Pedophiles' Paradise

This is a story about Alaska. The Roman Catholic Church in Alaska. About Father James Poole, a pedophile priest and, according to some sources, a serial child rapist. James Poole is not in jail today because of the statute of limitations. He is being cared for "in a Jesuit community under an approved safety plan that includes 24-hour supervision."

Yes, he's still a priest. The Roman church is still taking care of him, and hiding him from public view. One of his victims claims the church is hiding him so he doesn't tell the deadly secrets of the Roman Church's chicanery in Alaska.


According to the stranger.com, out of Seattle, "Father James Poole's story is not an isolated case in Alaska." There has been, say some Alaska natives, "a widespread conspiracy to dump pedophile priests in isolated Native villages where they could abuse children off the radar.

"They did it because there was no money there, no power, no police," said one victim. "It was a pedophile's paradies.


The Alaska Newsreader provides this insight:

"Why did the church keep sending abuse priests, who had come to be such a major liability, back into ministry? 'It's all about keeping the stores open, keeping the revenue rolling,' a former priest working with a plaintiffs' lawyer says. The Alaska provinces in particular, he says, were a source of revenue - not from the Native population living there, but from parishioners in the Lower 48 who were encouraged to donate for the Native ministry up north. 'You could raise thousands to fund a mission that cost very little to run,' he says. 'The profit margin is huge.'"


This is an awful, ugly story. You can read all the dirty details here. It's a long article, but worth the read.

Living in Tok is tough!

It was 69 degrees yesterday and I just couldn't get warm!

It was -80 degrees in Tok, Alaska. That was after the thermometer had broken and been repaired, so it may have been even colder.

I guess I shouldn't complain.

There's a fascinating blog about living in frigid Tok here. And you'll enjoy the video which gives you an idea of what it's like driving to the store in -60 degree weather. Wear a jacket.

What the hell happened in Alaska?

This from Americablog yesterday.

Quoting pollster Nate Silver:

Although Ted Stevens holds a small lead in Alaska and is the favorite to retain his seat, the outcome is not as inevitable as it might appear to be. Stevens currently holds a lead of 3,353 votes, or about 1.5 percent of the votes tallied so far. But, there are quite a large number of ballots yet to count. According to Roll Call, these include "at least 40,000 absentee ballot[s], 9,000 early voting ballots, and an undetermined number of questionable ballots".

Indeed, it seems possible that the number of "questionable" ballots could be quite high. So far, about 220 thousand votes have been processed in Alaska. This compares with 313 thousand votes cast in 2004. After adding back in the roughly 50,000 absentee and early ballots that Roll Call accounts for, that would get us to 270 thousand ballots, or about a 14 percent drop from 2004. It seems unlikely that turnout would drop by 14 percent in Alaska given the presence of both a high-profile senate race and Sarah Palin at the top of the ticket."


The Anchorage Daily News has also weighed in, offering comments from around the country on this weird phenomenon. One of the best came from "Homer blogger Shannyn Moore."

Not only is Ms. Moore "raising the specter of a 'stolen election' for Stevens ... She's suspicious of an apparent drop in voter participation from the 2004 presidential elections - from 66 percent then to 55 percent this week - even with Sarah Palin on the Republicans' national ticket.

[Note that her percentages differ a bit from Silver's]

"That's a decrease of more than 11% in voter turnout even though passions ran high for and against Obama, as well as for and against Sarah Palin! This year, early voters set a new record. As of last Thursday, with 4 days left for early voting, 15,000 Alaskans showed up - shattering the old record set in 2004 by 28%! Consider the most popular governor in history-and now the most polarizing-was on the Republican ticket. Consider the historic nature of this race; the first African-American presidential candidate EVER! The second woman to ever make a presidential ticket; and she's one of our own. Despite that, we're supposed to believe that overall participation DECREASED by 11%. Not only that, but his historic election ... HAD THE LOWEST ALASKA TURNOUT FOR A PRESIDENTIAL RACE EVER!!! That makes sense. REALLY??? Something stinks."

