Every once in awhile Alaskans pleasantly surprise you.

Courtesy of the Juneau Empire:  

The public spoke out overwhelmingly against a bill that would restrict abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from teaching or providing resources in Juneau schools. 

By the Empire’s count, 48 members of the public opposed Senate Bill 191 while seven supported it during more than two hours of public testimony Thursday afternoon at the Capitol. 

Thursday was the first opportunity for public testimony on SB 191, sponsored by Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla — and the public showed up in force. Almost every chair in the Senate Education Committee room was filled, many with Juneau teenagers. 

“I just want to say this bill is crazy. It really is absolutely crazy,” Douglas resident and parent Lisa EaganLagerquist said. “How many of you have heard a Planned Parenthood presentation?” 

When none of the senators on the five-member Senate Education Committee indicated they had, EaganLagerquist continued, “Can you really say something shouldn’t be in schools when you haven’t even heard it?”

I should first point out that this IS Juneau, which is one of the most liberal bastions in the entire state.

The conversation would have of course been much different if this testimony were taken in Wasilla for instance. And the same could be said for if the hearing had taken place in Anchorage, because you can bet they would have bused in teens from Wasilla to participate.

However in many corners of the state you have always been able to find quite a few very vocal, well educated liberals and it's nice to see the Juneau teenagers, and their parents, upholding that proud tradition.

Just a reminder that not EVERYBODY up here is some ignorant inbred moron like the Palin family.

As promised here is an update on the death of Juneau Mayor Greg Fisk. Update!

Courtesy of Komo News:  

The newly elected mayor of Alaska's capital city had suffered injuries when he was found dead, but police are awaiting autopsy results to announce a possible cause of death, officials said Tuesday. 

Juneau Police Department spokeswoman Erann Kalwara said Tuesday the cause of death remains unknown. 

"It's not clear what the cause of those injuries are," she said. She could not comment on the nature of the injuries, she said. 

Fisk lived alone. There was no sign of forced entry into Fisk's home above Juneau's downtown. 

"We haven't ruled anything out yet," she said. Police are hoping the state medical examiner in Anchorage will complete the autopsy in a couple of days, she said. 

Investigators on Monday didn't speculate on a possible cause of Fisk's death but did not immediately rule out foul play.

There are still plenty of rumors swirling around.

And the fact that there was no forced entry, injuries present, and the fact that the police are not ruling out foul play is doing nothing to change that.

According to ABC the police have also ruled out a gunshot, drugs, or suicide as the cause of death.

Update: Autopsy reveals that Fisk died of natural causes. 

Well there at least is one conspiracy theory that can be put to rest.

Juneau Mayor found dead in his home.

Courtesy of Yahoo News: 

Greg Fisk, the mayor of Juneau, Alaska, has been found dead at a home in the city, police said on Monday. 

Police responding to an emergency call found Fisk, 70, and pronounced him dead at the home in the state capital, Juneau's police department said in a statement. Alaskan media reported he was found dead in his own home. 

A police spokeswoman said an investigation into the "unattended death" was underway but said she had no further information on the cause or circumstances of Fisk's death. 

Police said a man, who they did not identify, made an emergency call on Monday afternoon to report a deceased person inside a residence.

I know that a lot of you are interested in this story since you sent it to me at least four times so far.

As it turns out James Brooks, a reporter from the Juneau Empire, is also a Reddit user and this is what he shared late last night:

The Juneau Police Department is sending Fisk's body to Anchorage for an autopsy to confirm a cause of death. That will take several days. 

There are a lot of rumors floating around social media that say he was killed in an assault. Fisk's closest neighbors heard no such thing, and police are awaiting the results of an autopsy.

Fisk's body was discovered by his son, who began shouting and called for help.

Fisk did not die of suicide. There are no links to a recent double murder in Juneau. There were no signs of a break-in. 

Deputy Mayor Mary Becker will serve as acting Mayor until a special election can be held to fill the mayorship.

I would urge everybody to keep the conspiracies to a minimum as the police work the case.

I will update this story as more details emerge.

Just a letter in support of reelecting Senator Mark Begich.

Below is a letter sent to the Juneau Empire by an Alaskan voter. I think it sums up the reasons to keep Begich in office quite succinctly. 

