Sarah Palin and friends - The world on Sunday: Pink underwear, Joe Miller's "no journalists" policy, personality cult, and much more

I hope you all had a nice Sunday so far, and I would like to mention several items today.

Let's start with "Real Sheriff" Joe Arpaio, who met Sarah Palin in Arizona on Friday.

Given his apparent disdain for basic human rights, one can see where the attraction to "celebrity redneck" Sarah Palin lies, and vice versa. It doesn't take long to find some shocking facts about the "real Sheriff", for example:

U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake ruled in 2008, and again in 2010, that the Maricopa County jails violated the constitutional rights of inmates in medical and other care related issues. This ruling was a result of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU, which alleged that "Arpaio routinely abused pre-trial detainees at Maricopa County Jail by feeding them moldy bread, rotten fruit and other contaminated food, housing them in cells so hot as to endanger their health, denying them care for serious medical and mental health needs and keeping them packed as tightly as sardines in holding cells for days at a time during intake."

In a ruling issued in October, 2010, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Arpaio to follow U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake's 2008 ruling, which required Arpaio to end severe overcrowding and ensure all detainees receive necessary medical and mental health care, be given uninterrupted access to all medications prescribed by correctional medical staff, be given access to exercise and to sinks, toilets, toilet paper and soap and be served food that meets or exceeds the U.S. Department of Agriculture's dietary guidelines. (...)

In February 2010 Judge John Leonardo of Pima County Superior Court found that Arpaio "misused the power of his office to target members of the (Board of Supervisors) for criminal investigation."

In 2008 a federal grand jury began an inquiry of Arpaio for abuse of power, in connection with an FBI investigation. Arpaio is being investigated for politically motivated and "bogus" prosecutions, which a former US Attorney called "utterly unacceptable". Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has called Arpaio's "long list" of questionable prosecutions "a reign of terror".

"A reign of terror?" Sounds like a pretty good description of a potential Palin Presidency.

In any case, Sheriff Joe hopefully made Sarah happy with giving her a pair of his "world famous" pink underwear, which he introduced a long time ago for PR-reasons:

A very appropriate present for Sarah, whose main appeal for many male voters still seems to be that she apparently is "hot."

It's a real shame that Sarah Palin didn't tell Joe the story of Diana Palin, Todd's half-sister, who committed several burglaries in 2009 while being a drug addict. I am sure that Sheriff Joe would have offered his sympathies. ;-)

Diana Palin, April 2009

Diana Palin, November 2008, with Trig

Speaking about crazy right-wingers: Our reader AzureGhost alerted me to a comment on another blog made by Norm Olson (read more about Norm Olson here), commander of the "Alaska Citizens Militia." He calls Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller "my friend":

Norm Olson claims that Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger behaved "disrespectfully" by asking questions and therefore deserved to be arrested. Fascist thinking through and through.

Here is a tweet regarding this comment by Norm Olson by our reader AzureGhost, who asks are very good question:

In addition, aview999 found this little nugget - "Dropzone Bill" now put a note in the window of his shop in Anchorage:

Thanks for making clear that Dropzone Bill and his friends have no issues with "killing people."

"Dropzone Bill" William F. Fulton meanwhile has a new lawyer: Wayne Anthony Ross ("WAR"), Sarah Palin's failed choice for Alaska's attorney general (I still remember that day, listening live on the radio to the vote in AK legislature - it was wonderful!). "WAR" was also the co-chair of Sarah Palin's gubernational campaign for Governor in 2006.

Wayne Anthony Ross ("WAR") with Sarah Palin

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Joe Miller's lawyer Thomas Van Flein meanwhile causes some confusion in Alaska.

In addition, ADN-reporter Julia O'Malley got another taste of "Joe Miller's democracy", trying to report from another campaign even:

When I walked in the door, it seemed like the average campaign event. People wore buttons. Kids played with balloons. Everybody ate hot dogs. Right away I could feel a blond woman watching me. I wound into the crowd with my notebook, ignoring her. I saw Miller. His back was to me. There was a crowd around him. About then the blond woman appeared in my path.

She asked if I was with the news media.

Yes, I nodded.

Media weren't invited to this event, she said.

But it said on Twitter anyone could come, I said. It was a "meet and greet," I said.

That was a mistake, she said.

How could that be? What about all the people who weren't reporters who read Twitter and came over?

The event got changed at the last minute, she said. It was only for volunteers. It was private, she said. She ushered me to the door. If I had questions, she said, I could call the campaign's press person.

I didn't want to talk to the campaign's press person, I said. I wanted to talk to voters.