Yup!


Could it possibly be that the Republican Party in Alaska, not known for its ethics or morals, and afraid that Alaska might vote Democratic (which would be a huge embarrassment what with their guv running with J. McCain!), somehow arranged for enough votes to disappear to keep Alaska in the Republican column?

Yup!

Hey, they did it in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004!

Sarah Palin and Washington "insiders"

In an article titled "The Insiders," published October 27, 2008 in The New Yorker, Jane Mayer shreds Palin's contention she is an "outsider," unconnected to the "elite" in Washington, D.C.

You may recall Palin's smartass comment at the Republican Convention:

"Here's a little news flash. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I've learned quickly these past few days that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone..."

Somewhat later, she told FOX News, "I'm certainly a Washington outsider, and I'm proud of that, because I think that is what we need."


But this is the best one. When interviewed by Charles Gibson of ABC, she was questioned as to her foreign policy experience. She said, "We've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual, and somebody's big fat resume, maybe, that shows decades and decades in the Washington establishment . . . Americans are getting sick and tired of that self-dealing, and kind of that closed-door, good-ol'-boy network that has been the Washington elite."

Ask yourself - which well-known person, recently on the campaign trail, fits quite neatly into Palin's characterization? Which politician who gives speeches to what he calls his "friends" has a "big fat resume" showing "decades and decades in the Washington establishment"?

Why the hell didn't someone pick up on this? Here's the vice presidential candidate bashing the presidential candidate! And more importantly, why didn't the McCain campaign put her on a snowmobile and send her back to Wasilla?


But there's more to this story. Palin is well-connected to the Washington establishment, that elite group she disparages at every turn.

When she wanted media attention paid to her efforts to promote a natural-gas pipeline, "the state hired a public-relations firm with strong East Coast connections. Marcia Brier, head of MCB Communications, in Needham, Massachusetts, was the publicist on the project. The contract was for $37,000.

In Wasilla, Palin as mayor hired a Washington-area lobbyist, Steven Silver, to represent the town's interests in Washington. (Silver, Ted Stevens' chief of staff, "was indicted in July on charges of accepting illegal gifts and is now standing trial). The Washington Post reported that Silver helped Palin obtain $27 million in federal earmarks for Wasilla, which at the time had 6700 residents.


Ms. Mayer provides a number of other scintillating details regarding Ms. Palin's "insider" status, essentially proving that was far from the case. You'll enjoy reading about her fawning over "well-connected Washington conservative thinkers" who came to Alaska. You'll also find new insight as to how and why this relatively unknown pol from that northern outpost ended up on the McCain ticket.

Read it all right here!

The slithery, slippery, sneaky Sarah Palin

Which one is correct? The first Troopergate report which found that Gov. Palin did, indeed, abuse her power, or the second, which said she did not violate the state's ethics code?

Wait, the first report also said she didn't violate the state's ethics code, but did abuse her power.


Palin initiated the investigation by her State Personnel Board. The Board hired an Independent Counsel, who, after his investigation found that lo, and behold, she did not abuse her power and the first report was wrong to say that she did!

Here's part of the "official" reason for that finding: Palin is, glory be, Wonder Woman. She would never do anything wrong, and everyone knows. ...

Oops. That's wrong.

Here it is: "These findings differ from those of the Branchflower Report because Independent Counsel has concluded the wrong statute was used as a basis for the conclusions contained in the Branchflower Report, the Branchflower report misconstrued the available evidence and did not consider or obtain all of the material evidence that is required to properly reach findings."

Okay. So Branchflower somehow based his investigation on the wrong law. And then he looked at the evidence and got it wrong. But he didn't have all the "material evidence." Wait a minute. Palin refused to provide the "available evidence" and/or "material evidence," and refused to testify in the Branchflower investigation!

Branchflower must be pretty dumb. You think? Not!

Something smells!

Still, how could the Personnel Board reach the conclusion that Palin had not abused her power, when the Branchflower report clearly showed she did?

