Dairygate refreshed

I promised to review some of original gates involving Sarah Palin and put them into the context of more recent events. Only her record as a politician would produce gates as such. The suffix entered the English language because the first of all gates, Watergate, involved a politician, not a celebrity. Celebrities may produce scandals, not gates and are not accountable to voters. That's why we can't have a Twittergate or a Facebookgate. Sarah Palin doesn't hold any political office at the moment. She was chosen by half a dozen people to do what she's doing now as a celebrity. But she was elected by the people of Alaska to be their governor and will remain accountable to them for a few more months. Let's take a trip down memory lane and shine a fresh light on some of her deeds.

Dairygate

"We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands - where it should be." From Sarah Palin's resignation speech, July 3, 2009.

Since her resignation, Sarah Palin has criticized every effort president Obama has made to get the economy back on track and preserve jobs in some important industries. Sarah Palin doesn't like goverment and doesn't like bailouts.

Matanuska Maid was a state run dairy. It was failing and the management board at the time had voted to close it down. Enter the governor, our very own Sarah Palin, to save the day. In a series of ambushes and staged media opportunities, she destroyed the reputation of the people who had been running the dairy for many years, fired all the members of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation (BAC) and replaced them with old friends from high school (including a woman whose sole qualification for the job was having a liking for cows when she was a child). The new board, chaired by Kristan Cole (Sarah Palin's legal fund sole trustee), immediately voted themselves as the operating board for the dairy business, eliminating a whole tier in the management chain. Money was pumped into the new venture in the form of several bailouts. After staging a dodgy auction to make some capital from the old equipment, the dairy turned private, now in the hands of assorted incompetent people who favoured a handful on dairy farmers from the Valley (one of them related to a member of the Board).

The shiny new private dairy couldn't make money and kept applying for some more, in the form of loans from the Agriculture Revolving Loan Fund. These loans are considered and approved by that lovely bunch of friends of the new owners. It couldn't be a more comfortable arragement for them. Some of the loans were taken without any collateral and some were loans to pay for earlier loans. One of the new managers was caught doing some dodgy cash deals and a nasty smell of fraud lingered around the place.

When searching for more recent news about Matanuska Creamery, I found two articles from the local the media. ADN and The Mat-Su Frontiersman interviewed Karen Olson, the CEO of the company, and the articles read as free PR for the creamery, with Olson waxing lyrical about their success. It seems to have been a trend throughout the fiasco. While we read Andrew Halcro's well documented articles about all the wrongdoings of these enterprising people and their inability to make ends meet, the media ran their success stories, marvelling at them for helping Alaskan children drink real Alaskan milk produced by real Alaskan cows from the Valley!

Back to Sarah Palin for a recap. She took a failing but honestly run state business and gave it to a bunch of incompetent people who happened to be her friends from high school or from the Valley. State and Federal money was poured into the new venture and it still failed to show any results despite obtaining generous (but somewhat suspect) loans on several occasions. Money and equipment were used in many fiddles and things were not properly accounted for. Dare I say that Sarah Palin made a bad situation worse for the state but a lot better for her cronies? Some fiscal conservative, ethical governor!

I'd like to make a parallel between Sarah Palin's actions to save her local dairy and Obama's bailout of the auto industry. I didn't read or hear anything about Obama replacing the management of any of the car factories with his high school buddies or appointing a director whose only qualification for the job was a passion for his Hot Wheels when he was a little boy...


Who would you rather have making decisions or giving opinions about the economy, the American industry and other equally important issues?

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Previous posts about Dairygate, containing full details about all the people involved in the fiasco, their shady dealings and very useful links may be read HERE.

Should you wish to concentrate on different details of the case, bit by bit, instead of reading all four Dairygate posts at once, here's a guide to the contents of each post in the series:

Original Dairygate post: First overview.

First recap: Strange cash deals going on.

Second recap: The loans.

Third recap: Dodgy auctions, the loans and full cast of characters.

Andrew Halcro wrote extensively about this topic. The results of the search for Matanuska Creamery may be found HERE and the posts should help give you a good idea about the extent of the corruption going on over the years.

If you'd like to read the e-mails from the Crivella West database, click on THIS LINK, then click on search and enter the terms "dairy" and "mat-maid" in the search box. The database is still live and working, but searching it is not terribly intuitive.

Sarah Palin and President Barack Obama Get It On

By Kathleen



A long awaited pairing of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama has at last taken place. Unpredictably it was a sweet one as the two dimensional pair were observed sharing a chocolate milkshake together in the Chok’lit Shoppe, Riverdale. Yes, Sarah and Barack found common ground over their love of a chocolate milkshake on the cover of the popular comic “Archie”.

