What happened to honesty and integrity within the Alaska Democratic Party? Where's the ethical standards of the now Obama Administration? And finally, why does the Alaska liberal blogosphere so desperately want to rip Sarah Palin's character to shreds? These are important questions that I have pondered since the presidential election of 2008. While I had my assumptions for the answers to these questions, I needed more than that- I needed concrete evidence that illustrated the link between these three groups. Recently, a reader shared a link to a You Tube video entitled "Palin, the Alaska Bloggers and 'Ethicsgate'" that I found not only astonishing, but eye awakening, so much so that I have decided to discuss what I saw with you, my readers. The report was originally put together by Naked Emperor News.com (NEN), a conservative blog that is also featured on Townhall.com. Their report was re-posted on You Tube on July 31, 2009. I will include a link at the end of this post, and I encourage all of you to view the video in its entirety. What NEN has done is show the connections between the three groups mentioned above in an attempt to destroy Sarah Palin's good name and bring her down. It is important to note that their attempts to destroy her character were fully in force as soon as she stepped onto the national stage and became the Republican Party's nominee for vice president.
You may or may not be familiar with the name Peter Rouse, but you should be. Rouse, an Alaskan, is a senior advisor to Barack Obama with an office between David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel. While being advisor to the president is a huge honor in itself, it is how Rouse got the job that is the main issue at hand. Rouse's mother grew up in AK and Rouse once served as chief of staff to former Lieutenant Governor Terry Miller. He is also good friends with fellow Alaskan State Senator Kim Elton, the individual who began the whole Troopergate investigation. This is an important link as NEN reports. NEN has uncovered audio of an interview Elton did with a reporter prior to the 2008 presidential election:
Elton: "So this has been a fascinating year watching what's been happening back East.
Reporter: So you're an Obama man, Senator Elton?
Elton: I'm a big fan.
Reporter: Are you? Really? Is that an official endorsement?
Elton: I guess we can call it that. I've not done it any place else, but I kind of weighed in with a contribution, a couple of contributions this last year, but yeah you can make it official now.
So, the same individual who started Troopergate, was a "fan" and ardent supporter of then-candidate Obama? Elton is the kind of guy who doesn't seem to be able to keep his mouth shut. NEN uncovered another audio tape in which Elton admitted to talking to Rouse a couple times a month about the election: "One of my great friends, somebody I talk to a couple times a month is Pete Rouse who is chief of staff to Barack Obama." How ironic that an advisor to Obama be in such close communication with the individual, a democrat, who started the first ethics investigation against Sarah? But for the Obama campaign, one investigation was not enough. In typical Chicago-style politics, Sarah was a threat, so the Obama campaign continued on its mission to destroy her. NEN reported that the Obama campaign contacted the union for Alaska State Troopers, which is the union Mike Wooten (Sarah's ex-brother-in-law and trooper identified in the investigation) belonged to. This communication resulted in another ethics complaint- this time by the union for Alaska State Troopers. What a domino effect of sorts, but the connections don't end there- not by a long shot.
This is where AK bloggers come into play. Remember shortly after Sarah was picked as the VP nominee, a large number of media outlets sent reporters to AK to find out more about this little-known governor? Well, their excuse was that they just wanted to learn more about Sarah and her time as governor, but many, including myself, KNEW what these reporters were really doing: They were sent to AK to dig up whatever dirt they could on Sarah. NEN found that the media gave "unquestioned credence to the Alaskan blogs." the media took it upon themselves to use various blogs as factual; therefore, they become the media's sources to all things Sarah Palin. What is important to note is that these blogs were not objective by any means; instead, these bloggers were actually organized liberal political activists and liberal radio talk show hosts according to NEN. While watching this report, one blogger can be heard saying in regard to the bloggers and their blogs that they were in the "right place at the right time." These bloggers saw destroying Sarah Palin as their ticket to fame.
