A little reminder for those who think that Sarah Palin is fit to run the VA. This is how badly she screwed up health programs here in Alaska.

(I had almost forgotten this so thank you to all of you who reminded me.)

Right after Palin quit as Governor, a story broke over at ADN (Now removed) which revealed that she had seriously neglected a program to help elderly Alaskans so badly that it had to be taken over by the Federal Government.

Here is the post I wrote about it back in July 2009: 

State programs intended to help disabled and elderly Alaskans with daily life -- taking a bath, eating dinner, getting to the bathroom -- are so poorly managed, the state cannot assure the health and well-being of the people they are supposed to serve, a new federal review found. 

The situation is so bad the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new people until the state makes necessary improvements. 

No other state in the nation is under such a moratorium, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

In the meantime, frail and vulnerable Alaskans who desperately need the help are struggling. One elderly woman is stuck in a nursing home, for lack of care at home. Another woman, suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, said she's so weak, she often can't even pop dinner into the microwave. 

A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help.

When the Feds took it over they managed to fix it right away, but of course not in time to save those 200+ lives.

So if Sarah Palin cannot even manage to run a small program to help the elderly in a sparsely populated state like Alaska, how could she possibly be able to run the whole VA?

(For those who are interested here is Mudflats take on that story, and Shannyn Moore talking to Keith Olbermann about it.)

While we are on the topic of veteran soldiers it should also be noted that when Palin was governor a soldier named Jeremy Morlock wrote her a letter, which she ignored completely: 

Web mail from: Mr. Jeremy Morlock 
address: 2 bn 1st inf reg bct Ft. Lewis WA 98433 
706-662-7266 

MESSAGE: Mrs. Sarah Palin rnrnSarah I wish I knew of a better way of getting in contact with you and I know your busy having a whole state to run but, I was writing because I had a question to ask. I guess I'll start off by letting you know where im at with things, being in the Army as an lower enslisted man its hard to get things done, I've been looking in to a regulation we have called a 'compassionate reassignment (AR 614-100).' It stipulates under certian circumstances a soldier can request to move duty stations to help care for family in need . I know you have known my family for some time and I think of you all as friends and you know my mother is now taking care of all the girls by herself while trying to keep a job. I'm not asking for pity for my family or myself, I'm just asking if there is anything you could do to help me with my process of getting home to Alaska to help. My direct chain of comand (team, squad leader) have been trying there best to help with out causeing! problems for them selves but, the fact is that my Unit is not really supporting me and trying to coax me to stay. I appreciate your time in reading this and any help you can offer.rnrn sincerely,rnPFC Morlock, Jeremyrn2/1 INF 5 SBCT

Later Morlock would plead guilty to killing innocent Afghan citizens for sport and posing next to their dead bodies.

They even made a documentary about it.

Could Sarah Palin have prevented this tragedy by personally responding to that letter? A letter that came to her from one of her children's friends?

We'll never know, because she did nothing.

The same nothing that she did to protect those 200+ elderly Alaskans.

And the same nothing she will do if she is appointed Secretary of the VA. 

And now a blast from the past.

If you are long time visitors here at IM you are probably well aware that yours truly is often escorted from Palin book signings.

The above video is from the first time it happened, back in 2009 for Palin's "Going Rogue" book tour, and it came as a complete surprise.

Here is what I wrote then:  

My first hint that something may be wrong down in Who-ville was when I was asked for my ID, not once, but twice. Then as Dennis and I were about to sign in, and the lady behind the desk took our picture with a little digital camera! WTF? I have never had anybody do that before at any other event that I attended as a media representative. I wondered why there was such tight security, unaware that my question was only seconds from being answered. 

Almost as soon as I had my picture taken I felt a hand on my shoulder. 

I turned around and came face to face with a local police officer who quickly apologized and then informed me that I was on the "banned list". 

"I am on the WHAT list?" I asked. 