Well, it might have something to do with the fact that Palin oversees the State Personnel Board, which consists of three members. Two of those members are hold-overs from the current administration, but the third was appointed by Palin. AND THEY ALL CAN BE FIRED BY PALIN!

Aha! And we're supposed to believe that the State Personnel Board, of which 1/3 of the members were appointed by Palin and of which all members serve at her pleasure, was in no way intimidated or coerced to conclude Palin was innocent?

Please!

But, it ain't over yet. Walter Monegan may have the last word!

All of this does, however, pretty much put to the lie Palin's claim of being the great Alaskan uprooter of corruption. Under the Palin administration, it's business as usual in Alaska!

Is Sarah Palin a socialist?

[Drawing of the Alaska State House in Juneau]

That may sound like a silly question. Of course, Sarah Palin is no socialist! She is a capitalist from Nome to Rome (Georgia, that is!).

Or maybe she doesn't know the difference.


Lately, we've heard Ms. Palin take off on Senator Barack Obama for his off-hand statement to Sam the Plumber (who hasn't paid his taxes!) about "sharing the wealth." Obama's comment was perfectly legitimate as it was in reference to the place of taxes in a democratic society, but it has been mutiliated beyond recognition by the McCain campaign in another attempt to slur Obama and paint him as a "socialist" who would take money from your pocket to give to the lazy and undeserving poor.

Palin's rallying cry of late has including mocking Obama for wanting to "spread the wealth." She curls her lip and sneers about "Barack the wealth spreader."


Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly says these attacks are filled with irony, for as noted by Ryan Powers:

"Just last month, in an interview with Philip Gourevitch of the New Yorker, Palin explained the windfall profits tax that she imposed on the oil industry in Alaska as a mechanism for ensuring that Alaskans 'share in the wealth' generated by oil companies. [...]

"In fact, Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share (ACES) program, which manages the redistribution of oil wealth in Alaska, brings in so much money that the state needs no income or sales tax. In addition, this year ACES will provide every Alaska with a check for an estimated $3,200."


Back to Benen: "I realize that even McCain, Palin, and Fox News don't take this 'socialism' nonsense seriously, and that this is just rhetoric borne of desperation. McCain has always struggled with new ideas and a changing world, so it stands to reason he'd rely on a red scare as his closing argument.

"But the truth is, Sarah Palin's Alaska is about as close to socialism as America gets. ..."

Palin's clothes and the missing link

Ms. Sarah Palin, erstwhile guv of Alaska, is today defending the RNC's purchase of clothing and accessories in the amount of $150K or so, the purpose of which was to make her look "hot" on the campaign trail. Well, she didn't actually say that. She'd probably say she was "hot" enough.

Actually, she didn't say that, either. But in an interview with the Chicago Tribune yesterday, she "disputed accounts of her accepting $150,000 worth of designer clothing from the Republican Party."

She also said the media's coverage of this flap has been sexist and unfair. Poor Sarah. I mean, the clothes she got, she said, weren't even worth $150,000, and she hasn't worn most of them, and "If only people knew how frugal we are."

Ha, ha.

The RNC has provided the documentation for the purchases in its financial disclosure forms. So, sorry Sarah, there's no "disputing" the value of the stuff you got.

Then, to make matters worse, McCain said he buys his own clothes! Oh, my god. I don't think they love each other anymore. You know how, when McCain is asked about her qualifications, he kinda grits his teeth and stutters out, "She is so qualified!" And when they were interviewed on NBC, their body language said "Yuk!" and they could barely look at each other.


It gets weirder. Steven Benen, writing at the Washington Monthly, references a story from The New York Times that brought up a new question: "Why don't the numbers add up?"

"Some of the fashion experts consulted Wednesday, for instance, about the $150,000 in purchases that appeared on Federal Election Commission records were puzzled by where all of that money had gone, given what they had seen of Ms. Palin's wardrobe.

