularly those of the netroots blogging community, Bloggers on the Bus, gave national readers a glimpse of what was then a tightly knit community of progressive new media writers here who were openly sharing information with the journalists, videographers, writers and others, who flocked north in the fall, to begin reporting on the startling pick of the McCain campaign for a running mate.

At the time, Boehlert and others were skeptical of the meme that Sarah Palin might not be the birth mother of TriG Palin.  He constructed Chapter 13 of his book around a contrast between bloggers like me, who he felt reported about that issue and others responsibly, and those who he felt had not, naming the chapter after my long series on Palin here, Saradise Lost.  By the time his book came out, I was more skeptical of Palin's story than I ever had been, and wrote Eric about that, including pictures that had surfaced since his publication, indicating Palin may well have faked the pregnancy.

More important than the TriG coverage in Boehlert's account, is his understanding in the book that new media and social networking tools have changed political communication irreversibly.

III.  The Lies of Sarah Palin, which I reviewed in detail in May, takes up a lot of room describing the 2008 campaign, and paints it vividly, with remarkable detail and vignettes.  Author Dunn brings up Boehlert's attention to Alaska bloggers on page 213:

Independent voices from the internet "influenced and altered the road to the White House" in ways never before imaginable.  Moreover the intrepid band of bloggers from Alaska did the public vetting of Sarah Palin that the media failed to do.  They were ahead of the curve every step of the way.

Dunn's assessment of Andree Mcleod as an "Anchorage-based good-government activist" is the most thoroughly sympatheic portrait of her yet penned.  Where Bailey et al seem to demonize McLeod, Dunn managed to put McLeod into the context of bipartisan political activists in Alaska who truly do want, and - as in McLeod's case - demand good government.  Both Bailey and Dunn contribute to the huge volume of material that shows Palin's claim to have been such an activist to be the smelliest kind of bullshit.


IV.  The Rogue is a helluva read.  It is the fifth book by the author I have read, having read The Selling of the President and Going to Extremes multiple times.

Although McGinniss' book, like Bailey's contains no index (Dunn's has a superb one), I'm almost willing to forgive that.  Bailey's book looks mostly from deep inside a gubernatorial administration.  Dunn's concentrates largely on the 2008 presidential campaign from August 28, 2008 on.  McGinniss' book is very much about Wasilla, where I live.  As with the community, the book is populated with many, many of my colorful friends and adversaries over the years.

I feel almost too close to a lot of the content to be able to review the volume.  It does bring up, once again, a subject Judy and I have discussed fairly frequently over the past three years - how much we've forgotten about Palin, that we knew, and that we knew was really awful.  McGinniss addresses the climate of fear the Palin camp has created in the Wasilla area since the mid-1990s, better than anyone else has.  Far better.  He lived through it.

Here's one example.  My longtime friend (since 1974, in Seattle, before he moved to Alaska), Dewey Taylor, used his truck to bring some chairs over to McGinniss' new rental next to the Palins.  Apparently, some of Palin's advocates took note:

Then I hear that at about four o'clock this morning somebody shot out the driver's side window of Dewey Taylor's truck, which was parked in his driveway.

I call him and offer to pay for a new window.  "Don't be ridiculous," he says, "it was probably just a coincidence."

"How long have you lived there?"

"About twenty years."

"Ever had a problem with a vehicle parked in your driveway before?"

"Nope."

"I don't think it's a coincidence."

A couple of interesting things should be noted here.  I see Dewey a lot.  He's never discussed this incident with me.  Strange, eh?  Maybe not, as three months earlier, Palin-loving vandals (a week after this incident) had drained the oil from my Subaru (probably using a Jabsco pump), cut the oil warning light wire, and cost us $3,500.00.  And I've never shared that with Dewey.  We're both "I'll move on" kinds of people.  Dewey more than I.  But did fear of even dwelling on the vandalism help us keep our mouths shut?

How many other stories like that are there out here in the Mad Zoo?  The climate of festering fear or immediate retribution here - not just from the Palins, but from the nutty right-wing and Christianist zealots - should not be underestimated.

For those who complain about how McGinniss was purported to have taken advantage of informants in Going to Extremes, there won't be much that I've found in this new book which will bring that back up.

McGinniss is even more scathing than Dunn in his assessment of the failures of Alaska's main media outlets during Palin's rise and short reign at the top of Alaska politics.  And, far more than Dunn, he observes Palin's ability to play the media - and the media's inability to shake itself of the Palin habit - up to the date of publication.

Six months ago, I would have totally disagreed with this McGinniss assessment of new media and blogs:

I sometimes wonder why anyone bothers to blog.  Almost nothing anyone writes changes anyone else's mind.  Most people who read a blog already agree with the writer's point of view.  The others read so they can write quick, nasty comments in response.  The whole blogosphere sometimes seems like one vast game of verbal paintball.

I'm not in total agreement with McGinniss on this, mind you.  And perhaps he hasn't played paintball in the right setting yet, as it can be very enjoyable.  I learn something every day at one blog or another.  Blogs which Joe list at his own blog can be the way he describes - Palingates, Politicalgates, and The Imoral Minority, for instance.  Yet even at those places where the commenting communities are so predictably like Joe's description, one can learn valuable information.  Others McGinniss lists, like The Daily Dish and Glenn Greenwald, are among the most valuable resources for reliable information anywhere (The Daily Dish does not publish comments).  And I'm tired, as Joe must be, of the pettiness commenters often show toward people and situations they show themselves to know little or nothing about.

Like Going to Extremes, The Rogue gets into amazing detail of daily life here, in this case from his perspective of spending the summer of 2010 on Lake Lucille.  A lot of what he writes about has been covered before, but his descriptions of the Heath and Palin families, along with the other assorted characters of this seemingly never-ending soap opera, are rife with raw humor.

He gets much more into the conflicts in the minds of central characters than any other author.  Sarah Palin's predecessor as Wasilla mayor, John Stein, initially didn't want to talk to or meet McGinniss.  I know, from having stayed in John's house in Sitka, that Going to Extremes is in the library there.

Joe kept after John, who finally relented and invited the author over.  Their discussions are by far the best to cover Stein's relationship with the young politician he was mentoring through the early 1990s.

The book has been criticized for leaving out interviews with Palin supporters.  However, as in Dunn's book, one doesn't need to be further illuminated in the goofiness of Palin's devotees than we already have been.

The book concludes looking back at Palin's very bad early 2011, particularly since her insanely self-centered response to the January shootings in Tucson.  McGinniss is wary of not only the symbiotic relationship media has come to rely upon regarding Palin, but of his own, with the book coming out and campaign seasons ramping up:

This may be a strange thing to say in [opening] the last chapter about the star performer of the circus.  But no matter how much my book sales might benefit from a Palin presidential campaign in 2012, I sincerely hope that the whole extraveganza, which has been unblushingly underwritten by a mainstream media willing to gamble the nation's future in exchange for the cheap thrill of watching a clown in high heels on a flying trapeze, is nearing its end.

The Rogue may be the best close look at how a small town in America related over a period of 20 years to a politician who had an uncanny ability to draw upon hatred, superstition, gang organizing and media incuriosity since Sinclair Lewis' novel of 1935, inspired by Huey Long, It Can't Happen Here.

Regarding the dustup over McGinniss' role in the release of manuscripts of Blind Allegiance back in February, and how that might have had an impact on the Bailey book's sales prospects, I'll just say that with Bailey coming out of hibernation now to talk about comparisons, McGinniss' book looks like it will help Bailey's sell more copies, just as stores and the publisher were about to remainder Blind Allegiance.

note - the author of this article is referenced several times in The Rogue