"The banned list sir, I am going to have to escort you off of the property. This is a private event."

Both Dennis Zaki and I were escorted out that day.  And it resulted in quite a backlash against Sarah Palin, her publisher Harper Collins, and the staff in charge of the Curtis C. Menard Memorial Sports Center, where the signing was held.

However I guess I never realized exactly how big of an impact it had on the poor guy who was in charge of the sports center.

The other day Dennis sent me this article from early 2010, that I somehow missed:  

It wasn't the largest event ever held at the Wasilla Sports Complex, or the most lucrative. 

But city recreation and cultural services manager James Hastings said the Dec. 22 book signing that publishing company HarperCollins sponsored for former Gov. Sarah Palin at the facility has been the most controversial by far. 

"The event was easy. The whole thing over being told these folks (on a not-welcome list) can't be here, that was nightmarish," Hastings said. 

Reporters wanted to see the contract between HarperCollins and the city. There was none, Hastings said. The publisher arranged the rental verbally and paid the city electronically. Instructions were handled by e-mail and in a walk-through with Todd Palin before the event. The only written document was instructions he handed out to his staff and three volunteers: A list of names provided by Todd Palin of four people not welcome at the event. 

On the banned list were Dennis Zaki, a photographer who formerly ran the Web site Alaska Report, blogger Jesse Griffin, Anchorage radio host Shannyn Moore and Andree McLeod, an Anchorage activist who filed state ethics complaints against Gov. Palin. 

While neither Moore nor McLeod attended, both Zaki and Griffin were there. After they signed in at the media table that morning, they were told they were banned from attending and escorted out of the building, even though HarperCollins paid $475 to rent only the turf court and mezzanine sections of the sports center. 

Suddenly, with news of a "banned" list, the signing became big news. 

Hastings said that as a result of the hubbub, he plans to end the "handshake and a gentleman's agreement" approach the city has had for one-time rentals. 

"In the next 30 days we're going to have a rental agreement so you write down what you want," Hastings said.

I knew it got a lot of attention, and for awhile Dennis and I even flirted with the idea of suing Harper Collins, but eventually I figured things went back to the usual for the sports center.

Apparently I was mistaken, and our little fracas, for which I continue to proclaim my innocence, resulted in a policy change that continues to this day.

You know the other thing this did was start a trend which Tina Dupuy noticed in 2011, and which inspired her to compile her now famous Sarah Palin's Enemies List.

Of course Dennis and I are on there along with Joe McGinniss and Levi Johnston.

In fact this list became such a status symbol that people were campaigning for the right to be added.

However not to split hairs or anything, but there is "I wrote something critical and now she doesn't like me" enemies, and "The crazy lady hates me so much she keeps throwing me out of book signings" enemies.

Oh, but if you don't think she likes me now, you just wait.

Shannyn Moore showed up on MSNBC this morning and explained WHY it is important for progressives to stay engaged with Alaska politics despite the odds being stacked against us.

Shannyn did great this morning, and reminded the nation that we were once the bluest of states before the oil money and Evangelicals dragged our politics to the dark side.

Former Karl Rove operative, Tim Griffin, says he will NOT seek reelection in Arkansas to "spend more time with his children." Now why does that sound so familiar?

Courtesy of Politico:

 Arkansas Rep. Tim Griffin, a second-term Republican, announced on Monday that he will not seek reelection in 2014, citing a desire to spend more time with his family. 

“It has been an agonizing and difficult decision involving much prayer, thought and discussion. We have decided that now is the time for me to focus intently on my top priority, my family, as Elizabeth and I raise our two young children,” Griffin said in a statement to the Arkansas news site Talk Business. 

“To that end, I will not seek reelection to a third term. I will complete my second term, but I have made no decision as to my plans after Congress except that I will continue in public service, including as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve,” he said. 

