I just read an article on Real Clear Politics that confirmed my worst fears. Sarah Palin is definitely going to make a run for the brass ring of the Presidency. This egotistical, paranoid, soap opera queen and failed governor of the GREAT STATE of ALASKA, this individual who stated time and again while running for that high office "This is the greatest job that I could have," and who promised that she would never leave that office for national office before her two potential terms were up . . . Sarah Palin would be a disaster as a President.
I worked for that campaign as a volunteer, I wrote in support of her campaign, I talked to people, I did what I could to support her in her race for governor. Sarah called me, I did not call her and volunteer.
When Sarah Palin took her oath of office, she closed the door to most of the peons like me, and on her promises regarding change and open, conservative, pro-family, pro-life, constitutional State government.
Her administration was characterized as being left to itself without clear leadership or direction from her. She did something none of us thought that she would do. Instead of a new start for State government as she campaigned on--the Palin Revolution, remember?--she rehired many of her predecessors' commissioners and appointees. She changed nothing. If anything, she muddied the waters of State government further.
Her theme of open and transparent government was a joke. Contact with her office was a trial, without much chance of any call being returned. I heard this again and again from people who tried to contact the governor’s offices for one reason or another and were told that their call would be returned, but never was.
I have personal experience with her administration's public access policies. Open and transparent? Anything but.
I understand that the commissioners were left to work out amongst themselves what they thought she wanted from them. Sarah Palin was described as being above details, and uninterested in anything other than what she was trying to accomplish at the moment. A recent interview with Walt Monaghan, the former Dept. of Public Safety Commissioner under Palin, confirmed this characteristic of her administration. She was distant and aloof and out of touch with her commissioners.
As time went on, she increasingly made public appearances to respond to specious and idiotic attacks upon her family, character and ethics. Something she should have left out of her job as governor. It seemed she was making more retorts to these detractors than policy statements. Instead of hiring a publicist, attorney, attack dog, whatever, it was the governor's office that was dragged into the soap opera that was Governor Sarah Palin. She embarrassed us, and she acted immaturely, and foolishly by letting herself be swayed from her responsibilities as governor. She failed as a leader to keep the governor's office above the circus atmosphere, and, instead, used that office a bludgeon against those she did not like. The governor’s office was allowed to enter into the realm of a family feud between her sister and her former husband, an Alaska State Trooper.
Sarah is not a conservative. At best, she is a RINO with a great public persona who says all the right things, but shows her true colors in the record of her administration as governor.
Sarah Palin added 800 employees to the State of Alaska and oversaw the biggest expenditures since Statehood. She handed out a $1,200 fuel rebate to Alaskans in a shameless exhibition of pandering to the public with the public’s money. She expanded her cabinet to include a sub-cabinet that was devoted to . . . get this . . . climate change. She named the sub-cabinet the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet whose executive director was a federal EPA employee. According to her commissioner of DNR, and her Climate Change Sub-cabinet, global warming was a man-made problem.
Worse, the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet composition was the antithesis of her claims of supporting the State's sovereignty over ever increasing federal encroachment.
It is difficult to believe that she really supported the State of Alaska's sovereignty as expressed under AS 38.05.500-505 when she let a federal employee act as management in her offices. Especially, when a single source contract for approximately $80,000 was let to Climate Change Strategies (CCS), a progressive, anti growth, anti-development, population control cookie cutter global warming consultant to give the liberals the tools that they needed to feel better about destroying an economy through carbon tax initiatives. CCS was contracted to set up and administer her sub-cabinet. Sarah Palin signed up the State as an observer in the Western Climate Initiative arm of this organization.
Sarah Palin a supporter of the Second Amendment and our military? Highly suspect, given what she ordered where the 32 USC §109(c) Alaska State Defense Force is concerned.
Sarah Palin was the first Republican Governor to reduce the military forces of the State of Alaska by disarming the Alaska State Defense Force and rendering it from an operational, disaster response unit with an outstanding record of achievement over eight years to that of an unarmed "reserve of last resort". In doing so, then Governor Sarah Palin ignored the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, Art. 1 Sec. 19 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska, AS 26.05.070, AS 26.05.100, and the intent of NGR 10-4 sec. 5 and sec. 6, something her Adjutant General, LTG Craig Campbell should have been most aware of.
Her zeal for diminishing the Alaska State Defense Force and thereby removing from the State’s disaster response resources a proven operational unit that was a state military police constabulary has only been exceeded by her successor, Gov. Sean Parnell. Both former Governor Sarah Palin and Governor Sean Parnell have shown an incredible indifference to the fact that by their actions against the Alaska Sate Defense Force that they have shown a complete disregard for the militia’s right to bear arms. They also demonstrate a callous disregard for the fact that unarmed troops cannot afford protection and safety to those whom they serve. Alaskans are less safe because of Sarah Palin’s acts against the Alaska State Defense Force.
In diminishing the military forces of the State of Alaska, then Gov. Sarah Palin, and Gov. Sean Parnell,her successor and her former Lt. Gov., both went against the Alaska Republican Party's plank in support of the military in Alaska:
“C. We recognize Alaska’s strategic military location and unparalleled training opportunities and welcome the expansion of forces in Alaska, including our Active Duty, Reserves, Alaska National Guard, naval Militia, Coast Guard and Alaska State Defense Force.”
That this was done in a time of WAR should cause serious consternation on the part of any who might be considering Sarah Palin as qualified for the Presidency. That she stepped all over the Second Amendment and Alaska's constitution in doing so by diminishing the right of the organized and unorganized State militia to be armed should give cause to all who own weapons to worry about our Second Amendment rights if she actually achieves the presidency. That she did so during time of war should give considerable consernation to any who is concerned about the security of this great country.
Sarah Palin is not intellectually or politically qualified to be president. By intellectually, I mean that she has never studied or been interested in international affairs. Sarah Palin has demonstrated that she lacked the judgment necessary to weigh local and State issues concerning Alaskan much less weigh global issues against national interests. Sarah Palin failed miserably as the governor of the Great State of Alaska, as she did not even make it through her first term. She did not even make it two years into her administration. If Frank Bailey’s book has any truth to it, Sarah Palin can be characterized as a petulant, spoiled child who wanted to quit, because she could not stand the criticism.
You think criticizing Obama produces a spectacle, wait until Sarah Palin becomes President.
I have only seen one other as poor a candidate for the highest office. That one other is the communist and Muslim sympathizing, socialist, apologist heretic that is currently occupying the highest elected office of the United States: Barack Hussein Obama. A close second is former president James Carter.
Unfortunately, I personally believe that Sarah Palin as President would make Obama into a statesman by comparison.
That Sarah Palin just purchased a house in Scottsdale, Arizona for $1.695M is an indication of how much an Alaskan this woman really is.
Yeah, she is good looking and she says the right things that resonates with conservatives and most middle class family oriented, hard working Americans. However, that is all that Sarah Palin is and does. She is a mouthpiece and a lightning rod for the opposition.
Can you imagine her soap opera on national television with her as President? We would be more of a laughing stock than we are under Obama. She is worse than Obama where a sleight is concerned. She would rail publically against any who dared criticize.
Surely, we won't be that stupid to elect someone who is clearly unqualified for the presidency so soon after getting rid of the pretender that is now in that office?
The Republican Party has some serious soul searching to do. There has to be a candidate that has a consistent record of fiscal and social conservatism, who will not compromise our Constitution and our social and moral values, who is not afraid to say that they are an American and that our culture is distinct, that English is our language, and who will not BOW to a foreign potentate, and who has the credentials to be President. Who, like Ronald Reagan will not place his/her ego above that of the country, and who will not only say the right things about America, but will act upon those words to make it so.
Sarah Palin is NOT that candidate.
Real Clear Politics piece on Palin:
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, August 30, 2010
Parnell broke the law.
The Republican Primary was a disappointment. In more ways than one. Not only did Parnell receive the nod to move on to the General Election, but he was given a free pass on his violation of his oath of office. Parnell has violated Article II Sec. 5 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska, not once, but twice. Now, we hear that it may actually have been 3 times with the appointment of a State employee to Dahlstrom's seat.
Parnell has deferred owing up to his indiscretions by alleging that he acted upon the advice of an unnamed junior attorney at the Dept. of Law. This excuse completely ignores the fact that Sean Parnell is a lawyer himself. What? He no longer understands the Constitution, much less now apparently has a diminished capacity to understand the English language?
Art. II Sec. 5:
§ 5. Disqualifications
"No legislator may hold any other office or position of profit under the United States or the State. During the term for which elected and for one year thereafter, no legislator may be nominated, elected, or appointed to any other office or position of profit which has been created, or the salary or emoluments of which have been increased, while he was a member. This section shall not prevent any person from seeking or holding the office of governor, secretary of state, or member of Congress. This section shall not apply to employment by or election to a constitutional convention."
What part of "for one year after" does not this governor understand? I think the provision is very clear. Gee, even I understand it.
What I find most disturbing are those who voted for both Joe Miller as a strong constitutionalist versus Lisa Murkowski as the compromised insider who ignored the Constitution. Yet, many of these folks voted for Parnell. How does one reconcile that paradox?
Sarah Palin campaigned on a platform that included integrity. Sean Parnell cannot lay claim to that, given his violation of the State's Constitution, to which he swore an oath to uphold and defend. Which, given the Dahlstrom and Therriault affairs, he did not.
How could one vote for Miller, then vote for Parnell?
How could one then claim the moral and legal high ground over the Obama/Pelosi/Reid trashing of our national Constitution?
Another excuse that I heard was that Faibanks and North Pole hold former Sen. Gene Therriault in such high regard that they were willing to ignore the fact of the constitutional affront by his appointment on the part of Governor Parnell.
Allegedly, the Palin crowd was also a factor, voting for Joe Miller, and then voting for Parnell due to his association with Sarah. Let me remind that Sarah Palin did not select Sean Parnell during the 2006 Primary. Parnell won the slot as her Lt. Gov. by winning the Primary. That he did on his own. I do not recall Sarah Palin going out of her way for Parnell’s election.
The only conclusion to be drawn is that these folks hold the Constitution of the State of Alaska in such low regard that it can be violated with impunity by a sitting governor, so long as that governor is Republican?
There are those who believe in "my party, right or wrong". I am not one of those. I believe in the rule of LAW.
If one can violate one's oath with impunity, then what's next?
I am more than worried about the integrity of the Alaska Republican voter and the hypocrisy demonstrated in this election. Even more troubling is the lack of integrity and honor demonstrated by our current Governor.
Will the new Legislature have the courage to impeach this governor, if he prevails in the General Election?
Parnell has deferred owing up to his indiscretions by alleging that he acted upon the advice of an unnamed junior attorney at the Dept. of Law. This excuse completely ignores the fact that Sean Parnell is a lawyer himself. What? He no longer understands the Constitution, much less now apparently has a diminished capacity to understand the English language?
Art. II Sec. 5:
§ 5. Disqualifications
"No legislator may hold any other office or position of profit under the United States or the State. During the term for which elected and for one year thereafter, no legislator may be nominated, elected, or appointed to any other office or position of profit which has been created, or the salary or emoluments of which have been increased, while he was a member. This section shall not prevent any person from seeking or holding the office of governor, secretary of state, or member of Congress. This section shall not apply to employment by or election to a constitutional convention."
What part of "for one year after" does not this governor understand? I think the provision is very clear. Gee, even I understand it.
What I find most disturbing are those who voted for both Joe Miller as a strong constitutionalist versus Lisa Murkowski as the compromised insider who ignored the Constitution. Yet, many of these folks voted for Parnell. How does one reconcile that paradox?
Sarah Palin campaigned on a platform that included integrity. Sean Parnell cannot lay claim to that, given his violation of the State's Constitution, to which he swore an oath to uphold and defend. Which, given the Dahlstrom and Therriault affairs, he did not.
How could one vote for Miller, then vote for Parnell?
How could one then claim the moral and legal high ground over the Obama/Pelosi/Reid trashing of our national Constitution?
Another excuse that I heard was that Faibanks and North Pole hold former Sen. Gene Therriault in such high regard that they were willing to ignore the fact of the constitutional affront by his appointment on the part of Governor Parnell.
Allegedly, the Palin crowd was also a factor, voting for Joe Miller, and then voting for Parnell due to his association with Sarah. Let me remind that Sarah Palin did not select Sean Parnell during the 2006 Primary. Parnell won the slot as her Lt. Gov. by winning the Primary. That he did on his own. I do not recall Sarah Palin going out of her way for Parnell’s election.
The only conclusion to be drawn is that these folks hold the Constitution of the State of Alaska in such low regard that it can be violated with impunity by a sitting governor, so long as that governor is Republican?
There are those who believe in "my party, right or wrong". I am not one of those. I believe in the rule of LAW.
If one can violate one's oath with impunity, then what's next?
I am more than worried about the integrity of the Alaska Republican voter and the hypocrisy demonstrated in this election. Even more troubling is the lack of integrity and honor demonstrated by our current Governor.
Will the new Legislature have the courage to impeach this governor, if he prevails in the General Election?
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Have we come to this?
Dan Fagan, commentator and pundit with an afternoon radio show went into a screaming hissy fit today that was one for the record books. Dan is a showman, first of all, and an alleged conservative—or so he says. He called Bill Walker’s supporters commies and socialists. Those are exactly the terms that he used.
Why did this otherwise, articulate, experienced, and knowledgeable reporter go off the deep end?
Apparently, Dan Fagan reacted to the yes or no requirement put to the candidates by the moderator at the Resource Development Council forum held today. The candidates could only answer yes or no.
Fagan billed his revelation as proof positive that Walker was a socialist and union schill who could not possibly be a conservative.
Apparently, unbeknownst to Fagan at the time of his hissy fit, Bill Walker followed up on the answer in an interview by ADN report Sean Cockerham post the debate at the Resource Development Council Governor’s Forum today. What Fagan did not have to pass on was the “rest of the story”.
This is what Walker was quoted as saying in the ADN:
“Q—How did you vote on the 2006 gas reserve initiative? Yes, no or prefer not to say. (The question was about a proposal to tax North Slope natural gas reserves until a pipeline was built to bring them to market. It could have imposed up to $1 billion annual tax on the gas under land leased primarily by Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco Phillips, most in the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields.)
Walker – Yes (Walker said in an interview after the forum that “we wanted to get the gas moving, the only thing we were missing for a gasline at that point was gas. At that point in time that looked like it was the way to go. I don’t believe that is the way to go at this point, the way at this point is to create the infrastructure. The producers have said…we will ship if there is a reasonable expectation of profit.”
Fagan is an accomplished reporter. He should have asked Bill Walker directly before labeling—slandering—Walker and his supports as commies and socialists in fit of outrage over a an absolute answer that was designed to reflect an absolutist position that did not apply to Walker. It should be stated that Walker has never served in the Legislature.
The Dan Fagan Show, on KFQD in the afternoon heavily promotes Ralph Samuels for governor.
Ralph Samuels is recognized as being in Third Place, folks, that’s why Fagan jumped without first “looking”. Fagan’s boy is losing, even with Rick Rydell on Keni 650 AM and Dan Fagan and Dave Stierens on KFQD 750 AM all pushing Ralph Samuels like he is our Savior and the only conservative running.
Fortunately, people are not stupid.
Former Rep. Ralph Samuels received over $10,000 from Bill Allen of VECO fame. This same former representative voted for the biggest capital budgets in the State’s history prior to Parnell’s whale of a budget. Those budgets included an increase in the size of state government by 800 employees. Yet, these “good conservatives” all tout Samuels as a fiscal conservative.
Yeah, well, if Samuels was a fiscal conservative, then I guess that would make Sarah Palin a fiscal conservative.
Samuels has also touted his leadership abilities. As House Majority Leader, his was the only vote against AGIA, Palin’s gas pipeline initiative. The only vote. In a House and Senate that did not really support or like Sarah Palin. Why was Ralph’s vote the only vote? When the going gets tough, and the objective is not what the troops want to achieve, a good leader picks up the pack and rifle and says, we gotta do it . . . let’s go. And, the troops either respect the leader enough to obey, or they don’t. Samuels stood alone. That shows me that he is not the hero that these guys continually represent him as, if he could not garner one additional vote in support of his position.
Samuels supports the bullet line, widely held by industry and the State to be too expensive to be competitive to imported LNG for Cook Inlet. That the bullet line would double the cost of natural gas in south central. How is that an economic plan?
Samuels also supports Conoco/BP’s Denali project. A gasline that does not have a market, and will take everything, the jobs, the money, the majority of the infrastructure to Canada. How is that putting Alaska first? How is that acting in concert with Article 8 Sec. 2 of Alaska’s Constitution? In this regard, Samuels shares common ground with Parnell.
Parnell supports AGIA, another take it all to Canada plan, and also supports the bullet line. Of course Parnell also considers himself above the law, given his problems with his appointment of legislators to the Governror’s office. These appointments were made in violation of Article 2 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska. How can we have a Governor who holds himself above the law?
Therefore, why does Fagan and the others try to paint the only gubernatorial candidate as other than what he really is? The only conservative running for the office of the governor of Alaska who will put Alaska and Alaskans first? And, who has a viable pipeline plan that 138,000 Alaskans mandated by vote in 2002?
If this man is a commie and an socialist to Dan Fagan, then Walker has good company in that regard. Given Ralph’s record, Rydell, Stierens and Fagan will have reconsider their labeling Sarah Palin as a RINO.
This race is too crucial for such silliness.
When TAPS falls to 300,000 bpd of oil, the system will be shut down. The problem of the oil companies going elsewhere is not ACES, but a combination of taxes, regulations and litigation . . . and, a world wide recession that reduced the demand for oil.
As a result of the regulatory environment, of which taxes are a part, and the litigatory environmental greenie assault on the oil industry through the courts, the oil companies went wherever they could work with as little environmental and regulatory hassle as possible. They went for as little as $1 per barrel of profit.
Yet, according to the pundits, it was all because of ACES.
Male bovine offal.
Alaskans must be informed. Please take the time to attend forums and read the websites of the various candidates. Listen to the pundits, but take what they say with a grain of salt. Fagan did his credibility a great deal of harm today by calling good people something that they are not: commies and socialists.
