Wednesday 31 March 2010

Fox News and Sarah Palin's "Real America": LLCoolJ says "Thanks, but no thanks" - TRAILER

The show has not even started, but Fox News has already achieved something: Mrs. Screechy, the ugly voice of America, has now magically been transformed into the sweet sugarcoated voice of "Real America". See the brand new trailer:



Sarah Palin, currently probably the greatest divider in America, now hosts a show with the subtitle: "One Nation United". You just cannot make it up! She says in the trailer:

“As Americans, we aspire to greatness. When we dream, we dream big. We reach out, we pick each other up. We pride ourselves on our make up and our character.”

However, somebody else wasn't convinced. LLCoolJ tweeted yesterday:

fox - llcoolj twitter misrepresenting


In fact, Fox News made it appear in an earlier promo that LLCoolJ would be part of Sarah's new show, so his complaint was fully justified:



Fox realized that they had a problem and they have now cut LLCoolJ from the show, because he clearly does not want to be associated with Sarah Palin. The LA Times reports:

"Fox News said the program, “Real American Stories,” included an interview the performer gave to the network as part of an online project of the same name that launched during the 2008 election. But producers are now excising his interview from the show after LL Cool J, whose real name is James Todd Smith, raised objections."

The LA Times added:

"In its original release about the show, Fox News said LL Cool J and former General Electric Chief Executive Jack Welch would be featured in the first episode, talking about making it in America as part of a segment called “In Their Own Words.” The network did not specify when the interviews were conducted.

Palin serves as host of the program and conducted some studio interviews, a role that is part of her larger deal as a regular contributor to Fox News. The premiere episode of “Real American Stories” is re-airing Sunday, but does not yet have a regular time slot."

+++

UPDATE:

It appears that Fox News are just as bitchy as Sarah Palin herself when they are caught out!

TVNewser received the following statement from Fox News:

"A Fox News spokesperson tells TVNewser, 'Real American Stories features uplifting tales about overcoming adversity and we believe Mr. Smith's interview fit that criteria. However, as it appears that Mr. Smith does not want to be associated with a program that could serve as an inspiration to others, we are cutting his interview from the special and wish him the best with his fledgling acting career.'"

(h/t EyeOnYou!)

+++

UPDATE 2:

Toby Keith is another "surprised participant" on Sarah's show. Popeater reports:

"Keith is slated to talk about his patriotic anthem 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).' He, too, was caught off guard by his involvement. 'Toby was not asked to participate nor has he ever done an interview with Sarah Palin,' his publicist told PopEater when reached for comment. Like LL, Keith's interview for the special was also taped in 2008.

'FOX has never contacted me about this special,' Elaine Schock told us. 'We found out about it yesterday.'"


(h/t mxm and ella!)

+++

UPDATE 3:

Our "special friends" from the Peezoo are also displeased that LLCoolJ had the audacity to "reject" their idol, queen, goddess Sarah Palin! How dare he! Is he even worth licking her shiny boots? The Peezoo writes:

"Also LL, don't flatter yourself my man. Fox News doesn't need you to promote the show that Governor Palin is hosting. As everyone can see, you were little more than a footnote as your name was buried in the press release. Neither Fox News nor Governor Palin needs you to bring in an audience. In fact, judging by the sales from your last album, you should probably be thanking your lucky stars that Fox News would consider placing your Real American story (and it is one that I respect and admire) in the same breath as the story of a 'Marine Medal of Honor recipient who gave his life to save his comrades.'"

Or was this from a Fox News press release? I am really getting confused here. ;-)

+++

On the Fox News website, the commenters are enthusiastic about Sarah Palin's new show. No negative comments so far at all. I think some fairness and balance is urgently needed there.

What has Sarah Palin ever done to be amongst those "great Americans"? She was never somebody who "overcame adversity", or achieved great things. When the going got tough, she just hired somebody else to do her job, or just quit!

Let me recapitulate:

1. After Sarah Palin was elected mayor to the city of Wasilla, she had to hire the city manager John Kramer who then actually ran Wasilla - because she couldn't handle her job.

2. Sarah Palin
quit her highly paid job in the Alaskan oil & gas commission after 11 months - because she couldn't handle her job.

3. Sarah Palin
quit as Governor of Alaska after 2 1/2 years - because she couldn't handle her job.

And not to forget, amongst many other things, she faked a pregnancy while she was Governor of Alaska.

+++

By the way, Sarah Palin - are these comments which were left on www.conservatives4palin.com by your huge fan William Henley, who lives in Wasilla, enough "Real America" for you?

William Henley - March 27

William Henley - March 23

William Henley - February 19

William Henley - February 14

William Henley - February 14 - b

William Henley - January 31

William Henley - January 17

William Henley - January 6

William Henley - January 2

William Henley - December 28
.

Sarah Palin, fiscal conservative?

Sarah Palin loves to blow her own trumpet as the ultimate fiscal conservative.

The Washington Independent reveals that Alaska has big liabilities:

Less than a year after then-Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) quit the government to pursue other projects, Alaska leads the way in its debt-to-GDP ratio when its unfunded pension obligations are taken into account, followed by Rhode Island, New Mexico, Ohio and Mississippi. And although Alaska’s ratio is far lower than Greece’s, it does give the state a debt-to-GDP ratio similar to that of Jordan and Palin’s favorite health care resource, Canada, and a higher ratio than Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, India, the Philippines or Uruguay.

The New York Times shows a table which illustrates these liabilities very well:

GDP graph

Sarah Palin was elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996. I made some screenshots of the financial statements for the years 1996 and 2002, when Sarah Palin finished her second term as mayor.

wasilla debt summary 95-96

wasilla debt summary 2002


The figures scream fiscal conservative, don't they?
.

