About Sarah Palin: A Letter From Anne Kilkenny

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Asher
It's taking them an awful long time to discredit it.

I wonder if it'll be as awesome as when they discredited the claim that she fired the librarian for not banning books.

They say that it's not true, but she did fire the librarian on a whim and did discuss removing books "hypothetically" right before it.

You gotta be ****ing kidding me. You call others gullible...

He's the new old UR.

[Naked Gents Rut]

You've posted from partisan websites a few times here claiming them as facts.

Prove it. Frankly, you don't seem any more fair or intelligent than Oerdin.

[Asher]

Activist judges smearing Palin.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/10/palin.investigation/index.html

Judge warned Palin in 2005 to back off brother-in-law's job

(CNN) -- An Alaska judge warned Gov. Sarah Palin's family against trying to get her then-brother-in-law fired, according to court records.

That warning came long before the controversy over her dismissal of the brother-in-law's boss, the state's public safety commissioner, records show.

Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president, is battling allegations she and her advisers pressured Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to fire her sister's husband, State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Palin's sister, Molly McCann, and Wooten were in the process of getting a divorce when the judge hearing the couple's case said McCann's family appeared to be putting Wooten's job at risk at a time when he would be required to pay child support.

"It appears for the world that Ms. McCann and her family have decided to take after the guy's livelihood, that whatever who did what to whom has overridden good judgment," Superior Court Judge John Suddock said during an October 2005 hearing. "Aesop told us not to slay the goose that lays the golden egg. For whatever reason, people are trying to slay the goose here, and it tends to diminish his earning capacity."
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At the time, Palin was a private citizen and would not become governor until 2006. In complaints filed with the state police, she and other relatives had accused Wooten of threatening her family during the divorce.

Suddock was in the process of settling the couple's property and child-support arrangements in the 2005 hearing. The judge said his decision might have been different had Wooten's continued employment with the state police been more certain.

"The plaintiff's table has created a situation where that is a very fragile outcome," he said.

Wooten's union representative testified that the trooper was the subject of a "constant stream" of complaints from his ex-wife's family. "If things don't change, Mike's career is in jeopardy," the union rep said.

"My advice to Mike was to find another job," said John Cyr, now executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association. "I think he needs, career-wise, to look for work elsewhere."

CNN obtained audio recordings of the hearing from the court clerk's office in Anchorage, Alaska. Roberta Erwin, the attorney who represented McCann, declined comment on the case Wednesday, and other representatives of the governor did not immediately return phone calls.

Wooten was suspended for five days in March 2006, after state police commanders determined he had used a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson "in a training capacity," drove his patrol car while drinking beer and illegally shot a moose using his wife's hunting permit.

In a February 2008 hearing over new custody issues, Wooten briefly complained that "disparagement" by his ex-wife's family was continuing.

Complaints about Wooten from Palin and her family have been under scrutiny since Gov. Palin's July firing of Monegan, whose duties included management of the state police force. After his dismissal, Monegan said he was fired because he refused to succumb to pressure from the governor's office to fire Wooten, and his allegations have led to an investigation by the state Legislature.

Palin has denied any wrongdoing, saying the commissioner was removed because of disagreements over budget issues. Her attorneys have called Wooten a "rogue trooper" and said no one in the governor's family knew of his suspension until after Monegan's dismissal.

Spokesmen for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign have said the legislative probe has become a "political circus" since McCain tapped Palin as his running mate in August.

Palin originally pledged to cooperate with the investigation and disclosed that members of her administration had contacted state police officials nearly two dozen times to discuss Wooten. But last week, she asked the state personnel board to conduct its own probe, and a string of witnesses has failed to show up at scheduled depositions with the investigator hired by the Legislature.

Last week, Cyr's union filed its own complaint against Palin and top aides, accusing them of improperly attempting to use confidential information from Wooten's personnel files against him. The McCain campaign says Wooten agreed to release his files during the divorce proceedings, and the information was in the public domain.