It’s not easy being a Democratic politician in a red state like Alaska, but Sen. Mark Begich does it with integrity. One of Sen. Begich’s first votes in the Senate was for the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. He also co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act. It matters that he was raised by a single mother of six kids. He saw first hand how his mom had to struggle to make ends meet. Sen. Begich says equal pay for women is a fairness issue, which is what women have been saying for decades. 

In March of last year, he issued a statement in favor of marriage equality. The arc of recent history is definitely bending towards marriage equality, and Alaska, the state of new beginnings, is finally on board. 

Dan Sullivan is stuck in the 1950s. He is against a woman’s right to choose in all cases. He even has issues with birth control. He’s against gay marriage, against the Affordable Care Act, and won’t say if he supports equal pay for women. If you look closely at Mr. Sullivan’s TV ads, you see that many of them are paid for by the Koch brothers under the names of Americans for Prosperity, Crossroads GPS, Freedom Works, Freedom Partners, and a long list of others. If Charles and David Koch are in his corner, you know they expect to get less regulation and lower taxes under his administration. 

This past week, I was startled to see Condoleezza Rice’s face filling our television screen touting Dan Sullivan’s qualities to be the Governor of Alaska. Condoleezza Rice lied in front of the world about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and as a result, that terrible war cost thousands of lives, both military and civilian, and left thousands of American soldiers disabled. Why would Mr. Sullivan think her endorsement would be a plus to his campaign? Who’s next? Dick Cheney? 

Let’s face it. Alaskans only have two working members of Congress. We’re lucky that both of our Senators are thoughtful, honest, and smart people who understand the value of compromise. Let’s keep Sen. Begich in Washington, D.C.

Barbara Belknap 

Juneau

I might quibble a bit with the idea that Lisa Murkowski is thoughtful and honest, but I agree wholeheartedly with the rest. 

Former Juneau Rep. Beth Kerttula has been tapped to join the Obama administration.

Courtesy of Alaska Public:

Former Juneau Rep. Beth Kerttula has joined the Obama Administration as Director of the National Ocean Council Office. 

Since January, Kerttula has been a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions. She was appointed to the federal job on Wednesday and is already at work in Washington, D.C. 

The job was announced in an email to her Stanford colleagues, where Kerttula has been working on ocean issues. She has described her role there as a conduit between state legislatures and science policy makers, bringing them together to discuss ocean policies. In that job, she had worked with the National Ocean Council. 

President Obama established the council by executive order in 2010. Kerttula will lead the office that supports it.

A handful of you may remember that Kerttula resigned her position as House Minority Leader earlier this year in order to take that position at Stanford, that now appears to have been a stepping stone to a career in Washington.

However the rest of you will probably only remember Kerttula for a rather famous picture.

One taken in Juneau on February 25, 2008. Twenty two days before Trig was born (Oops! Make that 53 days, having an off math day.), and ten days before Sarah Palin announced to the world that she was even pregnant.

Here is another picture from the same day.

So good luck in your new job Beth, but for those of us who have doggedly pursued the truth behind Palin's bizarre "pregnancy" your place in history has already been assured.

In order to illustrate Bill Kristol, of the Weekly Standard's, lack of credibility, Rachel Maddow uses his biggest screw up, Sarah Palin.

Click gut to play video

If you did not see this yesterday you really missed out.

Rachel describes the famous cruise to Juneau in which the staff of the Weekly Standard were first exposed to Sarah Palin's political pole dance, and how they swooned in response, and then did everything they could to pimp her to their conservative audiences.

She goes on to point out many other fumbles and poor predictions that followed, but all pale in comparison to the biggest mistake of all.

Remembering a time when so little was known about Sarah Palin that the capitol newspaper got her husband's name wrong.

The above was a picture taken during Palin's inaugural ball in 2007.

Here is how the Juneau Empire identified it:  

Gov. Sarah Palin dances with her husband, Tom, on Saturday evening during the Governor's Inaugural Ball at Centennial Hall.

Boy whatever happened to old Tom? 

Because that Todd Palin guy, who apparently replaced him, turned out to be kind of a son-of-a-bitch.

And oldie but a goodie. Sarah Palin walking briskly through Juneau, on icy streets no less, in February 2008. Update!

Click clearly non-pregnant belly to start video.

Remember folks this was less than two months before she looked like this.

Oh yeah, SO convincing.

And yet it was enough to fool thousands. In fact many of them remain fooled to this day.

Update: Here is some interesting conversation about the footage from back in 2010.

Here is my favorite portion:  

Here's what Kevin the cameraman had to say: 

"Regarding her pregnancy, all I can say is that it was not obvious to the three of us who were there during the filming" 

"Sarah did not drink much of the caramel latte we brought her, which if I recall was decaffeinated" 

"As for me and for the rest of us who visited Sarah back in February - I’m fairly certain we can say that we had no idea she was pregnant"

(H/T to Kajo.)

Hey before you make those vacation plans, have you thought about taking a cruise with a bunch of old, cranky Right Wing nuts? Well you can!

"The closest thing to being a king," says one elderly gentleman.

"I'm among two hundred or so people who think, politically, just like I do." says another. Followed up by "There's no such thing as a politically incorrect statement."

I love that not one of the people interviewed look a day under seventy five. If this is not a visual indication that the Republican party is dying out, I don't know what is.

For those among you who know your trivia, you may remember that this self same cruise was the beginning of one of the darkest times in American political history.

It was on the exact same Weekly Standard sponsored cruise that  Bill Kristol discovered Sarah Palin:  
In June 2007, a cruise hosted by the political journal The Weekly Standard set anchor in Juneau, Alaska. Standard editors William Kristol and Fred Barnes then lunched with Governor Sarah Palin. It was a moment of discovery to equal Hernando Cortez’s landing at Veracruz. 

Kristol appeared on Fox News on June 30, 2008, confidently predicting that McCain would select Sarah Palin and as a public display of support, oil prices would miraculously fall. 

Kristol can fairly lay claim to having “discovered” Palin for Washington political circles. Palin’s name appeared in 41 Weekly Standard articles since the Juneau meeting—starting with a paean entitled “ The Most Popular Governor” that ran right after the reception. 

Indeed, Kristol, who was a loyal McCain supporter in 2000 and is often thought to have suffered exclusion from Bush’s inner circle as a result, may have played a key role in McCain’s decision to tap Palin as his running mate.

Yep that's what happened in 2007.  As if anybody needed another reason to despise Bill Kristol.

Just think if you go this time perhaps they will discover something equally as destructive such as a skin dissolving bacteria, or a giant Tokyo stomping creature like Godzilla perhaps.

Though to be honest it would pale in comparison.

DENIED!!!!

Courtesy of News Times: 

A federal judge on Wednesday denied Sarah Palin's request for more than $22,000 in attorney fees in a case against her that was dismissed. 

U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess last year dismissed a case against the former Alaska governor by activist Chip Thoma, saying Thoma didn't provide the evidence necessary to support his claims. Thoma alleged Palin had acted to silence him for complaining about tourist bus traffic on the narrow, windy streets around the governor's mansion in 2009. 

Burgess in October ordered that Palin recover costs, but on Wednesday denied her request for attorney fees. In his written decision, he said courts have limited situations in which defendants may recover attorney fees to those where claims against them were "frivolous, unreasonable, or without foundation." But he said he cannot conclude that the case here was frivolous, noting the limited record in the matter and that neither party engaged in discovery. 

"It's nice to be told you weren't frivolous," Thoma's attorney, James McGowan, said. The lawsuit, he said, was aimed at "vindicating" Thoma's First Amendment right. 

Thoma had claimed that Palin undertook an effort, while governor, to "punish, embarrass, discredit and silence" him because he complained about traffic around the mansion after she returned to Alaska from her failed 2008 vice presidential bid. He said this had a chilling effect on his First Amendment right. 

Thoma referred to excerpts from a book by Frank Bailey, a Palin aide during that period. But Burgess ruled that quotes from the book were, among other things, inadmissible hearsay and said Thoma lacked the personal knowledge to authenticate the statements in the book. 

Personally I think that Thoma had a VERY strong case, the Bailey book could not have been more clear that she did everything in her power to destroy him, and was upset that the judge ruled against him.

But at least he won't have to pay that vindictive bitch's lawyer fees.

I believe there is a long line of people who could sue Palin for similar treatment, and that if they all chose to do so she would probably spend the next twenty years paying court costs until she was penniless.

Overweight, poorly camouflaged, white men about to converge on Juneau for rally to protect their penis extenders.

The few, the proud, the "I have to rest for a minute, I'm out of breath," the Alaska Citizens Militia

Courtesy of KTUU:  

The Juneau branch of the Alaska Citizens Militia has scheduled a rally on the steps of the state Capitol. 