"Consider also the $4,902.45 charge at Atelier New York, a high-end men's store, presumably for Ms. Palin's husband, Todd, the famous First Dude.

"Karlo Steele, an owner there, said he had gone through the store's receipts for September, twice, and found no sales that matched that amount, nor any combination of sales that added up to the total. Because the store carries aggressively directional men's wear, he caters to a small clientele and knows most of his customers by name, as well as the history of their purchases... 'We have no recollection of that sale and no idea what they are talking about,' Mr. Steel said."

Then there's the charge of $98 "at a high-end children's boutique in Minneapolis, but after going through their receipts, the store owners found no record of the sale."


The whole scenario is very weird.

And maybe, ultimately, none of this has to do with anything, except, in the words of the McCain campaign, it goes to "character" - the character of Ms. Palin. And that's why she tried to pacify the troops with her lame defense that the clothing was not worth $150,000 and she had hardly worn any of it. She's just a plain ol' hockey mom, you know.

Won't work. You see, Ms. Palin is that born-again, evangelical Christian who believes in Jesus and, well, like, you know, god put her in the governor's seat, and, well, like, god now wants her in Washington so she can help people come to Jesus and just remake the country in god's image, like, you know, a real Christian nation, and like, well, change the whole world before it's too late and Jesus comes back and all those non-saved and Jews will burn in hell forever.

So, like, well, you know, it doesn't look too good if the vp candidate is dressed to kill, or too hot, I mean, like, you know, what would Jesus say? And if her fans should come to think she's an elitist, wow, like, that wouldn't be good dontcha know.


Not to worry. She can go back to wearing boots and mukluks and shooting mooses up thar in the boonies where the troops are growing a bit pissed because of all her shenanigans that are now, for the first time, being made public. Give it about 12 more days.

Governor Palin puts her cronies on the dole

Charles Piller writes in today's edition of the Los Angeles Times, that "Palin appointed friends and donors to key posts in Alaska..."

Piller notes that Palin has been quick to "tout" her reformist credentials as governor of Alaska.

At the Republican National Convention, Palin told the group assembled, "I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau when I stood up to special interests and the lobbyists and the big oil companies and the good old boys ... [I] shook things up, and in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people."

Well, maybe not.

The LA Times went a-hunting, and while they didn't shoot a moose, they did discover some interesting artifacts lurking amid the Alaskan records:

1) More than 100 appointments to state posts -- nearly 1 in 4 -- went to campaign contributors or their relatives, sometimes without apparent regard to qualifications.

2) Palin filled 16 state offices with appointees from families that donated $2,000 to $5,600 and were among her top political patrons.

3) Several of Palin's leading campaign donors received state-subsidized industrial development loans of up to $3.6 million for business ventures of questionable public value.

4) Palin picked a donor to replace the public safety commissioner she fired. But the new top cop had to resign days later under an ethics cloud. [He was paid $10,000 in 'severance pay.] And Palin drew a formal ethics complaint still pending against her and several aides for allegedly helping another donor and fundraiser land a state job.


Palin is a fraud in more ways than one. This is a devastating report and again makes obvious the fact she was not properly vetted, and that the Palin choice nothing more than a stab in the dark to cozy up to the extremist Christian right who didn't have much use for McCain in the first place.

Read all the gory details here.

Palin favors exporting Alaska gas

Sarah Palin, a self-described energy "expert," has turned the cry of "Drill, Baby, Drill!" into a mantra of the McCain/Palin campaign. Drill in the Arctic, drill in the Gulf of Mexico, drill everywhere, she insists. Unfortunately, Palin ignores the abundant evidence which indicates that such drilling would not come close to solving our energy needs, or even easing our energy needs.

Palin pouts to her supporters that the United States must drill for more oil and gas in order to become energy independent. At the one and only vice presidential debate, Palin said "It's a nonsensical position that we are in when we have domestic supplies of energy all over this great land. And East Coast politicians who don't allow energy-producing states like Alaska produce these, to tap into them, and instead we're relying on foreign countries to produce for us."

