Didn’t quite mean to disappear like that – sorry! So many things have happened in the past weeks… I’m rebuilding my computer tomorrow and will log back on with my shiney new programs and all the goss in a few days. In the meantime, this landed in my email box and it’s just given me the best giggle… hope you laugh too  :)

Oh! And thanks for the little notes – you guys are terrific

While slogging my way through notes written more than a month ago to get back on track with my theories on Republican Scare Tactics versus President Obama’s Health Care Reform, I noticed a new comment and felt a need to post it here:

Dear Diane,

My husband, on the day of finally admitting he needed to see a doctor, was – in my opinion – perilously sick – and with mostly the same symptoms you’ve just described for your husband.

When the GP sent us home that first day with a script for antibiotics and instructions to return the following day I literally had to bite my tongue to keep still. I’d packed a bag ten minutes after I saw the wound, and did not understand the decision to send us home rather than to the hospital.

A week later this cautionary delay developed into emergency surgery with a team of four doctors. While spouse is doing well now, I should have made noise – a lot of it – back on day one.

There have been two other little ’spots’ which I did make noise about and both were treated immediately.  After the second eruption was found this weekend, our schedule has again changed, this time to allow a nurse with a trained eye to check him every other day. He can’t take any more antibiotics for a while as he’s taken so many in such a short time (this, of course, is the downside of antibiotic treatments) so it’s even more important now that any new potential carbuncles be caught as early as possible.  And I not only examine his skin daily, I also watch for any change in his mood, eating or sleeping habits, which might also be symptomatic of something being wrong.

I have actually gone through two full scripts of antibiotics myself, with the annoying consequence of having a thrush (yeast)  infection that just won’t go away. So please know that all the careful cleaning, hand-washing, wearing of protective gloves and eyewear while unpacking his wound and repacking it again is not a guarantee of immunity against his infection.

Diane - we’re all behind you.  Listen to your gut. Your instincts matter. Make noise. Don’t be afraid to share all your concerns about your husband with his doctors. And take care of yourself because you are one-half of a team, not a spectator. All those good people out there who kept telling me to take care of me – they were all spot on.  It’s absolutely the best advice of all.

You and your husband are in my prayers, and I’m sure in those of our readers, too. Please let us know how you’re gettting on
OzMud

To comment on this post, please scroll back to the title: Dear Diane Soper and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud

From my email bag this week, a quote from an (undated) article in the Australian Shooter Magazine:

If you consider that there has been an average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theater of operations during the past 22 months, and a total of 2112 deaths, that gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

The firearm death rate in Washington, DC is 80.6 per 100,000 for the same period. That means you are about 25 per cent more likely to be shot and killed in the US capital, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the US, than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: “The US should pull out of Washington.”

* * * * *

On a more personal note, spouse is doing well.  Again, thanks so much for all your prayers and gracious good wishes.

Our routine has morphed. A nurse now looks on while I repack the wound twice a week and the rest of the time I’m on my own. So far it’s all good. Standing on a stool alternating a moblie showerhead and torch in one hand while using cotton buds to dig out the crud with the other is not the most pleasant of jobs, but it’s infinitely preferable to spending every morning at the the hospital ER.

It’s actually allowed me a bit of time to spend in my garden this past week. I consider it a lovely reward. September marks the onset of Spring in Australia and the weather has been good enough to have morning tea on the patio. Here, see for yourself:

Back porch view of the Queen's Wreath

Queen's Wreath close-up

Flowering Begonia along the south fence

Shrimp Plant along the south fence

Purple Stasis, Pink Rose and nature's hero, the humble Ladybug

Tomorrow it’s back to the business of health care and my generation.

To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Oz Logic (and Spring Photos) and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud

Dear Commenters,

Thank you so much for your kind words and excellent, excellent advice. You have each been a positive influence on the energy surrounding me and reading your thoughts has been the uplifting part of my otherwise emotionally heavy week.

Fondly – OzMud
- – - – - – - – - – - – - - -

 Sunday 30 August 2009

My new morning routine is to wake up at 6am, down coffee and a quick breakfast, take my daily meds, check emails, scan blogs, then make sure my 85 year old father-in-law is settled for the day. I’m in the taxi by 7:45 am and at the hospital by 8 am. I take fresh coffees up to the room for myself and spouse from the hospital kiosk. We read the paper together while waiting for the doctors to make their rounds. We wait for the nurse to say he can get into the shower where the bandage is removed, the bedding changed and the cart set up for the packing change.

I’m learning how to change the packing as there may be a time when I’m the only one available to remove and repack the betadine-soaked packing gauze. Spouse is really against my ever having to do this and I’m not wild about the idea but – it’s important to know I can. You never know what life’s going to toss onto your plate next. So I watch, ask questions, participate and learn.

We won’t know until tomorrow at the earliest which staphylococcus strain we are dealing with, but regardless, the carbuncle will need to be repacked daily for a minimum of two weeks (and this, I’m told, is a very optimistic time-line). Smaller carbuncles, caught much earlier have been known to need daily packing for as long as eight weeks.

Carbuncles, whatever their size, consist of a pocket of pus on top of a layer of dead tissue. Rather like a toxic muffin. The surgeon makes an incision, drains the pocket and scrapes away the dead tissue. The conditions which create carbuncles are more common among diabetics, but they can happen to anyone. The really crap news is, once you have a carbuncle, you are predisposed to having another. For life.

Carbuncles in general, are the product of a combination of things going wrong. A weakened immune system coupled with a condition like diabetes or a virus, plus a skin irritation as simple as an ingrown hair follicle or as complex as a small wound never allowed to scab over enough to heal properly creates the recipe for this disaster.

I’d planned on giving a really serious lecture on the subject of personal habits and their consequences but I’ve decided to just post the photos.

This is a mere ten days out of our lives all because my husband has the nervous habit of picking at a scab, thinking it’s an innocent enough habit that should be his business and nobody else’s. Boy did he get that wrong.

Pay attention. This can happen to anyone. Even you.

First dressing change at home after initial visit to GP:

One week later it’s enlarged and GP sends us to  local emergency.

The incision after surgery.

3-5 rolls of betadine-soaked gauze pack the wound daily.

