NeoPolitics VI

o THAT GAS LINE:  last night Sarah said Alaska is ALL READY to meet the lower 48's energy needs with that new continent-spanning natural gas line?  Well someone should tell the Alaska legislatire because the project seems to be hung up there!  Perhaps it's that half billion dollar retainer that the Canadian contractor is demanding that's soured some of the America-First legislators!

o ALASKA ETHICS, AGAIN: a new ethics complaint was filed against Governor Sarah by the Alaska Police Officers Union on behalf of the guv's former brother-in-law - the one who's at the epicenter of Troopergate.  This one alleges that Sarah improperly disclosed information from Wooten's personnel records.  

o DOUBLE WHAMMY: in Alaska,  there is a Statutory Rape law that says that if an 18yr old has sex with a 17yr old it is a felony!  The law is the law.

We already know about Sarah's irresponsible parenting - but is she also being an irresponsible elected official by not enforcing the laws she's sworn to uphold?

Careful? Why? And, I’m not sure what sex, per se, has to with it, Bear.

Sarah advocates abstinence only and is opposed to sex education in the schools. No problem with that if both practices produce the same results - but they don’t. If Sarah has instilled her values in Bristol, which seems more than likely, I believe she has let her down as a parent - particularly since study after study have shown that abstinence only, in the absence of sex education, produces higher rates of teenage pregnancies and STDs.

I also happen to believe that, regardless of whether or not formal sex education is present, every parent is responsible for ensuring their children clearly understand how to practice safe sex as well as the myriad of potential outcomes of unsafe, casual sex as well as the implications of - and the alternatives for dealing with - the unintended ones.

So far as enforcement of the law goes, Sarah is in a most awkward position and I’ve heard nothing about what she intends to do. Have you?

o TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF: McSame has abandoned the GOP and abdicated responsibility for the last 8 years of his life in favor of Phyllis Schlafly, God, Sarah Palin, Reform, HOPE and CHANGE!

o EQUAL PAY: will the choice of a female running mate cause McSame to change his vote on Equal Pay for Men and Women? We’ll see when a revised version of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is brought to the Senate floor later this month.

o HEALTH INSURANCE: McSame would make health insurance premiums tax deductible - and, yes, you will have premiums to pay because that‘s part of his plan, don‘t cha know? The bad news is that he’d tax health benefits as earned income. You do the math - is that a tax cut for Americans?

o USA-USA-USA-USA: starting that chant last night was a code - indicating a disruption on the convention floor. How many times did you hear it begin during McSame’s acceptance speech. That’s the number of Vets who were “escorted” off the floor for expressing their frustration, anger and disdain for the GOP standardbearer.  

The troops don’t support him because he hasn’t supported them!

  What!?! 

Bear - In her first Wasilla mayoral race, in addition to the standard bread and butter issues of spending and taxes, Sarah introduced abortion, religion and gun control. 

One might ask what kind of business a town of 7,000 was conducting that involved in these issues.

The NYT reported:

The traditional turning points that had decided municipal elections in this town of less than 7,000 people — Should we pave the dirt roads? Put in sewers? Which candidate is your hunting buddy? — seemed all but obsolete the year Ms. Palin, then 32, challenged the three-term incumbent, John C. Stein.

Anti-abortion fliers circulated. Ms. Palin played up her church work and her membership in the National Rifle Association. The state Republican Party, never involved before because city elections are nonpartisan, ran advertisements on Ms. Palin’s behalf.

Two years after Representative Newt Gingrich helped draft the Contract With America to advance Republican positions, Ms. Palin and her passion for Republican ideology and religious faith overtook a town known for a wide libertarian streak and for helping start the Iditarod sled dog race.

“Sarah comes in with all this ideological stuff, and I was like, ‘Whoa,’ ” said Mr. Stein, who lost the election. “But that got her elected: abortion, gun rights, term limits and the religious born-again thing. I’m not a churchgoing guy, and that was another issue: ‘We will have our first Christian mayor.’ ”

“I thought: ‘Holy cow, what’s happening here? Does that mean she thinks I’m Jewish or Islamic?’ ” recalled Mr. Stein, who was raised Lutheran, and later went to work as the administrator for the city of Sitka in southeast Alaska. “The point was that she was a born-again Christian.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/politics/03wasilla.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin