Sarah Palin and her toxic record as governor of Alaska

Sarah Palin has a child with special needs and there are others in her immediate/extended family as well. Although there are no environmental causes for Down syndrome, one should expect that other birth defects, whatever their causes, would touch her heart. She pretends to champion causes related to special needs, but never goes beyond a few platitudes. When she meets a child with special needs, the best she can do is to go "Aaawww..."

Alaska has the highest incidence of birth defects in the whole country and a responsible governor would look at the statistics and try to find solutions for the problem. That's common sense.

Let's have look at some of her policies and what impact they had, how they helped alleviate such a serious problem affecting the people in her beautiful state of Alaska. Sarah Palin's record speaks for itself.

- In February 2008 Sarah Palin's administration opposed legislation that would give parents 48 hours notice before schools were to be sprayed with pesticides and other toxic chemicals. Currently, parents get 24 hours, which the bill's proponents say is not sufficient for parents who want to arrange to keep kids out of school for a few days after the chemicals are applied. Palin's administration argued that the bill was too restrictive and would force schools to notify parents before cleaning toilets with disinfectant, which, supporters say, is not true. In the same month, members of Palin's administration testified against language in legislation that would have banned polybrominated diphenyl ethers - a flame retardant that, studies show, harms the developing brain.

- In the summer of 2007, Palin allowed oil companies to move forward with a toxic-dumping plan in Alaska's Cook Inlet, the only coastal fishery in the nation where toxic dumping is permitted. Permits could not be issued without Alaska's certification that the discharges met the state's water-quality standards. Bob Shavelson, executive director of Cook Inletkeeper, an organization founded to protect the area's watershed, said at the time: "Palin's Department of Environmental Conservation issued that certification based on the long-discounted notion that 'dilution is the solution to pollution', turning the federal Clean Water Act on its head and actually increasing toxic pollution."

- Palin then took on the Clean Water Initiative, also known as Proposition 4, which appeared on the Alaska ballot on August 26. The measure would have limited the runoff of toxic metals (known to cause developmental and birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) from all mining operations, It was aimed at stopping the proposed Pebble Mine, a huge mining proposal that was controversial for its potential impact on Bristol Bay, the world's largest commercial wild salmon fishery (for which Palin's eldest daughter was named). The project had been in the works for years, and, when she ran for governor in 2006, Palin told the Alaska Journal of Commerce that, if the mine was green-lighted, "there will be remediation from now to eternity." Once in office, though, environmental concerns took a backseat. In a TV interview six days before the vote, Palin said, "Let me take my governor's hat off for just a minute, and tell you personally, Prop 4 - I vote no on that." Alaska's mining industry turned Palin's face and words into an advertising blitz and came from behind to defeat it. The irony is that the Palins have a commercial salmon fishing interest in Bristol Bay. How could the Governor support the interests of an organisation whose actions would hurt her own business? What could have made her support their interests against her own so passionately?

- The Governor was pushed by environmental activists and Alaska Natives to pressure the military in its cleanup of one of the most contaminated sites in Alaska. Northeast Cape Air Force base on remote St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea closed its operations in the 1970s and left thousands of barrels of toxic waste, containing solvents, fuels, heavy metals, pesticides, and PCBs, a group of toxic organic chemicals that have persisted in the environment. For the past few years, the Army Corps of Engineers has been slowly cleaning up parts of the site and claims it will leave it safe. (One federally funded study still in progress by the state's premier watchdog on chemical pollutants, Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT), tested the local water and got a reading that was more than one thousand times the level that the EPA considers safe. According to Pamela Miller, ACAT's executive director, Palin should have used her powers as governor to forge a better cleanup plan. "Her administration has done nothing to work with the military to avoid possible contamination." Scientists have also opposed the Army's plan, saying it will leave the area dangerous.

- Governor Palin is very enthusiastic about drilling in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) and in June 2008 submitted a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), copied to the President, Vice President, Secretary of the Interior and the Alaska Congressional delegation. If the drillig in ANWR is to be done as responsibly as in the North Slope (birth defects 4 times higher than national average) the impact among the Alaska Natives would contribute to the overall increase in birth defects in Alaska.

Sarah Palin closed her letter with an impassioned statement:

"I don't think it's overly dramatic to say that this nation's future and the quality of life for every American are dependent on the decisions you make or don't make in the next few months."

Quality of life? In Sarah Palin's world, it must mean something connected to $. People's health and that of their children is obviously secondary in importance.

In October last year, Sarah Palin posted a Facebook note about where she (still) stands on the indiscriminate exploitation of America's natural resouces.

It looks like she wishes to extend her disregard for the people of Alaska to the rest of the country and squeeze everything out of the American soil regardless of the consequences to the people, the environment and the other creatures that share it. In the case of this note, the focus is on independence from foreign sources and the tone is as divisive as ever: Them and us.

Although the Left chooses to mock the mantra of “drill, baby, drill,” and they ignorantly argue against the facts pertaining to the need for America to responsibly develop her domestic supply of natural resources, surely they can’t argue the national security implications of relying on foreign countries to extract supplies that America desperately needs for industry, jobs, and security. Some of the countries we’re now reliant upon and will soon be beholden to can easily use energy and mineral supplies as a weapon against us.

