Who would have thunk that a woman would run for President back in 1932?
And who would have guessed that winking would be such a big part of her appeal…
Sarah Palin History
Palin on Afghanistan
In CBS Interview, Palin Calls For Surge In Afghanistan – Horserace.
This is an excerpt from [and reaction to] an interview with Governor Palin from CBS Spokeshead Katie Couric. The question was regarding the difference in challenges between Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a serious answer, allegedly.
Katie Couric: Why is it much more challenging there? Can you explain that?
Sarah Palin: The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The… things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that– Bin Laden is– is hiding out right now and… and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement.
[Woah…what? Who is “we”? Sarah Palin knows where Osama bin laden is? Awesome. Please, somebody give her a shotgun and a plane and she can go get ’em. -ed ]
There… there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that… a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq.
[Awesome. We won in Iraq. Again. Sure, the guy who implemented the Surge [+20,000 troops] (and presided over the Sadr Sit-down [-60,000 insurgents/”terrorists”]) said that talk of “victory” was silly. But hey, screw it. We won.
Again. -ed]
And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq. That’s not gonna get us any better off in Afghanistan either.
[Umm, it’s the same military in both countries. Moving troops from one country to another is what happens. It’s not retreat when you just said, a second ago, that we would be movinng troops from a country where we “won”. And you don’t just magaically create a new “surge” with a military has been under vast strain for the past 5 years. Some of this was in the news, I think. -ed]
And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the… the freedoms, the democracy, the… the women’s rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. If we were… were to allow a stronghold to be captured by these terrorists then the world is in even greater peril than it is today. We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan.
[No, they don’t hate us for our “tolerance”, Mrs. Pray-Em-Straight. They hate us because we keep accidentally killing their women and children and bombing their weddings. The Taliban doesn’t do these things. The Taliban just runs the government in half the country, and outlaws modern/liberal society. This isn’t a problem that bombing can solve. “Ramping it up”, whatever that means, doesn’t seem like an adequate strategy prescription. “Generals, ramp it up!!!” isn’t going to work on a people who have been “conquered” by the best in history, yet have somehow kept living the same lifestyle in some of the roughest terrain on earth…for a few thousand years. -ed]
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Watch the video. The joke has gone on long enough. And now that McCain has ‘suspended’ his campaign because he is so important to Washington getting stuff done, my guess is that Governor Palin will be front and center of the campaign now.
Right?
Leading the team to victory.
Where you at, girl?
Q: re: Rape Kits :: Can You Save Money If You Buy in Bulk
The blogosphere is reporting that when she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, in the late 1990s, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s municipal police department charged rape victims for the “rape kit” used to collect the forensic evidence necessary to convict their attackers. According to reports, this changed in 2000 when then Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles signed a bill protecting rape victims from being charged. As I wrote recently, however, the situation described in Wasilla is not unique. In all too many instances, women are still being stuck with the bill for rape kits. This despite the fact that in order to qualify for federal grants under the Violence Against Women Act, states are supposed to pick up the entire tab.
Sarah Palin and the Rape Kit Question – On Health and Money (usnews.com).
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Knowles was the man Palin defeated BTW.
The irony here is that the “Violence Against Women Act” was, and has been, Biden’s baby.
The Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) is a United States federal law. It was passed as Title IV, sec. 40001-40703 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 HR 3355 and signed as Public Law 103-322 by President Bill Clinton on September 13, 1994. It provided $1.6 billion to enhance investigation and prosecution of the violent crime perpetrated against women, increased pre-trial detention of the accused, provided for automatic and mandatory restitution of those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose to leave unprosecuted.
VAWA was drafted by Senator Joseph Biden‘s office with support from a number of advocacy organizations including Legal Momentum and The National Organization for Women, which heralded the bill as “the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades.”
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The act was opposed by Sen. John McCain.
Just to be clear, and to on one’s surprise, Obama is for it and Palin hasn’t been told what to say yet (hey, she’s not on the record and doesn’t answer questions…how we are to know…other than by looking at her record).
BTW, they might have to buy in bulk because the per capita incidents of sexual assualt in Alaska (like drug abuse and dranking) are off the charts.
The study, conducted by the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Justice Center, looked at 989 sexual assault cases reported to state troopers in 2003 and 2004. Researchers did not look at cases reported in the same period to municipal police departments, including those in Anchorage or other urban centers that account for 80% of Alaska’s 670,000 residents.
