A King visits Flint Mi USA

KINGS VISIT 9/25/08

Q:WHAT DOES FLINT MICHIGAN HAVE TO DO TO BE A LEADER IN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY AND PROSPER ONCE AGAIN!!!

A: Demand that our institutional and elected leadership commit to this as the #1 goal. Clean up the mess we have created in Flint, (housing stock, schools,and crime). Demand and be prepared for change.

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Good Morning Flint!, 9/27/08 by Terry R. Bankert These are the pictures I took at Kettering. http://www.flickr.com/photos/30366181@N05/?saved=1
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THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS IN A FINANCIAL CRISIS,
COMPANIES AROUND THE COUNTRY FEAR FOLDING
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS FACING ECONOMIC CRISIS
LARGEST BANK FAILURE EVER JUST HAPPENED

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FLINT HAS TRUMPETERS HERALDING A KING.
SWEDISH BIO GAS IS BREAKING GROUND IN FLINT
GENERAL MOTORS WILL DOUBLE PRODUCTION OF 4 CYLINDER ENGINES Chevy Cruz and Volt.
GENERAL MOTORS TO INVEST $370 MILLION IN FLINT CREATE 400 JOBS and retain 300.
UAW/GM COST SAVING CONTRACT SAVES JOBS IN FLINT
FLINT BECOMES A MOVIE TOWN

* * * *
I WAS BORN IN Flint at the Old Womens Hospital and spent several years in a boarding house near Kettering. With a brief excursion to Grand Blanc from first grade on I have lived in Flint MI USA all of my life.

I am a Flintoid to the core.

I have been honored with several Flint Public offices after being trained by a political party. Today I am just a working stiff family law attorney hoping the best for his city. We have much to hope for.

Look at the economic cross roads that Flint Michigan is in. We have a new infusion of General Motors investment and a shiny new plant on the horizon. The biogas initiative will bring huge rewards. We just might be the leader of a new industry as a region.

The “real” leadership of Genesee County was in the room. I am proud of our Mayor Williamson, Governor Grandholm , Kettering University and especially State Representative Lee Gonzales for causing this to happen. Flint is on the move. I still long to be on the inside running program making thing happen. But I am not, I wish all well. I will comment from the sidelines and be your biggest cheerleader.

All you have to do is make stuff happen.

Talk is cheap, and there is too much talk in this town. So from an ex: democratic party operative, member of 3 major unions, United Way campaigner, city clerk, ombudsman, precinct delegate and Flint native- Thank You to one and all who involved in turning my city around.
-Terry Bankert
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Flint Mi USA ground breaking of an alternative energy plant. This waste to energy plant planned for Flint has received a $4 million dollar boost from the state , Michigan Economic Development Corporation, now cementing a partnership with the City of Flint, Kettering University and Swedish BIO Gas International .

The plant will convert human waste into bio gas. This product may be used to create bio methane that can run vehicles. The money will be used to help pay for equipment and build a plant to be located next to the citys waste water treatment plant. The swedes and private interests will add another 3 million.. Swedens King Carl XVI Gustaf visits the home of the first organized labor sit down strike and the home of General Motors. Gustaf is the guest of Michigan Governor Grandholm, born in Canada with Swedish heritage, and they made several appearances yesterday. Others present were Flint Mayor Don Williamson, U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Michael Wood, and other dignitaries.

The king said energy independence and staving off global warming is a top priority. The goal for Sweden: 100 percent of energy coming from renewable resources by 2020.[fj] Our Mott Foundation may also have an undisclosed interest in the Bio fuel project. A Mott spokesperson has indicated that the foundation will be looking a “ Center for Excellence” approach, what ever that is. This program, Flint Bio Gas, will compete in the Center for Excellence Program.

The Michigan strategic Fund spokesperson Epolito said Michigan is attempting to capture expanding green technology. Kettering in providing technical assistance and the first home for Swedish Biogas International. Flint hopes to capture spin off businesses.

It was a great day for Flint MI USA.

Posted here by Terry R. Bankert 9/26/08

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YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW

Good Morning Flint!
By Terry Bankert 9/24/08
http://attorneybankert.com/

*****
WE HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW

It appears our TV screen will fill with another rash of Wall Street perp walks as the FBI launches a wave of criminal investigations on our countries financial collapse.

Our current economic mess caused by a collapsing housing market after a decade of soaring prices and relaxed if not downright fraudulent mortgage lending practices now has left banks with worthless mortgages causing their impending collapse.Was there fraud ,we will see, we have a right to know. Our economic ship does appear to be taking on water.

How did this happen we have a right to know. Now is the time to slow down gather facts make deliberate decisions. We may be bailing out the skiff to sink the schooner. Congress must ask questions and demand answers. The cure could kill the patient. That patient is the American taxpayer the schooner sinking is the economic future of our children.

As of today Wall Street has 26 open FBI investigations against it. Good for the FBI. Financial managers who lied about the condition of their company and insiders that dumped their stock before the collapse deserve prosecution, perp walks, suicides and sentences. I sorrow for their families but not for them. How far up the corporate chain of command will fraud be found.

Needed is a 1 trillion dollar bailout by the US taxpayers. How could they , insiders and financial managers, not have known, not have lied and not have ,as insiders , acted wrongfully. Will a bailout help these rich and hurt us non rich. Congress do the right thing. The rich have played Russian Roulette with our future don’t join in ,think /deliberate/hold hearings on the bailout. Then act responsibly [trb]

SOURCES

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/24/business/24inquiry.html?ref=business

[2] http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/23/news/companies/fbi_finance/?postversion=2008092321

[3] http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2008/09/22/daily46.html [COMMENT NIKOS RETSOS AT 3] 94758

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Its the economy...stupid!

MIDDLE CLASS SLIPPING AWAY,
FORECLOSURES HAPPENING OR THREATENED ,
NO MONEY TO EDUCATE YOUR KIDS,
NO HEALTH CARE FOR YOUR ELDERLY,
NO GAS TO GET TO WORK OR FOOD TO FEED YOUR KIDS.
THIS HAPPENED ON THE REPUBLICAN WATCH, CAN WE SURVIVE 4 MORE YEARS OF GEORGE BUSH POLICIES THROUGH MCCAIN?-NO!

Volcker said at a Sept. 5 banking conference in Calgary that the U.S. financial system is broken and may contribute to the weakest expansion since the 1930s. [1]

*****
GOOD MORNING FLINT! 9/16/09
By Terry Bankert http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
Above Longer article , mostly research so you can draw your own conclusions, with citations, short summery below at http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=36162#36162
* * * * *
REFLECTIONS: Can we allow our middle class to slip away? Experts say our financial markets are broken. Who do you want in charge to fix it. The party that has broken us, Republicans? Some say our financial systems are imploding. If you have rotten garbage in your house you put it out. The republicans must be put out. Obama has long urged a modernizing of the financial system. What is understood is that protecting our financial markets with governmental regulation and intervention is a necessity. Irresponsible republican deregulation and lack of oversight has let the fox into the chicken coop. We shall most certainly suffer with out leadership. Bush 3 and thumper cannot offer meaningful financial leadership for America. The answer is Obama/Biden.[trb]
* * * * *

OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM IS BROKEN If many voters are fuzzy on the events that over the weekend forced Lehman Brothers Holdings into bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch & Co. to be swallowed by Bank of America, the continuing chaos among the most venerable names in American finance — coming on top of the recent government seizure of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the demise of the Bear Stearns — has stoked their anxiety for the economy, the foremost issue on voters' minds.[5]

USA FINANCIAL SYSTEMS ARE IMPLODING: GEORGE BUSH HAS DESTROYED AMERICA AND MCCAIN IS HIS NUMBER ONE CHEERLEADER. The U.S. banking crisis is shaking up the presidential race as well as the agenda of the next president, forcing both candidates to confront a financial calamity.[2] Obama said McCain "doesn't get what's happening between the mountain in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of Washington where he works." [5] But the Democrats repeatedly tried to bring voters back to their core message: that the economy was in serious trouble after two terms under President Bush and that McCain would continue Bush's policies. "Ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn't run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well, unless I ran into John McCain," Biden said during a campaign stop in Michigan. [6]

OBAMA HAS A PLAN Obama has long urged a modernizing of the financial system. He called for it in a speech at NASDAQ a year ago and outlined a plan for an overhaul of Wall Street regulations in March.[4] In March 2007, however, he warned of the coming housing crisis, and a year later in a speech in New York he outlined six principles for overhauling financial regulation.[5]

OBAMA HAS SPECIFICS, MCCAIN ONLY GENERALITIES Obama set out his general approach to financial regulation in March, calling for regulating investment banks, mortgage brokers and hedge funds much as commercial banks are. And he would streamline the overlapping regulatory agencies and create a commission to monitor threats to the financial system and report to the White House and Congress.[5]

IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPID, Y’ALL BETTER HAVE A PLAN....NOT A PALIN... A PLAN. As Wall Street's financial crisis deepens, presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain are looking to some of the nation's top economists for advice. [1]

THE ONLY PLACE TRICKLED DOWN HAS WORKED IS IN A CRAP HOUSE Obama yesterday held a phone call with one-time Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers, who won praise a decade ago for helping avert other potential meltdowns, and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, credited with halting the raging inflation of the late-1970s and early-'80s. [1] Sen. Obama singled out the Bush administration's deregulatory push for what he described as "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression." While Sen. McCain wasn't at fault, he said, "I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to...one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down."[2]

MCCAIN HAS BEEN WRONG ALL ALONG But his record on the issue, and the views of those he has always cited as his most influential advisers, suggest that he has never departed in any major way from his party's embrace of deregulation and relying more on market forces than on the government to exert discipline.[5]

DEREGULATION OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS IS THE PROBLEM (MCCAIN)...he has consistently characterized himself as fundamentally a deregulator and he has no history prior to the presidential campaign of advocating steps to tighten standards on investment firms.[5] (MCCAIN)He has often taken his lead on financial issues from two outspoken advocates of free market approaches, former Senator Phil Gramm [5] In early 1995, after Republicans had taken control of Congress, McCain promoted a moratorium on U.S. regulations of all kinds. He was quoted as saying that excessive regulations were "destroying the American family, the American dream" and voters "want these regulations stopped." The moratorium measure was unsuccessful.[5]