Fagan owes Bill Walker and his supports an apology and his listeners an apology for his acting without the “rest of the story”.
For more information:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/152634?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted#Comments_Container
Why did this otherwise, articulate, experienced, and knowledgeable reporter go off the deep end?
Apparently, Dan Fagan reacted to the yes or no requirement put to the candidates by the moderator at the Resource Development Council forum held today. The candidates could only answer yes or no.
Fagan billed his revelation as proof positive that Walker was a socialist and union schill who could not possibly be a conservative.
Apparently, unbeknownst to Fagan at the time of his hissy fit, Bill Walker followed up on the answer in an interview by ADN report Sean Cockerham post the debate at the Resource Development Council Governor’s Forum today. What Fagan did not have to pass on was the “rest of the story”.
This is what Walker was quoted as saying in the ADN:
“Q—How did you vote on the 2006 gas reserve initiative? Yes, no or prefer not to say. (The question was about a proposal to tax North Slope natural gas reserves until a pipeline was built to bring them to market. It could have imposed up to $1 billion annual tax on the gas under land leased primarily by Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco Phillips, most in the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields.)
Walker – Yes (Walker said in an interview after the forum that “we wanted to get the gas moving, the only thing we were missing for a gasline at that point was gas. At that point in time that looked like it was the way to go. I don’t believe that is the way to go at this point, the way at this point is to create the infrastructure. The producers have said…we will ship if there is a reasonable expectation of profit.”
Fagan is an accomplished reporter. He should have asked Bill Walker directly before labeling—slandering—Walker and his supports as commies and socialists in fit of outrage over a an absolute answer that was designed to reflect an absolutist position that did not apply to Walker. It should be stated that Walker has never served in the Legislature.
The Dan Fagan Show, on KFQD in the afternoon heavily promotes Ralph Samuels for governor.
Ralph Samuels is recognized as being in Third Place, folks, that’s why Fagan jumped without first “looking”. Fagan’s boy is losing, even with Rick Rydell on Keni 650 AM and Dan Fagan and Dave Stierens on KFQD 750 AM all pushing Ralph Samuels like he is our Savior and the only conservative running.
Fortunately, people are not stupid.
Former Rep. Ralph Samuels received over $10,000 from Bill Allen of VECO fame. This same former representative voted for the biggest capital budgets in the State’s history prior to Parnell’s whale of a budget. Those budgets included an increase in the size of state government by 800 employees. Yet, these “good conservatives” all tout Samuels as a fiscal conservative.
Yeah, well, if Samuels was a fiscal conservative, then I guess that would make Sarah Palin a fiscal conservative.
Samuels has also touted his leadership abilities. As House Majority Leader, his was the only vote against AGIA, Palin’s gas pipeline initiative. The only vote. In a House and Senate that did not really support or like Sarah Palin. Why was Ralph’s vote the only vote? When the going gets tough, and the objective is not what the troops want to achieve, a good leader picks up the pack and rifle and says, we gotta do it . . . let’s go. And, the troops either respect the leader enough to obey, or they don’t. Samuels stood alone. That shows me that he is not the hero that these guys continually represent him as, if he could not garner one additional vote in support of his position.
Samuels supports the bullet line, widely held by industry and the State to be too expensive to be competitive to imported LNG for Cook Inlet. That the bullet line would double the cost of natural gas in south central. How is that an economic plan?
Samuels also supports Conoco/BP’s Denali project. A gasline that does not have a market, and will take everything, the jobs, the money, the majority of the infrastructure to Canada. How is that putting Alaska first? How is that acting in concert with Article 8 Sec. 2 of Alaska’s Constitution? In this regard, Samuels shares common ground with Parnell.
Parnell supports AGIA, another take it all to Canada plan, and also supports the bullet line. Of course Parnell also considers himself above the law, given his problems with his appointment of legislators to the Governror’s office. These appointments were made in violation of Article 2 of the Constitution of the State of Alaska. How can we have a Governor who holds himself above the law?
Therefore, why does Fagan and the others try to paint the only gubernatorial candidate as other than what he really is? The only conservative running for the office of the governor of Alaska who will put Alaska and Alaskans first? And, who has a viable pipeline plan that 138,000 Alaskans mandated by vote in 2002?
If this man is a commie and an socialist to Dan Fagan, then Walker has good company in that regard. Given Ralph’s record, Rydell, Stierens and Fagan will have reconsider their labeling Sarah Palin as a RINO.
This race is too crucial for such silliness.
When TAPS falls to 300,000 bpd of oil, the system will be shut down. The problem of the oil companies going elsewhere is not ACES, but a combination of taxes, regulations and litigation . . . and, a world wide recession that reduced the demand for oil.
As a result of the regulatory environment, of which taxes are a part, and the litigatory environmental greenie assault on the oil industry through the courts, the oil companies went wherever they could work with as little environmental and regulatory hassle as possible. They went for as little as $1 per barrel of profit.
Yet, according to the pundits, it was all because of ACES.
Male bovine offal.
Alaskans must be informed. Please take the time to attend forums and read the websites of the various candidates. Listen to the pundits, but take what they say with a grain of salt. Fagan did his credibility a great deal of harm today by calling good people something that they are not: commies and socialists.
Fagan owes Bill Walker and his supports an apology and his listeners an apology for his acting without the “rest of the story”.
For more information:
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/152634?mi_pluck_action=comment_submitted#Comments_Container
Sunday, June 6, 2010
FERC Misinformation
A recent decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has provided the grist for the political mill of those opposing the all-Alaska natural gas pipeline and Bill Walker’s candidacy for governor. However, this is a case of the disinformationistas being aided by the silence of the lamb (Parnell), rather than it being the death knell to anyone’s campaign.
FERC recently declined to renew an application by Yukon Pacific Corporation for an LNG export train at Anderson Bay. This decision has been declared a death knell to Walker’s campaign by Walker’s detractors. Walker’s pipeline advocacy is in support of the all-Alaska natural gas pipeline to Valdez. The decision has been heralded as barring any export of Alaska gas, thereby ending both Walker’s candidacy and the Valdez pipeline option. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The silence being on the part of the Parnell Administration in keeping quiet an inquiry of Jan. 28, 2010 from Pipeline Coodinator Bob Swenson made to FERC as reported in the Oil and Gas Journal in an editorial dated March 22, 2010.
Cheniere, Inc. is converting its Sabine Pass, TX LNG import facility to receive foreign LNG and to loop it back for export to Asian markets. Cheniere cites a 42% drop in LNG imports between 2007 and 2008 into the U.S. because of increased domestic supplies. This market trend results from increased supplies of natural gas in the domestic U.S. market from shale gas and other unconventional sources.
Cheniere has also applied for permits to export U.S. domestic produced natural gas to global markets. This would be only the second facility in the U.S. built to export domestically produced LNG to foreign markets. The first such facility was built at Nikkiski, Alaska and has been exporting LNG to Japan since 1969.
In his Jan. 28, 2010 inquiry to FERC, Gov. Sean Parnell’s pipeline coordinator Bob Swenson described 3 scenarios and requested to know if FERC would have regulatory oversight.
Scenario 1 was an in-state pipeline with North Slope gas being used in-state only. FERC’s response was that FERC would have no regulatory oversight authority for such use.
Scenario 2 was an in-state pipeline with North Slope gas being used in-state with some of the gas being exported to domestic U.S. markets. FERC”s response was that FERC would regulatory authority over domestic export to the U.S. market.
Scenario 3 was an in-state pipeline with North Slope gas being used in-state with some of the gas being exported to foreign markets. FERC’s response was that FERC would not have regulatory authority over North Slope gas exported to a foreign market.
FERC does not have regulatory oversight over North Slope natural gas exported to foreign markets. Therefore, the issue of FERC’s denial of Yukon Pacific’s permit to export North Slope gas from Valdez to the U.S. domestic market has no bearing whatsoever on Walker’s Valdez pipeline project.
Parnell knows that Walker’s Valdez pipeline plan is viable and economically sound. Cheniere, Inc.’s filing for an export permit to export domestically produced LNG to global markets further supports Walker’s contention that Alaska should export its natural gas to a global market rather than to an oversupplied U.S. market.
Rival Ralph Samuels has also lauded the FERC decision regarding the YPC permit as supporting his position that Walker’s plan is not viable. Obviously, in light of the response by FERC to the Parnell Administration’s inquiry, Samuels is wrong in his position. Samuels knows full well that FERC has domestic market oversight, not foreign, and that Walker’s plan is to export natural gas to Asia.
On the one hand, Parnell acts to withhold information, on the other, Samuels acts, as have others, to promote half truths.
The positions of the various candidates on the issues regarding the pipelines and the looming economic disaster facing the State would be illuminated at public forums where they would debate on the issues. Unfortunately, Gov. Sean Parnell has decided that he does not want to participate in any more debates until just before the Primary Election in August. He was put on the spot by Walker at the Kodiak Crab Festival on May 29th.
Walker asked Parnell about the $20,000,000,000 give-a-way that his refusal to sign SB 305 separating natural gas taxes from oil taxes will cost the State. This give-a-way amounts to a State subsidy for the Canadian route construction of AGIA or Denali. Both benefit from Parnell’s action. Apparently, Parnell chose to waffle and make polite noises rather than answer a direct question.
