Palin is a bully, oh my!

Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin unlawfully abused her power as governor by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, the chief investigator of an Alaska legislative panel concluded Friday. The politically charged inquiry imperiled her reputation as a reformer on John McCain's Republican ticket.

Investigator Stephen Branchflower, in a report by a bipartisan panel that investigated the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

The inquiry looked into her dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

The report found that Palin let the family grudge influence her decision-making even if it was not the sole reason Monegan was dismissed. "I feel vindicated," Monegan said. "It sounds like they've validated my belief and opinions. And that tells me I'm not totally out in left field."

Branchflower said Palin violated a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

What a shock. They have ethics in Alaska. There's hope for Alaska yet. Even though the spawned this phenomena, and like my previous posts, I've noted I feel sorry for Sarah.. after all, she didn't ask to run for this office. But boy, it must stick in McCain's craw, to have Karl Rove shove someone down your throat.. and then this comes out. Whatever. They'll say it's the "liberal media bias" and ignore the bipartisan part of the message. I hate liars. Hate 'em. Just can't stand a pickle for 'em.

Meanwhile, I'd like to take a moment to let Sarah speak in her own words!

Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future. You mentioned education, and I'm glad you did. I know education you are passionate about with your wife being a teacher for 30 years, and god bless her. Her reward is in heaven, right? ... My brother, who I think is the best schoolteacher in the year, and here's a shout-out to all those third graders at Gladys Wood Elementary School, you get extra credit for watching the debate.

Looks like she may need to get some schoolin' ya think?

Meanwhile I got a post from a Republican friend who was claiming that the dems are trying to sign up folks 77 times for voting (Oh, my! And ya think they'll vote 77 times? No! Really?) and today I got the opinion that the Stock Market is falling because traders fear an Obama Presidency. Repubs are running around screaming that ACORN, a homeless advocacy group, is signing up the homeless to vote! Gee, ya think they'll vote for McCain? why not, he's going to increase their rolls!

So far the rallies have got people shouting "Kill Him!" and "Traitor!" - sounds like they're priming us for a race riot. Only problem is - Obama is white. At least according to people who live in Puerto Rico. If you're born with a white mom there, you're considered white. No one considers this but me? Obama's a .. white guy?

So every time I see an article about him being "black" I think - "that's your point of view." Listen, I like the way the guy talks, I like his friends, I like his calm. I have no idea if he's going to be the best or worse President. But it can't get much worse. And the thought of having old grumpy pants and caribou Barbie (sorry, not my coinage, but tis clever) in the White House makes me.. hmm. Sounds kind of funny really. Would it be so bad to have them in their, carrying on their banner?

There's the Tom Bradley effect everyone's talking about in California.. that's the one where you answer a pollster that you'll vote for 'the black guy' but when you get in the booth, you get the willies (not willie horton) and pull .. the white lever. I wouldn't be surprised. Nothing surprises me these days.

Does anyone besides me get the "end of days" feeling about this Administration? That martial law can't be far off? The country is going to hell in a handbasket (what does that mean anyway?) and tra la, off we go on another adventure.

Can't wait for Nov. 5th!!

SNL

Ha!

Keith Olbermann Kicks Alaskan Booty

Wow. KO really summed it up well. Be careful when you go around calling people "UnAmerican" and a "terrorist" - people who live in thin igloos shouldn't throw stones. And McCain going after Obama's "association with Ayers." Obama didn't wait five seconds to counter punch with a Keating Five Scandal video detailing McCain's involvement in it. No Swiftboating will happen on this watch, thank you very much. Did you see that Doonesbury claims there's 144 lobbyists working in McCain's campaign? Did I read that right? And this "witch doctor" from Kenya who did an exorcism of Sarah Palin in church? This is the same minister who inspired a town in Kenya to attack a witch and her demon snake? And is this the same Palin whose husband belongs to the Vogler nutball group that wants Alaska to secede? Did John McCain really only meet this woman once before putting her on the ticket?

Some other news of note: LA Times today picked up the story about how McCain was a reckless pilot who crashed FIVE planes before being shot down in Vietnam. McCain - war hero? I'm not so sure. You crash your plane five times, it makes you seem like you're a bad pilot. I wouldn't go as far as the Republicans did with claiming that since John Kerry didn't get shot he wasn't a hero. But then neither did McCain. Arms broken.. oh, what a silly argument. I'm sorry I brought it up. But let's have some perspective. The guy crashes six planes in Vietnam. Should we have even been in Vietnam? No. Even Bob McNamara says so in the film "Fog of War." So, why is it such a big thing that the guy served in an unjust war? Oh, right. He was tortured. That is a bummer. But.. should we vote for the guy who suffered the most? Or who's going to get us out of this financial mess.

It's the economy, stupid. Like Joe Biden, I'll repeat myself. It's the economy, stupid. It's not complicated to see that deregulation makes really smart rich guys richer. That the bulk of money drifts to other rich guys. Same thing happened when banks were deregulated. Lot of banks sprang up, lot of guys got rich, including McCain, then the government bailed them out. Meaning "the people of the United States" bailed them out.

So.. the market is in freefall, people are shooting themselves, soon it's going to be jumping out of windows over Wall Street. And Mr. Bin Laden is chuckling in his villa (according to CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Bill Maher the other night) in Pakistan. Watching the Americans free fall, the way the Russians free fell. Of course he thought he was the one who brought the big Russian bear down - and everyone on this side of the pond thought it was Ronnie Reagan. It wasn't either. Just the economy, stupid, or the Russian equivalent of stupid.

Back to the subject at hand. Palin is embarrassing her family, her reputation, her career - for what? To be McCain's attack dog? What a waste. It's going to get uglier, and uglier, until someone throws up.. and hopefully it's not us.