Sarah’s Train to Nowhere Derails in Wasilla

 

By making the false claim that her and husband Todd’s portion of the monetary costs of defending her governorship against the (now known as) frivilous ethics violations complaints filed against her by Alaska citizens, Sarah Palin has inadvertantly slapped the faces of those supporters who’ve rushed to her financial rescue.

Those people who volunteer their services to collect public money to help fund putting Gov Palin in the White House, and specifically those professionals who have donated their time and expertise to organize SarahPac and the Alaska Fund Trust had all their collective efforts derailed by one five-minute speech given on the third of July on the governor’s back lawn in Wasilla Alaska.

Five days later, amid the public’s chaotic quest to make sense of Sarah’s decision to relinquish her gubernatorial duties mid-term, little truths by reputable people were beginning to rise over the din. Take this quote from AKMuckraker over at The Mudflats for instance:

David Murrow, a spokesperson for the Governor, said in an interview that much of this money was budgeted to the lawyers in advance and would have gone to them anyway, even if state lawyers hadn’t been defending against these ethics complaints.

This completely negates Sarah’s claim that money spent on answering the ethics violations complaints could have been put to better use (roads, education, etc.) because the attorneys and staffers who actually worked on the complaints were already on payroll to do so and nothing extra was required. Answering these complaints was already in the Alaska Law Dept. job description.

Then comes this Alaska radio talk show clip posted by Phillip Munger at Progressive Alaska in which Michael Carey, columnist for Anchorage Daily News tells well-known Alaska journalist Terry Gross:

“…I spoke to a a legislator today (a former member of the Attorney General’s office) and he explained that many of the ethics complaints could have been answered simply by writing a letter back to those who handle ethics matters… and say… this is actually what I did and respond to the complaint in that fashion without requiring any high-price legal help.”

So now we hear from legal sources in the know that the entire manner in which Sarah responded to the ethics violations complaints, the infamous “waste of state time and resources” defense was her own doing and completely unnecessary.

Six days later, in an interview by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, it seems the very man who put the Alaska Fund Trust together for Gov Palin to protect her from financial ruin has commented on the truth of how much money the Palins have actually been responsible for and it’s not even close to the thousands upon thousands of dollars she claimed in her speeches and interviews between 03 July and 09 July. It’s actually closer to zero.

According to Margaret Carlson of The Week magazine and Bloomberg News and reported on by Gryphen at The Immoral Minority:
 
John Coale, who set up Sarah’s Legal Defense Fund (and apparently runs SarahPac), told Carlson that THEY (the Alaska Fund Trust) reimbursed the state for the children’s travel expenses and paid her legal bills for the other ethics charges. In other words Sarah Palin has paid NO out of pocket money due to these charges!

To further wear on Palin supporters, the media has tagged SarahPac – SarahPac of Lies.

A lot of people across the USA were smitten by Sarah’s seemingly down-to-earth, on-the-side-of-the-average-Joe’s personality. But looks can be deceiving and unfortunately, history has proven time and again that not all charismatic people are worthy of the loyalty they inspire.
 
Sarah’s Train to Nowhere isn’t just coming off the tracks. It’s headed for the edge of a steep cliff at subatomic speeds and – considering the people who climbed onboard – it’s taking the careers of some of her most loyal supporters with it.

To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Sarah’s Train to Nowhere Derails in Wasilla and click the word comments  – Thanks, OzMud

 

The $2 Million Campaign Slogan: When the Going Gets Tuff – the Tuff Go Fishing!

Please let me preface my post with this humble acknowledgement: Math is not my strong suit. I struggled through the basics at every level. My high school geometry teacher, normally sweet and patient with her students was so addled by my energetically inept interpretation of her beloved subject she actually asked me to drop her class and promise to never put another unsuspecting maths teacher through her agony.

When asked by others why I dropped geometry, I would explain, “To me, geometry is like standing in front of an ancient column adorned with Greek inscriptions and attempting to use the Hebrew alphabet to translate them into Russian so an Arab could read them and my mind just isn’t agile enough to make that many leaps all at once.

I say this so you will have great pity for me and perhaps understand why I’m quite literally agonizing over the mathematical side of Sarah Palin’s quitting arguement regarding ethics violations complaints and how much they’ve cost Joe the Alaska Guy.

“These frivilous lawsuits and ethics complaints have cost Alaska thousands of hours and millions of dollars – and have so bogged down our system of government I have to quit in order to get anything done – blah blah blah…” Ok that’s probably not a direct quote but certainly it’s close enough for moose shoes.

It is my understanding, from asking folks in this previous post, (special hattip to EyeOnYou & not that sarah) that there are three members of the Alaska State Personnel Board. They are all volunteers and not on the state payroll. It is their job to review complaints against state employees and either dismiss or press forward. When they cannot decide amongst themselves if a complaint has merit or not, they turn the complaint over to a solicitor for advice. Said solicitor now makes the actual assessment of the complaint, determines if it has validity and either recommends to the board to dismiss the complaint flat out, or to proceed with a full investigation.

Please note that more than a dozen of these ethics violations complaints have been summarily dismissed, thereby not creating any cost other than the hours put in by the legal team (and since I am not privy to the actual name of the legal team I fondly refer to it as the legal team of Palin Hollers & I Jump). Granted legal costs can be substantial, but none of the complaints dismissed included court or litigation fees, and none played out in front of a jury. So reasonably, one would assume the actual review costs would have only reflected research and investigation.

Get comfy. the maths part is next. Try looking out of only one eye.

There are 52 weeks in a year with 40 hours in each full-time work week. Subtracting an average of five holidays per year, plus one week’s vacation, plus five sick days, the average full-time employee works approximately 1,952 hours a year. That’s not counting coffeebreaks, personal telephone calls, coming in late, leaving early, chatting with co-workers, daydreaming, family emergencies, inter-office parties for showers or birthdays, running errands or reading non-work-related emails, twitters and blogs. So let’s be fair and call it an even 1,900 hours of actual labour per full-time position per year.

To meet Sarah’s claim of she and her Personnel Board staffers spending ‘thousands of hours’ on frivilous ethics violations complaints, at least two of the members would have had to devote a minimum of twenty-five weeks – each – of full-time hours devoted solely and exclusively to reviewing ethics violations complaints. That’s non-stop, constant scrutiny of a complaint and doing nothing else five solid days a week for at least six months. How long does it take to read a few pages of text times 15-18 before realizing it’s over your head and you need a solicitor to make the decision? And once that step has been taken what’s left to do that takes up thousands of hours of state time?

For the $2,000,000 claim to be valid, the volunteer staffers would have had to bill the state for those hours worked.

But wait – can a person bill hours against a volunteer position? And if they turn the complaints over to a legal staff for review because ‘they’ are not comfortable making the calls themselves, where do the legal costs fall? Why are the Personnel Board members, whose job it is to review ethics violations complaints, not capable of making these decisions? Or to be more succinct: What the heck are they doing in positions (even volunteer posts) when they obviously can’t fulfill the job description? If all they did was take papers from one source (the complainant) and turn it over to another (the solicitor) they’re no more than a messenger service.

What is it, exactly, in their review which caused such a massive amount of work hours? How can this statement possibly be justified and why is no one in the media as perplexed as I am?

And why, pray tell, was the governor’s office involved? Why did these complaints cause the governor’s office to grind to a complete halt?

Maybe what Alaska legislators should review in their next session is how complaints are reviewed in the first place. My apologies if I’m speaking out of turn. It’s not my fault though, my brain is fried from having had to duel with a calculator tonight.

Other bloggers have put beauifully constructed graphs and charts together to show the lunacy of Sarah’s claim that her gathered complaints and lawsuits have cost Joe the Alaska Guy more than two million dollars. In fact, here’s a link (courtesy of Progressive Alaska) I highly recommend.

Now if someone would just address the fact that there’s no physical way 15-18 ethics violations complaints, issued over the course of one year, to a volunteer staff of three, with each complaint turned over to a solicitor for review and the majority dismissed outright, could have cost Alaska thousands of hours in wasted state time and/or resources, because my math is crap and even I can figure out that none of this adds up.

I am so tired of the press never holding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin accountable for the barrage of inaccuracies that fall out of her mouth, I could spit. They were all over President Clinton when he said he never smoked marajuana even though he almost sort of maybe tried it in college – but they give Sarah a free pass when she tells the world $300,000 is really $2,000,000.

I’m not even going near the fact that two-thirds of that 3k were the costs of a suit she filed against herself . I’ve already taken a hammer to the calculator.

The brick wall I keep banging into is that it feels like no journo with a brain in the lower 48 is taking her seriously. The danger with that, of course, is there are far too many brainless people in the lower 48 who do.

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: The $2 Million Campaign slogan: When the Going Gets Tuff, the Tuff Go Fishing and click on the word comments just beneath – thanks, OzMud

 

Fox News Might Be Getting A Clue

To the Law Firm: Palin Hollers & I Jump
From: United Bloggers Everywhere

The television station most biased in favour of Sarah Palin is finally catching on?!?!

Liz Trotta refers to a New York  Times piece written by Maureen Dowd and published the day after Sarah’s resignation speel. It’s brilliant. Absolutely brilliant! Please take the time to read it in full - I promise you won’t be sorry.

Here’s a highlight:

Palin’s speech is classic casuistry.

After girlish burbling about how “progressing our state” and serving Alaska “is the greatest honor that I could imagine,” and raving about how much she loves her job, she abruptly announced that she was making the ultimate sacrifice: dumping the state on her lieutenant.

Why “milk it,” as she put it, when you can quit it? “Only dead fish go with the flow,” she said, while cold fish can blow out of town. Leaving Alaska in the lurch is best for Alaska. She can better “effect change” in government from outside government. She can fulfill her promise of “efficiencies and effectiveness” by deserting Juneau midway through her term — and taking her tanning bed with her.

To Mr. Van Something – Good luck with your venture to silence every one of the hundreds of thousands of people who are now reporting on and talking about your client’s bizarre, public behaviour.

And as you dance in the spotlight of your newfound fame, taking your act on the road with the rest of the Palin Travelling Circus, always remember the name Shannyn Moore. Because sir, it may have been the Palin camp who hired you but it was the unjustifiable attack on a girl from Homer that put you on the map

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: Fox News Might Be Getting A Clue and click on the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

 

(from the desk of ) Palin Hollers & I Jump

From the desk of Palin Hollers & I Jump
Memo to all bloggers:

STOP PHOTO-SHOPPING!!!!!!!

Something Van Something

Ok Ok – but what do I do with this?

To comment on this post please scroll back to the above title (from the desk of) Palin Hollers & I Jump and click the word comments just beneath - Thanks, OzMud

 

SP: STFU

I don’t twitter. But if I did, the first thing I’d twit would be just that.  Future ex-Governor Sarah doesn’t seem to know when to just shut up. We’ve all touched on this before. Knowing when to keep quiet is an essential communication skill. It mark’s maturity. It’s smart.

Just under a year ago Sarah Palin was launched into all of our lives. John McCain proffered her as the Darling of the Republican Party. Smart. Witty. Progressive. Hard-working. Dedicated. A small part of the population embraced her straight away. It only took a bare few weeks for the rest of us to realize we were watching the birth of a train wreck.

When Sarah Palin, at a public rally, called for John Q. Public to get behind McCain and the Republican Party, claiming Barack Obama to be anti_American and that he palled around with terrorists, we have on video the ignorant response of ‘kill him’ coming from the crowd. A normal person would have taken a mental step back and reworded her next sentence to quell the building hostility.  Sarah Palin instead lowered her head, smirked, then raised her head and loudly repeated her unsubstantiated, racist cries, deliberately fuelling a dangerous fire.

When Katie Couric asked Sarah Palin questions she could not immediately answer, (hard questions like ‘what newspapers do you read?’) a mature person would have just named any paper, made a quick blonde joke out of not being able to recall a title off the top and let the subject naturally change. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, dismissed the question as unfair, then ridiculed, belittled and besmirched Ms. Couric for months after, accusing her of conducting unethical journalistic practices, and sabotaging her campaign. To this day, almost a year and a hundred other reporters later, Ms.Couric continues to be the lead target in Sarah Palin’s war on the media.

When Andre McCleod lodged the first ethics complaint against the Alaska governor, instead of just giving her the documents requested – documents which, according to statements made by the Governor herself would completely exonerate her office of any wrong-doing – and letting the complaint run it’s course, Sarah Palin hemmed and hawed, demanding one continuation after another making various public statements discrediting the former employee. Another politician would have bent over backwards to handle the affair as quickly and quietly as possible.

I could write twelve more pages of examples without stopping to think and still have stacks more in the bin, but for the moment I’ve had enough. Her Facebook letter explaining her actions on Friday last has made front page news here in Australia and it sickens me that the only version going to print is her own personal fairy-tale, not the actual events as they occurred or any version even close to the truth.

Shannyn Moore, an Alaskan blogger, radio talk-show host and frequent guest on television news shows like MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann, is the governor’s newest stepping stone on her path to the White House using the strategy of who do I need to make wrong to make me look right. Through her top-gun solicitor, Mr. Something Van Flein, Sarah Palin made the erroneous claim that Ms. Moore, over the weekend, on a televised news program and in her personal blog presented local speculation  as to the reasons behind the Governor’s recent resignation as ‘fact’. She’s sicked her over-paid, under-informed legal team on Ms. Moore in an effort to silence the political journo. (Click on any blog link to the right for full details.)

Shannyn Moore, along with dozens of other citizens both in Alaska and the lower 48, spent much of the 24 hours following Sarah Palin’s resignation announcement talking with each other in a quest to make sense of what appears to be the weirdest move of Palin’s political career. Rumours flew in every direction. Alaskan bloggers email boxes were packed with inquiries. Servers crashed over at The Mudflats from the sudden and intense amount of traffic. Everyone outside Alaska assumed that anyone inside Alaska would have a better persepctive and a clue.

The problem the legal team of Palin Hollers & I Jump is going to have, though, is really rather fatal to rising star attorneys. Their call to cease and desist is based upon an erroneous claim that, well, to be blunt… is erroneous. And they’re making these preliminary accusations at the top of their lungs so there won’t be any wiggle room for do-overs or claims of misunderstanding.

Oops.

Shannyn Moore has written and video-taped proof positive (along with many thousands of eye-witnesses) that she never claimed her report of local rumours and conjecture was anything but – a report on local rumours and conjecture. Oh and she added her own personal opinion. Which, by the way, was clearly prefaced with “and this is my opinion…”

So it would seem the same First Amendment Right which has allowed Sarah Palin to entertain us all with her unique brand of truth-twisting nonsensical gibberish about her life and how the greatest nation on the planet should operate… is not extended by the Palin Party to Shannyn Moore because… why again? Oh yes I remember. Shannyn didn’t embrace her Governor’s latest public display of mega-amentia.

Were a twitterer, Sarah’d be getting this from me right about now -

Sarah Palin: Shut The Fuck Up

To comment on this post please scroll back to the above title SP: STFU and click the word comments just beneath - Thanks, OzMud

 

 

Remember Back When We Were All Running Around Looking For WMD’s?

I’m just sayin’…

Happy Fourth USA – Here’s to a whole bunch of better years *cliNk*

 

Sarah Resigns. Something Smells.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

This is the link to Sarah Palin’s resignation speech. Trust me when I say that having graduated from high school in the mid 1960’s I was exposed to many people who imbibed and did my share of  listening to stoners ramble – stoners who now it appears - made more sense than this video clip.

My gut says our queen of misdirection is hiding something. Something so big she’s willing to sacrifice her tiara. I mean title.  (No, really, I mean tiara.) Perhaps there’s an ethics complaint that can’t be spirited away as easily as the first 13. Or perhaps the truth about her bizarre delivery last April is about to step into the light. Well whatever it is, I’m certain it has nothing to do with the gibberish in this video.

One thing bothers me above all else in the ludicrous diatribe above – when folks photo-shopped the shot of her holding a bub, replacing the bub’s face with photos of David Letterman or George Bush – I can’t think of a single person who was ridiculing baby Trig, can you? I didn’t think so. Her self-righteous claim of people disrespecting her child are as absurd as she.

Pretty much, everyone I know who played with that photo was ridiculing her.

 

Alaska Trust Fund: The part I don’t get

This is just off the top of my head so please bear with me through the bits I’ve probably got wrong but…

In trying to keep current with all the many ethics complaints lodged against Gov. Sarah Palin, the investigations either reported on or instigated by The Immoral Minority and Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis (both ventures to which I have made modest donations ) and the online descriptions of the fund itself (both at the fund’s website and scanning the C4P blogs) I am hit this morning with the troubling thought that, perhaps, the fund itself is a sham.

The Alaska State Personnel Board purportedly responsible for deciding whether or not a complaint has merit enough to be investigated, has dismissed more than a dozen of the 18 known ethics complaints lodged. So, no investigation and therefore no need for defense, right?

My understanding of  ‘how it works’ is that a complaint is filed. The board reviews the complaint and decides whether or not to proceed with an investigation or dismiss the charge. If it is to proceed, the next step is an investigation. After that, if the investigation proves fruitful, allegations become charges and the Governor needs then to answer said charges in a court of law. The Governor would at this point need to hire an attorney to defend her actions.

Help me out here Alaskans - why, if so many ethics violations complaints were dismissed at the first step in this process, was there ever a need for this collection of funds from the public? Surely the part about the Alaska State Personnel Board deciding if a complaint has merit or not is in it’s very basic job description and therefore already paid for?

Would not the governor’s need for defense only become necessary if a charge was finally made by the state? Why should Sarah Palin need a ‘defense fund’  for ethics violations complaints which were truncated at the earliest point of the procedure?

