Palin Promotes Brutal Killing of Wildlife

This is powerful.

Letter From Someone Who Knows Sarah Palin

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)

You have my permission to forward this to your friends/email contacts with my name and email address attached, but please do not post it on any websites, as there are too many kooks out there . . .



ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down's syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She's smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later—to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the "old boy’s club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal—loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys’ club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects—which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance—but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT

•"Hockey mom": true for a few years

•"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since

•"NRA supporter": absolutely true

•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).

•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.

•"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life Legislation

•"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.

•political maverick: not at all

•gutsy: absolutely!

•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.

•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no

•"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.

•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!

•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.

•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents

•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.

•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (I REMOVED THE NAME), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job she can bump me out of. I don't belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS

I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall—they are swamped. So I can't verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000", up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

McCain: No One to Talk About Congress Recess

McCain himself hasn't shown up for his job in Congress since April and now he criticizes Congress for taking their normal recess. Is anyone fooled by this?

John McCain's "Earnings" Since April 9

John McCain, the old geezer currently running for president for the Grand OLD Party, has not shown up for work in the Senate since April 9 of this year. Simply has not shown up.

Anyone out there with an actual job? How would it go over with the boss if, say, it's July 29 and you haven't been to work since April 9? Would you be expecting full pay for the time missed?

Here's what John McCain's "earnings" are from his job as senator since April 9: $51,345.08.

Do you find that slightly amazing, troubling, mind blowing? McCain gets over $50,000 for not showing up to work even one single day! By way of comparison, the median household income in the U.S. in 2006 was $48,201.00 for the year. And I can guarantee you the average guy has to show up before he gets paid.

Great work if you can get it, huh!

Hey Hey Hey Hey

I'm not much into just miscellaneous, stream-of-consciousness posting. So I let it all go, and next thing you know my blog archives have dates like 2003 and 2004 on them, long ago in the past and nobody cares about them.

I heard the other day that with the copper shortage, and we're running out of other elements, rare earth types of elements, that someday we might be "mining" old landfills, picking through old computers and monitors, whatever junk there is with at least a trace of these elements. I can see me with my prospector's pan, standing at the dump, sifting old Del Monte cans and assorted what-not, looking for precious materials.

That's a case of the old being shut away, buried, covered up, but someday the past might be our key to the future. Maybe we need to build a big cellar where we put future landfills, with a really big cellar door over the whole thing, and a really big staircase leading down to the cellar, and just have our junk on big shelves down there. We could check it in, when the dumptruck shows up. Things like carrot shavings and turkey bones -- we'll probably never need those -- put these in one section. Then things that are hard and durable, like old computers, car batteries, etc., put on the big shelves.

But no one wants old blog posts. I check around various blogs and I see the archives from 2003 and I'm impressed that they go back that far, but really, who's opening them to read what they said then? The only way you would is if you were searching for something and it popped up on Google. Like a review of Roxette's "Look Sharp!" album. But just to get someone's take on the issues of the day -- probably not.

Like this particular post -- probably not.

McCain's Agenda Not What We Need

This is a quality ad from the AFL-CIO, focused on the money John McCain would have us keep wasting in Iraq. We could be using that money for schools and other things of national importance. The bottom line: McCain's agenda is not what we need at this time.

Cartoon Taken From Ms. Amy Somebody's Blog

John McCain -- Not an Elitist!

He only owns 10-13 homes in the range of $10 million. That officially makes him a common man, not an elitist.

Here's an interesting tour of the country. Can you name all the places John McCain lives? I suppose a better question would be could John McCain name all the places John McCain lives?

John "Crash" McCain

I used to have an autographed book by "Wrong Way" Corrigan. Isn't that cool? An aviation name that everyone knows, even if it's used as a joke. You show up an hour late, say you got lost, and someone says, "Wrong War" Corrigan.

About John McCain. We all know he was supposed to be some kind of hero in the military. But you tell me, would you like to ride with John McCain flying? It's easy to say he's a hero -- and hold him at arm's length, put him on a pedestal. But would you seriously get into a plane with him at the controls?

What's all this about? What am I getting at? McCain crashed five aircraft! Is that typical for an Air Force guy? I seriously don't know what is typical, but you'd expect if everyone crashed five aircraft we wouldn't have many aircraft left!

Now, whether he actually knew what he was doing at the controls of a plane doesn't say anything about how good a president he would be. But it doesn't help.

