CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN [or] RECLAIMING THE CONTINENT

CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN [or] RECLAIMING THE CONTINENT

The words below are comments written about this article, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/11-9, which describes President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

"Like all good politicians, Obama is adept at paying homage to multiple, inconsistent views at once, enabling everyone to hear whatever they want in what he says while blissfully ignoring the rest."

The fact is, a permanent state of war will define the US for the forseeable future and there is and always has been a bipartisan consensus on that.

We couldn't agree more. The current administration more and more seems to be just an extension of the Bush regime, with a more eloquent speaker at the head, being the only substantive difference.

Obama's speech to the nation about surging 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan, for a pointless, immoral, and futile war, sounded very much like what would have come out of the previous adminstration.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/07-10

There are all the economic advisors, the men from the largest financial institutions whose greed and short-sightedness nearly destroyed the Global economy, chosen to lead the new administration in its economic policies.

And of course, the ridiculous "health care reform" which will end up costing hundreds of billions of dollars, while still leaving out most of the currently uninsured people, and further enriching the soul-less death machines we call "Health Insurance Corporations". Who put profits before all else, continually pushing the envelope in denying coverage and benefits for those in need.

But there are other countries, where Change We Can Believe In, is actually occurring. Many are in South America, where over the past ten years, more left-wing politicians have been elected, in response to the aspirations of the poverty-stricken people in their countries, who have suffered greatly from the 1960s-1990s under often fascist, repressive regimes, sponsored by this country. No longer. One of the most striking, and dynamically changing countries is the one I had the fortune of visiting for three weeks last year, Bolivia. The poorest country in South America, mainly because 65 percent of its population is indigenous, of Aymara, Inca, and Amazon tribal extraction.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, the subject of great admiration, here at the Alaska Progressive Review, was re-elected to a second five-year term this week.

Here he is last year in La Paz, at a political rally, when I was able to get within 10 metres of the stage. That's him with the flower garland around his neck.

Published on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 by BBC News

Bolivian President to Deepen Social Revolution

by James Painter
"President Evo Morales seems set to push ahead with the implementation of a new constitution to place indigenous peoples at the heart of Bolivia's government and society after his victory in Sunday's presidential election.

VP Alvaro Garcia and President Morales have been in power since 2006. (AP Photo)A poor result for the opposition suggests an easier passage for social reforms and a lessening of demands for secession by departments traditionally opposed to Mr Morales, according to analysts.
Preliminary results say that Mr Morales, an Aymara Indian and Bolivia's first indigenous president, won at least 61% of the vote, easily defeating his conservative opponents.

That is a higher percentage than he won in 2005 when he was elected for his first mandate.If his victory is confirmed, it would also be the first time in Bolivia since 1964 that an incumbent president has won a second term - an unusual event in a country often synonymous with military coups and political instability.

The key electoral battleground was for seats in the new Plurinational Legislative Assembly. In the previous Senate, the opposition had a small majority which allowed them to block new legislation.

Under the new constitution which was ratified in a referendum last year, the method of electing senators has changed.

Exit polls suggest that Mr Morales's party, the Movement to Socialism (MAS), has won at least 24 seats in the new 36-seat senate, which would give him a two-thirds majority.
However, it is unclear if the MAS has won enough seats in the new Chamber of Deputies to win a similar majority and ensure an easy passage for the 100-plus laws necessary to fully implement a new constitution.

Final official results will be known later this week.

Breakaway regions

The preliminary results suggest that the MAS has increased its vote in the wealthier eastern departments, where the opposition to President Morales has traditionally been based.
In the Santa Cruz department for example, exit polls suggest that Mr Morales' party increased its vote to 40% from 33% in 2005.

In Tarija, Beni and Pando, MAS also improved its vote significantly.
According to Oxford Analytica, a research organisation, the degree of support in these areas "means that the prospect of secession is ever more remote".

In 2007 and 2008 there was considerable speculation that Santa Cruz and other departments might break away from the highland, more indigenous, departments where support for Mr Morales is overwhelming.

John Crabtree of Oxford University says the improved performance of the MAS was due in part to the priority the party gave to Santa Cruz in its campaigning.
"Another element was the lessening of the climate of fear amongst the migrant population there," Mr Crabtree says. "It also helped MAS that the opposition was divided and had lacklustre candidates."

Likely changes
President Morales is expected to make the implementation of the new constitution his main legislative priority at the start of his second term.

Amongst the most important changes envisaged are:
* More indigenous rights and more indigenous participation in politics* A reworking of the judiciary, whereby indigenous systems of justice will enjoy the same status as the official existing system; judges will be elected, and no longer appointed by congress* Power decentralised into four levels of autonomy - departmental, regional, municipal and indigenous.

The key to Mr Morales' success has been his appeal to the 65% of the population who define themselves as indigenous and who see him as "one of theirs".

They have also been the recipients of increased social spending boosted by high international prices for hydrocarbons, and more taxes on foreign oil and gas companies.

Cash payments have been made to poor families to encourage school attendance.
Extra pension payments have been to the elderly, and pre-natal and post-natal care bas been extended to mothers without health protection.

Two women in El Alto, Bolivia, 25 NovMorales has vowed to deepen reforms focused on Indian power

Some estimates suggest that the payments reached a quarter of Bolivia's 10 million people this year.

According to recent analysis by the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), government revenue has increased by almost 20% of GDP since 2004.

The Morales government has spent massively in recent months to counteract the effect of the global recession.

CEPR says that from a fiscal surplus of 5% of GDP in early 2008 (worth several billion dollars), recent government spending meant this became a fiscal deficit in 2009.

The Bolivian economy is set to grow this year by between 2.5% and 3.5%, one of the highest anywhere in the Americas.

The IMF's director of Western hemisphere countries, Nicolas Eyzaguirre, has praised the Morales government for what he called its "very responsible" macroeconomic policies.
More state intervention?

Morales supporters say that the greater state control of the oil and gas sectors helped to boost government income.

His critics say that state intervention may work well for redistributing income, but not for encouraging investment, technical and managerial expertise and the eradication of corruption.
Government ministers say they want to attract foreign investment into new areas like the development of Bolivia's large deposits of lithium and iron ore.

"We want partners, not patrons" is the oft-repeated slogan.

"One priority for the coming years is industrialisation," says Mr Crabtree, "by which the government means adding value to raw materials by processing them."

Analysts say one key test will be whether the queue of foreign companies interested in developing Bolivia's huge reserves of lithium will turn into a concrete deal between a private company and the state.

Lithium is seen as critical for developing a new generation of battery-driven cars."
© 2009 BBC News

This is great news! Because Evo Morales' administration has truly been working to use the natural wealth of their country to ease the poverty there.
Which is very evident, travelling by train to the south of the country, poor little villages like this were a common sight. Though they all did have electricity coming in, much of which had just been done over the past few years, thanks to the Morales administration.

On my attempted climb of 6530 metre Volcan Illimani (21,230 ft), (derailed at 5600 metres by my dreaded Soroche, altitude sickness) for which I paid 450.00 USD, we had local villagers hired as porters. These young women from the village at the base of the mountain hauled up the first two 30 kg loads up to the 4400 metre low-camp on horseback. The homes in their village are of the common adobe, reed-roofed, low-walled construction, with earthen floors (though they do now have electricity!). Other than that sporadic employment, these villagers struggle to coax meagre crops of potatoes, quinoa, and other crops from the cold thin soils at 4000+ metres, as well as herding horses, sheep, llamas, and alpacas. A very arduous, difficult way of life, with little hope of improvement.

