Starting the week swinging
I was going to get to some other topics first this morning, however, the onslaught of stories about Palin and McCain caused me to address a few of them before I moved on. And also, the upcoming election result is incredibly important to whether we move from this virulant form of fascism that we have been under for the past eight years, this fundamentalist religious whackery that has infected our uper echelon of elected officials, this environmental assault that has put profits over life itself and so forth. So, following up on yesterday’s Since It’s Sunday theme of fundamentalist religion’s grip on Sarah Palin, I saw this first thing this morning:
Palin Used State Funds For Trip To Speak At Her Former Church
Gov. Sarah Palin used state funds in June when she traveled from Juneau to Wasilla to speak to graduating evangelical students and urge them to fan out through Alaska “to make sure God’s will be done here.”
State records show that Palin submitted a travel authorization for a quick round-trip visit to attend the June 8 graduation of the Master’s Commission program at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the church where she was baptized at age 12. The only other item on the agenda for that trip was a “One Lord Sunday” service involving a network of Mat-Su Christian churches earlier that morning at the Wasilla sports complex.
The records show Palin flew from Juneau to Anchorage on Saturday, June 7. She returned to Juneau that Monday afternoon. The plane tickets cost the state $519.50, and she claimed an additional $120 for meals and other expenses.
OK, we’re not talking Watergate here, however this is another indication that the rules belong for other people. That breaking them is OK because of her need to have “God’s will be done” in Bumble Branch, Alaska or wherever. The above was from her June 7 trip to speak to graduates of e-van-gelical students from some church program for fundamentalist. Here are some of her comments from that:
What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys as you go out throughout Alaska — I can do my part in doing things like working really, really hard to get a natural gas pipeline.” Palin said. “Pray about that also. I think God’s will has to be done, in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that. But I can do my job there, in developing our natural resources, and doing things like getting the roads paved, making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded.
“But really, all of that stuff doesn’t do any good if the people of Alaska’s hearts isn’t right with God. And that’s going to be your job,” she said. “As I’m doing my job, let’s strike this deal. Your job is going to be: to be out there, reaching the people, (the) hurting people throughout Alaska, and we can work together to make sure God’s will be done here.”
Yep, roads, jobs, well funded schools aren’t worth a darn if the people of Alaska’s hearts aren’t “right with God.” That would be, of course, her God. And about those trooper’s cars, uniforms and guns? Well those would be just for the ones she wasn’t try to fire in a personal vendetta I suppose. And I guess God told her to use the taxpayer’s money to pay for her trip. I hope no Pagan, Wiccan and Atheist, or other non-Christian sect’s tax dollars helped pay for that jaunt.
At the convention Palin’s bringing her baby with Down Syndrome was hailed as something that would bring much needed attention towards special needs children. It appears that photo ops over substance is what Palin is about:
Palin Cut Funding For Alasaka’s Special Needs Children By 60%
At her speech before the Republican National Convention, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made this heartfelt-seeming claim, via CBS News online:
Palin: “To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.”
Sarah Palin might have changed her mind on this one recently. However, a comment here notes that Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62 percent. Budgets: FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, 2009
Hmmm….sound familiar? It seemed like every time GW had a photo op at some plant, or military facility, special needs children, that the funding for it was slashed almost immediately. And let’s look at the claim by Palin that she is a fiscal conservative (warning: that means she spends money like a drunken preacher in Boy’s Town):
A Closer Look At Palin’s Budget Cut Claims
Gov. Sarah Palin has from the get-go pitched herself to Alaskans as a fiscal conservative, someone who can rein in government growth. Now, as the vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party, she continues to present fiscal restraint as a hallmark trait. Conservative commentators and organizations have chimed in with praise in the days following her selection by Sen. John McCain as his running mate.
But state general fund spending has risen sharply in the 21 months since Palin took office. The budget she signed earlier this year for fiscal 2009 spent $5 billion from the state’s general fund — a 34 percent increase over the budget she proposed for fiscal 2008 not long after taking office.
Gasp! What a surprise! She lied about that, too. I wonder how much of that increase went to special needs children? And looking at her “fiscal conservative” creds at the local level:
As Mayor, “Hard-Core Fiscal Conservative’ Sarah Palin Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt
…During her term in office, Palin cut property taxes and other small taxes on business. But as the Anchorage Daily News points out, “She wasn’t doing this by shrinking government.” During her tenure, the budget of Wasilla (population 5,469 in 2000) “apart from capital projects and debt, rose from $3.9 million in fiscal 1996 to $5.8 million.”
Palin also successfully pushed through a sales tax increase in Wasilla, which went to fund a $15 million sports complex. However, a land dispute over the sight of the complex led to “years of legal wrangling” and cost Wasilla almost $1.7 million, “a lot more than the roughly $125,000 the city would have paid in 1998 if it had closed a deal to buy the property outright.” Wasilla is still facing budget shortfalls from the case today.
When Palin left office in 2002, Wasilla had “racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt,” or roughly $3,000 of debt per resident.
But Palin’s approach actually brings her in line with McCain, whose own “massive tax cuts” “would recklessly exacerbate the fiscal irresponsibility of the Bush Administration” and cause the largest deficit in 25 years.
And in the “Is America Stupid?” Department:
John McCain has overtaken Barack Obama in the Gallup daily tracking polland has his highest level of support in that poll since early May.
McCain leads Obama 48 percent to 45 percent among registered voters, by Gallup’s measure. McCain has so far earned the same convention bounce as Obama, though at a more rapid pace
The only encouraging thing about that poll is that it is by Gallup which is notoriously pro Republican. Still, it is not a good sign. This will be the first week after NaziCon, aka the Republican National Convention. It will be interesting to see how the blantant lies and distortions are handled by the Democrats. Here is Obama coming out against one of the jabs directed at him:
So, let’s see how the show progresses and if the media will be allowed access to Sarah Palin. I am interested in seeing how she handles something other than canned speeches delivered on comfortable ground. In regard McCain, we already know about this “reformed maverick.”
Now let’s go kick some fascist ass.