[Asher]

While Palin was mayor, her town billed rape victims for the rape kit. Compassionate conservatism. (BUT SHE BUILT THE SPORTS COMPLEX, YOU SAY)

http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2000/05/23/news.txt

Knowles signs sexual assault bill


Published on Monday, May 22, 2000 9:00 PM AKDT
JO C. GOODE / The Frontiersman / May 23, 2000



ANCHORAGE - Gov. Tony Knowles recently signed legislation protecting victims of sexual assault from being billed for tests to collect evidence of the crime, but one local police chief said the new law will further burden taxpayers.



The governor signed House Bill 270, sponsored by Rep. Eric Croft, D-Anchorage, outside the Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) exam room at Alaska Regional Hospital. In attendance at the signing were members of victims advocate groups, law enforcement agencies and legislators.


*
The new law makes it illegal for any law enforcement agency to bill victims or victims insurance companies for the costs of examinations that take place to collect evidence of a sexual assault or determine if a sexual assault did occur.



We would never bill the victim of a burglary for fingerprinting and photographing the crime scene, or for the cost of gathering other evidence, Knowles said. Nor should we bill rape victims just because the crime scene happens to be their bodies.



While the Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies have covered the cost of exams, which cost between $300 to $1,200 apiece, the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests.



Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon does not agree with the new legislation, saying the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams.



In the past weve charged the cost of exams to the victims insurance company when possible. I just dont want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer, Fannon said.



According to Fannon, the new law will cost the Wasilla Police Department approximately $5,000 to $14,000 a year to collect evidence for sexual assault cases.



Ultimately it is the criminal who should bear the burden of the added costs, Fannon said.



The forensic exam is just one part of the equation. Id like to see the courts make these people pay restitution for these things, Fannon said.



Fannon said he intends to include the cost of exams required to collect evidence in a restitution request as a part of a criminals sentencing.



Palmer police chief Laren Zager said that to his knowledge, no sexual assault victim has ever been billed by the city of Palmer for an exam to collect evidence of a crime. Zager, who has been police chief since January, said he would never expect a victim to be burdened with the cost of a police investigation.



Im prepared to pay every dime in an investigation. As long as I am chief, I would never bill a victim, Zager said.



The new bill would also make law enforcement agencies that are investigating a sexual assault responsible for the costs of testing victims for sexually transmitted diseases and emergency contraception.

Ba-dadadada, I'm lovin' it.

[Wiglaf]

Your days are numbered *****.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5403954&t=8352#post5403954

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut


Prove it. Frankly, you don't seem any more fair or intelligent than Oerdin.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5382727#post5382727

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5381985#post5381985

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5385265#post5383829

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=5385265#post5385265

Proved. It's seems you're the one who's lacking in intelligence. Now what school was it that you said you go to?

[Naked Gents Rut]

Link 1 - A review of the Obama/McCain appearance at the Saddleback Ranch by the host of the event. How is that partisan?

Link 2 - A link to Nouriel Roubini's blog in a thread about the man. How is that partisan?

Link 3 & 4 - These links don't go to posts of mine.

Honestly, is that the best you can do? Pathetic.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut


Link 1 - A review of the Obama/McCain appearance at the Saddleback Ranch by the host of the event. How is that partisan?

It's an opinion piece. How is it not?

Link 2 - A link to Nouriel Roubini's blog in a thread about the man. How is that partisan?

It's an opinion piece. How is it not?

Link 3 & 4 - These links don't go to posts of mine.

You're right. I mistyped the links. Give me a minute to fix them.

While you wait, please say, what's this magic school you brag about?

[Naked Gents Rut]

I go to New York University.

[Asher]

This is just for Wiglaf.

http://www.leftinalabama.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2532

A Gay Alaskan's Take On Sarah Palin

Ryan Quinn is a writer whose work has appeared in Outsports.com, XC Skier Magazine, and The Anchorage Daily News. He is a former college athlete and NCAA Division I National Champion, and came out to his teammates at the University of Utah during his sophomore year of college. He is often called upon to speak on panels discussing identity and social barriers in sports and culture. He was born and raised in Alaska, and now lives in New York City.

To my fellow Americans:

I’m an Alaskan. I grew up in Wasilla. Sarah Palin was my mayor. She wanted to ban books at the library where my parents taught me how to read. There have been many interesting pieces of journalism introducing my gun toting, mooseburger-eating former neighbors (I now live in Manhattan) to the rest of the country, and most have focused on how proud Alaskans are of their governor making the surprise leap to the big leagues.