The group is calling the event a ".223 day of resistance." The rally is scheduled for Feb. 23. Thom Buzard is chairman ad-hoc of the Juneau Alaska Citizens Militia. 

He says the group is holding the rally because it believes law-abiding gun owners are being penalized for the actions of criminals. 

He says he expects 300 to 400 people to attend. 

The group is a branch of the Alaska Citizens Militia, which was founded by Norm Olson. Olson described the group as confederation of smaller militias around the state. He says each branch varies in size from about 15 to 50 members. 

Alaska militia founder Norm Olson and a date.

My understanding is that Juneau is preparing for the arrival of these weekend warriors by stocking up on GI Joe Underoos, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and bottles of Cialis each with a complimentary vial of gun barrel lubricant. 

Gee 300 sexually inadequate, gun toting cowards in one of the most liberal cities in Alaska. What could possibly go wrong?

Oh, that's right. A lot could go wrong.

Another lawsuit bounces off of Sarah Palin's ever fluctuating chest.

Courtesy of MSNBC:  

A federal judge on Thursday struck down claims in a lawsuit alleging that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin acted to silence an activist who complained about traffic around the governor's mansion in 2009. 

U.S District Judge Timothy Burgess granted Palin's request for summary judgment, finding that activist Chip Thoma failed to provide the evidence necessary to support his claims. Palin's attorney, John Tiemessen, said the ruling means that, as a matter of law, no valid claims stand, and it should lead to dismissal of the case. 

Thoma sued for at least $100,000, claiming that Palin, while governor, undertook an effort to punish, embarrass, discredit and silence him after he complained about tour bus traffic around the mansion following her failed 2008 vice presidential bid. 

Thoma, in his lawsuit, said he complained about the traffic in 2009 to a state agency and made signs and fliers about the traffic situation that he posted and handed out. He alleged that Palin and unidentified conspirators retaliated - in some cases "twisting" his words, in others, "concocting complete fabrications" - to silence him and others whom Palin perceived as speaking out against her. 

Thoma's initial lawsuit was partly based on a leaked draft manuscript by Frank Bailey, a Palin aide during that period. Bailey's book claimed Palin aides "went into discrediting Chip overdrive" after Palin expressed frustration with complaints she took as an attack on her family being in Juneau. For part of her tenure, Palin had gotten flak for not being in Juneau enough, or full-time. 

Burgess said excerpts from the book could not be considered in the motion for summary judgment for several reasons, including that the passages are inadmissible hearsay. He said Thoma lacks the personal knowledge to authenticate the statements made in the book. 

Burgess also said the only documented evidence that Thoma submitted to support his motion and oppose Palin's was his own affidavit. 

"The record is simply devoid of evidence concerning the alleged retaliation," Burgess wrote.

This is very disappointing as I really thought that Thoma had a strong case.

And as for evidence, why didn't they try and subpoena the actual e-mails that Bailey has in his possession? I still have my copy of the first draft of "Blind Allegiance," that was sent out before publishing, and in it are the actual e-mails as they appeared in Bailey's e-mal box.

You would think those would be pretty damning in a court of law.

Whatever, whey should we expect THIS to stick when virtually EVER OTHER thing has slid off Palin's bony exoskeleton? I guess if you can get away with faking your poll numbers, pulling off a phony pregnancy, and convincing people you are an "energy expert," getting out of lawsuits must be a snap.

Yeah, well I have to think that the Grizzled Mama's luck is just about up, and that eventually one of these things will take her down for good. I just hope I am either the one that does it, or right there in a ring side seat when it happens.

Alaskan man files lawsuit compelling state to question President Obama's eligibility to run for office. Doesn't think Nancy Pelosi is eligible either.

'Hey, I hear according to Right Wing morons you're not eligible to run for office. Welcome to the club."

Courtesy of the Huffington Post:

A Juneau man has filed a lawsuit trying to compel the state of Alaska to prove that President Obama is qualified to be on the ballot. 

Gordon Warren Epperly claims in the lawsuit filed in Juneau Superior Court that Obama's citizenship status is unknown, and that Obama was illegally inaugurated in 2009, KTOO reported. 

He also claims that Obama, by taking office, has committed a crime of trying to overthrow the U.S. government. Epperly is acting as his own attorney. 