Some of you may have heard of the PAC Alaskans for Truth. While this group's name implies honesty, this PAC is far from honest. This group was created as a way to, "hold Palin accountable." Many board members of this PAC are the very members who have filed ethics complaints against Sarah. The following is a list of the prominent members of this PAC and a little more about each of them: 1) Shannyn Moore- liberal blogger ("Just a Girl From Homer") who can be seen as an analyst on MSNBC, active participant of Alaskans for Truth PAC. 2) Linda Kellen Biegel- liberal blogger ("Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis"), Deputy Treasurer for Alaskans for Truth. 3) Joanne Devon- blogger ("Mudflats"), wife of the treasurer for Alaskans for Truth, 4) Camille Conte- also known as "CC," host of AK show Demo Memo, chairperson for Alaskans for Truth. These members not only became sources to media outlets, but they also held protests collected recall signatures and filed ethics complaints. (Remember the Arctic Cat complaint, well that complaint was filed by Celtic Diva herself, Linda Kellen Biegel.) While the ethics complaint filers claim to be "independent, concerned citizens," this is far from the truth as you can see. These individuals all pal around at the same day care center. Perhaps the most dramatic piece of evidence that illustrates how close these bloggers are comes in the form of a July 4, 2009, radio show featuring Biegel and "CC" that has been uncovered by NEN. During the show, several so-called "unconnected" ethics complaint filers happen to call in during the show. Pure coincidence? I think not. It is clearly evident that these callers got together and arranged this. One of the callers, "Val," is non other than Val Henning, wife of Zane Henning who has filed not just one, but two ethics complaints against Sarah. Yet, the listeners did not know this. Instead, viewers are introduced to "Val," who acts as if she is a concerned citizen, not a woman with a conflict of interest. The following is what she said on the show in regards to the filed ethics complaints: "What Palin calls frivolous, the things I've read don't seem frivolous. To me, it is a clear violation of the Ethics Act." Gee, Val I wonder how you came to that conclusion? How objective of you. It is sick how corrupt some individuals can be.
Not only did NEN find connections between the Obama campaign and the liberal bloggers, but also the connection among these two groups and AK democrats. I have already discussed the link between Rouse and Elton, but there are other lawmakers involved as well. NEN has linked the following AK democrats: 1) Mark Begich- United States Senator from AK, worked closely with Rouse on the Natural Gas Pipeline. 2) Patti Higgens- Chairperson to the AK Democratic Party. 3) Tony Knowles- democratic AK governor candidate Sarah defeated in the 2006 gubernatorial election, so-called "Alaskan Mythbuster" for the Obama campaign, good friend to Rouse. According to the NEN report, Rouse is also connected to various prominent Alaska bloggers, one of whom is Linda Kellen Biegel (Celtic Diva). The majority of these individuals not only are connected to Rouse, but to the bloggers and radio talk host mentioned above. "CC's" connection to these AK democrats is very interesting. NEN reports that, oftentimes she would not only discuss her Alaskans for Truth PAC with top AK democrats on her show, but she would use her show as a soap box for actions to take against Sarah. NEN uncovered audio from one of her shows, which aired prior to the 2008 election, in which she told an AK state politician,
"Well, she's (Sarah) thinkin' 2012, you know she's probably salivating because she's thinking to herself 'either way, I win.' If I win this election, yippy-eye-A, somehow I got to be vice president of the United States. If I lose this election, there's a possibility she'll end up being the senator of the state. Worst case scenario in her mind, she comes home and continues her cushy job of governor, but you see Governor Palin made a fatal error when she slammed the democrats along the troopergate trail. She made a fatal error when she slammed the party that basically helped her achieve most of the success she achieved in her 21 months as governor because when she does come back as governor, and when she doesn't become the senator because Mark Begich wins, she's gonna deal with the democratic majority, and I hope that you guys give her a run for her money, see because the democrats, we like to play nice, we like to do it, but you know what, that would be extremely inappropriate because she came out and she slammed you guys during the troopergate, and let's play ball, let's play ball with her, and it will be interesting to see how the democrats work with the governor when she comes home. I hope we don't play nice because that will not be appropriate."
"CC" got her wish because we all know how Sarah was treated when she came home from the campaign trail. We have seen and read the stories. Sarah was treated like an outsider by not only the Democratic Party, but the good ol' boy network of the Republican Party as well.
Not only did NEN uncover a photo of "CC" standing next to Kim Elton and another photo of her standing next to Mark Begich and his wife, but she also spoke at an AK democratic event. She is not alone. Some of the bloggers mentioned above have also been photographed with high-ranking members of the AK Democratic Party: Shannyn Moore ("Just a Girl from Homer") in a photo with Begich and his wife. Linda Kellen Biegel ("Celtic Diva") in a photo with Begich that NEN reports was taken at Begich's home. Not only has Biegel had contact with Begich, but with an individual named Jonathan, who was Obama and Begich's connection to rural AK.
Perhaps one of the most petty attacks by these ankle biters comes from blogger Shannyn Moore. Following Sarah's decision to address an Indiana Right to Life group, Moore went on MSNBC and spoke with David Schuster, in which she said in regards to Palin, "And she's choosing to go speak, basically in a pandering move to her base, an anti-choice group." We all know the harsh treatment Sarah received when she decided to go speak to this group. Although she spoke during a time that in no way affected the state legislature, she was attacked endlessly, which had nothing to do with her job as governor and everything to do with partisan politics. Sure enough, a woman by the name of Sondra Tompkins, who was a fixture at the Alaskans for Truth protest rallys, filed an ethics complaint because Sarah chose to travel to Indiana to speak to a group Tompkins called, according to NEN, a "right-wing ultra conservative group that supports her." When you don't think anymore could happen to Sarah, they throw the kitchen sink at her.
