Sarah's Way--or the Highway

[funjumper101 15]

By Barbara Koeppel

The idea that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is experienced, ethical and wise would be laughable if it weren't so alarming, and millions have fallen for the fable. In truth, the pretty woman's story is not so pretty.

While a majority of Alaskans are thrilled their local beauty queen is center stage, some are horrified.
Her populist persona--the "just plain hockey mom"--is preposterous, her notion of decency defective, her ambition unbridled, her compassion counterfeit, her actions extreme, her intelligence limited and her judgment flawed.

Fearing retribution, only one of the more than twenty elected state and city officials, lawyers, doctors, health administrators, librarians, clergy and just plain residents I interviewed while in Alaska and over the phone agreed to be named.

"It's Sarah's way or the highway," claim many who've worked with her. As one state representative confided to me, "the public doesn't know the real Sarah Palin."

After elected mayor of Wasilla in 1996, one of Palin's first victims was Irl Stambaugh, the longtime police chief who opposed her NRA-backed plan to allow concealed guns. Then, too, he wanted to close the bars at 2 am, instead of 5 am, due to the high number of alcohol-related road accidents. But as the bar owners and NRA were among her base, Palin axed him. She then installed her own chief, who, besides following her line on bars and guns, slapped a charge of $300 to $1,200 on rape victims for medical tests for injuries and sexually transmitted diseases--fees previously covered by the city. Since medical staff at the same time also offered morning-after pills to rape victims, this was anathema to Palin's anti-abortion agenda. Outraged, then-Democratic Governor Tony Knowles pushed through a bill banning her tactics, and the tests were once again free.

Other victims are now well known, like Mary Ellen Baker, the librarian who wouldn't ban the books that offended Palin. Originally fired along with other city department heads who backed Palin's mayoral opponent, Baker (also president of Alaska's Library Association), was reinstated because several hundred residents protested the sacking. But, according to a librarian who knows Baker, Palin met with her several times, pressuring her to remove books from the shelves--among which was Pastor, I Am Gay by Howard Bess, an American Baptist minister in Wasilla. Baker finally resigned in 1999 and moved away. The librarian friend says Baker is keeping silent: "Why wouldn't she? The period was so painful that after she left her job, she had a breakdown."

Then there's Dr. Susan Lamagie, an obstetrician who practices in Wasilla and delivered Palin's first two children. She also performed abortions at what was then called Valley Hospital. While Palin was on Wasilla's City Council, members of her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, and its minister, picketed Lamagie's office. Because the doctor held her ground, the group ousted the hospital board and installed a new one, whose first act was to ban abortions. Lamagie and Howard Bess organized a group that sued the hospital in a case that went to Alaska's Supreme Court, which ruled the hospital had to allow abortions, as before.

Palin's claims that she's a cost-cutter and corruption cop are equally crazy, since she hiked the state budget by 20 percent in the less than two years since becoming governor.

But it's not all smoke and mirrors: Palin did slash some funds. She vetoed $150,000 for the Fairbanks Catholic Community Counseling and Adoption Services, $3.5 million to build a daycare facility and student housing for unemployed Alaska Natives, $500,000 for the Safe Harbor Muldoon Housing for Homeless Families and People with Disabilities, and eliminated funds for the Fairbanks Community Food Bank.

And in a state with one of the highest drug and alcohol rates in the United States, she killed funds for a substance abuse facility and an education and prevention program for youths in a northwest Alaska village, as well as for addiction rehabilitation services.

Then there's her record on health, another alleged Palin priority. State Senator Bill Wielechowski says, "We sponsored a bill to improve children's health care, since we're forty-seventh in the US in terms of the services we offer. Had Palin supported it, the Republican-controlled House would have approved it. But she refused and the bill died."

