When will Sarah Palin shut up?

Sarah Palin never misses an opportunity to criticize President Obama and her rhetoric is inflammatory, as usual.

Regarding the stimulus package, she says things such as "That's a very scary place for America to be, for our economy and for our national security." and "That - that's not a safe place to be." On defense cuts, she says the President shows signs of weakness.

We have already seen some of the extreme right wing lunatics in action, from teabagging parties to more serious incidents. Sarah Palin may not advocate extreme actions directly, but her words resonate with some deranged people.

Sarah Palin doesn't understand the basic principles of economics, doesn't understand what happens in times of recession or how it could lead to a full blown depression if the right steps are not taken quickly. She doesn't understand the concept of diplomacy or how fragile world peace is at the moment.

The governor promotes and celebrates the likes of Michael Reagan, for whom hate speech is a way of life.

For the third time in one week, I beg her to shut up. Her own statements are peppered with meaningless soundbites and she employs words that are red flags to ignorant people (who happen to own guns, protected by her pet 2nd Amendment).



On a lighter note, her reference to Bristol looking after her young family starts @5:15. In normal speech people don't normally refer to one child as a family...
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Sarah Palin, governor, journalist...

"Being a voracious reader, I read a lot today and have read a lot growing up. And having that journalism degree, all of that, will be a great assistance for me in writing this book, talking about the challenges and the joys, balancing the work and parenting, and, in my case, work means running the state." (Fox News)

Sarah Palin wrote an op-ed explaining her reasons for rejecting nearly $30 million in stimulus money for energy projects. I'm going to comment on some passages:

The feds required me to certify these codes "will be implemented" or pushed on local communities... But conditions here required more "big brother" government involvement.

These are the words of a state governor and journalist. Unprofessional and disrespectful in either capacity.

Alaskans have a strong history of independence and opposition to Washington, D.C., meddling in local issues.

A journalist would know that one doesn't separate the subject from the verb by placing a comma between them. Sarah Palin sounds like a mouthpiece for the AIP.

I've served as a city councilman and city mayor/manager.

No, she hired a manager to run the city.

My community went through a battle over building codes when our booming city desired more growth opportunities to allow job creation.

Sarah Palin as mayor went through battle over building codes when her house was built by Todd and his buddies at the same time as the sports complex.

The last thing we needed was a bureaucrat from Washington, D.C., telling us what the best policy was to adopt.

Subject, comma, verb is a no-no. Word salad. AIP?

I asked the feds to clarify their position.

More disrespect from the governor.

Beware of Washington, D.C., trying to cajole local community leaders to eliminate the choices Alaskans have when building or renovating homes and businesses.

Word salad. AIP.

The governor uses Washington D.C. and feds as interchangeable terms in a very derogatory tone throughtout her piece. The journalist separates the subject from the verb at least three times, not to mention the usual word salad.

I haven't discussed the contents of her op-ed because we know very well that there are no strings attached to the money for energy projects.

The tone and the language used by the journalist/governor proves that she's not qualified for either position.



Sarah Palin's unprofessional and misguided op-eds, speeches, press releases and twits together with inappropriate choice of clothing on various occasions lead me to the conclusion that she would be more successful in a very different occupation.
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Grow up, Sarah Palin!

Sarah Palin's nice warm home

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Thursday vetoed $80 million from appropriation bills, including $28.6 million from the federal stimulus funds for energy efficiency.

Despite pressure from some lawmakers and others to accept the federal money, Palin said she won't accept funds tied to adoption of building codes by local governments.

"Alaskans and our communities have a long history of independence and opposing many mandates from Washington, D.C.," Palin said in a statement announcing the veto. "This principle of maximum self-government for local communities is also set out in our constitution. There isn't a lot of support for the federal government to coerce Alaska communities to adopt building codes, but lawmakers can always exercise checks and balances by overriding my veto."

Sarah Palin is still playing political games...

In the meantime, people pay through their noses to heat their homes in the tropical Alaskan winter.

"There isn't a lot of support for the federal government to coerce Alaska communities to adopt building codes." What is she talking about???

