Palintolgy #2

An e mail came to me the other day.
It read:

I received this from a Republican friend:

As an Alaskan, I am writing to give all of you some

information on Sarah Palin, Senator McCain's choice for

VP. As an Alaska voter, I know more than most of you about

her and, frankly, I am horrified that he picked her.

The most accurate description of her is red neck. Her

husband works in the oil fields of Prudhoe Bay and races

snow mobiles. She is a lifetime member of the NRA and has

worked tirelessly to allow indiscriminate hunting of

wildlife in Alaska , particularly wolves and bears. She has

spent millions of Alaska state dollars on aerial hunting of

these predators from helicopters and airplanes, dollars

that should have been spent, for example, on Alaska 's

failing school system.We have the lowest rate of high

school graduation in the country. Not all of you may think

aerial predator hunting is so bad, but how anyone (other

than Alaska wolf-haters, of which there are many, most

without teeth), could think this use of funds is

appropriate is beyond me. If you want to know more about the

aerial hunting travesty, let me know and I will send some

links to informative web sites.

She has been a strong supporter of increased use of fossil

fuels, yet the McCain campaign has the nerve to say she has

"green" policies. The only thing green about

Sarah Palin is her lack of experience. She has consistently

supported drilling in ANWR, use of coal-burning power

plants (as I write this, a new coal plant is being built in

her home town of Wasilla), strip mining, and almost

anything else that will unnecessarily exploit the

diminishing resources of Alaska and destroy its

environment.

Prior to her one year as governor of Alaska , she was

mayor of Wasilla, a small red neck town outside Anchorage.

The average maximum education level of parents of junior

high school kids in Wasilla is 10th grade.

Unfortunately, I have to go to Wasilla every week to get

groceries and other supplies, so I have continual contact

with the people who put Palin in office in the first place.

I know what I'm talking about.

These people don't have a concept of the world around

them or of the serious issues facing the US . Furthermore,

they don't care. So long as they can go out and hunt

their moose every fall, kill wolves and bears and drive

their snow mobiles and ATVs through every corner of the

wilderness, they're happy. I wish I were exaggerating.

Sarah Palin is currently involved in a political

corruption scandal.

She fired an individual in law enforcement here because

she didn't like how he treated one of her relatives

during a divorce. The man's performance and ability

weren't considered; it was a totally personal firing

and is currently under investigation. While the issue

isn't close to the scandal of Ted Steven's

corruption, it shows that Palin isn't "squeaky

clean" and causes me to think there may be more issues

that could come to light. Clearly McCain doesn't care.

When you line Palin up with Biden, the comparison would be

laughable if it weren't so serious. Sarah Palin knows

nothing of economics (admittedly a weak area for McCain),

or of international affairs, knows nothing of national

government, Social Security, unemployment, health care

systems - you name it. The idea of her meeting with heads of

foreign governments around the world truly frightens me.

In an increasingly dangerous world, with the economy in

shambles in theUS , Sarah Palin is uniquely UNqualified to

be vice president. John McCain is not a young man. Should

something happen to him such that the vice president had to

step in, it would destroy our country and possibly the world

to have someone as inexperienced and inappropriate as Sarah

Palin. The choice of Palin is a cheap shot by McCain to try

to get Hillary supporters to vote for him. When McCain

introduced her today, Palin had the nerve to compare

herself with Hillary and Geraldine Ferraro. Sarah Palin, you

are no Hillary Clinton.To those of you who, like me,

supported Hillary and were upset that she did not get the

nomination, please don't think that Sarah Palin is a

worthy substitute. If you supported Hillary, regardless of

what you think the media and the democratic party may have

done to undermine her campaign, the person to support now is

Obama, not Sarah Palin. To those of you who are independent

or undecided, don't let the choice of Palin sway you in

favor of McCain. Choosing her shows how unqualified McCain

is to be president. To those of you who are conservative,

Iguess you have no choice for president. But please try to

see how the poor choice of Palin tells us a great deal

about McCain's judgment.

While the political posturing inherent in the choice of

Palin is obvious, the more serious issue is the fact that

the VP is, literally, a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Sarah Palin is totally and unequivocally unqualified to be

vice president, let alone president.

I know this is a lengthy and emotional email, but the

stakes are high. I thought it might help for all of you,

regardless of political affiliation, to know something

about Palin from someone who has to live with her

administration in Alaska on a daily basis. Here's some

basic background:

She was elected Alaska 's governor a little over a

year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of

Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. Palin is strongly

anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or

incest. She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for

president in 2000. Palin thinks creationism should be taught

in public schools. She's doesn't think humans are

the cause of climate change. She's solidly in line with

John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy.

She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says

renewables won't be ready for years. She also sued the

Bush administration for listing polar bears as an

endangered species—she was worried it would interfere

with more oil drilling in Alaska. Here's a sample of

Alaskan's responses:

She is really just a mayor from a small town outside

Anchorage who has been a governor for only 1.5 years, and

has ZERO national and international experience. I shudder

to think that she could be the person taking that 3AM call

on the White House hotline, and the one who could

potentially be charged with leading the US in the volatile

international scene that exists today. —Rose M.,

Fairbanks , AK

She is VERY, VERY conservative, and far from perfect.

She's a hunter and fisherwoman, but votes against the

environment again and again. She ran on ethics reform, but

is currently under investigation for several charges

involving hiring and firing of state officials. She has NO
experience beyondAlaska . —Christine B., Denali Park , Alaska

As an Alaskan and a feminist, I am beyond words at this announcement.
Palin is not a feminist, and she is not the

reformer she claims to be. —Karen L., Anchorage , Alaska

Alaskans, collectively, are just as stunned as the rest of

the nation. She is doing well running our state, but is

totally inexperienced on the national level, and very much

unequipped to run the nation, if it came to that. She is as

far right as one can get, which has already been

communicated on the news. In our office of thirty employees

(dems, republicans, and nonpartisans), not one person feels

she is ready for the V.P. position.—Sherry C., Anchorage

, AK

She's vehemently anti-choice and doesn't care

about protecting our natural resources, even though she has

worked as a fisherman. McCain chose her to pick up the

Hillary voters, but Palin is no Hillary. —Marina L.,

Juneau , AK

I think she's far too inexperienced to be in this

position. I'm all for a woman in the White House, but

not one who hasn't done anything to deserve it. There

are far many other women who have worked their way up and

have much more experience that would have been better

choices. This is a patronizing decision on John

McCain's part- and insulting to females everywhere that

he would assume he'll get our vote by putting "A

Woman" in that position.—Jennifer M., Anchorage, AK

Please forward this to everyone you know!