Celebrating real American Thanksgiving together with Kim Chatman in Ramstein, Germany

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!

I hope that you all had a wonderful day, and in case you thought that Kathleen and I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving in Germany, then you were very mistaken! ;-)

We used this opportunity to see the first of our new Alaskan friends in person - Kim Chatman, who has the achievement of having filed the only completely successful ethics complaint against Sarah Palin in history, the complaint against her "Alaska Fund Trust", Sarah's first legal defense fund.

As a result of this ethics complaint, investigator Tim Petumenos wrote a devastating report. In addition, Sarah Palin had to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars back to the donors, money she could have used otherwise just for about everything she wanted, due to the setup of the "Alaska Fund Trust" as a "slush fund" for the Palin family.

Kim Chatman recently moved the Ramstein, Germany, where she will be working for the next 3-5 years as a civilian in the military at the local US base. She is living here together with five of her seven kids. It's not easy at the moment for the children to get used to the completely new environment, but at least Kim found a spacious, very nice house, which makes things a bit easier. In addition to the kids, three little dogs also ensure that a lively household is in operation. ;-)

Our visit was the opportunity to celebrate our first American thanksgiving, and also get to know Kim Chatman much better. Let's start with the food - it was simply fantastic, and there was a lot, of course:

We also had "real" Americans drinks with "real" ingredients... ;-)

Together with all the guests, we were about 15 people, and we had great fun.

The visit was of course also an opportunity to get to know Kim Chatman much better, and to talk for example about Sarah Palin. Regarding Kim, I would like to highlight that fact that she has been working for the military for 30 years in total, including 15 years of active duty in the Air Force. I believe that this fact should be emphasized, as Sarah Palin seems to believe that all soldiers admire her, and on a regular basis uses "the troops" as a tool to silence her perceived opponents - for example when she addressed the media in her final speech as Alaska's Governor:

"Democracy depends on you. And that is why, that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up."

(Meaning: Media making things up = Media reporting the ugly truth about Sarah Palin.)

But not all soldiers are fans of Sarah Palin - far from it.

Kim showed us some "souvenirs" from her military career.

That's her with seventeen years, after she had joined the US Air Force:

San Antonio, Texas, in 1978:

Her first dog tag:

Here is an unusal "souvenir" - in the "old days", members of the forces were apparently sent the following letter when a baby was born:

Kim Chatman became a fierce opponent of Sarah Palin after it became obvious during Palin's time as Governor of Alaska that Palin is a liar and a phony. Interestingly, one of the "crucial" moments was when Kim Chatman and her kids saw Sarah Palin at the Elmendorf Air Force base in Alaska, shortly after Palin had announced her surprising pregnancy on March 5, 2008. Kim Chatman realized immediately that Sarah Palin was not pregnant at all, and this became a turning point for her. Kim recently went on the record about this incident when she gave Palingates in September 2010 the permission to publish her comments about it:

In addition, Kim Chatman tweeted in September:

Also:

Kim's opposition to Sarah Palin had consequences: For example, after she filed the ethics complaint because of the "Alaska Fund Trust", several friends in Alaska turned away from her. But Kim is as determined as ever and was well aware that her opposition could have undesirable effects. She was also not afraid to turn up at Sarah Palin's book signing in December 2009 at the Elmendorf base, identify herself and get four copies of "Going Rogue" signed (her daughter Kayla even showed up wearing an Obama t-shirt).

Today, she gave one of the books as a present to us, signed by Sarah and Todd:

We already know what we are going to do with this signed copy of "Going Rogue." More details later!

Enjoy the rest if your holiday, Gaters! :-)

+++

Update (November 27):

Kathleen and I returned today from Ramstein. We stayed one day longer as planned, and we had a wonderful time. We talked with Kim about many topics regarding Sarah Palin, and with a bit of luck, we might meet her and her family soon again.

When we see Kim again, I plan to do a taped interview with her, because she has a lot to tell, and she is not afraid of anything. If more people in Alaska had as much courage as Kim, Sarah Palin would already be history. There are a few courageous people in AK (mainly women, actually), but there need to be many more.

Kim Chatman was, by the way, a lifelong Republican until 2008, but due to the Republican madness which then started in combination with the promising rise of Barack Obama, for whom she and her family campaigned, she then changed her registration to Democrat. Kim says that she never cared too much for politics before Sarah Palin was chosen by John McCain, but afterwards, the impact these events had on her life was huge.