Whenever she refers to the federal government, her language descends into something bordering on treason!

Article on Alaska Journal of Commerce
Shannyn Moore explains it better
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Sarah Palin is wrong. Again!

I don't know whether Sarah Palin has missed the deadline to apply for the stimulus money for energy programs, but she's the only state governor to refuse to take it. All the other 49 have applied for it.

The Newsminer reported today:

On April 28, Palin said she will accept $929 million of the federal stimulus money, but she won’t take $28.6 million for energy conservation work.

She said the law would require a “universal energy code” for buildings in Alaska and she wants no part of that, so she won’t accept the $28.6 million grant.

Earlier, she referred to the money as an attempt to “bribe” the state or local governments to adopt energy efficiency standards for buildings.

But it appears the state does not have to adopt a statewide energy code to qualify for the $28.6 million.

The federal stimulus law requires states to pledge they will meet energy efficiency standards on 90 percent of new and renovated commercial and residential square footage by 2017.

Will she? Won't she?

It's about time Sarah Palin stopped grandstanding for her adoring fans in the Lower 48. If there is one state that needs some help towards energy efficiency, that state is Alaska.

Full article on Newsminer
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Sarah Palin spins the pork

News this week:

The Obama administration … proposes to cut $524 million from the ground-based missile defense program, saying there are problems about the effectiveness of the system. Alaska-based missile interceptors will remain in place, but the program will not expand; no additional missile interceptors will be added.

There's a watchdog group who blog under the name Space Pork Kodiak, offering good insight into the realities that surround the launch facility. Sarah Palin spins and spins in favour of expanding the infrastructure of the Kodiak Launch Complex, but our friends unspin it:

"...the growth will not be number of launches or more business; just a larger white elephant marring the Narrow Cape landscape. Expand the infrastructure for less than one launch per year on average for the life of the facility.

KLC is NOT the "best equipped [launch facility] anywhere": it does not have the capacity to store more than one rocket at any one time. And, try getting your personnel to Kodiak when Mt. Redoubt erupts ash and all the flights are grounded; or the fog rolls in and flights from Anchorage can't get in for days at a time."

Things are complicated even further by a certain geological feature:

"The launch tower that was built at a cost of ten million dollars and used for only one launch stands almost directly on this fault [Narrow Cape fault]. Hence the name commonly used by locals to refer to it: "Faulty Tower"."

Other news:

Sarah Palin is turning down money for weatherization and energy efficiency grants.

Palin isn't backing down and said she still won't take the $28.6 million for energy programs.

Sarah Palin, foreign policy and defense expert, wants the Feds to continue to pour money into the "Faulty Tower".

Sarah Palin, the country's foremost energy expert, refuses to take federal money to make Alaska's buildings energy efficient.

When it comes to pork, Sarah Palin seems to be a bit fussy about which bits she's prepared to swallow.

But one thing is guaranteed: she'll make a pig's ear out of it.

Doesn't the picture look like it came straight from SarahPac? The background is uncannily similar...
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Sarah Palin, the country's foremost energy expert

Sarah Palin's tropical Alaska doesn't need a statewide energy code. She's refusing to take the $28.6 million for energy programs.

"The fact that Alaska does not currently have a state energy code indicates that there has not been a statewide consensus for imposing such a code on local communities and Alaska residents." (e-mail from one of Sarah Palin's many mouthpieces, Sharon Leighow)

"We shouldn't have to change our local laws to accept more of this federal package, as the feds already control much of our young state, thus prohibiting our opportunities to responsibly develop." (e-mail from Sarah Palin herself)

Sarah is the highest authority in the country regarding energy issues. She's also an ace journalist who's not averse to split infinitives. Oh, how to politely put it?

Alaska is an oil producing state, yet Alaskans pay the highest possible fuel prices to heat their homes. In remote communities fuel prices are much higher.

Barrow, June 2008: A gallon of unleaded gasoline: $10. Heating fuel: $9.10 a gallon. Electricity: $1.17 per kilowatt hour — 11 times the national average.