It is important to discuss what the NEN found in terms of the payoffs many of the individuals discussed above have received from the dirty work they have performed. While the payoffs may not have been financial, what they got in return has paid off big time for the following individuals: 1)Troopergate investigation starter and Peter Rouse buddy Kim Elton- resigned as AK state senator and paid handsomely as he was appointed by Obama to the Department of the Interior's director of AK. 2) Demo Memo Host Camille Conte ("CC")- received national attention when she got the award of "Most Valuable Local Media Personality" of 2008 from "The Nation" Magazine. 3) "Just a Girl from Homer" blogger Shannyn Moore- in her own words: "I had a radio station show, I was fired, and I started blogging and because I was starting to write, I was able to get back on the radio. I was on Air America every night as a reporter." So, when you hear these individuals say they have not been paid for the blogs they have written or the stuff they have talked about, we KNOW the truth.
Thank God for outlets like NEN. They have done what the msm are so afraid to do or simply won't do. NEN has uncovered what they describe as "new evidence" in regards to their report. According to NEN, "It is illegal to break the confidentiality of ethics complaints or knowingly file a false complaint. It is also a crime to get others to commit crimes under AK solicitation laws." Maybe it's time these bloggers realized this. NEN has found audio of Moore saying the following: "Um, you know, I actually talked to someone who was putting in an ethics complaint, and I wanted to know a little bit more about it. They had wanted me to write about it or talk about it on the air. I said 'Wow, well, that's got a lot of holes in it, and they said, 'Well, I don't really care, I just want to be a pain in the ass to the governor.'" This statement pretty much sums up what these so-called "independent concerned citizens" have been toward Sarah. Not only have they cost the state and her hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they have illustrated just how hateful, unhappy and immature they are. Don't these people have anything better to do than file complaint after complaint? With each filed complaint, comes a dissmissed complaint, which illustrates just how out of touch these individuals are with reality. I know this post is long and may have to be re-read in order to fully understand all of the connections, but I felt it was very important that I share this information with my readers. You may be asking, "Why does this matter now that the election is over? My response to that question is that this does matter because it is important to see the lengths the Obama campaign went to win an election and their attempt to destroy a good woman's character in the process. Sarah is a threat to everything the Obama administration stands for, and she will continue to be a threat the more she speaks out against his policies that could change the America we have come to know and love. It is important that we stand by Sarah for it is a guarantee that she will continue to be tested. Let's stand with her and her amazing family and support them as they continue the good fight for truthfulness and fairness, for Sarah is speaking for US!!!
(Please watch the You Tube video in its entirety at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnyrP8qQlpU)
(I'm a Conservative Girl with a Voice. Check out my blog and become a follower: http://conservativegirlwithavoice.blogspot.com)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Sarah Palin is on Fire! She Wins Again!
Sarah wins another battle today. Andree McLeod, the woman from Anchorage, Alaska who has filed several ethics complaints against Sarah Palin, has lost yet again. This particular legal issue wasn't about Sarah taking a picture with a fish in her hands, or attending the Iron Dog wearing a jacket with the Arctic Cat logo on it, or answering questions in her office. No, this one was much more official-sounding. McLeod complained that Sarah used private emails to conduct state business. I mean, I can see that such an act on the part of the former governor is detrimental to society, Andree. You definitely had to nip this one in the bud for the sake of all humanity, right? In case you're new here and don't have a feel for my sense of humor yet, I'm being sarcastic! That's how I have to deal with the anklebiters sometimes, you know.
Below is the article from the Anchorage Daily News on the judge's ruling:
I didn't respond to his tweet. Here's another tweet I sent out to my peeps a little later:
See how they want to make it personal all the time? His last tweet is a lame attempt to attack Sarah Palin's former church. The tweet oozes a serious lack of understanding. So I replied with:
I have yet to get a response to my question. It would have been healthy to have some serious dialogue about the anger and festering bitterness. The truth of the matter is that whatever causes such vitriol cannot possibly be beyond help, can it? It would seem to me that if everyone is in favor of justice and forthrightness, conversation--not unending lawsuits--is the answer. There is room for meaningful debate and disagreement, but there's a right way to handle things. Sarah Palin deserves as much, and so does the state of Alaska.
