Sunday, August 31, 2008

I like her


The McCain staff and John made a brilliant political move with this girl.


To quote SUBVET over at Blowing SAN #1,
Religious, home school er, 2nd Amendment supporter, athlete, corruption fighter, hunter, fisher, political outsider, five kids, oldest son in the military, husband a championship athlete, she won the title of Miss Congeniality in a beauty contest some years back. Favorite meal is moose stew.

What's not to like?

With any sort of luck she'll be the GOP candidate for President in 2012 after McCain decides not to run for re election.

and I stole this from Cookie over at the Cook shack.

Sarah Louise Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska, and the presumptive 2008 Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States.[1] She will be the second female Vice Presidential nominee representing one of the two major American political parties.[2]

Born in Idaho and raised in Alaska, Palin played point guard on her high school's championship basketball team. She was the 1984 runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, receiving a scholarship that allowed her to attend the University of Idaho, where she received a degree in journalism. After working as a sports reporter at an Anchorage television station, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, was elected mayor of Wasilla (population 5,470 in 2000) in 1996, and ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 2002. After charging ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders,[3] she won election in 2006 by first defeating incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary, then former Democratic Alaskan governor Tony Knowles in the general election.

On August 29, 2008, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain chose Palin as his nominee for vice president.

Family and personal background

Palin was born in Sandpoint, Idaho, the daughter of Charles and Sally (Sheeran) Heath.[4] Her family moved to Alaska when she was an infant.[5] Charles Heath was a science teacher and track coach.[5] The Heaths were avid outdoors enthusiasts; Sarah and her father would sometimes wake at 3 a.m. to hunt moose before school, and the family regularly ran 5k and 10k races.[5]

Palin was the point guard and captain for the Wasilla High School Warriors, in Wasilla, Alaska, when they won the Alaska small-school basketball championship in 1982; she earned the nickname "Sarah Barracuda" because of her intense play.[5] She played the championship game despite a stress fracture in her ankle, hitting a critical free throw in the last seconds.[5] Palin, who was also the head of the school Fellowship of Christian Athletes, would lead the team in prayer before games.[5]

In 1984, after winning the Miss Wasilla contest earlier that year, Palin finished second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant which won her a scholarship to help pay her way through college.[5] In the Wasilla pageant, she played the flute and also won Miss Congeniality.

Palin holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Idaho where she also minored in politics.

Her husband, Todd, is a Native Yup'ik Eskimo.[5] Outside the fishing season, Todd works for BP at an oil field on Alaska's North Slope[6] and is a champion snowmobiler, winning the 2000-mile "Iron Dog" race four times.[5] The two eloped shortly after Palin graduated from college; when they learned they needed witnesses for the civil ceremony, they recruited two residents from the old-age home down the street.[5] The Palin family lives in Wasilla, about 40 miles (64 km) north of Anchorage.[7]

She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherman with her husband, Todd, her high school sweetheart.[5] One summer when she was working on Todd's fishing boat, the boat collided with a tender while she was holding onto the railing; Palin broke several fingers.[5]

On September 11, 2007, the Palins' eighteen-year-old son Track, eldest of five, joined the Army.[7] He now serves in an infantry brigade and will be deployed to Iraq in September 2008. She also has three daughters: Bristol, 17; Willow, 13; and Piper, 7.[8] On April 18, 2008, Palin gave birth to her second son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, who has Down syndrome.[9] She returned to the office three days after giving birth.[10] Palin refused to let the results of prenatal genetic testing change her decision to have the baby. "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection," Palin said. "Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?"[10]

Details of Palin's personal life have contributed to her political image. She hunts, eats moose hamburger, ice fishes, rides snowmobiles, and owns a float plane.[11][12] Palin holds a lifetime membership with the National Rifle Association. She admits that she used marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but says that she did not like it.[13]


Pre-gubernatorial political experience

Palin served two terms on the Wasilla City Council from 1992 to 1996. In 1996, she challenged the incumbent mayor, criticizing wasteful spending and high taxes.[5] The ex-mayor and sheriff tried to organize a recall campaign, but failed.[5] Palin kept her campaign promises, reducing her own salary, as well as reducing property taxes by 60%.[5] She ran for reelection against the former mayor in 1999, winning by an even larger margin.[5][14] Palin was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.[8]

In 2002, Palin made an unsuccessful bid for Lieutenant Governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a four-way race. After Frank Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in mid-term to become governor, Palin interviewed to be his possible successor. Instead, Murkowski appointed his daughter, then-Alaska State Representative Lisa Murkowski.[5]

Governor Murkowski appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission,[15] where she served from 2003 to 2004 until resigning in protest over what she called the "lack of ethics" of fellow Alaskan Republican leaders, who ignored her whistleblowing complaints of legal violations and conflicts of interest.[5] After she resigned, she exposed the state Republican party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, who was accused of doing work for the party on public time, and supplying a lobbyist with a sensitive e-mail.[16] Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine.[5]


Governorship

Governor Palin visits a wounded soldier in Landstuhl, Germany, July 2007In 2006, Palin, running on a clean-government campaign, executed an upset victory over then-Gov. Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[5] Despite the lack of support from party leaders and being outspent by her Democratic opponent, she went on to win the general election in November 2006, defeating former Governor Tony Knowles.[5] Palin said in 2006 that education, public safety, and transportation would be three cornerstones of her administration.[13]

When elected, Palin became the first woman to be Alaska's governor, and the youngest governor in Alaskan history at 42 years of age upon taking office. Palin was also the first Alaskan governor born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood. She was also the first Alaskan governor not to be inaugurated in Juneau, instead choosing to hold her inauguration ceremony in Fairbanks. She took office on December 4, 2006.