In an interview taking place only hours after his announcement Griffin claims that “This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who actually knows me" Well I cannot say that I know this guy, thankfully, but I DO know that he seemed to gladly accept just about every underhanded thing that Karl Rove assigned to him in order to get ahead, and that included purging voting rolls in 2004 to help Bush beat Kerry, and even flying up here to help battle against Alaska's Clean Water Initiative.

So do I really think that little Timmy Griffin has suddenly decided that politics is not for him, and that it is time to stay at home with the kids?

Not on your life.

Stay tuned my friends, I'm pretty sure I smell the scent of a scandal drifting in from Arkansas.

A blast from the past. Why Sarah Palin knows all about "death panels," and why she is throwing stones from the most fragile of glass houses.

It is at times like this that I REALLY miss Keith!

I found it interesting that Shannyn was absolutely correct that Sarah Palin does not "register guilt" whihc now, four years later, is beyond debate. Shannyn was also correct that Palin would never allow HER massive screw ups keep her from attacking the perceived, and sometimes manufactured, screw ups of the President. 

Here is was Politicususa had to say about this back in 2009:

In the case of Sarah Palin’s accusation against Obama, I guess I’m gonna have to go with all three (stupid, lying, and lazy), with a strong emphasis on #2, because during her administration, the state so mismanaged Medicaid that over 250 people died waiting for the program. Hundreds more did not receive treatment. Over eight lawsuits were filed against the state division, bringing the attention of the state auditors, who notified Alaskan officials on June 26 that the entire program was being shut down due to mismanagement. In fact, the Supreme court ruled last year that the state had improperly cut off or reduced services to more than 1,000 needy people. 

“State programs intended to help disabled and elderly Alaskans with daily life — taking a bath, eating dinner, getting to the bathroom — are so poorly managed, the state cannot assure the health and well-being of the people they are supposed to serve, a new federal review found. 

The situation is so bad the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new people until the state makes necessary improvements. 

No other state in the nation is under such a moratorium, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

In the meantime, frail and vulnerable Alaskans who desperately need the help are struggling. One elderly woman is stuck in a nursing home, for lack of care at home. Another woman, suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, said she’s so weak, she often can’t even pop dinner into the microwave. 

The moratorium is expected to last four or five months. State officials estimate about 1,000 Alaskans will be affected. 

A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help… 

The programs cost about $250 million this year, with the federal government currently paying 61 percent of the bill.”

We knew Palin was the TRUE overseer of death panels back in 2009, and before conservatives start jumping on the Palin death panel bandwagon perhaps we should remind them of that fact.

David Letterman confesses to Oprah that he only apologized to Sarah Palin so that he could continue to make fun of her.

OPRAH WINFREY: I saw the apology that you made to Sarah Palin’s daughter. It seemed that you were genuinely apologetic there. 

WINFREY NARRATION: After Sarah Palin attended a New York Yankees game with her 14-year-old daughter Willow, David cracked a sex joke about a baseball player and the young girl. Letterman says he thought Sarah Palin was with her oldest daughter, Bristol, who made headlines when she became pregnant at age 17. 

WINFREY TO LETTERMAN: Why did you apologize? 

LETTERMAN: I’ll tell you why I apologized. I felt like Sarah Palin was somebody I wanted to continue to be able to make fun of and I felt like if I don’t apologize, if I don’t sincerely express my regret, I will not be able to go forward making fun of her. And truly, I felt bad for the 14-year-old. You know, that was just like, oh nice going, you got the wrong daughter. That was just dumb, stupid joke that fell into dumb luck and got worse.

You know Sarah Palin, and the Right Wing noise machine. blew this WAY out of proportion when it happened to continue the meme that Sarah Palin was being unfairly attacked by the Left.

I always believed that pretty much everybody knew that he meant Bristol, simply because SHE was the one who had a child out of wedlock. It would only have been a funny joke if it was Bristol, and by the way it was pretty funny.

I remember yelling "NO" at the screen when i heard Letterman apologize because I KNEW that it fed into their victimization mythology and that it would set a bad precedent for others who wanted to make jokes about the family or expose the truth about who they really were.