Spouse gave me permission to post these photos – as long as I promised he absolutely didn’t have to look at them himself until after he was fully recovered. He said it was bad enough hearing us all discussing it while he was face down on the bed and that he was quite happy to leave the actual graphic imagery to those of us with stronger stomachs.

Class dismissed

To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Small Interruption – Update: Surgery (extremely graphic images) and click the word comments just beneath.  Thanks, OzMud

Friday 28 August 2009

The morning team of hospital doctors agreed immediately upon examination – the mass on my husband’s back is a carbuncle. Carbuncle’s occur commonly among male diabetics who have other health problems. My husband’s heart operates only at 30% capacity. He eats all the wrong foods, doesn’t get enough exercise and… habitually picks at scabs on his skin. He was evidently a prime candidate for giving birth to this oddly named pocket of purulence.

Surgery was only an hour long and he’s doing quite well. considering. They made an incision aproximately 1.5 inches by 1 inch, extracted the pus and scraped away all the dead tissue. The hole was then packed with five lots of gauze pre-soaked in betadine solution. This will be changed daily. Swabs were sent to the lab and we will know in a few days how serious or not the staph infection is and which breed.

When I left the hospital he was resting comfortably. A friend from the Gold Coast drove up to help me with running errands and disinfecting the house. I’m so tired. Her offer was a Godsend and I accepted without hesitation. This is one of those times when I so miss not being geographically closer to my children. In times of need we’ve always been there for each other.

Today I’m homesick. Shopping for manchester and full-on spring cleaning with a good friend will be great therapy

To comment on this post please scroll up to the title: Small Interruption – Update: Surgery and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud

Thursday 27 August 2009

Last evening the wound stopped draining. By morning it had increased in size enough to make me really nervous, so we called the nurse and arranged a visit. The result was a trip to the local ER. Spouse is currently in hospital, connected to an antibiotic IV drip, where he will remain until the doctors and anesthesiologists agree on a procedure. (Spouse has had two heart attacks in 10 years so while one doctor insists he should go under general anesthetics, another insists he should not. Results of an ultrasound will determine the coin toss, but the staff had left before the doctors finished their discussion.) 

However they decide to proceed, the wound ultimately needs to be opened (incized), drained, cleaned out, and the contents tested.

So far my husband has not been in any real pain.
That’s about to change.

Need sleep…

Monday 24 August 2009

The lab tests came back yesterday. My husband’s wound is the result of a staphylococci infection. It is not an insect bite. It is not from the thorn of a toxic plant. It’s a simple, straight-forward staph infection which, in the lab, responded well to a particular brand of antibiotics that spouse is now taking.

The origin of the staph infection is disturbing, however, and anyone with a weak stomach should not read further because the rest is a bit graphic.

I married into a family with many odd traditions, one of which apparently, is picking scabs. Both my husband’s parents, his siblings and several cousins all indulge. All of them. Some have brown marks where a scab has been so repeatedly picked at, there’s permanent discolouration. The marks are passed off as bruises. No one comments. Commenting would be rude.

The monumental effort necessary to break bad habits does not escape me. I quit smoking after forty years of practically living on cigarettes and coffee. My weight’s shot up since and now I deal with food and exercise issues I never had to even think about before. So I know it’s hard to confront a demon.

In my own house and never in earshot of another person, I have tried to educate my husband on the possible consequences of scab picking. I have explained how the skin is a living, breathing organ as important as his heart and that chipping away at it’s natural defenses can be dangerous. I’ve googled articles to show him how a person can actually sufficate, despite good lungs, when the skin pores become clogged with mediums like metallic paint or severe burns. I’ve shown him anatomical diagrams of the layers of skin and how scabs prevent diseases from invading the bloodstream via open wounds. He blows me off. He’s been so angry with me for even bringing this subject up he has, on occasion, stopped talking to me for days at a time. It’s just a scab. I’m overreacting.

But this seemingly innocuous habit of picking at scabs before nature decides the body is ready for it to stop protecting the layers of skin beneath can actually be fatal. With so many diseases at our fingertips, like Tetanus, E-Coli, Asian Flu and Swine Flu, something needs to be said.

Photos and lecture tomorrow.

To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Small Interruption – Update: Lab Results and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud

Where to begin… first and most importantly, thank you all so much for your kind thoughts and generous words of encouragement. We’re out of the woods, though not fully recovered and I promise to write a running blow-by-blow as my energy returns. Then it’s back to S[C]arah Tactics, my generational insights and the nurse’s interview.

Waiting Rooms:

My spouse and I have spent so much time in our doctor’s waiting room these past few days we actually gave birth to a game we fondly named “my butt’s bigger than that butt”. Seated between the nurse’s station and the reception desk gave us an eye-level (rear) view of all the patients checking in, paying their fees, asking questions. It was more than my born-to-be-cheeky brain could endure. I had to say something. So periodically I would lean close to spouse and whisper a number between one and three, indicating I thought my bum was that many times larger than the one directly in front of us. He would look up from his magazine and either agree or disagree. If he disagreed I would guess again. Phase two of the game addressed the issue of what people wore to their doctor’s office. We agreed early on that some items of clothing should never, ever be worn in smallish public spaces like waiting rooms or elevators. The ratings went from omg (oh my God) to omdg (oh my dear God) to omfg (well you get the picture).

We were snarky yet dignified, keeping the game just between ourselves until that disasterous moment when the sound of keys dropping pulled me away from my magazine and I looked up to find an anorexic-looking old man clad in bikini briefs bending over right in front of me and I hollered “OMDFG! SIX!” in what one can only describe as a knee-jerk response to sudden absurdity. Everyone in the room turned. One of the receptionists actually stood up and peered at me over the top of the desk. A nurse poked her head around the corner and stared at me from the doorway.

Spouse came to my rescue, putting his arm around my shoulder and saying (just loud enough for all to hear) “Aww, having a lttle nightmare eh?” So I followed his lead and said “Yuh. And it scared me!” That would have been a good save because really, other than just being too loud in cramped quarters, babbling a couple of unconnected letters and the word ’six’ was innocent enough. But this was spouse. My spouse So of course he was compelled to add “That’s okay. But could you not point?” Which is when I realized my extended index finger was a scant few centimeters from the ill-fitting shorts.