Here's the run-down, and this site looks like it might know something about the military. I haven't looked at it enough to know exactly their politics. But it looks like they're equal opportunity criticizers of our candidates!

Here's "Crash" McCain's record of crashes:

• The first during a training flight in 1958 when he plunged into Corpus Christi Bay while trying to land.
• In the Mediterranean, the hard partying McCain lost a second aircraft. Someone said: "Flying too low over the Iberian Peninsula, he took out some power lines which led to a spate of newspaper stories in which he was predictably identified as the son of an admiral."
• Flight instructor McCain lost a third aircraft while flying a Navy trainer solo to Philadelphia for an Army-Navy football game. Timberg wrote that McCain radioed, "I've got a flameout" before ejecting at one thousand feet. McCain parachuted onto a beach moments before his plane slammed into a clump of trees.
• McCain lost his fourth plane on board the Forrestal on July 29, 1967 when a rocket inadvertently slammed into his bomb laden jet. McCain escaped, but the explosions that followed killed 134 sailors.
• McCain was transferred from the badly damaged Forrestal to the USS Oriskany. Shortly afterwards, on Oct. 26, 1967, he was shot down and captured by the Vietnamese.

OK, back to my original question. Anyone want to go on a ride with McCain at the controls? The odds would be with you. He's due for a streak of good luck.

Out of that list, the worst one is the fourth. There he is and a rocket inadvertently slams into his bomb laden jet. Somehow he escapes, but explosions kill 134 sailors! That was a disaster to say the least.

Mercy by Duffy

Have you heard a song by Duffy called "Mercy" ? It's cool.

It's got a clean throwback sound, almost like '60s Motown with a 2008 edge. I was wondering with Gnarls Barkley if we wouldn't hear more stuff like this coming along.

It's a Waste to Give Money to John McCain

Hi everybody, Slouch Loleen here.

This day brought an interesting, devasting poll, over at Newsweek.

"Barack Obama might just be getting his post-primary national bounce. A new poll from Newsweek gives him a 51%-36% lead over John McCain, up from a 46%-46% tie a month ago," writes Eric Kleefeld.

Wow, a 15 point spread! With him already gasping for air, it looks like John "Crash" McCain might be going down again!

John McCain Confused on Social Security

I would call it confusion, poor memory, or spacing out. To be generous. On the other hand, maybe he's consciously flip-flopping, flim-flamming, and trying to slip one by us.

In this video on privatizing Social Security, he wants to have it both ways. He was for privatizing, now he plays word games to say that's not what he's for.

McCain vs. McCain! Or just confused.

Coming Home from Iraq: "Not Too Important"

John McCain reminds us once again of his idea about staying in Iraq for a hundred years or more. He seriously thinks it's no big deal. You go to war and you stay there. You go to war and you never get back to peace. You can't leave because things are too unstable, but then when you get it stable you also can't leave.

So today his newest outrage, his latest gaffe is this: That it's "not too important" to ever bring the troops home. As far as McCain cares, leave them there forever. What does he care?

McCain's Manned Mission to Mars

John McCain is calling for a manned mission to Mars.

If that sounds familiar, remember a few years ago George Bush also put forward some talk about going to Mars. Just talk. If only he had a third term to get it accomplished...

McCain called Ray Bradbury's 1950 novel, "The Martian Chronicles," concerning humans colonizing Mars, one of his favorite books as a child.

"I am intrigued by a man on Mars and I think that it would excite the imagination of the American people if we can say, 'Hey, here's what it looks like," he said. "We know that now, and here's what may be there and let's all join in that project. I think Americans would be very willing to do that."

Contacted for comment, Plixney XQ89, chief spokesmen for the Martian central government, said, "We're still studying his proposal. But going by the Republicans' history of achievement, we aren't expecting it will be accomplished successfully any time soon."

McCain Seeks to "Make Matters Worse"

This Idiotic Attitude Disqualifies John McCain

Headline today: McCain Criticizes Obama on Iran.

Because, you know, Obama said he would sit down and talk with the Iranians concerning their affairs, nuclear and otherwise. McCain's brainiac idea is that you shoot first, talk second. In other words, why deny ourselves a good shooting war when we don't have to? Why not kill and be killed? And then let the survivors pick through the ashes, and, if it's like Iraq, afterwards say, "Oops."

"It's hard to see what such a summit with President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another," McCain told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Link.