As it turned out I kind of think that Letterman's apology emboldened them enough that they felt confident in threatening Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore with a lawsuit a month later, and then of course also came after me.

However in the interest of wanting to continue making fun of Sarah Palin one can hardly blame Letterman for doing what he felt he had to in order to get back to the jokes.

P.S. By the way at the end of this video Oprah asks Letterman if he ever felt bad about hurting someone's feelings with a joke, he replies that he has and that he has even called to apologize after ward a number of times.

I think we can say with some confidence that he NEVER called Sarah Palin. Because if he had it would have been broadcast ALL OVER Fox News.

(H/T to Mediaite.)

Shannyn Moore is hosting the FDL Book Salon with Blind Allegiance co-author Jeanne Devon right now! Update!

Just click here, head on over and join the party!

You can still order your copy of Blind Allegiance by clicking here.

Update: Okay everybody hold off on condemning Frank over this supposed "donation to fight for parental consent, even for  incest victims."

Phil called me before he went over to FDL and said he thought it was mentioned in the back of Bailey's book, though HE had not yet seen it.  If it is I have not been able to find it so far.

He also said Frank mentioned it while being interviewed by Dana Loesch.  I just listened to the interview and (unless I missed it) there was absolutely no mention of this. (You can listen for yourself here.)

I also just received an e-mail from Jeanne Devin and she has never heard anything about this.

So before we all go off half cocked, let's make sure this information is accurate.  Right now Phil is the SOLE source of this information. I know that Frank is a supporter of parental consent, but I have NO concrete evidence that he is donating the proceeds of this book to that cause.

Update 2: I just heard back from Jeanne again.

Bailey has NO plans to donate any money to Pro-Life programs of any kind.

I have no idea why Phil made this accusation, but it has NO validity, and was NOT found in the two places that he identified such a statement could be found.

To repeat, this is a FALSE statement, and should not keep anyone from purchasing this book.

Shannyn Moore reminds Alaskans of their progressive roots. Update: Link added.

Shannyn wrote a very interesting commentary for Saturday's ADN.  Here is just a portion:

Six years before our country gave women suffrage, Alaska granted women the right to vote. In 1922, a Tlingit chief, Charlie Jones, was jailed for voting. His protest led to Native Alaskans getting the right to vote two years before Native Americans. In 1944, Roberta Schenck, a Native woman, sat in the "White's Only" section of the movie theatre in Nome. She was dragged out and jailed. Schenck was Alaska's Rosa Parks. Because of her bravery and the moving testimony of Elizabeth Peratrovich, Territorial Gov. Ernest Gruening signed an anti-discrimination law on February 16, 1945.

In 1970, a Republican-ruled Senate decriminalized abortion three years prior to Roe v. Wade. Our privacy laws are the strongest in the country. Do we really need a "Choose Life" license plate?

There is little wonder why Alaska was ahead of the curve. If you fall through the ice, off a boat, or are stranded in the wilderness, a potential rescuer's gender or race is irrelevant; we're interdependent.

I urge you to click the link provided above and read the entire article. It is really quite good.

Strong willed people often butt heads over a variety of topics, and differing points of view, and so it is with Shannyn and I. However we will forever be tied together through our love of Alaska, our shared scars from the battles against Palin and her ilk, and our desire to see politics in Alaska returned to their ethical, and dare  I say progressive, roots.

We lost a member of our family yesterday.

Yesterday Roger "Bones" Ranch died after his trailer caught fire in the early morning hours.

Roger was a man well known to his many friends for having the gruffest of exteriors surrounding a heart of purest gold.

He looked very much like one might imagine Santa Claus would look if Santa dropped some weight and took on a combative, take no prisoners attitude.  And just like Mr. Claus, Roger was omnipresent.