FROM THE ASHES MCCAIN TURNS TO DADDY McCain on Saturday talked with Harvard economics Professor Martin Feldstein, a onetime adviser to President Ronald Reagan, Stanford University economist John Taylor and former Hewlett- Packard Co. Chief Executive Carly Fiorina. [1] These advisers are helping shape the messages of Democrat Obama and Republican McCain, as the latest upheaval in the financial markets and the credit crisis begins to crowd out other issues on the campaign trail. [1]

MCCAIN HAS NO PLAN. “On just about every economic issue, there is not a dime’s worth of difference between John McCain’s proposals and what we have right now. In 19 months, he has not named one thing he would do differently from this administration on the central issue of this election, not one thing.[3]

... BIDEN ON MCCAIN Joe Biden threw his hardest punches yet at John McCain on Monday, linking the Republican presidential candidate to the economic policies of the Bush administration, describing him as out of touch with middle-class Americans and claiming he is in the pocket of big oil and other corporations.[7] “John McCain doesn’t seem to understand what middle-class people are going through today,” Biden said at a campaign stop. “I don’t doubt that he cares. He just doesn’t think that we have any responsibility to help people who are hurting.[7]

TWO DECADES OF DEREGULATION AND REPUBLICAN RULE HAVE OUR COUNTRY ON THE BRINK OF A DEPRESSION. TIME FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS TO RISE UP ``You won't be able to get the economy moving again, create jobs, without fixing the mess in our financial system,'' said Obama economic adviser Jason Furman. [1] McCain ``has been calling for some time for a focus on the economy,'' Fiorina said in an interview. [1]

WE DO NOT CARE WHO SEES THE FIRE FIRST. WHO IS GOING TO PUT IT OUT IS WHAT WE CARE ABOUT Both campaigns argued that their candidate was first out of the gate in warning of the credit crisis, which led to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America. [1] Power to the Fed [1] Obama's advisers point to a March speech in New York, in which he called for giving the Federal Reserve greater supervisory authority when it acts as a lender of last resort, strengthening the capital requirements for financial companies and streamlining the collection of overlapping regulatory agencies that oversee Wall Street. [1] ``The main thing we're advising is the ideas he laid out as long as three years ago and as recently as March of this year are still the right ones to deal with our financial problems,'' Furman said in an interview. [1] In a March speech on financial-market overhaul, Sen. Obama called for extending commercial-banking regulations to investment banks, hedge funds and mortgage brokers. He called for a commission that would monitor threats to the financial system. He said deregulation that culminated in 1999 with a partial repeal of the 1930s' Glass-Steagall Act, which had separated investment banks and commercial banks, had been driven by lobbyists and was intended primarily to facilitate mergers.[2] "I certainly don't fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to," Obama told several hundred people who gathered for an outdoor rally in Grand Junction, Colorado.[5]

MCCAIN HAS A PALIN... BUT NO PLAN, ...THE THUMPERS CANNOT HELP YOU WITH THIS ONE JOHNNY Adviser Fiorina said McCain would address the situation by ``making sure that it never happens again.'' [1]McCain is offering no specifics.[trb]

OUR COUNTRY HAS BEEN HOODWINKED INTO THINKING THAT THE REPUBLICANS KNOW HOW TO HANDLE MONEY. Obama, 47, an Illinois senator, yesterday said Bush's policies have caused ``the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression'' and called for ``modernizing'' regulations, at a rally in Grand Junction, Colorado. [1] `Clean Up Wall Street' [1]

MCCAIN SAYS WE WILL BE GOOD FROM HERE ON ..PUT US BACK IN POWER...PLEASE McCain vowed to ``clean up Wall Street'' and ``replace the outdated, patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight,'' at an event in Jacksonville, Florida. ``We will never put America in this position again,'' he said. [1]

POLITICAL DEAMENSHIA SPELLED MCCAIN The Arizona senator, 72, told several thousand supporters that while these are difficult times, ``the fundamentals of our economy are strong.'' That prompted the Obama campaign to call the Republican nominee ``out of touch.'' [1]

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY WILL BE THE FIRST POLITICAL VICTIM, WE NEED A BIG BROOM AND A CLEAN SWEEP The fallout from the financial markets is dominating the presidential race as Americans look to the candidates for solutions after Lehman, the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, filed for bankruptcy yesterday. The company lost 94 percent of its market value this year. [1]

HEY REPUBLICANS ....THIS IS WHAT LESS GOVERNMENT GETS YOU AFTER INADEQUATELY FUNDING THE AGENCIES TASKED WITH PROTECTING OUR ECONOMY.... I BET CHENY HAS MOVED HIS MONEY OFFSHORE Neither Obama nor McCain has offered specific fixes. And the two campaigns are using similar language to blame regulators and the banks themselves for the mess. [1] That may stem from a view shared by their advisers that the situation may worsen and that it would be hard for the government to stay on the sidelines. [1]

WE ARE IN A TIME LIKE PRE-DEPRESSION Rubin, in a Sept. 10 television interview with Charlie Rose, called these times ``probably the most complex and difficult since the 1930s in the financial markets.'' [1]

GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION ONLY ALTERNATIVE He said for the next year and a half ``we could be in a highly proactive mode'' on public policy. ``We should do whatever seems sensible and also accept undesirable side-effects if necessary in order to try to promote better economic conditions,'' he said. [1]

IF YOU RIDE THE WAVE YOU CRASH INTO ROCKS Summers, another Obama adviser, said in the same interview that the situation ``isn't something we can ride out with the hope that somehow, in a deep sense, the fundamentals are strong.'' [1] He said there will likely need to be ``more active interventions in the financial and housing markets than we've seen.'' [1] System Is Broken [1] Volcker said at a Sept. 5 banking conference in Calgary that the U.S. financial system is broken and may contribute to the weakest expansion since the 1930s. [1] Some McCain advisers also foresee greater government involvement. [1] Feldstein, in an Aug. 26 Financial Times column, warned that ``the risk of a downward spiral of house prices is the primary danger facing the American economy.'' [1] He proposed a federal program of ``mortgage replacement loans'' to provide financial incentives that would stop defaults among those who still have positive equity but face further price declines. [1] Kenneth Rogoff, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and now a Harvard professor, said the crisis ``had to happen'' because the financial system was ``bloated and overgrown and reckless to some extent,'' in an interview published Sept. 15 by Der Spiegel.[1] If the system continues to ``implode,'' he said, ``it's going to be very difficult for the Fed to step back and let all the banks go under. They're clearly going to have to throw taxpayer dollars in.'' [1]

WHO ARE YOU VOTING FOR? So when you walk into that voting booth in 50 days, ask yourself, Can your family afford to take a chance on an economic policy that offers $200 billion in tax breaks to the biggest corporations, including the oil companies, but not one penny of relief to more than 100 million Americans? ... [3] Biden condemned what he said was "a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a seat at the table and the rest of us are on the menu."McCain's economic programs are virtual copies of Bush's, he charged. "If you're ready for four more years of George Bush, John McCain is your man," Biden said. [6] McCain, who has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time, would offer more of the same, Biden said.[7] “Just as George Herbert Walker Bush was nicknamed ‘Bush 41' and his son is known as ‘Bush 43,’ John McCain could easily become known as ‘Bush 44,’” he said.[7]

Posted here by Terry Bankert 9/16/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
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[1] http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=ajMl5w.sSXGo&refer=us
[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122151017079138227.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/us/politics/16words.html
[4] http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1536198820080916
[5] http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/16/business/16record.php
[6] http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.candidates16sep16,0,24366.story
[TRB] Comments of Terry Bankert to include unattributed cap headlines http://attorneybankert.com/
[7] http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/15/biden-calls-mccain-out-of-touch-with-middle-class/

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LOOKING FOR CORRUPTION?

WHY LOOK AT CORRUPTION IN FLINT MICHIGAN?

*****
GOOD MORNING FLINT! 9/15/09
By Terry Bankert
http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
Above Longer article , mostly research so you can draw your own conclusions, with citations, short summery below at http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=36113#36113
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REFLECTIONS: Per diem abuse may seem like small potatoes, but it offers a way to look at the concept of corruption. Palin makes the news again. Mabey there are things about her experience that can guide us through Flint’s- First just being two faced like her is not political corruption. Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties. All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but include cronyism, nepotism, patronage, and embezzlement. Tolerance of political corruption allows “rule by thieves”.Corruption undermines democracy.Senator McCain said that he chose Governor Palin to be his running mate because she’s going to change Washington D.C. the same way that she, supposedly, brought change to the governor’s mansion in Alaska. She brought political corruption to the Governors Mansion. She has spent -- or she has collected from the people of Alaska , improperly, nearly $17,000 in per diem , untaxed, in the 19 months that she was been in office, which indicates that she is out of her office more than she’s in her office. Her staff has said she performs most of her work from the Anchorage office near her home and charged the state for sleeping in her own home. If it is corruption compared to the allegations of the mayor and community members in Flint Mi USA,Palins corruption is small potatoes. We must have a whole field.[trb]
* * * *

Our Mayor in Flint MI USA has announced he is spending millions of his own money to fight corruption, great. Here I am reflecting what political corruption is and why it is important to stand up against it as a citizen. Per diem abuse may seem like small potatoes, but it offers a way to look at the concept of corruption.[trb] I simply inquired of my friend google about political corruption. You see in Flint we have a mayor who has started a committee to stop corruption in Flint. Ironically there are a few in Flint that argue he is its source. So I though I would inquire what political corruption is then seek examples, Palin makes the news again. Mabey there are things about her experience that can guide us through Flint’s[trb]

YOU ARE NOT POLITICALLY CORRUPT FOR BEING TWO FACED.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin charged taxpayers a per diem for her meals and incidental expenses as governor but was a vocal critic of a similar perk for state legislators.[6]

ONLINE DEFINITION OF POLITICAL CORRUPTION

Political corruption is the use of governmental powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by private persons or corporations not directly involved with the government.[1]

OFFICIAL DUTIES AND ILLEGAL ACT EQUATE POLITICAL CORRUPTION

An illegal act by an officeholder constitutes political corruption only if the act is directly related to their official duties.[1] All forms of government are susceptible to political corruption. Forms of corruption vary, but include bribery, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, graft, and embezzlement. While corruption may facilitate criminal enterprise such as drug trafficking, money laundering, and trafficking, it is not restricted to these organized crime activities.[1]

IN SOME LOCALS CORRUPTION IS THE PRICE OF DOING BUSINESS

In some nations, corruption is so common that it is expected when ordinary businesses or citizens interact with government officials. The end point of political corruption is a kleptocracy, literally "rule by thieves".[1]

CORRUPTION UNDERMINES DEMOCRACY

Corruption poses a serious development challenge. In the political realm, it undermines democracy and good governance by flouting or even subverting formal processes. Corruption in elections and in legislative bodies reduces accountability and distorts representation in policymaking; corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law; and corruption in public administration results in the unfair provision of services. More generally, corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are disregarded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. At the same time, corruption undermines the legitimacy of government and such democratic values as trust and tolerance.[1]

THE FIRST ARTICLE , WHEN POLITICAL CORRUPTION WAS GOOGLED, INVOLVED ALASKAN GOVERNOR PALIN

Senator McCain said that he chose Governor Palin to be his running mate because she’s going to change Washington D.C. the same way that she, supposedly, brought change to the governor’s mansion in Alaska.

