The Real Sarah Palin (Part 2 of 2)

(Sarah's lovely office. I am disgusted that someone can have a dead bear draped on their couch and not feel bad about it)


As promised, here is Part 2 of my analysis of Sarah Palin. I suggest reading Part 1 first before reading this post: here. As I said, I hope that you read what I have found and do your own research.

Again, I want to mention if you find that Palin has written the opposite of what I researched, please be aware that she wrote a campaign booklet for her 2006 gubernatorial bid. Her co-author, Sean Parnell, is now Alaska's Lieutenant Governor. As we all know, politicians have a tendency to say and write whatever is necessary to get elected. What she wrote in the booklet does not reflect what she really ended up doing.

4. Health Care

• Palin introduced a Health Care Transparency Act. Palin’s Alaska Health Care Transparency Act established “an Alaska health care information office” to help consumers “make better-informed decisions about health care in the state.” The act also called for the repeal of Certificate of Need Laws, programs “aimed at restraining health care facility costs and allowing coordinated planning of new services and construction.” [Gov Tech, 1/28/2008; National Conference of State Legislatures, 8/21/2008]
• Palin Failed To Support A Bill To Cover All Alaskans. While governor, Palin “did not get behind the most significant piece of health legislation offered — a proposal to ensure that all residents have health insurance, without disrupting the coverage that many Alaskans already have.” [Anchorage Daily News, 5/17/2008]
• Sarah did not take a position on expanding State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) Funding. SCHIP is a United States federal government program that gives funds to states in order to provide health insurance to families with children in families with incomes that are modest but too high to qualify for Medicaid. The program was designed to cover uninsured children. Palin did not advocate for greater federal funding of SCHIP. [Blagojevich Press Release, 2/23/07] States are given flexibility in designing their SCHIP requirements and policies within federal guidelines. Some states received authority through waivers of statutory provisions to use SCHIP funds to cover the parents of children receiving benefits from both SCHIP and Medicaid, pregnant women, and other adults. You would think that Sarah would be interested in helping pregnant women considering she is a mother and pro-life.
• Eventually Palin signed a "watered-down" SCHIP bill. She signed legislation updating eligibility for Alaska’s SCHIP program, Denali KidCare. Alaska’s eligibility criteria are still among the lowest in the nation. Palin did not support legislation to expand eligibility to higher levels. [National Conference of State Legislatures, 6/2008; Kaiser Network, 5/22/2007; Anchorage Daily News, 4/15/2008]
• While governor, Palin “did not get behind the most significant piece of health legislation offered — a proposal to ensure that all residents have health insurance, without disrupting the coverage that many Alaskans already have.” [Anchorage Daily News, 5/17/2008]

5. Civil Rights

• In 2006, Palin vetoed legislation denying benefits to same-sex couples, “based on a legal opinion from her new attorney general that the legislation was unconstitutional.” However, she said that she would support a constitutional amendment to deny same-sex couples the benefits. [Gay Republic Daily, 9/20/2006; Anchorage Daily News, 12/21/2006]
• A 2006 Eagle Forum Alaska questionnaire asked, “Will you support an effort to expand hate crime laws?” Palin replied, “No, as I believe all heinous crime is based on hate.” [Washington Blade,9/2/2008]
• Palin's church is promoting a conference that promises to convert gays into heterosexuals through the power of prayer.
• Palin opposes same-sex marriage. In 1998, Alaska was one of the first U.S. states to pass a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Palin supported the amendment.

6. Big Oil

• Palin’s First Statewide Campaign Was Fueled By Veco. “While mayor of Wasilla, Palin ran for lieutenant governor in 2002. She gathered $5,000 — or about 10 percent of her campaign fund — from Veco officials or their wives along the way.” [Anchorage Daily News, 9/6/2006] VECO Corporation was an Alaska-based oil pipeline service and construction company until its purchase in September 2007 by CH2M HILL.
  
• Palin’s Inauguration Was Sponsored By BP. BP is listed by the Alaska Inaugural Committee as a sponsor of Palin’s 2007 Governor’s Balls. [Alaska Inaugurl Committee] BP was named by Mother Jones Magazine as one of the "ten worst corporations" in both 2001 and 2005 based on its environmental and human rights records. In 1991, BP was cited as the most polluting company in the US based on EPA toxic release data. Since branding itself an environmentally sound corporation in 1997, BP has been charged with burning polluted gases at its Ohio refinery. They were fined $1.7 million for this. In July 2000, BP paid a $10 million fine to the EPA for its management of its US refineries. According to PIRG research, between January 1997 and March 1998, BP was responsible for 104 oil spills. Why would you want to be sponsered by such a horrible company?

7. Environment

• Governor Palin actively campaigned against a state ballot measure this summer aimed at protecting Alaska's Bristol Bay. The mining industry seeks to develop a gold and copper mine in the area that would pollute the Bay's waters and threaten the largest remaining wild salmon run. The initiative would have prevented large-scale mining operations from dumping waste materials into salmon watersheds.
• Palin is on record doubting that human action is the main driver behind climate change. In a recent interview with Newsmax.com, Palin noted that warming would affect Alaska "more than any other state, because of our location." But she added, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made." In her head, she probably attributes it to being animal-made. That would explain her desire to kill them off. (Couldn't help myself there.)

