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which horse mcain or obama
- Thread starter truckerzero
- Start date
paultrafalgar
10 kW
Here's my impertinent outsiders view:
Some of you Americans have wondered why the rest of the world hates you.
We hate you (at least the 100 million of you who voted for him) because you voted in George Bush.
McCain-Palin represents more of the same.
There's just a chance that Obama may not represent "more of the same".
If you vote for "more of the same" don't be surprised if the world carries on hating you!
More of the same will lead to World War 3 (always assuming Dick Cheney doesn't get there first).
Bye! Bye! and thanks for the fish...
Some of you Americans have wondered why the rest of the world hates you.
We hate you (at least the 100 million of you who voted for him) because you voted in George Bush.
McCain-Palin represents more of the same.
There's just a chance that Obama may not represent "more of the same".
If you vote for "more of the same" don't be surprised if the world carries on hating you!
More of the same will lead to World War 3 (always assuming Dick Cheney doesn't get there first).
Bye! Bye! and thanks for the fish...
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paultrafalgar
10 kW
So, 100 million swinging chads then?! 
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truckerzero
100 W
uk man in the 2000 election more people voted for al gore the now unoffical energy zare but our messed up system gave the presedency to bush anyway
so we the people are not at fault the government with its screwed up system is
ps i have no idea how he won a second tearm i guess people really did not like jhon kerry very much :?
bushes approval rating right now is 25% thats 10% less than the republican core which is 35 percent
so roughly a third of his own party hates him they really did not even want him to speak at the republican convintion
so dont feel alone in not liking whats going on over here in the states right now
im sure a lot of people on this forum will agree
but of course i welcome any debate on this subject
so we the people are not at fault the government with its screwed up system is
ps i have no idea how he won a second tearm i guess people really did not like jhon kerry very much :?
bushes approval rating right now is 25% thats 10% less than the republican core which is 35 percent
so roughly a third of his own party hates him they really did not even want him to speak at the republican convintion
so dont feel alone in not liking whats going on over here in the states right now
im sure a lot of people on this forum will agree
but of course i welcome any debate on this subject
EMF
100 kW
If the electoral college was done away with and our presidents were decided by popular vote, the outcomes would be different in our elections. Even the candidates campaigns and the states they visit reflect the electoral college. This is something our "founding fathers" blessed us with, as back then, they figured the people were not qualified to vote. Why we can't unload this thing now is beyond me.
lostcoyote
10 W
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EMF said:
we can't unload this thing because the electroral college is essentially run by special interest corporations/organizations.
heck, come to think of it, that's what runs the government - lol - and the corruption bleeds into both parties.
EMF
100 kW
There certainly is no longer a red and blue party choice, everything has melted together- as Ron Paul says- to make a purple party. I guess in government, some crap never changes.lostcoyote said:
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TylerDurden
100 GW
Good observation... I think you nailed it.EMF said:This seems to be a even more diabolical strategy than when Kerry ran against Bush. Because this time, you have the top of the Democratic ticket, being compared to the #2 of the Republican- it's brilliant. I'm seeing Mr. Rove in this...
When Kerry ran, he chose Edwards and immediately comparisons were drawn and arguments ensued over the qualifications of both Vice presidential candidates. Who was less qualified, who was the mot "green". I think they learned from that and now have paired up a headache for Obama...
The great white hunter Palin is really a decoy.
The GOP has been fighting the McCain=Bush mountain since day one; that's been sidelined for the moment. If the Dems do this right, They'll keep Palin on the side burner and hammer the prospect of four more years of total crap by voting for McSame.
Lenk42602
10 kW
One thing is for sure, following the elephant is an invitation to more war monger driven mentality.....
Lenk42602
10 kW
One thing is for sure, following the elephant is an invitation to more war monger driven mentality.....
EMF
100 kW
I could not help wondering last night as they rattled on at the GOP convention about all the "change" they would bring. I was thinking-you have had the machinery in place for most of the past 8 years! You had both the house and senate for 5-6 years and everything is a mess now. If you guys know so much, if the Republicans are so clever and the Democrats so inept, how did you get things so messed up on your watch?