WHAT CHANGES HAS PALIN BROUGHT AND WHAT DO THEY HAVE TO DO WITH CORRUPTION?

There are several examples of how that isn’t, exactly, the case. Her record does not stand up to scrutiny. Governor Palin billed the people of Alaska for 312 nights that she actually spent at home, in her own house, in her own bed.[1]


MISUSE OF EXPENSE ACCOUNTS AS POLITICAL CORRUPTION

These per diems are intended to compensate state employees to cover for travel costs when they are traveling on official state business.[2, comment by proudalaskan]

ALASKA IS A BIG STATE ,IS IT POLITICAL CORRUPTION TO SLEEP AT HOME AND CHARGE THE STATE FOR IT?

Governor Palin got paid to sleep at home. She also got paid to attend the Great Alaska Shootout, which is a Thanksgiving Day basketball tournament, here in Anchorage, that’s very popular. In all, according to the -- the Post, that we’ve seen, she has spent -- or she has collected from the people of Alaska nearly $17,000 in per diem in the 19 months that she was been in office, which indicates that she is out of her office more than she’s in her office.[2, comment by proudalaskan] At issue is the location of the governor's "tax home," which the Internal Revenue Service defines as the location where most of the individual's business is performed. Palin stayed in her Wasilla home 312 nights or 54 percent of the time period when she claimed the per diem, from Dec. 4, 2006, until June 30, 2008. She drove 45 miles to a state office building in Anchorage to conduct business. Her staff has said she performs most of her work from the Anchorage office. [3]

That would appear to make Wasilla the governor's "tax home," which would mean that under IRS regulations, any per diem she received for staying in that home is considered taxable. [3] But Garnero said the state considers Juneau to be the governor's "duty station" or tax home, which would make her eligible for per diem payments for time spent away from that place, even if it were in the governor's Wasilla residence. [3]

The $60-a-day allowance is available for state employees when traveling on official state business to cover meals and other expenses. Her salary is $125,000 a year. [3] Since Gov. Sarah Palin took office nearly two years ago, the state of Alaska has routinely bought commercial airline tickets for her daughters when they travel with her, a practice that raises questions about the governor’s claim to being a fiscal conservative.[7] Travel records from the governor’s office show that the state has spent at least $31,800 on dozens of airline tickets for the family, and more for meals and hotels.[7]

WE FIGHT POLITICAL CORRUPTION BY TRANSPARENCY. RELEASE OF PERSONAL TAX RETURNS IS ONE SUCH TRANSPARENCY

The important question today, I guess, would be -- because Senator Biden released his tax return -- would be for Governor Palin to release her tax returns -- federal tax returns -- to show whether or not she actually paid federal income tax on those reimbursements, for when she was living in her Wasilla home.[2, comment by proudalaskan] I am probably more involved, and pay attention more, to what’s going on in the state than a lot of residents. And I was unaware that she was not in Juneau, doing her job, as much as -- as this report seems to indicate. When she said -- made the announcement that she wasn’t going to stay in the mansion in Juneau, and she was going to -- because she “didn’t need this fancy house,” and she “didn’t need the cook,” and she “didn’t need the housekeeper,” and her home was in Wasilla, so she was only going to be in Juneau when she had to be in Juneau -- that rang pretty true to everybody.[2, comment by proudalaskan] Another background point involves the state capital, Juneau, which cannot be reached by road. Imagine trying to reach Hartford without using a road or bridge.

Those heading for Juneau by boat must deal with the ferocious Gulf of Alaska or the cloudy ferry trip along the Inland Passage. Those who fly must thread the needle between ice-covered mountains, bank hard above a fjord (usually in foggy drizzle), and land at sea level in a place where the tide averages over 15 feet. Juneau is a nice city to live in and to disembark at on a cruise, but it's a great challenge for business, coming and going.[4] We thought, “Well, that’s really great. You know, here’s this person who’s not, you know, feeling like she gets to -- to live in the castle on the hill. And she was going to be staying at her home in Wasilla,” and, “How noble is that?”[2, comment by proudalaskan]

STAYING AT HOME GREAT POLICY EXECUTED IN A SELF SERVING MANNER

But if she is billing the state to stay at her home in Wasilla, that’s pretty shocking to me, as a resident of the State of Alaska. So I think that this is -- it just raises one problem with the transparency and dishonest government that we have seen in Washington, D.C. And I don’t’ think it’s indicative of her bringing any kind of change to that.[2, comment by proudalaskan]

MIS USE OF PER DIEM THAN IS A LEGITIMATE EXAMPLE OF POLITICAL
CORRUPTION.

The practice of billing for staying at home seems to be unusual. Many officials said it would not be allowed in their states, including California, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, as well as other jurisdictions. On the federal level, officials said members of Congress do not get per diem allowances for routine home visits.[8]

POLITICAL CORRUPTION THEN COULD BE PALINS MIS USE OF PER DIEMS. A SECOND PROBLEM MAY BE NOT CLAIMING THE PER DIEMS ON HER INCOME TAXES

The misuse of per diems pales beside other acts of political corruption. But it’s a start. If this label applies to her where else should the label be applied in Flint MI USA? How to we stop corruption. Demand transparency and accountablity in the actions of the Leaders of Flint MI USA. Defend democracy by doing so.[trb]

Posted here by Terry Bankert 9/15/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_corruption
[2] http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/letters/stories/satletters3_0913edi.6e18b549.html [3] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091203132.html?hpid=topnews
[4] http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-thorson0911.artsep11,0,1586992.column
[5] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/10/palin_questioned_legislators_p.html
[6] http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/10/palin_questioned_legislators_p.html
[7] http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1118181&srvc=2008campaign&position=10
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/us/politics/10billing.html?em

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Palin-lite

Palin would support war with Russia
[3]
Good Morning Flint, 9/12/08
by Terry Bankert
Full Article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/2008/09/palin-lite.html, summary at
Flint Talk.com
* * *
Palin lite showed hersel in the Gibson interview. Palin will readily declare war on Russia, commit American troops and American deaths. Palin supported Obamas position in Afgan incursions, discounted scientific knowledge of mans role in global warming. One several points she contradicted McCain and demonstrated she did not know what the Bush doctrine is. Joe Biden will have her for lunch.
* * * * *
Palin - who has spoken in her church about U.S. troops being "on a task that is from God," was asked if she believed the United States is fighting a "holy war."[3] The republican spin is that she was quoting Licoln.[trb]
Harold Holzer, a prominent Lincoln scholar and author of multiple Lincoln biographies, said last night that Palin's original comment that US troops are on a task from God does not follow Lincoln's quote.[4]
"I think there is no computing the precise Lincoln quote with her own quote," Holzer said. "Lincoln sought guidance from God, he didn't tell people that God was guiding him. It is just different."[4]

PALIN EMERGES FROM MEDIA BLACKOUT AND MELTS IN THE SUN OF CHARLIE GIBSON
In her first televised interview since being named to the GOP ticket, Sarah Palin says she's ready to be president if called upon. However, she sidestepped questions on whether she had the national security credentials needed to be commander in chief.[1]
PALIN INEXPIERENCED ENOUGH TO STUMBLE INTO WORLD WAR III
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has defended his running mate's qualifications, citing her command of the Alaska National Guard and Alaska's proximity to Russia.[1]
PALIN GET CHECKED BY GIBSON
In the interview broadcast Thursday, Palin sought to defend her qualifications to assume one of the most powerful jobs in the world. But she struggled with foreign policy, unable to describe President Bush's doctrine of pre-emptive strikes against threatening nations and acknowledging she's never met a foreign head of state.[1]
IF I CAN SEE IT I CAN UNDERSTAND IT
Pressed about what insights into recent Russian actions she gained by living in Alaska, Palin told Charles Gibson of ABC News, "They're our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska."[1]
IN THE OCEAN OF INTERNATIONAL ISSUES PALIN IS FROM A SHALLOW BACKWATER POND
Palin, 44, has been Alaska's governor for less than two years and before that was a small-town mayor. She was McCain's surprise selection for the No. 2 slot on the ticket, raising questions about her readiness to serve in the White House, particularly during wartime.[1]
8 YEARS OF REPUBLICAN PRESIDENCY PUT GOVERNMENT ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE PEOPLE. PALIN IS A REPUBLICAN?
Asked whether those were sufficient credentials, Palin said: "It is about reform of government and it's about putting government back on the side of the people, and that has much to do with foreign policy and national security issues." She said she brings expertise in making the country energy independent as a former chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.[1]
SHE CANNOT EVEN NAME THE HEADS OF STATES OF THE LARGETS COUNTRIES?
Palin said other than a trip to visit soldiers in Kuwait and Germany last year, her only other foreign travel was to Mexico and Canada. She also said she had never met a head of state and added: "If you go back in history and if you ask that question of many vice presidents, they may have the same answer that I just gave you."[1]
PALIN CONNECTS IRAQ AND SEPTEMBER 11, MCCAIN DOES NOT