He was everywhere.  And I DO mean everywhere.  If you were at a rally, he was there.  If you were at a meeting of Democrats, he was there.  If you were protesting something that needed protesting, you could damn sure count on the fact that he was there!

I met Roger for the first time at Shannyn Moore's house.  He had been standing off to the side by himself, but when somebody mentioned out loud that I was Gryphen he made a beeline right for me, shook my hand vigorously and told me he loved my blog.  This was over two years ago and I was still not used to meeting people in the real world who knew me from the internet.  But Roger had nothing but nice things to say, at first.  (Later in our friendship he had no compunction about providing me wtih suggestions for things I should write about in the future and what I should stay away from as well.)

He was very smart, very knowledgeable about local issues, and very free with his opinion.  I always came away from our interactions a little shell shocked but much better informed then when he first walked up.

After that I first time I saw Roger frequently at rallies, political events, parties, and protests, and always he made a point of walking up and shaking my hand and telling me what a good job I was doing. He was a HUGE supporter of all of the Alaska blogs and usually left comments under the name "BonesAK," a name left over from his days as a medic in the military and while working as a physician's assistant in Bethel.

Once Roger slipped a 50 dollar bill in my hand during a handshake, and though I tried to give it back, he would have none of it.  He said that what I did was extremely important and the least he could do was to give me a couple of bucks to help me do it.

I cannot tell you how much of a loss to our state, to our politics, and to our community, the passing of Roger Ranch will be.  There is just no tool with which to measure it. 

For me personally I know I will miss the sound of his gravelly voice, his infectious booming laugh, and his gentle spirit always clearly visible beneath his craggy features and behind his playful dancing eyes. Roger was a man who lived a full, and sometimes difficult life, but he never lost his enthusiasm for the promise of tomorrow. He was a tireless advocate for social issues, the squeakiest of wheels when one was required, and a passionate believer in the power of the individual to make a difference.

Good bye my friend. And thank you for everything you did to make this state, and this country, a better, saner, place for all of us to live.  We owe you a great debt that can only be repaid by earning the faith you placed in us and doing the work that you trusted we would continue to do.

Namaste Roger, Namaste.

If you wish you can read more about Roger over at Mudflats.

Shannyn Moore is moving.

From the Alaska Ear:

WHOA . . . Left-wing opinionator Shannyn Moore is moving her radio show to a FOX affiliate.

Did your head explode? Ear's lobe is dangling in fragments. But it's true, darlings, starting Monday. Here's the story as reported by ADN's Elizabeth Bluemink: KUDO, the local progressive (i.e., liberal) station is going off the air. Owner IBEW wants out of the radio business. Mike Robbins, who's been running KUDO for the union, is starting a new station -- KOAN. Motto: "FOX News 1020, Fair and Balanced for Alaska."

The new station's lineup will include well-known FOX News personalities, including lefty Alan Colmes. It will also include Shannyn and the other local hosts from KUDO, Robbins said. He thinks the mix is going to make for very interesting talk radio.

Shannyn said she's good to go. "Nothing's changing for me," she said Friday. Same show, same opinions, same producer, same studio, same time. Just a slightly different spot on the dial.

 This kind of took me by surprise as well.  I have been dutifully listening to KUDO as I do my errands around town virtually every day and had no idea there were problems behind the scenes.

Well anyhow it is good to know that Shannyn's voice will not be silenced.  Let's see 1080 to 1020, that is only a few clicks of the radio dial, I guess I can manage that.

I just hope I don't have to sit through any of those crappy Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity promos like I did when Shannyn was over at her OLD conservative home on KBYR.

Rachel Maddow films her show in Alaska and I get to sit in the audience. Please do not pinch me, because if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up!

Here is the show's opening.  The bar is called the "Taproot" on Spenard road.



Directly behind Rachel on the left you can see Jeanne Devon (Mudflats), Linda Kellen Biegel is also there (Celtic Diva). I am directly behind Rachel's head and you will see me intermittently.  Shannyn Moore of course was interviewed by Maddow, and that video is embedded below.

