Bristol Palin is not afraid of being a hypocrite

Excerpts from Bristol Palin's book have appeared on the internet. I concentrated on the hypocrisy of one of her statements and condensed my commentary in a video:



Hypocrisy is long running theme in the Palin family, along with mediocrity, pettiness and greed.

Does Sarah Palin really believe her family would feel at home in the White House?

Bristol Palin's road to stardom

We had a lot of fun discussing Bristol Palin's performance in Dancing With The Stars. Bristol didn't disgrace herself, thanks to a good dance partner, but the general opinion was that she's not a very gifted dancer. So, what are Bristol gifts?

Our regular commenter maelewis wrote a very sobering post about it:

When we get down to what's important about any of Bristol's money making ventures, we have a young lady whose mother is in the public eye, one way or another. All that Bristol is famous for is having her pregnancy announced on the world stage as Sarah ran for VP. Then, Bristol and Levi were going to get married and learn that having a child while they were teens was a big responsibility. Sarah said that they would have to grow up fast.

Something changed along the way and Levi was kicked to the curb. Bristol became an advocate for abstinence, a little bit late as the proof of her "abstinence" was proudly shown off in an interview with Greta. It is really a difficult message to tell kids, "Do as I say, not as I did."

That would be fine if Bristol worked hard trying to raise her son in a normal way. But, a child of Sarah Palin does not know what a normal life is supposed to be. Tripp was exploited in some kind of vendetta against Levi. He became a prop in handsomely paid magazine articles. (Don't spit up on Bristol's pretty party gown, please. It has to go back to the designer). Bristol glamorized her single motherhood, being photographed in a modern condo wearing swell clothes and baking cookies (well, taking them out of the oven, anyway).

When Bristol appeared on Dancing with the Stars, it was further validation of the single teen mother lifestyle. If you have a kid out of wedlock, choose to keep the baby but not the father, you, too, can wear pretty clothes, high heels and strut your stuff on national tv, even if you have no talent for acting or dancing. Let's be clear; Bristol is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to generate publicity and viewers for DWTS. Once, the color red and the letter A stood for Adultery; now it stands for Abstinence. Only, Bristol's version is that not being abstinent has paid off big time, which is really not a very good message.

Christine O'Donnell falsely claims that condoms do not prevent the spread of aids. They do. They also prevent the birth of children when the sexually active couple are little more than children themselves, and hardly ready to take on the responsibility of a child and a serious relationship. For Sarah to have set Bristol up as a spokesperson for abstinence is a joke. Bristol has become the unwitting spokesperson for having a child, pretty clothes, a condo and a shiny new big truck, and that having unprotected sex turned out very well for her. But, here is the warning, kids, it was OK for Bristol but not for you.

I don't care whether Bristol gets voted off the island or stays to win the grand prize. Booking Bristol on DWTS sends the wrong message, and she can dance her pretty feet off, the message remains the same, "Bristol is famous for being an unwed teen mother, and DWTS glamorizes it."

Many commenters hoped that Bristol's little adventure away from Wasilla would open her eyes to an exciting new world and that she would finally be able to break away from her mother's grifting ways, embracing a less hypocritical lifestyle.

I have my fingers crossed, but I'm not holding my breath...

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...

***

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

.

Sarah Palin's hypocrisy, an enduring theme: "socialized healthcare" is good enough for the Palin family

Shannyn Moore and earlier the Daily Kos commented on the fact that Bristol Palin's son Tripp Johnston is an enrolled tribal member of the Curyung Tribe and receives health care services at the state of the art Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.

Recently released documents from the custody battle show clearly Tripp Palin Johnston has socialized health care through Indian Health Services and the Alaska Native Medical Center.

Palin’s family has federally funded health care afforded to them…but if you had, it Barack Obama might kill you. Put this on the list of Palin’s Greatest Hypocritical Hits…Volume 97.

Tripp is eligible to Native health care, according to this document.



Apart from collecting Bristol Bay Native Corporation dividends for himself and his children, Todd has very little involvement in native affairs.



An ADN article gives us some insight into Todd Palin's "nativeness":

Culturally, the Palins live a lifestyle of small-town Alaska. Todd does not take part in Native organizations or tribal politics. He grew up in Glennallen and Wasilla. His Native roots can be seen in his dividends from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and boyhood visits with his grandma, where he learned to tend fish nets along the Nushagak River.