The U.S. corporate media tries to portray Evo Morales, and Hugo Chavez, of Venezuela, as dictatorial, bent on maintaining power endlessly (as "our" previously sponsored fascist regimes did!), and intent on moving their countries into Socialism along Cuba's model. Yet this is decidedly not so.

One look at the skyline of La Paz (with Illimani gracing it with her majestic presence!) tells the story. Private enterprise is very strong here, all the modern skyscrapers are occupied by banks, telecommunications industries, and other large corporations. There are large auto dealerships, supermarkets, and everything else we associate with a modern "developed" country.

The main difference though, is that this modernity is surrounded by massive poverty. The slums of El Alto, at 4100 metres (where the airport is), are cold and drafty, on the high altiplano, while the city of La Paz drops down in a canyon, 500-1000 metres lower, warmer, and protected from the wind.

Bolivia only has a population of around 11 million, but over 3 million of that is in and around La Paz. Much of it's modern growth, over the past 40 years, in the slums of El Alto and La Paz itself, has been from people in the cold villages of the high Altiplano, trying to find a better, less arduous life, in the city. Which has not worked out for most, and so many struggle working in crowded little shopping stalls, selling whatever they can, or the least fortunate, begging on the streets. A daunting challenge, for any government, willing, and trying to change and better the living conditions for these people.

Yet these people are descended from a culture that was able to build this amazing temple site of Tihuanaco, at least 4000 years ago, of massive multi-ton rock slabs, which fit together perfectly. And which were somehow hauled 100 KM to the site from the shores of Lake Titicaca.

It was hard not to feel sorry for these people, whose lives are so difficult, in comparison to ours, and who aren't able to travel like we are, and experience other cultures. Not to mention, have the basics of good food, housing, and medical care.

Most of the people I talked with in Bolivia were very much in favour of the Morales administration, and their stated goals of using the country's natural wealth, to raise the standard of living of the populace.

One thing we of European descent, in the Western Hemisphere need to understand is this: capitalism/"the market"/free enterprise/private property, are alien concepts and constructs in indigenous culture. Before their cultures were nearly destroyed by the Spaniards/Portugese, in Latin America, and other European countries, in North America, they lived more communally, sharing work, responsibilities, and the wealth of their areas together. Thus, since the Morales Administration is attempting to reflect the values of their Aymara/Inca culture more, they are and will be acting in ways that seem "Socialistic". That is their culture. The other countries in South America are and will also be changing in these ways more with time, and hopefully some day, Mexico (since it still has a large indigenous population).

The "bad old days" of corporate-sponsored U.S. subversion and control of Latin American countries are over (the U.S. embassy in La Paz looked like a bunker, with little slits for windows, surrounded by barbed wire. The only one like it, all the other countries had friendlier-looking ones). Massive popular support of the more left-leaning governments, as evinced by the thousands at this march in La Paz last year, is increasing.

The Alaska Progressive Review is greatly excited by this. Because we feel that their way, in these countries, especially Bolivia and Venezuela, of combining Indigenous culture and its more holistic World-view, with modern technology, will enable humanity to over-come the looming threats of overpopulation, resource-depletion, and climate change in the decades to come. If it were to become more widespread.

We think it's especially interesting, and ironic, that here in the amazing Salar de Uyuni (Uyuni Salt Flat), the World's biggest desert saline lake, at an elevation of 3600 metres, lies the Earth's largest, and most easily accessible source of Lithium, in the form of the salt. Which is needed if Lithium-ion battery technology for electric vehicles is to improve and become widespread, replacing internal combustion engines.

Let's hope the Morales Administration will be able to find global partners who can sustainably, and responsibly harvest this valuable resource, for the betterment of the planet.

We plan on re-visiting Bolivia when we can, as it's incredible diversity of natural beauty, interesting and friendly culture, and exciting political/social change are captivating, and worthy of reporting on. We also want and need to visit the surrounding countries of Argentina, Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Brasil, and Venezuela. Great things are happening in much of South America, and we need to get the word out! Cheers.

GOING WITH THE FLOW

GOING WITH THE FLOW

The Alaska Progressive Review staff felt compelled to spend Thanksgiving weekend in the Alaska range, cross-country skiing, and hiking.

Because we were in a southerly flow aloft at that time, which brings mild maritime air northward from the Gulf of Alaska. Usually raising temperatures throughout the Alaska Range and Interior to as warm as 0 to -15C (+32 to +5F). Which in late November and December is a good 10-20C above average. This allows us to be outside doing whatever we like, with much less protection, and worry, from cold weather hazards. And it sure feels great!

So, Thanksgiving day we lit out early for the just over three hour drive to Paxson, 120 KM south of Delta Junction, on the Richardson Highway. I had long seen cabins for rent there at the junction where the Denali Highway starts, on it's westward direction to Cantwell. This looked like a perfect base to use for nordic skiing all around the area, in the nice mild conditions.

The drive down was exciting, through the Alaska Range. The strong south chinook winds were howling through 1500-2500 metre deep canyon of the Delta River, probably 60-80 KPH. The road would occasionally become obscured when visibility in blowing snow dropped abruptly, and we'd have to nearly stop, and get our bearings. Two mangled cars, one upside down, were on the side of the highway near Black Rapids. Fortunately, no one was in them, but they obviously were either driving too fast, or didn't have good tires, for the conditions. We got to Paxson around 1230 and drove up to the "Denali Highway Cabins".

http://www.denalihwy.com/
These "Denali Highway Cabins" are actually quite nice and plush inside. As good as any hotel room you'll find anywhere, for it's price. Since it was winter though, the plumbing was turned off, so no shower or sink, but buckets of water were provided so the toilet tank could be filled, for flushing. And, drinking water was also provided. They of course had oil stoves for heat, and electricity, for all the other amenities. Amazingly, our cell phone even worked better here than in Fairbanks!

The owner, Dr. Audobon Bakewell, and his wife greeted us, and showed us our cabin. It looked like we were the only ones staying that day, in the five cabin complex. Audie, as he likes to be called, must have a PhD in a biological science (we forgot to ask), as he advertises giving nature tours, in the area.

We just wanted to get on the trails though, and get out in the mild -5C air. But first, Homer wasted no time checking the place out and getting comfortable. He is 13 now, which for a canid, is equivalent to 85-90 in human terms, and so appreciates his creature comforts, such as a warm room with soft carpeting, and quick access to me, so he can nudge me with his big black wet nose, when he needs something.



One of the first things I noticed, when we got there, is that the Gulkana River, right next to the cabin, was still open and running fast. In fact, Audie said that it always is, and is one of the only rivers in the Alaska Interior that does, because it is so steep here. He said it takes a week of -45C temperatures to create a thin skim of ice on top, but as soon as it warms to -40C, it opens right back up! We sure loved listening to it, missing that sound from the years of living in Juneau and Missoula, MT, where it was ever-present.


