Legislative Panel finds Palin Unlawfully Abused Her Power

By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer.

AP Photo/Al Grillo

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 to a bipartisan panel that looked into the matter, found Palin in violation of a state ethics law that prohibits public officials from using their office for personal gain.

Read the full article.

Read the Branchflower Report (PDF version)

Read the Alaska State Ethics Statutes (PDF version)


As if the only thing that FOX News had to worry about was how close Newsweek's cover picture of Sarah was... Damn those wrinkles... Somebody get me an airbrush and make this thing go away!


Sarah Palin, Stephen Branchflower, Ethics, Alaska

Blog Action Day: How Many Will Die

A child is born it's mother coddles it to her breast. A father stands proud, smiling, dreaming of the wonders that the world will offer.

Time passes

Baby grows, learns to crawl, walk and talk. A doctors visit, first shots, weighed and measured, oh how he's grown.

Time passes

Without a care, baby has grown, plays in the yard, trucks and cars, dolls and mud pies, dress up, have a tea party, set up a lemonade stand.

Time passes

First days of school, day care, kindergarten, first grade. Mother coddles it close to her breast, a father stands proud dreaming of the wonders the world will offer.

Time passes

Doctors visit, a "well-baby" check, shots are updated, weighed and measured, oh how he's grown.

Time passes

A father stands proud dreaming of the wonders the world will offer.

Time passes

~ whiteline ~



2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized. Source 1.

The world; US, Europe, Japan, and the rest spend enough on Perfume, Pet Food, Cigarettes, and Cosmetics Source 2. to provide Basic Education, Water and Sanitation and Basic health and nutrition to the WORLD and still have 3 BILLION left over.

Speak up, speak out! Talk to someone. You have been given a voice for a reason, use it today.

You can help by contacting UNICEF, International Red Cross Red Crescent, Your local Red Cross Chapter and other global organizations dedicated to eliminating poverty and providing basic human needs to the worlds populations.

Play Robin Hood - donate, let your voice be heard.

Sources:

Source 1. UNICEF. UNICEF - 2000 - 2006 mortality count of 60 Million Children World wide. The term "Children" in the study is defined as age from "Infant to Five years of Life"

Source 2. Consumerism, Volunteer Now! (undated)

A Burger and Fries Can End Poverty

There is this wonderful organization that you may or may not know about called KIVA.

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.

Kiva is also involved with Blog Action Day and offers a great way for our voices to be heard not only on October 15th, but every day prior to and after the 15th.

So how does Kiva work? Here's the info:

1) Lenders like you browse profiles of entrepreneurs in need, and choose someone to lend to. When you lend, using PayPal or your credit cards, Kiva collects the funds and then passes them along to one of their microfinance partners worldwide.

2) Kiva's microfinance partners distribute the loan funds to the selected entrepreneur. Often, Kiva's partners also provide training and other assistance to maximize the entrepreneur's chances of success.

3) Over time, the entrepreneur repays their loan. Repayment and other updates are posted on Kiva and emailed to you if you wish to receive them.

4) When you get your money back, you can re-lend to someone else in need, donate your funds to Kiva (to cover operational expenses), or withdraw your funds.

So how much do you lend in this Microfinancing deal? The average is $25.00. Basically what it would cost you to take you and a friend to a fast food restaurant and have a couple of burgers, fries and soft drinks. For $25.00 you could change someones life - forever.

Look it's painless - yes it may take some time to get that $25.00 back in your pocket - but look at the impact you will have on the world around you.

I'm asking you to join the team of Blog Action Day supporters and lend a hand to those who could use it most, $25.00 that's it(of course if you want to give more - go right ahead). Join me on the Blog Action Day Team

You have a voice, use it. Vote, Stand up, and keep SCREAMING at the TV!

McCain's No Maverick

Recently a family took the time to put together a Family Name website. It's done all the time, so what makes this different? Why is it getting press? Why are Bloggers paying attention to it? Well, the family, who's last name is Maverick, are just a tad bit irritated about McCain using their name for his Political gain.

They've heard it enough, much like the rest of us. They're tired of the McCain train dragging their name through the political muck that is today's presidential race. Who can blame them? I certainly can't.

I've been saying all along that McCain isn't a Maverick - he may have been some time long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, but he certainly isn't currently a Maverick. My guess would be that if the Maverick family wanted to push it they could get a DNA test to prove that McCain has NEVER been a Real Maverick. Now wouldn't that be news!

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT... MCCAIN'S NO MAVERICK! DNA PROVES IT!

I'm all for getting the word out for this family. They've taken the time to publish their family lineage on their site Real Original Maverick, so the least we can do is talk about it with them.

Take a moment, head over to their site, read up on what it took to be a Maverick and how the Mavericks feel about this impostor.

I love it when someone else is SCREAMING at the TV! let alone threatening to "....to shoot the TV."


Real Maverick

Late Night Recap

Just for giggles - here's a recap from the Late Night TV circuit last night.

@ Yahoo! Video

Late Night TV

From Alaska to the Sudan, with love.