The Palins are grifters and opportunists as well as world class hypocrites. They are using anything they can to slam Levi at any given opportunity. Levi expected to have to provide health care cover for his son and would have deductions for it, naturally. So the Palins came back with the Native "thingie" to make Levi look bad, reinforcing their hypocrite credentials in the process. After all, Granny Palin is death panelled against socialized health care...

In the meantime, Tripp is receiving free health care thanks to grandad NINO (Native In Name Only).
.

Bristol Palin and her family - A tale of sex, no more sex and a lot of money / PLUS: Levi Johnston responds on ET Online

History repeats itself, within the same family.

Lorenzo Benet wrote about the Heaths in Trailblazer:

...in the summer of 1961, Chuck and Sally applied for a marriage license and wed at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Sandpoint. Sally gave birth to a quick succession of children -- Chuck Jr. arrived on February 7, 1962.

Summer: June, July and August. Do the math - from the earliest summer month to the next February there are only eight months. There are no records of Chuck Jr. being premature.

Sarah Heath eloped with Todd Palin and they were married on August 29, 1988. Track was born on April 20, 1989, eight months later. Track was not premature.

Bristol Palin went rogue and had her baby without getting married at all. Now that her virginity has been restored, Bristol will not have sex again until she finds a husband. No hanky-panky before the nuptials, that's guaranteed. Unless Bristol decides to revive the family tradition and have her next baby only eight months after the wedding...

It's quite obvious that abstinence didn't work very well for at least three women in this family. So why do they keep banging on the same note?

Sarah Palin and her daughter could spread a much more positive message if they told teenagers to think carefully before having sex and urged them to take the necessary precautions to avoid unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.

But $arah and Bri$tol are not honest people and their hypocrisy is not going to help any young people at all.

Levi Johnston can see the whole thing is an act, but still manages to say something nice about Bristol in this new clip on ET Online, where he talks about the Oprah interview:



So why are they doing it?

Bristol is making a lot of money posing for gossip magazines with Tripp, telling the world how very hard her life is in her mother's million dollar house and how she has to work all hours to buy formula and diapers. She feels lonely when the baby won't stop crying. Boo hoo. Is she so desperate that she felt it necessary to alienate Levi even further by filing a motion for interim child support on top of asking for sole legal custody of Tripp? Bristol wants to keep Tripp's father out of any decisions about their son's life, but she doesn't mind having his money.

$1,750 a month would buy a lot of formula and a huge pile of diapers. Bristol needs to keep her own money to pay for the tanning salon, the gym and gas for her Cadillac Escalade...



.

Sarah Palin would love to interview Scott Brown - UPDATE!

Sarah Palin discussed Scott Brown in an interview with Sean Hannity.



This Scott Brown?

Scott Brown, aged 22

Scott Brown now

Somebody said that posing in the nude was porn...

Levi Johnston posed for Playgirl

Sarah Palin's hypocrisy and double standards are truly fascinating...

+++

UPDATE (by Patrick):

www.bluemassgroup.com has unearthed this embarassing video clip of Scott Brown:

EDIT: I have replaced the original video which was just a few seconds long with the extended version. In the longer version, Scott Brown praises Sarah Palin before the conversation then touches the point of Barack Obama's mother.

Bluemassgroup comments:

Born out of wedlock? Really??

Well, yes. During (or maybe shortly after) the 2008 Republican convention, Brown was on a panel discussion (aired on the now-defunct CN8 cable news channel) about Sarah Palin. He defended her pretty strongly, as you'd expect. But then, in the course of discussing Bristol Palin, Scott comes up with this:

Wow. Just to reiterate, in case you can't see the video: in response to the statement that Obama's mother was married when she gave birth, Scott says, "well, I don't know about that." Then he chuckles. "Uh huh huh."

Here's hoping that someone who might actually get an answer out of him (I would not include BMG in that category, so I don't think we'll bother) will ask Scott what was in his mind when he wondered aloud whether President Obama might have been born out of wedlock.
.

Bristol Palin hits the tabloids again for six-figure cover-story deal - PALINGATES EXCLUSIVE

Written by Regina and Patrick

We have learned exclusively that Bristol is about to make the cover story for yet another US tabloid magazine. Bristol has posed for several pictures together with Tripp for a six-figure fee, and most of the Palin family will be featured. It seems that it takes a six-figure sum to get the Palin family all together in one room. Apparently Bristol's lawyer Thomas Van Flein was involved in the negotiations with the magazine. Expect the magazine to hit the stands this week.

