Sarah!

September 03, 2008
How Sarah Palin Handled Corruption
By Cynical Alaskan

From an Alaskan who is a very serious cynic about all things political, here is my take on Sarah.I met and spoke with Sarah Palin about two years ago at our downtown park strip. It is a place for walking, carnivals, political outdoor things and such. She was cooking hotdogs at a fund raiser and introducing herself to the public as a Governor hopeful.

She came by and said the usual "Hi, I'm Sarah Palin and I am running for Governor"... and I expected her to keep on to the next person but she asked me who I was and what I did in Alaska and we ended up talking for 15 minutes about me, Air America (she was all agog!) and my career in the Army and AAM. She is a pilot (Super Cub) I'm told, although all she told me about that was that she loved flying.As I watched her successful run for governor over the next six months, I was really impressed. In fact I already was impressed greatly even before that, after she resigned a good position (Alaska Gas and Oil Regulatory Commission) because a fellow Commission member (Chair of the Alaska Republican Party) misused his office and position. He was using the fax, computers, printing room and all to promote the Republican endeavors while in a state job. That is a huge no-no in any government employment position.

She resigned and made her point, and within weeks Randy Ruderich (the above bad guy) found his butt out on the street and a subsequent investigation found him guilty and he was fined $12,000. Small change actually but a giant point was made.

Next she went after our most horrible Governor ever, Governor Murkowski, and damned if she didn't beat him! All of us here in Alaska, except the Democrats, are sick of our state's corruption. That fact was shouted to the heavens after she was elected with an overwhelming point spread.

After she got into office she started going after corrupt legislators, and with the FBI's help we've put four of them in prison, indicted six more and the "Corrupt Bastard's Club" as they arrogantly called themselves (even had hats made with CBC on the front!) suddenly found it no fun anymore.

The current flap which has cost her a ten point loss of popularity (she's still 82%!) was over firing a popular Commissioner of Public Safety who is responsible for our Alaska State Troopers. She fired him for no stated reason, which was her prerogative as the guv. He served entirely at her option. She and her whole family had a bad, bad experience with a rogue Trooper who was married to Sarah's sister. His name is Trooper Wooten. This dimwit Trooper had threatened Sarah's father (death threat!), threatened Sarah ("I'll get you too"), Tasered his 12 year old stepson, drove drunk in his AST cruiser, got a pass by a fellow Trooper who stopped him for erratic driving a second time while in civvies, and just a host of other things not yet released to the public. He got away with it and got another pass by the Commissioner's appointed AST Trooper Internal Affairs investigator with a tiny slap on the wrist. Five days off without pay to be exact.

This maverick Trooper is still on the payroll but only just. The union's intervention saved his malcontent butt. He'll yet get his, I'm sure. Incredible heat is being heaped on the Troopers. Public heat, not the Governors office.

The Democrats had the audacity to appoint an obviously biased investigator, Rep. "Gunny" French (so called because he lied about being in the USMC while running for the legislature) is a staunch liberal and probably under the orders of Senate President Lyda Green who hates Sarah. She hates Sarah because after being elected Governor Sarah told the whole Legislature in one of her first meetings with them that, quote; "All of you here need some Adult Supervision!"Sarah was seriously angry and not afraid of anyone there. That played wonderfully well with Alaskans. We are sick of all of our corruption watched her successful battles against a seriously entrenched corrupt government before she took on the legislature. The whole legislature was angry back at her and still are, but also afraid of her because of her popularity.

She reminds me personally of our Alaska wolverine which will fight anything in its path if it sees fit to do so. No respect at all for size or position.

In closing I must tell you that she is the best, most moral and most focused leader I've seen since President Reagan. I feel, really strongly that like Alaska, the rest of our country will love her within a few weeks. Put simply, she represents Middle America like no leader we've ever had.

I think McCain made a totally brilliant move in choosing her. She's a maverick who is probably tougher and more focused than McCain himself... and she won't be a total yes man, or more appropriately, yes woman. McCain will love her.

In 2012 she will be President.

Happy weekend!

This has been a good weekend, I'm not sure if it's because the week was so hectic or what, but the weekend so far has been great! I got a lot of scrapping done today, went to Cabela's and spent some money, stopped by mom and Bob's to visit Miss Mittens. Mom and Bob have been in Colorado for the past week, so Mittens was feeling her oats a little bit I think, she got me good with her claws and bit me - just playing, but that didn't make it hurt any less! Ouch! I love that cat... Ha ha ha...

We went to Qdoba's for dinner - they have the best chicken quesillidas, I love them - almost as much as I love Chipotle's. I said almost!

Meg came home tonight, lots of laundry in tow, so while she worked on that we listened to the Sarah Palin stuff Steve had recorded for me this week while I was working, and then we played some Scrabble. I miss Scrabble when she's gone, I have no one else to play with. So, now, I'm finally headed off to bed, when I get tired, I mean...

Went to the rheumatologist this weekend and she started me on a predisone burst. Her thinking was that everyone's body normally produces about 5 mg of steroids per day and since I've been taking prednisone for so long, my adrenal glands probably have shut down, and I'm only getting the 5 mg that I take daily and my body needs more for the anti-inflammatory effect. I was a little doubtful because after taking 15 mg for 3 days I wasn't feeling any different, but yesterday and today I've really noticed a difference and I feel much better. Shocking! She did a cortisol test on Tuesday when I had my MRI - oh did I forget to mention that? Anyway, she'll be letting me know about that probably this coming week. Might need to take more prednisone every day, which doesn't thrill me, but feeling good is definitely worth it! And the MRI was for my back. I've noticed for about 4 years that my left leg would get numb when I walked or or stood for any length of time, but now both my legs get tingly and numb even when I'm sitting, so off to the MRI last week. Not my favorite thing, but not the worst thing either. At least it wasn't of my head this time, so I didn't have to wear that stupid thing that feels like a football helmet. They give you earphones so you can listen to the radio - even asked what station I wanted to listen to, but the machine makes so much noise, who could hear the radio? But, if you turned up the radio to drown out the machine, you'd be deaf by the end of the procedure. Guess at least it muffled the machine a bit. Those machines always set my OCD off though, I feel like I have to count the number of bangs and thumps you hear. It's like trying to count the number of times a jackhammer hits concrete - darn near impossible, but I've been counting everything since Tuesday... That's driving me nuts! ha ha...

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous! I think we're going to have an early winter though, the leaves are already falling like mad, the sumac is already red and some trees are already orange and red, looks more like the middle of October than just the middle of September. I'm loving sleeping with the windows open though, so I don't care. Although I think tomorrow we might have to rake some leaves before I lose myself in scrapping again. Our house faces the south and the wind just swirls leaves (and snow) in front of the garage doors, we'll be tracking in leaves from now on if we don't get some raked up. As long as it's nice in the morning, sounds like a plan to me.

That's about it I guess! More later!