The Washington Post reported that Palin told Iraq-bound soldiers yesterday that they would "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."[4]
The remark appeared at odds with President Bush's stance that there was no connection between Iraq and the Sept. 11 attacks.[4]
Palin-lite, inexpierenced and proud of it.[trb]

Foreign policy questions dominated the first of three interviews Palin was giving Gibson over two days.[1]
In the interview Thursday, Palin:
READY TO START WARS-PALIN
_Appeared unsure of the Bush doctrine — essentially that the United States must help spread democracy to stop terrorism and that the nation will act pre-emptively to stop potential foes.[1]
DOCTRINE, OH CHARLIE STOP THE INTELLECTUAL STUFF SAYS PALIN/LIGHT
Asked whether she agreed with that, Palin said: "In what respect, Charlie?" Gibson pressed her for an interpretation of it. She said: "His world view." That prompted Gibson to say "no, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war" and describe it to her.[1]

And on the seventh anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, she appeared entirely unfamiliar with the Bush Doctrine, the central foreign policy tenet of the current administration, which asserts the right to wage preventive strikes in the aftermath of such terrorist attacks. [2]

But she seemed off-balance when asked about the Bush Doctrine - which includes preventive war, spreading democracy to eliminate terrorism and brandishing power to force other countries into line. [3]

After Gibson informed her of the doctrine's definition of "anticipatory self-defense" against any country that might attack the United States, she replied: "If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend."[4]
PALIN- LITE DID NOT EVEN KNOW RECENT HISTORY
"And we've got to keep an eye on Russia. For Russia to have exerted such pressure in terms of invading a smaller democratic country, unprovoked, is unacceptable," she told Gibson. Russia invaded Georgia after the ex-Soviet republic invaded the separatist region of South Ossetia. [3]
PALIN THINKS EXPIERENCED IS A BAD THING AND SHE IS COMMITTED TO NO HAVING ANY.
"But, Charlie, again, we've got to remember what the desire is in this nation at this time. It is for no more politics as usual, and somebody's big fat resume that shows decades and decades in that Washington establishment, where, yes, they've had opportunities to meet heads of state." [3]


THOSE GOSH DARN ISLAMIC PEOPLE, I.E PEOPLE WHO DO NOT LOOK LIKE PALIN
"I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation," Palin said, though added "there have been mistakes made."[1]
DID NOT EVEN UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION, JOE WILL HAVE HER FOR LUNCH
Pressed repeatedly on whether the United States could attack terrorist hideouts in Pakistan without the country's permission, she said: "If there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend."[1]
PALIN, COMMITTED TO AMERICAN BEING A FOLLOWER INTERNATIONALLY
_Said nuclear weapons in Iran's hands are dangerous, and said "we've got to put the pressure on Iran." Asked three times what her position would be if Israel felt threatened enough to attack Iranian nuclear facilities, Palin repeatedly said the United States shouldn't "second guess" Israel's steps to secure itself.[1]
PALIN WILL DECLARE WAR ON RUSSIA , COMMITT TROOPS, AND AMERICAN DEATHS?
_Called for Georgia and the Ukraine to be included in NATO, a treaty that requires the U.S. to defend them militarily. She also said Russia's attack into Georgia last month was "unprovoked." Asked to clarify that she'd support going to war over Georgia, she said: "Perhaps so."[1]

The interviews, conducted in and around Fairbanks, Alaska, did not go without a hitch. Palin called the Russian incursion into Georgia last month "unprovoked," a view at odds with that of U.S. officials who have reviewed events leading up to the military action.[2]
PALIN SUPPORTS OBAMA POSITION ON AFGAN INCUSIONS

Gibson also pressed Palin three times to give a yes or no answer to the question of whether she believed that the United States has the right to launch crossborder attacks on Taliban and Al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan, a close ally of the United States, without the Pakistani government's permission. Earlier in the campaign McCain had ridiculed rival Barack Obama for saying that he would authorize such unilateral crossborder actions, emphasizing that cooperation with Pakistan is essential.[4]
Bush resolved this thorny and explosive issue, after months of heated internal debate, by secretly authorizing such crossborder actions this summer, according to a front page report in yesterday's New York Times. Palin, when pressed by Gibson, said no option should be taken off the table.[4]

PALIN DISCOUNTS SCIENCE, AGAIN, IN THE GLOBAL WARMING DEBATE
Later, in the second interview, Palin said she broke from McCain on climate change and oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. McCain has said humans have caused climate change and the federal government shouldn't permit drilling in the federally protected wildlife reserve.[1]
PALIN FLIP FLOPS IN CONFUSION ON GLOBAL WARMING
Palin, however, said: "I believe that man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming, climate change. ... Regardless though of the reason for climate change, whether it's entirely, wholly caused by man's activities or is part of the cyclical nature of our planet — the warming and the cooling trends — regardless of that, John McCain and I agree that we gotta do something about it."[1]
The Alaska governor also reversed her stand on the cause of climate change, telling ABC News that she believes "man's activities certainly can be contributing to the issue of global warming." Less than a year ago, she said the opposite.[2]
PALIN CONTRADICT MCCAIN POLICY. WHO WILL RUN THE WHITE HOUSE?
On ANWR, she said: "We'll agree to disagree but I'm gonna keep pushing that and I think eventually we're all gonna come together on that one." [1]

Despite a stump speech that portrays herself and McCain as agents for change in Washington, Palin echoed familiar themes of the Bush administration, championing democracy as the antidote to terrorism and referring to Islamic extremism as "evil."[4]


-
[1]
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g-mjfuE-Dz5hpM2uDBVt3Kw6le4AD935372OB
[2]
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-palin12-2008sep12,0,3693136.story
[3]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/12/MNSA12SBUQ.DTL
[4]
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/09/12/palin_says_she_is_ready_to_assume_presidency/
[5]
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2008/09/11/palin-the-rock-star-heads-home-to-alaska/
[trb]
Comments of terry Bankert to include cap headlines

Sphere: Related Content

2008

2008 the year of “Lets vote for a President/or Vice President that looks like me?” 2008 has a Presidential campaign, campaigning to an electorate that feels life is too complicated the libraries are too full , lets forget about books. Except that one with politically selected chapters , written and rewritten over a thousand years by ancient scribes based on politics that long ago evaporated into the sand, a book of all answers re taught to us once a week by an institutional bureaucracy who’s goal is to empty our heads of independent thought and cash from our wallets. Sign me up. Both campaigns and most of the pundits are wrong, so far.2008 is about the future for our children, this country and planet. But then who asked me.

Sphere: Related Content

Obama on Industrial policy.

OBAMA WILL HELP BUSINESS RE TOOL THE AUTO INDUSTRY, JOBS FOR YOU!
***** GOOD MORNING FLINT! 9/10/09 By Terry Bankert http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/ Above Longer article with citations, short summery below at http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=35761
* * * * *
REFLECTION:It is clear that Obama not McCain has the focus and ability to use the Government to assist the Automobile industry to retool itself and provide jobs for you and your family. We in Flint are no stranger to the cycles of bust and boom in the auto industry. We stand ready for change. "We are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other's success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers."
— Barack Obama, New York, NY, September 17, 2007[6]
* * * * *
A FACE BOOK FRIEND ASKED Q:I am interested in knowing if Obama gave any specifics in how he would help the auto industry? I grew up in a family of auto workers and this decline has affected everyone in my family. Did he say how he would accomplish this or just that he would?
* * * * * What follows is that research, leaving it as reported or in his words....

Flint, home to a number of General Motors plants, is no stranger to a depressed economy. Manufacturing jobs have been leaving for decades.[5]

In Flint, Obama said that he -- not McCain -- has consistently advocated changes in tax policy, education, the war in Iraq and the U.S. auto industry that will create jobs and help average families who are struggling.[1]

"I believe that America's free market has been the engine of America's great progress. It's created a prosperity that is the envy of the world. It's led to a standard of living unmatched in history. And it has provided great rewards to the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon for science, and technology, and discovery…We are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other's success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers."
— Barack Obama, New York, NY, September 17, 2007[6]

In Flint, Mich., Obama charged that McCain will continue Bush's economic policies and make it harder for middle-class families to get by. [3]

Obama told the crowd of 250 in Flint that he, not McCain, would revitalize the U.S. auto industry with billions of dollars to develop electric and alternative fuel vehicles that will create new jobs.[1]

During Obama's previous visit, he warned that the automotive industry and Flint must brace for dramatic changes to survive.[2]

This time, with General Motors hybrid SUVs in the background, Obama promised to help the auto industry retool and support technology for plug-in hybrids.[2]

Speaking later in Farmington Hills, Obama said Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm had the right idea in trying to retool Michigan as a center for the high-tech auto industry of the future. [2]

Barrack Obama says Governor Jennifer Granholm has the right idea in seeking to build an economy based on the high-tech transportation of the future. [4]

Obama believes that trade with foreign nations should strengthen the American economy and create more American jobs. He will stand firm against agreements that undermine our economic security.
Fight for Fair Trade: Obama will fight for a trade policy that opens up foreign markets to support good American jobs. He will use trade agreements to spread good labor and environmental standards around the world and stand firm against agreements like the Central American Free Trade Agreement that fail to live up to those important benchmarks. Obama will also pressure the World Trade Organization to enforce trade agreements and stop countries from continuing unfair government subsidies to foreign exporters and nontariff barriers on U.S. exports. [6]

Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement: Obama believes that NAFTA and its potential were oversold to the American people. Obama will work with the leaders of Canada and Mexico to fix NAFTA so that it works for American workers. [6]


Reward Companies that Support American Workers: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 with Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) to reward companies that create good jobs with good benefits for American workers. The legislation would provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America if it has ever been in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military. [6]

Double Funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership: The Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) works with manufacturers across the country to improve efficiency, implement new technology and strengthen company growth. This highly-successful program has engaged in more than 350,000 projects across the country and in 2006 alone, helped create and protect over 50,000 jobs. But despite this success, funding for MEP has been slashed by the Bush administration. Barack Obama will double funding for the MEP so its training centers can continue to bolster the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers. [6]