After a hasty unpacking and lunch, we hit the trails around the area. Audie said that there are about 32 KM of trails, on both sides of the Richardson Highway, around the Alaska Pipeline, and around the Denali Highway. I classic skied for a couple hours in the dim afternoon sun, while Mattie and Homer ran free, something they really appreciate. Snowmachines packed down some of the trails, making for easy gliding, though we did break some trail occasionally, on smaller ones, to get to a small lake.

Although we could have given thanks that day with friends, we just couldn't pass up being in the mountains like this, when it's warm, so after skiing, we just had a regular backpacking meal, along with some good red wine, and watched a movie, on the little TV/DVD player in the cabin. Not bad! And walked around occasionally by the rushing Gulkana River, savoring that sound, as it will be a long while before we get to hear it again.

One plan of mine was to skate ski the next day, on the Denali Highway. This highway stretches 250 KM west to Cantwell, south of the crest of the Alaska Range, with only a few lodges on it, no towns. Very beautiful and relatively wild. I had hoped to be able to ski at least 34 KM in to the Tangle Lakes, then back, that day, which if conditions were right, could be done in 8-10 hours, maximum. But, friday morning, I skated up about 4 KM or so, and had to turn back, there just wasn't enough snow on the highway, there were many bare spots, and cars and trucks were still driving on it. Not wanting to jeopardise Mattie and Homer's safety as well, we turned back. The road is technically closed to auto traffic in winter, so once more snow accumulates, it will be. There is enough snowmachine traffic on it to keep it packed down, allowing skiers to skate, which is the fastest, most efficient form of nordic skiing (but also the most vulnerable to bad weather, a heavy snowfall, or abrupt thaw can make it miserable and slow).

That was a disappointment, but we'll get back there in Feb. or March (or April!) and do some skating there when it is car-free, with good snow conditions.

So, I put on my classic skis, and we went exploring for a few more hours around Paxson, on some other trails around the area. We came upon this about 1KM long lake, just south of the Denali Highway, Homer and Mattie loved running all around and across it. There wasn't enough trail distance though for an all-day outing, so we drove back north up the Richardson highway, after lunch, to ski up toward the base of the Gulkana glacier.

As we came around a curve on the side of Summit Lake, Caribou were blocking
the highway, and we had to stop. A herd of about 20 of them just walked across the highway, and onto the lake. Mattie was going wild in the car, jumping and crying. She sure wanted to get out and make chase, but that was not going to happen.

Kilo for kilo though, or little assistant editor has as much energy and drive as any canid I've ever seen. She would have given them a run for their money!

I classic skied in the warm -8C air on some snowmachine trails, northeast, toward the base of the Gulkana glacier. Unfortunately, the snowpack was rather skimpy, only about 10cm, and I was hitting some rocks occasionally, on my newer back-country skis. Not wanting to ruin them, we turned back, but not before Homer and Mattie discovered a porcupine. I'm not sure if either one of them has experienced being quilled, but I yelled as loud as I could at them to get them back, and fortunately they listened. It would have been a miserable time for them, had they gotten a face full of quills. All the more reason to get back after just a two-hour outing.

So, having been disappointed in our skiing twice that day, we just decided to do a short 90 min. run up and back, on the Denali Highway, to end the day. That sure felt good, in the mild evening, turning to night, since we finished around 1800. Homer ran about six hours that day, without tiring at all. What an inspiration! I want to be able to do that, when I reach 85-90, his equivalent age!

The plan for the trip back saturday was to stop at Rainbow Ridge, and hike around on it, which is on the way back to Fairbanks. This is a beautiful, multi-coloured ridge that rears nearly vertically 1500 metres up on the east side of the Richardson Highway, about 90 KM south of Delta Junction.

There wasn't a whole lot of snow on it, since the chinook winds scoured much of it way on Thanksgiving and Friday.

We reached the base around 1100, and just started walking up the talus slopes, at the foot of the ridge. The only 8-10 cm of wind-packed snow actually stabilised the talus, so it was safer footing than in summer, and faster! It was still fairly mild, -13C, with not a hint of a breeze, that felt great!








We just hiked up about an hour, to get up about halfway up the ridge, and enjoy the view, before heading home. This is looking north, the higher 3000-4000 metre, eternally white, peaks of the eastern half of the Alaska range are in the far distance.

What a treat, to be able to enjoy ourselves for three days, in the mild weather in the Alaska Range!

While we greatly prize, and make the most of the mild winter weather, when we have it, it is becoming more frequent. While that makes it easier, and more enjoyable for us living and recreating here, it's coming at a price.

This southerly flow pattern, with a high pressure ridge in the jet stream pumping mild maritime air northward, is occurring much more frequently now in winter, as Global Warming asserts itself more strongly.

The greatest magnitude of the warming seen over the past 30-40 years in the Arctic, has been in winter, for this reason. And this makes perfect sense. Since our sun angle in winter this far north is so low, the only way mild weather (defined arbitrarily, by me, thank you very much, as -15C or warmer) can occur is if warmer, maritime air is circulated north by the jet stream. Since there is more heat energy being retained in the atmosphere now that the atmospheric CO2 level is 390 ppm (up from 280 70 years ago, and rising 3-5 ppm annually), this method of global heat re-distribution occurs more frequently, is more persistent, and of greater magnitude now, than say, 30 or more years ago.

The warmer winters then don't allow as thick of ice cover to develop over the Arctic ocean, snow cover over the land is generally not as thick and persistent, and when the deep cold spells (-25C to -50C) do occur, they don't last as long. Which is why permafrost is also melting rapidly now, especially in the southern half of the Arctic. Which in itself, is a "positive feedback", since vast amounts of CO2 and methane is released when it thaws and melts.

An excellent example of this occurred just yesterday around interior Alaska. A very strong southerly chinook flow, pushed mild, maritime air, above freezing in the lower levels, north across the Alaska Range. Temperatures around Fairbanks popped up to 3-4C, and strong south winds surfaced in a few areas, which is very unusual.

Even more unusual, is this 5-day forecast height of the 500 millibar pressure (a level in the atmosphere generally between 4900-6000 metres, depending on the temperature, the higher these heights, the warmer the airmass), right. Which is from the generally most accurate numerical weather forecast model, the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting). Because all the western European countries pool their best researchers and funding, this model is the World's premiere tool for looking out 3-7 days ahead. The U.S. medium range model, the GFS (Global Forecast System) is also quite good, but the ECMWF usually tends to outperform it slightly in the higher latitudes. What this is showing, is an incredibly strong, nearly record-breaking, warm summer-like high pressure ridge, developing over Alaska at Day 5 (wed. 02DEC09) (the flow is parallel to the countours, clockwise around a high pressure ridge).

If this occurs, which seems likely, it will bring our second, even warmer, above-freezing episode to Interior Alaska this winter. Temperatures could conceivably reach up to 6-10C! Which would break some daily records, and begin to melt our snowpack, since at least two days of these conditions may occur.

Since it is winter, the airmass is not as warm, with a ridge of this magnitude, as it would be in summer, when solar insolation heats the ground. If this ridge were over Alaska in June or July, temperatures would easily reach 30-36C (86-95F), instead of the just 6-10C (43-50F) expected next week. Still, this would be 20C above average, for this time of year!

Many people have been asking me about the more turbulent weather we've been getting in Interior Alaska over the past 20 years, stronger temperature cycles, more thunderstorms, and more extremes in general, in drought, and heavy precipitation. I don't hesitate to tell them, this is just a taste of things to come. Because if this is what we're seeing from an increase of 330 to 390 ppm CO2 over the past 30-40 years, what will we be seeing when we reach 500-550 ppm CO2 in 20-30 years?! Cheers.

OPTING OUT

OPTING OUT

I cut up my Alaska Airlines credit card today. Which I've had for nine years now, and through which I've accumulated thousands of Alaska Airlines "frequent flyer" miles. One mile is given for each dollar spent with the card. This gave me an occasional "free" flight, first-class upgrade, and MVP status, occasionally.

But it all came at a price. Because that card is really from the Bank of America, one of the largest financial institutions in the World, one that was "too big to fail", even though they were one of the many large players engaging in greedy, exploitative, risky and reckless financial policies which led to the current global depression. They also received many of the 700 BILLION dollars in "bailout" funds given over to them from your tax dollars, as a reward for their criminally greedy and destructive behaviour. This article from Common Dreams today summarises the current situation with Wall Street, "your" government, and where we stand.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/25-7

Still Doing God’s Work on Wall Street
by Robert Scheer

"Jail, anyone? Perhaps that's too harsh, and at any rate premature, but is anyone ever going to be held accountable for the behind-the-scenes sweetheart deals that passed tens of billions of taxpayer dollars through the AIG shell game to the very banks that caused the financial meltdown? Or for the many other acts of double-dealing that left one out of three American homeowners owing much more than their houses were worth while the folks who swindled them were rewarded with hundreds of billions in public money?

Undoubtedly not, since the same folks who are most culpable wrote the laws that made this, and the other scams at the heart of the banking collapse, perfectly legal. And guess what? They're back at work in the government, writing the new laws that will, they claim, prevent us from being had once again. As a telling example of that process at work, check the official response of the Department of Treasury to the devastating report by the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Neil M. Barofsky, titled "Factors Affecting Efforts to Limit Payments to AIG Counterparties." The main factor was that Timothy Geithner followed the lead of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd "I'm Doing God's Work" Blankfein in crowding the lifeboats with bankers.

Geithner, now treasury secretary, was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), where he negotiated the deal to pay Goldman Sachs and the other top banks in full to cover their bad bets on securitized mortgages. Barofsky's report concluded that Geithner's scheme represented a "backdoor bailout" for the financial hustlers at the center of the market fiasco. Noting that Geithner denies that was his intention, the report states, "Irrespective of their stated intent, however, there is no question that the effect of FRBNY's decisions-indeed, the very design of the federal assistance to AIG-was that tens of billions of dollars of Government money was funneled inexorably and directly to AIG's counterparties."
Not surprisingly, the Treasury Department that Geithner now heads defended his actions in not forcing "haircuts" on the full dollar-for-dollar payoff by AIG to the banks while he was at the New York Fed: "The government could not unilaterally impose haircuts on creditors, and it would not have been appropriate for the government to pressure counterparties to accept haircuts by threatening to retaliate in some way through its regulatory power."

Nonsense, argues Eliot Spitzer, who as New York attorney general was way ahead of the curve in challenging Wall Street arrogance. Writing in Slate on Monday, Spitzer points out: "Pressuring Goldman and the other counterparties to offer concessions would have forced them to absorb the consequences of making suspect deals with an insurance company that was essentially a Ponzi scheme."

The Ponzi scheme was based on the collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) in which the bankers traded and which AIG had insured with the credit default swaps (CDSs) that they sold but failed to back with adequate funding. Now Geithner's Treasury concedes that AIG "should never have been allowed to escape tough, consolidated supervision." But none of AIG's scams were regulated, nor were any of the others at the center of the larger financial debacle, because of laws pushed through Congress by Geithner's boss, Lawrence Summers, when they both were in the Clinton administration. Specifically, they prevented regulation of those opaque CDOs and CDSs that would come to derail the world's economy.

As the inspector general's report stated: "In 2000, the [Clinton administration-backed] Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA) ... barred the regulation of credit default swaps and other derivatives." Why did the financial geniuses of the Clinton administration seek to prevent that obviously needed regulation? Because the Clintonistas believed the Wall Street guys knew what they were doing and that what was good for them was good for us lesser folk. As Summers, who is the top economic adviser in the Obama White House, put it in congressional testimony back then: "The parties to these kinds of contracts are largely sophisticated financial institutions that would appear to be eminently capable of protecting themselves from fraud and counterparty insolvencies."

Sounds nonsensical today: The inspector general's report notes that AIG, because of the deregulatory law that Summers and Geithner pushed through, was "able to sell swaps on $72 billion worth of CDOs to counterparties without holding reserves that a regulated insurance company would be required to maintain." But why, then, is Summers once again running the show with Geithner when both have made careers of exhibiting total contempt for the public interest? Because there is no accountability for the high rollers of finance, no matter who happens to be president."

© 2009 TruthDig.com
Robert Scheer is editor of Truthdig.com and a regular columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle

Below each article on this site, people occasionally write in comments, and we at A.P.R. often do as well! I thought this one was particularly insightful...

"Isn't the myth that unfettered capitalism has made America rich now being debunked by China's regulated capitalism?"

I think this image I included in my last (and most ominous) climate change post presents a good picture of how things are in this country, and in the rest of the "developed" World.

http://akprogressive.blogspot.com/2009/08/ac-cu-iii-update-it-gets-worse-and-can.htmlhttp://counterpunch.org/lindorff11252009.html

Which is this. These large wildfires, this one behind the major city of Los Angeles last August, are increasing in frequency and intensity globally, thanks to global warming. Which is occurring because our consumerist, capitalist culture is incapable of not "fouling the nest" with greenhouse gasses and other pollutants, without strict regulation and oversight. Oversight, which though desperately needed, will not occur unless strong pressure is applied by great amounts of people, in various ways. Most of these large skyscrapers are owned and populated by the major financial institutions at the heart of all this, in Los Angeles, and most cities world-wide.

One way in which we all can help decrease the importance, influence of, and damage done by these greedy, criminal financial institutions, is to BOYCOTT THEM. Thus, we here at the Alaska Progressive Review, have finally divested ourselves of the last piece of this destructive system today, our Alaska Airlines credit card. Sure, we won't be getting as many free airline miles and trips anymore, but that is a small price to pay, for peace of mind, knowing that we are not supporting these institutions. Now, our mortgage for the Chena Ridge Research Centre, our auto loan, bank accounts, and credit card, are all with local Credit Unions. We implore all of you, to do the same. Conduct all your business with non-profit Credit Unions, and BOYCOTT the greedy large banks. You'll be doing yourself, family, community, nation, and the World a big favour!

I came across this article today in the Counterpunch web-site.

http://counterpunch.org/lindorff11252009.html

"Working the War Up Since Early 2002"

The Blair-Bush Conspiracy on Iraq

By DAVE LINDORFF

"Most Americans are blissfully in the dark about it, but across the Atlantic in the UK, a commission reluctantly established by Prime Minister Gordon Brown under pressure from anti-war activists in Britain is beginning hearings into the actions and statements of British leaders that led to the country’s joining the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Even before testimony began in hearings that started yesterday, news began to leak out from documents obtained by the commission that the government of former PM Tony Blair had lied to Parliament and the public about the country’s involvement in war planning.

