After some serious digging, I found nothing, absolutely nothing, about this woman... AND THEN...the cracks started to appear. The troopergate thing was interesting, but the ex-brother-in-law seems to be a sleazeball anyway so I give her the benefit of the doubt, standing up for your family is a very subjective thing... BUT...after this nugget from the International Herald Tribune, Sarah begins to sound like Richard Nixon on steroids...
WASILLA, Alaska: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal. So when there was a vacancy at the top of Alaska's Division of Agriculture, Palin appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency. Havemeister was one of at least five high school classmates Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding what they had made in the private sector. When Palin had to cut the 2007 Alaska state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects. Last May, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor's career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to find an assistant to the governor on the line. "You should be ashamed!" Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. "Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now." Palin now walks the national stage of the United States as a small-town foe of "good old boys" politics and a champion for ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never ran anything. But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then as governor of Alaska finds that Palin's visceral style and penchant for attacking critics - she sometimes calls local opponents "haters" - contrasts with her carefully crafted public image. Throughout her career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials. Still, Palin has many supporters. As mayor she paved roads and built an ice rink, and as governor she pushed through higher taxes on the oil companies that dominate one-third of Alaska's economy. She stirs deep emotions. In Wasilla, many residents display unflagging affection, cheering "our Sarah" and hissing at her critics. "She is bright and has unfailing political instincts," said Steve Haycox, a history professor at the University of Alaska. "She taps very directly into anxieties about the economic future." "But," he added, "her governing style raises a lot of hard questions." Palin declined to grant an interview for this article and she did not respond to written questions. The McCain-Palin campaign responded to some questions on her behalf and on that of her husband, while referring other questions to the governor's spokesmen, who did not respond. Interviews show that Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records. Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she sued the U.S. government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Steiner that it would cost $468,784 to process his request. When Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages - through a federal records request - he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in trouble, records show. "Their secrecy is off the charts," Steiner said. This is only the half of this amazing story. It gets better as you get deeper into the FACTS and read interviews of people that have felt the wrath of Palin...
After some serious digging, I found nothing, absolutely nothing, about this woman... AND THEN...the cracks started to appear. The troopergate thing was interesting, but the ex-brother-in-law seems to be a sleazeball anyway so I give her the benefit of the doubt, standing up for your family is a very subjective thing... BUT...after this nugget from the International Herald Tribune, Sarah begins to sound like Richard Nixon on steroids...
WASILLA, Alaska: Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal. So when there was a vacancy at the top of Alaska's Division of Agriculture, Palin appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency. Havemeister was one of at least five high school classmates Palin hired, often at salaries far exceeding what they had made in the private sector. When Palin had to cut the 2007 Alaska state budget, she avoided the legion of frustrated legislators and mayors. Instead, she huddled with her budget director and her husband, Todd, an oil field worker who is not a state employee, and vetoed millions of dollars of legislative projects. Last May, a Wasilla blogger, Sherry Whitstine, who chronicles the governor's career with an astringent eye, answered her phone to find an assistant to the governor on the line. "You should be ashamed!" Ivy Frye, the assistant, told her. "Stop blogging. Stop blogging right now." Palin now walks the national stage of the United States as a small-town foe of "good old boys" politics and a champion for ethics reform. The charismatic 44-year-old governor draws enthusiastic audiences and high approval ratings. And as the Republican vice presidential nominee, she points to her management experience while deriding her Democratic rivals, Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden Jr., as speechmakers who never ran anything. But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then as governor of Alaska finds that Palin's visceral style and penchant for attacking critics - she sometimes calls local opponents "haters" - contrasts with her carefully crafted public image. Throughout her career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials. Still, Palin has many supporters. As mayor she paved roads and built an ice rink, and as governor she pushed through higher taxes on the oil companies that dominate one-third of Alaska's economy. She stirs deep emotions. In Wasilla, many residents display unflagging affection, cheering "our Sarah" and hissing at her critics. "She is bright and has unfailing political instincts," said Steve Haycox, a history professor at the University of Alaska. "She taps very directly into anxieties about the economic future." "But," he added, "her governing style raises a lot of hard questions." Palin declined to grant an interview for this article and she did not respond to written questions. The McCain-Palin campaign responded to some questions on her behalf and on that of her husband, while referring other questions to the governor's spokesmen, who did not respond. Interviews show that Palin runs an administration that puts a premium on loyalty and secrecy. The governor and her top officials sometimes use personal e-mail accounts for state business; dozens of e-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that her staff members studied whether that could allow them to circumvent subpoenas seeking public records. Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she sued the U.S. government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Steiner that it would cost $468,784 to process his request. When Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages - through a federal records request - he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in trouble, records show. "Their secrecy is off the charts," Steiner said. This is only the half of this amazing story. It gets better as you get deeper into the FACTS and read interviews of people that have felt the wrath of Palin...