Way to characterize it, Senator Hogwash.

Yes, "It's hard to see" what anything might accomplish till you actually do it. So, since "it's hard to see," why do anything? Of course it's easy to see what can be accomplished when you let your guns overrule your diplomats. Hundreds of thousands of people die, untold misery is unleashed, and you are a hated despot. But, hey, don't let common sense get in your way.

We do not need Bush III. We do not need any more cowboy diplomacy.

Remember when diplomacy was the first option? For McCain -- a warmonger -- war is the only answer, always the answer.

Yes! Obama!

What a relief it would be (will be?) to have these folks in the White House instead of the current bunch.

It'll be a lot better as well having all that young vigor and energy in there than, let's say, old John McCain about to fall over.

What was it they said he had, in his medical records? "Harmless vertigo" is the answer. Just what we need, him spinning out of control down the stairs.

Let's leave the dinosaurs in the museum!

This is America. We want to be forward-looking. Our best years are yet to come. Not just some old guy's hazy memories!

Hilarious Stuff

This video is very thought-provoking. It's hilarious at one level. We've got this incompetent old codger running around, running for president. And he's his own worst enemy. He either doesn't know the facts or can't keep the facts straight. It's the ultimate irony that he rides around a bus called the Straight Talk Express. He's taken so many curves he's lost!

Sometimes I wish these videos were shorter. This one I wish were longer. It's extremely entertaining. The only disaster about it would be if this incompetent old codger were actually elected. Then we'd be trading one crumb for another. And we need something better this time!

Anyway, watch the video. It's a real disaster. McCain hasn't got a clue.

Great Elvis Blog

Here's a link for a great Elvis blog, Gonna Have a Clambake.

Elvis was the most fantastic everything, of course. No one cooler, no one with better songs, which I can hear a thousand times and still enjoy. Best "comfort food" ever.

As for the song, "Clambake," that's an odd one. "Mama's little baby like clambake, clambake!" The movie has some really good parts, but I don't think it has enough "romantic payoff" in it. Meaning for me, Elvis and Shelley don't really get it on enough. There's too much pull from other forces, too much denial. I want a lot of kissing, a lot of hugging, all that.

And I believe Clambake is the one that has the song, oh, what is it? With the kids on the playground equipment? The little girl who is afraid to go down the slide? CONFIDENCE! You need C-O-N-F-I and a dence," or something like that. I hate that song. That's not one I could listen to a thousand times. And the girl really has something to be terrrrrrrrrified over, such a measley slide, too.

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, although I guess maybe it's only been a year or so. But I've seen quite a few others in the meantime and after a while they run together. Let's see, Elvis is a rich guy, an oil man's son, who wants to play poor to see if girls will love him for him. And he trades places with this poor guy who wants to be rich. Then they're at a hotel in Florida, and the guy from Great Gildersleeve is the doorman. Bill Bixby is in it, as a suave rich guy, a real lady's man, of course Elvis' rival. Elvis becomes a ski instructor. He ends up with the girl, as usual, but, as I said before, there's not enough loving throughout. In this one Shelley Fabares is very "hard to get." He has to preach to her, in song, something like, "You have everything, everything but love."

I know it's common blather to discount Elvis' movies and say they're crap. But I've never thought that. They're not Oscar-worthy, to be sure, but they're great for looking at Elvis. They're better than home movies, since he's a character. And they have great songs, again, that's a minority opinion that I hold. But I've been an Elvis lover since I was just a baby, and once it's bred into you like that, it's hard to deny.

An Assassination Crazy

Here's someone who shouldn't be on TV. Liz Trotta? No, I never heard of her before either.

Obviously she's on Wingnut-TV, the Fox News Channel (wait for laughs to die out...) And she's doing a little commentary on Hillary's gaffe about not being able to drop out of the race because, you know, Bobby Kennedy got assassinated in June. Hint, hint.

This Liz Trotta person -- I'm taking someone else's word for it that's who she is -- not only can't distinguish Barack Obama from Osama bin Laden (don't they check a person's basic abilities before they get a job at Fox?), but she thinks it would be a good idea for someone to "knock off" Obama.

And she has a good laugh about it.

It's amazing to me that people like this Liz Trotta can seriously get on TV and joke around, and even suggest it would be a good idea, that our presidential candidates should be assassinated. This is just stunning!

Can anyone do anything about this person?