The solution? Simply, please don’t elect politicians who cast votes that lock up our plentiful supplies. Please consider the case of China bending us over a barrel as it develops rare earth minerals while we ban mining. Please consider Venezuela and Russia and Saudi Arabia and Brazil (as we subsidize their off-shore drilling) and all other energy-producing countries as the Left locks up ANWR, NPR-A, and other American lands that are teeming with our own needed energy supplies.

“Drill, baby, drill and mine, baby, mine.” Yep, the mantra may be mocked by the Democrats, but serious consequences ensue when we let the Left make us rely on foreign countries to feed us energy. The joke is on us if they win.

Sarah Palin also reiterated these views in a number of Fox News interviews and some of her speeches.

Some things never change...

(This post was based in great part on an article by Sheila Kaplan and Marilyn Berlin Snell called Northern Exposure, published in October 2008 in The New Republic)

Original post on Palingates.

Good post on Mudflats about Wasilla's Toxic Cloud. (h/t to lillibird)

More on Sarah Palin and special needs.

Arctic with Bruce Parry vs Sarah Palin's Alaska - A comparison

We've been watching a great 5 part documentary about the Arctic on BBC, presented by Bruce Parry.

Bruce Parry is a former Royal Marine instructor who is now a TV presenter and adventurer, known particularly for the documentary programme series Tribe (known as Going Tribal in the United States), co-produced by the BBC and the Discovery Channel. He has most recently returned from the Arctic, creating a book and TV series for the BBC.

Discovery can make good programs. I suppose they reserve the dodgy ones for TLC.

Last week's episode was filmed in Alaska. It goes without saying that Bruce's Alaska is very different from Sarah Palin's.

Bruce joins the locals in all the activities he encounters, but doesn't make everything about himself. When he does these things, you sense how much he respects the people who engage in these activities as part of their everyday lives.

The Alaska episode was divided in three sections. First he joined a family who makes a living from salmon fishing on their commercial, well equipped boat. It was very different from Todd's outfit and makes a little bit more money. According to past financial disclosures, Todd Palin made under $50,000 a year from his Bristol Bay enterprise. These people fish for 3 months in Prince William Sound and make $1.5 million a year. They do it ethically, respecting their quotas and their fishing vessel is environmentally friendly.

In the second segment, Bruce went diving for gold in the Bering Sea, near Nome. I nearly froze just watching it. He joined a group of people from out of state who spend time in Alaska every year enjoying their personal version of a mini gold rush. There have been a few fatalities over the years. This adventure is not for the faint hearted. Bruce was allowed to keep the gold from his dive and netted $150!

In the final (and best part) of the program, Bruce met the inhabitants of Kaktovik on the North Slope as they prepared for the annual whale hunt. He had mixed feelings in the beginning because of his emotional views on whale hunting. Large commercial whale hunters around the globe nearly decimated the whale population and made it an emotional issue, interfering with the ability of ethical subsistence hunters to sustain their age old way of life. The Inupiat were banned from whale hunting for many years, but the ban was relaxed when the government realized that the Inupiat hunting didn't impact the whale population. They're allowed three whales a year.

The hunt is a spiritual experience. The villagers prepare their storage facilities to welcome the whale. They consist of rooms dug under the permafrost, natural and highly efficient freezers. It's important to clean and tidy up the place, moving caribou legs and other bits and pieces to one side, discarding any debris so they can honour the whale with respect.

There are five captains in Kaktovik and they all go out in their boats when the whales approach. The Inupiat are very suspicious of outsiders, in particular those who arrive with a film crew because they were grossly misrepresented in the past. Nobody would talk to Bruce during his first few days there and they were not allowed to film the actual hunt. Bruce finally managed to get close to the youngest of the captains, who has never caught a whale but had hopes this would be his lucky year and that he would have the honour of being given the whale's tail as a prize.

The villagers keep in touch with the boats via radio, but they don't speak much. They don't talk about the actual hunt and don't mention the whale. They wait to hear a prayer that signals the end of the hunt. They caught a whale on the second day, after the first failed attempt. They believe the whale gives itself to them, to give life and nourishment to their families. Their prayer thanked Jesus Christ and paid tribute to the whale. It sounded like a patchwork prayer to me.

The missionaries beat the original faith out of the Inupiat until fairly recently. Bruce's captain is in his forties and remembers having his hands being smacked with a wooden rod when he was a schoolboy. The missionaires didn't like his beliefs or his native language. The spiritual side of the hunt became a mixture of old and new beliefs. The beauty of their old cultural traditions, of being in tune with the creature that was giving itself up to give them life is now permeated by a disconnected devotion for an imposed God tinged with fear learned through pain.

On a lighter note, I managed to find some footage of Bruce's encounter with some polar bears. In the case of a curious cub, it was a close encounter...

The whale is shared among all the villagers and the polar bears are given their share as well.

By the way, Bruce's young captain didn't get lucky this year. The tail went to a more experienced one.



Bruce has taken us to Siberia, Greenland, Alaska and Canada so far. Siberia was focused on the Sakha horse people and a remote encampment of Eveny reindeer herders in the wild Verkhoyansk Mountains.