Britain’s Telegraph newspaper over the weekend published documents from British military leaders, including a memo from British special forces head Maj. Gen. Graeme Lamb, saying that he had been instructed to begin “working the war up since early 2002.”This means that Blair, who in July 2002, had assured members of a House of Commons committee that there were “no preparations to invade Iraq,” was lying.

Things are likely to heat up when the commission begins hearing testimony. It has the power, and intends to compel testimony from top government officials, including Blair himself.
While some American newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer, have run an Associated Press report on the new disclosures and on the commission, key news organizations, including the New York Times, have not. The Times ignored the Telegraph report, but a day later ran an article about the British commission that focused entirely on evidence that British military leaders in Iraq felt “slighted” by “arrogant” American military leaders who, the article reported, pushed for aggressive military action against insurgent groups, while British leaders preferred negotiating with them.

While that may be of some historical interest, it hardly compares with the evidence that Blair and the Bush/Cheney administration were secretly conspiring to invade Iraq as early as February and March 2002.

Recall that the Bush/Cheney argument to Congress and the American people for initiating a war against Iraq in the fall of 2003 was that Iraq was allegedly behind the 9-11 attacks and that it posed an “imminent” danger of attack against the US and Britain with its alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Of course, such arguments, which have subsequently been shown to have been bogus, would have had no merit if the planning began a year earlier, and if no such urgency was expressed by the two leaders at that time. Imminent, after all, means imminent, and if Blair, Bush and Cheney had genuinely thought an attack with WMDs was imminent back in the early days of the Bush administration, they would have been acting immediately, not secretly conjuring up a war scheduled for a year later. (The actual invasion began on March 19, 2003).

As I documented in my book, The Case for Impeachment (St. Martin’s Press, 2006), there is plenty of evidence that Bush and Cheney had a scheme to put the US at war with Iraq even before Bush took office on Jan. 20, 2001. Then Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill in his own tell-all book, The Price of Loyalty, written after he was dumped from the Bush Administration, recounts that at the first meeting of Bush’s new National Security Council, the question of going to war and ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was on the agenda. Immediately after the 9-11 attacks, NSC anti-terrorism program czar Richard Clark also recalled Bush ordering him to “find a link” to Iraq. Meanwhile, within days, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was ordering top generals to prepare for an Iraq invasion. Gen. Tommy Franks, who was heading up the military effort in Afghanistan that was reportedly closing in on Osama Bin Laden, found the rug being pulled out from under him as Rumsfeld began shifting troops out of Afghanistan and to Kuwait in preparation for the new war.

It is nothing less than astonishing that so little news of the British investigation into the origins of the illegal Iraq War is being conveyed to Americans by this country’s corporate media—yet another example demonstrating that American journalism is dead or dying. It is even more astonishing that neither the Congress nor the president here in America is making any similar effort to put America’s leaders in the dock to tell the truth about their machinations in engineering a war that has cost the US over $1 trillion (perhaps $3 trillion eventually when debt payments and the cost of veterans care is added in), and over 4000 lives, not to mention as many as one million innocent Iraqi lives."

Dave Lindorff is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. His latest book is “The Case for Impeachment” (St. Martin’s Press, 2006 and now available in paperback). He can be reached at dlindorff@mindspring.com

Once again, we can see how the corporate media in this country deliberately keeps hidden important news like this. There may actually be some accountability demanded from British politicians, for their involvement in the mass-murders of a million or more civilians in Iraq, and thousands of U.S., British, and other nation's, soldiers killed in a war based on lies, conducted for greed, and maintenance of political power.

It's quite clear now that we have two right-wing parties in this country, since the new Democratic administration is continuing the illegal and immoral wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, continuing to increase the defense budget, and has staffed all the most important economic and financial posts in it with the same people who were responsible for the current depression.

Thus, we here at A.P.R. feel it is absolutely essential that everyone with a social conscience, OPT OUT of "the system". That is, do not do business of any sort with large corporations, support the commercial, corporate media, and educate yourself and others to the current political/socio-economic situation. Only support political parties like the Green Party, that work for social/economic/political/environmental justice. Our job here at the Alaska Progressive Review, is to provide you with a quick reference, and source for material that can help you understand what is happening in our World, why, and how we can change things for the better. Spread the word!

This does take time, and effort on our part, and we occasionally need a break, to recharge, reconnect with the Natural World, and our place in the Cosmos.

So, for the next few days, we will be in the Alaska Range, heading south down the Richardson Highway,

To ski for miles and miles in and around the mountains, and maybe

even do a little climbing in these beautiful mountains. Alaska is currently in a very mild, southerly chinook flow weather regime. This weather pattern occurs more frequently now, with global warming, and is how most of our greatest increase in annual temperatures manifests. Instead of temperatures in the -15C to -40C range, this pattern brings us mild temperatures of 0 to -15C, perfect for winter recreation of all sorts. But it still can and does get much colder here, especially from now through mid-March, so we have to make most of this warmth, when it does occur. Cheers.

SIGN OF THE TIMES [and] SLIDING INTO WINTER

SIGN OF THE TIMES

I came across this article today in the Truthout news-site. Hunger is on the rise in the U.S. Because of the rising jobless rate in our low-grade, but persistent depression, brought on by the unregulated greed of the financial industry, and out-sourcing of jobs by large corporations, from this country over the past 20 years.

NEARLY ONE IN SIX CITIZENS WENT HUNGRY IN 2008

http://www.truthout.org/1117093

Washington - As the World Food Security Summit got under way in Rome Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) disclosed that nearly one in six U.S. households went hungry at some time during 2008, the highest level since it began monitoring food security levels in 1995.

Altogether, 14.6 percent of households, or some 49 million people, "had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year", according to the report, "Household Food Security in the United States, 2008".

That marked a sharp increase from the 11.1 percent of households, or 36.2 million people, who found themselves in similar straits during 2007, according to the report whose lead author predicted that the percentage was likely to be higher in 2009 due to the ripple effects of the financial crisis that erupted 14 months ago.

Among the 17 million households that experienced hunger – or "food insecurity", as the report referred to it - during 2008, about one-third suffered "very low food security", meaning that the amount of food of at least some household members was reduced and their normal eating patterns were substantially disrupted. Such households experienced such disruptions for at least a few days during seven or eight months of the year.

The other two-thirds were able to obtain enough food to avoid substantial disruptions by using a number of coping strategies, such as eating less varied diets, participating in government food and nutrition assistance programmes, or obtaining food from community food pantries or emergency kitchens.

And the number of households in which children, as well as adults, were subject to "very low food security" rose steeply – from 323,000 in 2007 to 506,000 last year, according to the report.

President Barack Obama released a statement from China, his latest stop on a week-long swing through Asia, which called the latest findings "unsettling".

"This trend was already painfully clear in many communities across our nation, where food stamp applications are surging and food pantry shelves are emptying," he said.