We’ve been together for more than 12 years. I have tales. OMDG do I have tales

To comment on this post please scroll back to the title: Small Interruption – Update: Waiting Rooms and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks, OzMud

With S[C]arah Tactics – pt 2 nearly finished and my telephone interview with a California RN done and notes sorted, my husband (whom we have assumed has had the flu for a few days) says to me “I think you need to have a look at this and tell me what you think.”

Turning around and removing his tee revealed a dark, oozing red mark at least four inches in diameter sitting atop a lump (just below the shoulder) at least twice the size more.

Ignoring his macho, ever-so-male-I-don’t-need-a-doctor protests, I’ve arranged to get him to the hospital this morning. 

Fingers crossed.

During the mid 1950’s Leave It To Beaver wasn’t just a television show. It was a blueprint for middle America. Flanked by the Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best and Ozzie & Harriet, the families Cleaver, Stone, Anderson and Nelson showed the public how to behave in a post-depression, post-war world. It was the American Dream you could see in your own living room.

Roles between men and women were clearly defined on the small monochrome screens. Children were dressed, educated and shown their place in the cycle of life. The blueprint replaced the chaos of war and uncertainty of depression with a solid economy where anyone who could hold a job had the opportunity to own a house, start a business, or move up the corporate ladder to success. And the architect of this great blueprint was the United States Government – recent superhero of democracy who led the rest of the civilized world in the defeat of nazism, communism and tyranny.

We were badass back then.

In middle America men retained their macho head of the house status which included creating the family income and having the last say in any and all familial disagreements. Women raised the children and kept the family nest in order. Dinner was a family affair no one missed unless they were too ill to make it to the table.

In our house everyone dressed for dinner. That meant changing from school or play clothes into clean clothing fresh from the closet, brushing one’s hair and washing one’s hands and face. My mother was the chief cook while my brother and I were in charge of all the clean-up and any prep work my mother felt we needed to learn. My mother always set a lovely table. There were always flowers from the garden in the center and on holidays she’d set out little individual boxes or baskets of goodies. There was always dessert. It was always wonderful.

Dinner conversation revolved around what everyone had done during the day and a discussion of plans for the rest of the week. It was not uncommon to have a last minute friend over for dinner during the week. Saturday was leftovers or going out with friends but Sunday – well, Sunday was full on.

Sunday was candles in silver holders, freshly polished that afternoon along with the good silverware from the wooden chest. The good China dishes were used as was the antique lace tablecloth from the cedar chest. No one missed Sunday dinner. It was Stroganoff so beautifully cooked the meat melted on your tongue in a blissful sauce of sour cream and beef gravy. It was roast leg of lamb with a crunchy layer of fat on the top you could smell all the way down the block and it made your tummy rumble in anticipation. Sunday was angelfood cake and chocolate sauce or a home-baked apple pie topped with sweet whipped cream.

Sunday was planned visitors and energetic conversations about politics or religion or recent news events which affected our lives. It was people with different opinions sharing their differences respectfully (though sometimes too loud) over a good meal.

I remember countless Sunday dinners that ended with the same scenario – my Uncle Bud, after disagreeing with my father over how the government should be run, leans back in his chair and says something like “Johnny you’re full of shit. But your wife is an excellent cook – and that’s the important thing!”

It’s occurred to me that what was missing from all the townhall meetings this past week or two was a good meal. If the Republican hecklers had needed to get between citizens and a good feed, I bet more folks would have been willing to stand up and chuck them out. And if those remaining had been given a good meal to chew on, I bet more of them would have  focused on the reform bill itself rather than the ridiculous rumours of Sarah’s death panels.

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: S[C]arah Tactics – pt 1 and click on the word comments just beneath. Thanks - OzMud

I am a baby boomer. There. I said it out loud. You now know that I’m old and personally responsible for the downfall of social security. If it wasn’t for me you’d not only have more money with which to retire, you’d also have a seat on the bus. Well, except for the annoying fact that the system doesn’t actually work that way.

For a little over thirty years my paychecks contributed to the SSI fund and even though I am now entitled, I have not sought nor do I plan to seek my share of the benefits. Nor do I reap rewards from the Australian pension fund. And before you leap to the wrong conclusions, no, I do not have marijuana growing in my backyard.

My husband and I are both semi-retired. We get by. We will continue to get by sans government-generated entitlements from either Australian or American coffers for as long as our health is good and our minds are agile.

The decision to not claim entitlements is the result of watching so many of our peers and our parents generation take monies they don’t actually need. My father-in-law, for instance, who draws monthly from two pension funds is the best example. One fund is from the RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force). Did he serve his country for twenty years? You bet he did. Then he retired at age 40 and has drawn a substantial pension ever since. At age 65 he qualified for the Australian Public Pension Fund. Today he’s 85 and could live on either of these pensions by themselves, but he’s entitled, you see, so he collects both.

If you ask my father-in-law why he draws from both pension funds while only needing one, he’ll tell you “…because I earned it. The money is mine.” It’s the same thinking he uses during water rationing when you ask him to please turn off the garden hose and let other people have some water. He’ll tell you he can afford to pay the bill so he’s entitled to use as much water as he pleases.

I tell him something cheeky like ‘it would be nice for your grandchildren to know what a tree looks like without having to google one’ but he just shakes his head and walks off to water the sidewalk.

This past week, while entertaining overseas visitors, I’ve had my eyes opened even wider on the whole entitlements issue and just what it is the people of my generation and our offspring feel they have earned. The experience has also given me a hands-on glimpse into the Palinista mindset and I am struggling to put it all into words.

I have arranged, on 17 August, to interview (by telephone) a young lady in California. She is not only a Registered Nurse, her specialty has been to work in nursing homes catering to the elderly and handicapped. She has a working knowledge of US health care from the inside, dealing daily with both insurance companies and patients with severe health issues and using her words is willing to “help make sure Sarah Palin is never ever the president!”

For about three minutes, before she quit, Sarah Palin was governor of one of the smallest populated states in the union. By virtue of a failed political career and an overly-productive uterus, she claims to know more about how a government serving close to 3 billion people should operate than all the educated, elected officials currently serving their terms without bailing to collect book deals or write notes in Facebook.