Last year the state was in a position to send $1,200 to every resident to help with heating bills, the much talked about energy rebate: $720 million in total.

If that money had been spent in long term measures, such as making all buildings more energy efficient, Alaskans would have to spend less to heat their homes. They would have been able to save money every winter. Instead they each received some emergency money that's long gone.

Ah, but actually addressing a longstanding problem affecting many thousands of residents of the coldest state in the Union wouldn't make sense to our Sarah. She told Esquire magazine in February:

"My favorite place in Alaska is on a cold winter day in my own house, with fat snowflakes falling. In my nice warm home."

I bet her nice warm home is energy efficient and her heating bills are not as high as those the villagers in the Yukon Delta have to pay, for example. I bet Sarah Palin doesn't have to choose between heating her home and feeding her family.

Our energy expert, instead of using the federal money to make some progress in this area, stomps her little foot in a tantrum: "I won't be told what to do by those nasty feds, I know everything about energy, so there!"

Sarah Palin had to refuse at least some of the nasty, dirty, strings attached stimulus money, otherwise she wouldn't be able to show her fan club in the Lower 48 what a good little fiscal conservative gal she is...

Too bad she's not the governor of Florida. I think she would have refused federal money for hurricane protection if that had been the case, provided she had a solid cool home...

ADN article
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Sarah Palin: "I never said that!"

ADN, March 19:

Gov. Sarah Palin is refusing to accept over 30 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska, including dollars for schools, energy assistance and social services.

"We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government," Palin said. "In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government."

ADN, April 10:

Gov. Sarah Palin told news media here this morning she’s willing to accept the federal economic stimulus money -- if legislators agree to use some of it to replace state spending.

“We can back out state (general fund) dollars and replace them with stimulus dollars…I’ll feel better about it because then those dollars won’t just be additional dollars they’ll be replacement dollars,” Palin said.

Juneau Empire, April 29:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will accept most of the federal stimulus funds available to the state, her spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Palin initially said she would accept only about two-thirds of the $930 million available to Alaska, but spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Palin changed her mind after the public weighed in during legislative hearings prior to lawmakers passing bills to seek almost all funding.

Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the message earlier this year that Palin was going to reject stimulus funds was misconstrued.

"She's never said she's rejecting anything. She's been consistent we need to hear from the public, thus the legislative hearings," Leighow said.

The twit even joined Twitter to tell the world about it!

Yes, Sarah Palin, we believe you...

Recall Sarah Palin
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What will Sarah Palin do next?

The Alaska State House and Senate have both passed appropriation bills taking all the stimulus money.

House vote 40-0
Senate vote 15-4

With such a large majority, they can override Sarah Palin's vetoes.

The only option left for Sarah is to refuse to request the money, or try to misuse it when it comes.

In any case, she will either shortchange Alaskans and have to explain herself or get an almighty slap on the wrist.

Well done, lawmakers!

Links
Bill text
House vote
Senate vote
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Sarah Palin playing dangerous games

White House budget director Peter Orszag says a state legislature can’t apply for funds from a key pot of education money from President Barack Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus plan if its governor fails to do so.

With governors facing a Friday deadline to seek their states’ shares of $48.6 billion in the recovery package’s State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Orszag’s opinion puts more pressure on a handful of Republican governors who oppose the stimulus plan Obama signed into law on February 17.

April 3: Deadline for the Governor of the State to certify that: (1) the State will request and use funds provided by this Act; and (2) the funds will be used to create jobs and promote economic growth.

Sarah Palin is playing political games with the stimulus package and Alaskans will miss out on the opportunities the plan offers in several areas.

The Governor's behaviour is irresponsible, callous and self-serving.

Alaskans will remember that.

Sarah Palin is no longer the golden child of the GOP and doesn't realize that her faithful base in the lower 48 is very narrow.

She will end up with nothing. No office in 2010, no 2012 run for the presidency.

But she's quite willing to let Alaskans pay the price for her shortsighted ambitions.

Links: article about Peter Orszag, stimulus deadlines

Keith Olbermann discusses Sarah Palin

OK, I'll leave you with a video as well. Enjoy.

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