"It is particularly troubling that there were more than 500,000 families in which a child experienced hunger multiple times over the course of the year. Our children's ability to grow, learn, and meet their full potential – and therefore our future competitiveness as a nation – depends on regular access to healthy meals," he said, noting a number of steps taken by his administration to "revers(e) the trend of rising hunger."

Of the 49 million people who faced hunger on at least one occasion last year, 16.7 million were children, according to the report. That was 4.2 million more than in 2007 and the highest on record since 1995.

"The data released today is not surprising," said David Beckmann, the president of Bread for the World, a national anti-hunger group that also carries out programmes in poor countries. "What should really shock us is that almost one in four children in our country lives on the brink of hunger."

Feeding America, the largest U.S. food-relief organisation, said the USDA's latest statistics squared with its own experience in local communities where it runs some 200 food banks that feed more than 25 million people each year.

"It is tragic that so many people in this nation of plenty don't have access to adequate amounts of nutritious food," said Vicki Escarra, the group's president and CEO.

"Although these new numbers are staggering, it should be noted that they reflect the state of the nation one year ago, in 2008," she said. "Since then, the economy has significantly weakened, and there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states."

She noted that some of the group's food banks, which supply food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency feeding centres, have reported increases of more than 50 percent in requests for emergency food aid over the past year.

"National socio-economic indicators, including the escalating unemployment rate and the number of working poor, lead us to believe that the number of people facing hunger will continue to rise significantly over the coming year," Escarra said.

The official unemployment rate exceeded 10 percent last month for the first time since the early 1980s, while former Labour Secretary Robert Reich estimated the "unofficial" unemployment rate – which includes people who have given up looking for work or who are under-employed – to be as high as 20 percent.

"Research on previous recessions indicates that people who fall into the grips of poverty in a time of recession do not recover financially," Escarra said. "Many of those people are likely to be in need of our services now or in the future."

Food insecurity, according to the new report, correlated closely to households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line of some 22,050 dollars for a family of four, single-parent households, and African-American and Hispanic households.

It found that food insecurity was more common in large cities and rural areas then in suburbs and was most prevalent in the southeastern part of the country.

Under Obama, the government has significantly increased funding for food stamps, emergency food aid, and school lunch programmes. In his statement, Obama said he hoped to provide more support next year.

"The survey suggested that things could be much worse but for the fact that we have extensive food assistance programmes," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday. "This is a great opportunity to put a spotlight on this problem."

Beckmann agreed. "The recession has made the problem of hunger worse, and it has also made it more visible," he said. "Increased public awareness and the administration's commitment give me hope. To end hunger, our leaders need to strengthen nutrition programmes and provide steady jobs that allow parents to escape the cycle of poverty and feed their families for years to come."

We here at A.P.R. see nothing on the horizon that would improve the jobless situation in this country. No real effort has been made by the Obama administration to restore important regulatory powers by the federal government of the financial industry first started by the F.D.R. administration in the late 1930s (to prevent another financial melt-down), but gutted ten years ago (during the Clinton administration!). The incredibly blatant taxpayer robbery of 700 billion dollars, with even more proposed, to prop up the same greedy, short-sighted financial institutions that have caused a global recession, continues apace. No significant federal efforts for job growth have been undertaken.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the clouds of war, it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech, American Society of Newspaper Editors, 16 April 1953

You've seen this quote before here in a previous post. Why is our government spending two to three billion dollars a day on illegal, immoral, and destructive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Wars that were based on lies. Think what that money could be doing in this country, and others. For just 40 billion dollars, or 20 days of war, clean water could be provided GLOBALLY to the people who needed it. What do you think would do more to promote U.S. national security, 20 days of war on defenseless countries, or that?

Federal jobs programmes to develop and implement renewable energy sources on a large scale, shore up our crumbling infrastructure (roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, etc.), and develop high-speed rail links between all our major cities could employ millions gainfully, for many years. And help combat global warming.

"When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered......True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring......A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.
A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love.

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death."

Maybe MLK's words have come true. Is it too late?

SLIDING INTO WINTER











This past monday, while running errands around the UAF campus on a cold, dim early winter day,






I came across these inspiring, caring UAF students, camped out in the middle of campus. It was about -32C (-25F) overnight, warming to about -25C by day, and they had been there for four days. Trying to raise money for local shelters and awareness about homelessness, in our community, and all over. It's hard staying warm, just standing around like that! Our hat is off to them, and contributions too. Good on 'ya!

We had some time the following day for a short jaunt into the backcountry. The White Mountains, 70 Km or so northeast of Fairbanks beckoned. This is where the trail system that links a nice set of cabins is located, that many nordic skiers, dog-mushers, and snowmachiners go into throughout the winter.

We had had a nice 16 cm snow-dump at the Chena Ridge Research Centre last week, and we wanted to see how much occurred in the Whites, and how the trails were. When we got to the trailhead at 1pm, things were looking up! I'd estimate a good 30-40 cm snow base here. It sure made for beautiful scenery on the usually ugly black spruce. Because these trails run through the higher terrain at 800 to 1200 metres, when we have a cold-weather pattern, they are often in the clouds. Rime ice builds up thickly on all the tree branches, this combined with the snow from last week, made for quite a nice scene.

We wasted no time getting up the trail to Lee's Cabin, 12 Km southeast from the trailhead on the Elliott Highway. Homer and Mattie sure had a great time running in the -28C cold on the snowmachine-packed trail. I couldn't go as fast as them in that cold, slow, snow, on my waxless classic skis. Still, there was some decent glide on the downhill sections, since the trail was packed down.






The view looking north, about halfway to Lee's Cabin, toward Wickersham Dome shows the nice, thick snow base. I'm guessing they must have picked up double the amount of snow last week, that Fairbanks received. These trails are in prime shape now for any winter adventuring, good to know!



It took me a slow 90 min. to go just the 12 Km in to Lee's cabin. Just near there, the trail forks, this branch, heading east into the heart of the Whites, takes you into the network of cabins in the higher mountains, to the east. We'll be getting in there later this season, for sure.

Sunset comes by 4pm now, and was quite nice, with all the new snow. After a quick food/energy break near the cabin, it was time to head back. Since it was clear, that meant it would be getting much colder than -28C soon, so we were not going to take our time. I had to stop several times to whirl my arms, to force blood into my fingers, since they were getting cold and numb at times.

It took us another 90 minutes to make the return trip back to the trailhead. Homer sure has our admiration. For his advanced canid age of 13, he hasn't slowed down at all. He ran the entire 24 km, more even, since he kept going back and forth, so he probably ran 35-40 km, with no sign of tiring. Keep it up! Mattie of course was just going wild, she must have run 50 Km or more. She never shows any sign of tiring until she runs at least 90-100 Km.

We got back to the trailhead just as darkness was setting in. I managed to snap this picture with my ice buildup just in time.

I tried something new this time. I've seen UAF ski racers use these respirator face masks before when training in the deep cold of -20C or colder. These pre-warm the air above freezing as you inhale.