I am personally so offended at her use of Facebook to interject her uneducated, lame opinions into the public discussion of something as important as revamping the current healthcare system, I could spit. I am even more offended by her feeble attempts to goad President Obama into a personal dialogue on these important issues, as if she were his peer or colleague. I hope he never bites.

Colleague. Pfft. President Obama is like Eggs Benedict served with a light hollandaise sauce and fluffy breakfast rolls while Sarah Palin is a three-minute egg, plopped email-style in a ziplock bag into a pot of roiling water.

Looks cute but the truth is, that heated baggie contains hidden dioxins that act, over time, as a carcinogen.

And for those of you who may still be harboring the illusion that Sarah Palin represents you, the average Joe Sixpack, let me once again be the voice of sanity that shouts Sarah Palin IS NOT like you at all. She lives in a million-dollar house, enjoys free live-in child care and will be, by this time next year, a multi-millionairess having collected on her oh-so-lucrative-at-your-expense book deal.

A book, by the way, she will not have even written herself.

Discussion of entitlements and the Palinistas to begin tomorrow. Clear your desks of sharp objects, butter the popcorn and prepare to unleash your opinions.

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: Sarah Palin and the 3-minute Eggand click the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

(oops – meant to post this mid-week – you know, I really can’t walk, talk and chew gun at the same time – OzMud:)

NORTH TO THE FUTURE!

It’s the beginning of the 22nd century. Organ transplants and body replacement surgeries are as common as jet-shoes and the 3-second latte. A young woman walks into her neighbourhood cryo lab and inquires about a new brain. The clerk is happy to help.

“Well missy you’re in luck today because we have three lovely brains, fresh from their holding tanks and all on sale! Have a look.”

The young man points to a jar filled with a bubbling saline solution. Three pinkish brains are bobbing about.

“Well they all have a nice colour but what can you tell me about them?” comments the lass.

The clerk clicks on the nearest lab-top, a portable computer hologram which looks to be sitting on the counter even though it doesn’t actually exist at all and says “Hmm, well, first we have the brain of a very healthy, very smart woman from the 1900’s. Her name was Gloria Steinem. She was a human rights activist and quite famous public speaker. Her brain is on sale this week for the paltry sum of $50,000.

The young lady doesn’t appear interested so the clerk clicks the lab-top again. “Well this is delightful! The next brain is that of one Hillary Clinton, wife of the infamous Bill Clinton, former Playboy & President of the United States and first female President of the United States (Hillary, not Bill – although there was talk…) The clerk realized he was rambling and moved on. Hil’s brain is a bit more – but still a bargain at only $85,000.”

She breathed a deep sigh. “That’s all quite impressive but… I just don’t know…” The clerk clicked again. “This last one might be a bit more to your liking” he said, “but it’s also a tad more expensive.$300,000.”

The clerk reads from the flashing display ” The woman was in several beauty pageants although she never actually won one. She had to attend six colleges to get one degree. Very pretty though. She was a small-town councilwoman but quit to run for mayor. Then she quit that to run for governor. Then she quit that to…”

“Wait!” interrupted the now animated young lady, “Why on earth is her brain so much more expensive than the others?”

“Why, missy, this is the brain of Sarah Palin!” The young lady was shaking her head as if trying desperately to understand. The clerk leaned close and said with a cocky grin “Sarah’s brain is the top of the line miss because -  it’s never been used!”

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: North To The Future! and click on the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

Am writing this on the fly – have had overseas company for a week and it’s been a whirlwind of activities, culminating in a rather unexpected life-altering experience which should be at least somewhat interesting to those following the Perils of Palin in these blogs.

It’s going to take a couple of days to put my thoughts together, so for now, please enjoy the absolute best photo taken all week – off the Gold Coast shores of Queensland Australia – the finishing touches being applied to the wharf set of the newest Narnia movie – being filmed practically in my own backyard

Taken from a friend’s boat on 7, Aug 09

“If she [Sarah Palin] goes on radio… would be a shame… she wouldn’t be able to wink…”

“Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) … pushing a proposal to end the practice of hunting from airplanes. Co-sponsored by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the bill aims to close a loophole in the ban against aerial hunting that allows the practice to continue in the name of wildlife management.” (Whole story here.)

Oops. 

Hollywood – 1
xGovSarah – 0

So – it’s two days later and everything just feels so relaxed. Whatever damage the Palin family can continue to inflict on the rest of America has, at least for the moment, slowed to a snail’s crawl. It feels good to be back at my desk in my jammies instead of having to don armour before going out on the web. For the first time in a very, very long time, I don’t know what the Palins are up to and… I don’t especially care

 So this morning, basking in my newfound comfy mode, I’m leisurely browsing through my favourite Alaska blogs. Gryphen finds the best video treasures: William Shatner made me laugh. Carl Bernstein made me giggle out loud. Jon stewart makes me pee my chair. (The Immoral Minority link is over there –>)

Celtic Diva’s inspired people to write letters to the wimp editors at the ADN, letting them know how disappointed they (we all) are in the papers biased and erroneous coverage of the Palin Administration. (Blue Oasis link is over there –>)

Phillip Munger has put the final chapter on his coverage of Palin, a series he called Saradise Lost. It was one of the first writings I found a year ago when trying as an outsider to figure out what Sarah Palin was all about, and I became a faithful follower. (Progressive Alaska link is over there –>)

Finally, AKMuckraker & her mudpuppies have taken well, just the best photos of all the quitter-governor’s quitter-picnics. In fact, I realized, looking at a photo of Sean Parnell (newly-dubbed Governor of Alaska) that in this entire year of Palin’s Reign of Error, this was the first photo I’d seen of the man. Nice looking. Seems genuinely happy to be serving hot dogs to the public. (The Mudflats link is over there –>)

But there’s something familiar about Parnell’s face. I couldn’t put my finger on it at first – then I remembered Shannyn Moore had referred to him as Captain Zero (Shannyn Moore’s link is over there –>) and it hit me! I spit coffee on my monitor. I’VE SEEN THAT SMILE BEFORE!