Today she celebrates yet another victory, and today--again--I celebrate with her.
From www.motivationtruth.com by Adrienne Ross
Below is the article from the Anchorage Daily News on the judge's ruling:
A judge has ruled that the Alaska governor's office can use private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, as former Gov. Sarah Palin sometimes did.I rejoiced with Sarah once again like I have so many times as she has won legal battle after legal battle waged against her by a small segment of the Alaskan population who simply want to take her down. I had an exchange with one of them on Twitter today. Hey, as you will see, I was just minding my own business, communicating to the pro-Palin community out there until he showed up. Here's the tweet-exchange:
Superior Court Judge Jack W. Smith issued his ruling Wednesday morning. He says there is no provision in state law that prohibits the use of private e-mail accounts when conducting state business.
The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Anchorage resident Andree McLeod.
McLeod contends such use of private e-mails denies citizens the right to inspect public records.
State lawyers argued that McLeod misinterpreted current state law. And if the practice is to be changed, lawyers said it was up to Alaska lawmakers do it.
Adrienne2012 Sarah wins again! Judge rules she was w/in the law to use personal email address 4 state business. Get up off her, ppl! She's so blessed!
This reply showed up:
GreatGrey@Adrienne2012 Why do you approve of secrecy in government?
I didn't respond to his tweet. Here's another tweet I sent out to my peeps a little later:
Adrienne2012 Sarah can't be touched! She walks thru fire but doesn't get burned nor is smell of smoke on her!
Then comes another reply. Clearly, it's getting nastier:
GreatGreyRT @Adrienne2012: Sarah cnt B touched! She walks thru fire but doesn't get burned !/ #palin #spwbt #sgp #gop/ Must B that witchdoctor stuff.
See how they want to make it personal all the time? His last tweet is a lame attempt to attack Sarah Palin's former church. The tweet oozes a serious lack of understanding. So I replied with:
GreatGrey Hmm...Or something else you just can't understand. Why are you so bitter? #palin #spwbt #sgp #gop
I have yet to get a response to my question. It would have been healthy to have some serious dialogue about the anger and festering bitterness. The truth of the matter is that whatever causes such vitriol cannot possibly be beyond help, can it? It would seem to me that if everyone is in favor of justice and forthrightness, conversation--not unending lawsuits--is the answer. There is room for meaningful debate and disagreement, but there's a right way to handle things. Sarah Palin deserves as much, and so does the state of Alaska.
Today she celebrates yet another victory, and today--again--I celebrate with her.
From www.motivationtruth.com by Adrienne Ross
Governor Palin Reduced Medicaid Backlog 83% in 2 Years
Following is Governor Palin's post on FaceBook, delineating how she reduced a Medicaid backlog by 83% in Alaska over a two-year period:
Commentary
Let's distill what Governor Palin did to key bullet points, then we can analyze her accomplishment.
The first item has nothing to do with Medicaid, but does involve protecting needy seniors. In paragraph two, we see that the Alaska State Legislature did not fund the state's SeniorCare program -- at all -- and in in May 2007, nearly 11,000 senior citizens were in danger of losing their benefits, which involved assistance to buy food. Governor Palin excercised leadership, and signed a bill (SB-4), which established the Senior Benefits Program, which picked up where SeniorCare left off.
In the second item, the State took over a poorly run nursing home in December 2008. This item is an indirect accomplishment of Governor Palin's.
The third item forms the essence of the Medicaid backlog remediation. Governor Palin provided complete background on this. As she explained, the State contracted Level of Care (LOC) assessments to registered nurses to determine if a personal care assistant (PCA) was sufficient for a Medicaid-eligible senior, or if the person required a hospital or nursing home. But the contractor was backlogged and federal Government regulations prohibited the state from bidding the job to another contractor. The state took the job over in November 2007, but the backlog swelled, because the state had insufficient staff.
Governor Palin's FY 2009 budget delineated the problem and the solution, which was implemented. Remember -- these budgets are done two years early -- in 2008, Governor Palin did the FY 2010 budget. In 2005, the backlog was 30.5% as she explained. It dropped to 4.5% in 2007 and remained at 4.5% for 2008. This is the 83% drop in Medicaid backlog she spoke about.
The drop occurred two years BEFORE the federal government suspended new admissions to the PCA program, with that suspension being lifted today -- August 12, 2009.
From the standpoint of Reagan Conservatism, we see how this matter was handled principally at the state level. One of the core values of Reagan Conservativism is a preference for government power residing at the state and municipal levels, with a small, limited federal government. The over-arching value of a small federal government is predicated upon the position that larger government is not the answer to life's problems but more often than not causes or exacerbates them.