The visit also gave Kathleen and me some new insights into contemporary African-American culture, as all of Kim's children are African-American. We watched for example movies by Tyler Perry, which was a great discovery, as Tyler Perry is an incredibly fascinating and inspirational person.

So hopefully we will be able to meet Kim and her family very soon again!

.

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!

He put a running clock on his website, with the question:

"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:

+++

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.

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?

+++

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.

+++

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".

.

Sarah Palin's week in pictures

It's been an interesting week for Sarah Palin in Wasilla. She signed books, banned people from her book signing and served Christmas dinner to the less fortunate...

Let the pictures tell the story.

Sarah signing books, helped by Todd and Juanita Fuller

Some people were allowed in and distributed pamphlets, posters, gathered signatures for petitions and had a jolly good time.

(Photos by Bill Hess)

(Photo by Kim Chatman)

Others weren't so lucky. Todd provided a list of people who weren't welcome at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

There were four names on Todd's list. Gryphen and Dennis showed up, the others didn't.

Gryphen, from Immoral Minority

Dennis Zaki and Shannyn Moore

Andree McLeod was too busy to attend

One person wasn't prevented from entering the sports center, but her signs were confiscated and destroyed. Dawn was threatened with arrest for disturbing the peace. On the plus side, Dawn could display her beautiful t-shirt and got her flu jab!

(photo by Kim Chatman)

...I turned up at 12 in my Sarah Palin LIAR shirt & with 2 signs 1 of which had palingates.blogspot.com & 3 others with slogans. I planted them in the snow at the front door where I stood. After 45 min, bldg security told me to get rid of the signs cuz Palin’s publisher was paying $85/ hr for facility, (can’t remember exact amt )I said no. He said the cops would come. They were parked right there. I said FINE. They can just give me a ticket. Anyway, he took the signs before I could grab them since using a walker slows one down. He crumbled them up after refusing to return them to me. I did make him give me the sticks back.( one was my meter stick) . He asked for my ID. I refused. I told him I could stay out there & sing my slogans & he said I’d be taken for disturbing the peace. I didn’t sing cuz I really don’t & laughter was something I didn’t want to inspire. So, instead, SarahPalin LIAR shirt prominently displayed, I entered what I thought would be the lion’s den only to find an H1N1 flu clinic giving free flu shots. GEEZ. And lucky too cuz I had planned on getting one. The nurse filled out the form for me cuz I didn’t have my reading glasses on the picket line. I pulled my sleeve down for the shot hoping that with my SP LIAR shirt I wasn’t at the mercy of 1 of Sarah’s biggest fans. It didn’t hurt. The next 1/2 hr I spent displaying my shirt to a winding line of people passing by with their books to be signed. I talked with people getting flu shots, ate a few Palin Xmas cookies & let those in line see that yes, even in Wasilla, there was a real live person who considered Palin less than legitimate. Had I known there was a flu clinic going on, I would have been more aggressive about letting brown uniformed security man get my signs. Other than that, mission accomplished, at least on a personal level. (Comment by Dawn on Shannyn Moore's blog.)

UPDATE - Commenter William Henley, at C4P, disputes the photographic evidence shown here and issues a charming threat to detractors of Sarah Palin:

Sandra, you are lying out your a**. I was at the Wasilla book-signing. As a matter of fact I was there at 10 p.m. the night before and was in line at 05:30. I was one of two people who sat out there all night. The second person (Amy) got there at midnight. I was there through-out and not a single protester with signs showed up at anytime. No single person was there handing out oblabla/hitler pictures. You are nothing more than a lying bi**h and need to go to one of the sights that care for what you are lying about. Just as one of the security heads told me, if anyone started trouble they probably would not have survived. I and many others at the signing were carrying our sidearms. Mine happens to be a police special 357 mag. and I know how to use it and rather enjoy using it for the right reasons, i.e. protecting Sarah Palin and family.

(H/T to gunsmoke)


Sarah turned her hand at food serving at the same venue a few days later. She wore gloves, but somehow she never seems able to find a hairnet for these occasions. Maybe hairnets don't come in big enough sizes to contain her generous mane...

Yum..

Todd looks tired...

