09.04.08

Undecided Women Voters Turned Off By Palin

Posted in News! at 9:58 am by Anna

I wouldn’t say I was totally turned off. I would say somewhat. I hate the idea of attacking a woman running for VP, but hate even more, the idea that John McCain may think he can manipulate my thinking just by choosing a woman as a running mate. Thanks John, but I’m not that easy.

She obviously prides herself on being a “pitbull” & the Repubs seem to love that about her. But it seems her sarcasm is backfiring. I don’t like when people are mean, it’s a turn-off. And it’s easy to attack a Democrat in a room full of Republicans…But what would she really contribute to the White House? Has she answered that question??

Here are results of a focus group done with undecided women voters in Nevada:
Posted by the Huffington Post

In two different focus groups of Clinton-supporting Nevada women — married and unmarried — conducted immediately after Gov. Sarah Palin’s Wednesday night speech to the Republican National Convention, a few common reactions quickly took shape.

First, women in both groups were impressed with Palin’s speaking ability and poise. But they were hardly convinced that she was qualified to be vice president, or that she truly represented the “change” they were looking for, especially in light of what was deemed an overly harsh “sarcasm” pervading her address.

The (mostly) anonymous proceedings were webcast live to reporters, who were told in a press release that the Nevada focus groups would include “some former Hillary Clinton supporters who are now undecided or are weak supporters of Barack Obama or John McCain.” No party identification was made available, though the approximately two dozen women were reportedly between 30 and 60 years old.

In the “married” group, when one attendee kicked off the discussion by saying “she’s a good speaker, and a crowd pleaser,” the rest of the room articulated their agreement. “I didn’t expect to be as impressed as I was,” said another respondent. But then another woman added: “Once she started mudslinging, I thought, it’s the same old crap as other politicians. McCain used her to get the women’s vote. And she’s using McCain.”

“Thank you,” another woman responded. “That really upset me; there was no need for that. It was snippy.”

The unmarried group also voiced similar objections to the harsh, partisan edge of Palin’s remarks. “I’m not impressed with her at all as a person,” one said, citing her “finger pointing” and general sarcasm after the group had generally agreed that she was a talented public speaker.

Still not all focus group members thought Palin came off too harsh. “She didn’t seem very aggressive to me at all,” said one unmarried participant.

But in both groups, narrow majorities said they held a more negative view of Palin after her speech. “She comes off pretty cutthroat,” said one.

On other issues, women in both groups said they wanted to hear more of Palin’s own policy views, outside the realm of energy. Education, heath care, the economy and Iraq were all cited as areas in which women were hungry for more information — especially in light of McCain’s age. “I think America is concerned, because of McCain’s age, that we’re gonna have a female president who’s maybe inexperienced. The nation needs to know what her issues are,” said one married respondent, which prompted another to add: “I don’t think she’s got what it takes.” An unmarried participant said she had yet to hear enough “in regards to her personal views, which could be implicated on us if McCain was to die.”

When prompted to respond to Palin’s steadfast opposition to abortion — even in cases of rape or incest — no woman in either group stepped forward to defend the Alaskan Republican. “I don’t dig that,” said one married woman, matter of factly.

But there were other points on which the participants expressed pride in Palin’s achievement. “She earned what she’s got — as far as not marrying into it. I like that about her,” said one married respondent. “Let’s hope she has a good showing,” said another who had expressed disappointment over Palin’s abortion views.

The groups — which were coordinated by Anna Greenberg and Stan Greenberg of Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research — were commissioned by the Women’s Voices/Women Vote Action Fund, which describes itself as “dedicated to encouraging unmarried women to bring their voices to our nation’s political conversation and to advocate for policies important to them.”

Permalink 2 Comments

Palin Rouses Crowd, but Was Speech a Lie?

Posted in News! at 12:12 am by Anna

Sarah Palin is likeable enough. Tough, smart & feminine. I like that.

I emphatically disagree with her politics, and her suppression of very important womens’ rights.

…And her “barracuda” tactics as they say.

I liked her confidence, though at some points she seemed condescending and smug.

She had a good speechwriter, but the truth was definitely stretched - sometimes to the point of breaking. And many jokes were mean-spirited.

Obama & Biden haven’t gotten that petty with the Repubs. But I’m sure dems are pissed and it looks like tonight the “silly season” in politics has taken a turn to outright nasty…

She’s enjoying pundits’ praise, but from me it’s definitely a mixed and skeptical review.