Check your facts, dude. Any N.G. unit on active duty belongs to the Army, not the governor. Having a high level clearance DOES NOT give you need to know, and the governor of Alaska has as much to say about missile deployment as the governor of Kansas. And the governor of Kansas has just a few Saturn II ICBM's planted under the sod of his state. Dont believe her hype... BTW, please don't use info from Sean Hannity without attribution... if I use an article from somewhere I will tell you the source so you can check for yourself...
Check your facts, dude. Any N.G. unit on active duty belongs to the Army, not the governor. Having a high level clearance DOES NOT give you need to know, and the governor of Alaska has as much to say about missile deployment as the governor of Kansas. And the governor of Kansas has just a few Saturn II ICBM's planted under the sod of his state. Dont believe her hype... BTW, please don't use info from Sean Hannity without attribution... if I use an article from somewhere I will tell you the source so you can check for yourself...
Question: What is America ?s first line of missile interceptor defense that protects the entire United States ?
Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard.
Question: What is the ONLY National Guard unit on permanent active duty?
Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard
Question: Who is the Commander in Chief of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard?
Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
Question: What U.S. governor is routinely briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter terrorism?
Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
Question: What U.S. governor has a higher classified security rating than ei the r candidate of the Democrat Party?
Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out.
This is a woman used to keeping secrets. She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is. you may want to call that guy yourself and ask him again because as gov of a state as vital to national defense as Alaska is she is required to have clearences and direct knowledge of strategic defense initiatives,you have the answers right here before your very eyes read them.
Question: What is America ?s first line of missile interceptor defense that protects the entire United States ?
Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard.
Question: What is the ONLY National Guard unit on permanent active duty?
Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard
Question: Who is the Commander in Chief of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard?
Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
Question: What U.S. governor is routinely briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter terrorism?
Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
Question: What U.S. governor has a higher classified security rating than ei the r candidate of the Democrat Party?
Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska
According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out.
This is a woman used to keeping secrets. She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is. you may want to call that guy yourself and ask him again because as gov of a state as vital to national defense as Alaska is she is required to have clearences and direct knowledge of strategic defense initiatives,you have the answers right here before your very eyes read them.
the quality of her vetting is indeed in question...I read somewhere that the last VP to be so lightly vetted was Spiro Agnew...the same guy who 5 years later was convicted for corruption and bribery charges and resigned, leading to Rockerfeller being selected to finish out his term....the president at the time? Nixon...
the quality of her vetting is indeed in question...I read somewhere that the last VP to be so lightly vetted was Spiro Agnew...the same guy who 5 years later was convicted for corruption and bribery charges and resigned, leading to Rockerfeller being selected to finish out his term....the president at the time? Nixon...
Troopergate is significant because the incidents happened almost 4 years ago. The guy might not be father of the year material, but the sister should have prosecuted him criminally for tasering the kid. She chose not to, and Palin steps in about 3 1/2 years later when she has the POWER to do something about it, and allegedly tries to have the ex brother-in-law fired. When that didn't happen, she fired the Safety Commissioner Monegan he believes because he wouldn't fire the ex brother-in-law. That's what the issue is about. Did she abuse her power in trying to fire the ex-bro, and actually firing the Safety Commissioner? If no criminal action was taken, and he was punished under the personnel laws, then you just have to accept what is, and not take matters into your own hands.
BTW the trooper did an interview on CNN ) with his union rep by his side and explained the taser situation. He says that he didn't use the full power of the taser on the stepson. He says that he disarmed it as much as possible, and was treating it as a "training session".
Now they do things a little differently up there in Alaska. Who knows? Did the kid want to know what it felt like to be tasered? Any reasonable adult would have said no to a request like that, but like I said, they do things differently up there. Guns and such are a way of life for them. The trooper might not have thought anything about a request because after all - boys will be boys. I remember having to stop my brother and a friend from shooting each other with his bb gun because they wanted to know what it felt like. They figured it really wouldn't hurt that much and they could take it.
I'm not defending the trooper. Tasering the kid was a bone head move, and he should have known better. I'm just saying that there is probably much more information about the case that hasn't been printed. I say that because there must be a reason that the trooper wasn't prosecuted criminally, OR that the personnel laws found that he would only be suspended for 5 days. If he intended to hurt the kid, wouldn't you think that the punishment would have been much more severe from his employer? If he intended to hurt the kid, he should have been prosecuted criminally. Why wasn't he? If there were good reasons that he wasn't prosecuted more fully, the Palin folks wouldn't want all of us to know that now would they?