From my perspective this is either fraud in itself – or I’m missing a big piece of the puzzle. I’m not understanding why any governor would need to reimburse their personnel board for an initial inquiry already mantled by payroll.

Sarah Palin herself has many times told the press that it is the responsibility of the Alaska State Personnel Board to ‘look into and make determinations’ of these complaints. This was her justification for having the Troopergate decision overturned, was it not?

For the sake of arguement: If a policeman in Alaska, through the normal course of his duties is accused of misconduct does he have to personally pay for the investigation ‘before’ it’s an actual charge? I can’t imagine this being the case. It would seem to me that only at the point in an inquiry where it is determined a complaint might have merit and the officer is asked to stand down while a full investigation is underway, that there is an attorney assigned to the officer for defense.

Are elected officials so different?

So here are my concerns:

1. If determining whether or not a complaint lodged against an elected official in the state of Alaska is one of the duties of the Alaska State Personnel Board, why would Sarah Palin need a privately collected defense fund to pay for that inquiry?

2. Why would Sarah Palin need to hire a defense team prior to being charged with any allegations of wrong-doing? Especially when these complaints have been summarily dismissed before charges were made as frivolous. If one hasn’t actually been charged with wrong-doing, where is the need for defense?

3. If determining whether a complaint against a public official warrants investigating or not is the job of the Personnel Board, and the Governor is collecting monies from citizens to also pay for these determinations, does this mean someone on the personnel board is being paid twice?

Your input is greatly appreciated – OzMud

To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Alaska Trust Fund: The part I don’t understand - and click on the word comments.

 

Australia Gets It right

There was a small news article the other day – well, more like a Yahoo blurb really – about how government surveys show more than two-thirds of all Australians either approve of or simply have no problem with the concept of gay marriage. Apparently it’s not just lip service because the above notice has, without fanfare, quietly appeared on the official gov.au.com website.

 For those unfamiliar with the workings of the Oz Government, Centrelink is the main clearing house for all services and benefits (ie employment, unemployment, assistance, welfare, pension), representing both state and federal programs under one roof.  It’s a very convenient system. 

I must confess ignorance at knowing how this decision came about – if it was voted on by the general public, parliament or mandated by the current administration. I don’t recall any recent public debate or discussion, and yet here it is: Acknowledgement on a federal level that whatever your sexual proclivity, two people living together will enjoy all the rights and benefits of any other couple. 

How good is that. 

Australia has, unfortunately, it’s share of gay-bashings, usually instigated by mixing narrow-minded bigots with large amounts of alcohol on a too-hot Friday night, but overall the general public is pretty tolerant of personal choices. The whole country reminds me of the cultural climate of San Francisco in the mid 1900’s. Friendly, tolerant, neighbourly. It was just a lovely place to live. 

So while it may not look like it amidst all the negative press we endure daily from sources like Fox News or the ignorant commentaries that spew forth from people like Sarah Palin, if you can just take a step back and look at the whole picture – really, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin are in a shrinking minority. 

The world is growing up in spite of them.

It’s a great time to be alive.

 

Cyclone Sarah Strikes Again

 Sarah Palin’s cyclonic behaviour this past week has made my head spin.

First and foremost, was I the only one WHO GOT David Letterman’s joke? It was almost cute, actually. Ok, I wouldn’t have used it – but neither would I have accused David Letterman of havng lecherous motives. This is late-night television. Adults talking with adults after the kids have gone to bed. I fail to see the inappropriateness. 

<Insert> For my Oz friends who missed it, the much-fuss-made-over joke can be viewed here.

Comics are wordsmiths. Especially comics as seasoned and successful as David Letterman. It was a play on words. That’s all. A play on words. ‘Knocked up’ is an American expression for falling pregnant. It’s also an English expression for ‘company called’, meaning someone’s either knocked on your door or called you on the telephone. Even in Australia you will overhear people make the remark “Ok, well I’ll knock you up in a day or two…” and I must confess, it makes me giggle every time. 

‘Knocking one out of the park’ is, of course, scoring a home-run in baseball. If there’s something sleazy about the ballplayer used in the joke, it went over my head. I never followed baseball when I lived in the US – so I certainly don’t keep up with it now. 

The Alaska-bred Palin’s attended a ballgame in NY. Their appearance made the news. David Letterman tied all the meanings together into a one-liner joke for his monologue. Just like he’s done with daily news headlines on his show every evening for over thirty years. Just like Joey Bishop and Johnny Carson did for thirty years before him. Just like Jay Leno. NOBODY BUT SARAH would have considered turning this into such an overdone, humongous, public kerfuffle. 

But alas, our Sarah just doesn’t seem to know when to stop. Her maternal instincts are proving oxymoronish, as she keeps engaging her children in public battles inappropriate to both their ages and genders while blasting others for engaging her children in public battles inappropriate to both their ages and genders. If the small hair on the back of your neck isn’t making your brain scream DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER! it should be.

As the mother of four myself, I can tell you with all certainty that had a public figure made light of one of my daughters in a public forum and I found the comment offensive, I would have called him directly – questioned him personally – grilled him privately until I was satisfied I had the facts straight, and that it would never happen again. And then he would apologize to my daughter, in person and in private. (Does Sarah not know the purpose of the catch-all phrase ’no comment’?) I would not – in a hundred million years – have thought to air my reactions on public radio or television in a dramatic diatribe of outrage which called upon the very forces of estrogen to ban together in an apocalyptic burst of energy to secure rights for all women, everywhere. Why? Well, besides the obvious fatigue caused just by summoning the forces of estrogen, it’s because: 

* when someone takes a swing at one of your kids – you don’t hold the child over your head like a war flag on a pole and charge – you tuck them safely behind you so the next shot hits you and not your child. 

* any mother worth her salt knows that a public embarrassment – especially with a teenager – is only made worse (for the child) by further publicity. 

Because that’s what maternal instinct IS. It is the deep-seated awareness of your child’s immediate needs. It jumps to the front of your brain in a rush of adrenalin so you have the physical and mental acumen to withstand whatever circumstances are endangering your offspring. It overrides every other instinct you possess, possessing you until you are certain your child is safe.

Unless of course, your name is Cyclone Sarah. In which case you muddy the issue by ignoring the obvious (that the joke was aimed at your 18 year old daughter whom you paraded on national television last year with full belly sans husband), and offer up a different child, claiming that the child to which Mr. Letterman referred in his off-colour joke is only 14 (when in fact she is 15 and a half), then dress her in inappropriate clothing and drag her out in public for all to leer erm I mean see.

These are Willow and Bristol Palin. In this picture, Willow is on stage with her mom at a planned event in front of cameras. Bristol is performing her duties as Ambassador for Abstinence. She, at least, is appropriately dressed for the event she’s attending. It does not surprise me at all that Mr. Letterman or any of his staff could have confused the two girls. Or their ages.

Had I shared Sarah’s opinion of what transpired on The David Letterman Show, Mr. Letterman would already be tied to one of my kitchen chairs, profusely apologizing to my daughter or I would be in his office, lambasting him into the next century. 

But I would not, WOULD NOT EVER consider dragging it into the open marketplace for the media and general public to make further speculation, and I would not, NOT use the insult as a stepping stone to launch yet another crusade to enhance my political career.

Really, it’s rather like brushing your hair, putting on fresh make-up then opening your front door where you know the paparazzi are camped and feign shock at finding them there. ”NO! NO! NO PHOTOGRAPHS PLEASE! LET ME AT LEAST COMB MY HAIR!!!”

And for the record, Sarah, you DO dress like a slutty flight attendant. Not the ones who graciously assist us in the air, but the ones in B movies and adult anime clips. Your clothes are too tight, your skirts are too short, and most of your bright red, too-tall, open-toed shoes are the epitome of the old ‘come fuck me pumps’ from the 1980’s. 

Here’s a thought… use some of the money from your book deal to hire an actual fashion consultant and stop letting 1990’s beauty pageant styles or sordid clothing companies dress you and your girls. Willow’s too young and you’re too old.

PLEASE NOTE: To comment on this post, scroll back to the title: Cyclone Sarah Strikes Again and click on the word comments just underneath – Thanks  OzMud

 

In The Real world

 

I’ve put off commenting on the Carrie Prejean / Single Sex Marriage Question marathon because well, I thought it was a pretty stupid question to ask a beauty contestant in a live pageant on national television, period. 

But today’s news of her firing adds a new twist to the worn-out topic and I just have one thing to say: 

In the real world, people actually get fired for not doing their jobs. Our personal opinions have not one iota to do with how well we perform in the work environment. We contract to perform an agreed upon set of functions for which we expect to be paid an agreed upon amount of money. 

Carrie Prejean was NOT relieved of her crown because of her narrow-minded, out-dated, homophobic opinion of marriage. She was relieved of her crown because she repeatedly refused to fulfill her duties as Miss California USA. 

It isn’t every day a Beauty Queen is asked to step down due to sheer incompetence, but today’s firing of Carrie Prejean is proof-positive that it does, in fact, happen. 

The only mystery for me:  Why is Sarah Palin still collecting a paycheck? Perhaps Alaska Legislators could entice Donald Trump to visit Juneau and show them how it’s done…

PLEASE NOTE: To comment on this post. scroll back to the title: In the Real World and click on the word comments just underneath – Thanks  OzMud

 

Sarah Palin T-Shirts – Rejected Campaign Slogans

If you had the chance to put a 2012 campaign slogan for Sarah on a T-shirt, what would you write…

Want in? Leave  me your slogan and favourite colour in a comment (scroll back to the above title: Sarah palin T-Shirts and click the word comments) and I’ll be happy to add it to the above post

Editor’s Note: I believe in sharing. The above images are individually posted so each can be snipped separately. Pick your fav’s and feel free to use as avatars, email signatures, refrigerator magnets… I was thinking…  maybe a letterhead with 5 or 6 on a clothesline for writing to government agencies…

 

Sarah Sets Progress Back 50 Years – Part One – Just Ask Robin!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the people of the lower 48 rejoiced at their $30 million windfall and everyone lived happily ever after. Well, Sarah did. Without State taxes or Federal Stimulus money, the rest of Alaska struggled to stay warm in the ensuing harsh climate changes while their out-dated building codes and insufficient weatherization provided little, if any, protection to their homes.

 

 

 But as long as Sarah was happy…

 

* * * * * * *
To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Sarah Sets Progress Back 50 Years – Part One – and click on the word comments. Thanks – OzMud

 

Sarah And The Two Aliens

 

 

Two aliens landed in downtown Juneau, Alaska near a gas station that was closed for the night. They approached one of the gas pumps which happened to still be sporting an old Sarah Palin for Governor sticker and the younger alien addressed it saying, ‘Greetings, Earthling. We come in peace. Take us to your leader.’

The gas pump, of course, didn’t respond.

The younger alien became angry at the lack of response.

The older alien said, ‘I’d calm down if I were you.’

The younger alien ignored the warning and repeated his greeting. Again, there was no response.

Annoyed by what he perceived to be the pump’s haughty attitude, he drew his ray gun and said impatiently, ‘Greetings, Earthling. We come in peace. Do not ignore us this way! Take us to your leader or I will fire!’

The older alien again warned his comrade saying, ‘You probably don’t want to do that. I really don’t think you should make her mad.’

‘Rubbish,’ replied the cocky, young alien. He aimed his weapon at the pump and opened fire. There was a huge explosion.

A massive fireball roared towards them and blew the younger alien off his feet, depositing him a burned, smoking mess about 200 yards away in a flowerbed.

Half an hour passed. When he finally regained consciousness, he
refocused his three eyes, straightened his bent antenna, and looked dazedly at the older, wiser alien who was standing over him shaking his big, green head.

‘What a ferocious creature!’ exclaimed the young, fried alien. ‘She damn near killed me! How did you know she was so dangerous?’

The older alien leaned over, placed a friendly feeler on his crispy friend and replied, ‘If there’s one thing I’ve learned during my intergalactic travels, you don’t want to mess with a woman who even has a penis, much less one who can loop it over her shoulder twice and then stick it in her ear.’

 

Top Ten Reasons…

…why boys need more parenting than girls:

 

C’mon Wassillans – Talk to Us *Comments*

Anyone who knows me, knows I am subject to sudden explosions of random thoughts, all masquerading as good ideas, causing my entire world to make mutiple giant u-turns without signalling.

Sans warning, one or more truly scathingly brilliant ideas will pop into my head and I find myself so eager to see what they would look like outside of my head, I can actually short-circuit trying to give birth to all of them at once. My children have told me this is an actual visual event, from which they derive great amusement, and had they ever been able to predict their occurances, they could have, as teenagers, made good money selling tickets to their friends.

My children have quite vivid imaginations and are not to be trusted

I bring this up because this past week has been one long chain reaction of non-stop scathingly brilliant ideas popping into my head, so permeating the rest of my life there are no more clean dishes in the kitchen, the benchtops appear to have been decorated by a recent cyclone and my toes are cold from putting off going out and buying new slippers because last winter ate my old ones, and this winter descended in the middle of my creative streak running amok. One can always find warm toes. But to midwife a new idea being hatched, well… I have my priorities, after all:)

So… before I get sidetracked one more time, I’ve meant to address the comments made a post or two back about – well here. Let’s just pull up a couple and have a sticky beak:

Post title: C’mon Wasillans – Talk To Us
Date: 13 May 2009
Subject: Photos used by the Palin camp as proof Bristol could not have been pregnant in December 2007

Readers Comments:

There are two overflowing folders on my IE toolbar chockers with links saved from as far back as Septmber ‘08. One is called comments, the other research. In them I have attempted to preserve links to newspaper articles, television and youtube video clips, assorted websites, chat threads and blogs all pertaining to or raising questions about the qualifications of Sarah Palin to assume the role of political world leader.

While most links to most of the places named above are either still active or politely redirect the reader to an archive, there are some that are just broken. Gone. Non-existant. Can you guess which ones? Stand clear, don’t let any sarcasm drip onto your good shoes…

In my haste to put together the post about these particular photos, two things prevented me from doing a more accurate job. First, I lost the connection to where each was originally posted. My notes show they had each, at separate times, been visible on the governor’s website photo album. The one on the outside deck had been dated December 2007 as what had attracted me to the photo initially was a thread discussion about how it could not have been taken in December or there would have been snow on the hills in the background.

The staircase photo had been amongst those displayed in the governor’s website photo album at least once, as, according to my notes, that’s where I first saw it. The outside deck photo reappeared on the governor’s website, this time dated September but that, too was short-lived. I do not recall if it was posted under the September date while the staircase photo was posted as December, but the trying to pass them off as having been taken four months apart is what initially piqued my interest enough to take notes so I could eventually refer to or write about them.

So two weeks ago when I saw both photos posted on Palin’s Deceptions, and read Audrey’s accounting, I siezed the opportunity to ‘finish my thoughts’ in my own post. By then, unfortunately, most of my research links had been disconnected and I was left with sketchy notes, and my second writing downfall, a tired memory coupled with the idea bug striking me in the wee hours of the morning – always a deadly time for me to share an opinion because there is almost always something askew.

ADN.com had pulled several articles from the previous spring, announcing only that they had been archived – maybe – and did not offer links to their archives (even though I am a subscriber to their paper). How odd that a reputable newspaper would actually say to it’s reader “the article you’re looking for might be achived…” What kind of publication doesn’t archive all of  it’s writings? It becomes even more odd to note that even this message is now gone, replaced by a blank page. Blank. [See above link] Do they not have the money to properly archive their articles? Or are they just doing their governor’s bidding again…

Gov. Sarah’s website, I’ve discovered, changes with the whim wind. It doesn’t resemble any other governor’s website. I’m guessing it’s been revamped by at least a half-dozen staffers, each with the assigned goal of damage control rather than the desire to put together an informative government website for their citizens. And because of the many glaring mishaps, I’m guessing none of them ever worked on an actual government website before – ever.

One example of the unfortunate presentation of the gov.ak website is this…

While other first dude, first lady bio pages list their personal and business accomplishments with links to their pet philanthropic projects, like, say, feeding the homeless or promoting autism awareness, Alaska’s first dude’s page is shallow in content and unnecessarily links it’s page to a private corporation who clearly benefits financially from the governmental endorsement and free publicity. (If that’s not another Ethics Violation, it should be.)

Diane Patrick, first lady of Massachusetts, a former school teacher and lawyer, on her bio page, endorses early-start education as her pet project.

Maria Shriver, first lady of California, on top of a huge list of accomplishments and active participation with women’s rights groups, etc. lists support of Special Olympics as a pet project.

Bob Eaves, first dude of North Carolina, lists having worked to create a memorial at UNC’s Chapel Hill, dedicated to alumni who died in war. He also lists his interests in sports, but there is no link to a sponsor’s page. It’s just a coment: Bob spends a lot of his time volunteering and following his North Carolina Tar Heels sports teams. He also enjoys reading, golf, hunting, fishing and skiing.And that’s how it should be.

But back to the photos. I have no problem with the fact that a Holiday photo-shoot for Gov. Sarah and her family was taken four months in advance. No problem at all.

I take full issue, however, with the fact these two photos have been portrayed – more than once – as proof positive Bristol could not have been pregnant in December of 2007, and at least once as having been taken on two separate occasions, four months apart, for the same purpose.

I greatly appreciate all your input – and aplogize for not having been clear in the original post. Sadly, my train of thought was derailed amidst all the broken links and it took your comments to see just how far I’d fallen off the track.

