BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:35 PM

In my earlier post, I said, "Even a dead whale on a flatcar draws crowds." --- and then I noted that 'the dead carcass, decaying in the sun, blew itself up and actually wasn't guilty of flatulence.

What wasn't real clear, I think, was that both jokes were only intended as analogies to Ms Palin who, after her political demise in the election, was, once again, able to, sadly, draw crowds. And a creature that has suffered it's demise, isn't capable of flatulence -- so her announcement about quitting must have been a byproduct of decomposition!

That was what I was alluding to with my other post.

It had nothing actually to do with real whales----alive or deceased.

Those of you who help whales ought to be commended---even if you give them silly names. ;-)   I meant no hurt on anyone.

Love,

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:39 PM

"I meant no hurt on anyone."

         Except Sarah Palin!

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 09:50 PM

Well if da foo defecates, wear it!

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:00 PM

. . . and it seems to me that most states would be paying any defense needed unless (1) the acts could only have been intentional misdeeds, not mistakes, or, maybe (2) if she should have known that the conduct was unethical (preventing the conduct from being classified as "official acts".)

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 10:46 PM

Yes, heric. When a public person is attacked politically there is no reason why the public's money should not be used to defend oneself against the attack.

I have no idea of why Palin, as governor, would have to spend half a million dollars or even a half dollar against political attacks. I suspect that more information will come out on that.

As I said above, when Palin sued herself in order to have her own-appointed board check it out, she most definitely did not pay for it herself. (This was in the so-called Troopergate case. How tired I am of all these "gates"!) In fact, that particular defense was the costliest item among the ethics violation cases.

Incidentally, when Palin agreed - and has - to reimburse the state almost $10,000 for what she had charged the state in connection with her children traveling with her, it was in response to an ethics complaint.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: GUEST,robomatic
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 11:38 PM

NPR's Talk Of The Nation did a segment on 'our' Sarah today and some of the most critical callers called in from Wasilla.

Apparently Vanity Fair has an article out "It Came From Wasilla" basically on her.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:05 AM

Welcome back, Donuel!

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Barry Finn
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:25 AM

I would like to correct you Art about your joke.

Palin is as usefull as a dead whale! It's not a joke but reality, she's also as usefull as a goat fart in a rain barrel. I'm not joking

Barry

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:37 AM

My own feeling is that Sarah Palin inadvertently helped the Republicans to lose the last election...not that she didn't appeal to a significant number of people who voted Republican...but I still think she was a factor that did harm to the Republican ticket in an overall sense, and so did John McCain.

I'm grateful to both of them for leading their party to defeat. ;-) I would have been downright horrified if the Republicans had won again after the last 8 years of George Bush. (and I'm no fan of the Democratic Party, God knows!...but it could be worse than them, and it has been) Most of the world would have been horrified (with the notable exception of Israel). The sigh of relief and thanksgiving heard around the world when Barack Obama won that election was palpable. It was like Christmas morning on the day after...smiles and celebration to be seen everywhere.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 01:01 AM

In Juneau, Alaska, we are at the height of the tourist season. Judging by the overwhelming preponderance of questions and comments they make about Palin: "Where does she live?", "Will we see her?", "We just love her", "She's a breath of fresh air", "I voted for her - and I'll do it again", on and on and on, cruiseship tourists are either part of the great ignorami or they are indicative of Americans at large. (Although, come to think of it, some of these questioners are not even American)

I keep my demeanor unruffled as I answer questions but it ain't always easy.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 03:18 AM

The Hiler video is at least the third different version ~ same video, different subtitles ~ that I've seen in the last year or so. In fact, it's the third that I discovered in a link from Mudcat.

The first I saw (tho perhaps not the very first) was "Hitler reacts to the news that a jazz band has been booked for his birthday party." The second appeared just within the last week: "Hitler learns that Michael Jackson is dead an won't be appearing in Berlin." And now, the Sarah Palin thing.

It's a good idea, works well with all kinds of different subject matter, and each reworking reaches many "new" vioewers unfamiliar with the previous incarnations. I'm sure we'll continue to see more of these.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peter T.
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:08 AM

Cruiseship tourists are often from the same class George Bush came from: the country club circuit. Concerned about their class status, cocooned and catered to so that they can add Alaska to their list of "dones" ("We did Costa Rica last year"), and white.