It appears that Walker’s growing support is making Parnell and Samuels a bit nervous in the service as it were.
FERC recently declined to renew an application by Yukon Pacific Corporation for an LNG export train at Anderson Bay. This decision has been declared a death knell to Walker’s campaign by Walker’s detractors. Walker’s pipeline advocacy is in support of the all-Alaska natural gas pipeline to Valdez. The decision has been heralded as barring any export of Alaska gas, thereby ending both Walker’s candidacy and the Valdez pipeline option. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The silence being on the part of the Parnell Administration in keeping quiet an inquiry of Jan. 28, 2010 from Pipeline Coodinator Bob Swenson made to FERC as reported in the Oil and Gas Journal in an editorial dated March 22, 2010.
Cheniere, Inc. is converting its Sabine Pass, TX LNG import facility to receive foreign LNG and to loop it back for export to Asian markets. Cheniere cites a 42% drop in LNG imports between 2007 and 2008 into the U.S. because of increased domestic supplies. This market trend results from increased supplies of natural gas in the domestic U.S. market from shale gas and other unconventional sources.
Cheniere has also applied for permits to export U.S. domestic produced natural gas to global markets. This would be only the second facility in the U.S. built to export domestically produced LNG to foreign markets. The first such facility was built at Nikkiski, Alaska and has been exporting LNG to Japan since 1969.
In his Jan. 28, 2010 inquiry to FERC, Gov. Sean Parnell’s pipeline coordinator Bob Swenson described 3 scenarios and requested to know if FERC would have regulatory oversight.
Scenario 1 was an in-state pipeline with North Slope gas being used in-state only. FERC’s response was that FERC would have no regulatory oversight authority for such use.
Scenario 2 was an in-state pipeline with North Slope gas being used in-state with some of the gas being exported to domestic U.S. markets. FERC”s response was that FERC would regulatory authority over domestic export to the U.S. market.
Scenario 3 was an in-state pipeline with North Slope gas being used in-state with some of the gas being exported to foreign markets. FERC’s response was that FERC would not have regulatory authority over North Slope gas exported to a foreign market.
FERC does not have regulatory oversight over North Slope natural gas exported to foreign markets. Therefore, the issue of FERC’s denial of Yukon Pacific’s permit to export North Slope gas from Valdez to the U.S. domestic market has no bearing whatsoever on Walker’s Valdez pipeline project.
Parnell knows that Walker’s Valdez pipeline plan is viable and economically sound. Cheniere, Inc.’s filing for an export permit to export domestically produced LNG to global markets further supports Walker’s contention that Alaska should export its natural gas to a global market rather than to an oversupplied U.S. market.
Rival Ralph Samuels has also lauded the FERC decision regarding the YPC permit as supporting his position that Walker’s plan is not viable. Obviously, in light of the response by FERC to the Parnell Administration’s inquiry, Samuels is wrong in his position. Samuels knows full well that FERC has domestic market oversight, not foreign, and that Walker’s plan is to export natural gas to Asia.
On the one hand, Parnell acts to withhold information, on the other, Samuels acts, as have others, to promote half truths.
The positions of the various candidates on the issues regarding the pipelines and the looming economic disaster facing the State would be illuminated at public forums where they would debate on the issues. Unfortunately, Gov. Sean Parnell has decided that he does not want to participate in any more debates until just before the Primary Election in August. He was put on the spot by Walker at the Kodiak Crab Festival on May 29th.
Walker asked Parnell about the $20,000,000,000 give-a-way that his refusal to sign SB 305 separating natural gas taxes from oil taxes will cost the State. This give-a-way amounts to a State subsidy for the Canadian route construction of AGIA or Denali. Both benefit from Parnell’s action. Apparently, Parnell chose to waffle and make polite noises rather than answer a direct question.
It appears that Walker’s growing support is making Parnell and Samuels a bit nervous in the service as it were.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sarah is a quitter . . .
Sarah Palin came upon Alaska’s state political stage with her run for Lt. Gov. in 2002. She proved an able opponent, much to the chagrin of Sen. Loren Leman, a well respected member of the Alaska Senate. Sarah came within a hairs breadth of defeating him for the Lt. Gov.’s seat.
Newly elected Governor Frank Murkowski gave justice to Sarah’s showing by giving Sarah a responsibility reserved for the political elite: a seat on the Oil and Gas Commission. A pricey salary of $105,000 per year went with it.
Randy Ruedrich was also appointed to that commission. Ruedrich, out of the people appointed at least had experience in the industry he was overseeing. However, as the Alaska Republican Party Chair, Ruedrich’s appointment raised some concern. This was an appointment fraught with potential conflict of interest.
What happened next, made Alaska political history, and created the Palin legend of standing for integrity and principle.
Palin and Ruedrich did not get along. Palin called Randy down for using State computers to conduct party business. Gov. Frank Murkowski initially chose to ignore the issue, and Palin resigned from the AOGC, setting the stage for the greatest political upset in Alaska history and an early end to the Murkowski Administration.
Ruedrich was fined $12,000 by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for his breach of ethics.
With her resignation, Sarah Palin established herself to Alaskans as a moral person of integrity and principle. Joan of Arc of Alaska is what I called her.
It was too bad that Frank Murkowski was demonized so heavily over the Ruedrich mess. Murkowski’s Administration was addressing some vital issues to Alaska, including the novel idea of actually building roads to gain access to Alaska’s potential mineral and potential oil wealth beyond the North Slope development.
From the beginning of the race against Murkowski for the governor’s mansion, the Palin campaign was belittled by the competition. “Little princess”, “cheerleader” and “little girl” were terms used liberally during the Primary. Demeaning, and denigrating rhetoric on the part of the pundits and the Murkowski faithful was the order of the day. This harsh and demeaning rhetoric was constant.
No one took Sarah seriously amongst the old guard in the Republican Party of Alaska . . . until her poll numbers starting going up.
The harsher the criticism, the higher the poll numbers went.
Ruedrich’s breach of ethics became a battle cry and a rallying point for the Palin faithful. Her resignation from the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission became the stuff of legend.
Murkowski was the ideal “straight man” to Sarah’s presence and “Alaska First!” theme. Big and usually polite, Murkowski rarely went where Palin’s critics went with their remarks.
I can remember only one demeaning comment on Murkowski’s part; otherwise he played the gentleman opponent to Palin’s Joan of Arc.
Then came the Primary election. This was an incredible rout for Murkowski and the Republican old corps Murkowski supporters.
These rubber stamp it as long as it is Republican, except Sarah Palin, party faithful were those whose blind faith enabled a breach of ethics on the part of elected representatives to Alaska’s Legislature unprecedented in Alaska history that comprised the reputation of the Republican Party in Alaska. This disaffection of integrity from the ranks of ‘conservative’ legislators led to gains in the Legislature, thereby eliminating a Republican majority that owned the House and Senate.
The General Election where Sarah ran against former Gov. Tony Knowles was more low key, in terms of attacks from the Democrats. The Democrat election machine had the Murkowski Republicans and alleged conservative pundits to do their dirty work. Even after the Primary election, these alleged conservatives continued the attacks against Palin, unabated by the fact that the benefactor was the Democrat opposition!
Former Gov. Tony Knowles, like Murkowski, kept to the high ground where criticism of Sarah was concerned. Unfortunately for Tony, Tony was just out of date and no match for Sarah’s increasing popularity. The Palin Revolution was well under way and Tony and the dems were blown away at the polls.
Sarah’s most critical naysayers were those who supported Murkowski. They just could not get over Sarah’s one ups-man-ship over their hero. Since, it has been more of the same.
Was that criticism justified?
Sarah campaigned on a fiscal conservatism, smaller government is better, pro-development, get rid of activist judges, pro-family, traditional value, pro-life largely conservative platform.
Once in office, she made up to Randy Ruedrich, and forgot what she sold us during the campaign for governor.
Her administration started off by reappointing most of Murkowski’s cabinet, along with a few retreads from past Democrat administrations. The end result was confusion, a lack of direction, and dissent within the governor’s office about who was in charge. Sarah fired her legislative liaison, John Bitney, one of the ardent insiders during the campaign. She eventually fired two of her Chief of Staffs, keeping the last.
Sarah’s record is one of contradictions.
Sarah campaigned on a platform of fiscal conservatism. She then promoted the largest budget in State history in the face of declining oil production. She added $200 to the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend check as a freebie for fuel costs. Sarah grew government, failing to address the bloated, horribly expensive State bureaucracy for which she criticized Murkowski and Knowles.
Once in office, Sarah forgot the all Alaska pipeline route that even she admitted she had voted for and supported during the campaign, through AGIA and a Trans-Canada pipeline.
Sarah raised taxes on the oil companies, resulting in a regulatory morass that has all but eliminated oil and gas exploration Alaska. In Alberta, 10,000 wells drilled last year is considered a bad year. In Alaska, one can count the number of new wells drilled last year on two hands.
Sarah’s cabinet included the addition of a climate change sub-cabinet comprised of those whose job was to promote a fallacy upon Alaskans. There is nothing this cabinet has done that has resulted in any plan or direction that benefits Alaskans. Worse, is the fact that Miss 10th Amendment State’s Rights to the death Sarah put a FED in charge of the cabinet. An EPA employee runs a State of Alaska cabinet department.