Fear not – it will happen again – and I’ll be counting on you to pull me back

On a different note altogether (See how quickly my mind bolts? Keep up!) this, is my next favourite comment:

I’m wondering, now, what it would take to get on the Governor’s Christmas Card list. Who is on this list? Anybody out there know? How much fun would it be to make getting on the Gov’s Christmas Card list a new goal?

Ok my feet are cold. I’m off to buy slippers and maybe set fire to the kitchen.

 

We The Sheeple…

If people keep buying the bill of goods Sarah Palin keeps selling, we’re all going to be taking this pledge.

 

Sarah Palin’s Tax-Free Book Deal

Hey, dont look at me. Listen to Sarah herself. It’s at 1:10 in her infamous right-to-life speech, given last April in Evansville Indiana.

So. To reiterate yesterday’s US headlines, in a state where the lead executives are not allowed to moonlight with a second job, Sarah Palin has been legally cleared by her hand-appointed legal hatchet team to enter into a contract with a publishing house, where an undisclosed amount of money will change hands in the form of a writer’s advance, this year, while she’s still the Governor of Alaska, to write a book about her life which will serve as a stepping-stone to the 2012 nomination for Presidency, a goal for which she heretofore has denied striving… and this circumvention of Alaska Law is OK because a) her legal team has declared a publisher’s advance is not ‘income’, and b) she’s promised (and of course we all know how reliable her word is) to only work on this project after hours, in her spare time.

Do all Alaska attorneys think the rest of us just fell off the cabbage truck or is it only Sarah’s attorneys? A writer’s advance is payment against future earnings. If Sarah gets one million dollars in the form of an advance, this means she will not be given any royalty payments until her book has earned her more than one million dollars.So no matter how you slice this pie, it’s I N C O M E.

The original purpose of a writer’s advance was to ensure the publisher, the one taking the financial risk, that the author would produce the promised copy in the time allotted. The advance was designed to give the struggling artist sustenance while creating his work, so he didn’t have to be distracted by working a normal job. In today’s market, the advance is more geared toward the publisher weighing how much money he stands to make against another publisher’s offer, but it still serves as a guarantee the author will produce the promised material by a specific date.

In Sarah’s case, its been announced her book deadline is set to coincide with Alaska legislature being in session. So when it comes down to the wire and there are only so many hours in a day, and she has to choose between finishing her book on time or attending legislative negotiations… can you guess which way she’ll tilt?

And… what spare time?

Sarah has two school-aged daughters, a son in Iraq, a teenage daughter living at home with her infant child and no income, a husband who promotes a major Alaskan sport requiring her to attend a certain number of events per season, a full-time job as Governor of the state of Alaska and an active, growing toddler with Downs Syndrome. Show me the way to her spare time. Please. The rest of us would like to go there too!

But let’s give Sarah-Superwoman the benefit of the doubt for a moment. Let’s say she has this mountain of old journals she’s diligently maintained thoroughout her life (even though no one has ever heard of these journals-which-gave-her-such-joy-to-write before) which provides so much background material, writing this book will be easy-peasy…

And let’s say that working on this book ends up not interfering with her dutiies as Governor (I can see the slash marks apearing on her calendar now of cancelled appointments) and let’s say her legal-schmegal team of experts actually have the expertise between them to redefine the term ‘income’ and re-write Alaska law long enough for her to get a book written and handed off to the publisher…

… I’m mentally stuck on the part where she says Alaska (because of it’s contribution to the oil industry) has no income tax for the state, no state sales tax, no state property tax. My mind has already fast-forwarded to that point in time where Sarah figures out how to get out of paying any federal income taxes on this book deal, either.

President Obama just promised the nation he’d close rank on upper echelon tax loopholes. But Sarah Palin has more experience at making egregious loopholes than Obama has at closing them:

As Mayor of Wasilla she authorized the start of construction on the building of a hockey rink-slash-community center, knowingly preempting the property title search, resulting in the city of Wasilla not only incurring $20 million of debt, but continuing, years later, to be embroiled in a costly legal battle over ownership of the land upon which the center is built. Which is sort of what a title search is supposed to prevent from happening . <insert eyeroll>

She immediatley selected a second piece of property aproximately one mile from the community center’s building site, eliminated all building code requirements in her town and had her husband put an unnamed construction crew together to build their now multi-million dollar house. After the house was built, the building codes were reinstated. There are local, ongoing investigations as to how much of her house is built from the same construction materials, (and by the same workers) as the community center – all paid for, of course, by the citizens of Wasilla.

As first-year Governor of Alaska she collected per diem money from fellow Alaskans for living in said house, falsely submitting day to day living expenses as routine travel expenses, and so far has not been made to pay any of it back.

Sorry Mr. President, but your federal taxation system doesn’t stand a chance against the new Governor-approved Alaska State Motto: Whatever Sarah Wants, Sarah Gets.

This isn’t the 1920’s. How does this happen?

First she positions herself in a role where she has immediate access to altering the law. Then she stacks the courts and upper legal state positions with hand-picked appointees who will exonerate her should anyone object to her alterations. Now shes free to do as she pleases. And she does.

If Sarah Palin were a man she’d be in jail right now.

C’mon Wasillans – speak up – before you have to start paying Sarah an import tax on heating oil only available from Senor Chavez because – one more time – your governor’s sole focus was on her own ambitions rather than your needs.

 

C’mon Wasillans – Talk To Us

Slap my hand – I’ve pinched two photos from the Palin Deception blog. It’s ok though, I’m not actually stealing them, just borrowing them for an umm scientific experiment – yeah, that’s it – it’s for science! And I promise to give them back when I’m done. Honest!

  The whole article is here  and I highly recommend you have a sticky beak. Now, on to the reason for my thievery.

The question of the dates (and therefore the physical condition of Bristol Palin) of these photos has been very much the topic of discussion, and on more than one website. However, I would like to point the viewer in a slightly different direction. The clothing.

In both photos, one purported to have been taken in Juneau, circa September 2007 and the other in December 2007, the clothing and hairstyles are identical. The only difference in any one of the 6 outfits is Sarah’s red jacket.

The girls are in identical dresses. They have identical hairstyles, down to Piper’s headband. The men are in identical suits, shirts and even Todd is sporting the same shiney red tie in both photos. The men’s haircuts don’t show a three month growth.

And really, ladies, what are the odds you can get 6 family members dressed in the same outfits, with the same hair-cuts and styles, three months apart? What are the odds Sarah could get her frosted bangs to brush the exact same way three months apart?

Sarah must be a far more organized mother than I ever was. To think I could have gotten any of my daughters to find a particular pink headband they’d worn three months earlier so they could wear it in another photo op, three monthslater, would have been a miracle. I was lucky when ribbons or barrets lasted a whole week!

My guess is they photo’d ahead, (if there is such a word) so to have a Governor’s family photo during the Holiday months, which could include Bristol, visibly still not obvious with child. Of course, this would mean the timing of Trig’s entire gestation period was a lie. and not just about the identity of his true mother, but the whole date of his birth.

Where’s the photographer? Surely he or she isn’t above being cajoled into tellng the truth?

C’mon Wasillans – talk to us

 

“Who do you think is Trig Palin’s real mother?” Yes, they actually made it a polling question!

There is a new poll on TOPIX asking it’s readers to not only vote for whom they believe to be Trig Palin’s actual biological mother, but also asks the reasoning behind the vote.

I voted for Sarah Bristol. But my reasoning didn’t fit into the comment box *grins* so I thought I’d post it here;

Please understand my knowledge of Alaska and it’s Governor was nihl to nothing prior to Sarah stepping on the natonal stage last year as the VP candidate on John McCain’s Presidential ticket. Originally, I was behind McCain for the simple reason I had been a Hilary supporter and was gutted when she lost to the Still-Wet-Behind-The-Ears Senator Obama. But Sarah’s campaign of hate and disrespect for her fellow citizens changed everything. I began to campaign for Obama from my perch in Australia, having been won over by his relentless calm and unbounding logic regarding world affairs and economics – and fearful of the consequences a woman like Sarah Palin would proffer holding an executive office.

From the beginning, my gut has steered me away from taking anything Sarah Palin had to say at face value. So far, it’s looking like a pretty accurate instinct. So this is the reasoning behind my vote of ‘Bristol Palin is Trig’s natural mother”

My gut says this is how it all happened:

Bristol and Levi, having only been educated in abstinence and not actual birth control or STD prevention, succumb to teenage hormones and Bristol falls pregnant.

But during the first trimester, before Bristol starts showing or a plan can be made, one of her routine ultrasounds shows an abnormality. An amniocentesis is ordered. The baby has Downs Syndrome.

“How can this be? Bristol is too young to have a Downs baby! Only older women have that!”

“Well, no, actually, there are a percentage of young women who give birth to Downs babies every year. Statistically, it’s around .6%. That’s six out of every thousand pregnancies. There are actual support groups for young mothers Bristol’s age with Downs babies. I can give you a few numbers…”

But Sarah’s not thinking about support groups. The light in her brain has switched to the [on] position and a plan is hatched. Mom Sarah, realizing how other people would also associate a Downs baby with a late-in-life pregnancy, figures if she steps up and claims the baby is hers, no one would question it. She could avoid a scandal (teenage unwed mother and all that) and this pregnancy would not interfere with her political agenda. She’d only been Governor for a couple of months. This was not the time to test the public waters.

As soon as Bristol’s bump could no longer be hidden under a bulky sweatshirt, she’s pulled out of school and whisked away under the guise of having a case of mononucleosis so severe she requires complete bedrest, sans visitors. Sarah will wait until the very last minute to divulge her secret pregnancy.

After all, it’s also possible that the pregnancy would terminate itself. The doctor said there was a small but not uncommon chance that nature could intervene causing Bristol to miscarry. So she wouldn’t rush to tell people right away. She’d wait until at least the end of the second trimester.

In early March, Sarah begins wearing loose-fitting clothing. It was, after all, just faking a pregnancy. Not rocket science.

But Sarah’s impatient nature doesn’t have her slowing down. She maintains a busy schedule and keeps her eye on the political prize which lies ahead. She makes and keeps all speaking engagements. She adjusts the size of her belly, first with a simple band, then with the same fake bellies used by actresses to show the progressive phases of natural pregnancies. Which was heaps better because the band kept slipping, and she kept needing to explain why she wore her big coats indoors.

She would attribute the lack of swollen ankles and no increase in body fat to a healthy diet and good exercise. She could be pregnant and still do whatever she wanted to do. She would be the epitome of the modern woman.

Bristol going into labour while Sarah was out of state giving a speech tossed a monkey wrench into the mix, but it was still doable. The doctor had also explained that Bristol, being a first time mom would probably have a long labour. Sarah would have plenty of time to give her speech, get on the first plane out of Texas and with Todd at her side, get back to Wasilla before anyone was the wiser. She would make it home in time to say she’d comfortably delivered her baby, in her own state, by her own doctor.

As it was, Bristol didn’t deliver for several hours after she and Todd checked into the hospital. It was all good. They’d get through this politically unscathed.

The rumours of her being on the short list for the VP nomination turned out to be true. Senator McCain sent his scouts to meet with her. She assured them she was up to the task. Everything was going well.

The thing about not properly educating your children about sex, pregnancies and venereal diseases, is they are left to fumble around on their own. The old joke about the Catholic woman thinking ‘the rhythm method’ meant only having sex every Thursday night, isn’t so funny when you realize how many young women are left in the dark about how pregnancies actually happen.

I know, personally, a young woman who, at the age of 15, succumbed to having sex with her 2-year long boyfriend. She contracted herpes on their first intimate encounter. She was horrified. She looked me straight in the eye and said “but I don’t understand! I took a bath right after!”

A very common misnomer is that a woman cannot conceive directly after delivery. That while you are nursing, or bleeding from the delivery, you are safe to have unprotected sex. How appealing that must sound to many young people. Unprotected sex without consequences. No cumbersome rubber! Cool..

Enter baby Trip. And this time, Sarah can’t cover for her child. “Oh well, since we can’t hide her, we’ll just trot her out on the national stage as the pinup girl for abstinence-is-best and make some money off her speaking engagements. Bristol! You now believe in abstinence! Put down that basket of laundry and start writing your speeches!”

Well, that’s my story, and until someone from Wasilla who actually knows the truth, takes some responsibility and drags it out of the shadows and into the light of day, I’m sticking by it.

Hattip to The Immoral Minority  (link is just over there >>) for the poll at Topix.

EDIT:  Fixed stats number above. Correct stat is .6% (6/1000) rather than 6% as first posted. Thank you,  ENOUGHwiththetrainwreck,  for catching this error. (I should never try to work with numbers after midnight!)

 

Sarah Palin Betrays Pro-Life / C-SPAN Shows Integrity

Thank you so very much all of you who worked to find the missing links in the previous post on this subject. It seems C-SPAN remembered it was a News Network rather than a personal friend of Governor Palin and re-posted the Indiana speech(s) in its (their) entirety.

I’m not clear this is the exact clip I was after, given at the S.M.I.L.E. Breakfast in Evansville on Friday morning, the day after the right-to-life dinner on the evening prior – but part 8 has, if not the same, an identical explanation of Sarah’s personal choice to forego an abortion, including her statements about where Todd was, why he wasn’t in on the decision-making process, etc.

So even if it’s not the S.M.I.L.E. breakfast speech per se, it’s perfect. I’ve included part 7 so you folks in Alaska can chew the fat over her comments about how the press treated her prior to falling pregnant with Trig.  It’s puzzling, at best, but fits right in with how she attempts to continually re-write history to suit her latest whim.

Putting the kick-in-the-teeth Sarah just gave the Pro-life movement aside, this by itself should make your head spin…  Sarah claims to have found out she was pregnant while out of town. She elaborates, saying, only she and her doctor knew she was pregnant so ‘no one would know’ implying she could have had an abortion and no one would find out.

Two things, above all others, are radically wrong with this portion of Sarah’s speech. First and foremost is the simple fact that if she were genuinely a Pro-Life Advocate, worrying about who would find out what would be irrelevant because there would be no thought of abortion, period. That would be murder.

Second, and perhaps the more troubling to me, is why on earth would she have had a pregnancy test taken by an out of town doctor in the first place? Does she not know about home pregnancy tests? Do they not have those in Alaska? Why would an out-of-town doctor know about her pregnancy unless she sought medical advice of some kind? What prompted her to visit a doctor while out of town?

She didn’t bother to see an out-of-town doctor when her water broke while carrying a pre-mature baby known to have Downs syndrome – in fact, she made a huge fuss over not wanting to see any doctor but her own. (Hence, the long trek back to Alaska rather than checking into the nearest hospital in Texas.) So - why go to an out-of-town doctor for a pregnancy test one can purchase from any chemist and take in the privacy of one’s own home, only to turn around a year later and claim the reason you had to travel thousands of miles with a leaking placenta was because you needed to get to your own doctor?

Yes, my head is cocked sideways and I’m squinting again… Pick a story Sarah, any story…

The New Republic quotes Sarah’s speech here, and does quite a clean job of defending her right to make these statements and still consider herself a Pro-Lifer. However, their readers didn’t buy it and the comments which ensue end up being the better read. I especially liked this one, which I am happily pinching without seeking permission. Just call me guilty and hit me over the head with a gavel

blackton says:
What aggravates me about Palin is her acting as though her having a down’s syndrome child is a mark of heroism on her part. My wife and I recently had a baby, I am Palin’s age and even having one older parent increases the risk, but we had no amnio done. It was just something we did not even consider since we were having the baby and amnio presents some risk. We would only have done it at the express wish of the doctor.

How is it that she knew she was having a down’s baby unless she had an amnio? Maybe it is SOP for women her age but she could simply have asked if there was any risk to her life. If she were truly pro life she would not have known, as my wife and I did not know. We did not even want to know the sex except when having the ultrasound his little unit displayed itself prominently. We had 2 sons, and wanted a daughter, but que sera sera.

I am not pro-life, except personally. I told my wife before we got married that if she became pregnant she would have the baby unless her health were at risk, or we would not get married. It was not as draconian as it sounds since she felt the same way. Our adhering to our own principles doesn’t make us heroic, it is far easier to live by ones own code than to go against it.

But Palin, hell she wants to live by her code, get applauded for doing so, and have the option to violate her own code secretly if it ever becomes inconvenient while acting as though she were against the option. She is a disgrace. It is a mark of how loathsome Republicans have become that if she did not have a downs syndrome baby, but just a normal Iq baby, she probably never would have gotten picked as VP.

So there you have it Sarah – when you decided to tout yourself as Pro-Life to get a few votes, you really should have done your homework first and figured out what being a Pro-Lifer actually entailed. Oh wait. You don’t do homework, do you…

Hattip to Dr. Patois for the C-SPAN links – and all the inbetween digging around in the mud.

 

Sarah Palin Betrays Pro-Life Movement **update updated – again!**

 

 The following is a quote from The Immoral Minority (post 09 May 2009) regarding dismissal of the Sondra Tompkins ethics complaint filed against Gov. Sarah Palin by Alaska Attorney Thomas Daniel. By now, we all know the background story of the dozen or so ethics violations complaints lodged against the governor, but if it has somehow missed your desktop, the links in Gryphen’s post will bring you up to date.

However, I’m not here to discuss the ethics complaints. For me, there’s a far more insipient train of flawed logic which warrants attention. I first heard it in one of the Governors 2008 campaign speeches. It was veiled inside carefully chosen words, but it was there. Then I heard it distinct and clear in the middle of her Pro-Life speech given last month in Indiana. And now, here it is again, in black and white for all to read:

Regarding the trip to Evansville, Indiana, near the end of the legislative session, Daniel concluded that Tompkins was wrong again about the governor using her official position for personal gain. “The governor was not invited to speak at the right-to-life dinner in Indiana because she is governor of Alaska. Rather she was invited because of her national standing, her outspoken opposition to abortion, and her recent personal decision to forego an abortion.”