(Lest you think this is pure prejudice, it is! I used to work on cruise ships. Many nice sweet people, and a whole lot of dreary, nouveau riche losers. Bitter? you bet.....)

yours,

Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: kendall
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:49 AM

I neither love nor hate Sara Palin. That remark about her daughter by Letterman was totally nasty and not a damn bit funny.
However, she condemns herself with her own mouth and needs no media to help her.
Katie Couric asked her a simple question about the job of the VP and she was clueless. How does that become the fault of the media?

She doesn't know her ass from two dollars a week, and that is not the fault of the media.

As far as LBJ goes, they should erect a statue to him in Washington for creating Medicare. I'd be sunk without it.

I see Gingrich is trying to climb up out of the slime hoping we will have forgotten about his dumping his cancer afflicted wife in favor of a chicky baby. Family values, sure, HYPOCRIT!

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:28 AM

Count me in as another who questions why someone who has done nothing wrong has incurred $500,000 in legal fees... I mean, as far as I know there are no pending law suits suits against here and even the FBI has made an unprecidented announcement that she is not under investigation???

So can anyone explain why an innocent women could possibly need that much legal help???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: SharonA
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 09:47 AM

Poppagator: When I posted the link to that Hitler video the other day, I had noticed that there were other YouTube clips using that film footage and adding different captions. I looked at some of them, but in my opinion the person who created the video I posted did the best job of creating hilarious one-liners. He/she even wrote them in slightly stilted English, as if a translator was a native German and wasn't familiar enough with colloquial Engish speech. Brilliant!

Another inspired bit of scripting was the bit he/she wrote about Hitler's niece's nose: Hitler makes several references to it, peppered throughout his rant, and then we see the "niece" crying in the hallway and being comforted by the woman saying "Your nose really isn't all that bad". Definitely a cut above those other videos.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: SharonA
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 10:58 AM

More double-speak from Palin:

Today show interview -- Andrea Mitchell with Sarah Palin July 7, 2009

"The choice I had to make was, okay, how am I gonna react to the circumstances, to the changed conditions [after the 2008 Presidential campaign]? Am I gonna just keep pluggin' away an' keep my head down and not try to effect any more change, 'cause every time we DO somethin' we get hit with, um, y'know, an ethics violation charge or a lawsuit, because that's the political game that's being played right now, even though we won every single one of 'em that's been thrown our way..."

Huh????? She "won" every ethics violation charge and lawsuit against her? Since when?

"I am a fighter; I thrive on challenge..." and yet the challenge of "pluggin' away" at her job as Governor for another year and a half, when she had decided she wouldn't run for re-election, was too much for her to fight for! Sheesh.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 10:58 AM

It was darn good all right. I still love the old one about the jazz band too.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:14 AM

Here is a bone of contention that has been around awhile. I didn't now whether Palin was still collecting per diem since discussion first began. This complaint has been legally filed.

"Zane Henning alleges in the complaint filed Monday that Palin is violating state ethics law by collecting per diem when she stays in her Wasilla home instead of the Governor's Mansion in Juneau.

"It's the 16th ethics complaint filed against Palin, who noted in her resignation speech last week that "frivolous" ethics complaints had set her back more than $500,000 in legal debt. She steps down July 26.

"Most of the complaints, including another one by Henning, have been dismissed.

"The Washington Post reported in September that in Palin's first 19 months in office she had billed the state for 312 nights spent in her Wasilla home, while Alaska provides free lodging for her in Juneau. She collected $16,951 during that period.

"Palin's staff said the expense claims were legal because Palin's official "duty station" was in Juneau, and state employees get daily per diem when away from their duty station.

"The governor is entitled to a per diem, and she claims it," Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow told the Post."

Another Pesky Ethics Complaint

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:15 AM

Eighteen months to go, with the expectation that she'd then run for re-election - and she calls that being a lame duck, not worth the hassle.

Is the word "wimp" used in America?

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:45 AM

"Is the word "wimp" used in America?"


            Yes! The word "harassment" is not.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:47 AM

Ten grand at stake for traveling with children. State decides you don't get reimbursed for bringing children (probably not as a novel legal question.)

Seventeen grand at stake for $50 per diem while at personal residence for first year and a half. State decides one way or another - simple.

Fourteen other ethics complaints - state investigates and dismisses thirteen of them (with the Troopergate wrinkle in getting to that point.)

Enduring this is not like enduring a few years as a POW with a fighter's spirit. Something is indeed missing as to this $500,000 of legal fees.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:57 AM

How is she agonna stare down Putin?