Bristol’s new foray into the tabloids gives us the opportunity to look back at the sad history of accusations that the Palin family has made against Levi Johnston – for example, that he is seeking “fame, attention and fortune” (Meg Stapleton) and obtaining “money by selling stories to the media about his son Tripp” (Thomas Van Flein).

As usual, the Palins thoroughly deserve the title “hypocrites of the year”.

+++


Life has never been the same for Levi Johnston since he was paraded in front of the world as Bristol Palin's fiancé, a situation that he never appeared comfortable with when you look back at photos of him on the campaign trail. Alas, and perhaps predictably, Levi and Bristol split up, and an unemployed Levi (thanks to Granny Palin) had to reconsider his options and embarked on a new career in order to provide for his son Tripp and his mother and sister.

As someone who was once close to the Palin family, Levi's opinion was sought by reporters whenever Sarah Palin made the news, he didn't chase them.

On Sarah Palin's resignation:

Levi Johnston told reporters Thursday night that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin decided to resign from office for the money.

Johnston claimed that in December he heard Palin talking about "how nice it would be to take some of this money people have been offering us and just run with it, and saying, 'Forget everything else.'"

Johnston, the former fiancé of the governor's daughter, said the offers Palin was referring to came from "books, talk shows, whatever, things like that."

Levi appeared on some chat shows and gave interviews. The Palin camp was not happy:

"We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship," Stapleton said in a statement.

Even Chuck Heath had something to say:

US Weekly: (direct link no longer works, here's an alternative)

"I don't agree with what he's doing right now," Heath told Us Weekly of Johnston's press tour. "It's not right. He's broke, so he's trying to capitalize on this. I wish he’d take some of this money he’s making and buy some diapers with it."

But he took back his words:

RadarOnline:

Heath says he never made those remarks and even defends the unemployed teenager. “I didn’t say most of that stuff—that’s a bunch of garbage. I don’t know how they came up with that. The only thing I said—and that was said jokingly, that was kind of in jest about the diapers,” Heath explained to RadarOnline. As for his feelings on Johnston hitting the media circuit, Heath cuts the teenager some slack. “It’s up to him. He’s a kid. I have no bone to pick with Levi, he’s a good kid.”

Now Bristol Palin is taking the "good kid" to court, seeking sole legal custody of their son Tripp.

In her affidavit, under point 9, Bristol boldly claims:

“I cannot imagine any reason why Levi Johnston would think that having this custody proceeding take place in the media spotlight would be in Tripp's best interests. It appears that the only reason Levi wants this case to remain public is so that he can continue to capitalize on his name and this case by selling stories to the media. To my knowledge, Levi's media exposure is currently his only source of income. That leads me to believe that Levi's interest in keeping this case unsealed is purely financial. Levi's interest in self-promotion has nothing to do with Tripp's best interest.”

Screenshot:


Van Flein had no hesitation to add:

"Further, as the record already demonstrates, scurrilous scandal publications like Vanity Fair and the National Enquirer will pay money for falsehoods or any statement coming from these proceedings. Neither Levi Johnston, nor any member of the Johnston family, should continue to profit off of Tripp Palin by seeking media attention and money for "stories"."

Van Flein also drew attention in the custody trial to Levi's means of earning a living, asserting that he exploits her family and baby Tripp through the media, saying that Levi “has obtained money by selling stories to the media about his son Tripp, ex-fiance Bristol , and the Palin family in general, but otherwise has not gone to school to learn a trade or obtain a degree.”

Screenshot:


Furthermore, Van Flein cited Levi’s commitments as one of the reasons why he would be unable to offer a stable environment for the child, to which Levi responded quite convincingly.

Screenshot of Levi's response:


In his reply from December 23, 2009, Bristol’s lawyer Van Flein went even further:

"In reviewing the Opposition brief, and Mr. Johnston's affidavit, one thing stands out: Mr. Johnston focuses only on himself, he does not mention the impact on Tripp or show any real concern that a public media circus could have on Tripp or these proceedings.

These gravamen of all child custody proceedings is the best interests of the child.

Yet all Mr. Johnston refers to is his own self-interest, his own interest in endless publicity, his desire for press-mongering, and his appetite for self-aggrandizment. This matter is about Tripp.

Nothing in Mr. Johnston's Opposition suggests that Tripp will benefit from daily news accounts and salacious interviews by Levi with scandal hungry tabloids.”