Invest in the Sciences: Barack Obama supports doubling federal funding for basic research and changing the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces science and technology. This will foster home-grown innovation, help ensure the competitiveness of US technology-based businesses, and ensure that 21st century jobs can and will grow in America. [6]
Make the Research and Development Tax Credit Permanent: Barack Obama wants investments in a skilled research and development workforce and technology infrastructure to be supported here in America so that American workers and communities will benefit. Obama wants to make the Research and Development tax credit permanent so that firms can rely on it when making decisions to invest in domestic R&D over multi-year timeframes. [6]

American Jobs: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military. [6]

Posted here 9/10/08
by Terry Bankert http://attorneybankert.com/
91479/1784
- - -TODAYS SOURCES- - -
[1]
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/NEWS15/809090358&imw=Y

[2]
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/09/during_campaign_stop_in_flint.html

[3]
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-08-obama-mccain_N.htm

[4]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-obama-farmingtonh,0,2774588.story

[5]
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5isOFwdbq0tsqatW6vJpkDRTI1gMgD932OQ5G2

[6]
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/
* * * * *
SUPPORT SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!- ITS UN-AMERICAN NOT TO!
* * * * *
Good Morning Flint is information to allow you to make more informed public policy/candidate decisions. Motto: If you want to be seen, show up and stand up. If you want to be heard stand up and speak, or write a blog, do not wait to follow, (become a policy army of one) , JUST LEAD! [trb]
* * * *

Sphere: Related Content

Obama on policy

Presidential candidate Barrack Obama promises at Flint appearance to help auto industry refashion itself [8]

*****
GOOD MORNING FLINT!
9/9/09 By Terry Bankert
http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
Longer article with citations
http://www.flinttalk.com/viewforum.php?f=2

* * * * * REFLECTIONS:

The next President of the United States appeared in Flint MI USA 9/08/08.The next Democratic administration is committed to re-industrialization of American and specifically re-birth of the automobile industry.What Obama demonstrated is ability to advocate positive policies for change. But he cannot help us if he does not win. To win the Palin bump must be addressed. The Democrats will defeat the republican by the strength of policy argument. Our chant to McCain/Palin should be WHERE’S THE BEEF.In Flint, Obama said" that he -- not McCain -- has consistently advocated changes in tax policy, education, the war in Iraq and the U.S. auto industry that will create jobs and help average families who are struggling.""You can't just make stuff up. You can't just reinvent yourself," he said of McCain. "The American people aren't stupid. What they're looking for is someone who has consistently called for change."Polls have shown that voters consistently rate the economy as the top issue facing the nation this election season. Obama/Biden are talking economics, health care, good alternative fuel, national security, and correcting the chaos Bush has caused our national economy and international image. McCain/Palin are talking religious conversion and 4 more years of Bush policies. Its time for a change.[trb]
* * * * *

He cannot help if he does not win.To win the Palin factor must address. Here Obama by talking economics, auto industry. McCain/Pailin will be defeated by the strenght of the democratic arguments on policy.[trb]

AMERICA TO SELECT A VP THAT COULD BECOME PRESIDENT

Eight weeks from Tuesday, Americans choose a president and a vice president. That deputy job matters. Eight times in U.S. history, vice presidents have replaced presidents who died.[6] Gerald Ford stepped up when Richard Nixon resigned. If Bill Clinton hadn't barely escaped conviction by the Senate after he was impeached by the House, Al Gore would have been the 10th veep thrust into the top job on short notice.[6]

WHO THEN ARE THESE CANDIDATES

In Flint, Obama said that he -- not McCain -- has consistently advocated changes in tax policy, education, the war in Iraq and the U.S. auto industry that will create jobs and help average families who are struggling.[6]

"You can't just make stuff up. You can't just reinvent yourself," he said of McCain. "The American people aren't stupid. What they're looking for is someone who has consistently called for change."[6]

Polls have shown that voters consistently rate the economy as the top issue facing the nation this election season.[6]

Obama noted in Flint that the national unemployment rate soared to 6.1 percent last month, the highest jobless mark in five years, even as McCain pronounced the nation's economy fundamentally sound. He added that Michigan's rate is at 8.5 percent and unemployment in Flint is over 12 percent. [7]

"If John McCain thinks the economy is fundamentally sound, he needs to come to Flint," Obama said at a gathering of about 300 at Mott Community College. [7]

"You don't have to tell people in Michigan the economy is not in good shape. But you do need to tell John McCain." [7]

Obama touched on Flint's high unemployment and housing crisis, all the while criticizing McCain's recent claims that the Republican ticket is for change."Government can't be for change when you brag about supporting George Bush," said Obama.[8]

The latest statewide polls have shown Obama leading in Michigan and Genesee County by a small percentage, with 23 percent of voters in the area still undecided and Obama underperforming amongst union workers.[8]

THERE IS NOT JUST ONE AMERICA, THERE IS NOT ONE CORRECT POINT OF VIEW

Palin, with her meat loaf and rifles, reminds us that there are two hopelessly incompatible Americas[1]

McCain through palin is exploiting our division.

With the most recent decision which could impact our great nation; John McCain has once again demonstrated his poor judgment, lack of concern for the American people and his contempt for women's issues. By secretly selecting a running mate whom he had only met once, who was not fully vetted, and who lacks the years of experience governing, which was an issue in his campaign, shows it was designed to appease the evangelical base of the Republican party and to attract disaffected Hillary Clinton women voters.[5]


SOME HAVE A RIGHT TO MAKE PALIN THEIR POSTER GIRL

A Photo shopped picture of Sarah Palin has been doing the rounds for the past few days; it shows her in a stars and stripes bikini toting a rifle - patriotism, hunting and cheesecake all combined in one image.[1]

Two minutes of Googling reveals that the rifle has been identified by gun nuts in Republican chatrooms as a Crossman pump pellet gun. Soft porn for rednecks. Expect to see it pinned to the wall in every gas station in Texas and tacked to the dashboard of every long-haul truck. But this cartoon-like depiction of her smothers what we need to understand about why Palin appeals to American voters and why American elections have been so deadlocked for the past decade, as if there were two Americas, doomed to lived on the same landmass under the same government, like hopelessly incompatible spouses.[1]

PALIN DOES HAVE HER CRITICS

While most praise her bold, tough approach, they also point out her lack of follow-through and seeming disinterest in the details of governing, and her inability to work with those who disagree, the Los Angeles Times reports. [2]

Others note that Palin's governing style is to stifle dissent and criticism rather than hear all sides of an issue[2]

Democrats Barrack Obama and Joe Biden went after rising GOP star Sarah Palin Monday, casting the vice presidential nominee as a flip-flopper with "extreme" views.[3]

In fact, Palin at first supported the bridge, numerous records show. As recently as July, she told reporters she pulled her support only after the bridge became a symbol of pork-barrel spending and she saw "the writing on the wall," a video Monday showed.[3]

Earlier, Biden ramped up his rhetoric against Palin, saying the Alaska governor would soon have to defend her "fairly extreme" positions.

Asked to elaborate, aides to Biden later cited Palin's past statements expressing doubt that manmade pollution contributed to global warming as well as her opposition to stem-cell research and abortion, even in cases of rape.[3]

The Democratic duo got an assist from former primary rival Hillary Clinton, who stumped through Florida for Obama.[3]

Clinton argued that returning Republicans to the White House "is like asking the iceberg to save the Titanic." With News Wire Services[3]

BUT WHO IS OR WHAT IS PALIN?

Dan Hardy, a 60-year-old business owner from West Bloomfield, thinks Palin's appeal is fleeting. Once she submits to interviews, he said, people will realize "how shallow she is." [7]

PALIN HAS CHANGED THE POLITICAL PICTURE, WHAT WILL IT DO TO THE DEBATE.

Governing a state with fewer people than San Francisco, and just two years ago a small-town mayor, Palin has already sucked the air from both parties' nominees and has scrambled the debate between feminists and cultural conservatives.[3]

But Palin owes Americans much more opportunity to scrutinize her—and many more answers to questions: How did a mayor who secured congressional earmarks for her community convert to McCain's belief that earmarking is irresponsible? What positions does she hold on Iraq, Afghanistan, national security and the U.S.-led war against global terrorism? What are her thoughts on economic policy—and do they square with her record as governor? [6]These aren't trick questions. And we're not here to shill for "those reporters and commentators" Palin mocked in her speech to the Republican National Convention. On a personal level, sure, she has a right to be miffed: The disdain of PBS' Gwen Ifill and some other TV journalists after Palin's speech was visible to millions. But the issue here isn't anybody's personal peeve. It's about giving all Americans time to absorb and approve, or disapprove, of a candidate's record in office and her stance on key issues.[6]

SO..WE ARE MORE THAN ONE AMERICA

It's true. One America is the envy of the world-filled with intellectual and artistic achievement, culture, and filled with thoughtful, intelligent people. The other US loves guns, believes God controls everything, and have little or no culture. (There is also a third America, which is the poor black/Latino America that is so disenfranchised it doesn't, or can't, vote.)[freemtspeech comment at 1]

WE SAY WE RESPECT PLURALISM...BUT WE REALLY DO NOT,.ITS OUR WAY OR THE HIGHWAY

A new novel, American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, published in the US this week, tells a fictionalised and thinly veiled story of Laura Bush, from small-town girl in the 1950s midwest to school librarian to Republican bride to President's wife. What you learn from the novel is that, like it or not, the American heartland is not so much a political ideology but an actual place with people living in it. Small-town Americans have values and a lot of those values are good ones: neighbourliness, family life, a knowledge of the land and what grows in it. The other America they see on TV seems without ethics - crime, violence, drug addiction, pornography and prostitution - and they don't want any part of it.[1]

ULTRA RELIGIOUS NON HISPANIC WHITE REPUBLICANS OR FOR SHORT WHITEBRED REPUBLICANS

So clear is the divide between big-city and small-town America that one American friend said to me: "These whitebread Republicans are like children - someone has to tell them what to do and what to think, they're incapable of independent ideas." [1]

ULTRA RELIGIOUS RIGHT

All countries have different socio economic groups. I do not know how widespread the ultra religious right is despite that fact the Republicans courted and won them.