While I've had a good go at poking fun of the Rep. VP Candidate, Sarah Palin, and as I search for more humorous mis-steps from her and her political career, I am becoming increasingly aware of just how screwed up this politician and her views of right, wrong, moral and necessary are.

Recently I was working on an article for my continuation of SCREAMING at the TV's "A Voice for Darfur" when I came across this little nugget from Sarah Palin and her appointed staff's view on right, wrong and making money.

source: ABC News' The Blotter

"The legislation is well-intended, and the desire to make a difference is noble, but mixing moral and political agendas at the expense of our citizens' financial security is not a good combination," testified Brian Andrews, Palin's deputy revenue commissioner, before a hearing on the Gara-Lynn Sudan divestment bill in February.

Now, I don't believe that Brian Andrews would have come up with that stance all on his own. I don't think he would be so presumptuous as to speak for the Governor without first discussing it with her, I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

Fast Forward to Thursday's debate, Palin said she had advocated the state divest from Sudan. "When I and others in the legislature found out that we had some millions of dollars [of Permanent Fund investments] in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars," Palin said.

Somehow, I would think even with this politician, that her "religious" beliefs, morals, core values would somehow over-ride her desire to make money. If not over-ride then at least offer some compass on what she needs to do as the "Executive" in charge of the state. Put your foot down Sarah, say no - we can't have this. Damn, will a politician please stand up and show us that they have some **** to do the right thing for a change. Please!

Once again: Each and EVERY year, 10 MILLION CHILDREN DIE because of their impoverished conditions, lack of clean drinking water and diseases that we cured decades ago.

This Sarah, is why you should have been outraged. This Sarah, is why you should have said no to any portion of the states fund going to investments in Sudan.

You can read more at the source link above or over at Dyre Portents.

Children, Sudan, Sarah Palin,

Palin Passages - Our Neighbor.... Afghanistan

HEY! We're taking over for BATMAN! Seems that he has more important things to do than to stand guard over the "Palin Passage".

It's time once again for those wonderful little moose-nuggets from our favorite Pitbull-Loving-Lipstick-Wearing-Hockey-Mom-from-Wasilla-Alaska.

Today's Palin Passage:

Sarah Gets a New Neighbor:


Look what's coming out of SAN FRANCISCO - Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin called Afghanistan “our neighboring country” on Sunday in a speech that could revive questions over her tendency to stumble into linguistic knots.

Three days after a mostly gaffe-free debate performance, the Alaska governor fumbled during a speech in which she praised U.S. soldiers for “fighting terrorism and protecting us and our democratic values”.

“They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan,” she told several hundred supporters at a fundraising event in San Francisco.

Hope all you stand-up's and late-night hosts had your Tivo going! It doesn't look like Sarah's done yet!



Pitbull-Loving-Lipstick-Wearing-Hockey-Mom-from-Wasilla-Alaska, Palin, Palin Passagepolitics

St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort

As we are just returning from our trip to Southern California to celebrate our friends promotion to full fledged marine, I thought... hey maybe I should share some of the photo's that we took at the resort that we were staying at...

Funny thing, we stayed at a Comfort-Inn for $85.00 a night while it seems that some of my tax dollars were staying someplace else!

"Financial crisis? What financial crisis?

Less than two weeks after Uncle Sam gave American International Group (AIG) an $85 billion loan - staving off financial collapse - execs from one of its insurance subsidiaries, AIG American General, gathered for a conference at the uber-swank St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, billed as “California’s only Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star Resort,” where ocean-view rooms start at $565 a night and “world class luxury” is the rule."

"The Watchdog - and the Outraged Taxpayer who alerted us to the situation - understand that corporate events such as these are planned many months in advance. I mean, really. Who could have known in the spring that there’d be Financial Armageddon in the fall?

But still. “The inappropriateness and the excessiveness just blew us away,” said the Outraged Taxpayer, who went to the Mission Friday to pray in the chapel. “It’s outrageous. In very poor taste. Over the top.”

AIG says it’s not what it seems."
Taxdollars.freedomblogging.com

Try telling that crap to your wife or your parent when your dumb-ass has been caught with your hand in the cookie jar...

"No really Dad, it's not what it seems I was just holding it for a friend..."

"aaauuuuhhhh.... it's not what it seems I don't know where it came from..."

"I don't know what she's doing in our bed - I just came home, I thought she was one of your girlfriends, it's not what it seems."

Come on give me a break - it was a preplanned corporate thing to reward their top performers. EXCUSE ME!?! You didn't have any top performers - you screwed the pooch on this one, and oh by the way you and your buddies in the Government screwed the taxpayers. So please, freaking leave me a comment and tell me exactly how you sleep at night.

You've planned large corporate events in advance of the bailout so it's ok... NO, it's not! Cancel the event, it's that simple. What? Oh, you'll loose the deposit? Well, now I understand - tough - loose the deposit, we've just bailed you out! View the entire bill as obtained by the House Oversight Committee: BILL

Cancelling, that was the only choice you had and in the quality management displayed during the AIG collapse - you failed to get it right. Some how this all seems ok with you?

Fans of SCREAMING at the TV! write you congress men and women and let them know this crap needs to STOP.