Let’s brace ourselves, it’s gonna be a long 2 months…
And the Republican Convention isn’t even over yet.

Here’s the Associated Press Report:

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: “I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending … and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress ‘thanks but no thanks’ for that Bridge to Nowhere.”

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a “bridge to nowhere.”

PALIN: “There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform _ not even in the state senate.”

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: “The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama’s plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain’s plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: “She’s been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America’s energy supply … She’s responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s energy supply. I’m entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain’s phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she’s no more “responsible” for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state _ by population.

MCCAIN: “She’s the commander of the Alaska National Guard. … She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities,” he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under “federal status,” which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska’s national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin “got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States.”

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor’s election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: “We need change, all right _ change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington _ throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin.”

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.

Associated Press Writer Jim Drinkard in Washington contributed to this report.

Permalink 3 Comments

09.03.08

Longtime Sarah Palin “Friend” Sets Record Straight

Posted in News! at 9:36 am by Anna

Someone forwarded this to me from www.my2bucks.com
It’s a letter from someone in Wasilla, Alaska who’s known Sarah Palin for 16 years.

A letter from someone who has known Sarah Palin since 1992
Anne is from Wasilla, Alaska.

I found this on the Washington Post comment board and have posted it exactly as I found it.

Amazing Letter From a Local Wasillian Who Knows Sarah Palin Well.

From: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate
Submitted by Michael Wrightson on Sept 1, 2008

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in
common: their gender and their good looks.

Thanks,

Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million.

What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library?

No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers
involved!

The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s
surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t
fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper.

Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she
later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues.

Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work.

Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT
•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen
when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out
of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s
attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The
day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

——————————————————————————–

Permalink 4 Comments

Awake & Caffeine Free

Posted in Good Health! at 9:19 am by Anna

I made a fantastic discovery - all by accident!

Robek’s Juice Bar!

Hello, my name is Anna and I’m a caffeine addict:
I used to rely on the morning joe, afternoon java & sometimes even evening cup-0f…

I’d get an immediate high and burst of feel-good energy, but a bummer of a crash soon after. And I’d wake up feeling run over by a truck, until I started the cycle all over again.

One day recently, in search of a Starbucks or Coffee Bean, I went into a Robek’s to tide me over. I got a “Robek’s Rejuvenator” with a “Powerbek boost” for extra energy…it woke me up more than coffee, espresso, chai, Red Bull ever did. And…it lasted longer…

And there was no crash!

They taste great too, like an ice smoothie. This is no green/orange veggie juice that you have to hold your nose to get down. It’s yummie.

One con - they’re expensive. A large (very tall) cup is almost $5…but I only have 1 a day, instead of 3 cups of coffee, so I guess it works out evenly.

And it’s so much healthier. I’m smilin a lot more!

I don’t know if they have Robek’s all over the country (it’s a chain here in LA), but I know they have similar places like Jamba Juice, and other juice bars/stores in other parts of the country.

Permalink Comments

09.02.08

Hospital Worker Reveals Palin Cover-Up: Sarah’s Baby is Really Her Grandson. Is this true???

Posted in News! at 9:43 am by Anna

COULD THIS REALLY BE TRUE???

I have my doubts - it sounds so far-fetched. But I got an email from one of our “faithful” readers asking me all about it.

First of all, I am certainly no expert. I just read the news & try to share it with you, with some of my views. And although I am human and have opinions, I try to be fair (or at least not too one-sided!)

I don’t haven’t seen anything about this story, though I replied to the reader asking where he/ she heard it.

It sounds ridiculous to me, but at this point, I wouldn’t rule anything out. I don’t think Palin was vetted as thoroughly as they say. And if this story is true…she & McCain better stay the hell away from the White House.

Does anyone out there have any info????

Permalink Comments

Palin’s Baby Daddy Under Scrutiny

Posted in News! at 9:22 am by Anna

Boy, this is really a fine line, isn’t it? On one hand, these teens did not ask to be in politics, did not ask to be picked apart by the entire country. This is already a hard time for them and as Americans, don’t we have an obligation to come together to take care of & support our younger generation in times of need, just like we come together and support hurricane victims in their time of need? How can we bear to traumatize them further?

But on the other hand…what was HE (McCain) thinking? What was SHE (Palin) thinking? Did they honestly think they could keep this pregnancy out of the spotlight? That they’d announce it and the media would just say, “yeah, we’ll bypass this first-ever election soap drama headline if you want us to”. How unrealistic is that?