 

Pro-Life philosophy is founded on the basic principle that neither doctor nor mother have a right to decide to end fetal life. Pro-Life philosophy maintains that life begins at conception and aborting a fetus at any stage, for any reason is tantamount to murder. Pro-life advocates blow up abortion clinics resulting in hundreds of deaths to show how strongly they believe in this preservation of life. They tell camera and reporter alike that they represent and speak for the unborn child who cannot speak for itself.

Pro-Life advocates don’t believe in choice. By sheer definition, an advocate of Pro-Life does not choose to keep her pregnancy because at the heart of her belief she is morally obligated from the point of conception to keep it. No doubts. No questions. No wavering. No choice.

So when the national poster girl for Pro-Life uses the excuse of needing to leave important legislative negotiations to travel across country to give a speech because she needed to speak out about her having made a “recent personal decision to forego an abortion” to counteract an ethics violations complaint, it seems to me that very statement should be raising eyebrows at Pro-Life headquarters across the globe.

Let me say this one more time: Pro-Life advocates do not make personal decisions to forego abortions. They assist other, non-pro-life believers in making that decision. For the advocate themselves, there is no choice to be made.

And before one of Sarah’s staffers can swoop down and alter Thomas Daniel’s above quote, why not hear it from Sarah herself?

This video clip is a middle section of her speech in Indiana, where she details how she made her decision to keep baby Trig to a roomful of adoring fans – none of whom actually listened or they would have been as appalled as I am.

Sarah describes the circumstances surrounding how she made her choice (including the fact she was out of town, no one knew her therefore no one would know, not even Todd) at 4:40

Pro- Choice isn’t about abortion. Pro-Choice advocates choose to maintain their pregnancies every day. Pro-Choice is about having the right to make that choice to begin with, based upon an individual’s life circumstances and personal beliefs. For Sarah Palin to say she’s undergone and understands the thought process of choosing to either abort or maintain her 13 week old fetus with DS is an admission she made a choice – which completely opposes the Pro-Life philosophy – more or less shooting it in the foot.

As a true Pro-Life advocate, Sarah would not have entertained the idea of fetal termination when she first discovered her late-in-life pregnancy, as claimed. Not for one second would the thought of killing her 13 week old unborn child later on,waft over her soul. And I’ve been absolutely God-smacked that no one in the Pro-Life movement has picked up on this and called her to task.

Either you truly believe in something Sarah, or you’re just an aging vaudville act complete with smoke and mirrors and a bottle of snake oil to sell.

* * * * * * * * * * UPDATE * * * * * * * * * *

HOW CONVENIENT THAT  ALL SEVEN OF THE SEVEN PART VIDEO OF SARAH’S SPEECH IN EVANSVILLE INDIANA HAVE SUDDENLY AND MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEARED FROM YOUTUBE.

MUST BE ALL THAT OPEN AND TRANSPARENT ALASKA AIR THE GOVERNOR KEEPS TELLING US ABOUT

If anyone has video footage of Sarah Palin’s speech commonly called the “Smile Breakfast” in Evansville Indiana, please contact me via this blog.

* * * * * * * * * * UPDATE  TWO * * * * * * * * * *

Many thanks to Dr. Patois for providing this link. All seven parts of the smile breakfast speech can be viewed here. While all the clips are interesting, it is the sixth clip in the series which reveals Sarah Palin’s thought process for choosing to maintain her pregnancy – clearly illustrating to a roomful of Pro-Life followers, that she actively made a choice.

* * * * * * * * * * UPDATE  THREE * * * * * * * * * *

And poof it was gone!  I did get to listen one more time, but by the time I posted the link the clip had been removed. The right-to-life speech given the night before was covered by C-SPAN. It’s likely they also covered the following morning’s breakfast speech in Evansville.

It occurs to me that if enough people requested it, if C-SPAN does control the footage, they might be coaxed into putting it back on public display.

Really Sarah, having copies of this speech removed from view only piques everyone’s curiosity, causing all of us to ask… what are you trying to hide missy?

 

President Obama Pulls Abstinence-Only Programs From Budget (Sorry Sarah, you lose again!)

The full story is told here by Jake Tapper at ABC News

In a nutshell, The Obama Administration has listened to the mounting evidence which shows the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only programs amongst teenagers. It’s proven enough for the people in charge of budgeting the cash to say ok, let’s put this money into something that actually works and fund those programs which teach our children protection, safety and pregnancy prevention instead of just preaching the no word.

(Sorry Sarah, looks like you’re wrong again.)

Just Say No was a wonderful sentiment and we thank Nancy Reagan for making the effort back in the day. The trouble is, it’s one of those good ideas that never actually worked. Not with recreational drugs in the last century, and not with teenage sex, in this one.

I remember that whirlwind campaign. It swept from state to state with countless teens chanting the slogan while wearing t-shirts with the neon pink lettering Just Say no. I also remember vividly the photo essays which followed showing some of those same teenagers, still dressed in the shirts, albeit now ragged and filthy, smoking dope and shooting heroin in schoolyards and condemned buildings. It makes me wonder how many teens out there are having sex and mocking us by hollerng abstinence oh baby abstinence yes yes yes!

Abstinence-only is a great idea. On paper. But in practical terms, it’s crap. In a world where your five year-old can watch television commercials depicting voluptuous young women, bare mid-riffed with sparkling belly rings, sell you a new car, the curiosity phase of growing up is really quite done by the time teenage years come along.

So to think today’s youth can be conned into virginity-retention with a catch-phrase or chastity pledge is more than naive. It’s wishful thinking. By lazy adults.

With each new generation, our children become more aware of their sexuality, and earlier. Our appetite for technology has over-exposed them to life-experiences our grandparents would never have imagined, and it just keeps on rolling.

The ultimate teenage pregnancy prevention program is going to lie in our ability as parents to grow up with our kids and at the very least recognize how different their environment is today, from ours at their age. We need to create open, honest dialogues with them as individuals and genuinely address each of the dilemas presented to them in today’s clime. We need to stop telling them they’re children while expecting them to behave as adults.

Abstinence is a very adult concept. It’s execution requires a stack of willpower, an inner drive to achieve a goal one passionately believes in, and an intensely supportive environment. To think any person between the ages of 12 and 17 has any of these skills, mindsets or supports is beyond ridiculous.

It’s not like smoking. There’s no patch.

 

Shoes… men’s size 12

Shoes… part 7

The following is a work of fiction.
Mostly fiction.
It’s sole purpose is give the reader a chance to try on another guy’s shoes.
Maybe see how a different opinion fits.
Or not.

 

You promised yourself no matter what was ever said or written about you, you would not be distracted. You would stay focused. The most important thing, in light of the many, gruelling tasks which lay on your desk demanding attention, was to stay focused. You’d asked your top advsors to meet with each other this morning for the purpose of prioritizing the next steps in your current list of Cleaning Up America chores, but the public outcry against your recent decision to not persue war crimes charges against the previous administration was, in fact, distracting. In the end, you crashed the meeting and asked them to instead revisit the feasibility of a war crimes tribunal with it’s resulting impact on the general public, presuming such a tribunal was genuinely the will of the people.

You would entertain any ideas worth discussion, though you were doubtful a feasible plan existed to hold GW accountable for the war in Iraq. The people who had helped you reach this conclusion were the cream of the intellectual crop, and were all now looking at you, standing there in your sweats and sneakers, with a collective deer-caught-in-the-headlights expression. You shook you head, took a seat and said “I know, I know, I thought this was a done deal too. But after the report card we got yesterday for making this decision, I just need to be sure it’s the right one.”

There was head-scratching and wriggling in chairs and a lot of coffee pouring, but nobody wanted to be the first ,so you opened the dialogue. “I’m looking at the volume of papers sprawled on this table and all I can think is, “There’s just not enough money. In order to finance something this big, we’d have to start shutting down programs we just got off the ground. Or borrow from China. Or both.”

First Person: “What if we were to single out a particular instance, like the blatant ignoring of the Sabri Report, and charge Bush with something like deployment of troops despite evidence purporting the deployment was unnecessary?”

Second Person: “I can tell you any action taken against the Bush Administration would sit well with several foreign delegations – and show the world we don’t think of ourselves as infallible. That we make mistakes, but we’re also big enough to take responsibility for them.”

Third Person: “Sure, and once we convict Bush of war crmes, then Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the whole friggin’ Middle East see dollar signs and come at us with wrongful death, loss of property suits and we spend the next two generations getting clobbered in international courts, losing one case after the other.”

You listen carefully but clearly this has all been said before. You want the country to move forward. If we’re to have any chance at digging our way out of the financial, emotional and diplomatic mudflat in which the last eight years have left us wallowing, we need desperately to move forward. As long as GW is allowed to take center stage on any issue, anywhere, we can’t get momentum to move past him. And personally, you’re tired of living knee-deep in Republican mud.

The comments continue from around the table when finally the Attorney General hollers above the din, “Sarah Palin“, and everyone turned.

“The Alaskan governor?”

“Heh, the infamous clothes horse?”

“Isn’t she up on ethics charges?”

“Didn’t they impeach her after the campaign?”

“No, shes just given a speech at some pro-life dinner, I heard.”

“Why are you bringing her up?

The Attorney General crossed his arms and looked at his lap. “We can’t prosecute Bush for war crimes because of the exact same reasons the Alaska State Legislature could not hold Sarah Palin accountable for committing State Ethics Violations. And it’s not for lack of evidence. They’ve got all the evidence they need. Just like we have with Bush.

“But the government bodies required to do the investigating and prosecuting are all indebted to the governor. State witnesses who were in a position to corroborate the charges against the Palins were told by the Palins to ignore court subpoenas and not show up for court – and months later, not one of them has been made to either appear in court or spend one second in jail under contempt of court charges. Not one! They’re still getting away with it, for Christ’s sake.

“Thousands of emails containing state business were either destroyed outright or hidden from scrutiny by exorbitant fees and orchestrated delays until investigators finally just gave up trying to get at them. Sarah Palin is only the governor to a population of less than one million. Imagine how costly and fruitless gathering evidence against the Bush family would prove…

“Charging Bush with war crimes is a Pandora’s box waiting to bite the hand that opens it. There’s no telling how many more criminal acts would be uncovered by digging into the truth behind our declaring war on Iraq. How many other people would end up in jail cells because their acts would have been properly documented, and easier to trace than the President’s. So then we’re back to the days of Watergate and watching government employees who were just following orders, be the only ones put behind bars – while the man who concocted the orders in the first place, goes free.

“What was it Nixon said? If the President does it, its not illegal. That seems to work for the Alaska Governor as well. Might even be the mantra of what’s left of the Republican Party. Charge Bush with war crimes and you give them a new bone to chew on and use to further divide a country that badly needs to learn how to work together.”

The room is quiet. You lean forward in your chair.

The AG continues. “Look, all I’m saying is, if the state of Alaska can’t figure out how to hold their own governor accountable for ethics violations so flagrantly performed in the open that even high school kids in Kentucky know she committed them, then there’s not a chance in Hell this brand-new administration could pull off a major war crimes tribunal against GW and come out smelling like anything but pig-shit. And – it could easily prove to be more costly than the war itself.

You shift in your seat, elbows on knees, hands clasped, staring at your size 12 running shoes. This morning was supposed to be spent in the gym. Instead, you’ve got to look straight into the camera – again – and tell the public exactly what they don’t want to hear. Again. As much as it pains you in heart, mind, body and soul, the country cannot afford to bring charges against Bush, any of his administrators or employees, private or military, to help balance the monumental injustice they incurred on the world.

You can’t help thinking, if the Bush Administration, back on September 12, 2001, had just concerned itself with the task of healing, rebuilding and shoring up our own borders instead of rallying the call for justice – which we never attained anyway – that this morning, a lot more foreign countries would be our allies, a lot more Americans would still be alive, a lot fewer would be homeless, and you might have made it to the gym.

 

Shoes… men’s size 9 1/2 continued

Shoes… part 6

The following is a work of fiction.
Mostly fiction.
It’s sole purpose is give the reader a chance to try on another guy’s shoes.
Maybe see how a different opinion fits.
Or not.

18 September 2002

The Sabri Report flopped effortlessly from your hand to the coffee table. The officer who brought the report sat facing you, awaiting orders from his Commander In Chief. The fireplace to your left, alive with burning pine logs, was testiment to the approach of an early winter. You leaned back in the upholstered lounge chair and nervously stroked your chin. You stared straight into the fireplace for a moment before finally speaking.

“Who else has seen this?”
“Two others.”
“Which two?”
“The two men who gathered and translated the intell.”
“Nobody else?”
“French Intelligence.”
“Pfft. But our people, only those two guys?”
“Yes sir.”
“You trust them?”
“Yes sir.”

You stood and paced the short distance between your chair and the fireplace. If this intell was true you’d need to recall the troops already deployed, stop the deployment of any more and figure out a way to launch the biggest political apololgy since Nixon gave his it’s not my fault and I didn’t do it but I’ll resign so you can’t impeach me speech to the nation. This would make Clinton’s I didnt know a blow job was sex, honest! speech look almost believeable.

“What if this report is wrong. What if this Sabri guy’s just saying this to blow smoke up my ass so I’ll turn around and run home.”
“That’s highly unlikely sir.”
“Why is that unlikely? This has as much chance to be false as it has to be true.”
“Not really sir.”
“But why?”
“Because, sir, the French have been monitoring the Iraqi government for a very long time. They have impeccable sources. Their intell places the probability of this being accurate at more than 90%.”
“But it could be wrong.”
“Sir, due respect, but we’re the only ones saying they have these weapons and capabilities and desire to use them against the US.”

Dead silence.

“Bury this.”
“Sir?”
“Bury this and anyone who’s seen it. The French are idiots. My intell is just as good as theirs and says the weapons of mass destruction are in fact in Iraqi hands. Maybe Hussein got away with this crap with my father but he’s not getting away with it with me.”

You pick up the Sabri report and hand it to the officer.”You take this back. You destroy the intell. Then reword this to back my plan and then share it with whatshisface, that English fella…”
“Prime Miniser Blair, sir”
“Yeah, him – and that Australian guy who was here on 9/11…”
“Prime Minister Howard”
“Yeah, Howard. You share the revised report with them like we’re letting them in on top-secret stuff and they’ll be so grateful we confided in them, we won’t be the only ones sayng Saddam has the weapons.”

There’s an uncomfortable pause. In a subdued voice the officer asks, “Is that an order sir?”

You deliberately lock your eyes onto his to let him know who’s boss. You’ve become rather accustomed to this alpha-male role you were handed two years ago and nobody was taking it from you now. Not now.

“Yes, that’s an order.That’s a direct order from your Commander In Chief.”
“Yes sir.”

The man stood up. Your eyes are still locked onto his. “I’m serious. Bury the report. Look at it this way – Hussein is a terrible man. The whole Middle East will be better off without him. And don’t worry, our troops will uncover enough horrors to show we had reason to go there. You’ll see.”
“Sir -”
“Yeah?”
“Sir, the French have similar intell and have based their reputation…”
“Fuck the French. I know what’s best for America. Not the French.”

The officer, pressing The Sabri Report tightly to his chest, walks across the room and pulls the door open. You call to him as he leaves, “Trust me. They’ll get over it.”

 

23 April 2006
Iraq Foreign Minister Naji Sabri’s original intelligence report along with corroborating French and American intell are made public on the American television show CBS 60 Minutes. The CIA officers privy to the actual account stood up and told the truth they’d been under orders not to divulge.

It remains a mystery to me, why, in light of confirmation of this report to have been delared true and my encounter with CIA Director, George Tenet on that September morning, four years ago, to be declared accurate, why I have not been impeached. Seriously. Either my father has stronger Washington ties than even I realized, or the Republican Party has come full circle to my rescue to save itself from total humiliation, or I don’t know what else..

But I do know that from here on out, if I just keep playing at being the class clown, do what dad says and stay away from making any big decisions on my own, I’ll get through the last 18 months of my Presidency with my balls intact. It’s been a helluva ride.

God Bless America.

 

 

 

Shoes… ladies size 7 ½ continued

Shoes… part 5

The following is a work of fiction.
Pure fiction.
It’s sole purpose is give the reader a chance to try on another guy’s shoes.
Maybe see how a different opinion fits.
Or not.

 You look out the office window and smile. The smartest decision you and your husband ever made was for you to run for Mayor. Winning that election was a piece of cake. It took little effort and only a few promises to derail your opponent. But it hadn’t gone unnoticed that barely one-fifth of the population had even bothered to vote at all, and that you barely got the majority of those votes. “I’ll do better next time” you remember thinking and now, looking out onto this beautiful snow-covered city, through the window of the Governor’s office – your office – you grinned, thinking “heh, I did just that!”

And if running for Mayor had been the smartest thing you’d done so far, running into The Senator at that State Fair, a while back, was the luckiest. He was a funny old bird and had taken a shine to you right away. He was politically savvy and (for whatever reason) eager to share his road to Washington D.C. with you. Forty years of successful wheeling and dealing inside the US Boys Club. Wow. He’d been a fountain of information and good advice.

The way he could manipulate the media and the public was inspiring, but you were here now. You had arrived. You didn’t want him upstaging you much longer. He was the darling politician of your state, but he was also in some legal hot water over undeclared gratuities. Add that to his age and well, he was more than likely on his way out.