A SMALL FANATICAL SECT USED BY BIG MONEY TO DOMINATE AMERICA

I suspect they are really a small subset but a vocal one and one that has put itself on school and library boards, is active in state and local government and in the US Congress. As an American who was raised in NYC area and has lived in most of the regions, I think most people are moderately conservative, but not radical.[comment elsafromlndy at 1]

REPUBLICAN PARTY ..JUST A MOUTH PIECE FOR A RELIGIOUS SECT

I think the Republican party has become the mouthpiece of the religious right so this small group has amassed an inordinate amount of power. I always think Washington is more ultra conservative than my conservative midwest neighbors and friends.[comment elsafromlndy at 1]

JUST WHERE IS THE FREE SPEECH WE SAY IS SO IMPORTANT TO US

Because the Republican party is controlled by this faction, the US has been deprived of a responsible sober conservative voice. It is a pity because I feel the US is being destroyed by the lack of civil discourse due to the right wing's control of the Republican party.[comment elsafromlndy at 1]

LIBERALS

The conviction by the left that the right is stupid is one of the defining and least attractive characteristics of contemporary politics. Assuming that anyone who disagrees with you is too dim to get your point is not itself a particularly brainy way to win others over to the essential correctness of your views. But it is true that to small-town Republicans the world is not a complicated place, because they have seen so little of it. [1]

LIBERALS ARE AS FULL OF THEMSELVES AS THE ULTRA CONSERVATIVES ARE OF THEIR NARROW INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE...LETS BROADEN THE DISCUSSION

Liberals are the overly touchy-feely group that want to help everyone as the right wingers like to derisively point out, we do not discriminate based on IQ. Personally I do not think the right are a bunch of dimwits. I think the right seems like the party of the angry and fearful who like to define a clear enemy so they can unite behind a clearer goal. Standard Machiavellian strategy 101, and this strategy is getting old.[comment of photoelastic at 1]

THE HARD WORKING CONTRIBUTORS VS THE LAZY CONSUMERS

I asked a sophisticated and well-travelled Republican why he voted the way he did. He described growing up "dirt poor" in a small town in Northern California where joining the military was your sole ticket out; where the people in his family who depended on welfare stayed where they were and the ones who worked their fingers to the bone managed to make a better life for themselves. For him, joining the army led directly to an education. In fact, it led all the way to Princeton. But how, I asked him, baffled, could someone as intelligent as he is believe that George W Bush was anything but a cretin? [1]

WE CANNOT BREAK THIS COALITION BY CALLING THEM STUPID

Because, he explained, people in small towns don't like or trust intellectuals, particularly ones who appear to be sneering at them for their supposed stupidity. They admire a plain-speaking man; it's what they know and what they are used to. [1]

They always assumed Bush was a regular guy who could keep his thoughts concise. [1]

WHY NOT PICK ONE THING YOU BELIEVE IN AND STICK WITH IT?

I grew up in a state that has since become about as Red as any. There are plenty of people of conscience and intellect there. What distinguishes those states is a fairly slight preponderance of people who feel free to invent the world the way they want it to be -- or more likely, to embrace the world handed to them by some shamanistic personality -- and to simply disregard all contrary evidence. Sadly, they have been holding the balance of power on which the fate of the whole planet may depend. If that does not change this year, I'd start saying my prayers, wherever I lived.
[comments of druid at 1]

OUR MULTIPLE AMERICAS ONLY COLLIDE DURING ELECTIONS

So America is stuck. Two countries, mutually irreconcilable, who never meet each other and don't want to, either. Who distrust each other at best, despise each other at worst. And who have absolutely no understanding of the other. [1]

Reading Sittenfeld's thinly disguised account of Laura Bush and her upbringing, it was possible to see that the modest lives of her midwestern characters both had dignity and made sense. But I only have to meet them in a novel, which I can snap shut as soon as I've finished it. Were I an East Coast Democrat, which is the only kind of American I can ever imagine being, I would have no objection to small-town Republicans - to their church-going and their hunting rifles and their flag-decked porches and their meatloaf with gravy, and their lemon chiffon cake. I could admire their intimacy with the wide prairie and the vast sky. [1]

MCCAIN HOPED TO SELL HIS VP WITHOUT QUESTIONING TO SMALL TOWN AMERICA

McCain's decision to select a one-term governor in office less than two years, from one of the smallest states in the nation; a two-term mayor of a town with less than 6,500 residents; with no foreign policy experience; who has ties with the Alaskan Independence Party (who advocates secession from the United States); a hockey mom who opposes woman's right to choose; supports drilling for oil in ANWR; and is currently under investigation for abuse of power and lying; is a pathetic example of what poor judgment John McCain actually has.[5]

CAN SMALL TOWN VALUES RUN A COUNTRY...YES THEY CAN AND BUSH IS THE RESULT..BUT THEY GIVE THEM SELVES OVER TO BIG MONEY, BIG OIL AND BIG MILITARY.

The problem is that when they're running the whole country, they want to take away abortion rights, drill for oil in Alaska (a Palin policy), ignore climate change, and start unwinnable wars. With the small-town Republican mindset in charge, the rest of America and the rest of the world is forced to live by small-town values, which aren't much help when you're trying to decide what, if anything, can be done about Iranian nuclear ambitions or more humbly, workplace date rape. [1]

ONE MANS SAINT IS ANOTHER MANS BUMPKIN, THIS DOES NOT HELP THE DEBATE

Growing up dirt poor and living in a small town is no excuse for thinking like a bumpkin, I come from a working class family and live in small town I have no delusions about Jesuss, the end of the world or the age of it, guns, sex-ed or contraception.[comment karmapolice1 at 1]

STOP TAKING THE BIBLE SO SERIOUSLY, ITS OVER A THOUSAND YEARS OLD

How does this nonsense stop? Perhaps it can be as simple as getting people to stop taking the bible so seriously. Easier said than done, but it’s a cause worth fighting for. The way things are going with the Dems sucking up to Religion now it looks abysmal.[comment karmapolice1 at 1]

LIBERAL MUST SIMPLIFY POSITIONS FOCUS IDENTIFY A CLEAR ENEMY BUILD A BROADER COALITION AND STICK TOGETHER

This is, I'm afraid, hopelessly simplistic and uninformed. America is infinitely more complex than this. One of the reasons the Republicans keep winning is that the Democrats keep abandoning the Left in a hopeless attempt to win over this imaginary and homogeneous heartland.[comment attw at 1]

AFTER THIS ELECTION WILL AMERICA BE MORE DIVIDED?

Can America survive another photo-finish election which the Republicans win, or will it be out and out war between the red and the blue states? Perhaps only small-town America itself can prevent it, such as the dental nurse who asked how the mother of five kids, one with Down's syndrome, could hold down a full-time job, one step from running the United States[1]

Today, some Democratic women question whether Palin is putting career ahead of family.[3]
"You have women in particular looking at this situation with her daughter and saying, 'How could you put her through this, you knew she was pregnant, you accept this nomination and you know what's coming for her,' " said Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics.[3]

The Obama campaign will have to limit itself strictly to issues, said Maria Elena Durazo, a Los Angeles labor leader working with the Obama campaign. "If anybody says she can't do her job because she has a 6-month-old child, I would say that's sexist," Durazo said. "What I think voters want to hear about is what have you done every single day to help the cause of women. ... I don't think there is any other credible way of dealing with her."[3]

Sarah Palin, bad mom. That might finish her.[1]

Posted here 9/7/08 by Terry Bankert
http://attorneybankert.com/

-
[1]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/sarahpalin.johnmccain

[2]
http://www.newser.com/story/36881/palin-swings-hard-lacks-follow-through.html

[3]
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/03/MNIU12MMIH.DTL

[4]
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/09/08/2008-09-08_barack_obama_joe_biden_bite_back_at_sara-2.html

[5]
http://www.newsleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/OPINION03/809090313

[6]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0909edit1sep09,0,3791866.story

[7]
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080909/NEWS15/809090358

[8]
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/


[TRB]
Comments of Terry Bankert to include unattributed cap headlines
http://attorneybankert.com/


SEE ALSO
http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/index.ssf/2008/09/presidential_candidate_barack_1.html

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TIME TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF WITH THE BIBLE THUMPERS

BIBLE THUMPERS REJUVENATE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY,CAN WE TAKE 4 MORE YEARS OF BUSH POLICIES AND THUMPER LOVE?
***** GOOD MORNING FLINT! 9/8/09 By Terry Bankert http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/ Longer article with citations or http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=35564http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=35647#35647
* * * * * REFLECTIONS:
Bible thumpers are fair game in this election. They put themselves forward politically. They are an identifiable constituency that intends to elect a president that will promote their position on national issues. That is their right. It is our right to defeat them. We should take the gloves off. They are not involved in a political debate. They are in a war to impose their view of the world on us. Palin ,a self described agent of GOD, intends to make her theological conservatism your new law when she is elected. What are you going to do today to defend Democratic values and our countries founding principals of the Separation of Church and State. Take one action today to support the Obama/Biden ticket.
* * * * *
As the remarkable two-week stretch of back-to-back presidential nomination conventions ends, a weekend USA Today/Gallup Poll finds that the John McCain-Sarah Palin ticket has more than matched the Barack Obama-Joe Biden ticket's convention bounce of last week with a "rebound" bounce, and in the immediate aftermath of the GOP convention McCain and Palin now have a slight edge over their opponents.[1]
HIGHLY RELIGIOUS WHITE VOTERS, BIBLE THUMPERS ,ARE ON A MISSION FROM AND INTEND TO WIN A WAR FOR THEIR GUY TO IMPOSE THEIR VERSION OF A BOOK ON YOU.
John McCain has led Barack Obama all summer among highly religious white voters and continues to do so in the first three days of September, with no sign of change coincident with the selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate[1]