Palin should have known her daughter would get ripped if she accepted the job. McCain should have known it would be THE story. I don’t care how much experience he has, his judgement is getting more and more questionable in my opinion.

The blogs are saturated with questions about Palin, ranging from illegal activities…to political stances that are in opposition to McCain…to speculations on whether she will be forced to withdraw…

She is a late-night comedian’s dream come true.
And this Washington Post article about the “Baby Daddy” makes the whole Republican ticket into a Saturday Night Live skit, plain and simple:

By SAMUEL GOLDSMITH and CLEMENTE LISI

Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol’s child and self-described “F—in’ redneck”

The unwed 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin is pregnant - a revelation the Alaska governor made public today to refute rumors spread by liberal bloggers that she had faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her daughter’s earlier one.

“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,” the Palin family said in a written statement.

“As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.”

Palin and her husband, Todd, said their daughter plans to marry the child’s father - who sources said is Levi Johnston - and that both “are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.”

Johnston, 17, who is entering his senior year at Wasilla HS, plays on the school hockey team and was once teammates on a youth squad with Palin’s older brother, Track, 19, who is now in the Army.

Despite suffering a cracked bone in his shin last season, Johnston scored 24 goals in 24 games.

“We don’t want to talk about this,” said a woman who answered the phone at the Johnston home.

On his MySpace page, Johnston boasts, “I’m a f - - -in’ redneck” who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes.

“But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- - - and just f - - -in’ chillin’ I guess.”

“Ya f - - - with me I’ll kick [your] ass,” he added.

He also claims to be “in a relationship,” but states, “I don’t want kids.”

Campaign officials said McCain knew of the pregnancy when he picked Palin last week as his running mate.

Bloggers had infuriated the McCain campaign over the weekend after airing rumors that Palin’s 4-month-old son was actually her daughter’s baby.

McCain campaign officials said Bristol’s pregnancy was made public in order to counter what one aide called “mudslinging” that has circulated on blogs like Daily Kos.

According to postings on Daily Kos, Sarah Palin allegedly faked a pregnancy and pretended to give birth in April to Trig, who has Down syndrome.

The McCain campaign said Bristol Palin is five months pregnant and that Trig was born on April 18, making the rumor’s timing impossible.

Palin would be due just a few weeks before Inauguration Day in January.

In a posting on Sunday, Daily Kos said, “Sarah needs to honestly answer for her lies - promptly.”

Palin’s governor-office spokesman Bill McAllister denied the rumors, while McCain adviser Mark Salter said the campaign announced the daughter’s pregnancy to rebut them.

“Sen. McCain’s view is this is a private family matter. As parents, [Sarah and Todd Palin] love their daughter unconditionally and are going to support their daughter,” said McCain campaign spokesman Steve Schmidt.

During a brief news conference today, Democrat Barack Obama said his campaign would not make the pregnancy an issue.

Appearing at a Labor Day event in Monroe, Mich., Obama said, “My mother had me when she was 18. And how family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics.”

Permalink Comments

09.01.08

Soprano Star Gets Married

Posted in Celebs at 11:29 am by Anna

I thought you might enjoy some lighthearted, romantic news during this stormy weekend!

James Gandolfini Gets Married
Entertainment Tonight

James Gandolfini and Deborah Lin exchanged vows during a marriage ceremony in Honolulu on Saturday, People magazine reports.

The 46-year-old star of “The Sopranos” and the 40-year-old model were married at the Central Union Church in the bride’s hometown, a wedding guest told the magazine.

A group of the couple’s closest friends and family attended the ceremony, in which the bride and groom exchanged vows in a setting of white lilies and rhododendrons.

Lin walked down the aisle in an Italian lace gown. Gandolfini’s son Michael from an earlier marriage was his best man.

Following the elegant 20-minute nuptials, the newlyweds stepped into a white stretch limousine bound for the evening reception at a nearby resort, the magazine reported. The couple have been engaged since 2007.

Permalink Comments

Saturday Night At Home

Posted in Relationship ups and downs, Life is Hard! at 10:22 am by Nicole

On Saturday, Jameson and I went out to dinner with my great-aunt.  At the end of the night, my great-aunt said, “It was so nice of you two youngsters to come out to dinner with me; I’m sure you had more fun things to do.”  Of course, we immediately reassured her that it was our pleasure - which it was, I love my great aunt - but it got me to thinking…these days, this dinner was the most “fun” I’ve had in a while.