In this case, had the state been able to bid the LOC job out to another contractor or to multiple contractors, the backlog requiring remediation would have been considerably smaller in the first instance. We also see what happened when the state took over -- the situation got worse. Then, Governor Palin arrived at a solution to address it. But even her solution required two years to fix that mess.
This outcome clearly supports the thesis that the federal government should not meddle with health care. Big government is not the answer to the problem; it is the problem, and we can see clearly the result of a single illogical regulation -- the one that prohibited the state from bidding LOC's out to another contractor.
With this kind of a track record, why would we want a federal bureacrat making life and death decisions about our health care?
Contrary to some assertions, Sarah Palin has a strong record supporting Alaskan seniors. For example, Governor Palin successfully obtained approval for a five year extension of a state program that provided monthly cash payments to low-income seniors (Palin, 2009, ¶1).
On May 23, 2007, using a rarely invoked emergency regulation, Governor Palin ordered assistance benefits to continue for Alaska’s neediest seniors after the Alaska legislature failed to fund the SeniorCare Program. After her action, the legislature responded, and on July 28, 2007, Governor Palin signed Senate Bill 4 to continue support for low-income Alaskan seniors by adopting the Senior Benefits Program. “This program continues important assistance to Alaska seniors,” Governor Palin said. “I promised that seniors would not go hungry, and we worked with the Alaska Legislature to address this critical need.” It was estimated that 10,700 Alaskan seniors would be able to benefit under the program (Palin, 2009, ¶2).
Also under Governor Palin’s tenure, on December 19, 2008, the state stepped in and took over the Mary Conrad Center, an Anchorage nursing home, when the state determined that there was “'immediate danger to the health, safety or welfare' of its residents” (Palin, 2009, ¶3)
So, with this clear record of support and care for Alaska’s seniors by Governor Palin, what is the current criticism about? According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, prior to Governor Palin’s election in November 2006, in April of 2006, in an effort to control rapidly increasing costs for home health care providers, known as the PCA program, Governor Frank Murkowski’s administration implemented a screening process for Alaska Medicaid eligible persons by using a Level of Care assessment (LOC). The LOC assessment was designed for persons who would otherwise require hospitalization or nursing home care and was intended to help weed out fraud and abuse (Palin, 2009, ¶4).
By definition, many of these people were ill, elderly or disabled and thus in need of personal care attendants to assist them. Only registered nurse assessors were allowed to evaluate consumers to determine if they qualified for PCA care. The job of assessing consumers was contracted out, but the State of Alaska DHHS determined that the hired contractor had too much backlog. Notably, under federal Medicaid strictures, the State could not get another private business to bid on the contract. So the State was forced to take over the job in November 2007. However, the State DHHS was unable to eliminate the backlog using its own staff, and the backlog then grew. The Federal DHHS temporarily suspended new admissions to the PCA program pending audit compliance to handle the backlog of existing cases and come up with a plan to speed the assessment process. The suspension has been lifted as of August 12 (Palin, 2009, ¶5).
Further, Gov. Palin’s FY 2009 budget clearly showed her analysis of the issue as of December 2007, and described both the problem and the solution long before the federal government got involved. The backlog issue was discussed and a plan proposed for improvement (Palin, 2009, ¶6).
The graph below shows that under Gov. Palin (2007 and 2008) the backlog problem was dramatically reduced, from 30.9% in 2005 to 4.5% in 2008. Looking at these data, one can conclude that Gov. Palin substantially reduced the outstanding percentage of Medicaid assessments by 83% (Palin, 2009, ¶7).
Figure 1.
% Not Reviewed
FY 2008 4.5%
FY 2007 4.5%
FY 2006 23.18%
FY 2005 30.9%
What is the lesson in all of this? Even with good intentions, the government generally cannot provide better health care services than the private sector. Beware of complex federal laws purporting to offer government health care. For those who want nationalized medicine, take heed of this lesson (Palin, 2009, ¶8).
More information can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=114345578434
Commentary
Let's distill what Governor Palin did to key bullet points, then we can analyze her accomplishment.
The first item has nothing to do with Medicaid, but does involve protecting needy seniors. In paragraph two, we see that the Alaska State Legislature did not fund the state's SeniorCare program -- at all -- and in in May 2007, nearly 11,000 senior citizens were in danger of losing their benefits, which involved assistance to buy food. Governor Palin excercised leadership, and signed a bill (SB-4), which established the Senior Benefits Program, which picked up where SeniorCare left off.
In the second item, the State took over a poorly run nursing home in December 2008. This item is an indirect accomplishment of Governor Palin's.