Sarah appointed a liberal minded judge to the Alaska Supreme Court that was on the board of directors for Planned Parenthood! So much for her rhetoric about activist judges.
Yet, during the campaign for Governor, pro-life, anti-abortion Sarah Palin decried activist judges and the attack upon parental rights.
Sarah Palin supported the creation by a previous referendum, the same referendum that she supported with her vote, of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. Earlier this year, she cut funding for ANGDA and appointed a natural gas pipeline czar with no experience in natural gas anything. That’s our Sarah.
Sarah Palin entered office with a greater than 80% majority vote in the general election. She massacred the competition. Instead of going to the Legislature with the power of that mandate, she waffled, commiserated, and failed to get her agenda put into effect. Unfortunately, that agenda was not what we who worked, contributed, and supported her during the campaigns thought it was.
We believed her conservative, pro-life, pro-family, fiscal conservative, and ‘Alaska First!’ rhetoric.
Sarah Palin failed as a leader to carry the day. Her few months in office were marked by an ongoing soap opera that was embarrassing to watch while she seemingly ignored the mandate that she had going into office.
Then came the Presidential campaign.
McCain picking Sarah Palin was brilliant, and immediately put his lackluster campaign back into the running. That pick was so “off the wall”, and so out of the political mainstream of rehashed hacks, that McCain’s campaign took on a new life. Unfortunately, his choice for VP became the VP from hell.
Ascendency to national notoriety showed us a Sarah that we all knew.
In September, 2008, I attended a rally in Cedar Rapids, IA, while working a job near there. Sarah’s acceptance was incredible. A very conservative message was given by Sarah Palin and those folks loved it. Sarah received louder cheers and louder calls for her than did McCain. McCain stood there next to the podium and smiled, but he had to wonder whether or not in the form of Sarah Palin he had created a monster that would eclipse him.
I will say this for John McCain. For a man who had the living daylights beat out of him every day for five years in the Hanoi Hilton, he had a very good military bearing. He stood with a straight back.
The campaign soon degenerated into a bash Sarah assault on the part of the media that almost worked to the detriment of those bashing her. Her poll numbers rose instead of falling. Had it not been for the revelations regarding the economy, McCain would have won and Sarah Palin would be in the V.P.’s office.
The assault on Sarah’s family was the most disgusting and insulting attempt to discredit, defame, and destroy a candidate for high office since the attack on Barry Goldwater when he ran against Lyndon Johnson. There, the press lied, but did not attack his family. What happened with Palin was a travesty and has sullied the press for ever more.
Since returning to office from the VP run, Sarah has not been able to gain any traction. She has been continually hounded by irrelevant and specious ethics complaints. Had she used her mandate, she could have made the Legislature change the law to eliminate many of types of specious and outrageous allegations made against her that were found to be baseless. Sarah took the office of the Governor to new lows in her continued focus on those complaints instead of Alaska’s business.
Sarah Palin plainly spoke at her handover of power that she was resigning to avoid the “lame duck” disadvantage and stigma upon her administration. With 15 months to go in her first term, she was a “lame duck”?
Granted she was rendered ineffectual, but ineffectual by her own conduct and failure to act as would a leader. Murkowski endured many criticisms during his tenure, many from Palin herself. Yet, he did not put his family on public display or put them in the line of fire time and again.
Meg Stapelton told the Anchorage Daily News that Sarah had no plans, nor any designs in place for further political activity after leaving office. Yet the same paper also reported that Sarah was to speak at an event in California on 8 August. Prior to that, Sarah admitted that she is also going to speak in support of other like minded candidates—both Republican and Democrat.
How’s that for not having a position?
Sarah Palin will do whatever she intends to do. She is ambitious and will spin a track on anyone or anything that gets in her way.
Unfortunately for her ambitions, what Sarah says on the public stage is not supported by her record. Sooner or later, people will begin to question the rhetoric and why she quit her job as Governor.
The disgusting soap opera that Sarah Palin’s detractors put her family through, of which no small part belongs to her ego and penchant for mucking it out with her detractors, was disappointing and sad to see.
Sarah Palin is a conservative sound bite, but an all too typical politician. ‘Sarah First’ is her war cry. Those who supported Sarah Palin found out that the self-described ‘pit bull with lipstick’, otherwise known as ‘Sarah Barracuda’, was all hype.
Fame and fortune are Sarah’s bent. Once cannot blame her for going for the gold ring. One can blame her for forsaking her sacred duty to Alaska and Alaskans. She ran for governor, made promises, and, now she quits?
By her resignation as the Governor of the Great State of Alaska, Sarah Palin no longer has the standing to speak for Alaska or Alaskans. To step down as governor, after what she sold us, was an insult of the highest order. She rejected Alaska and Alaskans for ego and money.
Evidently, just being Alaska’s Governor was not “good” enough for Sarah Palin.
Sarah is a quitter and undeserving of any further attention.
Newly elected Governor Frank Murkowski gave justice to Sarah’s showing by giving Sarah a responsibility reserved for the political elite: a seat on the Oil and Gas Commission. A pricey salary of $105,000 per year went with it.
Randy Ruedrich was also appointed to that commission. Ruedrich, out of the people appointed at least had experience in the industry he was overseeing. However, as the Alaska Republican Party Chair, Ruedrich’s appointment raised some concern. This was an appointment fraught with potential conflict of interest.
What happened next, made Alaska political history, and created the Palin legend of standing for integrity and principle.
Palin and Ruedrich did not get along. Palin called Randy down for using State computers to conduct party business. Gov. Frank Murkowski initially chose to ignore the issue, and Palin resigned from the AOGC, setting the stage for the greatest political upset in Alaska history and an early end to the Murkowski Administration.
Ruedrich was fined $12,000 by the Alaska Public Offices Commission for his breach of ethics.
With her resignation, Sarah Palin established herself to Alaskans as a moral person of integrity and principle. Joan of Arc of Alaska is what I called her.
It was too bad that Frank Murkowski was demonized so heavily over the Ruedrich mess. Murkowski’s Administration was addressing some vital issues to Alaska, including the novel idea of actually building roads to gain access to Alaska’s potential mineral and potential oil wealth beyond the North Slope development.
From the beginning of the race against Murkowski for the governor’s mansion, the Palin campaign was belittled by the competition. “Little princess”, “cheerleader” and “little girl” were terms used liberally during the Primary. Demeaning, and denigrating rhetoric on the part of the pundits and the Murkowski faithful was the order of the day. This harsh and demeaning rhetoric was constant.
No one took Sarah seriously amongst the old guard in the Republican Party of Alaska . . . until her poll numbers starting going up.
The harsher the criticism, the higher the poll numbers went.
Ruedrich’s breach of ethics became a battle cry and a rallying point for the Palin faithful. Her resignation from the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission became the stuff of legend.
Murkowski was the ideal “straight man” to Sarah’s presence and “Alaska First!” theme. Big and usually polite, Murkowski rarely went where Palin’s critics went with their remarks.
I can remember only one demeaning comment on Murkowski’s part; otherwise he played the gentleman opponent to Palin’s Joan of Arc.
Then came the Primary election. This was an incredible rout for Murkowski and the Republican old corps Murkowski supporters.
These rubber stamp it as long as it is Republican, except Sarah Palin, party faithful were those whose blind faith enabled a breach of ethics on the part of elected representatives to Alaska’s Legislature unprecedented in Alaska history that comprised the reputation of the Republican Party in Alaska. This disaffection of integrity from the ranks of ‘conservative’ legislators led to gains in the Legislature, thereby eliminating a Republican majority that owned the House and Senate.
The General Election where Sarah ran against former Gov. Tony Knowles was more low key, in terms of attacks from the Democrats. The Democrat election machine had the Murkowski Republicans and alleged conservative pundits to do their dirty work. Even after the Primary election, these alleged conservatives continued the attacks against Palin, unabated by the fact that the benefactor was the Democrat opposition!
Former Gov. Tony Knowles, like Murkowski, kept to the high ground where criticism of Sarah was concerned. Unfortunately for Tony, Tony was just out of date and no match for Sarah’s increasing popularity. The Palin Revolution was well under way and Tony and the dems were blown away at the polls.
Sarah’s most critical naysayers were those who supported Murkowski. They just could not get over Sarah’s one ups-man-ship over their hero. Since, it has been more of the same.
Was that criticism justified?
Sarah campaigned on a fiscal conservatism, smaller government is better, pro-development, get rid of activist judges, pro-family, traditional value, pro-life largely conservative platform.
Once in office, she made up to Randy Ruedrich, and forgot what she sold us during the campaign for governor.
Her administration started off by reappointing most of Murkowski’s cabinet, along with a few retreads from past Democrat administrations. The end result was confusion, a lack of direction, and dissent within the governor’s office about who was in charge. Sarah fired her legislative liaison, John Bitney, one of the ardent insiders during the campaign. She eventually fired two of her Chief of Staffs, keeping the last.
Sarah’s record is one of contradictions.