Two years ago, I wouldn’t have been caught dead without a jam-packed, party-filled weekend.  I knew all the hottest bars and restaurants in town.  These days, I am at home cooking dinner and watching DVDs and researching ideas for decorating the apartment.

And the weird thing is?  I don’t miss my old party girl life.

And I feel like a traitor for saying it.  Because back then, two years ago, I constantly rolled my eyes when my married friends would say things about how now that they were married they don’t go out as much as they used to, in that “smug married” tone that seemed condescending at the time.

Now, on the other side, I see what they were saying.  It is not that you are home, relishing candlelight dinners, it is just that going out doesn’t seem so…important.  It is almost not worth it - the hair, the makeup, the clothes, the money, all to talk to the same people that you can talk to at home or over a nice dinner in a non-crowded restaurant.

These days, I hope I don’t sound condescending to my friends that still enjoy the party girl life, when I invite them to brunches or casual dinners instead.  I know they think I’m boring now, that’s ok.  I just hope that they know that I’m still the same person, the same friend, I was before - even if I don’t go out as much.

Permalink 3 Comments

08.31.08

McCain’s Vicious Quip: Chelsea is Ugly, Hillary slept with Janet Reno

Posted in News! at 5:34 pm by Anna

An excerpt from Salon.com a few years ago…it proves McCain’s real attitude towards women - he’s not trying to break a glass ceiling, he’s trying to make us walk on cut glass.

BY DAVID CORN

“During the last few months, many established media outlets have decided to report innuendo and rumor about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, as long as they have a source they can cite (at least anonymously), or another media player has reported the same.

But this new standard in the practice of journalism seemingly does not extend to other political figures, at least not media darlings like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Earlier this month, at a Republican Senate fund-raiser, McCain told a downright nasty joke making fun of Janet Reno, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton.

The fact that McCain had made the tasteless joke was reported in major newspapers, as was the vain attempt by his press secretary to initially deny what McCain had done. But in several major newspapers, the joke itself was kept a secret. When McCain subsequently apologized to President Clinton, the Washington Post, in its personality section, noted the apology but said the joke “was too vicious to print.”

The Los Angeles Times, in its Life & Style section, provided an oblique rendering of the joke that did not fully convey its ugliness. When Maureen Dowd penned a column in the New York Times about the joke, she wrote that McCain “is so revered by the press that his disgusting jape was largely nudged under the rug.” But Dowd chose not to relay the joke, either.

The joke did appear in McCain’s hometown paper, the Arizona Republic, and the Associated Press did report the joke in full, so everyone in the press had access to McCain’s words. But by censoring themselves, the Post, the Times and others helped McCain deflect flak and preserved his status as a Republican presidential contender.

Salon feels its readers deserve the unadulterated truth. Though no tape of McCain’s quip has yet emerged, this is what he reportedly said:

“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno.”…

…McCain’s two-liner conveys some interesting insights into what he considers humorous (lesbianism, a young woman’s physical appearance), particularly since it was delivered to a Republican crowd. Remember, this is the party that champions pro-family values…

…But the joke revealed more than a mean streak in a man who would be president. It also exposed how the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times play favorites when reporting the foibles of our leading politicians.”
SALON | June 25, 1998

Permalink 2 Comments

Palin, “I’m too sexy for my job, too sexy!”

Posted in News! at 9:34 am by Anna

I support the success & empowerment of women 100%. But it’s important to look at it authentically. Is McCain really empowering women…or talking down to us.

I think it’s the latter.

Does “the maverick” really think that he can nominate any conservative woman and please the conservatives, as well as sway Independant women and angry Hillary supporters, all at once? Does he think women will vote for anyone donning the right shade of lipstick - even if this woman is completely inadequate to run the country in the event of his death? (Sorry to be morbid, but after all he is 73 with a history of cancer.)

That’s like saying women will only look at his VP in terms of her body parts & not her brain.

McCain may view women like that, but I don’t.

He was looking for a meaningless trophy, when he needed a real leader. He put votes ahead of the safety of our entire country. He should be impeached in advance.

And what kind of woman prances around declaring to reporters that she goes out of her way to make herself look frumpy? What is she implying - that she’s too goshdarm gorgeous for the public to handle??

Nice to know that she’s both arrogant & deluded. Reminds me of Bush.

Here is a column from the New York Times:

Vice in Go-Go Boots?