Tuesday 30 March 2010

Sarah Palin instructs her redneck-followers: Stop cars with Obama bumper stickers on them and taunt the driver! - UPDATE

Cross-posted at "FreeRangeTalk"

During her "Redneck-Woodstock" speech in Searchlight, Nevada on March 27, 2010, Sarah Palin had a suggestion for her audience:

"That bumper sticker that maybe you'll see on the next Subaru driving by -- an Obama bumper sticker -- you should stop the driver and say, 'So how is that hopey, changey thing working out for ya?'"

See in video from 2:55:




Sarah, what is wrong with THIS picture:

subaru Obama bumpersticker

Answer: NOTHING.

And Sarah, what is wrong with YOU?

Answer: A LOT.

What do you think will happen when your fans "stop" people who drive cars with Obama bumper stickers? Do you think they will have a nice, peaceful conversation about what is right and wrong in current political affairs, and that they will all go home afterwards with the good feeling of having learned something about each other?

Well, you should have noticed by now that some of your fans are made of a "different" ilk - maybe you missed this news report from March 26, 2010:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Nashville man claims he and his 10-year-old daughter were the victims of road rage Thursday afternoon all because of a political bumper sticker on his car.

Mark Duren told News 2 the incident happened around 4:30 p.m. while he was driving on Blair Boulevard, not far from Belmont University.

He said Harry Weisiger gave him the bird and rammed into his vehicle, after noticing an Obama-Biden sticker on his car bumper. Duren had just picked up his daughter from school and had her in the car with him. "He pointed at the back of my car, the bumper," Duren said, "flipped me off, one finger salute."

It didn't end there.

Duren told News 2 that Weisiger honked his horn at him for awhile, as Duren stopped at a stop sign. Once he started driving again, down Blair Boulevard towards his home, he said, "I looked in the rear view mirror again, and this same SUV was speeding, flying up behind me, bumped me."

Duren said he applied his brake and the SUV smashed into the back of his car.

He then put his car in park to take care of the accident, but Weisiger started pushing the car using his SUV. Duren said, "He pushed my car up towards the sidewalk, almost onto the sidewalk."

Police charged Weisiger with felony reckless endangerment for the incident.

+++

Mark Duren explained the incident on the air on the Thom Hartmann Show - this is a great clip, please watch:



Sarah, do you hear that? America needs you to "bump down the rhetoric"!

+++

UPDATE 1:

I just found another video in which an eyewitness confirms crucial parts of the account which Mark Duren gave to the police and the media.

I cannot embed this video, but you can watch it HERE.

In addition, this news report confirms that the man who is charged with the crime, Harry Weisiger, fled the scene of the accident, which speaks for itself.

The report confirms the shocking details:

"David Todd, who witnessed the accident from his window, said the SUV hit the car more than once.

"He hit him twice," Todd said. "When I stood up, the truck was about a foot behind the car, and that's when he plowed into him again and pushed him 50 feet, turned him sideways right here, and took off."

Todd said Duren and his daughter were obviously both shaken by the accident.

"He was opening the door trying to get out of the car as he's pushing him down the street, and I was like, ‘Oh don't get out of the car you may get run over,' and he said he didn't think about that at the time, that he was just panicking," Todd said.

Weisiger is charged with two counts of reckless endangerment, driving under the influence, refusing to take a breath test, and leaving the scene of an accident."


+++

Pictures from the damage:

Obama bumper sticker road rage

Sarah, do you need more proof?

Look, somebody on the right-wing site "Free Republic" started a discussion about this particular case of "Obama Bumper Sticker Road Rage". What do you think the comments said on "Free Republic"? I will give you some examples:

** I bet he backed into the other guy and then claimed that the other guy ran into him.

** How is that road-rage? I think it is pefectly reasonable for a driver to completely lose control of his vehicle after realizing the vehicle in front of him contains an idiot that is endangering the world. How would you expect someone to react?

** I love it. I feel the same way every time I see an Obama sticker. I want to knock the car off the road and destory the bumper sticker.

** My BS detector is beeping. RATS lie so much the truth is foriegn to them.

** My husband has told me when he sees someone with an Obama sticker, he’ll pull up behind them, get their attention, make an O with his hand and then move it in a back and forth motion (if ya know what I mean). It usually upsets the Obama driver and they’ll speed off.

** Man rammed for having Obama sticker. Bull$h!t.....more Reichstag Fire crap from Rhom Emanual and his ilk....

** Too cool! LOL!

** Sucker punch the clown, just like zer0 did to Real Americans,

** Looks like a pre-existing condition. Don’t panic. You’re covered!

** bs...what a lie

** So you have your 10 year-old daughter in the car, and a crazy guy in an SUV “was speeding, flying up behind me, bumped me.” And he decides to hit the brakes ?

** The guy who hit him is clearly way wrong for this, I am just questioning his judgement with a child in the car.

** This is child s play compared to what s coming. The bedwetters on the left have no idea.

** This guys has only proven that he has slightly less self control than I do.

** It looks like SUV guy was tailgating, and the Obama lover slammed the brakes to stage an accident and collect on insurance


"Free Republic" has recently pulled this thread, which was only created on March 26, 2010. It was still available as a cached page until yesterday. Now it has disappeared for good. Or not? Thanks to our great commenter and supporter EyeOnYou, who alerted us yesterday to this discussion on "Free Republic", I was able to make a PDF-copy of this cached page - it can be downloaded HERE.

Sarah, why did you choose "Subaru" for your deranged comment? What was going on in your pea brain? Because they are "Japanese"? Didn't you know that Subaru has a shiny production plant in Lafayette, Indiana? The "green autoblog" reports:

"This is Subaru's only plant in the U.S. and is where the Subaru Outback, Baja, Legacy and B9 Tribeca line of vehicles are made. The plant is green because nothing from the manufacturing process ever enters a landfill. Everything is recycled. Well, almost everything. Subaru says that 97 percent of all excess or leftover materials like steel, plastic, wood, paper and glass go to recycling outlets. The other 3 percent is sent to incinerators in Indianapolis and helps generate steam."