THE RACE WAS DEAD EVEN BEFORE THE CONVENTIONS
The presidential race was dead even at 45% to 45% among registered voters in Gallup tracking conducted prior to the Democratic convention. Then, by the USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted in the first few days after the Democratic convention (and also after McCain had made his announcement of Sarah Palin as his running mate), Obama had moved ahead by a 47% to 43% margin. (In Gallup Poll Daily tracking extending into the beginning of last week, Obama reached a point where he had 50% of the vote and an eight percentage point lead.) Obama's lead has now disappeared totally, and McCain sits on a 4-point advantage among registered voters in the Friday through Sunday poll. That's the largest advantage for McCain in either USA Today/Gallup Polls or Gallup Poll Daily tracking since May.[1]
MCCAIN LOSES ON THE SECULAR ISSUES BUT IS AHEAD WITH THE HELP OF SINGLE ISSUE , PROLIFE, TAKE NO PRISONERS, ACCEPT NO COMPROMISE NARROWLY FOCUSED THUMPERS.
Obama ridiculed McCain's promise of change and hammered the Arizona senator on the limping US economy, saying the Republican represented no change from Bush.[4]
"John McCain, who is a good man and has a compelling biography, has embraced and adopted the George Bush economic platform," Obama said on ABC television.[4]

GODS AGENT ON EARTH, PALIN, INTENDS TO MAKE HER THEOLOGICAL CONSERVATISM YOUR NEW LAWS.
The convention and/or McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate not only had the effect of moving the horse-race needle in McCain's direction, but also increased several measures of enthusiasm for the GOP.[1]
EVEN AFTER THE GLASS CEILING IS BROKEN, SHE IS DEFENDED BY THE GENTLEMENS CODE.( Not to Criticize a woman) HER CORE CONSTITUENCY IS FAIR GAME.
The Democrats have had a hard time targeting Palin, who is popular among conservatives and has garnered public sympathy in the wake of the media's response to news that her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant and planned to keep the baby.[4]


THE REPUBLICANS ARE NOW AS ENTHUSIASTIC AS A TENT FULL OF COUNTRY EVANGELICALS, Hightly Motivated White Non-Hispanics (hwwnhv), THUMPING THEIR WAY BACK TO THE WHITE HOUSE FOR ANOTHER 16YEARS(8 McCain, 8 Palin)
There has been a very substantial jump in the percentage of Republicans saying they are more enthusiastic about voting in this election, from 42% a week ago (after the Democratic convention, but before the Republican convention) to 60% today. Democrats still retain a slight lead on this measure, having increased their enthusiasm slightly this last week as well. But the enthusiasm gap, which has been so much a part of the story of the presidential election so far this year, has dwindled from 19 points in the Democrats' favor a week ago to only seven points today.[1]
WHO ARE THE THUMPERS,(hmwnh)
About 33% of non-Hispanic white registered voters are weekly church attenders, and the data make it clear that this group forms one of Republican McCain's key constituencies.[2]
The more than 2-to-1 support levels for McCain among this group have been remarkably consistent all summer. Much attention was paid to the possibility that the choice of Palin would help boost McCain's support even further among this group. That may happen in the days to come, but interviewing conducted during the first three days of the Republican National Convention -- Monday through Wednesday -- suggests little change in support patterns among highly religious white voters compared to previous weeks. These religious voters remain about as supportive of McCain as they have been. (These data were mostly collected before Pain's speech on Wednesday night; any impact from that speech will not be apparent for several days.)[2]
A BREECH IN THE WALL TO BE EXPLOITED
McCain also has the support of the smaller group of about 19% of white registered voters who attend church nearly weekly or monthly, but by a somewhat smaller margin. There has been a little more variation in support levels among this group as the summer has progressed, including a slight shift toward Obama in the Sept. 1-3 data.[2]
DEM ID/GOTV: THOSE WHO ARE HOME ON SUNDAY

Finally, there is a distinctly different pattern of candidate support evident among white voters who report seldom or never attending church[2]

This large group -- about 47% of the white registered voter population -- skews toward Obama by a 12-point margin in the last week of August and in the first three days of September. Again, there has been little substantive change in these voter support patterns all summer.[2]

BEFORE THE PAIN BOUNCE HERE IS WHAT THE NUMBERS SAID
Overall, in the first three days of September, McCain is winning over Obama among all non-Hispanic white registered voters by a 49% to 41% margin. This lead is based on the fact that his margin among the slightly more than half of all whites who attend church at least monthly is more than enough to compensate for his deficit among those who seldom or never attend church.[2]
From a larger perspective, Obama has an overall lead of 7 points over McCain for Sept. 1-3. The Democratic nominee's support among nonwhites (including blacks, Hispanics, and Asians) is so strong that when averaged in with white voters, he comes out on top.[2]
McCain has seen no immediate increase in support among highly religious white voters after his selection of Pain as his vice-presidential running mate. McCain has been ahead of Obama by better than a 2-to-1 margin among this group all summer, and that margin continues more or less unchanged in the first three days of September through Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Obama continues to dominate McCain among white voters who seldom or never attend church.[2]
THE THUMPER BOUNCE HAS PUT MCCAIN AHEAD. TOO EARLY TO TELL IF THIS IS PERMANENT OR TEMPORARY
Also, the selection of Pain may serve the function of manifesting a change in enthusiasm and turnout propensity among various subgroups of voters. That is, highly religious white voters could now become more motivated than they have been in their support for the GOP ticket, and could therefore increase McCain's overall total vote count on Election Day. By the same token, the selection of Pain may generate increased enthusiasm among Obama's less religious supporters who likely disagree with her conservative views on social issues. All of this will be sorted out as Gallup continues to analyze data over the next several days.[2]
The new poll, taken Friday though Sunday, shows McCain leading Obama by 54 percent to 44 percent among people most likely to vote and was conducted among 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points for both samples, the newspaper said. [3]

News that the Gallup daily tracking poll shows John McCain with a 3-point lead over Barack Obama nationally may make Obama supporters panic. Relax, folks. This is almost entirely meaningless at this point for two primary reasons:First, because it’s a national poll and national polls just don’t matter much. Our elections are decided by the electoral college, not by national referendum. It is the state-by-state polls that matter as an indicator of what will happen on election day.[5]
Second, because even if national polls did matter, this is a normal post-convention bounce that won’t last. Obama got his bounce last week, when the same Gallup tracking poll showed him with a 7-point lead. That should tell you how shallow such a swing is and why it is entirely transient.[5]


Obama's running mate Senator Joseph Biden called McCain's commitment to change "malarkey."[4]
"Tell me one single thing they're going to do on the economy, foreign policy, taxes, that is going to be change," Biden said on NBC.[4]


-
[1]
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110107/Republicans-Enthusiasm-Jumps-After-Convention.aspx

[2]
http://www.gallup.com/poll/110053/Religion-Remains-Major-Dividing-Factor-Among-White-Voters.aspx

[3]
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHBx.Y8FBBoc&refer=home

[4]
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGnT3eaGxBfZmomXn79E2tdvisoA

[5]
http://www.michiganmessenger.com/3950/mccain-gets-bounce-no-one-should-panic-or-party

Posted here 9/6/08 by Terry Bankert http://attorneybankert.com/ 90884/17779

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Palin;two views

From my email, you know the forwarded stuff that the sender tries to make it look spontaneous but its really orchestrate strategy to sway you opinion.
http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/2008/09/pailntwo-views.html

Recently I received two. I ask here what if the following is true.

A pro Palin family member sent me #1.[1]

We just got this forward from our former pastor from MS...a friend sent it to him. And I'm sending it on to you folks.
.................................
Hi,
I have a good friend from Boulder who now lives in Wasilla, AK (sound familiar?). Jeff was in a Tuesday morning Bible study here in the Boulder area. He was formally a bull rider and now a United pilot (not connection I trust) flying out of AK. I wrote him for what he might know about the RNC’s new VP pick from Wasilla. I think you will value this information. Feel free to pass it on..[1]
......................
Good to hear from you!
Sat in front of Sara and Todd a church two weeks ago. That day we dedicated their new Baby, just the way you would have liked it. They are solid, sold out for the Lord , Bible thumpers like you and me..[1]

Cheryl and I have voted for Sara three times already. This Will be the 4th. We first met them when Cheryl and I were asked to host a table at an Interact Ministries conference (missionaries to the northern countries ie:Alaska Canada and I believe parts of Russia)..[1]

Sara and Todd sat next to us there and we got to know them a bit there. .[1]

Their children of which they are Both great parents are involved in our youth ministries. I can hardly picture Todd without him having one of his kids hanging on him or in his arms - he is a very involved and Loving father. And yet (this is comming from a 20 year Bull rider) he is one of the toughest guys I know. A four (4) time champion of the 'Iron Dog' you've heard of the Iditarod dog sled race,Wasilla to Nome, more than 1200 miles - this race follows the same trail on snow-machines average speed 100 mph! parts of it over open ocean. that's right OPEN ocean. that's why they keep the speed up..[1]

Sara: Integrity is the best word. doing the right thing when no one is looking. Has taken pay cuts instead of the offered raises. Has Cleaned house in the state, you will read about that. Believes in Pro life, In Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, Thinks we should give equal time to creationism in public schools. is skeptical about global warming, and know we can and should drill in ANWAR without environmental hazards..[1]

I have not been encouraged about John McCain until now. He has proven to have very sound judgement..[1]

Your friend J
.........................
Subject: Wasilla in the news
Hi
How about your former mayor? Know her? Like her? Believe in her leadership?
The second one was from Jack Minore a political professional democrat. He feigned a casual manner when he sent this.#2 [2]

I often take these kind of things "with a grain of salt" and (unless they're jokes) don't usually pass them on. This one has a ring of truth, at least, since it is signed and the individual who originally wrote it is identified and has included an e-mail address. [2]

That it was published -- albeit in a less than well-known paper -- seems to add to its credibility. And, many of the items included in this "letter" have been reported and (apparently) confirmed by the mainstream press. [2]

Finally: informed local citizens often have insights that the press may overlook -- or simply not possess. The writer, Anne Kilkenny, seems to have been involved with Palin and her public life (to some minimal extent, her private life, too -- as a neighbor and fellow citizen of a small town) for many years so may possess those insights -- and certainly seems to. [2]