The lawsuit is seeking the state Division of Elections to obtain a physical, "verified" copy of Obama's birth certificate. 

Epperly also questions U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi's right to run for federal office. He claims that as a woman, Pelosi has no inherent right to be a U.S. citizen or to hold office. 

"There are no provisions in the Constitution of the United States that grants Women 'Political Rights' of Suffrage to hold any Political Office of the United States Government," the lawsuit says.

God just when I was relieved to learn the LAST insanity attributed to an Alaskan was a prank, this guy shows up!

Gee I wonder what his motivation is for questioning Obama's eligibility? Which by the way, after already serving four years, is a moot point.

And one has to wonder, since he is challenging Pelosi based on the fact that she is not a man, HOW he felt about Alaska's first female governor? I mean I didn't hear this guy challenging whether Sarah Palin could hold office due to her lack of a penis, did any of you?

You know I would move to Canada, except that would cause the intelligent quotient for the state to drop at least 20 points. Fucking idiots!

The "Vaguely Bearded One" gives a speech to a vaguely crowded room in Juneau. Well now, it appears that poor Joe Miller is "All bag, and no tea."

The lady radiating crazy like the sun radiates heat on the left is ex-SNL alum Victoria Jackson.

Courtesy of the Juneau Empire:

Former Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller returned to Juneau Tuesday, accompanied by some of his current political allies and continuing to challenge the Nov. 2010 election he lost at the polls — and then again in the courts. 

But where Miller says he’s really been vindicated is in claims about opponent Lisa Murkowski, who bested him in a history-making write-in campaign. 

“It’s been absolutely no surprise, she’s been voting as we portrayed her during the campaign, as a liberal,” he said. 

Passing through Juneau during a Tea Party at Sea cruise aboard the Celebrity Millennium, Miller met with local supporters Tuesday evening. 

Miller explained his new political action committee, or PAC, and website, RestoringLibertyAlaska.us, which he said which will represent and organize citizens now ignored by the state’s institutions and political parties. 

 Vindictive spiteful little shit, still bellyaching about how unfair it was that Alaskans sent his ass packing. Yep that sounds like a Sarah Palin protege to me!

And just in case you thought that Miller was the "Baron of Batshit" on this ship of fools, take a listen to what the OTHER Teabaggers on this cruise to crazytown had to say.

Other tea party activists accompanied Miller to Nugget Mall from the cruise as they tried to fire up a dozen or so supporters from Juneau. He said the turnout was pretty good, given that Juneau is “not necessarily a bastion of conservatism.” 

The comment drew rueful chuckles from the audiences Jerome Corsi, author of “Obama Nation,” an attack on President Barack Obama, and former Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson made even harsher attacks on Obama than did Miller. 

Corsi said Obama isn’t qualified to be president because he isn’t a natural-born citizen, despite the president’s public release of a copy of his birth certificate. 

“I’m still saying that what we’ve seen is a forgery,” he said. 

Corsi challenged Obama’s Christianity, as well as his politics. 

“There’s a communist living in the White House,” he said. 

Jackson said she only recently got involved in politics and discovered that Obama was a communist. She endorsed Miller’s call for tea party members to get involved in efforts such as serving as local poll workers, which she said now are “mostly old hippies.” 

Miller said he hasn’t ruled against running against Sen. Mark Begich, Rep. Don Young, or even Murkowski again in five years.

Yeah you keep telling yourself you have a chance of getting elected to ANYTHING in Alaska after hanging out with THIS group of nitwits!

I have little doubt that even crusty old Alaskan Republicans can smell mooseshit this pungent. Even if it is drifting to them all the way from Juneau!

By the way remember how Miller said "the turnout was pretty good, given that Juneau is not necessarily a bastion of conservatism?"  Well he is overstating that by QUITE a margin.

It just so happens that we had a little spy from IM there at the same time that Miller was underwhelming the people of Juneau. Here is their report (With all portions removed which might have helped identify this brave soul.):

The Tea Party Cruise to Alaska speakers that I saw today were all respectful and quiet out at the Mendenhall Glacier. 

I believe I saw Joseph and Elizabeth Farah. 

None of the other speakers featured at teapartyatsea.com were there, or at least I did not recognize them. There were several people from the cruise that were out at the glacier, but all were respectful of the bears and salmon, asked lots of questions about the wildlife and glacier, but did not expound on their political views. 

