“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
—Margaret Mead, anthropologist (1901 - 1978)

Please join me in celebrating Elizabeth Peratrovich Day today. This day offers us an opportunity to honor a true Alaskan hero.
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We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday today. I remember the day Dr. King died - April 4, 1968, the day after my 10th birthday. I was working at my shoeshine stand in the Sportsman’s Barbershop. The barbers and I listened to the radio broadcast telling the Nation that Dr. King had been shot and killed. I remember the sadness and fear. I was sad because even as a 10 year old boy I realized Dr. King was inspiring people to end poverty, eliminate injustice and try to stop the Vietnam War. As young as I was, King’s actions excited me. But I was also scared because I didn’t know what would happen to our Nation without King.

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Rosh Hashanah begins at today at sundown. To all our Jewish friends both here and Outside, a peaceful and prosperous 5768!

A front page story in today’s Anchorage Daily News reports on a proposal to force the Anchorage police to check the immigration status/citizenship of everyone they stop.

As if Anchorage’s Finest don’t have enough to worry about. You know, things like crime. It’s hare-brained ideas like this that prevent me from ever watching Bill O’Reilly. The same people who think this is a good idea are the same Know Nothings who want us all to have biometric national ID cards.

The security of our nation’s borders is the job of the Border Patrol, and I’m all for them doing a better job of it. But the last thing we need to do here in Alaska (and in the rest of the country) is to turn cops into immigration enforcement agents.

I sent-out the following press release this afternoon in advance of the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attacks:

“Six years ago today, three thousand Americans were killed by 19 mass-murderers. Just as those who are old enough remember where they were when they heard of President Kennedy’s assassination, all of us remember where we were, what we were doing, and how we felt as the tragedy of September 11th, 2001 unfolded.”

“Our nation united in grief as the Twin Towers fell, and today we once again remember the horror of that terrible day as we honor the innocents whose lives were extinguished and the heroes who died trying to save them.”

“As we mourn the senseless loss of so many lives to terrorism, let us also mourn the loss of so many of our basic American Rights and Freedoms over the past six years, the very Rights and Freedoms that make our nation a country worth living in and fighting for. The suspension of Habeas Corpus, the ‘Patriot’ Act, warrant-less wiretapping, warrant-less searches, watch Lists, national ID cards, national security ‘gag’ letters, and restrictions on our Right to Travel are all fruits from a Tree of Liberty poisoned by fear and exploited by cynical politicians.”

“President Roosevelt’s inspiring words, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself, have been replaced by one word: ‘Fear’. We cannot let those who wish to destroy our democracy and our way of life compel us into destroying our way of life. Let us re-commit to defending our nation without destroying our Constitution, the envy of the world.”