It’s clear that Bristol, Van Flein and the mastermind in the background, Sarah Palin, are not happy when Levi talks to tabloids – because the tabloids should be exclusively reserved for the Palins, who just love to fill their bank accounts with sweet tabloid dollars!

In addition, we can't remember watching Levi on national television with an "out-cold" Tripp on his lap.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Levi posed with Tripp for a few photos for a magazine spread, but Tripp didn't appear on the cover.

Bristol was happy to appear with Tripp on the cover of People Magazine.

Compared to Bristol, Levi has exploited Tripp a lot less.

This pretense of virtue and propriety by the Palins has to stop, otherwise the damage to Tripp’s wellbeing will likely affect him as he grows older. Tripp needs both his mother and his father in his life. He needs to be secure in the knowledge that BOTH his parents shared in the responsibility of his financial and emotional welfare on an equal basis and that need can be recognised through shared custody.
.

Sarah Palin is so unique...

Sarah Palin made a number of proclamations when she was governor, but some of them don't apply to her at all. This post is going to highlight only the proclamations concerning childbirth issues. There are other proclamations that conflict with the quitter governor's attitudes and I'll talk about them in a future post.

Trisomy Awareness Month February 25, 2009

WHEREAS, trisomy pregnancies can present unusual complications and can be more at-risk than non-trisomy pregnancies.

Prematurity Awareness Month October 10, 2007

WHEREAS, premature babies are at increased risk for newborn health complications, as well as lasting disabilities, such as mental retardation, cerebral palsy, lung and gastrointestinal problems, vision and hearing loss, and even death.

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week January 30, 2007

Cardiovascular birth defects are the most frequently reported major congenital anomalies in Alaska, with congenital heart defects affecting two percent of Alaska live births annually during 1996-2002. Low birth weight Alaskan infants were seven times more likely to have a congenital heart defect than a normal weight infant.

Two out of these three proclamations were made before Trig's birth, so on April 17, 2008, Sarah Palin was aware of the risks of prematurity and heart defects affecting newborn babies, but chose to have her labour/not labour while leaking/not leaking aboard an aeroplane.

That's why the pregnancy and the labour stories ring false to Trig Truthers. The laws of nature only apply to other people. Sarah Palin's tight abs prevented the growth of a pregnancy bump while very fit celebrities have failed in that respect, with abs that were shamefully not tight enough so they actually looked very pregnant.

The same goes for high risk pregnancies. Only other people have to worry about taking certain steps to ensure the safe delivery of their babies. Sarah can leak, give speeches, fly for hours on end and that's perfectly OK.

Whereas a governor of state who lies for political gain is not to be trusted.

Whereas not everybody is stupid and gullible.

Whereas the laws of nature apply to all members of the human species.

I hereby proclaim Sarah Palin a bare faced liar and a hypocrite.

(Trig doesn't look premature in the banner above...)
.

Sarah Palin and the ultimate sacrifice

There have been protests over the distribution of a photograph of a wounded marine by the AP. Secretary Gates blames lack of judgement and common decency:

I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard's death has caused his family. Why your organization would purposefully defy the family's wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me. Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right - but judgment and common decency.

Sarah Palin, through her Facebook ghostwriter, goes further and accuses the AP of being evil:

Shame on the AP for purposely adding to the grieving family's pain. Ignoring the family's wishes by publishing a sacred image of their loved one proved a despicable and heartless act by the AP. The family said they didn't want the photo published. AP, you did it anyway, and you know it was an evil thing to do.

The AP responded to Secretary Gates:

The Associated Press is distributing a photo of a Marine fatally wounded in battle, choosing after a period of reflection to make public an image that conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it. Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard, 21, of New Portland, Maine, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.

The image shows fellow Marines helping Bernard after he suffered severe leg injuries. He was evacuated to a field hospital where he died on the operating table.

The picture was taken by Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobson, who accompanied Marines on the patrol and was in the midst of the ambush during which Bernard was wounded. She had photographed Bernard on patrol earlier, and subsequently covered the memorial service held by his fellow Marines after his death...

Journalists embedded with U.S. forces in Afghanistan must sign a statement accepting a series of rules... Critics also maintain some of the rules are aimed at sanitizing the war, minimizing the sacrifice and cruelty which were graphically depicted by images from the Civil War to Vietnam where such restrictions were not in place...

An AP reporter met with his parents, allowing them to see the images.