So quite discretely and without permission I pinched the photo from The Mudflats, dug through some very old archives, fiddled with photoshop and voilla! Are these two related?? You decide

I’m sure the resemblance is pure coincidence – but – someone in Alaska really should present him with a gi-normous fishing hook, an old-fashioned alarm clock and a purply-plumed hat

To comment on this post, scroll back to the title:  26 July 2009 – The End of an Error and click the word comments just beneath. Thanks – OzMud

Just two hours before Sarah Palin gave her farewell speech in Fairbanks Alaska, I was writing a post. If the doorbell hadn’t rung, if my father-in-law hadn’t been looking for a misplaced spool of twisty ties, if the Heart Association hadn’t called seeking volunteers for their September doorknock appeal, I might’ve had time to finish my thoughts.

But then suddenly, Sarah was on television, live-streaming on Fox News so I clicked the [draft] button and sat down to watch. At the end all I could do was shake my head, holler what was I thinking!!! and shudder at the realization I almost wrote something sympathetic about this woman who no matter how many chances she’s given to fix things – always and only elects to make things worse.

I’d come this close (peering through a tiny space between scrunched fingers) to publishing the following:

Watching snips and pics of Sarah Palin’s final three days as Governor of Alaska on other blogs (The Mudflats, Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis, Progressive Alaska, The Immoral Minority to name a few) I was struck with an odd sense of nostalgia. So I went digging and sure enough, the single movie scene which most reminds me of the whole Sarah Palin phenomenom was right there on youtube:

I ‘m in no way suggesting that Sarah Palin embodies the same Sunny Davies values that made this scene in  Protocol so moving, but I do believe, in my heart, that somewhere along the way, people who knew better sold Sarah the idea that she could be a star in politics without ever having to do the work.

And I believe this because when you step back and look at the picture as a whole, you can clearly see that what Sarah was good at, from the very beginning, was running for office. Period. But sadly, once in office, she’s had to hire other people to actually perform her job duties from as far back as her first term as mayor of Wasilla.

But no one gets to see what beauty contestants are like in the dressing room, backstage, off-camera. And while this may be okay for pageant professionals, it’s not at all how ordinary citizens should have to select their government representatives. And in the case of Sarah Palin, VP candidate 2009, no one in the audience got to see she didn’t actually know anything about running her state, much less an entire country.

And that’s where my thoughts ended and Iran out of time. Then came the speech and I was sucked straight back to reality. Sarah Palin is a nasty piece of work.

Sarah’s farewell speech was nasty. It was filled with criticism to and of the media, the lower 48, fellow Alaskans, all politicians and mankind in general. She snapped at reporters, accusing them of not knowing how to do their jobs. She snapped at the lower 48 for not recognizing that Alaska is the only state in the union with natural resources which benefit with the rest of the country. She snapped at Alaskans for not recognizing that they are living on the only piece of real estate on the planet with natural resources and yelled at everyone. Alaskans andlower 48′ers alike to shun any help which might be offered to them from the federal government because only the private citizens of Alaska know what’s good for them, for their state, for the whole darn country!

Blah blah blah…

Sarah Palin’s nastiness is surpassed only by her overly-elevated sense of importance. I’m happy she’s no longer in office. I hope the good people of Alaska, especially the ones who have suffered hunger, sickness and great personal loss at her neglect in rallying to provide for them during times of crisis can one day forgive her incredibly uncaring decisions to refuse federal aid.

And most importantly, I hope people all across the country will one day soon figure out that government, in a democracy, is made up of ordinary citizens.  It’s made up of ‘us’. Some of us are assholes, sure, but most are not. This constant Republican Party battlecry which infers the federal government is a separate, foreign entity that needs to be stopped in it’s tracks – is worse than ignorance personified. It’s Madison Avenue hype deliberately injected into politics so you’ll buy their brand.  It’s just wrong.

 The federal gvernment is not your enemy. If you don’t like the way it’s being run – vote to change who’s running it. But for God’s sake, stop letting people like Sarah Palin point a gun at  Washington, screaming shoot!

Fairbanks Alaska, 26 July 2009

OMIGOSH! Is there any group of people Sarah Palin DIDN’T  criticize in her farewell speech? And  have you ever witnessed anyone as contradictory? My goodness! First she lambasts the press with her ’stop making stuff up!’ spiel then turns right around AND MAKES STUFF UP!

Her whining comments regarding how no elected official gets anything done in their last year of lame duckness made me squint. Does she not realize that every term of office has a last year? What are we meant to do with a ‘last year’? Donate it to Goodwill? How does one NOT have a last year? Only ever work one?

*raises glass*

I will not miss this brand of political retardation. Here’s hoping Parnell has a better working knowledge of government. Alaska has more than earned a break from the educationally-challenged.

Let the music blare!!!

My Little Runaway – Del Shannon

Gypsies Tramps & thieves – Cher

Love On The Rocks – Neil Diamond

Hound dog – Elvis Presley

For The Good Times – RayPrice

Coming To America – Neil Diamond

*tiNk*

CONGRATULATIONS ALASKA!!!!!

I’m dancing with you on my side of the globe

Witchy Woman – The Eagles

The Beat Goes On – Sonny & Cher

Runaround Sue – Dion and The Belmonts

It’s Over – Jessie McCartney

You’re So Vain – Carly Simon

Lyin’ Eyes – Eagles

Oh Happy Day – Sister Act II

More Tomorrow! Keep Smiling! – OzMud

From the Huffington Post:

 From the Washington Post:Two of the four most viewed articles are about how Sarah gets it wrong.

New poll shows that while Sarah is still the most popular candidate amongst Republicans, she’s lost ground with Democrats and Independents and at the end of the day, the Republicans won’t put her up as their frontrunner if they think she can’t win votes outside their own base. ooOo Sarah, that’s gotta hurt.

Oh look! Real Politicians challenging Sarah to participate in Real Politics! That’s just, well... hawt!.

Ok play the tape: Sarah goes on national tour as the Downs Syndrome Mother of the Year. Trig’s birth certificate shows up on CNN. Actual moms of DS children rally throughout the Southern states to protest the fraud perpetated by… Ok, I’m just saying…

From the Anchorage Daily News:
Not even the loyal folks at the ADN can stop this avalanche from rolling down the hill.