Sarah signing yet another copy of "Going Rogue"

Yes, all in all, it was a busy week for Sarah Palin. It provided a lot of material for the bloggers, as usual...

We can't wait for the New Year!

palingates censored at Sarah Palin's book signing in Wasilla

Celtic Diva has just published a post about Sarah Palin's book signing in Wasilla and what really went on inside the sports complex. Kim Chatman was there and reported on the lone protester who had her signs destroyed by Sarah's security people.

Palingates was censored...

+++

DAWN, YOU ARE OUR HERO!

Sole standard-bearer Dawn amongst the Paliban!

"Celtic Diva" Linda Kellen Biegel explains in her post:

"While we have now heard about the "banning" and are all wondering who else is on the list, no one has heard about the censorship part deux: according to the Anchorage Daily News:

'At the Wasilla signing, many people talked about "Sarah" like she's a member of the family. The only signs in sight had to do with conservative causes or Christmas.'
There's a reason for that: the lady pictured above had her three signs taken away from her (one of them said simply "palingates.blogspot.com"...the URL for a popular anti-Palin blog ), while whatever Conservative signs the media saw were allowed to remain. (I verified this when Kim (Chatman) handed her the phone and I got a chance to talk to her for a moment.)

So, to summarize...the reason the ADN only saw "Conservative or Christmas" signs is because the Palinistas took any signs with a different point of view...even if it only had the location of a website with a different view.

In protest, this brave lady stood by the door with her shirt in full view and took quite a bit of flack. Kim said it was all she could do to maintain control when she heard people actually ask:

"Why is that woman allowed to have that shirt on?"

Kim's reply:

"Have you ever heard of "freedom of speech?"

Anyone else thinks naming that group "Conservative Patriots" is a complete joke? Who is calling whom a Nazi?"

Thank you, Dawn, Kim and Linda!

+++

UPDATE:

The Quitter Queen has tweeted again, and her fantasy right-wing rhetoric certainly will appeal to the right wing-extremists who showed up to her book signing in Wasilla:

.

Kim Chatman is boots-on-the-ground at Palin's Elmendorf book signing

Linda Kellen Biegel, aka Celtic Diva, has two excellent posts about Sarah Palin's book signing at the Elmendorf base in Alaska. Linda has given us was kind permission to cross post them here.

From Twitpic

Kim Chatman, who filed the AK Fund Trust Ethics Complaint that should have gone to a hearing by now, decided to take her three teenagers and get some signatures from Palin.

It's been interesting tweeting her phone calls:

Kim from Elmendorf Palin book signing--2 hrs early & only 100 people in line. Kims kids only people of color & 1 wore Obama shirt. More ltr

Kim reports from Palin book-signing: full military security there including dogs--unusual 4 someone besides POTUS // R they tomato-sniffing?

Kim reports from Elmendorf--about 1000 there--Palin only signing 500 books-she "doesn't have time"--SPs w/ auto weapons & flack jackets

RT @giacomplex Only first 500 sure of getting books signed. She'll do 2 per person so that's 1,000 books./Doh UR right thx 4 correction

Kim at Elmendorf--woman wearing Palin paraphenalia we never knew existed--Then there R the women trying 2 look like her-creepy

At book signing--a-hole yelled at Kim's 13-yr-old daughter cause she got a wrist band (she's of color &has on Obama shirt)--She was crying

Kim from Elmendorf: Man scared her teenage daughter so she is now covering her Obama shirt w/coat--you know, our Commander in Chief?

Kim from Elmendorf: A friend in line comforted her teenage daughter & supported her wearing the Obama t-shirt--Kim close to getting sig now

Kim Chatman & family met Palin (w/Willow and Piper-no Trig)--Kim's daughter engaged in staredown with Willow--Obama shirt fully exposed

And when I say "Kim Chatman" met Palin--yes, I mean the "AK Fund Trust Ethics Complaint" Kim Chatman! She'll give me the pictures later.

Kim said NO WAY were there 2000 people--maybe whole building but most were there to Xmas shop, not see Palin. She says 1000 MAYBE.

Kim and her family went to get something to eat, then she'll call me back and I'll update the post with the details!