Flip-flops are another Palin specialty, though you'll hear zip from GOP fans who dissed candidate John Kerry for similar misdemeanors in 2004. There's the now well-known story of the "bridge to nowhere" (from the city of Ketchikan to the island of Gravina), that she promised Ketchikans she would back when she ran for governor in 2005. In the same year, Congress earmarked hundreds of millions for two Alaskan bridges to nowhere, but reversed itself in 2006, when the deals became a national poster for pork. However, the cash still landed in Alaska, and Palin, now wearing the maverick's mantle, says she abhors earmarks and has shunned the money. In fact, she kept the roughly $230 million and, according to officials, used it for other transport projects. Only about $50 million remains unspent.
What also remains of the affair is a 3.2-mile, $25 million access road to nowhere (which would have connected to the bridge), on which construction continues.

Critics also point to her unfettered drive. Until she was mayor, Wasilla and the nearby town of Palmer successfully shared a regional dispatch center located in Palmer for state troopers and emergency services in the region. Unknown to Palmer officials, she lobbied Washington for funds to build a second center in Wasilla. The Palmer "partners" learned of the move only when she announced it in the press. "It was completely redundant, said one Palmer official, "just a notch in Palin's belt."

Then there's her environmental myopia. A Palmer borough assemblyman told me Palin courted development in any form, with no city planning or zoning, mainly by removing business property taxes. Thus, big box stores flocked to Wasilla and Park Highway, which runs through the town (population 4,600 when Palin became mayor), is one long strip mall; through the sales tax the stores collected, Wasilla pocketed the huge revenues Palin lusted after. Although Wasilla's city council introduced the tax before she was mayor, she raised it--and it applies to most everything except medicine.

The new growth spells problems. The city's sanitation capacity is stretched since the sewage system, faulty even when built, is overwhelmed, says a former Palmer city official. Effluent is piped to the sewage plant from which it is pumped into a large field, and many residents worry the liquid is leaching into the groundwater. Thus candidate Palin's promise of a waste treatment plant evaporated in favor of a sports complex. "Sewage treatment plants aren't sexy, but hockey rinks are," said the Palmer official.

[alw 0]

Sarah bashing is so last week . . .

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[akarunway 1]

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Sarah bashing is so last week . . .

Na. This is the way this cunt was reared.> http://wasillaag.org/ If she gets in office and McCain kicks it we are really fucked. I've been researching her all day. Bored I guess. Or maybe I might make an informed vote.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

[Amazon 7]

Interesting quote I found there.

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As Alaskans we are excited about our Governor being selected as the nominee for Vice President. As residents of Wasilla, we are ecstatic about one of our own being thrust to the national forefront. However, as a church, it is not appropriate for us to endorse any one candidate over another. As believers, we are reminded in 1 Peter 2.13 that we are to submit to those in authority. 1 Timothy 2.1-2 tells us pray for those in authority.

Kewl.. Authoritarianism at its best. and its endorsed by GOD.

Does that make any of your right wingers cream your jeans or what.

[Nightingale 0]

I don't see what the big deal is about city officials getting fired when Palin was elected mayor. Those officials typically serve at the pleasure of the person in charge, and it's pretty normal for the new person to clean house, reorganize, and appoint who they want. It's one of the privileges of being the executive, and it happens in every city and state whenever there's a new guy (or gal) in charge.

With regards to charging the rape victims for their tests, the reality of it was probably that the city was charging the victims health insurance company or the state's low income health fund for the tests rather than the actual victims. All fee change would have accomplished is that the funds for the tests would have come from the insurance company or the state rather than the limited treasury of a small city. The odds that the actual victims would have paid the costs are slim to none.

[SivaGanesha 2]

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"It's Sarah's way or the highway,"

And there's no highway to Juneau, Alaska, the state capital, so I guess that kind of narrows it down

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[billvon 2,476]

>>It's Sarah's way or the highway,

>And there's no highway to Juneau, Alaska . . .

That is an excellent point, and is the best reason I have heard so far for the bridge/roads to nowhere!

[mnealtx 0]

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opposed her NRA-backed plan to allow concealed guns.

That right there tells me that the author is an ignorant fuckwit - Alaska is open-carry, just like Vermont. You don't HAVE to have a license to carry concealed or to open carry.