And there it is. That elusive ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ we’ve all been searching for since August of last year.  It’s finally going to shine.  I, for one, have picked out more than a dozen youtube clips with which to celebrate Alaska’s New Independence Day. Sonny & Cher from the 70’s performing The Beat Goes On,  Eagles version of Witchy Woman, Del Shannon doing his famous My Little Runaway and finally – Neil Diamond belting out America.

I can taste the hot dogs and mustard now…

PS: Has it occurred to anyone else that Parnell might just be blowing smoke up the governor’s ass just to appease her until she actually – like – you know, leaves? And that maybe he’s just waiting for the right moment to step into the phone-booth and change into his super-hero clothes?  That would be way too perfect, eh?

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: Today’s Headlines [are] Music to My Ears and click the word comments just beneath - Thanks, OzMud

Spent a good portion of my day reading a few dozen blogs and newspaper articles on Sarah’s latest ethics violation. It’s like sitting center front at a tennis match.

Sarah says the reports are false.
The papers say the reports are true.
Sarah says the frivolous complaint is still being investigated.
The investigator says he’s finished and the report he’s submitted is final. I’m quite literally dizzy.

One thing is clear.  There’s a report out there - the result of an investigator havng completed his work – which states Sarah Palin’s Alaska Fund Trust is not a legal fundraising vehicle and yet… it’s still running down Main St. picking up passengers. I mean donations. Donations which have now been classed as inapropriate and a violation of Alaska Ethics for the states’s Executive Administration. 

So here’s my new plan for a 2012 campaign strategy:

Over the next six days I’ll be celebrating Sarah Palin’s departure from the Juneau mansion by attaching your captions to a photo [rumoured by an anonymous blogger to have been provided by an anonymous paparazzi] of the Governor, still busily at work behind her desk.

Leave your name & caption in the comments section [click the word comments above not below] – Editor’s Note: will be posting latest additions on top:

As always, please feel free to copy & paste at will

Sarah the Reburn Governor:

Sarah Palin riles her followers much like a reburn flares up on a patch of charred land just after a big fire. You never know where a reburn is going to occur, you just know that when it does it’s going to be hot, strong and dangerous. The fear of reburn is [one of the reasons] why firemen won’t allow you access to your property too soon after a fire. They know it’s there, somewhere, just under the surface quietly lying in wait.

The firedavidletterman.com incident of last month is one such reburn. It temporarily encited otherwise normal citizens to gather in a public place, shout perverse obscenities at passersby and cameramen in an emotional frenzy descriptive of the Salem witch burnings of olde.

One well-placed temper tantrum by Sarah Palin and a few hundred people were mobilized and focused on ruining the life and career of one of America’s most gentle icons, comic David Letterman. They were so focused, actually, they seemed to miss entirely the fact that Mr. Letterman had already apologized to Sarah and her family, at least twice.

A Fox News presenter interviewing the authors of the movement was visibly uncomfortable as she posed the question but David has offered a sincere apology which Sarah has accepted so the point of this rally is… what again?  Well the point of the rally was that a fire had been lit and it wasn’t going to be easily put out. We would need to be patient while it ran it’s course. Thank goodness, at least, reburns are characteristically short-lived.

This is Sarah Palin’s brand of politics. It’s one little flare up after another, after another. Not a lot of substance and they generally don’t last very long, but still they’re chockers with dangerous, hot air. They’re caused by flash fuels smouldering beneath the surface. Sarah Palin has cartloads of flash fuels. Things like government is too big and abortions are murder. Stuff like President Obama doesn’t think like the rest of us or that real America is only found in small towns. And now that she’s not going to be shackled by conventional rules, regulations or even the need to be civil, I expect many more of these ‘reburns’ are going to flare up across the country in the coming year.

With any luck at all, her flash will spark more firefighters than fires.

I leave you today with a look back at last month’s Fire David Letterman Rally. It’s important because this rally not only illustrates the mob mentality Sarah instills in her followers, but it identifies these people as New Yorkers. The people at the rally didn’t just watch 9/11 happen on TV, they personally lived through it and it doesn’t take much to re-ignite their fear.

*Letterman said nothing about rape. Sarah added that later.
*Bristol bore the brunt of the joke and she is an adult.
*It was a baseball game.
*Speak for yourself:  Everyone in the country was clearly not upset.
*How about doing some old-fashioned fact-checking before facing a camera

Well this guy isn’t that worked up. It’s probable he’s only there because his wife made him take her to the rally. And anyway he’s a Jay Leno fan. Anybody out there want to tell this guy Leno hit Bristol with the pregnant jokes months before Letterman?

This nice Jewish lady explains to us the meaning of schmuck and lets us know that Letterman is too old to be on television in the first place. But I do wish she’d pick an arguement: Either Letterman’s son is a bastard - or - he has a wife [whether she's a slut or not is Mr. Letterman's choice and completely irrelevant to this issue].

One should note: We stopped referring to children born of unwed mothers as illegitimate or bastard sometime during the middle of the last century. I’m forgetting which court, but somewhere in the US it was ruled that children should cease to be burdened with this particular stigma, that it was unwarranted, unkind and led to unnecessary childhood trauma. It was explained ‘all children are the child of God…’ Albeit why it’s on me to explain this to a religious person is ludicrous.

Why was it not okay for a professional comic to make light of a politician’s adult daughter regarding her very public pregnancy – and yet it is okay for one of Sarah’s followers to publicly accuse David Letterman of being a child molester? That’s a pretty serious accusation. I mean she didn’t even couch it behind the word ‘rumour’. (Where’s Van Flein when you need him eh?)

It continues to amuse me how Sarah and her minions trip over themselves in their inept efforts to turn free speech into a one-way street.

Amen to that!

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: The Face Of Sarah Supporters pt-3 and click the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

During the 2008 campaign for US Presidency, Sarah Palin planted seeds of hate. She called her opponent a domestic terrorist. She claimed he kept bad company. She called him anti-American and added “he doesn’t think the same way you and I do…” insinuating his roots didn’t qualify him to even be on the ticket.