Pictures from Subaru in Indiana:

Subaru plant Indiana pic

Subaru Production Indiana


Sarah, it is your responsibility as a politician to avoid suggestions which add nothing to political discourse and which will only incite your followers.

Your snarky remarks are not helpful. Rather they add a dangerous new direction which some of your supporters seem to have no trouble going towards.

By the way: Don't forget to visit Wasilla again at some point, because your children and your two grandchildren need you, ok?

+++

Many thanks to EyeOnYou and Kathleen for digging up valuable information!

+++

UPDATE 2:

(h/t cc !)

The prosecutor in this case specifically mentions the Obama/Biden bumpersticker in his affidavit:

"On 3-25-10 Harry Weisiger pulled up behind Mark Duren’s Toyota Camry at a stop sign. He blew his horn at Duren to get his attention. He then began to point at Duren’s OBAMA/BIDEN bumper sticker. He then began to stick up the middle finger of both of his hands to Duren. When Duren left the stop sign, Weisiger rushed up to him and began to bump his vehicle into Duren’s Camry. Weisiger then used his Vehicle to push Duren’s Camry into a driveway located at 2539 Blair Blvd. There was proprety damage to both vehicles and Defendant left the scene without stopping."

Screenshot:

Obama Bumer Sticker Road Rage - Affidavit Prosecutor

Damn these lefty activist prosecutors in Tennessee! ;-)
.

Monday 29 March 2010

Bullet holes, Christian "Hutaree" militiamen planning a campaign of terror and Sarah Palin's irresponsible rhetoric: Sad times in America

I was looking for a nice, pleasant topic for a new post, but I couldn't find it. The truth is that currently the right-wingers are showing their ugly face, and sadly, this could just be the beginning. At the same time, Sarah Palin continues to use her violent rhetoric. This can only further encourage militants who are already obsessed with the rise of "socialism" in the USA.

Let's take a look at the details. First, Palin's crowd in Searchlight, Nevada has come "under scrutiny". Not very surprising, if you have seen the video with Sarah's full speech in Nevada - it clearly was an event "made for rednecks". Political Carnival today published a story about the fact that amongst the stuff for sale at the event with Sarah Palin in Nevada were also little black "bone head" flags with Obama's face on it and a bullet hole next to it - here is the video:



+++

However, a much bigger story was also made public today.

We would like to take a close look at the details of another event which was reported today, and which should shock everybody -The Daily Beast wrote:

"Militiamen Wanted to Kill Cops

When federal officials arrested eight Christian militiamen in Michigan over the weekend, there were reports that they were charged with plotting to attack Islamic groups. Those reports were incorrect; they were planning something much larger, what The New York Times calls “an alleged plot to murder law-enforcement officers in hopes of setting off an anti-government uprising.” Court filings show that the men planned to kill a police officer and then to use an improvised explosive device like the ones used by Iraqi insurgents to attack the officer’s funeral. The indictment says the group, known as the Hutaree, thought that local and state police were “foot soldiers” for the federal government, which was part of a “New World Order.” One suspect in the plot is still at large."

Read the longer story in the New York Times HERE.

This made us curious, and we wanted to know more. Who are these people? What are their motivations and their backgrounds? Kathleen and I started to look around for more information.

What we found deeply shocked us, and it will shock you, too.

On the website of the Detroit Free Press we found all the gruesome details - and even more important, the complete federal indictment which has now been made public.

How did it all start? The Detroit Free Press reports:

"David Brian Stone, 45, the alleged leader of the group, appeared in U.S. District Court today and was ordered held without bail pending a Wednesday bond hearing.

Stone’s ex-wife, Donna Stone, 44, of Adrian, said David Stone’s growing fascination with the Hutaree group caused her to leave the marriage.

She said he went from teaching people how to use handguns to talking about the end of the world.

“It started out as a Christian thing," Donna Stone said. "You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think David started to take it a little too far. He dragged a lot of people with him. When he got carried away, when he went from handguns to big guns, I was done."

“I just couldn’t go along with what he believed in,” Donna Stone said.

She said her biological son David Brian Stone Jr., who is David Sr.’s adopted son, was brainwashed by David Sr."

So what exactly are the allegations?

You can download the original copy of the Federal Indictment HERE.

Here are some screenshots - these are just part of the allegations:

Michigan - Indictment - front page

Michigan - milita indictment 2

Michigan - milita indictment 1

Hutaree in Michigan - indictment 3

Hutaree in Michigan - indictment 4

Here are pictures of some of the defendants:

Michigan - pictures of accused

There is also a slideshow, showing the defendants and giving more details about them.

This is a picture of the house of the leader of the Hutaree, David Brian Stone. Note the rifle which is leaning against the washing machine:

hutaree - home of leader

This is a picture from one of the raids in Michigan on March 28, 2010:

Michigan - Raid picture


From the precise allegations in the indictment it is clear to us that the authorities had at least one "spy" in this group. I hope that all milita groups in the USA are now shitting themselves...

The website of the Hutaree is still online. This is a screenshot from the front page:

Hutaree website first page

This is their mission statement:

"About Us

HUTAREE; Christian Warrior

As christians we all are a part of the Souls of the Body of Christ, the one true church of Christ. Not any specific man made building or any man controlled organization. This is the belief of the Hutaree soldier, as should the belief of all followers in Christ be.

We believe that one day, as prophecy says, there will be an Anti-Christ. All christians must know this and prepare, just as Christ commanded. Luke 22:35-37, And He said to them, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?” So they said, “Nothing.” 36, Then he said to them, “But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. 37, “For I say to you that this which is written must be accomplished in me: ‘And He was numbered with transgressors,’ For the things concerning Me have an end.” This clearly states the reason for the training and preparation of the Hutaree.

Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment. The only thing on earth to save the testimony and those who follow it, are the members of the testimony, til the return of Christ in the clouds. We, the Hutaree, are prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren’t. We will still spread the word, and fight to keep it, up to the time of the great coming.