So you’d picked his brain and done the photo ops and followed his wealth of adages (things like play ball with the boys, doll, and ol’ Uncle Sam will always take care of you). But you knew what you wanted now, and how to get it, and you no longer needed this seedy old man hitching his worn-out coattails to your brand-new wagon.

By the middle of your first term in office you’d already decided if the Senator was going to fall, you’d just step aside and let it happen.

Turns out the most important thing about politics, you learned on your own, anyway. In the first grade no less, when that nasty third-grader tried to steal your lunch and you had to sucker punch him to get it back – and then smile at the teacher and say “he musta fell but I’m watchin’ him closer now.”

You just do whatever you need to do, take full credit for things that turn out well and deny everything else. Oh, and smile. Always smile.

That’s pretty much what you’ve done with The Senator already – just kept smiling while he told you how to shortcut this or circumvent that – find Jesus - the public loves it when you tell ‘em you found Jesus. The Senator was sure right about that one. Folks who carry bibles will follow you anywhere if you tell them you have one too. The ones who don’t will get behind your right to say you do, so latching onto religion is always a win-win, politically speaking.

As Mayor, you carefully surrounded yourself with people you could trust. Old friends for whom you could grease the wheel and keep in your debt enough to be sure they would never betray you, because when The Senator first told you no matter how hungry people get, nobody kills the cash cow! it made you laugh. But eventually you caught on and embraced the idea.

And now, as Governor, you could do even more. You could travel all across the country and as long as you gave one little speech somewhere, the taxpayers would be happy to pick up the tab for the whole trip. You could have anything your heart desired, now, and your faithful staffers would find a way to write it all off as state business. The Senator, God Bless him, taught you well.

As you stood there now, looking out onto the snowy landscape, you realized you’d been right from the start. This whole business of winning elections and holding office really wasn’t much different from the inner workings of a small-town beauty pageant. You smile into the camera, occasionally (and quite accidentally) spill fruit punch on a fellow contestants costume and most important – tell the judges the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Even if that means making it all up as you go along.

After all, it’s in everyone’s best interest that you keep winning.

 

Shoes… men’s size 11

Shoes… part 4

The following is a work of fiction.
Pure fiction.
It’s sole purpose is give the reader a chance to try on another guy’s shoes.
Maybe see how a different opinion fits.
Or not.

August 8, 1974

You’ve taken off your comfortable size 11 penny loafers and slipped into the black dress shoes which had been laid out for you earlier. You lift the suit jacket from the brass valet and sling it over your arm, glancing out the side window one last time. The roses here are always so beautiful. You’re going to miss them.

It’s a particularly hot August this year, but strangely, you can’t feel the temperature. It’s as if your skin knows how inconsequential the weather is today. “They want to impeach me” you say under your breath but loud enough for the gentleman in the dark blue suit to hear.

“Yes sir”.

“In a sense, they’re blaming me for doing my job.”

“Yes sir.”

“They can’t possibly understand how important it was to know what the Democrats were up to back then – to stay one step ahead so my re-election wasn’t derailed. I didn’t just want to be re-elected you know. It wasn’t an ego thing like some are saying. I needed to be re-elected. The people needed me to stay their president. So much left to do. They still need me.”

“Yes sir.”

“They just don’t seem to know it. After all I’ve done for them. China. The draft. Everything. Hell, I even gave them the moon!” You let out a chuckle, but then slowly shake your head. “Still they want to impeach me. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“No sir.”

“It’s not right you know. Whoever leaked the terrible rumour that started this – well it’s just not right. What my men did – that was my business, nobody else’s. They were just helping me find the enemy. Same way you look for termites when you know they’re there, but you just can’t see ‘em.

“Loyal bunch. Damn, they were just protecting me and the country from the enemy. Those lousey dem- well. Well I’m not going to let them impeach me. Today I tell America I’m leaving office and that will be that. Gerry will have to figure out the rest.”

“Yes sir.”

“I’m just so disappointed they couldn’t see what I was trying to do for them. They just couldn’t see. And those two damned reporters – like children fighting over a hole in the ground – just couldn’t leave it alone. Had to keep digging. Prying.”

“Yes sir.”

A knock on the door draws your attention. Another suited gentleman enters and announces “Mr. President, it’s time.”

You look up, pulling the second blue suit into your dialogue. “This is just like sausage-making you know. People don’t want to to be told what goes into sausages they just want to grill them up and eat them.” You slip your arms into your jacket. “Government’s the same way. People don’t really want to know how it works, they just want their taxes low and their mortgages paid and have enough money left over to put their kids through college and gas in their cars.”

You walk toward the door and see the military escort waiting in the hall. You stop to salute. They each salute back. “Mr. President” one of them says, gesturing you to fall into place in front of him. You take another step forward, and then another. The last steps you’ll ever take down this corridor. You’re overcome with sadness.

“Funny thing is, it wasn’t the people doing the asking. Just the reporters,” you say to the blue suit beside you. “Deep throat. Bah. Americans shouldn’t have to know what their President has to go through to protect them from wrong-thinking people. To give them what they need. To keep them safe. They just shouldn’t have to know.”

As you turn the corner, the camera flashes start popping. You put on your best smile, raise your arm and wave to the crowd of reporters. And as you take in the profound image of The White House Rotunda crammed with people, you think righteously to yourself …

“… and that’s the way it should be.”

 

Shoes… ladies size 7 ½

Shoes… part 3

The following is a work of fiction.
Pure fiction.
It’s sole purpose is give the reader a chance to try on another guy’s shoes.
Maybe see how a different opinion fits.
Or not.

You slip into the size 7 ½  fuzzy pink slippers at the front of the closet and tiptoe down the short hall to the living room, trying not to waken the napping bub on your way. It was ironing day and lord how you hate to iron! But like every other chore in life, if you don’t do it, it won’t get done. So you turn the TV on low and get to work.

 

Your 1990’s soaps slide into a documentary on social security and entitlements. Well the ironing is almost finished anyway, and it’s this or afternoon cartoons, so you don’t bother changing the channel.

 

The documentary is almost exclusively about how many people in the US receive benefits without needing them. The baby boomer generation, in specific, when interviewed, mostly tell how they are entitled to SSI because they paid into the system their whole working lives and even if it’s not essential to their quality of life now, they earned it, it’s theirs, and they’re keeping it

 

The argument on the other side is how the Social Security system is edging toward bankruptcy and the entitlement-minded baby boomers are about to push the whole US benefits scheme over the proverbial edge.

 

Most of this is going in one ear and out the other while you concentrate on finishing the last two blouses, when the TV reporter introduces a former congressman (standing in front of a sprawling mansion you’d give just about anything to live in yourself) and you hear…

“… so yes, I was very lucky in business and live quite happily on a retirement of $9,000 per month, plus perks like full private medical insurance, and this is on top of the profits generated by tourists visiting my mansion (he gestures behind him and you drool again) which yields a decent income on it’s own. So really, the $1,800 per month I receive from SSI is completely unnecessary. But here’s the rub: they won’t take it back. My government says that because I served a couple of terms in the US Congress, I am entitled to this benefit and there’s no provision for cancelling it.  They’re going to keep sending me this check every month until the day I die, and all because I was an elected official, for a few years”.  

 

Wow. $1,800 a month for life because the guy was elected to some office job in Washington. You wouldn’t mind working in Washington. It’s got to be warmer than Alaska. Maybe tomorrow you’ll make a run to the library and see what you can find out about elected officials and long-term benefits.

 

You hang the last shirt on a hanger and think about how much more you’d like from life. The work here is hard. The land is hard. It’s beautiful and worth it, but it’s hard. You wouldn’t mind if it was just a bit easier, down the road, for your kids.

 

The trip to the library yields more than you’d hoped for. Not only was it true that certain benefits followed you throughout your lifetime, there was a stack of perks associated with being an elected official, and it looked like the farther up you got, the better the perks. And as luck would have it, a seat was just open on the city council of your little town.

 

You attentively read the requirements and full job description of a city councilman and excitedly make your plan. First step – the seat on the city council. Then mayor. Then, well, who knows how far up the political ladder you could go!. You make photocopies to take home to show your husband. You could do this! You weren’t afraid to try new things and you certainly weren’t afraid of hard work.

 

And after all, winning a small town election or two couldn’t be much different from winning a beauty pageant, could it? It was a popularity contest. Not rocket science.

 

Shoes… mens size 9 ½

Shoes… part 2

The following is a work of fiction.
Pure fiction.
It’s sole purpose is give the reader a chance to try on another guy’s shoes.
Maybe see how a different opinion fits.
Or not.

Your name is George W. Bush. You’re sitting behind a massive desk in the oval office of the White House, Washington D.C. You aren’t really sure if you can take your shoes off in here, but it’s stuffy and hey – you’re the president – who’s going to stop you! You slip out of the size 9 1/2 black leather dress shoes and let your feet sink into the plush carpet. Nice. But you wish you had your boots.

You aren’t really sure how you got here, but your dad said if you just did as you were told, listened to all your advisors and did exactly what they said, you’d get through this job with your balls intact and the two of you would make history as the first father and son to each hold the office of President of the United States since the days of John and John Quincy Adams. You always did what your father told you and it always worked out ok.

The first year as President was a little daunting. People were making fun of your speeches. Well, not so much of the speeches themselves but of how you gave them. You told your dad you weren’t a public speaker. Put me on a barstool with a cold beer and I can talk shop with the best of them, I said, but stand me at a podium with lights in my face and make me read out loud from a script and words just trip all over themselves trying to find the shortest route out of my mouth.

And then those stupid towel-heads, (yeah, you know you’re not supposed to call them that but that’s what they are), had to go blow up parts of your cities. They screwed your dad when he was in office and now they’re screwing you. You try to listen to everyone’s input but geez, most of it goes right over your head. What you do understand nobody can agree on. Every person who says they got the answer tells you something different from the guy before. You’d like to do what the people want – but you have no earthly idea what that is. Half the citizens are screaming at you to nuke the whole damned Middle East. The rest are angry and crying and pleading with you to just fix it. Just fix it! Fix it! How!

Nobody prepared you for this. Nobody. This was the United Goddamned States of America! We don’t get bombed!. We do the bombing! This job was turning out to be way harder than you thought. Way harder. The whole world’s watching you. The whole Goddamned world is waiting to see how you handle this, George. Thank God you’ve got all those smart people around to give you the answers.

Man, you hope they have the answers. But you have to admit, right now it’s not looking so good.

One guy you’re supposed to trust says if the military doesn’t catch Bin Laden soon, all the legislators on both sides of the aisle will give up on your administration and then it’s a sure death for you and the party. But Hell, you’ve been chasing Bin laden all over Afghanistan and he’s slippery as snot. You can’t just bomb every cave he’s been sighted in. That’s about the only thing your advisors do agree on – that the US can’t just go bombing anywhere they want in the Middle East.

Then again, the military thinks maybe you can.

Another guy says if we can’t get Bin Laden we need to get somebody. People are demanding justice! And they’re getting impatient.

Your advisors brought up Saddam’s name again. They say he’s got these nucular, nu-clear? however you say it weapons and that we know this for sure because they bought ‘em from us. Heh. That’d be right. Well even if he doesn’t still have ‘em, he’s bad for business. They showed you intell that says he kills and tortures his own people. He experiments on his own people with nerve gases! Geez.

The cabinet says there’s a plan on how to get the country behind an attack on Iraq. That we might even flush out Bin Laden, or at least scare the crap out of the countries who are hiding him, enough to maybe get them to turn him over to us. That would be great. You promised the people you’d fix this. Whatever it takes. Whatever the cost, you made a promise. They’re counting on you to right this horrible wrong.

You just wish you knew how.

 

Shoes…

 

 

When I first came to Australia the US was reeling from the discovery our President had lied under oath about his relationship with a 22 year-old White House intern. Every pub, bar and late night talk show on two continents was riding high on Monica Lewinski jokes. President Clinton was being dissected in news rooms on a daily basis. It was not the best of timing, on my part, to be an American abroad.

So I did what every red-blooded American would do under the circumstances. After having been verbally trashed in a queue at the grocery,  my husband-to-be and I packed up the car and spent a year in the bush on walkabouts. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t mind taking it in the ass for my President , so to speak, it’s just that I would’ve liked dinner and a movie first.

Occasionally, around an open campfire, we would run into other travellers. Inevitably someone would pluck my Californian accent from the night air and hone in on it like a seasoned hunter on safari. I would spend the rest of the evening apologizing profusely for the political holocaust my country imposed upon theirs, readily accepted complete responsibility for any inconvenience they may be suffering as a result of  my poor voting skills and promised to do a better job in the 2000 election. And, well, we all know how THAT turned out… *sigh*

Somewhere along the line I discovered that most Australians cannot hear the difference between California, New York and Canadian accents. And (probably because they still air Beverly Hillbillies and Dukes of Hazard re-runs here) it is assumed that all Americans have a southern drawl. So more often than not, a Californian accent is mistaken for Canadian. I quickly learned to say “Why yes I am a Canuck – aren’t you clever for sussing me out straight away!”

But my exposure to another culture and it’s different brand of politics has allowed me to literally live an adage my mother used to tell us, growing up. Before you criticize or condemn another person for the way they look at life, walk a mile in their shoes. Of course that adage has morphed through the years adding… then, you’ll be a mile away and have their shoes!

At the top of this page is a row of shoes. Some big, some small, some old, some new, some ladies and some men’s. And as we of the blogosphere are busy dissecting public figures like Barrack Obama, George Bush, and Sarah Palin, (to name just a few), I thought it an appropriate gesture to pause and try the other guy’s shoes on for size.

More tomorrow – right now my foot’s stuck in a pink pump…

 

The Republic of Sarah – Part 3 (The pseudo-oppressed Palins speak out) *comment added*

Some people only appear to listen while actually, their brain is running on auto-scan, ignoring all but that one tidbit of information upon which they can use to pivot the topic of conversation back to themselves. This has been my impression of Sarah Palin from the very beginning.

She’s like one of those girls in high school who can only be involved in a conversation as long as it revolves around them. You know the gal – she’s come to you after school begging you to go with her to the mall because she just knows she’s going to run into this guy she’s attracted to and she needs an excuse to talk to him and you could provide that excuse for her – she’s seemingly paying attention while you’re explaing how you can’t go with her because your dad is sick and your mom needs you to – and that’s when her eyes widen, she jumps up, hollers omg there’s Bubba! Sorry about your mom! See ya!

But what our Sarah lacks in social skills, she more than makes up for in the disbursement of very generous perks.

Her head-of-state public stature means she can, without explanation or justification, assign high-paying positions to old friends and party patrons. Well, high-paying in the sense that their salaries are more than the minimum wage they were probably getting before Sarah needed a loyal staff. (Sarah deliberately doesn’t attract educated people. She’s only after obedience.) What is the new blog-o-sphere buzzword being associated wth her staff? Oh yuh, sheeple. Perfect depiction of the governor’s staff. Sheeple.

Well what’s a girl with poor social skills and lots of mouths to feed expected to do, eh?

In the video clip below, the preceding minutes have been omitted. I’m sure whoever posted this on youtube was just concerned with the actual claim Sarah makes abut her dealings with racism, first-hand because her husband is a native-born Alaskan. (Fellow Alaskans out him as only 1/8 Yu’pik, by the way.) It’s more than just a ridiculous statement, and the missing bit prior to the start of this clip is, in my opinion, the bigger story because her body language completely gives her inattentive and insecure nature away.

What you will see is how many times she cuts the man off in mid-sentence. Clearly, if she’s not the star she doesn’t want to be in the play.

The lie that follows is just – unconscionable. I lived in California in the 1960’s and 70’s and believe me when I say there is no instance in Sarah Palin’s Beauty Pagent Queen life which can possibly compare to any act of degradation the black people of my generation were made to endure over the last sixty years. We can empathize with, support, and feel shameful for the mistreatment of black people and we can rejoice and celebrate with them now for how humanity as a whole has matured – but we cannot claim personal knowledge of their suffering. That’s simply absurd.

Jeffersonville Indiana – 02 Nov 2008

So when one of us in these blogs makes the claim that Sarah makes her own rules and she makes them up as she goes along we are being absolutely truthful. The proof of her complete inability to discern truth from fantasy just keeps spewing from her lips like Mt. Redoubt after a seizure.

Sarah and Todd Palin, the Great White Hopes of Alaska have endured racism? Really. I wouldn’t mind seeing the actual police reports of the incidents, wouldn’t you?.

Hat tip to Elsie for finding the youtube link.
Hat tip to Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel for the statistic of Todd Palin’s genealogy.
Hat tip to all the bloggers (over there ->) as they keep me up to date and educated in the field of  Alaska Politics.

========== Reader Notes ==========

Pipsquesk said:
In terms of Todd’s native heritage, it is a bit more complex that his stats can show. Perhaps you can enlighten your readers on this further.  Although 1/8 may not seem like much, the US government offers jobs for natives in some places requiring only 1/4 blood quantum to be considered “full blood.” So although 1/8 is low, the native population has been so systematically decimated in the United States for hundreds of years–that 1/8 is enough to qualify for many things.

As to Todd’s personal issues with racism, I leave you to your own opinion. I am no defender of the Palins, believe me.

But indigenous blood quantum issues in North America are complex and vary from First Nation to First Nation.

Pipsqueak – you bring up a valid point. Allow me to clarify my use of the stat 1/8 Yu’pik:
Of course that 1/8 eskimo descent is important and Todd Palin has every right to be proud of his ancestry, regardless of how little or how much, he is in fact, connected. None is this is in dispute.

I use the stat soley as a measure of how far Sarah Palin is willing to go to deceive the public because even if Todd’s genealogy has caused him a bit of grief along the way, you will not convince me that either one of them have ever, ever been made to use a toilet for non-whites because of his ancestry.