The third item forms the essence of the Medicaid backlog remediation. Governor Palin provided complete background on this. As she explained, the State contracted Level of Care (LOC) assessments to registered nurses to determine if a personal care assistant (PCA) was sufficient for a Medicaid-eligible senior, or if the person required a hospital or nursing home. But the contractor was backlogged and federal Government regulations prohibited the state from bidding the job to another contractor. The state took the job over in November 2007, but the backlog swelled, because the state had insufficient staff.
Governor Palin's FY 2009 budget delineated the problem and the solution, which was implemented. Remember -- these budgets are done two years early -- in 2008, Governor Palin did the FY 2010 budget. In 2005, the backlog was 30.5% as she explained. It dropped to 4.5% in 2007 and remained at 4.5% for 2008. This is the 83% drop in Medicaid backlog she spoke about.
The drop occurred two years BEFORE the federal government suspended new admissions to the PCA program, with that suspension being lifted today -- August 12, 2009.
From the standpoint of Reagan Conservatism, we see how this matter was handled principally at the state level. One of the core values of Reagan Conservativism is a preference for government power residing at the state and municipal levels, with a small, limited federal government. The over-arching value of a small federal government is predicated upon the position that larger government is not the answer to life's problems but more often than not causes or exacerbates them.
In this case, had the state been able to bid the LOC job out to another contractor or to multiple contractors, the backlog requiring remediation would have been considerably smaller in the first instance. We also see what happened when the state took over -- the situation got worse. Then, Governor Palin arrived at a solution to address it. But even her solution required two years to fix that mess.
This outcome clearly supports the thesis that the federal government should not meddle with health care. Big government is not the answer to the problem; it is the problem, and we can see clearly the result of a single illogical regulation -- the one that prohibited the state from bidding LOC's out to another contractor.
With this kind of a track record, why would we want a federal bureacrat making life and death decisions about our health care?
References
Palin, S.L.H. (2009, August 11). "Palin Reduced Medicaid Backlog 83% In Two Years." FaceBook, Sarah Palin. Retrieved August 11, 2009 from: http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin?v=app_2347471856&viewas=1574531555
"Sarah Palin & Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stand Up for Special Needs"
On Tuesday, August 11, 2009, Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away. She is not known simply for being the sister of John F. Kennedy and mother of Maria Shriver, wife of Arnold Swartzenegger. She is also known and celebrated as one who demonstrated a deep commitment to our special needs community by helping to found the Special Olympics. How ironic it is that we would lay Mrs. Shriver to rest at such a crucial time in our nation when we are debating health care and the value of human life--a woman who offered opportunity and competition to those with special needs. May her commitment to them speak to us now and challenge us to have the same respect for all life.
I expected Sarah Palin to have a comment about the passing of Mrs. Shriver, and of course, being the class act that she is, she did offer her condolences on her Facebook page:
In honor of our special needs community, I am reposting three things that I posted in earlier months. The first one is a video of Sarah Palin expressing how grateful she is that her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, will be able to enjoy sports and competition, thanks to Special Olympics. The second video is a portion of Sarah's speech at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life Banquet where she discusses the range of emotions she encountered upon learning Trig would be born with special needs. In this video she also shares the joy that filled her heart the second he was born. Finally, I have included an article I wrote called, "Sarah and Little Trig Palin Come to my Classroom." In it I share how Trig's story transformed my lesson and opened the door for my students to share their hearts in a special, transparent way. In fact, Trig actually changed my complete outlook and approach to teaching a novel I had taught for many years.
I am so grateful for Eunice Kennedy Shriver for her contribution to our special needs community. And I thank God for Sarah Palin who continues to be a voice of appreciation and respect for all human life. Whether the unborn, children with special needs, or the elderly in need of health care, Sarah Palin understands, as she said on the campaign trail, "I believe the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves."
From www.motivationtruth.com by Adrienne Ross
I expected Sarah Palin to have a comment about the passing of Mrs. Shriver, and of course, being the class act that she is, she did offer her condolences on her Facebook page:
Our Condolences on the Passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver
Tuesday at 7:37 pm
On behalf of the Palin family, we are saddened by the passing of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Her passionate dedication to improving the lives of so many people created new opportunities and hope around the world, including for our precious miracle, Trig.