Being Hutaree is to stay the Testimony of Christ alive, and follow a motto, John15:13, “Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” We are hoping that through this website we can reach out to those who have not the word of God and those who are lost in there ideas of Christ. Many of the things Christ said would happen have happened and some things are still in the works of happening.

We all must know that we all carry a cross and a soldiers cross is just as heavy as any other. Just as Jesus did we must also carry our cross to our destination our life abounds us to. All people are givin a destination by God’s will and have to continue there walk to there own golgotha. But many people, even christians don’t agree with the things we do but all we have to say is, we will not argue over the Bible, read it for what it is. We believe only what the Bible says and not on only philosophy, as many christians of this day do. Christ is our king of kings and top general of all things, for we are not of this world but we live in it.

The Hutaree will one day see its enemy and meet him on the battlefield if so God wills it. We will reach out to those who are yet blind in the last days of the kingdoms of men and bring them to life in Christ. Daniel 11:32-35, “Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. 33, “And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. 34, “Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join them by intrigue. 35 “And some of those of understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the appointed time.”

You can find the news we find in some of the places we have in the information sources section. Also you can get gear from some of the choice places we have on gear links. Thanks for coming to Hutaree.com and please come again. Oh and don’t forget that you can write us through the contact us link on the Hutaree homepage. Once again thanks for visiting Hutaree.com and may Christ bless you widely."

It is clear that these "Christians" planned nothing else other than a Taliban-like terror campaign.

However, they are professed Christians.

This should be a shock to everyone - but I don't think that somebody like Sarah Palin and her followers will be impressed. After all, "Christian warriors" in general are part of "her crowd". Some seem to have gone "astray" here - this surely was an "unforeseeable accident", right...?

The youtube channel of the "Hutaree" is still online - they have four videos uploaded, including this one. That's what they think about the "United Nations in America":



The video has been online since June 30, 2009.

I do hope that right-wing politicians in the USA look very closely at these facts and will learn from them. Hopefully this will stop them from using violent rhetoric, because this "crosshair-talk" can only encourage other Christian extremists - and surely there are more of them in the USA.

But I won't hold my breath that somebody like Sarah Palin will be moved and will change her ignorant and dangerous behavior.

What should also be taken into account is that it's incredibly difficult to spot the nutcases:

"Police swarmed a rural, wooded property around 7 p.m. Saturday outside Adrian, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit, said Evelyn Reitz, who lives about a half-mile away. She said several police cars, with lights flashing, were still there Sunday evening and 15 to 20 officers were stationed in the area.

Neighbor Jane Cattell said she came home from the movies Saturday night and a helicopter was circling above, its spotlight illuminating her house. She and her sister, Sarah Holtz, wouldn’t say who lived in the home but said they knew them from riding their horses past their house.

“They’re your average, nice neighbors,” Holtz said."

+++

UPDATE:

The ink on this post is not even dry, and I can already make an update. Our great readers have spotted a video by another crazy militant which was posted yesterday (March 28) in direct response to the raids in Michigan. This woman is for real, she has posted 158 videos on youtube so far, she clearly is batshit crazy, and she is also a Christian militant. From the video description you can see that the video directly refers to the raids in Michigan.



Screenshot from part of the video description:

militant video - description

And Sarah Palin? Well, we don't have to search long. This woman also had the "great idea" to create an animated video called the "Sarah Palin Show".

militant with Sarah Palin show in videos
militant - screenshot Sarah Palin show
Here it is:



+++

UPDATE 2:

Surprise!


I just had to post them as well - I had no idea what a proper milita wedding could look like! ;-)

Enjoy. :-)

(h/t kellygrrrl)

hutaree-wedding2

hutaree-bride (1)

hutaree-couple

+++

TPM has also published an extremely interesting article about the fact that the "Hutaree" were not just an outside fringe group like the other militas now claim:

"The Hutaree were apparently ensconced right smack in the middle of the militia movement," said Potok.

Potok explained that the more secular militia groups foresee an impending catastrophe in the form of the federal government confiscating weapons, imposing martial law, and herding those who resist into concentration camps. Ultimately, he said, they fear that the U.S. will be subsumed into a socialistic "One World Order," under supra-national bodies like the U.N. or the EU.

"The only difference with the Hutarees is that they put this millenial spin on it," Potok said. In their version, the coming catastrophe involves the appearance of the Anti-Christ, but groups like the U.N. and E.U. are also vilified -- as we've noted. "It's very much the same idea."

Operationally, the Hutaree appears to have at least some ties to the broader movement. Potok said that the group's Facebook page, now removed, listed a large number of well-known militia groups as friends. And he noted that the federal indictment released yesterday referred to a recent aborted effort by Hutaree members to attend a militia summit in Kentucky.

In addition, as we've reported, Kristopher Sickles, one of the nine Hutaree members to be charged, has in the past released videos in which he refers to himself as a member of the "Ohio Militia," and calls for people to arm themselves and march on Washington. In one of the videos, Sickles thanks members of the Michigan militia for the use of a training ground.

+++

UPDATE 3:

Although the "Michigan Militia" and the "South Michigan Volunteer Milita" (SMVM) now frantically distance themselves from the Hutaree, calling them a "cult", a spokesperson of the SMVM confirms in this video that they have trained together with the Hutaree in the past. This interview was conducted before the exact allegations against the Hutaree were made public:



Also, amongst the very few "misc. links" which the Hutaree have posted on their website was also a link to the Michigan Milita, which is another indication that they considered them to be friends (click to enlarge):

.

Sunday 28 March 2010

Message to Kristan Cole: It's time to release the records of Sarah Palin's Alaska Fund Trust! - UPDATE!

John McCain recently had a great idea!


"When will Hayworth release the names of his Secret Abramoff Trust Fund donors?"

Well, we don't know the answer either, and we don't really care who has donated to teabagger Hayworth.

But John inspired us and we thought that we at Palingates should have a clock, too!