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:23 PM

I'd have thought have bringing your children along on work related trips would be a fair expense to be covered - they are part of the package.

I mean it'd be pretty silly if Obama gets charged for taking his wife and daughters along on the current visit to Russia.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: robomatic
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 12:36 PM

The erstwhile Soviet Union published "Soviet Life" in English to introduce their Communist wonderland to the American people. It languished on the shelves of the magazine stalls and ended up in copious quantities in US public libraries, a magazine that was almost antiseptic in its cleanliness because it was unopened, unread. (Those who lament the lack of good news in our popular publications, take note). I took Russian in high school, and was planning to visit the Soviet Union, so occasionally I took a gander at its pages. Lots of articles on healthy peasants and good crop yields, and I especially remember one article with questions (presumably from Americans) and answers from those versed in dialectical materialism. I especially remember the question:
"What do you think of political jokes?" I don't remember the words of the answer, except that the editorial staff strove to 'define terms' and go on at some length as to the social ramifications of this kind of humor. Even at a young age I knew the proper American response:

"Political jokes are fine, as long as they don't get elected!"

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 01:29 PM

I think the question becomes: What do the 49 other governors have to put up with? Schwarzeneger had to pay $200,000 in 2006 because his "Califonria Recovery Team" committee treasurer failed to timely file online 24-hour campaign reports disclosing independent expenditures.

Here's the California commission's agenda for last month

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 01:32 PM

I don't know the policy of charging for taking family along at the presidential level. My understanding is that the official pays out of pocket for anyone who does not serve an official function.

I know that state dinners in the White House are paid for by taxpayers but historically the family pays for their own private dinner parties.

Incidentally, since February 2006, per diem for Alaskan lawmakers has been $145. Not being counted as income, it is not taxable.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 01:48 PM

She only collected $54.33 per night for 312 nights at home ($16,951)according to the article.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 01:50 PM

You guys owe her.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 02:00 PM

Families of politicians are typically used as part of their public relations team. I can't imagine going on thee trips is particularly fun for the rest of the family. It's work.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: jeffp
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 02:09 PM

It may be work, but it's not employment.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 02:53 PM

That distinction sounds rather akin to slavery...

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: jeffp
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 04:32 PM

Or volunteer work. Or marriage.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: SharonA
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:25 PM

Palin's whiny lament ("How am I gonna react to the circumstances, to the changed conditions [after the 2008 Presidential campaign]? Am I gonna just keep pluggin' away an' keep my head down...?") stands in stark contrast with a statement made by newly-sworn-in Senator Al Franken in an AP interview yesterday, when he spoke about the changed conditions in his own career path:

Franken said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that while he is still garnering attention for his career as a comic, he expects the publicity to die down once he is able to establish himself in the Senate.

"I think they'll get to used to the idea that I'm a senator, that I've kind of changed careers," Franken said. "I just don't think it will take that long. They'll see what I do and what I say. Mainly I'm going to put my head down and get to work."

From this AP article (with emphasis in boldface by me)


...so the answer to Palin's question is: Yes, Sarah, that's how it's supposed to be done. You put your head down and you plug away. It's called focus. Perseverance. Tenacity. Purpose. Moral strength (a.k.a. "grace").

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:32 PM

"Grace under pressure"

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Art Thieme
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 06:32 PM

She might want to try community organizing.

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:00 PM

Maybe she could try to organize a folk festival . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: gnu
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:06 PM

She couldn't organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a handfull of hundred dollar bills and a half dozen drunk sailors.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 07:10 PM

BUT, it would keep her busy!

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:27 PM

According to the Wall Street Journal one hour ago everything I guessed is exactly wrong - and all of the national media have missed the real reason she quit. Secret insiders have revealed the truth to the WSJ:

". . . it became clear that controversies and endless ethics investigations were threatening to overshadow her legislative agenda. "Attacks inside Alaska and largely invisible to the national media had paralyzed her administration," someone close to the governor told me. "She was fully aware she would be branded a 'quitter.' She did not want to disappoint her constituents, but she was no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do.""