Much of the show focuses on Rachel's difficulty getting an interview with Joe Miller, and of course how awkwardly it went when she finally did get it, but she also interviewed both Lisa Murkowski and Scott McAdams. Here is the segment that contains those interviews, and here is an additional piece where Rachel visits McAdams campaign headquarters.

In this segment Rachel interviews one of the great Alaskans who crafted our constitution, Vic Fisher, and Shannyn Moore.



I love that Vic Fisher reminds the viewers that the constitution is a "framework for the future" and was never meant, either the Alaskan or American version, to be "static and forgotten forever."  Quick somebody show this to Joe Miller, THEN he might know what in the hell he is talking about! Or better yet make him talk to Vic, like Rachel pointed out, he is still right here to explain to people if they don't get it!

Here Rachel arrives in Alaska and meets Tank Jones. (Yes I talked to Tank last night, but he asked me not to blog about it, so I won't.)  In this segment Maddow has a very informative conversation with Miller supporters, and learns how uneducated they are about the issues that they claim to be so upset about.

And finally here is the "interview on the run" that Rachel was finally able to get with Miller.  Go ahead and try to make sense of his answers to Rachel's questions about gay rights, I double dog dare you.



What a rude vaguely bearded prick! Personally I am embarrassed that Rachel had to see that side of Alaska.  Miller and his followers represent the very worst of us, and it is with great shame that I watch how he treated somebody who I respect a great deal on national television.

As I mentioned in the comments section earlier, I DID get a chance to meet and talk to Rachel briefly at the Dena'ina Center right before she interviewed Miller.

I believe this picture was taken right at the moment that she told me that she has been reading my blog. Yeah, I was pretty stunned as well!

I don't believe I have the words to describe how cool yesterday was for me.  Essentially it rocked!

I thought the highlight of my week, hell my month, would be attending the "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, now I am not so sure.  Jon and Stephen are going to really have to pull out teh stops in order to beat my amazing day watching the filming of the "Rachel Maddow Show" and meeting her face to face.

So guess who is going to see Rachel Maddow tonight?

Photo borrowed from Mudflats

Yep, I am one of the lucky few to get a ticket to the big show tonight, and I have to admit I am pretty jazzed.

As most of you are no doubt aware I have been HUGE fan of Maddow's since I first saw her making appearances on MSNBC.

And why wouldn't I be? She is BRILLIANT, and has the best research staff on the planet!

Anyhow when you watch the show tonight, and hear a voice saying "I can't believe I am here!  I am so excited!  Did she just look at me? Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" THAT is not me.  I am sooo MUCH cooler than that.

I will try to get pictures and post them tomorrow, but I make no promises.  I suck as a photographer and they will probably all be of my thumb, or out of focus, or of the inside of my jacket pocket.  But I will try.

Oh and while we are on the subject of television shows I guess you might all be interested to know that the BBC were here at my house yesterday to interview me. The piece was about Sarah Palin and the midterm elections and, according to the producer, will be broadcast this Friday night on BBC World News America.

I am not sure how I did (I hate being on television!), but you can all judge for yourselves this Friday if you are fortunate enough get the BBC on your telly. 

It will be online as well and they are sending me a link.  However I will be in Washington and I am not sure if I will have the time to post it. Or, if after I see the interview, I will even want to post it.

Anyhow stay tuned because this is going to be a busy week, and I am sure to get into trouble at least a few times before the weekend.  You know how I am.

Shannyn Moore interviews Tony Hopfinger, the guy Joe Miller's goons handcuffed last Sunday, on "Moore Up North."

Scott McAdams on Moore Up North.

Part 1 of Shannyn's interview with the Democratic candidate for the Senate: McAdams discusses how he decided to toss his hat into the ring.



Part Two: Scott McAdams may be the FIRST Alaskan politician who is really serious and knowledgeable about renewable energy.