Why? Because Sarah Palin's best friend Kristan Cheryl Cole is now 249 days overdue with disclosing "the contributions as well as the amounts and categories of expenses" of the "Alaska Fund Trust", Sarah's "legal defense fund". Kristan Cole is the trustee of this fund, and she is obliged to make the disclosure on a quarterly basis, according to the Trust Agreement -from the FAQ:

"8. Will there be any disclosure of contributions and expenses?

Yes. The Trustee will disclose on a quarterly basis the contributions as well as categories of expenses with amounts."


The Alaska Fund Trust was set up on April 22, 2009. The first report was therefore due on July 23, 2009. That's when we start our sweet clock:



Coincidentally, Kristan Cole made a public statement on July 22, 2009 - but this statement had nothing to do with her obligation to release the quarterly report.

Kristan Cole was forced to speak in public after the report of the attorney Thomas Daniel was leaked to the media. He was the investigator for the Alaska Personnel Board during the investigation of Kim Chatman's ethics complaint. Kristan Cole denied that Palin was "involved" in the Alaska Trust Fund. Sure! I think we believe in the Easter bunny as well! Back in July 2009, Mudflats published an excellent article questioning these statements of Kristan Cole.

Investigator Daniel reported that there is "probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund." Download Daniel's original report HERE.

Since then - silence!

However, it's worth to take a closer look at the Alaska Trust Fund again.

It has been noted before that Sarah's practical "Legal Defense Fund" is in fact nothing more than a handy slush-fund for her and her family. The "Trust Agreement" leaves no open questions in this respect:

"3. Rights of Withdrawal

a) Each of the beneficiaries of this trust, shall, in each calendar year, have an absolute and unrestricted power to withdraw from this Trust up to the lesser of the total additions made to this Trust during each calendar year or an amount in cash or other property (including the cash value of life insurance policies, if no other cash or property is available) equal the lesser of the total additions made to this Trust during each calendar year, divided equally among such beneficiaries, or an amount in cash or other property (including the cash value of life insurance policies, if no other cash or property is available) equal to the maximum amount which qualifies for the Federal Gift Tax exclusion allowed by Section 2503(b) of the Code (currently $13,000 per donor, but such amount shall be adjusted to provide the maximum amount excludable) presuming that a donor's spouse, if any, has consented to treat any such eligible gifts as being made one-half by such donor and one-half by such donor's spouse. The holder(s) of such power are hereinafter referred to as "Donee". Except as otherwise provided herein, said power of withdrawal shall not be cumulative from year to year, must be exercised separately for each calendar year in which any such addition or additions are made, and shall be exercisable only by written notice to Trustee of the amount Donee wishes to withdraw, but no purpose for said withdrawal need be shown.

4. Beneficiary.

The beneficiaries of this Trust shall be SARAH PALIN. In addition, the class of potential beneficiaries shall include any "Covered Individual. For purposes hereof, a "Covered Individual shall be any other person determined by the Trustee, in the Trustee's sole and absolute discretion, to (i) hold a "covered staff' position within SARAH PALIN's administration and/or an employee in the office of the Governor of the State of Alaska; and (ii) hold a covered relationship with SARAH PALIN, including without limitation, a family member, such as a parent, spouse, child, grandchild, sibling and other close family relationship. Notwithstanding anything contained herein to the contrary, in no event shall anyone other than the Trustee exercise control over the Trust property and, in no event shall any beneficiary receive tangible or intangible benefit from the Trust other than such benefit that is incident to or may have arisen out of the defraying, payment, or satisfaction of expenses as provided herein."

So: Sarah's whole family and other people can be granted to right to withdraw money - and "no purpose for the withdrawal need to be shown". How useful! A grifters dream. Regina published a detailed article about this topic on Palingates in July 2009 and about possible criminal consequences, which is worth to be revisited. Back then, Regina came to the conclusion:

"The website soliciting donations states that the money raised will be used only to pay certain legal expenses. The agreement says no such thing. The website states the money cannot be used for personal purposes. The agreement contains a clause that says otherwise."

So where are the quarterly reports? Kristan Cole doesn't need the permission of anybody else to release the reports, the "Trust Agreement" is clear in this respect:

"The Trustee is authorized and directed to release the amounts and categories of expenditures for the benefit of any beneficiary hereunder and the public on a quarterly basis."

Kristan Cheryl Cole: What are you waiting for?

Also: What happened to Kim Chatman's ethics complaint? Since July 2009, the public has heard nothing with regard to the outcome of the ethics complaint, despite the grave concerns of investigator Thomas Daniel. Do we need another clock?

Investigator Thomas Daniel expressed grave concerns in his report about the choice of Kristan Cole to become the Trustee:

Alaska Fund Trust - Daniel report screenshot Kristan Cole

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In addition, something else caught our eye.

In FAQ of the Trust, we also read:

"10. Where does the unspent money go?

Once the purposes of the Trust no longer exist, the Trustee, in her sole discretion, will donate unspent funds to qualified 501 (c)(3) organizations."


So, we asked ourselves: What exactly is a "501(c)(3) organization"?

Wikipedia knows - the general definition:

"Colloquially, a 501(c) organization or simply "a 501(c)" is a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation or association. Section 501(c) of the United States Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)), provides that 26 types of nonprofit organizations are exempt from some federal income taxes. Sections 503 through 505 set out the requirements for attaining such exemptions. Many states refer to Section 501(c) for definitions of organizations exempt from state taxation as well."

501(c)(3) in particular means: "Religious, Educational, Charitable, Scientific, Literary, Testing for Public Safety, to Foster National or International Amateur Sports Competition, or Prevention of Cruelty to Children or Animals Organizations"

We found this extremely interesting - and I will tell you why: We recently learned from a reliable source in Alaska that the Palins set up an educational fund for Tripp, and they are directing some of their income to this fund - for example the $ 100,000 that Bristol received for her cover story in "In Touch" magazine! Our information is that this fund is supposed to pay Tripp's college/university expenses in the future.