The first part of the Greenland episode was very exciting. Bruce joined the last of the traditional Inuit hunters and went on a perilous seal hunt. The second part was about the changes brought by the melting of the ice sheet, revealing vast deposits of minerals now being exploited by an Australian guy. A lot of the locals are abandoning their old subsistence lifestyle to join in this new venture. The size of the mines and the massive explosions involved in the process of getting nearer to the goodies left me with some uneasy feelings and some apprehension.

I have already told you about Alaska. Last night Bruce was in Canada and did Caribou hunting and some fishing. The Gwitchin tribe has hunted migrating caribou in the Arctic wilderness for thousands of years, but this tradition is now under threat from oil exploration. The oil instalations are being built in the path the porcupine caribou take to reach their calving grounds. The locals are giving up on the fishing because the fish are showing all kinds of defects, such as very nasty cysts and are no longer safe for human consumption.

Next week Bruce Parry will close the series in Norway. What I've noticed so far is that as Bruce moved to the west, the native lifestyles appear to have suffered greater impact from interference by people alien to the local cultures, be it missionaries, mining companies or oil corporations. He's very concerned about the environment and the erosion of the lifestyles and cultural traditions of the native populations of the places he visited.

We know very well how Sarah Palin's "free for all" policies encouraged the big corporations to exploit Alaska's rich natural resources without any regard for the original inhabitants or the environment and the wildlife of the beautiful state of Alaska. Their ability to make a living from their traditional activities is still being destroyed by this uncontrolled lust to get every last bit of oil, gold and other minerals out of every possible inch of Alaska. It's not all Sarah Palin's fault. She just followed in the footsteps of the governors who came before her and Parnell is not any better than the rest of them. Sarah Palin's advice to the struggling Alaska Natives was to go to the North Slope or work in the mines. If this trend continues, these dignified, ancient people will become a footnote in the history of Alaska, reduced to selling trinkets in craft markets and being photographed by tourists as exotic, quaint specimens. In my book, that's criminal.

Sarah Palin's disregard for the environment and the wildlife of Alaska was covered many times in the past. For a more in-depth look at these topics, please revisit the labels "Environment" and "Wildlife."

10 months ago I put together a little video entitled Sarah Palin's Alaska, long before we found out that her series was filmed in Alaska but was all about Sarah Palin. I'm not going to embed it here. It would spoil a nice post and pollute it.

We have enjoyed Leadfoot and Bella's recaps of Sarah Palin's Alaska because we didn't want to watch the programs. I think the recap of the episodes about Bruce Parry in the Arctic would make people want to watch the whole series.

It's all in the quality of the material and the stories people tell. Bruce's story is about the various people of the Arctic. Sarah's story is about Sarah...

Sarah Palin's oily finger points back at herself - Why BP decided to drill offshore - UPDATE

Sarah Palin said in her Facebook note 'Extreme Enviros: Drill, Baby, Drill in ANWR - Now Do You Get It?' (link)

''Extreme deep water drilling is not the preferred choice to meet our country's energy needs, but your protests and lawsuits and lies about onshore and shallow water drilling have locked up safer areas.

If "extreme environmentalists" were not successful in prohibiting land based oil drilling in the United States, then companies like BP would not have to resort to looking for oil in the deep oceans. "

These are excerpts from an article on the Seattle Times, dated August 10, 2008:

Republicans in Congress this June united to defeat a proposed windfall tax on oil companies, deriding it as a bad idea that would discourage investment in U.S. oil exploration.

Things worked out far differently in the GOP stronghold of Alaska, a state whose economic fate is closely tied to the oil industry.

Over the opposition of oil companies, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska's Legislature last year approved a major increase in taxes on the oil industry — a step that has generated stunning new wealth for the state as oil prices soared.

The Alaska tax is imposed on the net profit earned on each barrel of oil pumped from state-owned land, after deducting costs for production and transportation, which are currently estimated at just under $25 a barrel.

The tax is set at its highest rate in Prudhoe Bay, where the state takes 25 percent of the net profit of a barrel when its price is at or below $52.

The percentage then escalates as oil prices rise over that benchmark. Alaska gets about $49 of a $120 barrel, not counting other fees.

ConocoPhillips said that in total, once royalty payments and other taxes are added in, the state captures about 75 percent of the value of a barrel.

BP Alaska, which runs Prudhoe Bay, said earlier this year that it had delayed the development in the western region of the North Slope as a result of the tax. ConocoPhillips cited the same reason for scrapping a $300 million refinery project.

"What the tax has done is take away all the upside," said Doug Suttles, president of BP Alaska. The U.K.-based oil company paid more than $500 million in taxes to Alaska last quarter — far more than it earned in profits from Alaskan oil, according to Suttles.

Investment dollars are flowing instead to places that have a better return, like the massive deep-water projects offshore in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where ConocoPhillips said the government take equals less than 50 percent of the barrel.

It's clear that BP didn't go to the Gulf of Mexico because the "extreme enviros" locked up the land with their protests and lawsuits.

Let's rephrase Sarah Palins's Facebook note to reflect the truth:

"If my administration were not successful in raising taxes on land based oil drilling in Alaska, then companies like BP would not have to resort to looking for oil in the deep oceans. "

That's better!

Another interesting point is that Sarah Palin's increased royalty tax imposed is simply a redistribution of wealth from the lower 48. Who ended up paying the added tax that Alaskans enjoyed in the annual APF Alaskan Permanent Fund distribution? Motorists and consumers in the lower 48 and around the globe. Sarah's a Tea Bagger in name only... only when it suits her.