There was one gentleman talking loudly about his warm ups for the crowds (jokes according to him), but then only to a couple that were in agreement with him. 

His joke was "How is Berkeley like Moscow? They're both communist, but Berkeley is more so." 

He laughed heartily, the couple laughed a little, and that was it. 

I did go by the Nugget Mall where Joe Miller was appearing. When I got there at 5:05, Miller and his wife were sitting in the main hallway near JoAnn's fabric store on a bench. 

He was being "interviewed" by a woman who looks like Victoria Jackson from the teapartyatsea website. 

She is much older than her picture. 

There was also a man I did not recognize from the Juneau Empire (He is not on their website) listening to Joe give an interview. I believe both of these people were recording the "interview." 

There were 8 people and 3 kids in the room where Joe later spoke. 

That included Jerome Corsi who seemed very bored with the locals that were there. 

There were no posters, no signs, nothing to indicate what the group was, who was speaking, or anything else. 

I left to do grocery shopping and then came back at 5:35. At that point there were 19 people in the room including Joe and his wife. 

Victoria Jackson was giving the "warm up" and introduced Joe, who started speaking at 5:40. 

Sorry, but if that is the best the local Tea Partiers could muster for a turn out and no advertising other than a mention on KTOO on Monday, that is just pathetic! 

Seventeen people show up to hear you speak and THAT is a "good turnout?" No that is what is normally referred to as "pathetic," not "good."

So Joe draws a crowd of seventeen, Christine O"Donnell draws a crowd of five to her book signing, and Sarah Palin tries to wriggle out her appearance with the Tea Party of America in Iowa.

Is it just me, or does it seem that this whole Teabagger thing has just about run its course?

(Let me give thanks to my friend in Juneau who subjected themselves to the pain of having to listen to Joe Miller speak just to give us all the above "boots on the ground" report.  I hope they went home and had a stiff drink after that, because clearly they deserved it!)

Sarah Palin, the woman who claimed she quit her job as Governor to save the state money, is asking the state to pay for her defense against a lawsuit.

"Help me, help me, Alaska! I am just a defenseless millionaire who once used my job to bully those who dared to question me! Can't you see I'm the victim here?

Courtesy of ADN:

Assistant Attorney General Dale House said Palin asked the state to help defend her against the lawsuit by activist Chip Thoma. 

The claims made against Palin date to when she was governor, and House said Wednesday that it's typical for the state to get involved if the person is being sued largely because of the title they held or because of something they did in the course of their official duties. He said there are exceptions, including for criminal cases. 

House said the state will pay for his participation but not for Palin's personal lawyer, John Tiemessen, who will be co-counsel. 

Thoma is suing Palin for at least $100,000, claiming that she undertook a campaign to "punish, embarrass, discredit and silence" him while governor after he complained about tour bus traffic on the windy, narrow streets around the governor's mansion. 

Fuck this!  I certainly do not want to pay for this quitters legal bills!

Especially since I believe that Thoma has a pretty damn good case against her.


And according to the comments beneath this article at ADN, I am not the only Alaskan that feels this way.

Sounds to me like Palin's very intimidated that this is going to turn out to be something over which she will not be able to wriggle off the hook. Magnificent timing! 

Well, if anyone read Frank Bailey's book they would know $Palin did it on purpose. He has the emails that back it up. I wonder if they will be able to use her own emails against her. 

Why? Why is the state STILL paying this worthless woman? WHY? 

The state should not incur any part of this lawsuit. Wouldn't that also make the state liable in some manner? Palin used her office to embarrass a private citizen and she should not ask for state help to defend herself. 

Everybody up here knows that Palin used her position as Governor to go after her enemies, bully other Alaskans, and give her family and friends state jobs and perks to keep them loyal.

And now that somebody is finally going after her in court for her illegal behaviors she is playing the victim again and asking the state that she abandoned to protect her.

She will NEVER change.

Just for fun.

Thanks again to Azure Ghost

Since we are on the topic I will let you all know that I have been chasing some leads that I stumbled onto while doing research on the pictures from Monday's post, and I learned a rather interesting bit of information.

It should come as no surprise to most of you that Governor Palin was by no means camera shy.  In fact she was often far more interested in talking to the media, and having her picture taken in those days than actually doing her job. My understanding is that while it was very difficult to get Palin to attend important meetings, it was a breeze to get her to show up to events that would get her name and picture in the paper.