Bristol Palin "In Touch Weekly" cover story

So - can it be that some of the money of the Alaskan Fund Trust will eventually go in the trust for Tripp or in similar channels that the Palins have created? After all, they are very creative regarding their money affairs, with the invaluable assistance of Sarah's busy lawyer Thomas Van Flein, who is the "registered agent" of Sarah's mystery company "Pie Spy" as well as of Bristol's mystery company "BSMP".

EDIT: We just learned that 501(c)(3) can only benefit an organization, therefore the theory that it could benefit Tripp's educational fund is apparently not valid. Many thanks to our reader "AuntieRuth"!

Our second theory is, by the way, that Sarah Palin will eventually set up her own charitable organization which will then receive the money. ;-)

Kristan Cole, publish the reports! After all, you have nothing to hide, right?

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UPDATE:

Our reader "mxm" has left a very interesting comment, which I would like to add to the post for the discussion. I would also like to point out that the Alaska Trust Fund is still accepting donations via PayPal (some of our readers made test donations today via PayPal - it worked!). Due to the lack of information and disclosure, we can only speculate what the current situation is with the Alaska Fund Trust. However, we do have Kristan Cole's own statement from July 22, 2009, in which she says:

"I am here to address the unusual letter that was leaked yesterday, the contents of which are unprecedented in the history of our country, suggesting that a legal defense fund could somehow be unethical. This is particularly notable, and concerning, in light of the fact that the Trust, on my instructions, has not paid even one penny to Gov. Palin or her lawyers. I issued that instruction because I was aware the Board was reviewing this matter."

Here is the comment by "mxm":

Kristan Cole is the sole Trustee, and as such she made commitments to the donors to provide quarterly reports. Anything related to trust fund use is under the sole discretion of Trustee Cole. As she has not released any reports in the nearly 12 month duration of the the trust, one has to search out sources of information related to the AFT cash flow. This is what I have found, 2 critical pieces of information:

(1) The bots conducted a webathon for the fund, and reported raising in excess of $115,000.

"You have already achieved 23% of our goal to retire $500,000 in legal bills that Governor Palin is held personally responsible ..."

(2) SarahPAC paid some interesting legal invoices.

The Alaska legal firm Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen submitted 3 invoices to the PAC.

12/08/2009
Legal Services, Political Services, June
$45,000

12/08/2009
Legal Services, September
$10,000

12/08/2009
Legal Services November
$10,000

Attorneys with Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, and Tiemessen must have a greater degree of PAC and political experience than the consultants and specialized attorneys Sarah Palin paid to advise her PAC. The firm was paid $65,000 in December 2009.

Diane Cooley provided legal services to the PAC and was paid $4,060.

Baker & Hostetler provided legal services to the PAC and was paid $13,500.

From these two facts, I surmise that the AFT is either frozen or broke. If frozen, as a result of the yet unresolved ethics complaint, then it may hold at least $115,000. If the AFT is broke, and it was used to pay Palin's self-claimed legal bills of $500,000, then the PAC was tapped to pay some more personal legal bills.

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UPDATE 2:

In this post, we didn't mention so far that there were actually two ethics complaints filed against Sarah Palin because of the Alaska Fund Trust. It was not only Kim Chatman who filed a complaint, but Andree McLeod filed a second complaint in December 2009. You can download the full text of Andree's complaint HERE.

The outcome of the second complaint is unknown as well - nobody knows what's going on. No information has been given to the public.

Although Sarah Palin has "left the building", her hand-picked appointments like her chief of staff, Attorney General, and every commissioner have not. They are still playing fast and loose with the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, and continue to protect and defend Palin’s political interests when it comes to complaints regarding her "legal defense fund".
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Sarah Palin runs out of steam in Nevada, and hecklers experience the limits of freedom of speech - UPDATE! Letter from "heckler" Ethan Elder!

Sarah Palin had a busy day. In the morning, she campaigned in Arizona together with John McCain. For them, the event didn't go as planned. During her speech, Sarah Palin was heckled - twice. When the first heckling happened, her voice immediately changed to that of a mean schoolgirl with the high-pitched sound we know all too well:



The heckler, Ethan Elder from Arizona, was brutally removed from the hall. Here is a picture:

Sarah Palin's heckler in Arizona forcefully removed from the hall - March 27, 2010

UPDATE!

We have a new video showing the heckling and the removal of Ethan Elder - and this time, it's even more shocking! It becomes much clearer how aggressively the crowd behaved towards Ethan - mob rule! The video includes some annotations by a Palinbot. Watch (I recommend full screen!):



ANOTHER UPDATE!

A new video has emerged, which shows even better how violently Ethan Elder, who was walking to the exit already at this point, was grabbed by Palin's and McCain's supporters and then removed from the hall.

Ethan also told me in an email-message today that he is considering a lawsuit because of the violation of his rights. I would say, go for it, Ethan!

He also told me today that he and his friend Alex are very happy about the strong support coming from the blogsphere.



As it turns out, he was there together with a second young man called Alex who later heckled Sarah Palin during her speech again. Here is the video of the second heckler being wrestled to the ground, subdued, arrested and escorted away:



ABC15.com has more details:

"But just as Palin took the podium, hecklers began to disrupt the former Alaska governor.

Witnesses said one of the hecklers was pulled up by the hair by a McCain/Palin supporter.

As the man -- who said his name is Alex -- was taken out of the auditorium, he is seen in video being tackled by three men, one identified as a police officer in plain clothes, a man in a McCain T-shirt, and another man.

Witnesses say another protestor was also punched by someone in the crowd.

Ethan Elder was taken into custody by police, but was later released.

Police say no arrests were made and nobody is facing charges.

"I shouted my message. My intention was to speak my political opinion and leave peacefully," Elder said. "I was immediately assaulted by the crowd. They turned angry and belligerent."

Some protestors complained that the Palin/McCain supporters who attacked them were not taken into custody or charged by police.

Meantime, McCain supporters called some of the protestors rude and wondered why they would attend a rally for McCain if they don't agree with him.