The problem with planting seeds of hate is that some of them grow. Here’s a look at what Sarah’s personal ambition is cultivating in her political backyard:

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking it’s a bit okay because, after all, this was a touch of orchestrated mass hysteria, rallied from an emotional campaign. Surely these nice folks have all gone home by now and regained their sanity.

Well – think again:

“As a silver bullet may be required to fell a werewolf or witch, so is Palin the person needed to defeat Obama in the next presidential election.”

I realize I’ve been out of the country for a while now but… when did losing an election become grounds for declaring war on the seated President? What happened to getting behind the winning team? When did a duly elected President become a symbol of evil? When did the Republican Party stray so far afield?

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: The Face Of Sarah Supporters pt-2 and click the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

You can’t fix something without understanding how it works. Armed only with this psychological adage I’ve spent much of the past 48 hours with my head tucked into websites like Conservative New Media, Tammy Bruce and Michelle Malkin. (Google them if you want links.)

I’d rather not do it again.

It occurred to me, though, after publishing my last post, that it’s becoming increasingly important to put a face to the person who supports Sarah, believing every word she utters and willing to follow her down any road, even if that road leads to and over the edge of a cliff.

I realized youtube would probably provide the most diverse, if not the most accurate barometer by which we can measure Sarah’s public appeal. Typing Sarah Palin supporters in the youtube search engine netted hundreds of hits. A few clicks later and I can now offer you a glimpse into the mindset of those citizens who are working to put Sarah Palin in the White House.

Don’t dismiss them easily. Word on the CNM site has it that Sarah is laying the groundwork for the creation of a new political party, based on the belief that the White House is currently run by elitist terrorists.

And withhout the discipline of the Republican Party, Sarah Palin will be allowed to prey on the minds of men who believe she was sent to them by God himself to protect them and their families from the muslim terrorist whom they perceive currently sits in the Oval Office.

Ignorance with a shot of  charisma makes a lethal cocktail. 

For the sake of expedience and as I do not expect any of you to actually watch these clips in their entirety, I’ve noted the clip highlights by time so you can skip directly to the most pertinent data. If you can endure each clip in toto though, it’s quite an education.

Individually, we can forgive some of these people as folks emotionally caught up in the heat of campaigning for their candidate in a very animated Presidential campaign. The gentleman in the first clip strikes me as someone who doesn’t believe a word he’s saying, but has simply recognized a way to make a name for himself – much like the snake oil salesman who touted the bible to separate a believer from his money. Regardless, he is out there and according to his youtube hits people are listening to his lectures whether he’s talking from his heart or out of his ass.

More might be dismissed as a prime example of basic humanity which says that any group has a fringe. But note the hundreds of campaign videos which have been left on youtube for close to a year with thousands upon thousands of people exposed to the message Sarah Palin is the new messiah, President Obama is the anti-Christ and it’s up to YOU to clean up the mess – and you begin to get a much clearer picture of the danger that lies ahead.

Again, I do not expect any of you to sit through these lengthy diatribes of hatred and intolerance. Except for the last one. The last one is a must sit through in order to experience the full impact of the Sarah Palin for President phenomenon. Thankfully, though, it’s only two and a half minutes in length.

watch 5:30 – 7:30
CNM  has a  youtube library of 241 videos – most of which are just like this one.

 watch 1:50 – 2:30
RawVegasDotTV has a youtube library of 132 videos – most of which are just like this one

watch 1:00 – 3:35
AdoringPalin has a youtube library of 185 videos – mostly FoxNews clips

watch 0:00 – 2:29
drinkingwithbob has a youtube library of  576 videos – most of which praise Palin while slamming President Obama

Don’t be complacent. The number of these unhappy, angry-at-life people are growing with every new economic bombshell that drops - and the possibility of this mindset gaining control of the US government  is the real train wreck on the horizon.

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: The Face of Sarah Supporters and click the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

Like almost everything Sarah, I’m left with mixed emotions after watching this particular youtube clip of our favourite ill-fated governor speaking on behalf of the 2009 Special Olympics. Part of me thinks if Sarah Palin can increase awareness and support of this worthy cause then you go girl! 

The other part of me is just plain angry. I still have trouble swallowing the story of her fifth pregnancy. I don’t understand why, if her story is true, she didn’t just go public with his birth certificate and put an end to the matter. But she never did. If her story is true, why was there never an inquiry into or a medical board hearing addressing the behaviour of Sarah’s ObGyn?

Because if Sarah’s account is true, it means:

A medical doctor licensed to practice in the USA, in a long-distance telephone conversation with her patient, a 44 year old woman in the eighth month of her pregnancy involving an unborn child with Downs Syndrome, upon hearing her patient’s water broke, advised her to travel several thousands of miles in (multiple) cars and airplanes to get home to rural Wasilla Alaska, rather than instruct her patient to immediately check into the nearest Texas hospital – all during an Alaskan blizzard !?!

To not believe the story is to believe Sarah has defrauded the public on a subject most sacred – the birthright of a child and his mother – so no matter which road your mind takes in this saga, whichever version you swallow, the bizarre pregnancy and Toad’s Wild Ride home or the unthinkable, sinkable  hoax - really either is just too much to ask a normal-thinking person to digest. 

 The following video is presented on youtube as an introduction to the 2009 Special Olympics. It’s posted on the Conservative Media Network account. If you believe the story that Trig is her son it’s almost lovely. But if you have any doubt…  if it turns out that Sarah is not Trig’s real mother and she’s spent the first year of Trig’s life giving  speeches like this – well that’s just wrong.

But wait! There’s more! 

Sarah’s gesture of promoting a worthy cause stops short of being ‘lovely’ as soon as you click open the video’s description and realize it may have been posted on youtube more to embarrass the sitting president than to promote the Special Olympics. 

This is the ‘info’ blurb attached to the video on the youtube site: 

Exact Date Unknown; 2009) — Alaskan governor Sarah Palin gives her remarks to those attending, and competing in, the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games held in Boise, Idaho.

Palin’s youngest child, Trig, suffers from Down Syndrome.

These comments by Palin stand in contrast with the insensitive joke made by Barack Obama on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On March 19, 2009, Obama mocked the Special Olympics while referencing his own poor bowling performance during the Democratic primaries.