Overall, 46% of the cases were referred for prosecution. Of those 452 cases, about half resulted in convictions.
The study is believed to represent only a fraction of abuse actually committed in trooper jurisdiction. Still, Alaska has had the nation’s highest per capita occurrence since 1995. According to statewide figures for 2003 and 2004 alone, there were 89 rapes per 100,000 people, almost three times the national average of 32 per 100,000, said Andre Rosay, the Justice Center’s interim director.
“There are a lot of excellent programs here, so it could be reporting rates are higher here. We don’t know, though,” he said. “But even if there are higher reporting rates, our rates far surpass those in the lower 48.
If Palin ever allows those blood-sucking vultures in the press to ask her questions, can someone put this one on the list?
Petraeus on Palin’s “Victory” Campaign
The outgoing commander of US troops in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, has said that he will never declare victory there.
In a BBC interview, Gen Petraeus said that recent security gains were “not irreversible” and that the US still faced a “long struggle”.
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He said he did not know that he would ever use the word “victory”: “This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’s not war with a simple slogan.”
BBC NEWS | Middle East | No victory in Iraq, says Petraeus.
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[quick note….this is why I use the tag “victory” over there in the tag cloud…so…yea…me and Petraeus are the same page there]
[another quick note…why all the Palin crap? Because it’s hilarious and historic. This is one of the bigger snowjobs in history. The most recent being the one about Iraq being a danger to the U.S. I saw through those lies and I see through these. We all see, now, how that turned out. And McCain/Palin is nothing more than Bush/Cheney with the roles reversed, i.e. the out-of-touch Cold Warrior at the top and the likable everymanwoman with a deep faith and profound ignorance of the world outside his her state on the bottom. ]
Now the meat…Palin quotes…
…on Obama
And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform – not even in the state senate. [ed note: not true]
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign.
…on McCain…
He’s a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.
…on Iraq…
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ..
And just as a reminder from the guy on the ground…the one running the “surge”…
[Petraeus] said he did not know that he would ever use the word “victory”: “This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade… it’s not war with a simple slogan.”
Looking at the single interview that Saran Palin has been so gracious to grant to her adoring public, it’s pretty evident that explaining the real nature of the conflict would be completely lost to her. Learning cultural nuance and history isn’t something you cram for, it’s something you study for years and only the people with a real passion for it ever get close to having decent grasp on things.
And someone should point out that tying 9/11 to Iraq, as she has done a number of times while pimping her son, is a sign of a deep and dangerous ignorance.
BTW, I completely believe she is pimping her son. This is a boy who was “adamant” about not wanting any publicity for his enlistment. I have a working theory on why that is, and because Palin has used him so blatantly to cover her own lack of patriotism (if your husband being in a secessionist party is anything like having a wife who’s black, this whole patriotism thing needs to be looked at again), I think it is time to share.
It entirely possible to have a son in a war and not trumpet it to the rooftops, and use it like it’s a qualification for being Commander-in-Chief. McCain was able to stand on his own decisions, why can’t Sarah?
More on Palin Book-Banning Attempts
Shortly after taking office in 1996 as mayor of Wasilla, a city of about 7,000 people, Palin asked the city’s head librarian about banning books. Later, the librarian was notified by Palin that she was being fired, although Palin backed off under pressure.
Palin’s alleged attempt at book-banning has been a matter of intense interest since Republican presidential nominee John McCain named her as his running mate last month.
Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, said Thursday that Palin asked the head librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, on three occasions how she would react to attempts at banning books. He said the questions, in the fall of 1996, were hypothetical and entirely appropriate. He said a patron had asked the library to remove a title the year before and the mayor wanted to understand how such disputes were handled.
Records on the city’s Web site, however, do not show any books were challenged in Wasilla in the 10 years before Palin took office.
GOP campaign downplays Palin book-banning inquiry – Yahoo! News.
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Can someone please follow up with Taylor Griffin and point out his factual error and ask them to come up with another rationalization. Please?
I think this is important because it illustrates exactly what kind of “executive decisions” Palin has made.
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Note: we all know that list being circulated is false, it’s a strawman in this discussion.
UPDATE: Nice video on the situation. Unfortunately, it’s a vicious, sexist attack because it highlights facts.