The voters thought the event was private and that news media wouldn't be there, she said.

I needed to leave, she said.

And with that, I found myself out on the pavement. I called back into the open door, trying to get her name. She turned her back on me. The door shut.

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Back to Sarah Palin:

Sarah's fans continue to fall over themselves in adoration for their idol. Right-wing talk show host Tammy Bruce interviewed Rebecca Mansour from C4P/SarahPAC on her radio show, and these two have the biggest girl crush on Sarah Palin ever witnessed (ok, others come close as well, like Adrienne Ross). It's a comical experience to listen to them, knowing that Sarah Palin is nothing like this wonderful person they describe. Sarah is only "wonderful" if you give her your adoration. If you refuse to do that, you turn immediately into her mortal enemy, because due to her personality disorder, she is unable to accept any dissent.

This interview makes it again plain obvious that the Palinbots are nothing but a pure personality cult, and all criticism towards the great leader Sarah Palin has to be ridiculed immediately, because it just cannot be true.

Accordingly, Rebecca Mansour ("RAM-hammer" in old C4P days) is Sarah Palin's "enforcer" on her facebook page and faithfully deletes all the comments which are even slightly critical of Sarah Palin.

Tammy Bruce and Rebecca Mansour don't seem to realize that they were talking about Sarah Palin as if she was already on the campaign trail for 2012. This should remove the last doubts that Palin is going to run for President, but as I have mentioned before, we already know from several reliable sources for quite a while now that Sarah Palin is going to run. So America is to experience much more screech, hate and madness in the near future.

On a side-note, Rebecca Mansour claims that superwoman Sarah Palin works "20 hours a day." Who cares for her children then? Why do I even ask...

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Other articles which were published during the previous days:

"Think Progress" is continuing to follow-up on their big scoop with the revelation of the secret meetings of Koch industries with members of the business elite and the media.

Now, they take a closer look at some of the "journalists" who attended the meetings.

"Alternet" has a very interesting article about "Conservatives' Big Hypocrisy: Turning Women Candidates (Who Are Anti-Sex and Anti-Woman) into Sex Symbols." The thrilla from Wasilla plays of course an important role here.

"Alternet" also reports about the latest Wikileaks-revelations: "Wikileaks' Iraq War Logs: Secret Files Show How US Ignored Torture"

Another very good recent article on "Alternet": "Fascist America: Is This Election the Next Turn? It's not fascism yet; but if the Tea Party manages to get its hands on the levers of power, it will be."

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I would like to conclude this little "Sunday-roundup" with presenting another documentary which some of you might not have watched yet.

"The Fog of War" won the Oscar for the best documentary in 2003, and deservedly so - it's without any doubt one of the best documentary ever made. It's a huge achievement, and a riveting viewing experience.

This documentary about "the life and times" of former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara is also incredibly relevant when we look at a figure like Sarah Palin, who likes to divide the world in good and evil, and seems incapable of any form of self-reflection. Take into account also Palin's inability to deal with criticism and to feel empathy with others, and we come to realize that the world as we know it wouldn't exist any more if there had been a "President Palin" in charge in 1962 during the Cuba missile crisis (McNamara's lesson No 1: "Empathize with your enemy").

Never has anybody given a more shocking description than Robert McNamara in this documentary of incredibly how close the world was to nuclear war in 1962.

It's also worth buying the DVD with extra features.

Watch the documentary on google video in larger format:

(Click on "CC" in the video menu to turn the captions on and off.)

Enjoy, and have a nice evening!

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Revealed: Joe Miller hired security company whose owner is local commander and supplier of extreme Alaska militia, led by AIP-member Norm Olson

Investigating Joe Miller turns out to be a lot of fun. The skeletons in his closet ALMOST match those of Sarah Palin. However, Sarah is still the Queen of the closet and will probably never be beaten.

I would like to thank our readers Cheeriogirl and BanditBasheert for discovering another scandal which shows again how utterly unsuitable Joe Miller is for any kind of higher office.

Just two days ago, the security company "Dropzone Security Services", owned by William F. Fulton, came into the national headlines after their members detained AK journalist Tony Hopfinger at a town hall campaign event for Joe Miller. "Dropzone Security Services" were hired as private security for Joe Miller, and they failed to catch the hearts and minds of the nation after embarrassing footage of the "arrest" of Tony Hopfinger surfaced. They came across as unprofessional "goons", and the overzealous actions of William F. Fulton and his team did more harm then "good":

William F. Fulton aka "Dropzone Bill": Overzealous and not very bright

There is more. "Dropzone Security Services" is not just a company run by people who are not very clever, but the company is also right at the heart of the "Alaska Citizens Militia" - a group commanded by Norm Olson, who once rose to "fame" as the founder of the Michigan militia. Part of Norm Olson's history are also contacts to Oklahoma bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who trained with the Michigian Militia in the past (see here, here and here).