More on Palin's Elmendorf book-signing... Why so much security?... Also, sumary by Kim Chatman

Kim's daughter Kayla at the book-signing wearing an Obama t-shirt

I spent several hours today tweeting Kim Chatman's reports from Sarah Palin's book signing at Elmendorf. Tonight, Kim sent me a summary email (below) and several pictures she took on her cell phone.

A couple of comments before we get into Kim's email:

--During Gryph's and my meeting with Thomas Van Flein on Wednesday, he mentioned that Sarah Palin had received a "threat" a couple of weeks previous. (I almost said "Only one?" I have a number of threats among my emails, as do many of the other Alaska bloggers. And we now know that the Secret Service gets 500 threats a day against President Obama.) I'm guessing this is the justification that Palin is using to a) have these book-signings on base and b) get the large security contingent while there.

--However, I don't believe that those reasons are the "whole truth" when it comes to "why."

I believe it's the money.

For Sarah Palin or her publisher, HarperCollins to duplicate the same kind of logistics support and security she's been getting on the military facilities at a private venue, it would cost thousands of dollars. However, if she continues to have them on military bases, she CANNOT BRING PRIVATE SECURITY. ALL security must be done by the military or federal contractors.

And it's on the taxpayers dime.

So once again, Sarah Palin doesn't mind "government spending" as long as it's to her benefit!

A tomato-sniffing dog?

Kim talks about how she feels about all the security...and the shock at her daughter's treatment:

I'm still reliving my experience, ugh! I still don't think there were 2000 people there and I'm still surprised at the reaction of the people who seemed disturbed by Kayla's Obama shirt. An active member of the military in an Air Force uniform asked Kayla why she wore an Obama shirt at a Palin booksigning. When I told her that we were there to get books signed to sell on ebay and that we didn't support Sarah Palin, she got a look of disgust on her face and just kept staring at us.

I learned that many of the people there knew very little about Palin and I could hardly believe it. One couple I talked to said they've only been back in Alaska for three weeks, and they were there just...because. They knew absolutely nothing about Sarah Palin pro or con.

(Note from Linda: I'd like to find whatever rock they must have been living under this last year. What a vacation!)

You can see in the pictures the number of military SPs (Security Police--Air Force designation) that were there. I was absolutely stunned to discover that they had the street to the back of the Exchange blocked off. That just doesn't happen. You would have thought the President was in town.

A large number of Security Police were standing guard

I still don't get why the whole family has to travel with her. They, too, are basking in the limelight. Is that normal? Her children looked very bored, and Willow looked snotty...you could tell although she was bored the new lifestyle has truly gone to her head. It was surreal.

When I was in front of Palin, part of me wishes that I would have said my entire name...Kim Chatman. However, at the time, I kept looking at how her children were staring at everyone. I put myself in their position and I believed that REALLY introducing myself would have caused quite an uproar. I realized how it would have negatively effected them after they were already trapped there for hours. They are completely at the mercy of their mother and have to do like everyone else...either go with the Sarah flow or jump off the bus only unlike the adults around them they have no control.

By the way, I almost forgot to mention...People had gifts for her and the kids! She's a millionaire now so you bring gifts?

Kayla asked me on the way home If I thought that people were worshipping her more than God. What an interesting question from a teenager.

If Sarah Palin is so popular, why does she need this level of security?

I find it very offensive that somebody shouted and insulted a young person for wearing an Obama shirt. This event was held at a military base and President Obama is the Commander-in Chief.

According to the ADN, the signing was closed to the general public.

Anyone with access to Elmendorf or Fort Richardson can attend the Anchorage event. A military ID is needed for the Eielson signing, which will be held at the Army and Air Forces Exchange Service (AAFES) shopping center.

"The tour in no way reflects the Air Force's or AAFES' support commercially or politically for Gov. Palin. The event provides an opportunity for Gov. Palin to connect with fans, military members and their families," Eielson said in materials distributed to the news media.

Senior Airman David Carbajal of Elmendorf 3rd Wing public affairs said Palin wanted to have the event on base, and it was Elmendorf's decision to close it for security reasons.

"Being that we were told so late, we don't have time to prepare the base to be open to the general public," he said.

We have to conclude that the person who shouted at the young lady in the Obama t-shirt has military connections...

Sarah Palin should not be allowed to propagate her poisonous agenda on military bases, but as we have come to expect, rules that apply to everybody else don't appear to apply to her. "I do what I want until the courts tell me that I can't!"