Sarah campaigned on a platform of fiscal conservatism. She then promoted the largest budget in State history in the face of declining oil production. She added $200 to the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend check as a freebie for fuel costs. Sarah grew government, failing to address the bloated, horribly expensive State bureaucracy for which she criticized Murkowski and Knowles.
Once in office, Sarah forgot the all Alaska pipeline route that even she admitted she had voted for and supported during the campaign, through AGIA and a Trans-Canada pipeline.
Sarah raised taxes on the oil companies, resulting in a regulatory morass that has all but eliminated oil and gas exploration Alaska. In Alberta, 10,000 wells drilled last year is considered a bad year. In Alaska, one can count the number of new wells drilled last year on two hands.
Sarah’s cabinet included the addition of a climate change sub-cabinet comprised of those whose job was to promote a fallacy upon Alaskans. There is nothing this cabinet has done that has resulted in any plan or direction that benefits Alaskans. Worse, is the fact that Miss 10th Amendment State’s Rights to the death Sarah put a FED in charge of the cabinet. An EPA employee runs a State of Alaska cabinet department.
Sarah appointed a liberal minded judge to the Alaska Supreme Court that was on the board of directors for Planned Parenthood! So much for her rhetoric about activist judges.
Yet, during the campaign for Governor, pro-life, anti-abortion Sarah Palin decried activist judges and the attack upon parental rights.
Sarah Palin supported the creation by a previous referendum, the same referendum that she supported with her vote, of the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. Earlier this year, she cut funding for ANGDA and appointed a natural gas pipeline czar with no experience in natural gas anything. That’s our Sarah.
Sarah Palin entered office with a greater than 80% majority vote in the general election. She massacred the competition. Instead of going to the Legislature with the power of that mandate, she waffled, commiserated, and failed to get her agenda put into effect. Unfortunately, that agenda was not what we who worked, contributed, and supported her during the campaigns thought it was.
We believed her conservative, pro-life, pro-family, fiscal conservative, and ‘Alaska First!’ rhetoric.
Sarah Palin failed as a leader to carry the day. Her few months in office were marked by an ongoing soap opera that was embarrassing to watch while she seemingly ignored the mandate that she had going into office.
Then came the Presidential campaign.
McCain picking Sarah Palin was brilliant, and immediately put his lackluster campaign back into the running. That pick was so “off the wall”, and so out of the political mainstream of rehashed hacks, that McCain’s campaign took on a new life. Unfortunately, his choice for VP became the VP from hell.
Ascendency to national notoriety showed us a Sarah that we all knew.
In September, 2008, I attended a rally in Cedar Rapids, IA, while working a job near there. Sarah’s acceptance was incredible. A very conservative message was given by Sarah Palin and those folks loved it. Sarah received louder cheers and louder calls for her than did McCain. McCain stood there next to the podium and smiled, but he had to wonder whether or not in the form of Sarah Palin he had created a monster that would eclipse him.
I will say this for John McCain. For a man who had the living daylights beat out of him every day for five years in the Hanoi Hilton, he had a very good military bearing. He stood with a straight back.
The campaign soon degenerated into a bash Sarah assault on the part of the media that almost worked to the detriment of those bashing her. Her poll numbers rose instead of falling. Had it not been for the revelations regarding the economy, McCain would have won and Sarah Palin would be in the V.P.’s office.
The assault on Sarah’s family was the most disgusting and insulting attempt to discredit, defame, and destroy a candidate for high office since the attack on Barry Goldwater when he ran against Lyndon Johnson. There, the press lied, but did not attack his family. What happened with Palin was a travesty and has sullied the press for ever more.
Since returning to office from the VP run, Sarah has not been able to gain any traction. She has been continually hounded by irrelevant and specious ethics complaints. Had she used her mandate, she could have made the Legislature change the law to eliminate many of types of specious and outrageous allegations made against her that were found to be baseless. Sarah took the office of the Governor to new lows in her continued focus on those complaints instead of Alaska’s business.
Sarah Palin plainly spoke at her handover of power that she was resigning to avoid the “lame duck” disadvantage and stigma upon her administration. With 15 months to go in her first term, she was a “lame duck”?
Granted she was rendered ineffectual, but ineffectual by her own conduct and failure to act as would a leader. Murkowski endured many criticisms during his tenure, many from Palin herself. Yet, he did not put his family on public display or put them in the line of fire time and again.
Meg Stapelton told the Anchorage Daily News that Sarah had no plans, nor any designs in place for further political activity after leaving office. Yet the same paper also reported that Sarah was to speak at an event in California on 8 August. Prior to that, Sarah admitted that she is also going to speak in support of other like minded candidates—both Republican and Democrat.
How’s that for not having a position?
Sarah Palin will do whatever she intends to do. She is ambitious and will spin a track on anyone or anything that gets in her way.
Unfortunately for her ambitions, what Sarah says on the public stage is not supported by her record. Sooner or later, people will begin to question the rhetoric and why she quit her job as Governor.
The disgusting soap opera that Sarah Palin’s detractors put her family through, of which no small part belongs to her ego and penchant for mucking it out with her detractors, was disappointing and sad to see.
Sarah Palin is a conservative sound bite, but an all too typical politician. ‘Sarah First’ is her war cry. Those who supported Sarah Palin found out that the self-described ‘pit bull with lipstick’, otherwise known as ‘Sarah Barracuda’, was all hype.
Fame and fortune are Sarah’s bent. Once cannot blame her for going for the gold ring. One can blame her for forsaking her sacred duty to Alaska and Alaskans. She ran for governor, made promises, and, now she quits?
By her resignation as the Governor of the Great State of Alaska, Sarah Palin no longer has the standing to speak for Alaska or Alaskans. To step down as governor, after what she sold us, was an insult of the highest order. She rejected Alaska and Alaskans for ego and money.
Evidently, just being Alaska’s Governor was not “good” enough for Sarah Palin.
Sarah is a quitter and undeserving of any further attention.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Sarah resigns, Campbell new Lt. Gov
Sarah Palin stepped down as Alaska’s governor. An incredible act, just 2.5 years into her first term. However, she has national ambitions, a chance to make a killing on the speaking circuit and a fat book deal to execute next year. Why not? Her life.
In the mean time, she leaves the State of Alaska in the lurch to a degree, but how much will depend upon Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, soon to be Governor Parnell. Parnell is a former legislator who was fairly conservative during his tenure in the legislature. What will be interesting is what he will continue and what he will leave intact of Palin’s cabinet and structure.
My hope is that he will get rid of the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet, a do nothing, money absorbing placebo for the global warming crowd. Poor science paid for by the State.
Parnell was supportive of the all-Alaska Valdez TAPS route for a natural gas pipeline during the campaign. Hopefully, he will encourage TransCanada and Exxon to continue in the direction of that option for AGIA.
Yes, Governor Sarah Palin raised taxes on the oil companies, but she also managed to bring oil and gas development in the State to an almost virtual halt. Parnell needs to redress this shortsightedness.
Huffington Post surmises that there is more to the stepping down of Sarah Palin than meets the eye. There are those who believe we are about to hear about a brewing scandal. Were this so, the media would have had a field day as they looked long and hard for anything to scandalize Palin.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090704/us-palin-analysis/
Palin’s conduct seems to be about money and ambition. Nothing new there
A very interesting development is the appointment of LTG Craig Campbell, TAG/Commissioner Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) to the office of Lt. Governor. That one surprised everyone. Apparently, the Kosovo trip had more on the agenda than just visiting the troops. Too many people were surprised by Campbell’s appointment, just as they were about Sarah’s resignation.
Campbell has been a fairly lackluster Commissioner DMVA and TAG. It was his fortune to be in place when 9-11 hit. Sarah did not change the top position at DMVA, as she has a long association with Campbell politically. There was a controversy during the Presidential election regarding his promotion to Lt. General (LTG), something a few States do with their Adjutant General position. LTG is a State rank, and not federal, meaning paid only on State Active Duty and otherwise meaningless. The federal rank remains the same at Major General (MG). However, his promotion was a first for an Alaska TAG. A promotion which came 3 days after his changing his story about Palin’s contributions and leadership where the Alaska National Guard was concerned.
http://madwombat.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/general-campbell-changes-tune-about-palins-role-in-national-guard-palin-promotes-him-3-days-later/
The LTG Craig Campbell that I know will do a good job as Lt. Governor. He will keep his mouth shut, avoid controversy, and screw the troops. Nothing new there.
I am certain there are many at DMVA who will not miss him.
Unexpected events. Interesting times.
In the mean time, she leaves the State of Alaska in the lurch to a degree, but how much will depend upon Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, soon to be Governor Parnell. Parnell is a former legislator who was fairly conservative during his tenure in the legislature. What will be interesting is what he will continue and what he will leave intact of Palin’s cabinet and structure.
My hope is that he will get rid of the Climate Change Sub-Cabinet, a do nothing, money absorbing placebo for the global warming crowd. Poor science paid for by the State.
Parnell was supportive of the all-Alaska Valdez TAPS route for a natural gas pipeline during the campaign. Hopefully, he will encourage TransCanada and Exxon to continue in the direction of that option for AGIA.
Yes, Governor Sarah Palin raised taxes on the oil companies, but she also managed to bring oil and gas development in the State to an almost virtual halt. Parnell needs to redress this shortsightedness.