The Southern Poverty Law Center reports:

From the very beginning, Norman E. Olson was a radical among radicals. After starting the Michigan Militia in April 1994 as one of the first major militia groups, Olson helped make his home state one of the leading spots for Patriot activity.

He drew widespread attention after reporting Oklahoma City conspirator Terry Nichols had attended one of the meetings of the Michigan Militia, which he claimed counted 12,000 members.

But Olson, a Baptist preacher who spends time in his Alanson gun store wearing a camouflage military outfit, alienated his colleagues after Oklahoma by offering reporters an incredible theory: The Japanese government had bombed the federal building there as a return favor for the sarin gas subway attack that he said the U.S. government carried out in Tokyo.

Unceremoniously booted out by his comrades-in-arms, Olson started another group, the Northern Michigan Regional Militia, while attacking his former friends as "too moderate." In the run-up to the millennial date change, Olson predicted government collapse and worse as a result of the "y2k" computer bug — a collapse he welcomed.

"We're itching for a standoff someplace," he told The Washington Post in late 1999. "Any movement needs a good and noble rallying point, an Alamo or a 'Remember the Maine,' and this could be it."

Norm Olson,

commander of "Alaska Citizens Militia"

Norm Olson's was in the end thrown out of the Michigan Militia for being too extreme and for being too enthusiastic about conspiracy theories. From Wikipedia:

"(Olson) also claimed that the (Oklahoma) bombing was carried out by the government of Japan in retaliation for a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, which Olson claimed was perpetrated by the United States. The conspiracy theory was deemed so extreme by fellow militiamen that he was expelled from the Michigan Militia after losing four elections for commander."

A few years ago, Norm Olson and Michigan Militia co-founder Ray Southwell "resurfaced" in Alaska - from a report in 2009:

"A key figure of the 1990s antigovernment “Patriot” movement who largely dropped from public view in 2002 has resurfaced in Alaska, where he’s recruiting for his newly formed Alaska Militia.

Norm Olson, who founded the Michigan Militia in 1994, held an organizational meeting last Thursday at a community center in Nikiski, a small town in the Kenai Peninsula region about 170 road miles from Anchorage.

Olson’s message: “Something very evil this way comes.”

“We’re looking at catastrophe just a couple months away — economic collapse, food shortages around the world, prices in stores are gonna go skyrocketing with this inflation,” Olson told the roughly 20 attendees, according to The Redoubt Reporter, a Kenai Peninsula newspaper.

“I’m convinced that times are coming when we are going to have to repel federal aggression, tyrannical oppressive federal aggression. They’re going to want to quell any kind of uprising, because it’s bad for politics,” Olson was quoted as saying.

Presiding over the meeting alongside Olson was Michigan Militia co-founder Ray Southwell. In the 1990s Olson and Southwell together made the Michigan Militia one of the first major antigovernment Patriot groups in the country and helped transform their former home state into a hotbed of Patriot activity."

See also the AP report in the Juneau Empire here and the report from MSNBC.

The Redoubt Reporter published on September 9, 2010 an extensive article about the fact that both Norm Colson and Ray Southwell are members of the notorious Alaska Independence Party (AIP). For a short while, Norm Olson was also to be destined to become the AIP's candidate for Lt. Governor, but the decision was quickly reversed. In a campaign email, Norm Olson was as outspoken as ever:

“… I want your vote, yes! But beyond that, I want your pledge and your sovereign vow to support me as I stand against the Federal Government’s long reach into the private lives of REAL ALASKANS. Our ‘Lexington Green’ is coming soon. You must make your decision to take your stand as INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN ALASKANS or continue to suck on the tit of the federal sow! What’s it going to be?

“I’m not playing political games here, folks. I’m saying that together with Don Wright, the AIP candidate for Governor, that I will work to mobilize the ENTIRE ALASKA MILITIA, MADE UP OF ALL ALASKANS, to stand against the rape and pillage of the federal government of this God-Given blessed gift called Alaska.”

Ray Southwell and Norm Olson

After establishing the general background, it's time to meet "Dropzone Bill!"

"Dropzone Bill" is the "nickname" of none other than William F. Fulton, the owner of "Dropzone Security Services", who came across as an unprofessional "goon" during the "arrest" of Tony Hopfinger.