Obama needs to not argue with Palin and just keep hammering on the economy and keep quoting the daily headlines. Our country is in the dumpster and the Republicans are responsible, there is no arguing that point.
For us to accept another 4 years of a Republican administration is the definition of insanity. If you keep doing the same experiment, yet expect a different result- there is something wrong with your thinking.
I am not saying that Obama or the Democrats will turn things around, I just think that if we don't get a full "regime change" that we are in for more of the same. The Republicans will look at the fact that they are still in power as some sort of mandate.
Edit: Great video from The Daily Show! Shows double standards and negative campaigning at it's worst.
Jon Stewart Annihilates Sarah Palin's Media Surrogates
http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/09/jon-stewart-ann.html
Obama needs to not argue with Palin and just keep hammering on the economy and keep quoting the daily headlines. Our country is in the dumpster and the Republicans are responsible, there is no arguing that point.
For us to accept another 4 years of a Republican administration is the definition of insanity. If you keep doing the same experiment, yet expect a different result- there is something wrong with your thinking.
I am not saying that Obama or the Democrats will turn things around, I just think that if we don't get a full "regime change" that we are in for more of the same. The Republicans will look at the fact that they are still in power as some sort of mandate.
Edit: Great video from The Daily Show! Shows double standards and negative campaigning at it's worst.
Jon Stewart Annihilates Sarah Palin's Media Surrogates
http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/09/jon-stewart-ann.html
TylerDurden
100 GW
Here's the clip on a faster server 
[youtube]tQzmdf74qvU[/youtube]
[youtube]tQzmdf74qvU[/youtube]
TylerDurden
100 GW
FOUR MORE YEARS!!!...FOUR MORE YEARS!!!
Lobbyist Abramoff gets 4 more years in prison
By Donna Smith
53 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced on Thursday to serve four more years in prison in a corruption scandal that rocked Washington's power elite and helped Republicans lose control of Congress.
Abramoff is already serving a nearly six-year term on unrelated charges and the new sentence will be served at the same time, meaning he will not spend any extra time behind bars once his original sentence ends in 2012.
But Abramoff will serve at least four more years in prison, even if his lawyers are successful in getting a reduction in his first sentence on charges of fraud in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line. When his terms expire, he will have spent nearly six years in prison.
Judge Ellen Huvelle passed sentence after federal prosecutors recommended leniency due to Abramoff's cooperation in pursuing corruption cases against lawmakers and former Bush administration officials. He faced a maximum of 11 years under a plea deal reached in 2006.
"I come before you today as a broken man," a tearful Abramoff, wearing a brown T-shirt and khaki pants, told the judge before the sentence. He expressed deep regret for his actions, which he said had hurt his family and his clients.
"I've fallen into an abyss, your honor, and I don't quite know how to get out," he said.
"He did bad," Abramoff's lead attorney, Abbe Lowell, told the judge. "He did very bad, but not as bad as people think."
The court heard from some members of Indian tribes represented by Abramoff and they urged the maximum sentence arguing that he defrauded them out of millions of dollars.
But a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in Michigan, Delores Jackson, told the judge that Abramoff had earned his lobbying fees by blocking competition from rival casinos.
Huvelle said because Abramoff, accused of trading expensive gifts in return for political favors, had cooperated with federal authorities, his sentence was significantly reduced from what guidelines suggested.
But she said his high-flying lobbying activities corrupted the political process and shook public confidence in government.
Abramoff was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison in March 2006 on fraud charges over the purchase of the Florida casino cruise line. He began serving the term in a federal prison in Maryland in November 2006.
In January 2006, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion in the current case, but sentencing was delayed until Thursday.
Prosecutors recommended reduced punishment in the corruption case, noting that Abramoff had cooperated in probes that led to convictions of a congressman as well as some congressional and White House aides.