Bernard's father after seeing the image of his mortally wounded son said he opposed its publication, saying it was disrespectful to his son's memory. John Bernard reiterated his viewpoint in a telephone call to the AP on Wednesday.
"We understand Mr. Bernard's anguish. We believe this image is part of the history of this war. The story and photos are in themselves a respectful treatment and recognition of sacrifice," said AP senior managing editor John Daniszewski.

This was a difficult decision to make. They had to balance the responsibility of reporting and documenting the realities of war against the sensibilities of a stricken soldier's family.

Julie Jacobson is not the first photographer to record such a common occurrence in a war zone. There is a long history of shocking pictures of the casualties of various conflicts.

In the early 1920s, Ernst Friedrich put together a book of truly haunting images of dead and wounded German soldiers with incisive captions - Krieg Dem Kriege (War Against War) and went on to found an anti-war museum in Berlin. In 1933, when the Nazis started ascending to power, Friedrich's book was deemed subversive and his museum dismantled. His book was not only anti-war, it showed fallen German soldiers, undermining the image of the superiority of the German army, which was unacceptable to the regime.

The Second World War was powerfully documented, as were the Vietnam conflict and others. Many photographers and journalists won prizes, many died in war zones themselves. Some of the pictures are indelibly etched in our memories.


Robert Capa, Germany 1945. Larry Burrows, Vietnam. Catherine Leroy, Vietnam

Each soldier, each civilian killed or maimed in any conflict has a grieving family. Should all frontline photography be banned in the name of common decency? Is it evil to portray the horrors of war or publish an essay that pays tribute to the "brave men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedoms"?

Are we supposed to imagine war as some abstract event that happens very far away, devoid of blood and guts, where the ultimate sacrifice is something to be used as a soundbite by cynical politicians but never seen?

(Some of the photos from War Against War can be found here. They are very graphic and disturbing. Consider your own sensibilities before you click)
.

Sarah Palin's bad, bad investment

Sarah Palin criticized the "Obama White House" for lending money to Petrobras, a Brazilian state oil company. According to her 2008 financial disclosure, the Palins had some money invested in T.RowePrice Latin American Fund. Among the 10 largest holdings is... Petrobras.

So it's OK for the Palins to expect a return on an investment in Petrobras, but it's wrong for "Obama's White House" to lend money to the same company?

Sarah Palin's returns would have no strings attached, but the "bad" loan is made in a way that promotes the creation of jobs for Americans.

I think she should refuse to touch a single cent from this investment, it's horrible, horrible money.

Isn't it?

Further reading here.

(H/T to Helen and dragaonfly2x)
.

Sarah Palin's toxic track record

I originally wrote this post on February 6. In the light of some of Sarah Palin's recent statements, leading people to say (yet again) that she was for something before she was against it, I decided to republish the bulk of the original post because it contains other examples of inconsistency in her approach to serious issues.

Sarah Palin's supporters see her as a champion of children with special needs. Her main credential in achieving this reputation is based on having a child with Down's Syndrome in her family. There are no known behavioural or environmental factors that cause Down's Syndrome. But there are environmental factors that do cause other birth defects.The incidence of such births is twice the national average in the state of Alaska and in the North Slope it increases to four times. Considering that Alaska has a more serious problem than the rest of the country in this particular area, it's very noble of the Governor to embrace the cause of children with special needs. Let's have a look at the initiatives of Sarah Palin's administration that reflect her passion for this cause.

* 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 next 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, but 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 oldest 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 of this stance 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 of their interests against her own so passionate?

* 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 passionate 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.

These are examples of Sarah Palin's record regarding environmental issues as Governor of Alaska. She left the title behind to be in a better position to fight for Alaskans and all children. In her July 3 quitter speech, she mentioned that she had asked her children: "Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?"

Please don't, Sarah Palin, you've done more than enough!
.

Trig Palin

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care."

In the above statement, Sarah Palin not only distorted President Obama's healthcare reform proposals, but she also implied that Trig will not achieve an acceptable “level of productivity in society”.

I did a bit of searching on the internet and found information about a variety of people who were born with Down Syndrome.


Chris Burke, born August 26, 1965, in Point Lookout, New York, is an American actor with Down syndrome, best known for his character Charles "Corky" Thatcher on the television series Life Goes On.

His parents were told to institutionalize him when he was born, but they decided to raise him at home and nurture his talents. He was encouraged to follow his career objectives no matter how untraditional they seemed for a young man with Down syndrome. His siblings also worked with him. Many were surprised at how bright Burke was when he entered formal schooling.