He uses this nickname for his postings on the google-message board of the "Alaska Citizens Militia", which conveniently is public, for everyone to see.

From the postings, several facts can be established: Fulton's "Dropzone" military surplus shop in Anchorage which he owns together with his (currently unlicensed) security company, is a regular meeting point for the members of the militia and appears also to be their main supplier, according to the messages on the website. In addition, Fulton aka "Dropzone Bill" is a local commander of the militia.

These are the people who Joe Miller employed as security. Needless to say that they are very fond of him, as is also apparent from the message board.

Let's take a closer look at some of the postings:

Norm Olson is still hoping for his revolution and a "patriotic response to tyranny and oppression" - September 29, 2010:

No cozy handshakes, but the blood of tyrants - you get the picture:

William F. Fulton aka "Dropzone Bill" is quite active on the message board...

...and seems to expect the big final fight as well...but that's probably why they have started this militia in the first place:

"All groups prepare in different ways and depending on what happens some will be better off than others those that rant as prepared will not just come and hand us there guns and then die they will find a way to survive, make no mistake as society brakes down the standard human being will revert quicker than you'll believe back to an animal some already have look at the inner city.
when theres nothing to loose then that person becomes more dangerous than you've ever imagined
DropzoneBill"

The premises of Dropzone in Anchorage...

Picture: Progressive Alaska

...are a regular meeting point for the militia:

Dropzone also appears to be the main supplier for the militia - "Dropzone Bill" has several posts about offers from his shop on the message board. But the main confirmation comes from Norm Olson himself - William F. Fulton is the "Supply Sergeant for many units":

On September 7, 2010, we have a "curiosity" on the message board, as "Dropzone Bill" enters into an argument with former AIP chairman Mark Chryson (who is still an AIP official). It seems that Mark Chryson is too moderate for William F. Fulton:

Mark Chryson himself rose to fame in 2008 after it was revealed by Max Blumenthal and David Neiwert in Salon that Chryson was instrumental in starting Sarah Palin's political career in 1996, when he was AIP chairman.

Norm Olson himself has also some encouraging words for "Dropzone Bill":

"We will fight in the political arena, and if that fails,

we will lock and load."

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Let's summarize:

Joe Miller chose a security firm for his campaign event which is not only unlicensed, but also right at the heart of an extreme militia group, with the owner of the security firm being a local commander of the militia and also the main supplier. This Alaskan militia is headed by the notorious Norm Olson, who played a major role in the radical militia movement in the 1990's in Michigan, a movement which is at least partly to blame for the Oklahoma bombing.

Joe, do you think the citizens of Alaska will vote for you?

I doubt it very much.

William F. Fulton aka "Dropzone Bill" already knew right after the Joe Miller's event with the "arrest" of Tony Hopfinger last Sunday that he had messed up:

Joe, your friend has a point there.

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NOTE:

I have uploaded some copies of the Alaska Citizens Militia google message board HERE, in case they delete it.

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UPDATE:

BanditBasheert alerted me to an incredibly important item at the google message board of the Alaska Citizens Militia. In this thread, the members discuss Joe Miller, his personlity, his policies and his chances of success. Norm Olson's buddy Ray Southwell writes about a meeting with Joe Miller:

"Over the last several months I have been politically active in my run for State House. I first met Joe Miller at a small meeting at Fred Struman’s building in Soldotna. (where the militia has met) He was asked tough questions. I told him, I wished he had run for an elected state position. We need leaders here to stand against the feds.

I asked him how he was going to change Washington D.C. He believes there is going to be a large change in Senators in November. He also believes change will occur with the new group of Senators.

I have been in three parades this summer. In two of those parades, Joe miller was in position just in front of my wife and I. Faith and I have met and spoken to his father and wife. His father is a retired farmer from the lower 48. No arrogance, just like the rest of us. His wife is the mother of their 8 children 4 boys and 4 girls. Our wife’s seemed comfortable talking to each other."

Therefore it's proven that Joe Miller is palling around with the extreme militia for a long time already. The hiring of "Dropzone Bill" as head of his security team was no "accident." Also very enlightening the remark: "He also believes change will occur with the new group of Senators." Thankfully, it seems more and more unlikely that Miller will be a part of this group.

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Websites which linked to this post:

Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish

Charles Johnson, Little Green Footballs

Raw Story

Yahoo News

The Political Carnival

Memeorandum

Talking Points Memo

Alaska Dispatch

Progressive Alaska

Firedoglake - The Seminal

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