However according to a few sources Palin suddenly became camera shy right around the middle of March, and only showed up a handful of times in public venues, at which she only stayed for short periods of time making it very difficult for photographers to do their jobs. Of course the exception to this, was the Elan Frank video for which Palin seemed to have been quite comfortable allowing herself to be videotaped by the Israeli filmmaker. (It also should be noted that she may very well have thought that the footage would not be shown in the United States.)

This behavior seems to have continued right up until April 18, after which Palin went right back to her usual attention seeking behaviors.

In fact at least one of my sources said that looking back it almost seemed that she had something to hide. (And yes, this person is still on the fence about the faked pregnancy.)

I DID think to ask several people if they were struck by Palin's rapid weight loss after Trig was born, but they said, quite understandably, that they were mostly focused on the new baby, whom she took with her everywhere, and really never noticed anything about her physique postpartum.

Anyhow I am still chasing down leads, but I thought you all might enjoy that bit of behind the scenes info.

More on the civil lawsuit against Sarah Palin, and why it has been moved to the Federal court.

Yesterday I posted about this lawsuit, and one of the questions all of us had was WHY it was moved to the Federal court instead of being left in Juneau.

One of our visitors, who is also a legal eagle, took it upon themselves to answer that questions for us and sent me a PDF of the pertinent legal paperwork.  Below is the "Notice of Removal"

And since I have it, I thought you all might be interested in getting a look at the actual complaint filed by Chip Thoma. These are public documents so they are available to all who are interested.  I am just making access a little easier.

Activist lawsuit against Sarah Palin moved to Federal court.

Courtesy of the ADN:

A civil lawsuit alleging Sarah Palin undertook a campaign to embarrass and discredit an activist in Alaska has been moved to federal court.

Palin attorney John Tiemessen did not give a reason for his removal of the matter from state court and declined comment, saying Wednesday that he can't discuss questions of rationale "because they necessarily involve legal strategy."

An attorney for activist Chip Thoma, James McGowan, said the move could be designed to try to avoid a jury trial in Juneau.

Thoma sued Palin for at least $100,000, claiming through McGowan that she'd twisted his complaints about bus traffic around the governor's mansion to make it seem he'd engaged in an unsavory campaign against the Palins.

Well isn't THAT interesting news?

I have no idea how this qualifies as a federal matter, but I do agree that if the trial had been held in Juneau that Palin would have had a SIGNIFICANT problem with jury selection.

This will be one to keep an eye on.

P.S. For those who DON'T know the story, the Reader's Digest version is that Thoma complained that tour buses visiting the Governor's mansion in Juneau were causing traffic problems and a potentially dangerous situation.

Palin responded by putting a fake lemonade stand out in front of the mansion, making Piper sit in it, and then accusing Thoma of attacking her children.

This resulted in a vicious attack from Palin's, much more modest back then, flock of Flying Monkeys who harassed Mr. Thoma mercilessly. Hence the civil lawsuit for $100,000.

Is Sarah Palin about to be sued for $100,000? Update!

From TMZ:

Sarah Palin is the mastermind of a dark conspiracy to punish an Alaskan citizen who dared to speak out against her over the traffic situation in Juneau -- this according to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ.

A man named Theodore Thoma claims he had a serious issue with traffic in the neighborhood surrounding the Governor's Mansion back in 2009 ... back when Sarah was the Gov. In fact, Thoma claims he proposed state action to solve the problem and even made up signs and fliers to push the issue.

But Palin didn't take kindly to the criticism, says Thoma, and she "undertook a campaign against [Theodore] ... to punish, embarrass, discredit and silence" him.

Thoma wants Palin to fork over more than $100k for all of the harm she's caused.

You know I searched my memory and I don't believe I have ever heard of Mr. Thoma before. I do vaguely remember something about a traffic issue in Juneau, but I cannot for the life of me remember where I read, or heard about it. (If any of you have better memories please let me know.)

Palin herself spent virtually NO time in the Juneau mansion during 2009, but that does not mean she did not do exactly what this man is accusing her of doing.

I am currently up to page 109 in Geoffrey Dunn's book, and I am once again amazed by how aggressive and petty Palin can be toward anybody who dares stand up to her, or get in the way of her ambitions. She never forgets a grudge and treats anybody who criticizes her as a sworn enemy for life.