So that there are no misunderstandings about Sarah Palin's position on offshore drilling, let's hear from the lady herself:



More Drill Baby, Drill:



This is the person who unleashed Sarah Palin on the rest of the world:



(H/T to austintxx for the last two videos)

Oh, well...

(H/T to EyeOnYou and sdilmoak)

EyeOnYou has some disturbing pictures of birds affected by the oil spill. You'll need a strong stomach to view them.

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Please join this facebook group:

1,000,000 People Who Want to Plug the BP Oil Spill with Sarah Palin

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Here is another great facebook group:

DRILL BABY DRILL IN LAKE LUCILLE, ALASKA

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UPDATE:

The website www.neworleans.com posted a copy of BP's regional oil spill response plan for the Gulf of Mexico (almost 600 pages):

Download this plan HERE.

From the article:

2) Spokespersons were advised never to assure the public that an ecosystem would be back to normal after the worst case scenario, which we are now living through. "No statements shall be made concerning any of the following: promises that property, ecology, or anything else will be restored to normal." Even in BP CEO Tony Hayward's new television commercial his assurance is an ambiguous, "We will make this right," which does not specifically address preserving or restoring America's Wetlands.

3) Corexit oil dispersant toxicity has not been tested on ecosystems, according to the Oil Spill Response Plan. "Ecotoxilogical effects: No toxicity studies have been conducted on this product." It is contradictory that the question and answer section discusses the choice of a dispersant with: "Have environmental tradeoffs of dispersant use indicated that use should be considered? Note: This is one of the more difficult questions" and "Has the overflight to assure that endangered species are not in the application area been conducted?" Brown pelicans and sea turtles would have been the answer to the latter.

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UPDATE 2 (by Patrick):

I have looked for more information about the dispersant used in the Gulf of Mexico, and found some very disturbing information.

One of the dispersants being used is Corexit 9500, also called Corexit EC9500A.

"Themoneytimes" reports:

At present BP is using Corexit 9500. which features high in terms of toxicity and low in terms of efficacy in comparison to 18 other EPA-approved dispersants.

"Based on the information that is available today, BP continues to believe that Corexit was the best and most appropriate choice at the time when the incident occurred, and that Corexit remains the best option for subsea application," BP said.

The EPA, had, in a directive issued Thursday, ordered BP to find a less toxic but equally effective chemical than Corexit 9500.

The instructions also demanded that the replacement should be effected within 72 hours.

The availability of this substitute had to be abundant given the enormous need.

Another dispersant used is Corexit 9527 (also called Corexit EC9527A).

Wikipedia also has a good overview about these two chemicals which are used now in the Gulf of Mexico.

The main ingridient of Corexit 9527 is 2-BUTOXY ETHANOL.

The New Jersey Department of Health published a fact sheet about 2-Butoxy-Ethanol (PDF).

Under "Health Hazard Information", the department notes:

"Acute Health Effects"

The following acute (short-term) health effects may occur
immediately or shortly after exposure to 2-Butoxy Ethanol:

*Contact can irritate the skin and eyes with possible eye
damage.
*Inhaling 2-Butoxy Ethanol can irritate the nose and throat
causing coughing and wheezing.
*2-Butoxy Ethanol can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
and abdominal pain.
* Exposure can cause headache, dizziness, confusion,
lightheadedness, and passing out.
Chronic Health Effects

The following chronic (long-term) health effects can occur at
some time after exposure to 2-Butoxy Ethanol and can last
for months or years:

"Cancer Hazard"

* 2-Butoxy Ethanol may be a CARCINOGEN in humans
since it has been shown to cause liver cancer in animals.
* Many scientists believe there is no safe level of exposure to
a carcinogen."

Scientists believe that the use of these dispersants will lead to a horrible environmental disaster - the UK Independent reports:

"It's the biggest environmental disaster of our time and it's not even over yet," said the marine toxicologist Dr Susan Shaw, director of the Marine Environmental Research Institute based in Maine. She has been diving among the damage and is horrified by the contamination caused by BP's continued use of dispersants. "They've been used at such a high volume that it's unprecedented. The worst of these – Corexit 9527 – is the one they've been using most. That ruptures red blood cells and causes fish to bleed. With 800,000 gallons of this, we can only imagine the death that will be caused."

According to Dr Shaw, plankton and smaller shrimps coated in these toxic chemicals will be eaten by larger fish, passing the deadly mix up the food chain. "This is dismantling the food web, piece by piece," she said. "We'll see dead bodies soon. Sharks, dolphins, sea turtles, whales: the impact on predators will be seen in a short time because the food web will be impacted from the bottom up."

The largest of the clouds, confirmed by a University of South Florida research ship last week, has gone deeper than the spill itself, defying BP's assurances that all oil would rise to the surface. It is now headed north-east of the rig, towards the DeSoto Canyon. This underwater trench could channel the noxious soup along the Florida coast, impacting on fisheries and coating 100-year-old coral forests. Tests on the toxicity of another chemical cloud, some 10 miles long and heading south-west of the site, are also being done by scientists from the University of Georgia.