8. Endangered Species

• Polar Bears: Palin has actively opposed the listing of the polar bear despite the fact that Alaska's top marine mammal biologists agreed with the federal scientists who believed the bear should be listed. She wrote the Secretary of Interior urging him not to list the bear on the ground it might hurt the state's oil- and gas-dependent economy. Protect the polar bears here.
  
• Beluga Whales: Palin opposes the listing of the Cook Inlet beluga whales, citing the listing as a threat to oil and gas development, despite their genetic uniqueness and the fact that their numbers have decreased from 1,300 in the 1980s to about 350 today.

Again, please go here, to support the PAW Act that will end Alaska's Aerial Hunting program.


9. Her Religion Dictates Her Decisions

I have no issue with religion. However, I don't believe that your faith and religion should decide your politics when you are governor and possibly the next Vice President of the United States.

• Palin believes that the Iraq War is a task ‘From God.’ Speaking at the Wasilla Assembly of God church in June, Palin said that “our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God.” [Huffington Post, 9/2/08]
• Palin believes it is ‘God’s Will’ to build a natural gas pipeline. Speaking to the Wasilla Assembly of God church in June, Palin said, “I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” referring to a $30 billion national gas pipeline project. [Huffington Post, 9/2/08]
• Palin supports teaching creationism in public schools. In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, Palin “said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state’s public classrooms.” [Anchorage Daily News, 10/24/06]
• For more than two decades, Palin was a practicing Pentecostal. She belonged to the Wasilla Assembly of God church in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. But though she attended the church from her teenage years through to 2002, she hasn't talked much about her religion since joining the Republican ticket.
• Palin's former pastor says he has no doubt her religious beliefs will influence her decision making when it comes to government policy.
• Tim McGraw, who was her pastor until 1998 and while she was mayor of Wasilla, says Palin attended discipleship classes to strengthen her Pentecostal faith and that he counseled her on how to become a better leader.

Great video of Keith Olbermann talking about how Sarah's religious beliefs affect her choices, thoughts and actions. Including her view that God is leading us in Iraq, that God helped her get elected, and her church's view on gay people:


Sarah saying that our leaders are sending our troops on a "task that is from God":



10. Lack of Knowledge Concerning the United States

• Palin hasn’t given the war in Iraq much thought. Palin told the Alaska Business Monthly, “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq. [Alaska Business Monthly, 3/1/2007
• Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs Saturday September 6th, Palin claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.”..... what?? These lending institutions “aren’t taxpayer funded but operate as private companies." She is obvilous to the workings of our economy. Dean Baker says it all. “You would like to think that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president would know what Fannie and Freddie do,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “These are huge institutions and they are absolutely central to our country’s mortgage debt. To not have a clue what they do doesn’t speak well for her, I’d say.” Ouch.

Video of her false statement regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I don't know what's more sad: her not knowing what she is talking about or the crowd cheering her on after she said it (is everyone clueless?):


11. Abuse of Power
Sarah seems to enjoy abusing her power. How will she abuse her power if she were to become Vice President of the United States? The thought is scary.

• Palin billed taxpayers for nights spent at home. She billed the state for “312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.” She also charged for travel expenses to take her children and husband on “official out-of-town missions.” [Washington Post, 9/9/2008] And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife. The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.
• Palin fired Police Chief for "not fully supporting her." After becoming Mayor of Wasilla, she fired the city’s police chief, Irl Stambaugh, writing, “I do not feel I have your full support in my efforts to govern the city of Wasilla. Therefore I intend to terminate your employment.” Stambaugh charged that Palin fired him “because he stepped on the toes of Palin’s campaign contributors, including bar owners and the National Rifle Association.” [Anchorage Daily News, 2/1/1997; ABC News, 9/3/2008]
• As Mayor of Wasilla in 1998, Palin “asked all of the city’s top managers to resign in order to test their loyalty to her administration.”[Daily Sitka Sentenial, 10/28,2006]
• A state employee filed an ethics complaint alleging Palin tried to secure a job for one of her supporters. The complaint accused Palin and her top staffers of “breaking executive ethics branch and hiring rules. It centers on the hiring of surveyor Tom Lamal, who once co-hosted a Palin fundraiser, for a state right-of-way agent job in Fairbanks.” [Anchorage Daily News, 9/7/2008]
• Palin allegedly “tried to get a state trooper fired and she then fired the trooper’s boss because he wouldn’t act on her request.” Palin’s sister was involved in a “bitter child custody battle” with the trooper. [Anchorage Daily News, 7/18/2008] Palin “previously said her administration didn’t exert pressure to get rid of trooper Mike Wooten,” but “an audio recording that shows an aide pressuring the Public Safety Department to fire a state trooper embroiled in a custody battle with her sister.” [Anchorage Daily News, 8/14/2008, 9/2/2008]

"Trooper-Gate" video. Abuse of power:




Video for animal lovers who are against Sarah Palin:


To be continued...


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