In ex brother-in-law's interview, he says that he never drank in his patrol car, even though 2 people say that they saw him do so. Don't patrol cars have cameras that capture everything nowadays? Wouldn't he have been fired if there were evidence that he had been drinking on the job? He shot a moose without a hunting license. He says that he thought it was ok because his wife (Palin's sister) had the license. Bad call again on his part, but Palin's father ended up with the moose meat in his freezer. Was there an agreement that he would shoot the moose, and then when things went sour he was turned in for doing what was agreed to? Just keep looking further folks. All of this is verifiable (except of course my hypothetical - it might have happened this way -musings). Try the Alaska Daily News online, if you can't watch the major cable news networks. Public broadcasting, the New York Times, and fact check have all looked into the situation. Not everything is always the way it seems to be presented.
I also thought the trooper was a sleazeball until they said that these incidents happened 4 years ago. Palin has only been governor for 15 months (19?). I was under the impression that the trooper incidents happened recently, and that's why she tried to do something about him. Turns out all the stuff happened long before she became governor.
Troopergate is significant because the incidents happened almost 4 years ago. The guy might not be father of the year material, but the sister should have prosecuted him criminally for tasering the kid. She chose not to, and Palin steps in about 3 1/2 years later when she has the POWER to do something about it, and allegedly tries to have the ex brother-in-law fired. When that didn't happen, she fired the Safety Commissioner Monegan he believes because he wouldn't fire the ex brother-in-law. That's what the issue is about. Did she abuse her power in trying to fire the ex-bro, and actually firing the Safety Commissioner? If no criminal action was taken, and he was punished under the personnel laws, then you just have to accept what is, and not take matters into your own hands.
BTW the trooper did an interview on CNN ) with his union rep by his side and explained the taser situation. He says that he didn't use the full power of the taser on the stepson. He says that he disarmed it as much as possible, and was treating it as a "training session".
Now they do things a little differently up there in Alaska. Who knows? Did the kid want to know what it felt like to be tasered? Any reasonable adult would have said no to a request like that, but like I said, they do things differently up there. Guns and such are a way of life for them. The trooper might not have thought anything about a request because after all - boys will be boys. I remember having to stop my brother and a friend from shooting each other with his bb gun because they wanted to know what it felt like. They figured it really wouldn't hurt that much and they could take it.
I'm not defending the trooper. Tasering the kid was a bone head move, and he should have known better. I'm just saying that there is probably much more information about the case that hasn't been printed. I say that because there must be a reason that the trooper wasn't prosecuted criminally, OR that the personnel laws found that he would only be suspended for 5 days. If he intended to hurt the kid, wouldn't you think that the punishment would have been much more severe from his employer? If he intended to hurt the kid, he should have been prosecuted criminally. Why wasn't he? If there were good reasons that he wasn't prosecuted more fully, the Palin folks wouldn't want all of us to know that now would they?
In ex brother-in-law's interview, he says that he never drank in his patrol car, even though 2 people say that they saw him do so. Don't patrol cars have cameras that capture everything nowadays? Wouldn't he have been fired if there were evidence that he had been drinking on the job? He shot a moose without a hunting license. He says that he thought it was ok because his wife (Palin's sister) had the license. Bad call again on his part, but Palin's father ended up with the moose meat in his freezer. Was there an agreement that he would shoot the moose, and then when things went sour he was turned in for doing what was agreed to? Just keep looking further folks. All of this is verifiable (except of course my hypothetical - it might have happened this way -musings). Try the Alaska Daily News online, if you can't watch the major cable news networks. Public broadcasting, the New York Times, and fact check have all looked into the situation. Not everything is always the way it seems to be presented.
I also thought the trooper was a sleazeball until they said that these incidents happened 4 years ago. Palin has only been governor for 15 months (19?). I was under the impression that the trooper incidents happened recently, and that's why she tried to do something about him. Turns out all the stuff happened long before she became governor.
observing all the forensic and media play on palin, the area that is NOT in the balance is WHAT, WHY, HOW palin got to the VP table in the first place...???
before the announcement of choice, how many times did they meet, how much review, how many calls...???
or maybe it was like, her dossier was slapped on the mc's table and it was said 'we need alaska's resources, take the governor...'
maybe the media is now doing what mccain & co. should have already done... their homewok...
maybe....
observing all the forensic and media play on palin, the area that is NOT in the balance is WHAT, WHY, HOW palin got to the VP table in the first place...???
before the announcement of choice, how many times did they meet, how much review, how many calls...???
or maybe it was like, her dossier was slapped on the mc's table and it was said 'we need alaska's resources, take the governor...'
maybe the media is now doing what mccain & co. should have already done... their homewok...