Alex said the group of detractors went to the rally with the intent of disrupting Saturday's event."

On the first youtube video above which I posted in my "doublegrandmapalin" youtube account, Ethan Elder aka "azcarpetman" commented 3 hours ago:

"Let me just say that I was the who shouted "He sold us to the corporations in the bail out bill" I was physically assaulted and put into a choke hold by fans. Then i was led outside and cuffed. I was not charged with anything. My friend is in the other video being arrested as well. People need to wake up."

I believe that this comment is genuine. UPDATE: An internet search has confirmed that "azcarpetman" is indeed Ethan Elder, the first heckler! His friend Alex in the second video shouted "I hate Obama. I don't like Obama. I'm a libertarian!", therefore it's obvious that these protesters don't consider themselves to be liberals, but neither are they McCain supporters. It's rather telling that the hecklers were libertarians, as these people are sometimes regarded as the "real" teabaggers. Sarah Palin and John McCain however claimed in their speeches today that the teabaggers are part of the Republican party - and therefore they try to "suffocate" the teabaggers at the same time. The brutal treatment of these protesters is almost symbolic.

It doesn't matter for us whether these protesters are libertarians or Obama fans. Their treatment was despicable. Sarah Palin and her faithful Palinbots have no interest in freedom of speech. You have the right to hail Queen Sarah - if you don't agree with her, you could face a rough time. I was pretty shocked, as were some of our commenters on Palingates today, that the crowd in Arizona in the morning was in a "nazi like frenzy". Where is this supposed to lead? This looked like the competition "Who is the biggest demagogue in town".

In the afternoon, Sarah Palin spoke in Nevada, in Harry Reid's district, and she delivered what was one of the worst speeches of her career. It was clearly not her day, and she tried her best to spew as much vitriol at the "Obama/Pelosi/Reid gang" as she could. Her voice was a mess, her talking points were moronic, she was glued to her script, and I am pretty sure that Harry Reid had a good laugh:


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UPDATE:

On his facebook, Ethan Elder gives more details about what happened and about his opinions, - and he clearly is not publicity shy ;-) His facebook also confirms that he has libertarian views.

"Watch!!!!!! ALEX AND I ARRESTED AND ASSAULTED AT MCCAIN RALLY!!! WAKE UP!! WATCH MY INTERVIEW AND OTHER VID. IT WILL BE ON NEWS."

"This is me yelling at palin. I said "John Mccain sold us out to the corporations in the bail out bill" Then as i tried to leav, i was attacked by the attendees. They put me in a choke hold until unmarked cops came and cuffed me. Wake up people, watch the news for my interview."

"Alex and I protested and heckled mccain and palin. This is what happens to us. More to come. Watch the news. Wake up america, the movment is beggining"

This was the "public preparation" on facebook for the events today:

"Anyone want to crash john Mccain and Sarah Palins rally this saturday at Dobson High. The more the better. Lets give this neo-con some quality advice. I cant wait to see him stammer in frustration in front of the whole audience lmfao!!! I'm serious though so dont tell me you will come if you wont."

"you want to join anthony? We are up to nine people so far. At staggared intervals we could interrupt his entire speech. Mccain is a self-righteos lying turncoat son of a bitch. Palin is his ignorant celebrity gimp for arousing bored christian mothers"

"crash them! lol. it would be hard on your lonesome. Im talking to my frineds parents today who are hardcore libeterians that might come to. they support either way."


UPDATE 2:

A few hours ago, I contacted "azcarpetman" Ethan Elder over youtube. At this point I was still asking for a confirmation of his identity, which is now not in doubt any more.

I am happy to say that Ethan Elder just responded to me, and the following is what he wrote (unedited). Thanks a lot, Ethan! Here is his message:

"Hi Patrick

Please excuse the grammatical and syntax errors as I have been responding to people all day. I guess I'll start with introductions. I am Ethan Elder, a freshman at ASU majoring in Industrial Engineering. As far as proof goes, you are free to look at my facebook page. Also, abc15.com covered the event with a less slanted angle and included my name. My friend and I do not support either the Democrats or the Republicans. If you could, please make it clear that I am in no way a Obama Supporter.

I attended the rally to voice my opinion peacefully. I feel that John Mccain represents a neoconservtive movement that has infiltrated the republican party and tainted conservative principles. The exact words I yelled out was : "He( mccain) sold us to the corporations in the bail out bill". I yelled several more times in response to Palins dismissal and then attempted to leave. I was then attacked by the nearby supporters arround me. I was pulled, shoved and punched in multiple directions and then a man came up from behind and put me in a headlock. I nearly past out, but wasnt concerned about that (to tell you the truth I was glad that they exposed their immaturity and irrationality).

I assaulted no one, and used no explicit language inside the building. One of the men who came up and grabbed me was an unmarked cop ( the man without a hat) and led me out. I was then thrown to the ground and arrested in the same manner as my friend. I was confused because since the cops failed to identify themselves till later, I had no idea who they were. Again, only one unmarked cop grabbed me from inside. The rest were Angy protesters.

I could of pressed charges for assault but chose not to. After i left and the speech continued, my friend yelled out as well after Palin remarked on the deficit. he said from something along the lines of "The war on terror is whats putting us in debt". He was then also attacked by the crowd and thrown outside. My local nbc news channel has an exccellent angle of the physical assaults he recieved inside from the attendees. We also have a video from the other end of the bleachers of him we have yet to compile and post. We were detained there, then we were both released without any charges. As for my motivations? Mccain is a neocon. Palin is as well. They do not represent conservative values. They preach war mongering and fallacious misconstrued information about there involvement with the financial collapse. This is just a summary, I would be willing to provide a more adequate account concering my motivations however if you have any specific questions."


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UPDATE 3:

Want to see some REAL hecklers? Just take a look at the teabaggers, Sarah Palin's crowd. They love to exercise their right of free speech, love to scream at members of Congress, harrass them and to spit on them. Spit on them? Well, Fox News didn't believe it, and Tea Party groups offered a $ 15k reward for proof of the incident!