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: August 31, 2008
PITTSBURGH

The guilty pleasure I miss most when I’m out slogging on the campaign trail is the chance to sprawl on the chaise and watch a vacuously spunky and generically sassy chick flick.

So imagine my delight, my absolute astonishment, when the hokey chick flick came out on the trail, a Cinderella story so preposterous it’s hard to believe it’s not premiering on Lifetime. Instead of going home and watching “Miss Congeniality” with Sandra Bullock, I get to stay here and watch “Miss Congeniality” with Sarah Palin.

Sheer heaven.

It’s easy to see where this movie is going. It begins, of course, with a cute, cool unknown from Alaska who has never even been on “Meet the Press” triumphing over a cute, cool unknowable from Hawaii who has been on “Meet the Press” a lot.

Americans, suspicious that the Obamas have benefited from affirmative action without being properly grateful, and skeptical that Michelle really likes “The Brady Bunch” and “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” reject the 47-year-old black contender as too uppity and untested.

Instead, they embrace 72-year-old John McCain and 44-year-old Sarah Palin, whose average age is 58, a mere two years older than the average age of the Obama-Biden ticket. Enthusiastic Republicans don’t see the choice of Palin as affirmative action, despite her thin résumé and gaping absence of foreign policy knowledge, because they expect Republicans to put an underqualified “babe,” as Rush Limbaugh calls her, on the ticket. They have a tradition of nominating fun, bantamweight cheerleaders from the West, like the previous Miss Congeniality types Dan Quayle and W., and then letting them learn on the job. So they crash into the globe a few times while they’re learning to drive, what’s the big deal?

Obama may have been president of The Harvard Law Review, but Palin graduated from the University of Idaho with a minor in poli-sci and worked briefly as a TV sports reporter. And she was tougher on the basketball court than the ethereal Obama, earning the nickname “Sarah Barracuda.”

The legacy of Geraldine Ferraro was supposed to be that no one would ever go on a blind date with history again. But that crazy maverick and gambler McCain does it, and conservatives and evangelicals rally around him in admiration of his refreshingly cynical choice of Sarah, an evangelical Protestant and anti-abortion crusader who became a hero when she decided to have her baby, who has Down syndrome, and when she urged schools to debate creationism as well as that stuffy old evolution thing.

Palinistas, as they are called, love Sarah’s spunky, relentlessly quirky “Northern Exposure” story from being a Miss Alaska runner-up, and winning Miss Congeniality, to being mayor and hockey mom in Wasilla, a rural Alaskan town of 6,715, to being governor for two years to being the first woman ever to run on a national Republican ticket. (Why do men only pick women as running mates when they need a Hail Mary pass? It’s a little insulting.)

Sarah is a zealot, but she’s a fun zealot. She has a beehive and sexy shoes, and the day she’s named she goes shopping with McCain in Ohio for a cheerleader outfit for her daughter.

As she once told Vogue, she’s learned the hard way to deal with press comments about her looks. “I wish they’d stick with the issues instead of discussing my black go-go boots,” she said. “A reporter once asked me about it during the campaign, and I assured him I was trying to be as frumpy as I could by wearing my hair on top of my head and these schoolmarm glasses.”

This chick flick, naturally, features a wild stroke of fate, when the two-year governor of an oversized igloo becomes commander in chief after the president-elect chokes on a pretzel on day one.

The movie ends with the former beauty queen shaking out her pinned-up hair, taking off her glasses, slipping on ruby red peep-toe platform heels that reveal a pink French-style pedicure, and facing down Vladimir Putin in an island in the Bering Strait. Putting away her breast pump, she points her rifle and informs him frostily that she has some expertise in Russia because it’s close to Alaska. “Back off, Commie dude,” she says. “I’m a much better shot than Cheney.”

Then she takes off in her seaplane and lands on the White House lawn, near the new ice fishing hole and hockey rink. The “First Dude,” as she calls the hunky Eskimo in the East Wing, waits on his snowmobile with the kids — Track (named after high school track meets), Bristol (after Bristol Bay where they did commercial fishing), Willow (after a community in Alaska), Piper (just a cool name) and Trig (Norse for “strength.”)

“The P.T.A. is great preparation for dealing with the K.G.B.,” President Palin murmurs to Todd, as they kiss in the final scene while she changes Trig’s diaper. “Now that Georgia’s safe, how ’bout I cook you up some caribou hot dogs and moose stew for dinner, babe?”

Permalink Comments