Once again it's obvious that Sarah has a difficult time stringing words together in a way that makes sense. But the real problem is that Sarah is a hypocrite and a political charlatan.


Last June, the U.S. Energy Department agreed to exend an export license for the Kenai [Alaska] Liquified Natural Gas Facility. The current license expires next year. The new license is valid until 2011.

Palin was ecstatic: "In these times of economic uncertainty, this is great news for the state and its residents," said she.

Kenai Liquified Natural Gas is owned by Marathon Oil Corporation and ConocoPhillips. In 1969 it began shipping its product to Japan.

Martha Mendoza, in an article at the Huffington Post, noted that "while the United States imported 771 billion cubic feet of natural gas last year from Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Qatar, Alaska is expected to export 100 billion cubic feet to Asia over the next two years."


Sarah Palin is a gas-bag!

Read all of Menoza's article here.

Palin problems and expense reports

There are many problems with Sarah Palin. One is she's not smart enough to be vice president. She knows almost nothing about our federal government, and is abysmally ignorant relative to the vice presidency. Palin is also a religious fanatic, connected to the most extreme fundamentalist Christian elements in our country. Her religious mentors are theocrats who believe that she has been chosen by God to be president in order to remake this nation into a Christian country ruled by biblical law as they interpret it, and that Palin's destiny is to preside over the end-times when Jesus returns to earth.

Palin is also one of those political fanatics who, in spite of the fact they don't know what they're talking about, disparage and attempt to disenfranchise people who disagree with them, by whatever means possible. Thus, Palin is known as a Pit Bull. She is mean, vicious and vindictive, as seen by her attempt to get her ex-brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.

But Palin is also unethical and without a moral core - in spite of her religious propensities and her baptism in an Alaskan lake. Her religion is useful in that it provides her with justification for any reprehensible act she undertakes and also with forgiveness for sins committed and sins of the future.

Palin lies. Over and over again. When the Troopergate report was released, a report that explicity and clearly said she abused her authority, she said it vindicated her actions. She lied about selling the plane on eBay; she lied about her opposition to the infamous "bridge to nowhere; and she lied about her opposition to earmarks.

And now it has been discovered she lied about the reasons she took her children on a variety of political jaunts around the country and around her state of Alaska. Palin charged the state of Alaska many thousands of dollars for her children to travel with her to different events even though, in most cases, they were neither invited nor expected.

Initially, Palin justified this travel by "noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attent or participate in events on the governor's schedule." That was not true.

But here's the kicker (from an investigative report by the AP):

"On Aug. 6, three weeks before Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate, and after Alaska reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for daughter's travel." [My emphasis]

There is much more, but this suffices to indicate once again that Sarah Palin's ethics are sadly lacking and that she is a liar and a cheat.

You can read the full AP report here.

Palin's troubles continue

One of the things about Pit Bulls is that they are occasionally so vicious that they have to be put away or put to sleep.

No one's suggesting that Palin should be put to sleep, but sending her away, maybe to another country that she and her friends at the Alaska Independence Party might appreciate more than the United States, is not all that bad an idea.

Meanwhile, her troubles in our snowy northern state continue.

The Anchorage Daily News reported yesterday that "The state Personnel Board investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of Walt Monegan has broadened to include other ethics complaints against the governor and examination of actions by other state employees..."

One of the complaints against Palin derives from Andree McLeod, a Republican activist, who claims that "state hiring practices were circumvented for a Palin supporter. ... The other, by the Public Safety Employees Association, alleges that trooper Mike Wooten's personnel file was illegally breached by state officials."

The PSEA plans to carry that a bit further by amending its complaint to also include charges of "harassment" of trooper Wooten by the Palin administration.


The state Personnel Board, comprised of three members appointed by the governor, hired Tim Petumenos as independent counsel who will serve as investigator. Normally, these charges would be investigated by the state's attorney general, but, in this case that would involve a conflict of interest.

Unfortunately, as the ADN points out, the state has a very convoluted system for investigating ethics complaints so there is no way to determine how long this investigation will take or if it will be made public when it is concluded.

One thing we know for sure, though. Even if Palin is accused of ethics violations, she will claim to be exonerated. It's also possible that the McCain camp will issue its own report in a day or two pronouncing her not guilty.

Palin vs. Walter Monegan

[Photo of Walter Monegan from Time magazine]


She said she was found innocent, although the report specifically accused her of abusing her power.

And it ain't over yet. The man she fired, Walter Monegan, at the time Alaska's Public Safety Commissioner, wants to clear his name and has requested the state personnel board give him a chance to do so.

Palin originally said she fired Monegan because she wanted the public safety department to go in a "new direction." Later, she changed her mind and said she fired Monegan because he had a "rogue mentality," was insubordinate, did not cooperate on the budget and took an unauthorized trip to Washington, D.C. to seek federal money.

Monegan claims that Palin's accusations are false, that he has been defamed, that his reputation has been "severely damaged," and his "ability to pursue future professional employment in law enforcement and related fields" has been impaired."

In addition, according to the Anchorage Daily News, "Monegan said the governor never complained about his job performance. His filing with the personnel board contains documents backing up his arguments -- that he was cooperating on the budget and that the trip to pursue funding to fight sexual assault was in close coordination with the governor's office."

Monegan's hearing request included a statement which argued that even though the governor has the right to fire commissioners, she did not have the right to attack him falsely to justify removing him from his job. "The evidence, combined with the governor's changing, inconsistent and implausible explanations, strongly suggests that Mr. Monegan was terminated because he refused to fire Wooten, not because of any supposed failing in his performance as a commissioner."

Monegan's argument was, actually, given credence by the so-called Troopergate report.


The question is, who do you believe: Walter Monegan or Sarah Palin? Which of these two people has a history of lying?

The environment and Sarah Palin

Rick Steiner, an Alaskan "guest columnist" for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, is disappointed with John McCain's pick for a running mate. By choosing Sarah Palin, says Steiner, McCain "has shown a spectacular, even dangerous lack of judgment."

Steiner explains: Not only is Ms. Palin utterly lacking any qualifications to be vice president, but she "is an evangelical, anti-choice, pro-gun, right-wing conservative who wants creationism taught in schools. She is currently under investigation by the Alaska Legislature for alleged abuse of office. Many of us in Alaska simply cannot imagine Palin having anything to do with U.S. foreign policy, domestic policy, national defense or the countless other affairs of federal governance."

But what is extremely "worrisome" about Palin "is her abysmal record on the environment during her two years as governor, and how that would translate into national environmental policy if she became vice president."

Mr. Steiner offers the following as evidence of Palin's perfidy:

1. Climate change. Palin has done nothing about this "except hold meetings and appoint a 'climate sub-cabinet' ... Lots of talk, no action. Although in the past two years the Arctic summer sea ice shrunk to the lowest levels every recorded, Palin apparently does not believe it is human-induced or cause for alarm..."

2. Polar bears. Palin sued the Bush administration this summer to try to remove polar bears from the threatened species list. She claimed "her opposition was based on a 'comprehensive scientific review.' But when asked to release the scientific review, she refused."

Now, for the "good" part: "The document, later obtained by the public (from the federal government), clearly shows that, contrary to Palin's assertions, the state of Alaska's marine mammal scientists agreed with the federal conclusions that the polar bears are in serious trouble because of global warming and loss of their sea ice habitat, and that they would be gone from Alaska by 2050."

In other words, once again Palin lies in order to protect her allies in the oil and gas business!

3. Endangered species. "Earlier this year, Palin approved a $2 million state appropriation for a conference on the 'economic impacts' of the Endangered Species Act, designed to persuade the public that ESA listings were too costly and unwarranted. Recently she agreed to use the money instead to fund the state's lawsuit against the Bush administration over the polar bear listing -- a likely violation of the state constitutional provisions on appropriation. ..."