Marine biologists say the timing of this underwater contamination could not be more catastrophic. "This is when all the animals are reproducing and hatching, so the damage at this depth will be much worse," said Dr Larry McKinney, director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies in Texas. "We're not talking about adults on the surface; it will impact on the young – and potentially a generational life cycle."

According to ProPublica, during the Exxon Valdez oil disaster, an earlier version of Corexit lead to severe problems amongst clean-up workers:

According to a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report, the dispersants and the oil they leave behind can kill fish eggs. A study of oil dispersal in Coos Bay, Ore. found that PAH accumulated in mussels, the Academy’s paper noted. Another study examining fish health after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989 found that PAHs affected the developing hearts of Pacific herring and pink salmon embryos. The research suggests the dispersal of the oil that’s leaking in the Gulf could affect the seafood industry there.

“One of the most difficult decisions that oil spill responders and natural resource managers face during a spill is evaluating the trade-offs associated with dispersant use,” said the Academy report, titled Oil Spill Dispersants, Efficacy and Effects. “There is insufficient understanding of the fate of dispersed oil in aquatic ecosystems.”

A version of Corexit was widely used after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill and, according to a literature review performed by the group the Alaska Community Action on Toxics, was later linked with health impacts in people including respiratory, nervous system, liver, kidney and blood disorders. But the Academy report makes clear that the dispersants used today are less toxic than those used a decade ago.

“There is a certain amount of toxicity,” said Robin Rorick, director of marine and security operations at the American Petroleum Institute. “We view dispersant use as a tool in a toolbox. It’s a function of conducting a net environmental benefit analysis and determining the best bang for your buck.”

However, can we really trust what the producers of Corexit tell us?

The US-company Nalco with offices in Illinois and Texas has already made huge profits with the product through the Gulf spill. Two weeks ago Nalco announced that they sold already dispersants worth $ 40 million through the sale of the dispersants for the Gulf spill.

On their website they are not shy to report about the use of their valuable product in the Gulf of Mexico in detail. Look what they have to say:

"Data published by Environment Canada, that country’s main environmental agency, showed common household dish soap as having a substantially higher rainbow trout toxicity than COREXIT 9500. Put another way, COREXIT 9500 is the more than 27 times safer than dish soap."

You really would need to be brain-amputed to believe this spin.

Reader's picture from the New York Times:


Description: “I’ve been watching Corexit being used for three weeks, trying to get someone to care. They flew nonstop this weekend, stopping only at dark. This morning there was one C130 take off at 9:30 am this morning, then nothing. Currently they are not flying. My office overlooks the Stennis Airport runway and the flight path goes over my house. The Corexit is stored within 200 feet of my office. No one is using protective gear.” Stennis Airport, Miss.

Credit: Jennifer Aitken

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I also found an excellent video which is a documentary about the hazards that clean-up workers face in an oil spill disaster - with the Exxon Valdez oil spill as an example. I hope that old mistakes will not be repeated in this new clean-up operation which is about to start at the Gulf of Mexico:

Sarah Palin and the green people

Sarah Palin seems to be even more unhinged lately and her tweets are hilarious:




Sarah's "Drill Baby, Drill!" mantra goes back a long way - watch how she promoted offshore drilling in 2008:



Sarah Palin doesn't understand the green movement at all. Does Sarah think drilling offshore is bad and drilling onshore is good? The greenies are not in favour of oil. They believe that what's best for the planet is investing in renewable, clean energy.

Now do you get it, Sarah?

Sarah Palin doesn't understand Cap & Trade - UPDATE

"Whether it is in the United States or in mainland Europe, written constitutions have one great weakness. That is that they contain the potential to have judges take decisions which should properly be made by Democratically elected politicians." ~ Margaret Thatcher (page 275 of her book "Statecraft")

This video is disturbing. First she insults the rest of the world (Greece in particular), then proceeds to attack President Obama's proposed Cap & Trade plan.

Has Sarah Palin ever offered any alternatives to the problem of emissions? In her op-ed on the Washington Post (published ten days after she announced she was quitting as governor of Alaska), she cites cleaner coal, her gas pipeline and nuclear energy as cleaner supplies of domestic energy. The first two are non-renewable fossil fuels and the third is not without many attending problems.

This is a very complex issue, encompassing subjects ranging from simple, visible pollution to the more complicated topics of climate change and energy independence.

Pollution is real, climate change is real, the fact that non-renewable energy sources will be depleted in the not so distant future is real.

Pollution

Sarah Palin doesn't want America to be like Greece. Let's have a look at Athens (Greater Athens population 3,000,000+):

Smog in Athens

By the late 1970s, the pollution of Athens had become so destructive that according to the then Greek Minister of Culture, Constantine Trypanis, "...the carved details on the five the caryatids of the Erechtheum had seriously degenerated, while the face of the horseman on the Parthenon's west side was all but obliterated."

In Athens, two types of air pollution are recognized: the first is characterized by high concentrations of particles. The second type - photochemical smog - is linked to an excess of nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide (primary pollutants), ozone, and organic nitrates (secondary pollutant) and results from a series of chemical reactions driven by sunlight.