Just another smear piece from the left.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[jclalor 12]

Not all women have health insurance or qualify for low income health insurance.
To think that a woman would be charged in the investigation of her own rape is sick.
In Palin's perfect world, the victim if pregant, would have to carry the pregnancy to term is revolting.

Just another example of compassionate conservitism.

[alw 0]

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opposed her NRA-backed plan to allow concealed guns.

That right there tells me that the author is an ignorant fuckwit - Alaska is open-carry, just like Vermont. You don't HAVE to have a license to carry concealed or to open carry.

Just another smear piece from the left.

I think that might be wrong. When I lived in Idaho there was an open carry law, you did have to have a HUNTING license to carry a firearm.

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Every day is a bonus - every night is an adventure.

[Nightingale 0]

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Not all women have health insurance or qualify for low income health insurance.
To think that a woman would be charged in the investigation of her own rape is sick.

And if a woman were actually in the situation you describe, the hospital administration can make an individual decision to adjust the charges, or the city council could make a motion to make a one-time grant to the hospital. Keep in mind that in the 8 years that Sarah Palin was mayor, there were 5 reported rapes (source: Uniform Crime Reports and Index of Crime in Wasilla in the State of Alaska enforced by Wasilla Police from 1985 to 2005). Wasilla is a small town where cases such as what you describe could easily be dealt with on an individual basis. Imagine the PR nightmare that the city council would have faced in that town if a rape victim had actually had to pay for those tests. The town would have found a way to cover the costs out of public funds if the state or health insurance failed to do so.

[Para_Frog 1]

Barbara Koeppel? Investigative reporter and primary contributer to True Blue Liberal?

Yeah...nice objective investigative source.

Next.

- Harvey, BASE 1232
TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA

BLiNC Magazine Team Member

[Ion01 1]

Everyone wants change right? Well, this seems like she actually changes things. If shes the mayor then shes the boss so it should be her way. I expect that from my employees. This also shows that she is not swayed by peoples thoughts and opinions but will take the necessary measures to accomplish what she believes needs to be done.
Is Obama going to get ripped like this if he goes in as president and gets rid of a bunch of republicans? No that would be what is expected of him. The same would go the opposite direction for her and this is just proof that she will actually do it.
This is simply confirmation that she is doing her job as boss and changing things. If I just did whatever my employees wanted and didn't get rid of those who wouldn't carry out my commands and hire those that will then I am not a good boss.

[lawrocket 3]

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opposed her NRA-backed plan to allow concealed guns.

That right there tells me that the author is an ignorant fuckwit - Alaska is open-carry, just like Vermont. You don't HAVE to have a license to carry concealed or to open carry.

Just another smear piece from the left.

Well, it is interesting. The implication in statements like this is that Palin is a shill of the NRA.

She could have just written "opposed her plan to allow concealed guns." This would be objective. But the thought becomes "I need to spice up a statement."

Why make an objective statement when you can inflame subjective passions?

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[grimmie 177]

When a new mayor takes over a small town or city it is very rare for the incumbent police or fire chief to be fired. Some cities hire them as "at will " employees and others are under civil service laws, meaning you need an excellent reson to fire them.

[Darius11 12]

I wonder if people even read your post.

I think we all understand that an executive can hire and fire people, however a public executive can not fire someone for having a gay book in a public library, or should not fire someone because her sister hates them.

She has contradicted her self. Flip flop, flip flop much like Mccaine has been doing as of late. What it’s ok when a republican does it?

I just heard that her husband will not testify as she had promised on the trooper scandal.

She is not even in office yet and were going to get the “I don’t recall” answer to every thing. 8 years of that is enough.

It’s not one issue with her its many and she fails in every way. The blind and Unpatriotic are selling their country out for the party line. How fucking disgusting.


I love the one-word replays it reminds of when a child puts his/her fingers in their ear and screams la la la la la. Just too not hear what they don’t want to hear.

No one was even talking about her before she was nominated NO ONE said wow she would be great. It was political choice based on the worst aspects of politics.