Sarah Palin’s story is compelling, but it is one that could happen only in Alaska, where the politics and the economy are simple and where it’s not difficult to spend a lifetime sheltered from the complexities and diversity of the outside world. I love my home state; I wouldn’t trade my childhood there with anyone. And I hope the Palin intrigue will translate into a boost in tourism that will further enrich the state’s $5 billion budget surplus, so that when Gov. Palin returns to Juneau in November she can continue to serve Alaska’s interests with relative ease.

But as reporters roam the streets where I grew up, chatting with my ecstatic neighbors, I feel compelled to offer another view, as an American, by pointing out that John McCain has demonstrated an alarming lapse of judgment by choosing Sarah Palin as his party’s VP candidate. Choosing a running mate was his first and only concrete test of judgment in the campaign process. Here’s why he failed.

My fellow Alaskans have vouched for Palin as a charming, interesting person. I can add to that that she is perfectly friendly. But now she is running for the highest office and so it must be noted that Sarah Palin the Friendly Neighbor is different from Sarah Palin the Executive. The latter is a woman with intense agendas guided by a narrow set of culturally conservative and extreme religious values. She believes that abstinence should be the only form of sex education taught to teenagers; she believes that creationism should be taught alongside science in our schools; she is against a woman’s right to choose even in the cases of incest and rape; and her church believes gay and lesbian Americans can and, one assumes, should be corrected by prayer (“pray away the gay” is their cheery slogan).

When she was mayor of my hometown, these extreme views came off as petty and irrelevant to people like me who did not share them. There seemed little cause for alarm. Most Alaskans are happy to live and let live; we don’t think of ourselves as Republican or Democrat. Besides, as mayor, it’s not like she had the power to wiretap our phones, amend our constitution, or send us to war.

But she did try to use her power to ban books. Wasilla’s popular public librarian rightly objected, and the community rightly backed the librarian. The books were never banned, though Mrs. Palin did fire the librarian for not agreeing with her political views, then rescinded the firing after it was clear she’d made an unpopular decision. Sarah Palin’s behavior is revealing: in a state as isolated as Alaska, in a town as small as Wasilla, books are vital to the culture and to the education of its residents. The small town values I learned growing up included attending story hour at the public library. Those values most certainly did not include trying to ban books that the mayor’s church friends didn’t think other people should read.

It will be interesting to see what effect Gov. Palin’s penchant for reform will have on the McCain campaign. Will she put one of Cindy McCain’s private jets on eBay? Maybe one of the McCain’s seven houses? It certainly hasn’t meant she’ll answer any questions from voters or the press. Her very first media interview won’t come until later this week. The reason is clear: she’s not ready to answer questions about the housing crisis, foreign policy or healthcare. So far she’s been allowed into public view only to deliver a speech similar to the one she gave at her party’s convention, the one in which, with the sass and smile of a punch line, she ridiculed community organizers who step up to help less fortunate communities whose government has allowed them to fall through the cracks. Her speech made for good television, something the McCain camp felt they desperately needed. And it sure fired up the folks at the Republican National Convention. Who can blame them? They finally have a candidate who can shoot a gun, drink a beer AND speak in complete English sentences. This is real change for them.

In recent days, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin have directed accusations of elitism at the Democratic ticket as well as at the media, suggesting that there is something undesirable about a presidential candidate with extensive knowledge of foreign policy, inner city community struggles, constitutional law, and the complexities of the major domestic crises. This is baffling. Don’t we want an elite leader? Don’t we want a White House made transparent by an elite press? We are a large and complex nation with large and complex problems. Common sense suggests, and the last eight years have shown, that perhaps the president should be something of an elite leader.

Barack Obama studied international relations at Columbia (he also has a law degree and has taught constitutional law) before returning to Chicago to be a community organizer. Meanwhile, Mrs. Palin ran for Miss Alaska (she placed second) and then received a Bachelor’s degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho. She returned to Alaska and became a reporter at a television station’s sports desk.