I seriously doubt they have ever been denied service in a restaurant or entrance to a local movie house because of Todd’s Yu’pik ancestry, and I’m reasonably certain neither have been beaten, flogged, horse-whipped, enslaved  or incarcerated because of the colour of their skin.

If any of Todd and Sarah’s children were prevented from sitting at the same lunch tables in school as their friends or made to use different locker room showers and toilets or were not allowed in the school library because their Yu’pik ancestry made them ‘unclean’ in the eyes of others, I will most humbly apologize. But I rather doubt any of them have been the object of extreme prejudice, which is what Sarah’s unfortunate choice of words We Live It… implies.

I would be happy to post any information you have to offer on the social problems you experience in Alaska. Living in a predominantly male Scottish household myself, please believe me when I say I understand the clan mindset.

Sadly, Australia also mirror images the United States in another way.  Our 200 year long mistreatment of the Aboriginal people who lived here for centuries before our arrival. We’ve rather trampled upon and diluted their lineage as well.

And it’s all fodder for future discussions as I am a passionate advocate for the sharing of ideas and experiences – and I firmly, genuinely believe – the more we know about each other, the better off our grandchildren will be.

-Lynn

 

Looking for Mrs. Goodbar (ok really I’m trying to find a specific video clip of Sarah)

It’s the heart of the McCain/Palin campaign for the White House. Sarah has just finished a speech at a rally. The bleachers are thinning out but the cameras are still rolling on Sarah and her family. They were all putting on their coats and jackets. Sarah had been standing next to Todd when a black man (a Republican fan, I’m presuming) approaches her to chat. Todd has now walked off, leaving Sarah to fend for herself in front of the rolling camera.

The man chats, Sarah nods politely (I believe she even twists a lock of hair once or twice) and she’s clearly uncomfortable, although the presumption is she’s just very tired and wants to leave but people keep stopping her and the pesky cameraman isn’t picking up on her body language and letting her off the hook.

But then there’s the most bizarre exchange between Sarah and this fan. Without remembering the exact wording on his part, I recall how his comment prompted Sarah to become fully animated, vehemently agreeing with him, gesturing to Todd over her shoulder and making some comment about how she knew exactly what this man has gone through, exactly what it’s like to be the brunt of racial tension as she and Todd have experienced this their whole lives.

It was a minor event, completely overlooked by the media at the time, but it made my 90 year old mother pick up the phone and call me 6,000 miles away. She was irate. Sarah’s audacity to tell such a bold-faced lie straight into the camera, much less compare her white-girl-beauty-queen life experiences with the plight of the black man, just made her blood boil. Did I say my mother was irate? I’m being polite.

I have looked through every bit of archived footage my eyes can tolerate but I can’t find this particular clip anywhere. I think it’s the same rally where they show Piper half-asleep on a wooden bench (but still smiling for the camera) and are conducting a last-minute interview with the family at the end of this long, arduous day.

If anyone has knowledge of where this footage can be viewed or obtained, I would forever be in that person’s debt.

-Lynn

 

The Republic of Sarah – Part 2 (A Commenter Reacts))

I’m pulling this comment from the previous post because while the commenter completely disagrees with my assesment of Sarah Palin and the Republican party, he provides a delightful stray from the usual eat my shorts rhetoric and I’m thinking an open air debate might be fun and informative.That is, after all, what free speech is all about. And it’s just as important to listen to the other guy’s view as it is to fully present your own.

Sonic Charmer said:
To be clear I never said I’m ‘not for public assistance’. What I said was:
-this post of yours brought Sarah Palin into the discussion for no apparent reason;
-the anecdote is trying to illustrate how what ‘liberals’ advocate is a needless layer of complexity; and,
-you’re free to help homeless people on your own, with your own money, every bit as much as you pretend to want them helped.

FYI here are Sarah Palin’s views on welfare and poverty. Nowhere there does it say she’s ‘not for public assistance’. Indeed it shows her to be in favor of expanding and increasing usage of the EITC – which is a form of public assistance, of course. Alaska also has a massive oil-welfare program to my knowledge (everyone receives money from oil revenues). I don’t think she has gotten rid of it.

It’s weird enough that you’re so obsessed with inserting Sarah Palin into this discussion, but bizarre indeed that in doing so you seem to feel free to simply make up her views…

You’re right on one thing though: I haven’t been watching Fox News, nor have I been reading the blogs C4P or TeamSarah (neither of which I’d heard of till now). Ok, so that’s who is ‘touting’ her for the nomination. I’ll take your word for it. I wasn’t aware that those entities control who gets nominated however.

I must say I find it fascinated that you’re so apparently scared and petrified by a prospective 2012 Sarah Palin run for the nomination that you feel the need to sandbag and in fact lie about her even now in 2009, just 3 months into Obama’s first term. Does she really threaten you so much? Strange. Especially since you don’t really seem to know very much about her that isn’t made up,

Let me start at the begnning:

-this post of yours brought Sarah Palin into the discussion for no apparent reason;
The majority of my posts revolve around Alaska and their governor. Do I poke fun at her? Of course. She’s a politician. One is supposed to mock politicians. But Sarah Palin put herself into this particular discussion, and for a few reasons. One is her lack of support to those citizens of Alaska who live in the wilderness regions, who could not afford oil to heat their homes this past winter because she was too busy campaigning in the lower 48 to address the problems back at home.

The reason Sarah took the brunt of this particular e-joke was the timing. I received it just as the Alaska Legislators were in their final days of session. One of their headaches was to work out how to accept the federal stimulus package to which their governor had chosen to attach strings. The education of Alaska’s children, along with other programs for the disadvantaged hung precariously in the balance.

Sarah didn’t even stick around to help work it out. Instead, she chose to speak at a Right-To-Life meeting in Indiana, a belief not actually shared by all Alaskans, but certainly reflects those of her Republican base. So again, Sarah’s priority is to campaign for the 2012 vote – not to do her job as governor. But don’t listen to me. Talk to Alaskans.

-the anecdote is trying to illustrate how what ‘liberals’ advocate is a needless layer of complexity;
It seems to me, in re-reading the anecdote, it is the Republican adding the dash of complication. The federal funds to assist the homeless are already in place. The extra steps were unnecessarily added.

FYI here are Sarah Palin’s views on welfare and poverty. Nowhere there does it say she’s ‘not for public assistance’. Indeed it shows her to be in favor of expanding and increasing usage of the EITC
The link you provide as proof of Sarah’s welfare stance is a bit lacking. It only addresses her endorsement of EITC, a federal program to help welfare recipients (who are able to work) get back into the workforce. It’s been around since 1975 actually, and most states embraced it long before Alaska.  I hope you also read this, the EITC FACT SHEET  .

I admit, I have no way of knowing if she is the first Alaskan governor to embrace EITC or the fifth – but I do know Sarah is very good at making proclamations which proffer the illusion of something being uniquely her idea, when in fact that appearance is false. However, credit where credit is due, she did embrace it and many Alaskans will benefit.

Now the question is, was it in effect before she issued this proclamation? I ask because it seems US governors make proclamations to mark certain days and events as a form of protocal, having nothing whatever to do with the implementation of the original event. So without doing research, we have no way of knowing if Sarah’s posted proclamation is the first time Alaska has embraced EITC – or if it was just another run-of-the-mill proclamation.

Regardless,  it still does not define her stand on welfare. Welfare isn’t just one federal program. It’s a collaberation of many. What other programs does she support? What other programs designed to protect the welfare of all Alaskans are on her agenda? I’m actually asking because I have no idea. I can tell you I’m inclined to think she wouldn’t want to have her state pay for them, though – or the federal government either. So…

Alaska also has a massive oil-welfare program to my knowledge (everyone receives money from oil revenues). I don’t think she has gotten rid of it.
The oil revenue! I’m going to let one of the readers answer this for you. I’m reasonably sure it’s not what you are expecting, though. If memory serves, it’s another Sarah’s Gone Missing moment in Alaskan history.

And now I have a question for you, Sonic Charmer. Is there some reason you think Fox News has no clout in or with the Republican Party? Or that fringe support groups are ineffective tools in national, political campaigns? You don’t live in a cave, do you? Ok, just kidding about the cave

To be clear I never said I’m ‘not for public assistance’. What I said was:
-you’re free to help homeless people on your own, with your own money, every bit as much as you pretend to want them helped.
Doesn’t this pretty much say you’re not for public assistance? Because part of the money that pays for public assistance would come out of your paycheck. So…

And you’re barking up the wrong tree if you think all I am is lip service.There is no pretense here. While other mother’s children brought home stray cats and dogs, my children brought home stray people. Literally. From the time my oldest was in middle school, my house was forever home to someone who either ran away from home or had fallen on hard times and just needed somewhere to take a breath. The shortest stay was a weekend. The longest was eighteen months. We cared for a young man, nearly starved and sleeping in a bus terminal, a young, pregnant prostitute who wanted desperately for her life to be different but didn’t know how, a teenage boy who was beaten by his stepdad, to name just a few. We also let the homeless in our neighbourhood sleep on our protected porch, without complaint, and even got out the extra blankets when it was cold and they were too embarrassed to come inside.

I’ve given away pots of coffee and boxes of warm clothes and even taught a few young ladies how to knit. Along the way I afforded myself the luxory of sitting and listening to people tell their tales and share their dreams. It’s a good thing to know how to listen. It can make a huge difference in someone’s life. And I’m proud to know my children inherited that part of me.

Sonic charmer, you seem to think I’m somehow afraid of Sarah Palin. Sir, I’m not afraid of her. I’m terrified. I’m scared to death that the small pockets of people in the US who believe the second amendment is more important than the other twenty-six, that white is the only proper skin colour, Christianity is the only true religion and that a woman has no rights over her own body will be so smitten with Sarah’s charismatic, girlish charm that they won’t pay attention to to her record. We need smart, tolerant, honest, flawless leaders guiding our nations through this century of economic upheaval, terrorist threat, repleting resources and environmental changes. And Sarah Palin is ill-equipped to fill the role of world leader.

If you think I’m making things up, if you feel I’m not speaking in truths about Sarah Palin and her record as mayor and Governor in the state of Alaska – if you truly feel my motivation is merely to sandbag a rising political star – then by all means do your own research. Look at actual public records, though, not just a website listing of first lines from speeches. Read the Anchorage Daily News and follow the reports on her disputes with the Legislature. Google Wayne Anthony Ross.

Go to Alaska. Even if the trip is only on the web. Listen to the people who have fallen out of love with their governor. Ask them about Wasilla and how the city fell into $20 million of debt. Ask them about the city center built on land the city didn’t actually own and the mayor who shrugged off the title search and the legal fees the city is still paying for to sort it all out. Ask them about Walt Monegan. Mention the word subpoenas. Ask them about the oil drums at the bottom of Mt. Redoubt. Ask them about Senator Mark Begich. Ask them about their oil revenue checques.

And then… ask them about Beth Kerttula.

 

The Republic of Sarah – Part 1 (Republican Ideals – Close, But No Cigar)

This was in my email today. I’ve seen it many times before and am quite positive it originated in one of those pre-email inter-office faxes that used to drive our bosses over the edge, especially when the fax machine was out of paper, the back-up supplies were nowhere to be found and we would all be standing around with heads hung hoping he wouldn’t notice the Clinton cartoon still in the tray.

How any of those old jokes have found their way into today’s technology is beyond me. I’m sure it involves people with too much time on their hands, dusty crates in the attic and a broom.

So today, when reading this cutesy… well here have a read for yourself: 

 And when was this written do you think? The tasks described in the e-joke look like a full days work to me. That token $50 would barely pay for a meal and a bath. So again the phrase which dominates my thoughts is close but no cigar.

But the sentiment is alive and well and living in the Republican Party, nurtured by Mother Sarah and repeated by her horde: All the homeless are on the street by choice – they can each go home and stop being a bother any time they want.

Bollox. The homeless have evolved in and because of our culture. We did this with our promises of prosperity and entitlements and a social security system that would be there for us all if we just contributed evey week while we worked… So first we cause people to become homeless, then we ignore them, then we ridicule them, then we blame them for being homeless.

It all rather smells of the bully who first knocks you to the ground, then places a foot over your face and then scolds you for daring to say it hurts.

We show the world how smart we are by producing televisions and computers, video games and fast cars and let everyone think that just by owning a credit card we can all have it all. Then reality sets in and some of us struggle more than the rest and rather than try to work out how to make good on the promises made by western democracy, we find it easier to walk on the other side of the street.

The reasons for being homeless are as many and as varied as their numbers:

*Sudden illness which wipes out savings and incurs insurmountable debt.
*Sudden loss of a partner whose income we depended upon for basic survival.
*An unfortunate accident rendering us immobile and dependent upon a broken social security system which can’t support us.
*Having the company for whom you worked twenty years suddenly close it’s doors, taking your medical insurance and pension with it
*Losing your job at age 45 and discovering no one wants to hire a 45 year old
* Mental incapacity
*Physical incapacity
*Old age

 There are more. Stacks more. But my point is, not eveyone who sleeps in a cardboard shelter wants’ to be there. And the Republican chant of just go get a job doesn’t even come close to offering a solution.

The very banking system George W. Bush and now President Obama and Prime Minister Rudd have sought to bail out of financial ruin have a huge hand in the growing number of homeless in our two nations. Homes and jobs have been retched from people who had been taking care of themselves. Medical costs are another amongst the culprits as people try desperately to pay for outrageously over-priced surgeries, therapies and medications which can only be paid for by second mortgages and exorbitant bank loans.

Are there blodgers amongst them? Of course there are. But the Republicans would rather abandon the mother of three who lost her husband to cancer and her home to his medical bills, than dream of paying one cent to someone else who might be undeserving, and I just think that’s bass-ackwards.

It’s also less than humane.

For Sarah and her Republican cohorts to hold the homeless up to an unrealistic standard is simply preposterous.

Want the homeless to stand up and take care of themselves?

Easy. Take your boots off their faces.

 

 

ALASKANS DODGE WAR – OBAMA HIDES BEHIND BUSH

Don’t you just love headlines? It’s where the editors get to unleash snarky and all is forgiven because the headline is just doing it’s job of coaxing you into reading the whole story. (The story is where they hide the facts. Well, most of the time, anyway.)

But my snarky headline aside, these are the actual two top stories in Alaska’s papers this morning. Wayne Anthony Ross was deemed unfit for duty in the Attorney General’s office by the state legislators. (Good’onya mates! Well done!)

Then there’s the kerfuffle created by President Obama after announcing the Obama Administration will not be persuing charges against the Bush Administration for (among other things) the torture of prisoners at the Guantanamo facility. You can watch Keith Olbermann’s head exploding here.

 

 This headline in my morning’s email made me guffaw. I guffawed! No, really, I actually did! Enhanced Interrogation! What rubbish! What’s next?

Little Tommy [crying]: Mommy! Mommy! Daddy just spanked me and it really hurts!
Mommy [in a calm voice]: Don’t be silly dear, Daddy would never spank you, he loves you. He merely applyed an Enhanced Behaviour Modification technique to your behind.

***

Judge: Your client has been charged with raping Ms. Landry. How does he plea?
Attorney: Why, innocent your honour – this young woman is clearly overreacting. My client didn’t rape her, he merely had an Enhanced Hormonal Response to a Sudden and Uncontrollable Penile Erectus Reaction.

 

 Hey wait a minute… Sudden, Uncontrollable Penile Erectus Reaction. Well that certainly explains SUPERman… 

<insert sincere apology to DC Comic fans everywhere>

Enhanced Interrogation… dickheads.

 

Sarah’s Republicans Know How To Party (?)

A final scene in the movie Terminator II has the robot disappearing into a molten vat, desperately flailing it’s arms, sinking, then leaping to the surface again, morphing shapes with each dramatic lunge in a futile effort to save itself from oblivion. I saw the same behaviour today with Republicans trying to rally the country around a non-existant cause in an out-dated style reminiscent of the anti-war rallies of the 1970’s. Had the placards read MAKE LOVE NOT WAR and displayed peace signs, it would have made a lot more sense. That, at least, was a genuine cause.

I watched the people who showed up for these tea bagging rallies flail about, unsure of exactly what to do out there in the cold, but sure they were there to do something. Something important. Any minute now someone would explain. So they waited.

They waved signs, drank hot beverages and pretended to listen to speeches being given on faulty p.a. systems that surely only a handful of front-row attendees could actually hear. They huddled together, ostensibly to show the world how committed they were to the cause but I saw their faces. They were mostly just trying to stay warm.

There were no great speeches. No moments of inspiring rhetoric to take home and mull over. No memorable words of hope to cause one to stand up and shout ‘This is why I came here today! See? This!”

Not a thread of consistency that so earmarks the rallying around a special cause existed in any message by any Republican leader at any tea bagging party held across the country. No one slogan emerged to define their cause and offerto the rest of us as a unifying ideal. Clearly, the Republican’s organizational skills stop at texting just enough loyal party members to fill a parking lot. After that, everyone’s on their own.

The signs displayed at the events showed their disorganization. Apparently, the only hint of a theme would be an obvious disdain for all things Democratic and a definitive. wide-spread lack of education. I was God-smacked by the monumental amount of ignorance displayed on the tea bagging placards.

One sign read WE’RE NOT EUROPEAN YET! USSA NO WAY! What does that even mean? Most European countries are free democracies today. And the poor reference to the Soviet Republic is so out of touch with reality my eyes crossed when I read it. Can it be possible these people are actually unaware Russia has a duly elected federal government   led by a president of their own choosing? I thought Sarah could see Russia from her house. How can she – or any of her followers – not know who lives there!