The scandal engulfed a number of Republicans and contributed to election defeats that led to the party's loss of control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006.
Lobbyist Abramoff gets 4 more years in prison
By Donna Smith
53 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was sentenced on Thursday to serve four more years in prison in a corruption scandal that rocked Washington's power elite and helped Republicans lose control of Congress.
Abramoff is already serving a nearly six-year term on unrelated charges and the new sentence will be served at the same time, meaning he will not spend any extra time behind bars once his original sentence ends in 2012.
But Abramoff will serve at least four more years in prison, even if his lawyers are successful in getting a reduction in his first sentence on charges of fraud in the purchase of a Florida casino cruise line. When his terms expire, he will have spent nearly six years in prison.
Judge Ellen Huvelle passed sentence after federal prosecutors recommended leniency due to Abramoff's cooperation in pursuing corruption cases against lawmakers and former Bush administration officials. He faced a maximum of 11 years under a plea deal reached in 2006.
"I come before you today as a broken man," a tearful Abramoff, wearing a brown T-shirt and khaki pants, told the judge before the sentence. He expressed deep regret for his actions, which he said had hurt his family and his clients.
"I've fallen into an abyss, your honor, and I don't quite know how to get out," he said.
"He did bad," Abramoff's lead attorney, Abbe Lowell, told the judge. "He did very bad, but not as bad as people think."
The court heard from some members of Indian tribes represented by Abramoff and they urged the maximum sentence arguing that he defrauded them out of millions of dollars.
But a member of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in Michigan, Delores Jackson, told the judge that Abramoff had earned his lobbying fees by blocking competition from rival casinos.
Huvelle said because Abramoff, accused of trading expensive gifts in return for political favors, had cooperated with federal authorities, his sentence was significantly reduced from what guidelines suggested.
But she said his high-flying lobbying activities corrupted the political process and shook public confidence in government.
Abramoff was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison in March 2006 on fraud charges over the purchase of the Florida casino cruise line. He began serving the term in a federal prison in Maryland in November 2006.
In January 2006, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion in the current case, but sentencing was delayed until Thursday.
Prosecutors recommended reduced punishment in the corruption case, noting that Abramoff had cooperated in probes that led to convictions of a congressman as well as some congressional and White House aides.
The scandal engulfed a number of Republicans and contributed to election defeats that led to the party's loss of control of Congress to the Democrats in 2006.
lostcoyote
10 W
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- Aug 26, 2008
- Messages
- 72
TylerDurden said:
...who's head looks like an unbaked loaf of bread dough...
:lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:I don't vote anymore. Its all back rubbing. They are all a bunch of babies using lobbyists to get what they want. Greed Greed Greed.
Are state is so messed up, its a joke. The reason is, they can't manage the money. Huge debts. But they always get their bonus and raises. Its not the voters fault, but the people in charge. Hey politician/person in charge, Get your expensive car, bimbo wife that cheats on you, get some brains, and quit being a homo. :lol:
Are state is so messed up, its a joke. The reason is, they can't manage the money. Huge debts. But they always get their bonus and raises. Its not the voters fault, but the people in charge. Hey politician/person in charge, Get your expensive car, bimbo wife that cheats on you, get some brains, and quit being a homo. :lol:
lostcoyote
10 W
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- Aug 26, 2008
- Messages
- 72
not to worry d-man,
nothing is going to change until the day the people stop electing politicians and stop supporting a 2-party based system.
the whole reason parties exist (evolve) in the first place (any group organization for that matter) is simply rooted in human herd dynamics.
power (and thus, control) in numbers... and once that is established, the status quo must be protected at all costs.
nothing is going to change until the day the people stop electing politicians and stop supporting a 2-party based system.
the whole reason parties exist (evolve) in the first place (any group organization for that matter) is simply rooted in human herd dynamics.
power (and thus, control) in numbers... and once that is established, the status quo must be protected at all costs.