Huffington Post surmises that there is more to the stepping down of Sarah Palin than meets the eye. There are those who believe we are about to hear about a brewing scandal. Were this so, the media would have had a field day as they looked long and hard for anything to scandalize Palin.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20090704/us-palin-analysis/
Palin’s conduct seems to be about money and ambition. Nothing new there
A very interesting development is the appointment of LTG Craig Campbell, TAG/Commissioner Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) to the office of Lt. Governor. That one surprised everyone. Apparently, the Kosovo trip had more on the agenda than just visiting the troops. Too many people were surprised by Campbell’s appointment, just as they were about Sarah’s resignation.
Campbell has been a fairly lackluster Commissioner DMVA and TAG. It was his fortune to be in place when 9-11 hit. Sarah did not change the top position at DMVA, as she has a long association with Campbell politically. There was a controversy during the Presidential election regarding his promotion to Lt. General (LTG), something a few States do with their Adjutant General position. LTG is a State rank, and not federal, meaning paid only on State Active Duty and otherwise meaningless. The federal rank remains the same at Major General (MG). However, his promotion was a first for an Alaska TAG. A promotion which came 3 days after his changing his story about Palin’s contributions and leadership where the Alaska National Guard was concerned.
http://madwombat.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/general-campbell-changes-tune-about-palins-role-in-national-guard-palin-promotes-him-3-days-later/
The LTG Craig Campbell that I know will do a good job as Lt. Governor. He will keep his mouth shut, avoid controversy, and screw the troops. Nothing new there.
I am certain there are many at DMVA who will not miss him.
Unexpected events. Interesting times.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Will Sarah Palin run for reelection . . . ?
What should Sarah Palin do in 2010?
Our governor has not committed to running for reelection in 2010. Therefore, what is she intending?
Minds with nothing better to ponder want to know!
Ok, I will try to divine her intentions. First, by reading the auguries. The packet of giblets in the turkey will have to do. I am a bit short on goat entrails at the moment.
Well, giblets are giblets. Unless Sarah develops an aversion to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, nothing new there.
Ahhh, the bones. That should show us something. Matilda, let me have your bone. Matilda! Come on dog, it's just a bone! Nuts. Ok, let me see, last night’s chicken dinner ought to do.
Those of you with a squeamish stomach do not look, as I am digging in the garbage. Oh. Gee, Sarah’s tiff with Letterman, the Troopergate mess, Frank Bailey’s tape of his conversation with Lt. Rod Dial, AST, hauling the kids around. . . no, wait, here’s the chicken bones. Yuk.
Wellll, nothing there, either. Except an aversion to hatchets and anything with Tyson on it.
Let’s see, how about Runes? The Vikings cannot have all been wrong. Hmmmm. I am not certain what sacking Dublin again has to do with Sarah Palin, but it keeps coming up. Must be a Viking thing.
I don’t have any peyote, so that is out.
Ahh, starving until a vision appears. I guess I will go out into the wilderness for awhile and see what I hallucinate. Let’s see, lunch is not for another 3 hours, that should do. I will just sit out here on the back porch humming to myself and see what crops up.
Lunch time. Not a minute too soon! Lightheaded, saw an eagle, and a bear, and Sarah with an AR15 muttering something about shooting . . . never mind, but nothing about Sarah’s political intentions.
Cloud interpretation. Rarely tried, but, maybe something will crop up.
Hey, bring me another iced tea, will you? Hot out here!
Finally! Something! Let’s see, hmmm, could it be?
Hey, that one looks like . . . it’s Elvis!
Not what I was hoping for.
I could Google Sarah’s political intentions. Ok, here goes. Nothing, but conjecture and speculation. Give me a good goat entrail to divine any day over Google.
I need the knowledge of the universe! There is God, but it may take awhile and I need the answer today.
Ahh, wait, little Gracie.
My youngest granddaughter has graduated to squealing and making raspberries. It is speculated, by me, anyway, that babies have the knowledge of the universe, but lose it with the first coherent word. That their squeals and raspberries are an attempt to communicate the secrets of cold fusion, faster than light drive, the recipe to Kentucky Fried Chicken, and how to drive faster than the posted speed limit and not get caught. Gracie has achieved such burst mode communication. I shall consult her.
Do not let cute and cuddly fool you. Gracie is a shrewd operator. She is catered to without having to lift a finger. Her smile melts the heart. Wrapped around that pudgy little finger is an understatement.
Ok, here goes. Gracie. Listen carefully, child, this is important . . . Gracie quit chewing on your feet! Concentrate! Ok. (Squeal, laugh, raspberry!). Ok, that’s better. What are Governor Sarah Palin’s (Gracie is very proper, she insists on formality with public officials), political intentions for 2010? Will Governor Palin run for reelection as governor, or will she seek other office?
Squeal, smile—heart melts—squeal, laugh, tugging on blankey, raspberry, raspberry, waving of arms, serious look, grunting, pronounced squeal, frowning. At this point, my daughter, Gracie’s mother, comes and takes the baby. Dad, Gracie needs her diaper changed! Can’t you tell?
Ah, but I know, that contained in that demonstration of the control the little one exercises over the adults, Gracie has imparted what I have been seeking. The knowledge of the intentions of one Sarah Palin for 2010!
Now, if I could just figure out which squeal, or which raspberry?
On a more serious note, who cares?
What happens in 2010 will happen, and it matters not whether or not the current governor wishes to just be governor of Alaska or be something else. That is Sarah Palin’s choice.
Our governor has not committed to running for reelection in 2010. Therefore, what is she intending?
Minds with nothing better to ponder want to know!
Ok, I will try to divine her intentions. First, by reading the auguries. The packet of giblets in the turkey will have to do. I am a bit short on goat entrails at the moment.
Well, giblets are giblets. Unless Sarah develops an aversion to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, nothing new there.
Ahhh, the bones. That should show us something. Matilda, let me have your bone. Matilda! Come on dog, it's just a bone! Nuts. Ok, let me see, last night’s chicken dinner ought to do.
Those of you with a squeamish stomach do not look, as I am digging in the garbage. Oh. Gee, Sarah’s tiff with Letterman, the Troopergate mess, Frank Bailey’s tape of his conversation with Lt. Rod Dial, AST, hauling the kids around. . . no, wait, here’s the chicken bones. Yuk.
Wellll, nothing there, either. Except an aversion to hatchets and anything with Tyson on it.
Let’s see, how about Runes? The Vikings cannot have all been wrong. Hmmmm. I am not certain what sacking Dublin again has to do with Sarah Palin, but it keeps coming up. Must be a Viking thing.
I don’t have any peyote, so that is out.
Ahh, starving until a vision appears. I guess I will go out into the wilderness for awhile and see what I hallucinate. Let’s see, lunch is not for another 3 hours, that should do. I will just sit out here on the back porch humming to myself and see what crops up.
Lunch time. Not a minute too soon! Lightheaded, saw an eagle, and a bear, and Sarah with an AR15 muttering something about shooting . . . never mind, but nothing about Sarah’s political intentions.
Cloud interpretation. Rarely tried, but, maybe something will crop up.
Hey, bring me another iced tea, will you? Hot out here!
Finally! Something! Let’s see, hmmm, could it be?
Hey, that one looks like . . . it’s Elvis!
Not what I was hoping for.
I could Google Sarah’s political intentions. Ok, here goes. Nothing, but conjecture and speculation. Give me a good goat entrail to divine any day over Google.
I need the knowledge of the universe! There is God, but it may take awhile and I need the answer today.
Ahh, wait, little Gracie.
My youngest granddaughter has graduated to squealing and making raspberries. It is speculated, by me, anyway, that babies have the knowledge of the universe, but lose it with the first coherent word. That their squeals and raspberries are an attempt to communicate the secrets of cold fusion, faster than light drive, the recipe to Kentucky Fried Chicken, and how to drive faster than the posted speed limit and not get caught. Gracie has achieved such burst mode communication. I shall consult her.
Do not let cute and cuddly fool you. Gracie is a shrewd operator. She is catered to without having to lift a finger. Her smile melts the heart. Wrapped around that pudgy little finger is an understatement.
Ok, here goes. Gracie. Listen carefully, child, this is important . . . Gracie quit chewing on your feet! Concentrate! Ok. (Squeal, laugh, raspberry!). Ok, that’s better. What are Governor Sarah Palin’s (Gracie is very proper, she insists on formality with public officials), political intentions for 2010? Will Governor Palin run for reelection as governor, or will she seek other office?
Squeal, smile—heart melts—squeal, laugh, tugging on blankey, raspberry, raspberry, waving of arms, serious look, grunting, pronounced squeal, frowning. At this point, my daughter, Gracie’s mother, comes and takes the baby. Dad, Gracie needs her diaper changed! Can’t you tell?
Ah, but I know, that contained in that demonstration of the control the little one exercises over the adults, Gracie has imparted what I have been seeking. The knowledge of the intentions of one Sarah Palin for 2010!
Now, if I could just figure out which squeal, or which raspberry?
On a more serious note, who cares?