And I laughed aloud at the middle class citizens who held up signs demanding immediate tax cuts. My California daughter, in a telephone call just last week, commented that her tax return would be a little bit bigger this year and wasn’t it great that President Obama was making good on his campaign promises…

Occasionally the half-frozen rallyers would heckle the passers-by. Occasionally one would let out a war-whoop that would attract other war-whoopers in the crowd but it never lasted long. It’s hard to whoop when you’re freezing.

Some brought placards which screamed STOP ABORTIONS! Uh… the connection to tea bagging the president here is… what?

After reading the U.S. obituaries, I mean editorials on today’s events, perusing the blogs and watching the sparse televsion coverage (the episode in front of The White House causing the Secret Service to intervene was so uneventful it didn’t even make the news in Australia) I felt oddly disappointed. Instead of watching a colourful, animated debate on policies and political direction, it had been more like watching the domesticated buffalo in Golden Gate Park eating grass.

<insert cricket sounds>

Let’s face it. The Republican Party is currently out of order. No one should even try to communicate with it until it’s been repaired, revamped. remodelled and educated. Then and only then should we attempt to properly reintegrate it back into society.

Actually, they could start by sweeping out the trash.

 

Dear Republicans, You’re not going to bring Obama down with a Tea Bag. Get over yourselves.

Tea Bagging Just Misses The Mark

It’s a bit odd that in a world where something like a third of the populaton is starving, Republicans have chosen to bogart a food substance as a symbol for – wait – what is it again the tea bagging is supposed to accomplish?

The original Boston Tea Party was a direct response by American colonists to an excessive tax on a particular tea they were forced to purchase from Britain.That’s a simplistic summary, I know, but if you want to know more, start here.

I’ve watched the news reports here in Australia, presented by reporters who can barely keep a straight face while reporting the story, the cable news reports from the US, read the news articles from a few US papers, and of course, read the perspectives proffered by my favourite bloggers (the list is just to your right over there >>).

For the life of me, I cannot find the connection. All I can come up with is some overly-zealous Republican had a ‘cutesy’ idea and from sheer lack of any other ideas, it became the number one play in the Republican playbook of ‘we can out-Dem the Dems if we can just come up with the right distraction’.

But here’s my problem in trying to connect the Boston Tea Party with today’s politics: Each of the United States, today,  is represented in Washington by two Senators and a number of Representatives (said number of which is determined by state population). This is above the number of elected officials on city, county and state levels, each ‘representing’ their own constituency.

For the Republicans to use ‘tea’ to represent their current cause, simply makes no sense. First because Americans are clearly not suffering from taxation without representation, and second because they are not being force-fed a particular brand of tea from a particular source, depriving themselves of choice or jeopardizing any local business.

And third because at least one of the tea bags held up by US newscasters to put a fine point on the Tea Bagging event is from a British-owned company which pays hefty import fees – to the US – in order to get their tea products into the US in the first place. Rather the complete opposite of the situation in 1773. (I’m betting some Republicans either didn’t know Lipton Tea wasn’t an American-owned Company before holding it up to ridicule, or that – in true Sarah Palin style, ala the infamous election scarf -.they were hoping no one would notice. Because that tactic’s worked so well for them in the past!)

What exactly is the Republican cause here? I didn’t actually understand the motivation behind the Tea Bagging until I watched this youtube video put on by The Young Turks. It might not be my cup of tea (sorry) but I’m willing to acknowledge that they nailed the Republican Party full stop.

Quote: [Why?] Because the Republicans don’t know what they’re doing.

So while this is not the style of editorializing I take in on a daily basis, (the main presenter often looks stoned because of the number of times he apparently needs to stop and read whatever material is printed on the inside of his eyelids) I am compelled to share it with you because of it’s simplistic accuracy.

The Young Turks are becoming quite popular with their postings on youtube, reflecting many common attitudes of today’s under 40 generation, and once in a while are even quite insightful. So barring the snarky-style and periodic stray towards porn, it’s possible even for us oldies to sit back and be entertained by this young man who bags (sorry again) the Republican’s latest public display of mediocrity.

Ok - the Republicans are asking the entire population of middle to lower class Americans, to relinquish their newly-received tax cuts under the Obama Administraion, in favour of rallying around the rich to repeal a slight tax increase recently imposed on those Americans who make millions of dollars each year in income and don’t actually pay their full share of taxes anyway due to tax loopholes procured for them by highly paid accountants and lawyers.

To put it simply, the Republicans have chosen one of America’s most cherished, historical events – and one which lead directly to their declaring independence from an oppressive monarchy, bringing about one of the most bitter battles in American history – to symbolize the new Republican platform of taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

Yes, my head’s cocked sideways and I’m squinting.

And what about the fate of all these tea bags once the bagging parties are over?

Are people meant to bring their own tea bag to these gatherings and then actually have a cuppa during the meeting? Are the bags going to be handled like flags at a footy game and then thrown away because after all they’ve been handled? Or are they going to be collected en masse to dump on the White House doorstep at some later date in a feeble attempt to embarass President Obama?

I’m guessing a couple of large donations to a few needful soup kitchens isn’t even being brewed…

Regardless of the Republican intention for the Tea Bagging ceremonies on 15 April 2009, I think it’s a rather sad commentary on their party priorities to encourage the wasting of perfectly good food during a time when millions of people are going a little hungry in order to pay their mortgage.

 

Sarah Palin’s Egonomics

While the rest of the world concerns itself with trying to pump up a troubled economy, Sarah Palin spends most of her time pumping up her own ego. And I can’t help but think she’s doing a lot of it on the taxpayer’s dime.

The Immoral Minority posted about ten minutes of a talk-radio exchange between Sarah Palin and a local host (who is so bad at his job I’m not even going to give him a credit here) in Alaska. I’m ashamed to admit I couldn’t get through the entire interview (if you can call two people so busy stroking each other’s egos in public I actually jumped out of my chair at one point and hollered OH FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE GET A ROOM!)

But I heard just enough. Sarah is single-handedly leading the legislature in their decision-making regarding the stimulus package even though she’s morally against the stimulus package.

Sarah Palin is against the stimulus package because it’s free money and free money promotes government growth not free market growth. (Personally, I think when everyone’s hungry, the arguement over whether a chicken is free-range or barn-fed goes out the window in favour of just eating. But that’s me.)

Sarah Palin is against the stimulus package because free money makes a state dependent upon it’s government. That’s a bad thing because we have too much government already. So sayeth the Republican National Canters. So sayeth Sarah Palin.

Against government funds? She is? Really, someone should be nice enough to bundle and present this lady with copies of all the campaign speeches she made between September and November of 2008 (highlighting all the bits about how great a lobbyist she was and how much free money she procured for Alaska because of her great lobbying) to help keep her from constantly tripping over her own mouth. (I’m betting her expensive RNC shoes are covered in lipstick by now.)

I have just three reactons to Sarah’s radio intercourse (the part that I heard before I just couldn’t listen any more).

The first is to Sarah herself:

A Stimulus Package is like a big bandaid. It’s purpose is to allow what’s underneath a chance to heal. The idea is, by the time the government funds run out, the economy will have new jobs to offer those folks who were given jobs under the stimulus package. The idea is that if unemployed Joe Six-Pack takes a job fixing roads now, for the government, while he’s working (still feeding his family and not losing his house), the economy will have had a chance to heal and by the time Joe’s temporary government job is over, there will be a place for him back in the private sector.

He won’t have lost his home, his family, or become an additional welfare burden on an already strained system. And, everyone benefits from the much-needed road improvements.

The bandaid neither becomes part of the skin itself, nor does it make the wearer dependent upon it’s use. It’s just a bandaid. A biodegradeable bandaid. Use it once, then throw it away.

The second is to anyone considering furthering Sarah Palin’s political career:

There is a word I learned back in my college years that flops around in my head like a freshly-caught fish each time I hear or read yet another statement from Sarah which completely contradicts a statement she’s made previously. It’s from one of the fathers of psychology, (and while I clearly recall the word, the name of it’s originator escapes me). It means a person who is not necessarily childlike, but who has a childish outlook of the world.

Weltanschauung. It means while a person may have many, many perfectly mature qualities, his or her view of the world and how it works has never quite grown up. It allows the person to say something outrageous and maintain a total expectation that the world will believe them, uncontested. It’s how I imagine Sarah copes with her varied statements about what she believes in, or what she’s done, or how she can so often look directly into a camera and lie without hesitation.

It’s that thing in our brains that, as a child, allows us to tell our parents “No! Of course I didnt go near the bowl of cake batter!” and not flinch once while mum wipes the batter from our cheeks. The majority of us outgrow this tale-telling over time and through experience, but there are those with a childish Weltanschauung who continue to tell tales as adults and expect the world to just let them.

I hope Sarah’s supporters will someday be able to separate her wonderfully sparkling personality from her complete ineptness as a political leader. Because you can’t build a political career on past successes as a lobbyist for free money, then turn around and be completely against it, all the while claiming to never have been for free money in the first place.

(By the way – just a head’s up – but in case none of you Republicans out there have been paying attention, Sarah has been publicly vacillating on her abortion views as well. Oops.)

And finally, to Levi Johnston:

Levi, you and Bristol were paraded in front of the nation as Sarah’s pride and joys. She bragged about you, hugged you, openly told of her pride in you both. She cannot, now, alter those claims just because her political life would be easier if none of it had ever been said, or if you would just obediently disappear into the woodwork. The world simply does not work that way. And neither do courts of law.

For every negative statement Sarah makes about you, hold up a clip of her telling the nation how much she adores and loves you and looks forward to the day when you marry her daughter. There are ten weeks of her making loving, caring, positive statements about you in every newsroom across your country and about two hundred more.

She can’t have it both ways, Levi. Nobody can. And tuck this in your back pocket for those times when you might be feeling a tad nervous: In a Family Court of Law, the judge doesn’t care if Sarah Palin is disappointed in you or not. The judge only cares if you disappoint your son.

 

Christos Anestis

Whether you believe in the Celebration of Easter or just enjoy the time off work, I hope each of you will take a moment to bite into a bunny  – because as long as there’s chocolate – there’s always hope

 

I Hear it’s Nice In Fiji This Time Of Year…

Australia is a country of travellers. We’ll fly anywhere if the rates are right and the beer is cold and the boss has given us a week off. Occasionally, one of us inadvertently breaks the law and lands in a foreign jail. When that happens, the shit hits the fan in the press and someone makes a public plea for the government to intervene. In response, the Prime Minister’s office will have one of their solicitors-slash-diplomats hop a plane to iron out the mess and bring the happy larrikin home. It’s pretty much the Ozzie way.
 

On rare occasions, the mess cannot be ironed out and one of our citizens, either rightly or wrongly, does time on foreign soil. In an effort to avoid having our citizens break laws in foreign countries and end up getting death penalties for what an Ozzie would term ‘a bloody stupid law’, our sage and wise government spends stacks of money via television ads, websites and travel alerts to keep us all in the know about where we’re going.
 

This evening, one such alert was posted on the internet (amongst other places) warning against travelling to Fiji any time in the near future. It seems their president, Ratu Josefa Iloilo, (pronounced Eelo-Eelo) has recently torn up the countries constitution, named himself head of state – and sacked all the judges who tried to tell him this was all quite illegal.
 

Our Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, (Kevi as he’s fondly referred to by the press), is shaking his head, muttering things like ‘this is going backwards, not forwards” and putting out statements to alert tourists that should they choose to visit Fiji, he can’t guarantee their safe return. That’s Kev-speak for “Stay home ya morons! It’s bloody stupid over there!”
 

Well the Fijian events weren’t quite that simplistic. First there was a military coup led by Commodore Frank Bainimarama. Then he turned the country over to Ratu who had been – no wait. First there was an election. Then there was the coup. Then the Prime Minister got sick (he’s very old after all) then there was a takeover. No wait that’s wrong… Ok wait – rats – ok – I think I got it straight this time..

 

First Ratu Iloilo was President. But he got sick and while his strong-arm guy, Commodore Bainimarama, was off the island playing with his troops, somebody else decided to take advantage and stage a coup.Except the media got wind of it and when word got to Bainimarama he panicked because it was tourist season and this would be bad for business. So he issued news bulletins telling people COME TO FIJI – NO COUP HERE! HAVE FUN! HOLIDAY WITH US!!! Pay no attention to the 9000 armed soldiers wandering around the beaches and nightclubs. They’re just having fun too! That was back in November 2008.

 

So now in January of 2009, Iloilo gets sick and somehow Laisenia Qarase is put in charge of the country as an interim leader. But Commodore Bainimarama isn’t too happy with how he (Qarase) is running things and stages a real coup, unseating Qarase and giving back the presidency to Iloilo – who apparently isn’t sick anymore.

 

Enter the courts who hold hearings to determine how much of the coup-shifting-unseating is legal and who should be entitled to run the place - but Iloilo gets bored waiting for decisions to be made through proper channels, rips up the Fijian constitution, declares himself King of the Island, and tosses all the judges in jail.

 

Wait – I think he tossed them in jail – maybe he just put them all on a fishing boat and told them it was a free vacation.

 

Enter Kevin Rudd and his dutiful traveller’s alert to warn Ozzie’s against going to Fiji until this is all sorted. Or at least until the cocktail waitresses can put down the semi-automatic pistols and just carry cold beer again. 

 

But fun with Iloilo and Kevi aside – as I was reading this article about President, erm, I mean King Iloilo’s takeover, and how easily he dismissed the court’s rulings suggesting what he was doing might in some small legal sense be ever-so-slightly (dare we use the word) wrong…I couldn’t help but make the obvious leap. 

 

Does this complete disregard for judicial procedure coupled with impatient behaviour and an obsession for power remind you of anyone Alaska?

 

Anyone?

 

Anyone at all?

 

 

Perhaps if we all chipped in and bought Sarah her own little island to overthrow…

 

 

 

Sarah, Sherry, Bristol, Levi, Tripp and the Law (part 2)

An Anchorage Attorney by the name of Steven Pradell wrote and posted this article regarding father’s rights in the state of Alaska in 1997. One can surmise that as it is still an active link, the article probably still has sound advice.

The article itself is copyrighted, and due to the time differences between our countries, I have not yet attempted to glean permission to use actual quotes from the article, but I see no reason why I can’t link it to this post and let anyone who might be interested have a read. It is, after all, posted on the internet for all to see.

It’s interesting to note that Alaska family law looks pretty much like family law in most of the western US states. Neither gender has an edge over the other one and the courts still use the what’s in the best interest of the child – not the parents yardstick for measuring fundamental custodial decisions.

Alaska family law appears to be no different from the rest of the civilized world, so Sarah does not have the authority or power to bend it to her will. But that doesn’tmean she won’t try.

There’s no reason why Levi cannot procure legal representation and get immediate proper visitation with Tripp – and to wait until Sarah has time to perform her behind the scenes trickery would not be beneficial to this young father and child.

Links of interest on the  subject of father’s rights in Alaska:

Alaska Father’s Rights Lawyers
Free consultations, legal aid, Family Law Attorney listings for Alaska.

How To Learn About Father’s Rights Alaska
List of organizations ready to help single fathers, including links to credible organizations like Fathers for Equal rights and the Chldren’s Rights Council.

From the home page:
If you are a devoted father who is having trouble getting your rights acknowledged, there is help available. In the past, single parenting has usually been thought of as a woman’s dilemma. Today, men can find help with single father parenting from various avenues.

A second article by Steven Pradell has a few paragraphs on grandparental rights in Alaska. This article was written two years later in 1999.

In the state of Alaska, grandparents have the right to petition courts for reasonable visitation of their grandchild, and can, in certain custody cases where it is deemed by the judge to be in the best interest of the child, have those visitations written into the actual custody agreement.

So Sherry – go get ‘em tiger! Sarah may have all the smoke and mirrors and free corporate lawyers on her side, but you and your son have the law on yours.

We’re all rooting for you :)

 

Sarah, Sherry, Bristol, Levi, Tripp and the Law

Just two years ago, I supported a friend and her new husband during a rather wild custody battle. The two young adults came together each with small children from previous relationships. The mother of my friend’s husband’s baby was so certain that as the mother it was her right to call all the shots, she even went to court unrepresented by council.

She appeared before the magistrate armed only with a list of demands, which she read aloud to the court:

* She was to have all holidays, period.
* As the mother, she retained the right to make all medical, religious and educational decisions regarding her baby.
* The father would be allowed visits at her discretion, and only in her home. He was never to leave her house with the baby. (She further clarified that if he wanted an overnight visit, he could sleep on the floor of the baby’s room. That would be alright with her.)

I kid you not.

The magistrate, after lifting his jaw from the top of the bench, intsructed my friend’s solicitor to find council for “this woman” and to do it quickly. He did not want to see her again until she was properly represented in his court and until ’someone’ had educated her on Queensland family law.

Three such solicitors were hired and let go before this little girl in a woman’s body finally realized her list of demands wasn’t ever going to be taken seriously, and that court magistrates always, always had the final word.

It took two years of courtroom drama, prolonged mediation and a stack of money to iron out an agreement amicable to all concerned. But from the first court appearance, my friends were granted immediate overnight visitation with no hesitation on the part of the magistrate at all. So they had regular visits during the entire drama, which increased overtime until they now share custody 50/50.

So my question to Alaskans at this point in the unfolding-and-ever-so-public drama between the Palins and the Johnstons, is why do Bristol and Sarah figure they can be calling all the shots in the first place?

This is yet another instance proving without doubt that the Palin women feel  entitled to write their own rules in complete disregard to rules and laws already in place. (This is just another version of the Senate Democratic nominee, actually.)