It looks like they will have to cough up the money - Huffington Post now released the video of the incident:



The teabaggers are a mob, nothing else - free speech only applies to them. See what happens if somebody shows dissent - they DO NOT appreciate it at all:



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UPDATE 4:

I just spotted something. On the video with the spitting incident I just posted above, from about 2:20 onwards, you can clearly see a flag in the background which is a variation of the original nazi swastika flag. These type of flags are very popular amongst neo nazis so that they don't have to display the real swastika - it's a code:

This flag or a variant which is very, very close has actually been used at a violent incident in Los Angeles before, as we learn from this educational website about flags.

Here is a comparison between the already know nazi-symbol (as explained on this website) and the flag that was shown at the teabaggers rally in Washington (many thanks to EyeOnYou!):

nazi-flags comparison

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EDIT:

I was forced to make an addition to "update 4" because I have seen in comments which were left on the "Congressman spitting" youtube video and also on blogs that some people persistently claim that the flag in the background is not a nazi flag, but the state flag of Tennessee!

Well, here is the state flag of Tennessee - does it look ANYTHING like that? Do you people need new glasses or what? Look:

Tennessee state flag 1

Tennessee state flag 2

Anybody who still claims that the flag in the background is the state flag of Tennessee has to be either blind or ignorant...

(end of edit)

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Why am I not surprised?

But Sean Hannity would probably say now: "What? This good American just doesn't discriminate against the color red and was creative!"
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Saturday 27 March 2010

Sarah Palin and TLC - Perfect Together

By Virgina Voter

Let me begin this post by acknowledging and commending the members of the Palingates community who wrote to Discovery Networks to protest Sarah's deal for eight episodes. My take is a little more "glass half full". I would encourage readers to head on over to the TLC website and take a look at their show lineup - www.tlc.discovery.com.


When TLC first came on air, they did shows about women giving birth, life saving medical procedures, and weddings. The network has devolved into a tabloidish look at the lives of the physically challenged, dysfunctional families, and psychologically disturbed individuals with shows like The Little Couple, Hoarders-Buried Alive, and I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant. Often, characters on the network cross promote themselves on other shows. This is where Sarah and the Palin family can really shine, and it is quite literally a marriage made in heaven with endless possibilities for entertainment. For example, the Duggar family (of 19 Kids and Counting) traveled to New York City to visit the Kleinfeld bridal boutique (of Say Yes to the Dress) so Michelle Duggar could get a dress for her vow renewal, and Kate Gosselin and her kids traveled to Baltimore to make cakes at the "Ace of Cakes" bakery, Charm City.

TLC shows

The Palins can provide their unique Wasillabilly charm to many TLC shows:

"What Not To Wear"- Undercover cameras will follow Sarah around in her many "fashion don'ts". We'll watch as hosts Clinton and Stacy confront Sarah about her hideous garments and get her dressed in the 360 degree mirror in all her favorite outfits. They'll rip her to shreds, and make fun of her rose petal jacket, Fidel Castro hat, crushed velvet Hogwarts coat, and purple suede boots. Sarah will have to throw everything away...she will accuse Stacy and Clinton of being evil libruls paid by Axelrod and Obama. The audience can watch in delight as Sarah's hair extensions are removed. The makeup artist will tell Sarah that less is more, and orange is the color of fruit, not blush.

"Toddlers & Tiaras"- Piper Palin will finally be the one in the spotlight as she competes in the Little Miss Perfect Pageant. Sarah will hire a fabulous gay pageant coach and tell him that she doesn't believe that he has the right to legally get married. Piper will get a fake tan, fake hair, and fake teeth and sport her mom's Oprah show hair style. Piper gets perfect scores for her pageant wave (she's had alot of practice) and tells the crowd in the interview portion that when she grows up she wants to be a common sense conservative, because it pays lots of money. She says she doesn't know what it means, but that doesn't stop her Mom. When Piper gets crowned Miss Congeniality, Sarah storms up to the stage to make a speech about the evils of Obamacare.

19 Kids and Counting- The Palin family will travel to Arkansas for Sunday church and dinner with the Duggars. Sarah, Bristol and Willow will get "make-unders" as they are stripped of their high heels,daisy dukes, tight tees, jeans, and makeup and forced to wear ankle length skirts and flats. After church Michelle and Sarah swap labor and delivery stories. Michelle's jaw hits the floor when Sarah tells her "Wild Ride" fable. Piper cries when it's time to leave...she wants to stay and play with the Duggar kids, most of her mom's trips are spent with old people.

Kate plus Eight (Jon's off the new show)- Kate Gosselin welcomes Sarah to Pennsylvania for a few days of grifting, lying, and general media whoredom. They hang out together tanning on Kate's front lawn waiting for paparazzi to show up, then pretend they don't want to be photographed. Kate and Sarah realize they are soul sisters. They both have ghostwritten crappy books. They have a penchant for hair extensions, tanning, working out, and using their kids as props. The dynamic duo have a "who has been on the most tabloid covers contest" and try to one up each other on how much free swag they've scored. Kate and Sarah swap tips on how to get other people to pay for everything. Kate decides to start a PAC because she wants to run for governor of Pennsylvania (well not really, but her fans don't need to know that). Unfortunately, by the end of the episode, they try to out Diva one another, and a huge cat fight ensues.

AND FINALLY- I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant....that episode has already been written.

Sarah Palin on 1 March 2008 !!
Sarah Palin on March 1, 2008


Sarah Palin on 14 March 2008 - Screenshot 2
Sarah Palin on March 14, 2008


Nail  in the coffin picture - LARGE 2
Sarah Palin on March 26, 2008


Gusty pic - crop
Sarah Palin on April 13, 2008

This is just a start to the endless possibilities for cheap entertainment. I have watched many of these TLC shows, and I can tell you that no one comes out looking good. Perhaps the TLC executives see the same potential I do.
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