Part Three: McAdams takes questions from the audience.



(Look to around the 9:00 mark on this video for one of the best defenses of the health care bill that we have heard for some time from a Democrat.  Scott demonstrates his backbone by refusing to run from the bill, and instead digs in to defend it.  Now THAT is my kind of Democrat!

You know one of the selling points that are used to shove the horribly unqualified Teabagger candidates down the voter's throats is that they are new and untainted by Washington politics.  Well Scott McAdams is also new and untainted by Washington politics. However he is also a man of obvious integrity who has NOT attempted to define himself as the exact opposite of what his history proves him to be.  Unlike everybody's favorite hypocrite Joe Miller.  

And he is also not somebody who has sold their very soul to the big oil companies like Lisa Murkowski has either. 

Scott McAdams is, in a very real way, EXACTLY what voters who are looking for change in Washington should be attracted to.  He owes NOTHING to big corporations, has a vision for tackling our energy needs (that does NOT have to be written on his palm!), and has a very real understanding of what the needs of Alaskans are in this state.  And not just the Alaskans who live in Anchorage either!

So look if you are one of the poor unfortunates who was tricked into voting for Joe Miller because you had NO idea how full of shit he was, then you can easily rectify that mistake by casting a vote for the candidate who is looking to the future, and NOT trying to drag us back to the past.

Go ahead and go wild! Vote for Scott McAdams.  I won't tell your conservative friends if you don't!

P.S. The very first segment in Shannyn's show laid out why it is virtually impossible for Lisa Murkowski to win as a write in candidate.  If you are still thinking of voting for Lisa then click here and see why that would be a waste of your vote.

Fellow Alaskan blogger, and staunch Republican, Andrew Halcro identifies who HE would vote for in a matchup between Joe the Teabagger and Democrat Scott McAdams.

I don't agree with Halcro too many issues but he guy knows his Alaskan  politics and what he sees in Joe Miller is something that bothers him very deeply.

In my opinion the REAL Republicans in Alaska should follow Halcro's lead and run, not walk, to the polls to vote for Scott McAdams in the general election.  At least he understands the needs of Alaskans, and is not pandering to a group of angry Teabaggers living in the Lower 48.

BTW if you want to see Andrew's full interview on Moore up North please click here  for part one and here for part two.

Joe McGinniss is a guest on "Moore up North".

Part One.



Part Two



Part Three



Part Four

One Homer resident's brush with Sarah Palin leads to a confrontation and a trampling of her first amendment rights.

From Mudflats:

Risking accusations of being all “Wee-Wee’d Up“, one Homer woman made a sign in her shed. She then took the 30 foot by 3 foot banner out to the boat harbor. It said “WORST GOVERNOR EVER“. Kathleen Gustafson is a teacher married to a local commercial fisherman. She felt like Sarah Palin had let the state down by becoming a dollar-chasing celebrity and ignoring the oath of office she’d sworn on a Bible.

Kathleen was motivated by the fact Palin was using the very place where her family makes a living to fortify the Palin personality cult-pretending to do the very thing they worked so hard to sustain. Initially, Kathleen just wanted to waste a little of the camera crew’s time, since Palin wasted so much of her time purporting to represent Alaska’s interests.

She didn’t imagine Palin would be so easy to draw out.

For anybody who wants to get a glimpse of the REAL Sarah Palin, Shannyn Moore's post, and the accompanying video, are a must see!

(By the way Bristol is also in the video, and though she is wearing a jacket, it appears that the rumors about her pregnancy may turn out to be just that, rumors.)

Update:  It appears that a local reporter was also left singed by his brush with Palin and her minions.

Update 2: Okay I watched that video a couple of more times, and now I am not at all sure that was Bristol in the red jacket.  That may very well have been Willow.  Sometimes those two girls look SO much alike. (Okay that is DEFINITELY Willow.  I slowed the video down and when she looks directly at the camera there is no doubt.  Sorry for the confusion, when I was first tipped off that this video existed the tipper had already identified the girl as Bristol, and I guess I did not have my early morning eyes focused well enough to notice the mistake.)