Blair Williamson was born with Down syndrome weighing 3 lbs. 6 oz. He had 9 surgeries by the time he was 5 years old and didn't walk until he was nearly 4 years old. By the time he was a healthy 10 year old he was running 400 meters for Special Olympics. His ability to run got him a lead role in a national commercial for Procter and Gamble in 1990.

Blair has been running to jobs ever since. He guest starred on "The Guardian," co-starred on "ER" and he has been murdered on "CSI" and had his nose done on "nip/tuck." His film credits include a co-star role on USA's "My Antonia," as well as many independent features and shorts. Blair is most proud of his work on the feature film "Unknown," to be released in 2006, where he plays the janitor. The role was physical and demanding.


When Andrea Fay Friedman was born in Los Angeles on June 1,1970, nobody would have predicted that she would become a well-known actress and public speaker, go to college, hold a job, drive a car and live a full and independent life. Because Andrea was born with Down syndrome, the pediatrician told her parents to send her straight to an institution because she would not develop beyond the mental age of four or five. Her parents, Harold and Marjorie Friedman, ignored the doctor's advice, took Andrea home, loved her, taught her and worked to help her develop to her full potential.


When Jane Cameron was diagnosed with Down syndrome at four months old, Jane's parents were told their daughter was "retarded" and that they should: "Put her in an institution and forget about her." They were shocked and, despite knowing little to nothing about Down syndrome they decided that what their child needed was as much love, care and education as they could possibly give her.

Although her artistic talent was not discovered until Jane was about twenty, her tapestries now hang across the world. Jane's embroidered tapestries are glowing statements of her imagination and her love and affection for all living things. A life that could have been a tragedy became one of joy for Jane's parents and hope for other parents of children with Down syndrome.


27-year-old Sujeet Desai is an accomplished musician born with Down syndrome. Sujeet plays six instruments. Bb and Bass clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Violin, Piano and drums. In June 2001 he graduated from high School with honors and in May 2003 from the Berkshire Hills Music Academy in Massachusetts after two-year residential Post-secondary study in Music and Human services. Sujeet travels around the world to do his inspirational solo performances and self-advocacy workshops.


Michael Jurogue Johnson has been painting fulltime for nine years. This gifted artist was born with Down syndrome, but he was also born with an inherited artistic talent. His family tree is filled with artists, engineers, and classical musicians.

When he graduated from public school at the age of 21, Michael decided to become a fulltime artist, rather than working in a sheltered workshop. Michael learned how to paint by painting every day, building on what he had learned in school, and experimenting.

Raymond Hu is a twenty-one-year-old artist residing in Alamo, CA. Born with Down syndrome, Raymond graduated from San Ramon Valley High School, Danville, California in summer 1996, where he was enrolled in a full inclusion program for four years. Since Sept. 1996, he has been attending a Transistion Program in the high school, and taking art and other classes at Diablo Valley College and Laney College.

Raymond has been studying Chinese brush painting with renowned San Francisco artist Lampo Leong since 1990. He has developed a uniquely free and expressive style of painting that has won much critical acclaim. In the last few years, he has concentrated on painting animals, ranging from lions to tigers, lizards, elephants, birds, and fish. He uses photos of animal images as models, but his interpretation is quite unique. The medium he uses is ink and watercolor applied with round brush on thin absorbant rice-paper.


Born in Nashville TN with Down Syndrome, Bernadette Resha has become well known in the art community worldwide.

Her exposure to the art world and culture started as a child attending as many art galleries, museums, concert halls and plays as her time would allow.

From an early age she was encouraged to draw and color in her own style as a form of expression and therapy. This has resulted in a body of work which documents an artist developing a unique style entirely her own.

With an artist grandmother and a mother fully committed to allowing her to use this medium of self expression for as far as she would care to take it, Bernadette now exhibits in numerous art galleries, art and craft shows throughout south east and attends many conventions throughout the United States showing and selling her work.


The parents of many of these very talented and productive people were advised to place them in institutions because "they were retarded and would not achieve anything". This kind of advice was given many years ago.

Trig was born in a different world, but his own so-called mother seems to believe he won't amount to very much, or she wouldn't have used him as an example of a person with a low “level of productivity in society” when facing Obama’s “death panel”.

Hopefully Trig will prove her wrong and his bio will show that he was born to be more than a political prop, not defined by his disability and Sarah Palin's ambition, but by his own achievements.
.