To which I say bullshit. Look again at the agenda for a single California agency meeting. One meeting dwarves all of her travails put together. She could have almost ignored those ethics investigations.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:41 PM

"The Odd Lies Of Sarah Palin: A Round-Up

Some readers have asked me to put all the various odd lies of Sarah Palin that the Dish has compiled in one helpful place. So that's what we've done. A couple of months ago, I asked an intern to re-fact-check all of them to make sure new details hadn't emerged that might debunk some. And I also asked to get any subsequent statements by Palin that acknowledged that she had erred in any of these statements that are easily rebuttable by facts in the public record and apologized and corrected. She has not. Since this was a vast project over the last ten months, it's possible there are some nuances or errors that need fixing. Please tell us if you find one and we'll acknowledge and fix. But it has been put through the ringer a few times.

After you have read these, ask yourself: what wouldn't Sarah Palin lie about if she felt she had to?"

Andrew Sullivan then goes on to enumerate and give proof about the lies.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/the-odd-lies-of-sarah-palin-a-roundup.html

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:49 PM

Her nose oughta be at LEAST the length of a football field--UK, Canuck, Yank, take your pick.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 08:50 PM

NYT says 30 minutes ago, and I guess they're right and now I will forget about it:

"So in the end, this could simply be one of those it-is-what-it-is moments. Ms. Palin was weary of being governor, and, facing constant ethics complaints, she saw her family being chewed up by bad publicity and decided to trade those things for the opportunity to work on her book (for which she received a lucrative contract), tour the country giving paid speeches and consider offers from television or radio to become a highly paid commentator. . . .

From this perspective, the decision was simple and sensible: Less stress, and more national attention and money."

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Riginslinger
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 09:17 PM

Still, though, if she could dream up that many lies she ought to go a long way in politics.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 09:23 PM

LOL

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Alice
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:23 PM

Wow, that list of her lies was so long, it made my eyes tired to read it.... and I had forgotten about the turkey slaughter interview! aargh

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:27 PM

Rig said something very important. It does seem we all have become used to politicians giving us a load of bullshit. I know we expect it from the majority in Canada, and certainly US citizens seem to be a bit less trusting of them. Curiouser and curiouser.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Peace
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 11:29 PM

What I mean is that it no longer surprises me to learn about it.

I think I will never vote again. I'll go to the polling stations, but unless there's a damned good person running, no party will get my vote. I ain't tired of it--just sick of it.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 09:55 AM

On a cold winter evenin, on a plane bound for nowhere,
I met up with the pit bull; we were both too tired to sleep.
So we took turns a starin out the window at the darkness
til boredom overtook us, and she began to speak.

She said, "Yah, Ive made a life out of readin peoples faces,
And knowin what they wanted by the way they held their eyes.
So if you dont mind my sayin, Ya gotta know who your base is.
For a taste of your Pepsi Ill give you some advice.

So I handed her my soda and she drank down my last swallow.
Then she looked out the window, at the bright midnight.
She saw her kids were asleep, and her face lost all expression.
She said, when folks don't know nuthin, its best to go far right.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count donations when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when elections done.

Now evry govner knows, that the secret to survivin
Is knowin what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
cause big oil is a winner and tree huggers are losers,
And the best that you can hope for is to put the truth to sleep.

So when she finished speakin, she turned back towards the window,
She typed one last twitter and faded off to sleep.
Now somewhere in the darkness the pit bull, she broke even.
But in her final words there was advice that I could keep.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
If you can't be a winner you can always be a quitter.
Therell be time enough for winnin when the talk show's done.

You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em,
Know when to walk away and know when to run.
You never count your money when youre sittin at the table.
Therell be time enough for countin when the talk show's done.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: Alice
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 10:57 AM

Sarah Palin displaying more of her ignorance:


Palin said there was a difference between the White House and what she had experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations.

"I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," she said.

There is no "Department of Law" at the White House.

Subject: RE: BS: Sarah Palin will resign on July 26!
From: heric
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 11:29 AM

She probably doesn't have the equivalent of White House counsel. If she did, that may have prevented some of her problems in separating official duties with political activities, and also nip her ethics questions in the bud. However, I really would bet that her legal fees were mostly caused by commingling her official communications with her personal communicattions, which probably has made compliance with Freedom of Information Act requests a nightmare- trying to decide what to produce and what can be withheld. Counsel could have stopped that at the outset, if she were inclined to listen, but now that it's done, her personal problems are not within the scope of governmental legal advisor's functions, and, importantly, not subject to attorney client privilege.

Further, these FOIA problems don't vanish just because she quit. The Governor's office staff have a bigger problem without her onsite and involved, but they will probably try to get away with saying they don't "have" her "personal" e-mails or something like that.