Shannyn Moore also has something to say about Palin's snotty condemnation of President Obama via Facebook

As posted on Mudflats:

While Palin was governor, the largest onshore spill in Alaska history (210,000 gallons) went undetected for at least five days. Three BP gas and oil pipelines on Alaska’s North Slope clogged or ruptured between September 2008 and November 2009. All while Palin was preoccupied with shopping, campaigning, race baiting and getting a book deal. BP had another spill in December 2009 when a pipeline, while being inspected, broke from its well housing. Six acres of Alaskan tundra was contaminated. The DOJ began an investigation. The Alaska Attorney General, Talis Colberg, was too busy advising Todd Palin and other Palin aids to ignore subpoenas to notice.

Shannyn brings up many facts about Palin's tenure as our half term governor that I had actually forgotten and shoves them right back into her face....book, so I urge ALL of you to head on over to Mudflats and give it a read.  It also fills in a lot of blanks that I did not touch upon with my post yesterday and goes even further in defining the amazing depths of Sarah Palin's hypocrisy.

Update:  As many of you have already noticed Mudflats is struggling under an onslaught of adoration and has been difficult to access this morning.  However the post that I linked to, written by Shannyn Moore, is also up at Huffington Post, so for the time being perhaps we should all head over there to read it and give the Flats time to recover.

Shannyn Moore discovers that Joe McGinniss is by no means the most unsavory sort to live next door to Sister Sarah.

From the Huffington Post:

The home Joe McGinniss is renting used to be an Oxford House from 2005 until 2008. The tenants were men recently released from prison who were recovering addicts. What? No fence to protect sexy Sarah in her tank top? Dear God! Who was lurking in that house watching her children play?

The Palins themselves rented the home McGinnis is staying in for six months in 2009, but weren't interested in purchasing it. They didn't want to spend the money. Last October they were "done with the house". During the election, the Secret Service guarded the Palin home from the backyard now occupied by Mr. McGinnis. Here's a hint, Sarah - if you want to dictate who lives in the house, you should have probably bought it first.

It's predictable Palin.

So let's get this straight. 

Sarah Palin, and her precious children, have as neighbors a variety of men who have JUST been released from prison, for THREE WHOLE YEARS!  And during this time they do not feel concerned enough about their "safety" to either build a fence, or to raise a stink about the possibility of peeping toms or potential sex offenders living next door. Yet when a famous AUTHOR moves in to the very same house they go into a blind panic and act as if they are under siege from a terrorist?

Gee I wonder if she mowed her lawn while wearing shorts and a tanktop when the house was occupied with drug addicts and ex-cons?

And by the way didn't Sarah claim that she tried to purchase the house on the Glenn Beck show yesterday?  Is that yet another lie Ms. Palin?

Update:  It looks like the Palin media machine has recruited ABC to get THEIR version of the story out to the masses.



Wow they have really spun this segment in order to show Mr. McGinniss in the worst light imaginable.

I don't think there is any doubt that Sarah is in a blind panic and throwing every weapon she has in her arsenal at Joe to get him of the story.

Moore Up North for March 27,2010

In this first segment Shannyn interviews Paul Honeman, once a mayoral candidate, now a candidate for the Anchorage Assembly Seat H.



Part Two: Introduces the panelists this week: Tom Wescott, President of the International Association of Firefighters Local 1264, Derek Hsieh, President of the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, and Vince Beltrami, President of the Alaska AFL-CIO.



Part Three: In this segment Tom Wescott explains the truth about Mark Begich's so called "sweetheart" deal for the unions. The short version is don't get your information from conservative talk radio.



Part Four



Part Five: Questions from the audience. We learn why cutting funds for city rescue units is a BAD idea! For those who could not figure that out for themselves.