Essentially if everybody that Palin had mistreated on her way to where she is right now were to file a suit against her, she would spend virtually the rest of her life in courtrooms. Not exactly a troubling thought in my mind.

BTW here is what I found on Court View thus far. I actually do not expect it to go far, but you never know.

Update: I KNEW I had read about this before.  Thanks for the anonymous commenter who sent me the links.

In response to Mr. Thoma's efforts to control the amount of traffic flowing through that neighborhood, Palin of course used her children to bludgeon him.

"I wanted to offer him to hide Piper's trampoline further in a corner of the yard ... if it's a matter of not giving anyone anything to look at so they'll go away then I'd ask Piper to not giggle so loudly on her buoy swing or bicycle in the yard," Palin said in a written statement, referring to her 7-year-old daughter.

That was the dog whistle which signaled Palin's Flying Monkeys to take wing and go on the attack:

It seems that Governor Palin is so popular with tourists that thousands of people are walking from the docks to the governor's mansion in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the first family. Mr. Thoma feels that this -- along with Piper Palin's lemonade stand, trampoline and buoy swing -- is "bringing down the neighborhood." It seems that Mr. Thoma doesn't enjoy the Palin children very much.

From there of course the whole thing just went viral, and Mr. Thoma found himself under assault from people all across the country, who had never even heard of Juneau before Sarah Palin came on the scene.

You know what?  He just might have a very solid case here.  And if he is successful I have to imagine that there are a number of OTHER Palin victims who might just follow his lead.

Hmm I think I have a phone call to make.

In a move that should surprise no one, Joe Miller campaign goes dirty.

From Alaska Dispatch:

With the write-in count continuing to bode poorly for GOP candidate Joe Miller Thursday, his campaign staged what can only be described as a bizarre press conference here to raise the specter of alleged electoral fraud and voter intimidation in Alaska's 2010 Senate race.

Floyd Brown, a conservative strategist who flew into Juneau with Joe Miller on Tuesday, said the campaign had heard of many instances of voter intimidation, but refused to name one individual who had experienced such intimidation. He read aloud a phone number Alaskans could call to report threats or bullying. And he reported the gap in votes between Miller and incumbent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski -- the write-in candidate-- was getting closer every day, even though all the evidence pointed in the opposite direction.

As counting wrapped up Thursday, the numbers released by the Alaska Division of Elections were not favorable to Miller's Senate dreams. With 49 percent of write-in votes counted, the division was calling 98 percent for Murkowski. If that trend continues -- it has been holding at almost the same rate since the first the ballots were counted -- Murkowski will boast a lead of 8,700 votes over Miller in the final tally.

So essentially it is pretty much all over but the crying.  Surely after seeing the final vote tally the Miller campaign will take their Teabagger ball and go home right? 

Sucker! Haven't you been paying attentino to how the Palin-bot and Teabaggers are "helping" Brisotl win DWTS?  Do you really think they will play fair in THIS election?

John Tiemessen, an attorney representing Miller, said the campaign has two possible avenues of attack to try pull out a victory if Miller finishes officially in second. One is the lawsuit currently in U.S. District Court. It argues against the Division of Elections accepting minor misspellings of "Lisa Murkowski" in the voting. However, even if U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline were to rule in favor of the Miller campaign, many of the ballots Miller observers have challenged fall short of spelling errors.

A bunch of the ballots in the "challenged" pile are there because Miller observers objected to Murkowski's name being written with an overly loopy "u," or written in with an "r" in cursive in an otherwise printed Murkowski. Miller has even challenged "Lisa Murkowski, Republican" as a violation of election rules.

The second option open to the Miller campaign, Tiesmessen said, would be to appeal decisions made by the election board to the Alaska Superior Court. Even if expedited, he warned, such an appeal could take "months and months," and if "at the end of the day, if Lisa Murkowski has more valid votes than Joe Miller, then the state law says Lisa Murkowski is the next senator for the state of Alaska."

Still, there are other options for prolonging the election in hopes something will change, and Miller has a toll free hotline -- 1-866-446-4138 -- trolling for the game changer it hopes to find in voting fraud.

Like I said before the campaign is getting desperate.

So desperate in fact that they brought in THIS guy!



(H/T to my friend Phil Munger for the video.)

Can you believe that this guy almost became Alaska's next Senator?

Joe Miller's complete lack of ethics makes Ted Stevens look like freaking Dudley Do Right.