The storyline has a recurring and somewhat topical premise -- even people with opposing views can find common ground if they truly want what is best in a given situation.

The story is spread over two issues #616 which was released on December 22nd, 2010 and #617 which was issued yesterday and concludes the story.

In the comic world of Archie, President Obama is the President and leader of the Democratic Party and Sarah is the somewhat less than subtle apparent leader of the GOP. They visit Archie and Reggie who are opponents in the contest for student body president of Riverdale High and together find common ground regarding what it is that is really important.

Back in the three dimensional world, Jon Goldwater, Archie Comics publisher, believes that Sarah and Barack want the same thing, which is the best thing for everyone.It certainly worked out fine in the comic. The best thing for all was achieved without bitterness.

If only life could so easily reflect that which is portrayed in two dimensional Riverdale.

The comments at the ADN rock with regard to this topic!

http://www.adn.com/2011/01/24/1664709/palin-in-the-comic-books-steampunk.html

Several readers brought to our attention the outstanding article that Andrew Halcro wrote regarding who is responsible for Sarah Palin. And no, he did not say that it was all Chuck and Sally’s fault. He was talking about her political career. And he blames Alaskans.

Andrew makes the case loud and clear that Alaskan voters made Sarah Palin’s political career by “rewarding her shallow campaigns and soundbite governance with thanks and praise.” Although he believes that she is now unelectable due to “her downed lines of communication to critical segments of the voting public" and that "her historical inability to bridge that divide seems insurmountable" it also appears that he is issuing a warning to all voters that they have to see beyond who she is and that they should rather focus on what it is she actually knows before they cast a vote for her.

You can read the full article here:

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/who_is_responsible_for_sarah_palin

Reader Kasha Knish has revealed the release date of the long awaited Joe McGinniss book regarding Sarah Palin.

"The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin" by Joe McGinniss - Release date Sept. 13th - pre-orders on Amazon now!

http://tinyurl.com/4nruzgq

Healthcare overhaul approved in the Senate - Updated with video

I have just watched the BBC news live from Washington. The healthcare proposals passed in the Senate. The magic 60 was reached as the vote stood at 60 ayes and 39 nays.

I'll post more details as I get them.



Sarah Palin will, no doubt, twit something "inspiring" in due course...

President Obama's note on his Facebook page.
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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!"

CafePress finally makes up its mind and decides to remove "Obama Psalm 109:8" products

Finally, we have a Happy Ending.

After much dithering and after putting up a poll on their own website, CafePress finally decided today to remove the "Obama Psalm 109:8" products.

The statement reads:

Nov 20th, 2009
Psalm 109:8 update

This morning we made the decision to remove all Psalms 109:8 designs from CafePress.

The public debate started with questioning if the design was simply intended to be criticism of the President or something much worse. The discourse was surprisingly civil online, given the heated nature of the topic. Given that, and the positions of groups like the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League, we decided to let the dialogue play out publicly before making a final decision.

Last night we posted a poll on our blog, read through the emails we’ve received and weighed the nature of the calls we’ve received on the topic. In the process we also learned that many of the original designers of the Psalm 109:8 designs had already decided to remove them on their own.

General consensus has proven that the design does point to a broader interpretation of the Psalm and thus has been deemed inappropriate for sale at CafePress.

We try to create an atmosphere of self-expression. Many of the things we encounter are not black and white, but grey. When the dialogue is civil, we want to let the larger community work things out rather than making an uninformed ruling. The dialogue has played out and common sentiment has reached agreement – this merchandise is not appropriate.

Thank you all for your input.

+++

Although I am happy to see the products gone, I think that CafePress has handled this situation extremely badly.

Predicably, the poll showed an overwhelming majority towards rating the products as inappropriate and inflammatory. At times, up to 92% of the voters decided that the products were unsuitable. Later this number dropped unexpectedly to 72-77% (I wonder why...?), but that is still a huge majority.

Why was it necessary to have such a poll in the first place? If CafePress had looked into the background of the matter themselves, they would have quickly seen that those products were just a code for extremists to promote violence against the president.

Let's hope that they do better if a similar situation arises in the future.

Well done to everybody who contacted CafePress. I left a comment on their website, but apparently I was not friendly enough, because it didn't make it through moderation. ;-)


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Congratulations, President Obama

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obama-wins-nobel-peace-pr_n_314907.html

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."

He added that the committee endorsed "Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.'"

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obama-wins-nobel-peace-pr_n_314907.html

Yes!!!
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