As a result of the abatement practices, the level of sulphur dioxide, smoke, nitrogen dioxide and ozone exhibit a gradual decrease in later years. However, the exceeding of the levels of the World Health Organization are still recognized in a higher frequency in the city centre, with the exception of zone which exhibits its higher values in the northern suburbs of Athens. It is anticipated that the completion of the major infrastructural works in Athens (e.g. Metro, peripheral roads, introduction of natural gas, replacement of buses, etc.) will decrease to a considerable extent current atmospheric pollution levels.

The US is better equipped to tackle pollution than most countries, but as recently as 2008, Sarah Palin pleaded with the governor of California to object to certain measures that would reduce pollution in that state because it would affect Alaska.

Los Angeles, CA

Other US states have problems regarding pollution.

(Click to enlarge)

New York, NY

Pittsburgh, PA

Birmingham, AL

Phoenix, AZ

Emissions and Climate Change

The previous administration, with strong ties to the oil industry, failed to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.

US President George W Bush pulled out of the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, saying implementing it would gravely damage the US economy.

His administration dubbed the treaty "fatally flawed", partly because it does not require developing countries to commit to emissions reductions.

China and India fall into this category, although they are two of the world's biggest producers of greenhouse gases.

Mr Bush says he backs emissions reductions through voluntary action and new energy technologies.

Sarah Palin reiterated the argument about hurting the American economy in her Washington Post op-ed and is still harping on the same note.

She also believes climate change theories are based on "snake-oil science."

In that case, we shouldn't expect Sarah Palin to offer solutions for a problem she doesn't believe exists.

Energy independence and renewable energy sources

The only way to achieve 100% energy independence is to rely solely on renewable sources. Solar and wind power and geothermal energy seem to be the way to go. Biofuels may be controversial because of the impact on agriculture and livestock, but it could have a limited role to play.

They are the only guaranteed way to ensure energy supplies for future generations without further cost to the environment. Questions to Sarah Palin: When does the future start? Why not start investing now?

If these alternative energy sources are to become the norm, it would be necessary to make a massive investment in developing them. President Obama has committed to such investment and Cap & Trade is part of it.

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Sarah Palin, forever at the beck and call of the oil industry, fails to see the big picture, fails to use her imagination and take a glimpse into a more distant tomorrow.

There is a price to be paid whether the US moves towards a cleaner future or not.

If it does, certain sections of the economy will pay the price.

If it does not, small communities, cities, countries and ultimately the planet will pay the price.

Small communities will suffer from the direct effects of energy exploration on their environment. Cities and countries will continue to suffer the effects of the uncontrolled burning of fossil fuels. Thousands of people died because of the London smog in 1952 and in 1956 the British Parliament passed the Clean Air Act. It also had a price. Whereas before the Act people were paying for "progress" with their health and their lives, after it was passed, the related industries had to absorb the costs.

Great London Smog, 1952

In Sarah Palin's world, only the costs to her favoured industries count for anything. Forget clean air. Forget true energy independence. Forget the people, the planet and the future.

A reader sent me a couple of very good links. Read THIS first, then have a look at this report.

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UPDATE

Students in Denver are not very keen on Sarah Palin:




Honestyingov confirmed the figures published by the Denver Post (3,500 people in attendance) which are at odds with figures broadcast by Fox News (6,000).

This email was received by our alert reader from the writer of the Denver Post article:

" I got it from the organizers. There is absolutely no way there were 6k people there, that's laughable. " -- Sent from my Palm Pre "
.

Sarah Palin, The Great Divider

Sarah Palin has the knack to upset and alienate several different groups of people.

Women

Sarah Palin appeals mainly to white middle-aged men, flaunting her sexuality as a weapon. Older_Wiser summed it up very well when she commented on the NRA thread:

"And if it seemed $P was in her element, I have a theory. This event was probably 75-80% male, all of them more than likely considering themselves "alpha males"--the kind of man Daddy was, the person she always talks about and was taught to emulate, the person who tried to raise her like a boy, with not much input from her mother, a seemingly weak person who went along to get along, deferring to Chuckles in all things, really. $P connects more with men because she caters to them, wants to be one of them. She is what we feminists used to call a "male identified" woman, not one who relates easily to other women, nor who understands the female perspective, nor has much empathy with women, just gives women's lives lip service at best. To her, most women are "weak" because they don't emulate men; she will tolerate women but only if they don't compete with her, only complement her. She has no real women friends, only the hired help. She really does see women as the "weaker sex"--except herself, of course. Caring for children is weak--even though you're too ignorant to use birth control (and use "religion" as an excuse--but I question her maternal history), you can birth a few but let others take care of them or let them raise themselves--no TLC for those kids or much interaction.

Her goals have always been much larger. Her persona is carefully crafted--the "sexy" image which insinuates hard f*cking, not tender lovemaking. Is there any wonder how easily she was mocked in a porn film? She never really talks about her kids in a normal mother's voice; there's no protective instinct there, for chrissakes, she uses them as props for her own agenda.

During my working career, I met a few women executives who she reminds me of, the kind who loved it up there with the power males and who treated the female "help" like shit. They also wore those male-inspired "power suits" except with the short skirts just like she does (face it, pants just are not sexy enough, they make you seem less open to sexual contact; in fact, I worked for one attorney who forbade us to wear pants and he engaged often in sexual harassment and taken to court for it--all the younger women were game). Those women used sexual promise as one of their tools in their climb, aggressive and negative in their approach to women, using their power over others no less than men do.