Palin’s Pipeline Pipedream
“I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history and when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.”
-Sarah Palin in an address to Republican delegates, Sept. 3, 2008
Anyone listening to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin at the recent U.S. Republican convention would believe that TransCanada workers are poised, shovels at the ready, to start construction of a 2,760-kilometre pipeline bringing natural gas from Alaska through Canada to the lower 48 states. They would be wrong.
The companies who have won the licence from Alaska to build the pipeline, TransCanada Alaska and Foothills Pipe Lines (both wholly owned subsidiaries of TransCanada Corp.), must still cross numerous hurdles before actual construction can even be contemplated.
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U.S. analysis of the deal, including articles in the Washington Post and New York Times , tends to focus on potential American obstacles, ignoring the fact that 1,550 kilometres of the pipeline would run through Canada. The assumption is that if U.S. conditions are met, Canada will fall in line.
It’s true that the project would fail if the major oil companies went ahead with a rival pipeline, or if the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission did not issue the necessary certificate. However, it is equally true that unless Canadian conditions are also met, Alaskan natural gas will remain stranded in Alaska.
reportonbusiness.com: Sarah Palin’s pipeline.
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I guess when you don’t have real, completed projects, claiming projects that exist on paper as evidence of “vast energy experience” is the way to go I guess.
Note: The woman pointing out that Palin is putting lipstick on a pig here is a woman. The victim squad might have to even address this falsehood. Yea, yea, I know…any criticism of any claim that Palin makes is inherently sexist, but it’s evident here she completely mischaracterized and over-inflated her “accomplishment”.
Executive Experience in Alaska
State of Alaska > Departments > Revenue > PFD Division > Dividend Amounts
Yearly Dividend Amounts
Year Amount Increase (Decrease) 2007 $1654.00 49.42% 2006
$1106.96
30.55%
2005
$845.76
-7.82%
2004
$919.84
-16.95%
2003
$1107.56
-28.12%
2002
$1540.76
-16.73%
2001
$1850.28
-5.78%
2000
$1963.86
10.96%
1999
$1769.84
14.86%
1998
$1540.88
18.85%
State of Alaska – Permanent Fund Dividend Division.
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As mentioned previously, one of the biggest decisions attributed to the Governor of Alaska is presiding over how much money the Government sends to each Alaskan. I’m trying to verify if this is an addition to the $1,200 check Palin sent out, and the $600/person check Bush sent out.
$3500 free dollars from the oil companies a year ain’t too shabby. No wonder they have such a meth problem.
But such are the pitfalls of government welfare.
This common welfare payment went up in dramatically 2007, after the passage of a Windfall Profits Tax…in Alaska. As many economists point out, this tax was just transferred to consumers. In the rest of the country. The “lower-48” as they call ’em up North.
Here’s what McCain said about such things…
Posted by The Associated Press June 17, 2008 12:29PM
Categories: Breaking NewsSAN ANTONIO — Republican Sen. John McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama’s call for a windfall profits tax on the oil industry on Tuesday, despite leaving the door open to the same idea last month.
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McCain criticized Obama, his Democratic rival, repeatedly in excerpts of a speech planned for delivery Tuesday evening. He cited Obama’s advocacy of a tax on excess oil industry profits as well as the Democrat’s vote for President Bush’s energy legislation in 2005.
McCain reserved his sharpest words for the windfall profits tax.
“If that plan sounds familiar, it’s because that was President Carter’s big idea, too. … I’m all for recycling, but it’s better applied to paper and plastic than to the failed policies of the 1970s,” McCain said in the excerpts.
…but then again McCain doesn’t have any executive experience.
In Alaska.
And what’s with the divisive Previous-President bashing. I thought we were bringing each other together. Oh wait, that’s the new thing. I’m sorry for expecting consistency in a campaign.
Kind of got spoiled watching Obama, being all mature and shit.
And having one with a rational concept of science is particularly refreshing.
A Letter From Wasilla
This one has been making the rounds. It’s from someone who has known Sarah Palin since 1992. If you are still on the fence on this one, please read on and inform yourself. You have to love the Internet for bringing us stuff like this.
Read on for more…and there’s a lot more…
UDPATE: This has been confirmed by Snopes. Read on…
Robot Pirate Ninja 