With sympathy to the Kennedy and Shriver families,
Sarah Palin
In honor of our special needs community, I am reposting three things that I posted in earlier months. The first one is a video of Sarah Palin expressing how grateful she is that her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome, will be able to enjoy sports and competition, thanks to Special Olympics. The second video is a portion of Sarah's speech at the Vanderburgh County Right to Life Banquet where she discusses the range of emotions she encountered upon learning Trig would be born with special needs. In this video she also shares the joy that filled her heart the second he was born. Finally, I have included an article I wrote called, "Sarah and Little Trig Palin Come to my Classroom." In it I share how Trig's story transformed my lesson and opened the door for my students to share their hearts in a special, transparent way. In fact, Trig actually changed my complete outlook and approach to teaching a novel I had taught for many years.
I am so grateful for Eunice Kennedy Shriver for her contribution to our special needs community. And I thank God for Sarah Palin who continues to be a voice of appreciation and respect for all human life. Whether the unborn, children with special needs, or the elderly in need of health care, Sarah Palin understands, as she said on the campaign trail, "I believe the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who are least able to defend and speak for themselves."
Sarah and Little Trig Palin Come to My Classroom
I teach 7th grade English Language Arts, and I had the most amazing experience Tuesday in my classes. We are about to begin a novel, one that I have done with my classes just about each of the 13 years that I've been teaching. The class participated in an introductory activity, followed by an intense discussion. I had never before done this particular activity to start this book, but the most powerful aspect of it was inspired by Sarah Palin and the story of her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome.
It was Trig's story that led me to include the topic of special needs individuals, and their place in the world, in the conversation. Although the subject is relevant to the upcoming novel, had I never learned about Trig, I would have never even considered bringing up the issue of special needs. It would have never even crossed my mind, as it never has in the past. I'm so grateful that she came on the scene with Trig's story on her lips and in her heart because this particular issue broke something open in my classroom--and in me. What Trig's life did for my class was something I will not soon forget. I learned more than my students did Tuesday.
As I simply facilitated the discussion and allowed the kids to express themselves, I listened to students who clearly have an understanding of the sanctity of every single life. They poured out their hearts as they spoke compassionately about what people with special needs contribute to our lives. They lovingly mentioned family members who have physical or developmental challenges whom they "can't even imagine living without." In one class, a student said we need special needs people in the world because they help us. Now there's something you don't hear often. In fact, we usually think about how much we have to help them. But this 7th grader's vision is sharper than most, for he went on to express how much richer they make our lives, how they help us see things differently. I then told them that about 90% of Down Syndrome pregnancies, for example, end in abortion--and silence followed.
My heart was full that day, and I was so proud. With all the talk about abortion, and embryonic stem cell research, and people shooting people up; with all that we've lost as a society in terms of how we view one another, make fun of one another, and dispense so easily of one another; with the sad realization that our so-called progressive attitudes have come at the expense of the innocence of our children, I was privileged to listen to teenagers defend the value of the vulnerable, unapologetically profess the blessing these individuals are, and unashamedly announce the joy they bring to our lives--just the way they are. I think of this, and I am so very glad to do what I do: spend my days with children who seem to know a heck of a lot more than adults about compassion, love, and life.
I thank Sarah Palin for being woman enough not to add to the horrible statistic of Down Syndrome abortions, for trusting God enough to give birth to her promise, and for sharing his story with the world. Sometimes we just don't know what our seemingly small experience can possibly do for the world. But this story--Trig's story--changed this teacher's perspective, her lesson plan, and most of all, her heart.
From www.motivationtruth.com by Adrienne Ross
Oh My....Barack Obama Caught Astroturfing!
My oh my. Obama and the democrats have just been hoisted by their own petard!
This is really and truly delicious. If you saw Barack Obama’s totally staged townhall meeting in Portsmouth, NH, you saw something right out of central casting. I mean that was some serious stagecraft.
We’ve all seen the many highly contentious townhall meetings on TV, and you simply don’t see a quiet, gentle, supportive crowd. It just ain’t happening!
What you do see are some angry middle aged and senior citizens who are not taking this lying down! You see people who have never done anything political in their lives who have become activists!
So this precious moment during Obama’s campaign stop just didn’t pass the smell test. The second person "randomly selected" to ask the Dear Leader a question was young Julie Hall. She asks her question at 29m:25s into the video.
You can watch the video here.
Julia read the following question off a piece of paper: "As I was walking in I saw a lot of signs outside saying mean things about reforming healthcare. How do kids know what is true and why do people want a new system that can help more of us".
Yeah, that was totally spontaneous.
Of course those "mean things" were on posters being held by angry Americans who weren’t allowed under the big tent to participate. No dissent allowed in Hopey Changey Land!
Of course, this "totally unrehearsed and random comment" gave Obama a perfect lead in to talk about Sarah Palin’s brilliant "death panel" comment that has all of the democrats scrambling, as well as talking about not killing grandma off. And of course, blame it all on the Republicans (who don’t have enough votes to stop anything.)