Highlights of Governor Palin's tenure include a successful push for an ethics bill, and also shelving pork-barrel projects supported by fellow Republicans. Palin successfully killed the Bridge to Nowhere project that had become a nationwide symbol of wasteful earmark spending.[10][17] "Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on 'federal dollars,' as the state does today."[11]

She has challenged the state's Republican leaders, helping to launch a campaign by Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell to unseat U.S. Congressman Don Young[18] and publicly challenging Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings.[10]

In 2007, Palin had an approval rating often in the 90s.[11] A poll published by Hays Research on July 28, 2008 showed Palin's approval rating at 80%.[19]


Energy policies

Palin's tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.[11][10] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors, to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.[20]

Shortly after taking office, Palin rescinded thirty-five appointments made by Murkowski in the last hour of his administration, including the appointment by Murkowski of his former chief of staff Jim Clark to the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority.[21][22] Clark later pled guilty to conspiring with a defunct oil-field-services company to channel money into Frank Murkowski's re-election campaign.[23]

In March 2007, Palin presented the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) as the new legal vehicle for building a natural gas pipeline from the state's North Slope.[24] Only one legislator, Representative Ralph Samuels, voted against the measure,[25] and in June Palin signed it into law.[26][27] On January 5, 2008, Palin announced that a Canadian company, Transcanada, was the sole AGIA-compliant applicant.[28][29]

In response to high oil and gas prices, and in response to the resulting state government budget surplus, Palin proposed giving Alaskans $100-a-month energy debit cards. She also proposed providing grants to electrical utilities so that they would reduce customers' rates.[30] She subsequently dropped the debit card proposal, and in its place she proposed to send Alaskans $1,200 directly and eliminate the gas tax.[31][32]


Social issues

Palin is strongly pro-life, a supporter of capital punishment[www.palinforgovernor.com, "Issues" Nov 7, 2006], and belongs to Feminists for Life.[13]

She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination.[13] While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with a state Supreme Court order and signed them into law.[33] She disagreed with the Supreme Court ruling[34] and supported a democratic advisory vote from the public on whether there should be a constitutional amendment on the matter.[35] Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage, in 1998, along with Hawaii.[36] Palin has stated that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment.[13]

Palin's first veto was used to block legislation that would have barred the state from granting benefits to the partners of gay state employees. In effect, her veto granted State of Alaska benefits to same-sex couples. The veto occurred after Palin consulted with Alaska's attorney general on the constitutionality of the legislation.[34]


Matanuska Maid Dairy closure

When the Alaska Creamery Board recommended closing Matanuska Maid Dairy, an unprofitable state-owned business, Palin objected, citing concern for the impact on dairy farmers and the fact that the dairy had just received $600,000 in state money. When Palin learned that only the Board of Agriculture and Conservation could appoint Creamery Board members, she simply replaced the entire membership of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation.[11][37] The new board, led by businesswoman Kristan Cole, reversed the decision to close the dairy.[37] The new board approved milk price increases offered by the dairy in an attempt to control fiscal losses, even though milk from Washington was already offered in Alaskan stores at lower prices.[38] In the end, the dairy was forced to close, and the state tried to sell the assets to pay off its debts but received no bids.[39][40]


Budget

In the first days of her administration, Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet purchased (on a state government credit account) by the Murkowski administration. The state placed the jet for sale on eBay three times. In August 2007, the jet was sold for $2.7 million.[41]

Shortly after becoming governor, Palin canceled a contract for construction on an 11-mile (18-kilometer) gravel road outside of Juneau to a mine. This reversed a decision made in the closing days or hours of the Murkowski Administration.[42]

In June 2007, Palin signed into law a $6.6 billion operating budget—the largest in Alaska's history.[43] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to nearly $1.6 billion.[44]

5 comments:

blunoz said...

That's a good summary. Thanks for the insights. I learned a few new things about her that I didn't know before. Then again, I didn't know much before. I hadn't even heard of her before the announcement.

Glenn A. Primm said...

Would you trust this woman as the Weapons Officer of a submarine? COB? CO? BDW? With the keys to the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States?

If McCain is elected, then drops stone dead from popping a blood vessel in his braincase - a highly likely event given his history of hair trigger rages - this woman would face the 24/7 pressure of the ravings of the entire White House neoconservative staff that wants to nuke anybody and everybody that disagrees with us.