Obama rolled a 37 while on a tour of the state of Pennsylvania.

Governor Palin — along with millions of other disabled Americans, their loved ones and their friends — is not likely to appreciate the callous remark made by Obama, a comment beneath any president, particularly a sitting one.

 These are the tags (directing search engines like Google) to the video:

Conservative New Media
ConservativeNewMedia
threat fear angst terror terrified
protect defend
slutty flight attendant
David Letterman joke backlash
Willow Bristol Track Todd Piper Trig

 So to find this video clip about the Special Olympics through youtube or  Google, we should use tag words like threat, fear, terror and slutty flight attendant????

 I’m speechless.

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

It occurred to me how swiftly some documents have disappeared from the web once attention was brought to them so as I finished publishing this article, I thought I’d wander back over to youtube and take a screenshot of the page itself as backup to my quotes.

I appear to have been wrong in my statement about the tags. I apologize for the error and am pleased to report the tags I quoted appear to have been associated with another blurb. I’m guessing the blurb about President Obama and his unfortunate bowling joke on the Jay Leno was posted on youtube and copy-pasted onto the bottom of the Special Olympics blurb (most probably in an effort to disqualify the President while promoting Sarah) but the person who merged the two blurbs into one didn’t think to remove the tags previously used. Well, with so many people out of work in the US, I imagine it’s hard to find qualified help these days. <insert eyeroll>

In scrolling down to locate the actual tags used to link this video to search lists I noticed the word sexism, and that it’s apparently been translated into a few other languages. Umm huh?

The tags associated with this video clip are at the very bottom in blue lettering. Fear and terror are not there. Thank Goodness! Wait – What’s with the sexism, misogyny, hate, statutory rape, tea and fishing????

And MILF (mother I love to fuck – an acronym embraced by pot smokers) – of all things – is in the tag list as well. A tag list associated with the Special Olympics. A tag list attached to a video clip of Sarah Palin and two of her youngest children. Way to shoot yourself in the foot Conservative New Media!

Someone should tell Letterman he’s off the hook now that Sarah’s own people have publicly linked her, Piper and Baby Trig to sexism, mysogyny, statutory rape and the love of a good root!

Maybe someone should let the nice folks who run the Special Olympics know how their promotional video is being -well, promoted

Here’s the youtube page - and here’s my screenshot of the blurb in it’s entirety:

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: Sarah: Trig’s Mother or The Greatest Porky Ever Told and click the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks got his hands on the hard copy of Sarah’s resignation speech. Yes, the actual speech written in her own words and complete with handwritten notes on the pages themselves. Cenk discusses the copy and provides a very plausible reason for Sarah’s poor public speaking habits. One I’d not heard before.

My favourite observation is when he picks up on Sarah’s claim that she asked her kids if they wanted her to quit as governor and she got “four yeahs and one hell yeah”. He wants to know how Trig could possibly have had an opinion at all. Fair question eh?

My favourite quote comes in the discussion of Sarah’s latest photo-op in the running mag: “If you don’t want people talking about Trig – don’t put him in pictures with yourself like ‘Hey look at me! Aren’t I a great mom!?!’ And by the way – nobody but you is talking about Trig.”

The sound bite from this eighteen minute analysis of Sarah Palin’s resignation speech that I hope resonates loud and strong through the halls of the Republican Party is found at the very beginning when Cenk says he listened to the speech and immediately thought “Wow. It wasn’t her handlers. She’s really stupid!”

Cenk Uygar may not be the most polished news commentator, but I’ll take his word over Sarah’s any day.

The Young Turks evidently is competing for a spot on MSNBC. I wish them luck

To comment on this post scroll back to the title: TYT Sums Up Sarah’s Resignation: “It’s about the money Lebowski” and click the word comments just beneath. – Thanks, OzMud

In honour of the days when public opinion of governing bodies was cleverly masked in nursery rhyme (to prevent some mean-spirited ruler with no sense of humour from beheading them, no doubt) – and (also too) of a time when news was carried from town to town via singing minstrels, I give you the song in my head that woke me at 3am!

If someone out there wants to record this little dittyas a .wav or .mp3 I’ll be happy to add a play button so we can all sing along. In the meantime, Happy Humming

Sheet music and cliparts courtesy of:

musicedmagic.com
free-clipart-pictures.net
clipartheaven.com
michelespaintshop.com

Bouncing around youtube I came across this delightful little video, a melange of Sarah bites, all wonderfully strung together for our entertainment in October last. It reminded me * nervous shudder* how close we came to putting this woman in the White House:

It’s appropriately titled Sarah’s Greatest Hits – and I’m hoping it’s tpmtv creator has a post-resignation edition in the works:

And in scanning the papers I’ve run aross this piece in the Wall Street journal. I don’t always – okay that’s a lie, I seldom agree with Peggy Noonan. But I have great respect for her thoughts in this article and highly recommend, whatever your political orientation, you take a few minutes to click this link and read it in toto. 

Here’s an excerpt:

Peggy Noonan
Wall Street Journal
11 July 2009

“A Farewell to Harms” 

“Sarah Palin’s resignation gives Republicans a new opportunity to see her plain—to review the bidding, see her strengths, acknowledge her limits, and let go of her drama. It is an opportunity they should take. They mean to rebuild a great party. They need to do it on solid ground.

…The media did her in.” Her lack of any appropriate modesty did her in. Actually, it’s arguable that membership in the self-esteem generation harmed her. For 30 years the self-esteem movement told the young they’re perfect in every way. It’s yielding something new in history: an entire generation with no proper sense of inadequacy.

…The era we face, that is soon upon us, will require a great deal from our leaders. They had better be sturdy. They will have to be gifted. There will be many who cannot, and should not, make the cut. Now is the time to look for those who can. And so the Republican Party should get serious, as serious as the age, because that is what a grown-up, responsible party—a party that deserves to lead—would do.”

More youtubes tomorrow – shimmerings from the lower 48 that more people are finally coming to terms with the reality their rising star is more of a drama queen than a royal find. I’m feeling ever so much better

To comment on this post, scroll back to the title: Sarah: Before and After and click the word comments just beneath – Thanks, OzMud

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