Inside our lungs, the surface area of air-exchange is very large, and with bitter cold air, a great amount of heat can be lost when breathing hard. Years of this can sometimes make the lungs more sensitive as well, inducing asthma in some people. To prevent that, I thought I'd give the mask a try. It worked great. Normally when working hard in the deep cold, I cough a little, not at all this time. And, after our 3 1/2 hour trip, my lungs felt just as good as when we started. I think this will be mandatory for all my runs and skis when temperatures drop below -20C. It's always nice to find some new way of adapting to the cold, so that we can be as active as we like. Cheers.

WHY WE ARE HERE [and] THE ONLY ONE

WHY WE ARE HERE

In part of our previous post, the "Getting Boulderised" section, we may have mislead you to think we didn't like living in Fairbanks, or that it is an inherently regressive, dark place.

This is definitely not the case, so here are a few reasons why the staff of the Alaska Progressive Review has chosen to remain here, continuing the furthest north stand for peace and justice!

First and foremost, is the presence of the University of Alaska, main campus, situated on the western edge of Fairbanks. Billed as "America's Arctic University", it has over 13,000 students, and most of the common degree programs one associates with a major public university.

The large student body and associated researchers, professors, and support staff, along with former students, does exert a significant, and beneficial impact on the Fairbanks North Star Borough (boroughs are what counties are called in Alaska, and the FNSB is home to about 100,000 people, while the city of Fairbanks has about 45,000).




UAF is one of the leaders in Arctic environmental, biological, and cultural research globally. For example, many of the authors of the definitive scientific assessment of global warming, the U.N. sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), http://www.ipcc.ch/,
are researchers at UAF. Atmospheric scientists, climatologists, statisticians, glaciologists, biologists, and many others.




Your lead author is privileged to be studying there, and finishing my M.S. in natural resources management/forestry, conducting research into global warming's effects on future Alaska wildfire seasons.

Like many public universities, UAF often sponsors thought-provoking and conscience-raising events:

Presentation and Book-signing:
The New GI Resistance
Dahr Jamail
Sunday November 15
Schaible Auditorium (Bunnell Bldg, UAF) 7PM - book signing to follow

Independent journalist and author of "The Will to Resist," DahrJamail, will share stories from the growing number of active dutymilitary personnel who are refusing to participate in what they see ascriminal wars of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan. These GI's arefinding comfort in the discomfort of truth despite the reprimand theyface for their dissent, and many come away from their armed servicededicated to working toward a rapid and responsible end to the occupations.

Jamail's Alaska tour is being sponsored by the UA Foundation Gene Sharp Lectureship on Nonviolent Action and he will be visiting all three UA campuses. Jamail's visit to Fairbanks is being hosted by the UAFairbanks Coalition for Peace and Justice, the Alaska Peace Center, North Star Veterans for Peace, and the Unitarian UniversalistFellowship of Fairbanks. For more information about Dahr and to seehis work, please visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com.


And, we even do have a local peace group, as mentioned above, the Fairbanks Coalition For Peace and Justice, https://lists.uaf.edu:8025/mailman/listinfo/fairbankspeace-l

I have helped staff their booth at our annual Tanana Valley Fair each August, and participated with them in candle-light vigils on the first and second anniversaries of the illegal, and immoral invasion and occupation of the sovereign country of Iraq, a country not threatening this one. Which has cost the lives of at least a million innocent civilians, there, and over 5000 U.S. soldiers, and destroyed their country.

That UAF would sponsor, much less allow, Dahr Jamail, to give his presentation on-campus speaks highly for it, and is the major reason why the A.P.R. remains in Fairbanks!

And although our progressive community is more widely dispersed, and smaller, than places like Missoula, MT, or Boulder, CO, it is present, under the radar, so to speak, of the dominant oil industry/military power centres here. One significant sign that the Fairbanks progressive community is slowly growing and increasing in prominence, is that a new cooperative natural food market, is well on it's way to fruition. http://fairbankscoop.wordpress.com/

This will be a welcome addition to Fairbanks, as natural food stores, wherever they are, serve as a nucleus for progressive culture, in addition to providing healthy, sustainable foods and other products.




Winters are cold here, there is no doubt about that. Our average high and low at the Fairbanks airport in January is -19C/-28C (-2F/-18F). And the sun only nudges 2 degrees above the horizon for 3 1/2 hours in the few weeks around the winter solstice. Producing beautiful lighting effects, on our snow-draped boreal forest landscape.

The long winters, sometimes cold (but not always, there are warm spells where temperatures warm up to near freezing between our periods of deep cold), produce a snowpack that gives us some of the best conditions in the World for nordic skiing. A pursuit we at A.P.R. avidly enjoy, and pursue every chance we get.

Nordic skiing trails were developed around the UAF campus as early as the 1930s. There are about 25 km of trails there now, groomed and set for both skating and classic skiing. Across town, just to the east of downtown Fairbanks, lies Birch Hill, the larger nordic skiing centre. It has a world-class set of about 35 Km of trails, and races at different times of the season attract athletes from all over the World. This is probably the second main reason why we like living here!

Today in fact, was the first day I had off, when our snowpack was deep enough for good conditions at Birch Hill.

So, I had to get out and skate about 25 Km, and then switch to my classic skis (the snow was a little stiff today, so the glide for skating was not as good as it could be, at the mild temperature of only -8C), for another 18 Km or so.

The trails at Birch hill wind their way predominantly through stands of birch trees, intermixed with white spruce, and black spruce on the permafrosty north-facing aspects. Some days I'll skate or classic ski 50-70 Km here, when the conditions are supportive.

We have nice, locally-dominated races as well. In late March every year, a 50 Km race called the Sonot Kkhazoot, starts downtown on the Chena River. We all go 10 Km up the Chena to a large hill, ascend that, then ski most of the trails in the Birch Hill nordic ski area, then descend back to the Chena, and slide back in to the start.




There are usually several hundred racers each year for this, and I've done it three times, getting a little faster each time (I'm still taking lessons, and probably will be for the rest of my life!). And since we have much longer days in March, and usually, warmer temperatures, it is a great time to be out enjoying a fast ski with hundreds of others!

And, in summer, all of the trails by UAF and at Birch Hill, serve as running and hiking trails, which we liberally take advantage of. We also have a very strong and large running community in Fairbanks, www.runningclubnorth.org, which we interact with quite a bit, running in many of the races, and in our annual Equinox marathon.

So, we do have some progressive culture in Fairbanks, with more on the way, along with an environment that is conducive for outdoor recreation of almost every conceivable sort. To say nothing of being within a few hours of all the other wilderness activities Alaska has to offer.

THE ONLY ONE

As you may already know, the U.S. is the only one of the 25 industrialised nations without some kind of national health coverage. A.P.R.'s take on the Obama administrations attempt at "health care reform" can best be summed up by this article, from the Counterpunch web-site. http://counterpunch.org/demoro11102009.html

Another Big Bail Out
The Truth About the House Health Care Bill
By ROSE ANN DeMORO

Of all the torrent of words that followed House passage of its version of healthcare reform legislation in early November, perhaps the most misleading were those comparing it to enactment of Social Security and Medicare.

Sadly no. Social Security and Medicare were both federal programs guaranteeing respectively pensions and health care for our nation's seniors, paid for and administered by the federal government with public oversight and public accountability.

While the House bill, and its Senate counterpart, do have several important reform components, along with many weaknesses, neither one comes close to the guarantees and the expansion of health and income security provided by Social Security or Medicare.