The fact that there will be, in fact, defacto "death panels" has been discussed everywhere, so we’ll let that be for now.
The important thing here to know is who sweet little Julie Hall is. You would think in this day and age if someone is going to go out and pretend to be just some civilian off the street, they’d either delete their Facebook account, or radically change it up. But we are dealing with liberals here, not exactly brain surgeons.
As you see from the photos here, and a screen shot of the video, Julie’s mother is democrat insider Kathleen Manning Hall seen posing and smiling with our fearless leader, Barack Obama!
Even more interesting is the fact that this randomly chosen young Julie, lives in Malden, MA, as does Kathleen.
Coincidence?
Kathleen Manning Hall's campaign contributions list the occupation "Legal Asst, Looney and Grossman LLP" and a home address in Malden MA:
Looks like she donated $636 to Obama in 2008.
But wait, there's more:
This lists donations to Obama of $230 on 6/15/07, $250 on 9/28/07, $500 on 9/30/07, $300 on 3/2/08
On that link we have the $636 previously mentioned from "Kathleen Manning Hall" but we also have $1355 donated to Obama by "Kathleen Hall, Legal Assistant, Looney & Grossman" at the same address.
Looney and Grossman loves Democrats - their employees donated $12,101 in total to Democrats and $0 to Republicans.
Back to Kathleen's Facebook Page, here are some of her Facebook friends. A quick trip to Google will find out these friends are all big time Democratic insiders:
Martha Coakley, (Democrat) Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Adam Parkhomenko, former aide to Hillary Clinton, Democrat running for VA House of Delegates (who has the support of the Brady Campaign, President Clinton and Wes Clark)
Addisu Demissie, National Political Director of Organizing for America and former Ohio Get out The Vote director of Obama for America
Adrienne Elrod, Chief of Staff to Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director for Online Advocacy at the Center for American Progress (and Huffington Post blogger)
Alayna Van Tassel, Budget and Policy Director for MA Senator Pat Jehlen
So much for the "randomly picked" question.
This is as pathetic as it gets.
The democrat are crashing and burning on the health care issue. Scott Rasmussen’s latest poll has support for Obamacare at a new low and circling the drain.
Obama’s townhall was a rambling, incoherent mess. He told many whoppers, like the fact that AARP is supporting his plan. They have come out and said they are not, and did that long before Obama’s NH dog and pony show.
He also brought up the Post Office vs UPS and Fed Ex as a sales pitch for government run health care.
Seriously!
It was just a very bad day.
Photo of the audience at Portsmouth, NH townhall meeting:
What makes this delicious is all of the crowing the democrats, who invented political astroturfing, have been doing in regard to the real grass roots activism that millions of Americans are getting involved in.
Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi first called all of this genuine anger astroturf back in April when all of the tea parties were in high gear as seen on the video here.
Madam Pelosi has continued her outright hatred towards the ordinary American people by pronouncing the townhall protesters astroturf too. A few days later Harry Reid and fellow slug Chuck Schumer chimed in a well. You have to wonder if they understand who their bosses are and who signs their paychecks!
And again, this from the group who invented political astroturfing!
Obama’s man, David Axelrod is the king of astroturf!
And Obama himself was a trainer of "thugs for hire" back in his ACORN days! And he had zero problem with calling out the union kneebreakers from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to beat up some unarmed American patriots who have attended townhalls to protest.
All of this disgraceful talk about honest Americans prompted AstroTurf Chairman Michael Dennis to come out and express his outrage that these sleazy democrats were using his product to attack the American people.
As if to double down on stupidity, a democrat party specialty, Nancy Pelosi dragged her number two man Steny Hoyer, along for a great little op-ed, where she called the patriotic men and women who oppose their insane communist plans "un-American!"
Amazingly, for 8 long years we heard these same loons lecture us that dissent was the truest form of patriotism. That speaking truth to power was cool. Now it’s a crime against the state!
It’s pathological!
They have to lie about everything they do because no one would ever elect them as dog catcher if they actually told the truth about what they were up to!
It’s time for all of America to join together. I mean ALL of America.
Barack Obama and the democrat party have declared war on all of us.
They have declared war on the American citizen.
They have flat decided that even though most of the nation wants them to stand down, stop spending our great grandkid’s future, and leave the best health care on earth alone, they are still going to go full steam ahead and build themselves a communist utopia anyhow!
It’s really pretty pathetic though, when they have to bring out a sweet innocent girl like Julie Hall to shill for them!
I’d say that Barack Obama and the democrats should be ashamed of themselves, but that is a foreign concept to this pathetic bunch!
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