What happens in 2010 will happen, and it matters not whether or not the current governor wishes to just be governor of Alaska or be something else. That is Sarah Palin’s choice.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
President Obama and the Constitution
I have followed with interest the controversy over Pres. Obama’s alleged failure to meet the requirements of Article II § 1 of the Constitution of the United States. This alleged failure involves Pres. Obama’s unwillingness to demonstrate his birth in the United States. Art. II §1 requires that our President be a naturalized citizen.
One can serve in the Congress without being a naturalized citizen, but the Presidency is reserved for naturalized citizens, only.
The issue raised about Pres. Obama’s place of birth is of great importance. If we are a nation which prides itself in being a nation of law, with the Constitution held as the ultimate authority, then Art. II §1 cannot be ignored. If it so ignored in this case, then the specter of a selective interpretation of the Bill of Rights comes into focus. No article can be said to be unimportant or “outmoded” or “outdated”.
I believe that we all realize that the Constitution presents at times an inconvenient and troublesome bar to the goals of the party in power. Hence, the continued selection of judiciary that continually tries to reinterpret and reinvent the Constitution with legal artifice that is designed to serve a political ideology rather than recognize the preeminence of the Constitution as our supreme law of the land.
Recently, a young man who is a long time friend of my son stated to me that the issue of Obama’s birth was moot, as “we had voted (Pres.) Obama into office.
This young man, like those who voted for Obama, feels that his election is a fait accompli by virtue of the outcome of the Electoral College and the popular vote.
In spite of many court challenges to disclose such information, no State has yet disclosed that Pres. Obama made any demonstration of his qualification under the Constitution to the Electors for that State.
Pres. Obama has an obligation to those who voted for him to demonstrate that he is truly qualified. To date, he has adamantly refused to do so, going so far as to spend over $1,000,000 in legal fees to prevent any disclosure of his birth records, his college entrance documentation, and records of his entry into Indonesia at a time when U.S. citizens were barred entry by the State Dept.
By contrast, Gov. Sarah Palin was subjected to the most humiliating and demeaning sort of examination by the press in their demand that she demonstrate her motherhood of her latest progeny. The affront was outrageous, but our Governor complied with that insulting, demeaning, and egregious demand.
Yet, in the case of Obama’s constitutional qualifications, the press has been silent or outright scornful in their comments.
Paradoxically, our President, the guy who promised “change,” has refused to simply stand up at a press conference, hold up his true birth certificate, and say “here it is, now shut up about this!”. Instead, the legal interference continues.
Our forefathers recognized that the rule of law cannot be suborned to party ideology; otherwise, our republic will deteriorate into a rule of whim, no better than the meanest oligarchy or dictatorship. Our rights would then exist by whim of the party in power, and subject to that party’s interpretation.
To answer my son’s friend, the popular vote cannot supersede the Constitution’s requirement of naturalized citizenship. The mob cannot rule. We are a nation of law, and that law is the Constitution. Pres. Obama is subject to that law, not an exception to it.
Every judge, federal official, congressman, federal law enforcement official, and every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine, both officer and enlisted, swear an oath to uphold and to defend . . . the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
It is this imperative that requires the current President to demonstrate that he meant to uphold his oath by publically providing proof of his qualification to hold the office of the Presidency. He owes this to every American, whether they voted for him or not.
Gov. Sarah Palin stepped up under the most egregious and demeaning of circumstances, especially since she literally had no legal obligation to comply with the outrageous demand on the part of the press.
Why cannot Pres. Obama stand up and present his birth certificate demonstrating his qualification under the Constitution to hold the office of President, and thereby end this controversy about his place of birth?
One can serve in the Congress without being a naturalized citizen, but the Presidency is reserved for naturalized citizens, only.
The issue raised about Pres. Obama’s place of birth is of great importance. If we are a nation which prides itself in being a nation of law, with the Constitution held as the ultimate authority, then Art. II §1 cannot be ignored. If it so ignored in this case, then the specter of a selective interpretation of the Bill of Rights comes into focus. No article can be said to be unimportant or “outmoded” or “outdated”.
I believe that we all realize that the Constitution presents at times an inconvenient and troublesome bar to the goals of the party in power. Hence, the continued selection of judiciary that continually tries to reinterpret and reinvent the Constitution with legal artifice that is designed to serve a political ideology rather than recognize the preeminence of the Constitution as our supreme law of the land.
Recently, a young man who is a long time friend of my son stated to me that the issue of Obama’s birth was moot, as “we had voted (Pres.) Obama into office.
This young man, like those who voted for Obama, feels that his election is a fait accompli by virtue of the outcome of the Electoral College and the popular vote.
In spite of many court challenges to disclose such information, no State has yet disclosed that Pres. Obama made any demonstration of his qualification under the Constitution to the Electors for that State.
Pres. Obama has an obligation to those who voted for him to demonstrate that he is truly qualified. To date, he has adamantly refused to do so, going so far as to spend over $1,000,000 in legal fees to prevent any disclosure of his birth records, his college entrance documentation, and records of his entry into Indonesia at a time when U.S. citizens were barred entry by the State Dept.
By contrast, Gov. Sarah Palin was subjected to the most humiliating and demeaning sort of examination by the press in their demand that she demonstrate her motherhood of her latest progeny. The affront was outrageous, but our Governor complied with that insulting, demeaning, and egregious demand.
Yet, in the case of Obama’s constitutional qualifications, the press has been silent or outright scornful in their comments.
Paradoxically, our President, the guy who promised “change,” has refused to simply stand up at a press conference, hold up his true birth certificate, and say “here it is, now shut up about this!”. Instead, the legal interference continues.
Our forefathers recognized that the rule of law cannot be suborned to party ideology; otherwise, our republic will deteriorate into a rule of whim, no better than the meanest oligarchy or dictatorship. Our rights would then exist by whim of the party in power, and subject to that party’s interpretation.
To answer my son’s friend, the popular vote cannot supersede the Constitution’s requirement of naturalized citizenship. The mob cannot rule. We are a nation of law, and that law is the Constitution. Pres. Obama is subject to that law, not an exception to it.
Every judge, federal official, congressman, federal law enforcement official, and every soldier, sailor, airman, and Marine, both officer and enlisted, swear an oath to uphold and to defend . . . the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.
It is this imperative that requires the current President to demonstrate that he meant to uphold his oath by publically providing proof of his qualification to hold the office of the Presidency. He owes this to every American, whether they voted for him or not.
Gov. Sarah Palin stepped up under the most egregious and demeaning of circumstances, especially since she literally had no legal obligation to comply with the outrageous demand on the part of the press.
Why cannot Pres. Obama stand up and present his birth certificate demonstrating his qualification under the Constitution to hold the office of President, and thereby end this controversy about his place of birth?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
SARAH PALIN IS THE REAL DEAL.
Sarah Palin is the real deal. She is not made up, coached, or otherwise a construct of anyone other than her environment, upbringing, and moral foundation. She is first and foremost an Alaskan. Her values are immutable, and her ethics firmly established. You will not see Sarah changing her view on the basics.
Sarah is a constructionist when it comes to interpreting the constitution. She believes that the constitution of the United States says what it means, that there are no penumbras, or intepretations of language that is not there or adjustments made to satisfy a liberal mindset. What was written and adopted by our forefathers, is immutable.
Sarah is pro-life. Period. She will not change her views on that issue to get a few votes. I heard her express that sentiment to a lady on Alaska's PBS radio station when running for governor. Sarah simply expressed that she would not change her views on abortion and that she and the listener would simply agree to disagree on that subject.
Sarah is hard core 2d Amendment individual rights.
Sarah is a hunter and fisherwoman who partakes of Alaska's bounty.
Sarah is a strong family oriented individual with sound and solid family values.
Sarah is also a fiscal conservative and someone who believes that government should serve and do no more than what the constitution allows.
Sarah Palin is absolutely not racist. Her family is of mixed heritage, Alaska native and whatever a "Palin" is. (big smiley face goes here.)
How do I know these things?
I supported Sarah's run for governor. I wrote articles in support of her candidacy, and I butted heads with the local pundits who opposed her candidacy.
Sarah will not back down in a fight.
She can be counted on.
Sarah Palin is the real deal.
Sarah is a constructionist when it comes to interpreting the constitution. She believes that the constitution of the United States says what it means, that there are no penumbras, or intepretations of language that is not there or adjustments made to satisfy a liberal mindset. What was written and adopted by our forefathers, is immutable.
Sarah is pro-life. Period. She will not change her views on that issue to get a few votes. I heard her express that sentiment to a lady on Alaska's PBS radio station when running for governor. Sarah simply expressed that she would not change her views on abortion and that she and the listener would simply agree to disagree on that subject.
Sarah is hard core 2d Amendment individual rights.
Sarah is a hunter and fisherwoman who partakes of Alaska's bounty.
Sarah is a strong family oriented individual with sound and solid family values.
Sarah is also a fiscal conservative and someone who believes that government should serve and do no more than what the constitution allows.
Sarah Palin is absolutely not racist. Her family is of mixed heritage, Alaska native and whatever a "Palin" is. (big smiley face goes here.)
How do I know these things?
I supported Sarah's run for governor. I wrote articles in support of her candidacy, and I butted heads with the local pundits who opposed her candidacy.
Sarah will not back down in a fight.
She can be counted on.
Sarah Palin is the real deal.
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