I felt sad for this young man who alluded here  that he’d watched his childhood sweetheart drift away  from him during the campaign, leading to their ultimate break-up. And it was all the things written on his face which he chose not to say that I truly ‘got’.

Bristol Palin, a young, impressionable teenager, was thrown headlong into a world  of free manicures and shopping sprees, trips to big cities, room service in elegant hotels and doormen to carry her parcels. Helpful people in crisp uniforms cooked and served all her meals and did all her laundry. Handsome secret service men opened doors and watched over her twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Strangers applauded when she entered rooms. People asked for her autograph.

I’m never shocked that Sarah and her girls fight so hard to hang onto their public life. It’s hard to give up that lifestyle once you’ve tried it on for size. What makes me squint is why they continually behave as if theirs is the only family who deserves it.

So speaking of rights, why hasn’t a father’s rights group snatched up Levi’s cause yet? Are there no activists-for-dads in Alaska? Where are all the family law attorneys who could easily take this case pro bono and live off the fat of the free publicity it will generate?

Levi Johnston has parental rights. His parents actually have grandparental rights as well, unless Alaska family law is contrary to the rest of the nation. So unless Sarah has managed to also rewrite US  family law in the state of Alaska, neither she nor Bristol have any legal right to dictate visitation between Levi, his parents and Tripp.

This is a fine example of why nice, normal people (like me!) go off and play W.o.W. for weeks at a time.  Trying to keep up with the Palin family can just suck the life right out of you.

OOO hear that? I think I hear my tiger calling

 

Sarah’s Dumb-o-Meter

A person can only release so much dumbness into the atmosphere before something explodes.

I’m just sayin’…

 

S.P.E.W.S.

I was having coffee over at The Immoral Minority,
reading this article about Senator Lisa Murkowski’s plea for a national early warning and monitoring system for volcanoes and it occurred to me that we could all benefit from having some sort of early warning system in place regarding Sarah. You know, some kind of seismic counter that would alert us just before she’s ready to go off?

A stupid meter, perhaps, that would measure the frequency of her idiotic behaviour, predicting when Sarah’s velocity of dumb is about to reach critical mass, thus giving us all a chance to duck in a doorway and cover our heads when she’s about to blow?

Because really, not only do her ridiculous public statements reverberate underground causing tectonic plate shifts as far as Australia, but her ash drifts everywhere and it’s quite difficult to clean up.

We could call it the Sarah Palin Early Warning System. Or simply S.P.E.W.S.

UPDATE: 08 Apr 09
It’s been brought to my attention that some Alaskans have fondly given Sarah the nick-name Governor In Name Only or -  Gino. I’d like to take this opprtunity to update my early warning system so we are all on the same page.

Effective immediately, SPEWS will now be known as Governor In Name Only Sarah Palin Early Warning System or just – GINO SPEWS

 

C.U.S.S.E.D. (Convicted-Unconvicted Senator Stevens Election Debaucle)

Palin, Ruedrich call for Begich resignation

 

 

By Erika Bolstad
Published: April 2nd, 2009 01:06 PM
Anchorage Daily News (full story here)

WASHINGTON — The head of the Alaska Republican Party today called on Sen. Mark Begich to step down from the U.S. Senate, saying that the state’s voters would have re-elected former Sen. Ted Stevens had they known the U.S Department of Justice would abandon its prosecution of him.

The party chairman, Randy Ruedrich, said that the only reason Begich won his race was because “a few thousand Alaskans thought that Senator Stevens was guilty of seven felonies.”

He added that he thought Begich should step down “so Alaskans may have the chance to vote for a senator without the improper influence of the corrupt Department of Justice.”

Gov. Sarah Palin concurs with Ruedrich and believes a special election is appropriate, said a spokeswoman for Palin’s political action committee, Meg Stapleton. “I absolutely agree,” Palin said in a statement.

*           *           *           *           *   

Talk about hootzpah.  Beyond the obvious, I have two incredibly knot-in-the-gut reactions to this particular episode of the Convicted-Unconcivted Senator Stevens Election Debaucle.

1. When was it determined the U.S. Justice department is corrupt? Was there a trial? Did i miss it? Does President Obama know? Will there be hearings?

2.  When was it determined the governor and leader of opposing parties could ask a seated senator to step down because they think election results of several months prior may have gone differently had curent events been – umm – different? 

Senator Stevens was convicted of seven (that we know of) felonies. The fact the U.S. Justice department decided now that there were great holes in the prosecution’s case and he should probably have a new trial does not – in my book – constitute clearing Stevens of the charges brought against him of which he was subsequently convicted. it only talks to the prosecution of the case, not the validity.

It’s rather like watching the parents of a 12 year old caught taking money out of dad’s wallet being let off the hook because an older sibling was caught smoking pot – and the parents only have time and energy to do so much disciplining. Senator Ted would most likely be granted a new trial with a chance at being fully acquitted of the felony charges (were he younger and still in office) but that the U.S. Justice department has more pressing things to do with their time than retry an 85 year old man (who probably screwed the citizens of Alaska for years before he was caught, anyway) who no longer has the ability to repeat those crimes. Umm, unless of course he were to be re-elected.

I’ve read several articles reporting this decision but nowhere did I read the U.S. Justice department found Ted Stevens to be innocent of the crimes for which he was convicted, only that the department feels the original case was mucked up and he probably should have the original indictment dismissed and then have a new trial (with a new improved indictment?)  Oh wait not the trial – they don’t have time for that part. So I guess a new indictment would be out too then?  Without a new trial, an new indictment would be what – the indictment to nowhere?

Granted my knowledge of U.S. history is sadly lacking,  but I’m not at all understanding how the dismissal of an indictment or suggestion of a new trial is a claim of innocence, or how the court of appeals was by-passed here. How did the U.S. Justice department get involved with an appellate court decision in the first place? Do politicians have their own set of courts? Is it like health care where politicians get a better deal?

I welcome any input from readers that will help me get my head around this process.

And Sarah! I am dunbfounded. Asking a seated Senator to step down five months into his term because his convicted opponent may or may not have been guilty of criminal charges. So yes, hootzpah! Todd Palin may wear the pants in the family, but clearly Sarah is still the one who mans the balls.

 

 

U.S. to drop Stevens charges

 

Anchorage Daily News

Published: April 1st, 2009 04:54 AM
Last Modified: April 1st, 2009 05:07 AM

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has moved to dismiss former Sen. Ted Stevens’ indictment, effectively voiding his Oct. 27 conviction seven counts of filing false statements on his U.S. Senate financial disclosure forms.

“The Justice Department filed its motion to dismiss the case this morning, saying in it that “given the facts of this particular case, the Government believes that granting a new trial is in the interest of justice.” However, “the Government has further determined that, based on the totality of circumstances and in the interest of justice, it will not seek a new trial.“

That just tears it. Seems to me justice would be better served if it waas actually served  in the first place. Maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow to find it was just an april fools joke…

(Full story here)

 

Sarah Palin: Out-Polled, Out-Classed, Out-Smarted By the *Real* First Lady

I just love technology. I’m not sure people under thirty-five truly appreciate how much better life is with the advent of home computers and search engines but I’m a huge fan.

 

For instance, not only can I get my morning newspaper without having to get my toes wet in the rain, I can get any newspaper I want! From anywhere! *click*click*click* and it’s all mine!

 

So I noticed this morning, in the Washington Post, a beautiful photo of Michelle Obama with a flattering, accompanying article about how her popularity is soaring. Soaring! How appropriate that poll results were published this week giving her a 28% rise in popularity over last summer’s polls. You know, back when people didn’t really know her?

 

Evidently, British papers are now likening her to Princess Diana and Jacqueline Kennedy in grace, dress and philanthropic endeavours. But that’s not all. Republicans have had a chance to see for themselves how devoted a mother and wife Michelle is and they’re turning towards this classy lady in full support of her obvious family values.

 

Wow. Just by letting the people get to know her. You think maybe this tactic would work for Sarah? Just let the people get to know her? Wait! The polls are out on Sarah this week too! Let’s check!

 

The Washington Post article on Michelle Obama is here.

Sarah’s latest polls are here.

 

It’s not rocket science.
(Ouch)

 

But now that Republicans have seen for themselves how a woman can be a gracious, conscientious wife and mother and have a Harvard Law degree, I’m guessing Sarah’s dream of being crowned Queen of Washington D.C. has just burst.

 

Well that’s ok Sarah – not to worry. You still have all those lovely big oil drums sitting at the foot of Mt. Redoubt to fall back on J

 

Dear Mr. Doogan (The Penny’s Dropped)

(Sent to Rep. Mike Doogan  doogan@akdemocrats.org  01 Apr 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan

Now that I’ve had a chance to dust off my links and catch up on my reading, the reality of your December ordeal has finally come into the light. The penny’s dropped. I get it now. I was missing just a bit of information before but now I have the whole picture and I’m focused.

You caused all this fuss over LESS THAN THIRTY (30)  EMAILS??? LETTERS OF CONCERN FROM YOUR OWN CONSTITUENTS???

ARE YOU NUTS?

Good lord, I’ve been writing to you on the premise you’d received hundreds of emails because your written responses to fellow bloggers indicated you were flooded, inundated, DELUGED with complaints about Sarah Palin. You referred to them as “all those people” who were “bashing Sarah”, saying you felt the need to defend her even though you weren’t a Republican!

And you sat at your desk hammering out the sarcastic group email which ignited this mess on… wait for it… Christmas Eve??? And this struck you as a good idea? Could you not have just had another serve of turkey and mash instead? Maybe a nice Merlot and listened to Carols?

THIRTY EMAILS!!! That’s my inbox on a slow afternoon. My kids can text thirty emails in thirty seconds while drying the dishes and sorting their IPod music!

THIRTY EMAILS!!! You’re in politics Mr. Doogan! Correspondence rather comes with the territory! It’s in your JOB description! Pull your socks up! Get crackin’! Get a clue! Please! I’m running out of short cliche`s but I’m no longer sure you’d understand whole sentences!

Maybe this will help. Here’s a little sign I used to have hanging over my desk. I offer it to you as a gentle reminder of what it is the nice people in Alaska elected you to do in the first place:

DO SOMETHING!

LEAD

FOLLOW

OR

GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY

 

 

OzMud
(aka Lynn in Australia)

 

Dear Mr.Doogan (The People’s Voice?)

(Sent to Rep. Mike Doogan doogan@akdemocrats.org  31 Mar 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan,

In reading your formal emailed response to all those AK citizens who wrote you prior to December with concerns about their local government, a few thoughts come to light which I feel need (in my humble opinion) to be addressed.

The first is your comment – oh how did you put it to  Phillip Munger  - about how some of the emails you’d received were just too similar – the subtle implication being that one person had feigned different identities to give the appearance of being more than one person – the subtle accusation being that only a handful of your constituents were concerned about the behaviour of their governor, not the hundreds represented by the received emails.

Obviously you’ve not had a lot of interaction with the general public so I thought a small chat on human behaviour would be handy. I mean, just in case you were sick the day they taught this in Sociology 101.

Not everyone feels comfortable writing a letter.

Some people are embarrassed to jot down their thoughts because of poor spelling or grammar skills. Even in a country as rich as America, there are thousands of folks who lack an academic education for one reason or another. Regardless of the circumstances, it’s safe to assume not everyone who has a thought is comfortable transferring that thought to paper.

People with common ideals tend to form congregations.

So on a typical Thursday afternoon at the local Garden Club, Margaret happens to mention to Maude that she’s read something about her governor she’s not at all happy about but doesn’t quite know who to approach. Maude tells her she shares the same concerns and has found a website which may guide Margaret . One link leads to another and soon both Margaret and Maude are sharing links and concerns between themselves.

At the following club meeting, Maude mentions to Mary that she and Margaret have been trying to figure out who to contact about their concerns and Mary says she knows just the person. Their State Representative Mike Doogan! After all, that’s what he’s there for isn’t he? To listen to their concerns?

But Margaret is hesitant about sending him an email because she’s not very good at writing letters. Mary offers to draft a letter when she gets home and posts it online for the other women to copy. Soon all three woman have emailed it along to their State Representative.

At Church on Sunday, Maude relates this chain of events to her Bible Group. Several show interest, and Maude promises to email each of them copies. Some of them alter the wording, some change it altogether and others use it as only as an impetus to draft their own letters, but all email their views on to their State Representative.

One young man decides to post his version of the letter in a comment box on a favourite blogspot. Not long after, dozens of people have read the post and have not only written to their State Representatives, they’ve sent copies to Rep. Mike Doogan to show support of their friends in his district. In no time at all hundreds if not thousands of people across the globe are sharing their concerns about Sarah Palin’s impact on the world stage, and discussing what can be done to see her past discretions brought to justice.

*    *    *    *    *

And that, Mr, Doogan, is how one State Representative can end up with similar/like/identical emails from hundreds of concerned citizens – some of whom do not even live on your continent, much less inside your constituency.

But regardless of our physical addresses we share ideals Mr. Doogan. We share fears and joys and proffer support to each other in too many ways to mention. And there just are not a lot of ways to reword the phrase Sarah Palin is a terrible politician before it sounds repetitious to the reader. But do not for one second think that because the letters you received were similar, the concerns behind them are less credible.

There are thousands of voices out here trying to convey to someone with the power to act that
Sarah Palin and her staff need to be held accountable for their actions.

And every single voice should count, Mr. Doogan, whether that person sent you an email or a crayon drawing. If someone, anyone took the time to communicate their concern about something political happening on your watch, then you are responsible for addressing that concern, not editting the message or dismissing the person sharing it with you.

Perhaps in the future, Mr. Doogan, you’ll listen more to the people’s voices  and less to the voices inside your head.

OzMud

 

Dear Mr. Doogan (Don’t feed the bears)

(Sent to Rep. Mike doogan  doogan@akdemocrats.org  30 Mar 09)

Dear Mr. Doogan,

Did you know that when a single woman travels alone the airlines and travel agencies will list her on all manifests as ‘Mrs.’? Would you happen to know why? Let me enlighten you. It’s because the world is a dangerous place Mr. Doogan and certain people are more likely than others to become targets of harm. So to protect the single woman travelling alone, the airlines and travel agencies who book her passage, disguise her image to make her less of a target to the unsavory eye.

It’s called ‘Duty of Care’.

The internet is a dangerous place Mr. Doogan. It’s unpredictable, unprotected and swarming with shadey people who look for vulnerable people to attack. It’s why we instruct new internet users to never open emails when they don’t recognize the sender. It’s why we tell our children to never give out their real names, addresses or telephone numbers in internet chatrooms. It’s the same reason park rangers tell visitors not to feed the bears.

It’s why there are dozens of governmental agencies in every developed country always watching for perverse people looking to prey on the kindnesses of others and why international laws are being discussed and drafted to protect the users of the internet across the globe.

Duty of Care.

Bloggers are just as entitled to be the recipients of Duty of Care as the next citizen. Perhaps even more so because we don’t have a legislature, magazine or newspaper to shield us from those who would cause anyone with an opposing opinion, harm. There is no entity shielding us from hackers, psychotics, thieves and perverts. We have only ourselves and our ability to conceal our real life information from people who don’t have one, single, solitairy reason or right to know who we are or where we live.

Do the names George Orwell, Mary Westmacott, Nicholas Blake or John le Carre ring any bells with you Mr. Doogan? They should. Each is the pen name of a rather famous author of the 1900’s.

Pen names weren’t just fashionable creations – they were intended to protect authors and their relatives from political or financial retribution. Pen names allow a writer made famous for his poetry to expand his talents and explore writing fiction without harming his career as a poet. It kept him from being fired by an employer who didn’t agree with what he wrote. It kept his son from being pelted with a tomato in the schoolyard.

Imagine where we would be today had Charles Dickens or Samuel Clemens been held to your ‘put your name to your writing or don’t write anything at all’ style of scrutiny.

Duty of Care.

Pen names are almost more important in today’s venue because today, the Internet is making the world smaller. We reach across oceans with search engines and satellite images. International travel is affordable to everyone. Internet access is attainable just by going to a public library where most of our personal information is stored, there to be gleaned far more often were it not for the Duty of Care felt by internet providers who at least attempt to safeguard our identities.

Those of us who choose to use the Internet as a vehicle for exchanging ideas, interpreting events of the day and proffering our own opinions and suggestions, realistically have only each other to rely on for protection no matter where we live. That’s why personal blogs with common goals have evolved into entire communities in and of themselves. We all watch out for each other – and contrary to your comments to Shannyn Moore, we protect each other regardless of whether or not we agree with the other guy’s stance. In a world where radio, television and newspapers are held to ridiculous political correctness, we are perhaps the last bastion for freedom of speech.

But it shouldn’t be that way. We should all, at the very least, be able to rely on the sagaciousness of our elected officials.

You, sir,  have a ‘Duty of Care’ to every person with the ability to google your name, not just the citizens in your constituency of Alaska because the internet has made your role in Alaska visible to the entire world. Millions of people with millions of opinions have access to your opinions and political record via youtube, your website and public government documents.

Mr. Doogan, due respect but not only have you ignored your Duty of Care on an international level, you broke it fullstop with one of your own – and for no reason other than her opinion did not measure up to yours.

This is not a court of law Mr. Doogan. You are not on trial. You are not entitled to see the face of everyone who disagrees with the way you perform your public duties.

But you are the one who tossed fresh meat on an unsuspecting families’ doorstep in your own state of Alaska, and you should know a fair portion of the world is watching to see if and how you clean up your mess.

OzMud

(aka Lynn in Australia)