Take an aspirin and go hit the rack for a cool down.

Nereus said...

To answer all of your questions:

1. Would you trust this woman as the Weapons Officer of a submarine? COB? CO? BDW? With the keys to the entire nuclear arsenal of the United States?

Yup, if qualified and approved by the qualifying chain of command.

The whole Keys to the arsenal question is a liberal scare tactic that isn't effective. I have worked too long in the Strategic side of things to know that one fool in the loop won't pull the trigger over a case of PMS or other brain dead action.



If McCain is elected, then drops stone dead from popping a blood vessel in his braincase - a highly likely event given his history of hair trigger rages - this woman would face the 24/7 pressure of the ravings of the entire White House neoconservative staff that wants to nuke anybody and everybody that disagrees with us.

Yeah, about those nasty Neocons, We will have to do something this Saturday...
WTF, you really think that there are bogeymen in the govt who wait for the day to release the god of war??? GET A GRIP


Take an aspirin and go hit the rack for a cool down.

Who the F#ck are you to tell me to go to the rack on my blog?

I can see if you don't agree with the choice of the Republican party for VP. I'm American enough to agree to disagree. But, your post smacks of a total moonbat liberal who thinks that McCain will keel over 4.2 seconds after inauguration and She will be a helpless woman with no where to turn.

Glenn A. Primm said...

OK, I take back the aspirin part. Overstepped my bounds there. Sorry.

Still, this Palin is a person who shoots wolves from aircraft. Is that a sport? How is that "sporting"? What goes though the brain pan of a person who thinks that dive bombing wild dogs is a "sport"? Is that right, fair, or, heaven forbid, really sportsmanlike?

Also, what kind of moral education did this woman give her daughter that the girl became pregnant out of wedlock at 17 and Palin thinks that's a "value"? This is not a model moral citizen, and you don't have to be a moonbat liberal to see that. You can be a middle of the road realist (that's me!) and see that.

What kind of mental process is McCain going though to pull this woman out of a snowbank at the LAST MOMENT? He only met her once before the announcement of her nomination, and that for about five minutes, I understand.

Hmm.

Mind you, I think Obama's an empty suit and Biden is insane.

Still, McCain's the issue, as is the whole Republican Party, which is not republican in any way shape or form that Eisenhower would understand. They're a bunch of liars and criminals. That cakewalk in Iraq has cost us nearly a trillion dollars, our economy is in the tank, the Constitution is in shreds (remember the Constitution?), we're torturing people, including US citizens, bombing foreign civilians, and McCain wants to continue our foreign policy of enforcing democracy through the barrel of a gun. McCain is no "maverick": he has voted for Bush's policies 90% of the time.

Or how about truth, justice, harmony, and peace? Or do you not want any of these, because McCain will give us none of these, and when he passes, Palin will surely stick it to anybody and everybody she can, just as this administration is doing right now:

"Every day, the shame mounts, the lies grow more brazen and more brutal, and the dishonor spreads and deepens -- ineradicable, like a white garment soaked with blood.

"The atrocity in Azizabad, an Afghan village hit by an American airstrike on the night of August 22, is by no means the worst depredation of the so-called "War on Terror," which has left more than million innocent people dead in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia over the past seven years. But the mass death visited upon the sleeping, defenseless citizens of Azizabad encapsulates many of the essential elements of this global campaign of "unipolar domination" and war profiteering: the callous application of high-tech weaponry against unarmed civilians; the witless attack that alienates local supporters and empowers an ever-more violent and radical insurgency; and perhaps the most quintessential element of all -- the knowing lies and deliberate deceits that Washington employs to hide the obscene reality of its Terror War.

"In the days following the attack, the American-backed Afghan government, local officials with long-standing relationships with American forces, and representatives of the United Nations declared that at least 90 civilians, most of them women and children, had been killed by American bombs in Azizabad. The Pentagon and White House adamantly denied the eyewitness accounts of their own allies on the scene. Washington claimed that "only" five to seven civilians had been killed in what the Pentagon claimed was a successful Special Forces operation against a Taliban stronghold. [Think of that: "only" five to seven civilians killed! How far have we become steeped in blood, when the obliteration of half a dozen innocent human beings can be dismissed as a trifle.]"
- http://www.chris-floyd.com/content/view/1601/135/

I assume you have a conscience. I hope and pray that you consult it.

Nereus said...

Ok G.randy Primm,

I will retract the Total Moonbat Liberal statement.

No more name calling, Was more hot under the collar about the whole soak your head and go to the rack statment than anything else.

I don't completely agree with your views, But there are valid points in all of them. I only posted about her because at least she is a fresh face and prospective to the up coming election.

Me personally I Don't can't stand either party for the most part. They have both become corrupt with greed and handouts from Political action Committees and lobbyist. The people who are in on either side are more worried about maintaining their position and not truly serving our country.

We the people are truly stuck with "Damned if you Do and Damned if you don't" And that is for either party.