4. Predator control. "Palin approved and expanded the state's aerial predator control progam, where wolves are shot from aircraft and bears hunted from aircraft and killed upon landing. ... Last year, her administration offered a $150 bounty for each wolf killed until the bounty was ruled illegal by the courts. Hundreds of wolves are killed each year by this antiquated state program that has no scientific justification whatsoever, but rather is designed to appease Palin's urban sport hunter supporters."

Hockey mom, my ass! Sorry, but there is something seriously wrong with someone who thinks shooting wolves from the air and hunting down bears from the air to kill them is "sport"!

5. Pebble mine. "Palin aggressively opposed the 'clean water initiative' on the August ballot in Alaska (which then failed), favoring instead foreign mining company desires for fewer government regulations controlling their toxic effluent into salmon streams. ..."

6. Oil and gas drilling. Palin enthusiastically approves drilling everywhere in Alaska, "including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the central Arctic, the entire Arctic Ocean, and in fish-rich Bristol Bay and Cook Inlet." To this end, she has been lax in terms of "regulation and government oversight of Alaska's oil facilities ... "

7. Exxon Valdez oil spill damages. "Palin refuses to push Exxon to pay the government for the unanticipated environmental injuries from the disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. ... Meanwhile, Exxon reaps record profits from Alaska."

8. Trans Pacific shipping. Coastal residents and organization have asked Palin repeatedly "to enhance the safety of merchant shipping through Alaska's Aleutian Islands, a primary shipping route between Asia and North America, but she's done nothing ...


Vote for McCain and you will put this human environmental disaster in a position to do harm, not just to Alaska, but to all of America!

You can read the entire article by Mr. Steiner here. This is an article by Faux News about the polar bear situation. Additional information about Sarah Palin and the environment here.

Palin in the papers

McCain's operatives obviously failed to properly vet the vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.

But less than two years ago, when Ms. Palin was running for governor, the Democrats did their own vetting. They put together a document of 62 pages "with countless summaries or direct quotes, largely from local newspapers, [which covered] all of the important issues you would expect to see, from her views on abortion and abstinence to tangled oil pipeline questions."

Editor & Publisher reveals that "Politico.com obtained a copy and printed merely a handful of the hundreds of findings on Tuesday. These included serious matters such as her use of the mayor's office in political campaigns. But it also posted a PDF of the entire document which few have probably examined. Here [are] some of the more outrageous, or surprising, revelations -- strictly from newspaper clips."

1. On the death penalty. When questioned about the death penalty, in extreme cases, e.g. the death of a child, Palin said, "My goodness, hang' em up, yeah." (Anchorage Daily News, 8/18/06)

2. On religion. "Palin wrote a Letter to the Editor saying only, 'San Francisco judges forbidding our Pledge of Allegiance? They will take the phrase 'under God' away from me when my cold, dead lips can no longer utter those words. God bless America.'" (Juneau Empire, 6/30/02)

3. On Walmart. "Palin presided over a wedding at a Walmart. ... 'It was so sweet,' said Palin, who fought back tears during the nuptials. 'It was so Wasilla.'" (Anchorage Daily News, 8/28/99)

On Walmart and health coverage. "Asked about expanding health care coverage and about Wal-Mart's corporate conduct, she delivered non-answers with a disarming smile." (Anchorage Daily News, 1/30/06)

4. Used public funds for political gain. "In her 2002 Lt. Governor bid, Mayor Palin used city employees, telephones, computers, fax machines for campaign fundraising and literature. On her candidate registration form, she used her City Hall fax number, and her mayoral e-mail address. Records show that Wasilla city property was used to contact supporters, donors, media contacts, and media purchasing. (Anchorage Daily News, 7/21/06)

5. Gender card. "After Palin fired Irl Stambaugh, the police chief, he sued the city in part based on gender discrimination. The [Wasilla] Frontiersman wrote, 'The gender discrimination issues stem from statements Palin allegedly made to others that she was intimidated by Stambaugh's size. He stands over 6-feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds, which, the lawsuit said, is attributed to his gender.'" (Frontiersman, 2/26/97)