Notice her speeches to groups with lots of women and on issues women really care about--special needs kids, reproduction, etc. She simply repeats rightwing talking points in a canned way, tells inappropriate jokes or talks about herself, no real preparation, just there to collect the money because she disdains her own sex. Of course, she does this with predominantly male groups, too, but they are more easily tricked by her complicatedly constructed persona which flatters them. Even though she may not have been paid directly for this NRA gig, she was in her element--as twisted as it might seem.

I know this may seem pretty simplistic to some, but this is the way I see her--she's no friend of women, and the polls themselves reflect this, with much fewer women admiring her than men, and I would venture that those women don't really think for themselves but just follow the male lead."

Sarah Palin, the beauty queen, is a feminist in name only and had the nerve to criticize Hilary Clinton for whining.

Environmentalists

Sarah Palin loves to call the studies on climate change "snake oil science". Her "Drill Baby Drill" mantra is well known and although she loves blowing her own trumpet about regulating the oil industry in Alaska, the reality is very different. She taxed them, yes, but the oil companies simply saw it as paying it forward. It was a good investment, as they had the governor of the state fighting their dirty battles with the "Feds", as she affectionately calls the federal government. The state of Alaska initiated law suits against the government regarding the listing of polar bears and Beluga whales as endangered species. Regulations and safety measures were routinely ignored or cheating in the tests went on, before during and after her half-term as governor.

She took her governor's hat off to make a mockery of the Clean Water Act when Pebble Mine paid millions of dollars in bribes to corrupt the outcome of a ballot that, if won by the environmentalists, would have prevented them from polluting Bristol Bay and threatening the livelihood of salmon fishermen in the region.

Sarah Palin rejoiced when the Supreme Court sided with Kensington Mine in another mockery of the Clean Water Act, risking the delicate eco-system of Berners Bay.

Animal lovers

Sarah Palin's stance regarding endangered species was already covered above. Which leaves her predator control programs...

She offered a bounty of $150 for each wolf's left paw when she was in office. In the NRA speech, she said that there is no aerial hunting of wolves. That's correct, it's not hunting, it's extermination, pure and simple. She joked about smoking a pack. She attacked Hollywood little starlets and wildlife groups, saying that they don't respect people and put the lives on Alaska Natives at risk. Sarah Palin played the race card in the most cynical way. She doesn't want to preserve moose and caribou herds for the natives, she wants to protect the interests of commercial trophy hunters.

On a less political note, there are stories about how she hates cats and how her family couldn't control a dog gifted to them by the Menards so they had to return the dog Agia to the Menards. Now she's talking about her dad and her own family getting Labrador dogs to find antlers or something like that. Poor dogs!

Over half a million people took the time to sign a petition protesting Discovery's decision to buy her Sarah Palin's Alaska series.

Special needs community

Sarah Palin addressed a special needs event in Alabama, where she offered the usual platitudes about how Trig was a blessing from God and the best thing that ever happened to them. She couldn't find anything meaningful to say about how they're investing in Trig's future independence through early intervention programs or how much faith she has in the work of advocates for people with special needs. She chose instead to bash what she calls "Obamacare" and repeat her death panels negative message.

We all saw how Trig was paraded during the book tour, at all hours, poorly attired for the weather conditions, rarely wearing his glasses. We saw her "reading" him a book during an interview and how she quickly got rid of him when he became fractious with her flicking the pages in front of his nose. The prop misbehaved, get him out of here! Grandma Sally and auntie Kate attempted to force feed him solids, Piper helped him take a stroll for the delight of the fans, Trig was carted out to pose with other children with Down syndrome, was passed like a sack of potatoes to Franklin Graham, Jason Recher or anybody who would take him off Sarah's hands when she needed to yield a microphone to address the adoring crowds.






We had the Family Guy incident, when Sarah Palin used Bristol to issue a Facebook rant, showing this family's ignorance about special needs. Andrea Friedman, the actress who voiced the character in that episode of Family Guy, showed the Palins what people with Down syndrome can achieve when their families are truly supportive and provide them with the necessary nurturing (instead of carrying them around like a loaf of French bread). Many parents of children with special needs commented or contacted us to say that Sarah Palin doesn't speak for them.

Christians and non-Christians

People who follow the real teachings of Jesus Christ are absolutely appalled by Sarah Palin's version of Christianism. God speaks to her and through her. She's not charitable, not forgiving, not anything that could be found in the hearts of a true Christian.

Jewish people can only laugh at her tales of Queen Esther and are very suspicious of her praise of Israel. When she said the Jews would flock to Israel in the coming weeks and months (to Barbara Walters), defending the expansion of Israeli territory, sensible Jews heard alarm bells. What was she on about? It seems to be related to the Rapture, when all Jews who don't convert to Christianism will be destroyed.

Sarah Palin's interpretation of the Constitution is just as skewed as her interpretation of the bible. She believes America is a Christian nation and that the governement should follow Judeo-Christian tenets. That's where the non-Christians come in. They should be patted on the head and tolerated by the "real" American believers.

She seems to have a close association with Franklin Graham, an opportunistic Evangelist who, in a role reversal, appears to use his father as a prop...