She is unintelligent, religious psycho who has abused her power to enforce her personal religious views on others. It does not get any more Un-American then that.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[billvon 2,476]

>No one was even talking about her before she was nominated NO ONE said wow
>she would be great. It was political choice based on the worst aspects of politics.

That's not true. At least one person here thought she would be, and the first time I went to Wasilla I heard someone there mention that she was doing a good job. (By the second time, she had already moved on.)

>She is unintelligent, religious psycho who has abused her power to enforce her
>personal religious views on others. It does not get any more Un-American
>then that.

That's pretty unfair. She has, by any reasonable standard, done a competent job as mayor and governor. You can disagree with her politics and her stands on issues, and you can question whether US senator or small-state governor is a better qualification for high office, but to call her a psycho or an idiot is completely inaccurate.

[Para_Frog 1]

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That's pretty unfair. She has, by any reasonable standard, done a competent job as mayor and governor. You can disagree with her politics and her stands on issues, and you can question whether US senator or small-state governor is a better qualification for high office, but to call her a psycho or an idiot is completely inaccurate.

Somebody pinch me.

- Harvey, BASE 1232
TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA

BLiNC Magazine Team Member

[Darius11 12]

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That's not true. At least one person here thought she would be, and the first time I went to Wasilla I heard someone there mention that she was doing a good job.

Bill when is one person saying someone is doing a good job the same as saying She is a good VP candidate?

My coworker does a great job as well.

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That's pretty unfair. She has, by any reasonable standard, done a competent job as mayor and governor

I guess we have different definitions of competent.

I’ll give you the reasoning for my comment.


Why I call her unintelligent and ill add uninformed.

Did you see her interview? Have you heard her speak? She has zero substance and did not know what most of us in SC know (The Bush Doctrine).


Religious psycho. The only reason you would teach abstinence is for your religious beliefs. Sex, safe sex believe it or not is not a bad thing. Only religious people think its bad and must be hidden. What evidence and intelligence suggest is that we want people to be safe and practice safe sex. I think she has the best example in her home that abstinence will not work education does.

So she is basing her thought process on a religious idea which she has every right to do, however she has no right to even attempted to force her views on other citizens. As stated before it does not get anymore un-American then that.

Her argument for foreign policy experience is that’s she lives close to Russia. Does that even need explaining of why it is a stupid reason?

She is already ready to go to another war, not learning from the past stupid, not learning from the very recent past very stupid.

Maybe your right she is smart if she is then she is saying all the things the idiots love to holler at. If that’s the case then she is pandering and manipulating I think that even makes it worst.


I am sorry but I can not pretend that being a GILF who knows how to shoot is a qualification.

This is coming from a guy who was considering Mccaine and had always thought of him highly, after this BS pick and the latest crap and flip-flopping I have lost all respect for his whole camp.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[Para_Frog 1]

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She has zero substance and did not know what most of us in SC know (The Bush Doctrine).

If you bother to read the true definition of the Bush Doctrine, by the guy who coined the phrase in the first place, and who, btw, is not a fan of Palin's...

Clicky

You'll see that Charlie Gibson didn't even know what the hell he was talking about.

Quit buying into the talking points. There were any of 100 ways to answer that question.

The conventional wisdom is what we all believe...preemptive action, but on the spot...understandable to wonder which way to answer it.

Edit to add: We should also fire up a comparison discussion between that interview and the BS fluff interview Stephanopolis did with Obama. Took any real credibilty ABC hoped to have completely away from the Palin interview.

- Harvey, BASE 1232
TAN-I, IAD-I, S&TA

BLiNC Magazine Team Member

[Shotgun 1]

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Religious psycho. The only reason you would teach abstinence is for your religious beliefs. Sex, safe sex believe it or not is not a bad thing. Only religious people think its bad and must be hidden. What evidence and intelligence suggest is that we want people to be safe and practice safe sex.