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lostcoyote
10 W
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- Aug 26, 2008
- Messages
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lol - that's pretty funny, and quite illustrating!
MitchJi
10 MW
pwbset said:EMF said:I saw a news show last night and the reporter was asking folks on the street, who McCains running mate was. In one case, the lady stood for a minute then looked at the reporter and said" "Obama?"
It's pretty shocking how ignorant the average US citizen is. Ever watch Jay Leno's "Jay Walking"? For the longest time I thought that was all staged.. I mean could people really be that stupid?!? Guess so.
"staged" wouldn't be the most apt description. Possibly, selective. You see, it's almost universally acknowledged in a given population, there's going to be smart, normal and dumb people. Interview enough people and you're going to encounter a few dumb ones. Now choose to not air the normal and smart people because, hey, accurate portrayals of the American population isn't funny, and choose to show the dumb ones. I mean, Jay Leno is a comedy show: Of course they're going to selectively play the hilariously dumb ones.
Anyways, my money is on Obama. Not because I think he's the most qualified candidate, but because he has the most mass appeal and... yes... people tend to identify political parties with their recent past leaders and, sorry, but Bush isn't exactly appealing to most. If I were forced to choose between the two, I'd choose Obama, but my inclination is towards someone who actually demonstrated an active interest in the population: Ralph Nader. But, unfortunately, the population is at large a politically dichotomous bipolar crowd, and there's really only two candidates who have any chance of winning so there's effectively only two candidates you can choose among(Otherwise, what's the actual worth of your vote?). Among those two, I'd choose Obama because he actually seems to be somewhat dependent, but not "desperately" so, on his advisors for his decision making which I think would aid in making well-rounded and informed decisions for a largely democratic country instead of unilateral despotic guesses at what the population wants, and jerking the political strings in doing so.
On the negative side, I find myself quite wary against his "charm" among the general population and his seeming chameleon like appeals to the populace.
TylerDurden
100 GW
About Sarah Palin: A Letter From Anne Kilkenny
By admin on Sep 3, 2008
What follows is an open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska: Anne Kilkenny.
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.
She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideasor compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy’s club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job.
In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys’ club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked toglobal warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT
>"Hockey mom": true for a few years
>"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
>"NRA supporter": absolutely true
>social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
>pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
>"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
>"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
>political maverick: not at all
>gutsy: absolutely!
>open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
>has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
>"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
>fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
>pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
>pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
>pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
>pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000?, up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.
http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/about-sarah-palin-a-letter-from-anne-kilkenny/741/
By admin on Sep 3, 2008
What follows is an open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska: Anne Kilkenny.
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe".
It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is "pro-life". She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.
She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just "puts things out there" and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart.
Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.
Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative". During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.
The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.
In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.
She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideasor compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the "old boy’s club" when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job.
In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the "old boys’ club" when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the "bridge to nowhere" after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork".
She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative.
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.
As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as "AGIA" that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.
Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked toglobal warming. She campaigned "as a private citizen" against a state initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.
CLAIM VS FACT
>"Hockey mom": true for a few years
>"PTA mom": true years ago when her first-born was in elementary school, not since
>"NRA supporter": absolutely true
>social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships (said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
>pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to promote it.
>"Pro-life": mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life legislation
>"Experienced": Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska. No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city administrator to run town of about 5,000.
>political maverick: not at all
>gutsy: absolutely!
>open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at explaining actions.
>has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
>"a Greenie": no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
>fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
>pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built streets to early 20th century standards.
>pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on residents
>pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city government in Wasilla’s history.
>pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.
WHY AM I WRITING THIS?
First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.
Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that "Bad things happen when good people stay silent". Few people know as much as I do because few have gone to as many City Council meetings.
Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.
Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100 or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s attempt at censorship.
Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.
CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor) from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.
You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the population of Wasilla, ranging from my "about 5,000?, up to 9,000. The day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.
http://www.thepresidentialcandidates.us/about-sarah-palin-a-letter-from-anne-kilkenny/741/
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