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

 

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.