As a non-religious person, I also believe that abstinence is the best way to prevent pregnancy and the spread of STD's. There is no such thing as 100% safe sex. I also believe that the emotions that go along with sexual activity can be harmful to people who are too young/unprepared to deal with it. So I don't see a problem with teaching abstinence, but I do see a problem with teaching abstinence only (which is perhaps what you are referring to?). I think that young people should be taught about the realities of sex (physical and emotional), and that they should be taught about the various forms of protection, but they should know that abstinence is the safest of all options.

So, yeah, I disagree with her view, but I disagree with some of what you said as well.

[Darius11 12]

Wow then I should be the VP or a highly paid reporter because I knew what it meant.

I did not need the media to tell me to be horrified that a potential VP has no clue what it is. She was Clueless, and she tried to play it off like she knew what it was.

Thats just one on of the issuies what about all the other ones?

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[Darius11 12]

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As a non-religious person

You believe in no sex until marriage?

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There is no such thing as 100% safe sex. I also believe that the emotions that go along with sexual activity can be harmful to people who are too young/unprepared to deal with it.

What is too young?

How do you prevent young people from having sex?
Trust me I come from a country where they use guns to try and stop it, it doesn't work, and the reason it does not work is because it goes against nature.

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I think that young people should be taught about the realities of sex (physical and emotional), and that they should be taught about the various forms of protection, but they should know that abstinence is the safest of all options

No one person can push a religious idea on to others in this country. You are welcome to practice what you wish but you can not enforce it on others.

Sex education is not telling the kids to go out and start having sex, it does what a school should do teach the facts. How to properly use a condom? What your sexual organs do, what to expect when you hit puberty, etc.

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but they should know that abstinence is the safest of all options

You are 100% wrong unless you choose to be a monk or a nun.
All normal people will eventually have sex in their life and education is their best weapon.

If you could control every one including the person you will have sex with in the future, yes abstinence is the safest (also unrealistic) approach, however it is impossible to do so therefore makes the whole idea obsolete.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain

[billvon 2,476]

>Bill when is one person saying someone is doing a good job the same as
>saying She is a good VP candidate?

Not at all. You can claim that she's unqualified to be president or vice president. That is very different from saying she's an incompetent unintelligent psycho.

It's like the people who attack Obama calling him a racist american-hating muslim. I mean, you can disagree with his policies, but making stuff up about him just diminishes both sides.

>Did you see her interview? Have you heard her speak? She has zero substance
>and did not know what most of us in SC know (The Bush Doctrine).

Yep. A few months ago she was the governor of a small (in population) state - one that admitted she didn't know what the vice president did, exactly. She is now learning as fast as she can. There are going to be holes in her knowledge.

The interviews (and speeches) I've seen indicate an intelligent, competent governor of a state with some view that disagree with mine. She's not the sort of empty suit Quayle was. It doesn't mean she will make a good vice president, but you can't argue that she didn't make a competent governor.

>Her argument for foreign policy experience is that’s she lives close to
>Russia. Does that even need explaining of why it is a stupid reason?

It was a stupid thing to say - but again, this is someone who a few months ago didn't know much about the vice presidency. Doesn't mean she's stupid.

[billvon 2,476]

>You believe in no sex until marriage?

Personally I think "no sex" is the best way to prevent STD's, pregnancies and kids going too far, too fast in relationships. Nothing wrong with sex when both people are ready for it. But if preventing STD's and pregnancy is your goal, avoiding sex is by far the best way to do it.

>What is too young?

Depends on the person. 13 years old - definitely too young.

>How do you prevent young people from having sex?

You educate them on the risks and potential consequences, and talk to them about the decisions they are making that you (with your experience) will lead to having sex.

>You are 100% wrong unless you choose to be a monk or a nun.

Actually, she is 99.999% right. See how many couples who don't have sex get pregnant.

>All normal people will eventually have sex in their life and education is their best
>weapon.

Absolutely. And that education should stress abstinence, and cover the risks inherent in sexual activity and how to minimize them.

It's like teaching swooping. It is definitely important to teach people about recovery arcs, cross braced vs traditional canopies, harness turns, how to bail, how to stay out of the corner etc. It is even more important to tell them to not try it until they are ready.