By contrast, if the central premise of Social Security and Medicare was a federal guarantee of health and retirement security, the main provision of the bills in Congress is a mandate requiring most Americans without health coverage to buy private insurance.

In other words, the principle beneficiary is not Americans' health, but the bottom line of the insurance industry which stands to harvest tens of billions of dollars in additional profits ordered by the federal government. Or as Rep. Eric Massa of New York put it on the eve of the House vote, "at the highest level, this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry, period."

Further, while Social Security and Medicare, two of the most important reforms in American history, were both significant expansions of public protection, the House bill actually reduces public protection for a substantial segment of the population, women, with its unconscionable rollback of reproductive rights in the anti-abortion amendment.

Why then so much cheerleading by many progressive and liberal legislators, columnists, and activists?

* Passage of the bill was a clear defeat for the Republican opposition and those on the right who have so mischaracterized what boils down to modest reform that looks more like a "robust" version of the Medicare prescription drug benefit or the state children's health initiative.
* Proponents of the bill, starting in the White House and running through the Democratic leadership in Congress, with the assistance and support of many in labor and liberal and progressive constituency groups, have so lowered expectations on healthcare reform that with eyes wide shut they can call this a sweeping victory.

To be sure there are commendable provisions in the House bill that bear note. Among the most important are:

Expansion of Medicaid to millions of low income adults.
Reduction of the "doughnut hole" in the Medicare drug coverage law making drug costs more affordable for many seniors.

Increased federal funding for community health programs, such as home visits for nurses and social workers to low income families.

Additional regulation of the insurance industry, mostly targeted to people who are presently without coverage rather than those with existing health plans. Those include limits on insurers ability to drop sick enrollees or refuse to sell policies to people with prior health problems, extending the age that dependent children can be on their parents' plan, and repeal of the anti-trust exemption for insurers.

Extending the same health benefit tax benefits available to married couples to domestic partners.

A progressive tax to help pay the bill through a surcharge on wealthy earners and required contributions from large employers, in sharp contrast with the Senate proposal to tax health benefits on misnamed "Cadillac" plans, comprehensive coverage available to many union members, for example.

But the acclaim now flowing from some quarters would have been better deserved had these provisions been enacted on their own -- not accompanied by the many shortcomings of the legislation. To cite a few:

Healthcare will remain unaffordable for many Americans. The bill does not do nearly enough to control skyrocketing insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital costs. Indeed, by various estimates, with no effective limits on the insurance industry's price gouging, out-of-pocket costs for premiums, deductibles and other fees by some estimates with eat up from 15 to 19 percent of family incomes by several accounts.

No meaningful reform of the rampant insurance denials of medical treatment the insurers don't want to pay for.

Little assistance for individuals and families who presently have employer-sponsored health plans and face frequent erosion of their coverage and health security. No help for the healthcare cost-shifting from employers to employees.

Minimal expansion of consumer choice. The much debated public plan option will be available only to about 2 percent of people under age 65, mostly those now not covered who buy insurance on their own (it may or may not be expanded in 2015). Further, no additional plan options for those in the many markets dominated by one or two private plans, and no additional choice of doctor or hospital within existing plans.

The new limits on abortion extended to poor women.

Ultimately, the combination of the mandate to buy insurance, federal subsidies to low income families to purchase private plans, failure to adequately control insurance prices or crack down on the abuse of insurance denials make the House bill -- and its Senate counterpart -- look a lot like a massive bailout for the private insurance industry.

Don't be misled by the howling from insurance industry which has been spending some $1.4 million a day to steer the direction of legislation. They would have preferred the status quo, but will be more than happy to count the increased revenues coming their way.

As Rep. Dennis Kucinich said on the House floor, "we cannot fault the insurance companies for being what they are. But we can fault legislation in which the government incentivizes the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem."

While some people will have improved access, the final accounting will be an even firmer private insurance grip on our healthcare system, with the U.S. remaining the only industrialized nation which barters our health for private profit.

Months ago, the Obama administration pre-determined this outcome by ruling out the most comprehensive, most cost effective, most humane reform, single payer, or an expanded and improved Medicare for all. Single payer proponents were shut out of White House forums, blocked from most hearings in the Senate, and single payer amendments stripped from the final House bill. Yet, through grassroots pressure, single-payer advocates forced consideration by the House of an improved Medicare for all until the very end.

But nurses and other single payer proponents who have heroically fought for this reform for years will continue the campaign, next in the Senate, where single payer amendments are expected to be introduced. The scene will also shift to state capitols, where vibrant single payer movements remain active and will escalate.

Proponents of comprehensive reform will never be silent, and never stop working for the real change we most desperately need.

Rose Ann DeMoro is executive director of the California Nurses Association.

I think everyone knows someone with health care horror stories. My brother Greg in San Diego had a bad surfing accident in 2006, when his surfboard shot up out of the water from a large wave. As it came down, and he came up from the water, the skeg sliced open the side of his head, severing his temporal artery. He would have bled to death, but fortunately, lifeguards were nearby, and were able to keep direct pressure on the wound until paramedics arrived.

His whole ordeal, the ambulance ride, vascular surgery, etc.. cost over $16,000. The charges on his bill were incredible for things like the pain-killers, etc. He doesn't have health insurance. It seems they charge more to people without insurance! Now he has to pay an inflated amount monthly for this unfortunate accident, for many years.

Back when I was 25, in February, 1990, and still learning to alpine ski, I had my first of five near-death experiences, on beautiful Mt. Hood here, near Portland OR.

Whilst skiing at the Mt. Hood Meadows ski area on a day where the snow was very icy, I got out of control and flew off a ledge, hitting a tree in mid-air, and descending through the trees 10-15 metres. Unconscious for a few hours, my first memory returning was laying ensconced in blankets on a sled, while the ski patrol peered down at me. Had some other skiers not heard my weak moaning emanating from a grove of mountain hemlocks beneath a ledge, and investigated, I surely would have froze overnight. This was followed by a 150 Km ambulance ride, x-rays and consultations with a plastic surgeon to plan the fix of my caved-in eye socket around the left eye, and then an arduous five-hour operation, whereby tantalum metal plates were used to re-shape the orbital socket (which also saved the vision in that eye, it had been made blurry by the accident).

Remember, this was in 1990. The total for all this, the ambulance ride, emergency room exam, plastic surgeon consultations, and the operation/hospital stay was $13,000. Of which, I only had to pay my Blue Cross calendar-year deductible of $250.00. Because they covered emergencies fully, at that time. Now, in 1990, federal salaries, and probably most private-sector salaries, were about 1/2 to 2/3 what they are now.

What do you think would be the total for this event, if it happened today? I guarantee you it would be at least 6 to 8 times what it cost in 1990. Even though wages generally have not even doubled since then. So you can imagine the plight of people without any health insurance coverage, or those who have serious diseases like cancer or need organ transplants, that insurance won't fully (or at all) cover. Medical bills like these are the major reason for personal bankruptcy in the U.S.

Is it really ethical, and healthy for us as a nation, to require health care to be a for-profit concern? What do you think? If not, join with progressive movements to press for single-payer health coverage for all, like in all the other industrialised nations.