For just 22 months Sarah Palin has been the governor of a state of just 680,000 people that is “awash” in money (as former Alaska governor Tony Knowles put it) and receives more pork-barrel money per capita than any other state. Alaska has no tricky border or immigration issues with the remote parts of British Columbia and the coast of Siberia. There are no inner cities struggling with poverty and daily violence. There is a lot of drunk driving (Alaska is dark and cold much of the year), though the state police force is well funded and the road system they patrol is startlingly simple; I can’t think of a stretch of highway lasting 15 miles that has more than 4 lanes.

To use a metaphor from track (a sport the Palins are fond of), putting Gov. Palin on a presidential ticket is like Coach McCain sending a promising high school long-jumper to compete for Team USA in the Olympic decathlon. It’s a really bad coaching decision. And by all accounts McCain’s vetting process was hasty and impulsive.

John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin shows that he is moving farther and farther to the right of mainstream America. If he’s doing it for political reasons, he’s no maverick. If he’s doing this for reasons of principle, he is merely out of touch with most Americans. Ninety percent of the delegates to the Republican National Convention were white. That might resemble the America that the Republican party sees, and it certainly resembles the demographics that shaped Gov. Palin over the many years she’s lived in Alaska. But it’s not the America most Americans live in. Not only is Sarah Palin’s executive experience inadequate, her worldview is not possibly diverse or nuanced enough to appreciate either the domestic challenges or international complexities that a VP must grasp at the most basic level. A McCain/Palin administration would be risky at best, and potentially disastrous.

I’m sick of Republicans suggesting I’m unpatriotic while they ruin my reputation around the world. I’m sick of people casting votes of fear because of threats that are mischaracterized and exploited by their own political leaders. I’m sick of distorted television commercials being my country’s primary method of public discourse. And I’m sick of being told that straight, white, Evangelical family values are better for my country than my family’s values. Anyone who has paid lip service to the idea that America’s strength relies upon its diversity, be warned: it’s actually true, and it will be even truer in the future. I think my generation will be known as the diversity generation. We get America. We are ready to be leaders for the world community. We are motivated. We think. We are patriotic.

And if we vote, we cannot be outnumbered.

— Ryan Quinn

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut
I go to New York University.

Ah well then. Fine school. Not great, but not bad either. I guess people would recognize the name New York.

Anyway, those last two links should work now.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DaShi


He's the new old UR.

Actually this place has been boring me more and more. I find now days I can barely bring myself to come her without being drunk. As for the taunting of some Chinese douche? Hell, I go home each night to my home in a Southern California beach community, I have a BMW, a good job, and a girlfriend who loves me. Life is good. While after he finishes his over seas schooling he has to go back to a dirty smoggy city in China.

I can't help but feel I got the better end of that deal. I'm out.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by Oerdin

Actually this place has been boring me more and more. I find now days I can barely bring myself to come her without being drunk. As for the taunting of some Chinese douche? Hell, I go home each night to my home in a Southern California beach community, I have a BMW, a good job, and a girlfriend who loves me. Life is good. While after he finishes his over seas schooling he has to go back to a dirty smoggy city in China.

I can't help but feel I got the better end of that deal. I'm out.

But he's going to Hong Kong to enjoy all the benefits of a former British colony. If we all could be so lucky.

[Naked Gents Rut]

Indeed.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by DaShi
It's an opinion piece. How is it not?

It's an opinion piece. How is it not?

You're right. I mistyped the links. Give me a minute to fix them.

While you wait, please say, what's this magic school you brag about?

I'm not entirely sure you can link to "opinion pieces" and say that he is using them as evidence of fact (which he wasn't, he even said on both of them it was that person's opinion), which was your contention.

As for the last couple quotes, he seems to be linking to a partisan website which reports on what others have said. Now, granted he may believe what those others have said are facts (or more indicative of fact than other sources), but I think that's a leap to saying he's linking to partisan websites claiming them as fact.

Furthermore:

Fine school. Not great, but not bad either. I guess people would recognize the name New York.

You are talking about one of the most respected schools in the US, you realize, right? Especially in certain fields.

Though perhaps your definition of "great" is ridiculously small?