Finally: I confess that Palin "scares me". She has grabbed the spotlight and, seemingly, the public heartstrings. As a Democrat, I certainly do no want to see McCain elected -- and Palin being a heartbeat away from the presidency is - for me, at least - VERY ALARMING! Add to that the fact recently put forward that a man of 73 has only a 1 in 3 chance of living to the age of 80 -- the end of two presidential terms. [2]

Take it for what it's worth, but please take the time to read this.
Jack Minore
http://www.blogger.com/mc/compose?to=jacksonmin@aol.com
About Sarah Palin from a resident of Wasilla, AK whohas known her since 1992by Anne KilkennyThe Washington Independent - August 31, 2008http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate<http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate&g t;

A note to all by Anne KilkennyDear friends,[2]

So many people have asked me about what I know aboutSarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to writesomething up . . .[2]

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

You have my permission to forward this to yourfriends/email contacts with my name and email addressattached, but please do not post it on any websites, asthere are too many kooks out there . [2]

[This was already posted on Washington Independentcomments area, with a controllable ho tmail account, andwas obviously meant by the author to be read.][2]

Thanks,Anne==========

ABOUT SARAH PALINI am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarahsince 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothingspecial to say we are on a first-name basis. Ourchildren have attended the same schools. Her father wasmy child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on afirst name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. Iattended more City Council meetings during heradministration than about 99% of the residents of thecity.[2]

She is enormously popular; in every way she's like themost popular girl in middle school. Even men who thinkshe is a poor choice and won't vote for her can't quitsmiling when talking about her because she is a 'babe'.[2]

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she cankeep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy asecret from her children and parents for seven months.[2]

She is 'pro-life'. She recently gave birth to a Down'ssyndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here;Trig is her baby.[2]She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly workedout at the gym.[2]

Sh e is savvy. She doesn't take positions; she just'puts things out there' and if they prove to bepopular, then she takes credit.[2]

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BPand is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin's kindof job is highly sought-after because of the scheduleand high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he canfish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so insummer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishingtheir major source of income. Nor has her life-styleever been anything like that of native Alaskans.[2]

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.[2]

She's smar t.Her experience is as mayor of a city with a populationof about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years asgovernor of a state with about 670,000 residents.[2]During her mayoral administration most of the actualwork of running this small city was turned over to anadministrator. She had been pushed to hire thisadministrator by party power-brokers after she hadgotten herself into some trouble over precipitousfirings which had given rise to a recall campaign.[2]

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a 'fiscal conservative'.During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased generalgovernment expenditures by over 33% . During those same6 years the amount of taxes collected by the Cityincreased by 38%. This was during a period of lowinflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive propertytaxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxedeven food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefitedlarge corporate property owners way more than theybenefited residents.[2]

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoraladministration weren't enough to fund everything on herwish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. Sheinherited a city with zero debt, but left it withindebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Pa linencourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it theinfrastructure that she said she supported? The sewagetreatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library?No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of amulti-use sports complex which she rushed through tobuild on a piece of property that the City didn't evenhave clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrslater--to the delight of the lawyers involved! Thesports complex itself is a nice addition to thecommunity but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supportedbonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have beendone in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.[2]

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled andher office redecorated more than once.[2]These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very smallcity.[2]

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created abudget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest thissurplus in technology that will make us energyindependent and increase efficiency, as Governor sheproposed distribution of this surplus to everyindividual in the state.[2]

In this time of record state revenues and budgetsurpluses, she recommended that the state bo rrow/bondfor road projects, even while she proposed distributionof surplus state revenues: spend today's surplus,borrow for needs.[2]

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or opento outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she foughtideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideasweren't evaluated on their merits, but on the basis ofwho proposed them.[2]

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire ourhighly respected City Librarian because the Librarianrefused to consider removing from the library somebooks that Sarah wanted removed. City residents ralliedto the defense of the City Librarian and againstPalin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palinbacked down and withdrew her termination letter. Peoplewho fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on herenemies list to this day.[2]

Sarah complained about the 'old boy's club' when shefirst ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? Anew set of 'old boys'. Palin fired most of theexperienced staff she inherited. At the City and asGovernor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced,obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent onher for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercelyloyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power tofurther her personal agenda, as she has acknowledgedhappened in the case of pressuring the State's top cop(see below).[2]

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's Police Chief because he'intimidated' her, she told the press. As Governor, herrecent firing of Alaska's top cop has the ring offamiliarity about it. He served at her pleasure and shehad every legal right to fire him, but it's prettyclear that an important factor in her decision to firehim was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuseof power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozencontacts were made between her staff and family to theperson that she later fired, pressuring him to fire herex-brother-in- law. She tried to replace the man shefired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded forsexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, shewithdrew her support.[2]

She has bitten the hand of every person who extendedtheirs to her in help. The City Council person whopersonally escorted her around town introducing her tovoters when she first ran for Wasilla City Councilbecame one of her first targets when she was laterelected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal CityAdministrator; even people who didn't like the guy werestunned by this ruthlessness.[2]

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people fromsaying anything publicly about her.[2]

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out politicalplums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil andGas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not inJuneau and one of the best paid. She had no backgroundin oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring thisgreat job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complainingin the press about the high salary. I was told that shehated that job: the commute, the structured hours, thework. Sarah became aware that a member of thisCommission (who was also the State Chair of theRepublican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on thejob. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautionedher could be political suicide, Sarah solved all herproblems in one fell swoop: got out of the job shehated and garnered gobs of media attention as thepatron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter againstthe 'old boys' club' when she dramatically quit,exposing this man's ethics violations (for which he wasfined).[2]

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyonefor pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she hascastigated his pork-barrel politics and publiclyhumiliated him. She only opposed the 'bridge tonowhere' after it became clear that it would be unwisenot to.[2]

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction andbudget guidelines, then made a big grandstand displayof line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork.Public outcry and further legislative action restoredmost of these projects--which had been vetoed simplybecause she was not aware of their importance-- butwith the unobservant she had gained a reputation as'anti-pork'.[2]

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. TheState party leaders hate her because she has bit themin the back and humiliated them. Other members of theparty object to her self-description as a fiscalconservative.[2]

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high schoolwith Sarah. They call her 'Sarah Barracuda' because ofher unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness.Before she became so powerful, very ugly storiescirculated around town about shenanigans she pulled tobe made point guard on the high school basketball team.When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected memberof the c ommunity and experienced manager, ran forMayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.[2]

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and puttogether of package of legislation known as 'AGIA' thatforced the oil companies to march to the beat of herdrum.[2]Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the ArcticNational Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if theloss of sea ice is linked to global warming. Shecampaigned 'as a private citizen' against a stateinitiative that would have either a) protected salmonstreams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in thecourts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State's lawsuit againstthe Dept. of the Interior's decision to list polarbears as threatened species.[2]

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President;Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.[2]

There has to be literally millions of Americans who aremore knowledgeable and experienced than she.[2]

However, there's a lot of people who haveunderestimated her and are regretting it.[2]


CLAIM VS FACT

*'Hockey mom': true for a few years [2]

*'PTA mom': true years ago when her first-born was inelementary school, not since [2]

*'NRA supporter': absolutely true [2]

*social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUTvetoed a bill that would have denied benefits toemployees in same-sex relationships (said she did thisbecause it was unconstitutional)[2]

*pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothingas Governor to promote it.[2]

*'Pro-life': mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down'ssyndrome baby BUT declined to call a speciallegislative session on some pro-life legislation [2]

*'Experienced': Some high schools have more studentsthan Wasilla has residents. Many cities have moreresidents than the state o f Alaska. No legislativeexperience other than City Council. Little hands-onsupervisory or managerial experience; needed help of acity administrator to run town of about 5,000.[2]

*political maverick: not at all [2]

*gutsy: absolutely![2]

*open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Notgood at explaining actions.[2]

*has a developed philosophy of public policy: no [2]

*'a Greenie': no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland ofbig box stores and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.[2]

*fiscal conservative: not by my definition![2]

*pro-infrastruct ure: No. Promoted a sports complex andpark in a city without a sewage treatment plant orstorm drainage system. Built streets to early 20thcentury standards.[2]

*pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses,increased tax burden on residents [2]

*pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansionof city government in Wasilla's history.[2]

*pro-labor/pro- union. No. Just because her husbandworks union doesn't make her pro-labor. I have seennothing to support any claim that she is pro-labor/pro-union.[2]

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?First, I have long believed in the importance o f beingan informed voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 yearsI put on student voting programs in the schools. If yougoogle my name (Anne Kilkenny + Alaska), you will findreferences to my participation in local government,education, and PTA/parent organizations.[2]

Secondly, I've always operated in the belief that 'Badthings happen when good people stay silent'. Few peopleknow as much as I do because few have gone to as manyCity Council meetings.[2]

Third, I am just a housewife. I don't have a job shecan bump me out of. I don't belong to any organizationthat she can hurt. But, I am no fool; she is immense lypopular here, and it is likely that this will cost mesomehow in the future: that's life.[2]

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I wasone of the 100 or so people who rallied to support theCity Librarian against Sarah's attempt at censorship.[2]

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody elsewas afraid to say anything because they were somehowvulnerable.[2]

CAVEATSI am not a statistician. I developed the numbers forthe increase in spending & taxation 2 years ago (whenPalin was running for Governor) from informationsupplied to me by the Finance Director of the City ofWasilla, and I can't recall exactly what I adjustedfor: did I adjust for inflation? for populationincreases? Right now, it is impossible for a privateperson to get any info out of City Hall--they areswamped. So I can't verify my numbers.[2]


You may have noticed that there are various numberscirculating for the population of Wasilla, ranging frommy 'about 5,000', up to 9,000. The day Palin'sselection was announced a city official told me thatthe current population is about 7,000. The official2000 census count was 5,460. I have used about 5,000because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to 2002 , and the citywas growing rapidly in the mid-90's.[2]

Anne Kilkennyannekilkenny@ hotmail.comAugust 31, 2008
Jack Minore610 Commonwealth AveFlint, MI 48503810 - 235-1490jacksonmin@aol.com

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