Stand up and be heard. Demand our money back - all $443,343.71 of it.


Financial crisis, corporate events,American International Group, AIG, St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort

2008 - A Year in Review

2008 Stock Market Crashes - 776 points in one day.

2008 Housing Market crumbles leading to banking crisis.

2008 First Woman Republican VP Nominee.

2008 First African American Presidential Nominee.

2008 10 million children die of hunger.

We have witnessed a monumental 1.8 TRILLION Dollar single day loss in the Stock Market; Racial and Gender barriers being shattered; unemployment is on the rise; drilling off our shores being debated; the global warming crisis becoming more and more pronounced, facts of our daily lives at this point.

These are all blips on the radar screen of the world we live in - here today gone tomorrow - in other words we will and always have worked our way out of these issues. These issues, that will soon be a footnote in the annals of history, are however, the very same issues that grab all of the headlines in the media. Why? They are the sensational attention grabbers in our A.D.D. world. They are the ones that our A.D.D. world can provide its only type of focus (short term) on to and get fixed. These issues will go away and our world will be looking through its Mercedes and BMW colored glasses once again.

So what? Well, while our little slice of heaven was falling apart this time, the world around us was continuing it's decades long (centuries long) battle against hunger, poverty and the lack of basic human needs.

No lecture, no SCREAMING, just points to ponder:

Our government has bailed out the banking industry with $700 BILLION Tax Dollars.

Yet, we still live in a world where almost half of her population — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day

Taxpayers around the world have allowed their governments to use BILLIONS of dollars, Pounds, Euro's and other currencies to fight a war in the Middle East.

Yet we as a global society allow over 26,500 children die each day. Every day. Year round. They die from their impovershed living conditions; they die from the lack of basic clean water; they die from diseases we wiped out decades ago.

You can help by contacting UNICEF, International Red Cross Red Crescent, Your local Red Cross Chapter, OXFAM and other global organizations dedicated to eliminating poverty and providing basic human needs to the worlds populations.

Stand up - start SCREAMING! at something - let your voice be heard.

Oil Import Lies and the Stretched Truth

I arrived home from our trip to celebrate our friends graduation from boot camp just in time to miss the town-hall style debate. I tried to push our departure time so that I could get here in time or at least close enough for radio reception while we were on the road but as with many things in life it was not to be. The call of the Pacific Ocean, the crash of the waves, the kids screaming to surf just one more time were all to great and overpowered my desire to be in front of the tube.

From the information that I've been able to scour this morning it looks like there were no real surprises. Obama rocked, McCain looked like a grumpy old man.

MCCAIN VS. OBAMA the battle of stretched truths

Oil imports

• When speaking about energy costs, McCain says: "We've got to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries who don't like us that much."
  
  
• The facts: This claim is often been criticized as exaggerated.
  
  
  • The United States spends about $536 billion a year on imported oil, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
    
    
  • For crude oil alone, last year the United States imported about 3.7 billion barrels at an average price of $67.97 per barrel, for a total of about $250 billion, Energy Department statistics show.
    
    
  • Nearly one-third of that goes to close U.S. allies of Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
  (source: factcheck.org)

While not only does the math not add up to the claim repeatedly made by McCain, if you simply look at the statement "..$700 billion a year to countries who don't like us that much..."- and compare it to the distribution of energy funds - "1/3 goes to CLOSE U.S. ALLIES", it makes one wonder if we're looking at yet another pattern of deceptive leadership, you know, the kind that made this country believe that IRAQ had WMD and that they were the "booger-man" coming to get us in the night!

It's simply another "The Economy is FUNDAMENTALLY strong.." statement only this time it's designed to allow Oil companies to keep doing the same old crap, Drill for Oil. Here's an idea for the oil companies and their lobbyist, put your billions of dollars in profits in to developing, designing, implementing, and lobbying for alternate fuel sources; wind, solar, bio-diesel and maybe even some that haven't been discovered yet.



town-hall, McCain, Obama, Oil imports

Palin Passages - "I Might Hug"

Batman continues his guard in Gotham City watching, waiting, anticipating the coming of another "Palin Passage".

Yes it's time again for one of those wonderful little nuggets from our favorite Pitbull-Loving-Lipstick-Wearing-Hockey-Mom-from-Wasilla-Alaska.

Today's Palin Passage:

Sarah Gets a Hug:

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari expressed great joy when meeting Sarah Palin during the short photo session at the start of their meeting that was viewed by reporters and cameras.

"You are even more gorgeous than you are on the ," Zardari said.

"You are so nice. Thank you," Palin said.

"Now I know why the whole of America is crazy about you," Zardari said, as his handler told them to shake hands for the cameras.

"I'm supposed to pose again," Palin said.

"If he's insisting," Zardari said to laughter, "I might hug."

OK, it's not really a "Palin Passage", more like, what I would suppose, was an awkward moment for Sarah.... Geeze Zardari, get a room!




Palin, Pitbull-Loving-Lipstick-Wearing-Hockey-Mom-from-Wasilla-Alaska, Palin Passage