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.
May 17, 2009
C’mon Wassillans – Talk to Us *Comments*
Posted by ozmud under May 09 | Tags: adn.com, Bristol photos, Palin's Deceptions, reader's comments, Sarah Palin, Wasilla |[7] 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.