Palin goes to Costco to see Ivana Trump. "Sarah Palin, a commerical fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband Todd on Tuesday she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana. And there, at J.C. Penney's cosmetic department, was Ivana, the former Mrs. Donald Trump, sitting at a table next to a photograph of herself. She wore a light-colored pantsuit and pink fingernail polish. Her blonde hair was coiffed in a bouffant French twist. 'We went to see Ivana,' said Palin, who admittedly smells like salmon for a large part of the summer, 'because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.'"
(Anchorage Daily News, 4/3/96)

Palin couldn't run for Senate because she couldn't be the "team Mom." "A hockey mom and a former standout athlete herself, Palin said she understood her son's concerns. 'How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?' she said." (Anchorage Daily News, 4/24/04)

6. Lying. "Palin Exaggerated Work Experience for Mayoral Campaign. In 1997, Frontiersman columnist Paul Stuart wrote that after Palin had criticized her opponent for using City Hall resources for political gain, 'when Palin was asked back then (by me) why the lodge where she claimed, in her campaign, to have gained her management experience, had no record of a borough business license or of paying any bed tax, she paused and said it might have been because the place had no clients for a year or so.' In an article describing the possibility of recalling Palin, the Frontiersman wrote the 'reasons include Palin's alleged falsification of her credentials during the campaign last fall." (Frontiersman, 1/22/97, 2/5/97)

"Frontiersman Editorial Said Palin Made Statements That Were 'Patently Untrue,' Said She Had Shown 'Unrepentant Backpedaling and Incessant Whining.' A Frontiersman editorial wrote, 'Wasilla residents have been subjected to unlawfully appoint[ed] council members, statements that have been shown to be patently untrue, unrepentant backpedalling, and incessant whining that her only enemies are the press and a few disgruntled supporters of former Mayor John Stein." (Frontiersman editorial, 2/7/97)

Another Frontiersman editorial: "Mayor Palin fails to have a firm grasp of something very simple: the truth." (Frontiersman, 2/7/97)

7. Personal. "Palin's Brother-in-Law Appeared on Reality Dating Show. Lt. Gov. candidate Sarah Palin thought it might help her campaign when brother-in-law Jack McCann showed up as a desirable catch on the new 'reality' TV show, 'Looking for Love: Bachelorettes in Alaska.' That hope lasted until she actually saw an episode of the series, which turns out to be your basic meat market twitch and grin. 'Oh Lord,' she said, 'My sisters and I watched it in horror.' Jack, who is scheduled to appear again even though he crashed a mountain bike in the first episode, is pretty cute and has a sense of humor, Sarah reports. 'He described his occupation ... as an office environment consultant,' she said. 'He sells furniture.'" (Anchorage Daily News, 6/9/02)

"Palin told The Associated Press that she and her husband, Todd, made a bet on whether Murkowski would run. If the governor says he'll enter the race, Palin has to get the Big Dipper tattooed on her ankle. If Murkowski says no, todd gets a wedding ring inked on his finger." (Anchorage Daily News, 5/26/06.)


Doesn't a lot of this stuff sound familiar?

Read more from Editor & Publisher here. There's more here at the E & P Pub. And Politico is here.

The real Sarah Palin

[AP photo by Brian Wallace]

"According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat's primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would hear her, uttered the slur ['So Sambo beat the bitch!'] and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively. ...

"Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N-'Fetch-It, 'darkie musical' swipe, people who know her says she refers regularly to Alaska's Aboriginal people as 'Arctic Arabs' - efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description - as well as the more colourful 'mukluks' along with the totally unimaginative 'f**king Eskimos,' according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article."

"[A]n insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, said 'The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here. It's corrupt and arrogant. They're all rich because they do sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.'"

There's much more here.

Also, check out the blog, The Immoral Minority here for additional info about Alaska and Ms. Palin.