Parents

Oh, Mama Grizzly really upsets committed parents. All her children have been used relentlessly since Sarah Palin hit the national scene. Track the brave, fighting for the First Amendment in Iraq. Bristol the knocked-up teenager, campaigning for revirgination and other BS, Willow the statutorily raped, desperately trying to keep a low profile, Piper the cute, the babysitter who should be at school and finally Trig the prop, as explained above.

Bristol, the retroactive virgin, has already jumped on the grifting bandwagon. Speaking engagements and a book are in the pipeline and she has a more manageable prop, poor Tripp. Sarah Palin loves to ram her "family values" down our throats and we can only shake our heads in disbelief... where is the CPS?

Immigrants, ethnic minorities

Sarah Palin's record regarding Alaska Natives is absolutely terrible. From taking cookies and the Evangelical circus, led by the ubiquitous Franklin Graham, to starving, poverty stricken communitites to appointing Wayne Anthony Ross to the office of Attorney General.

She married a token native and exploits it every step of the way.

She sided with the governor of Arizona on the unconstitutional law against Hispanics or any other minority the local police decides to target. Not content with that, she's now meddling in the affairs of a school in Illinois.

Her references to "Real Americans" are simply an underhanded way of implying that the president is not a real American. He's black, a Muslim and god knows what else...

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Intelligent, peace loving, sensible people are all disgusted with Sarah Palin's hypocrisy, divisiveness and vindictiveness. Her shallow statements, repeated platitudes and word salad may make us laugh, but deep down we're all horrified.

Sarah Palin is loved and admired by people who can't see beyond a pretty face or a shapely body, by people too ignorant to seek information, too racist to be objective. She's in a comfortable relationship with ruthless Neocons and large corporations. They see each other as useful tools to achieve their own ends. And she gets a pass from the media because she means big bucks for them.

Hopefully the intelligent, sensible people are in the majority and will continue to see through Sarah Palin's lies, continue to be outraged by her ill advised statements and will show their power when the mid-term elections take place later this year and again in 2012.

BONUS PICTURE

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Discovery teams up with Sarah Palin - It's all about money

The Discovery Channel is expected to announce a reality television deal with Sarah Palin, in which the former Alaska governor will highlight her home state.

Palin has been shopping the show to broadcast and cable networks including A&E, but Variety reported Monday that the network was out of the running leaving Discovery as the presumptive front-runner.

While the former governor may seem like an unusual fit for Discovery, the topic of Alaska fits in with the network’s heavy rotation of shows on nature and world travel. Variety reports that the show is expected to fetch more than $1 million an episode.

Discovery Channel had until now a very clear position on wildlife and the environment. They promoted the preservation of both. In the past they have teamed up with the BBC Natural History Unit to produce the most breathtaking series about our planet, such as Planet Earth and Blue Planet, among others.

Here are some samples of their commitment to the preservation of the environment and endangered species:

Explore the vulnerability of nature in this complimentary series to Planet Earth – a poignant truth about Earth's diverse wildlife and spectacular landscapes. Using Planet Earth's astonishing images as a starting-point, this three-part series features expert discussion on environmental and conservation issues and asks how much of the world revealed in Planet Earth will ever be seen again.

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Can the environment make for entertaining TV? Discovery Communications is about to find out.

Planet Green will replace the Discovery Home Channel in more than 50 million homes. Eyeing the public's increased interest in environmental issues, Discovery is confident that it can attract more viewers with green-themed programming.


Discovery's Planet Green produced an entire series based on survival in Alaska. Various teams were faced with the harsh environment and had to hunt to feed themselves.

Why is Discovery planning to buy Sarah Palin's vision of Alaska? She stands for the exact opposite of everything they promoted over the years.

A few of Sarah Palin's dirty deeds spring to mind:

• Drilling in ANWR
• Suing the federal government to remove both polar bears and Beluga whales from the endangered species lists.
• Sarah Palin supported mining in Alaska regardless of the environmental impact.Her image and statements were used to influence the vote on the clean water issue involving Pebble Mine. The mine poses a serious threat to Bristol Bay's salmon.
• Appointments to the Board of Game were biased and favoured commercial hunters. These people have been removing protections to wolves and bears that live on federal lands.
• Sarah Palin offered $150 for each wolf's left paw and encouraged wolf aerial hunting.
• She doesn't believe in climate change, one of the most serious threats to the environment both humans and wildlife.

How are Sarah Palin's positions on the environment and wildlife attractive to a channel like Discovery?




People all over the world watch the many channels under the Discovery umbrella because they love the planet and all the creatures that live on this fragile Earth of ours. People want to be entertained but trust Discovery to be on the right side of the issues.

Sarah Palin's policies were toxic to Alaska.



I'm afraid that Discovery will become just as toxic to the world if they associate themselves with a person like Sarah Palin. If Discovery goes ahead with this project, it will be clear that Discovery and Sarah Palin have one thing in common: the love of money.

They seem prepared to invest between $1 and $1.5 million per episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska. They paid more in the joint ventures with the BBC and got the passion of David Attenborough, an honest, committed broadcaster and presenter.

Sarah Palin's lies are not worth $1, but Discovery is prepared to compromise their own vision of the world for money.

Screw Alaska. Screw the planet.

Discovery
PETA
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
Care2
Defenders od Wildlife
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