I have a quick message for everyone still on the “Sarah Palin in 2012” bandwagon.
If you want to live in a country run by a woman who tries to silence the media, uses public resources for her own personal projects, believes in her own lies as if they are true, and pretends to be God, there’s already a country like that.
It’s called North Korea.
FBI Confirms Rumors of Investigation
The FBI confirmed yesterday there are rumors of a criminal investigation of Palin:
“‘There is absolutely no truth to those rumors that we’re investigating her or getting ready to indict her,’ Special Agent Eric Gonzalez, the bureau’s Alaska spokesman, said.”
(Source: Associated Press; quoted under fair use.)
I don’t see how Palin could sue Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore for saying there are rumors of a criminal investigation when even the FBI acknowledges there are, in fact, such rumors. So far as I know, Moore never said the rumors are true. In fact, she explicitly offered an alternative “theory” about why Palin quit.
I have my own theory about why Palin quit: She’s a quitter!
I’d like to see crackpiper sue me for calling her a quitter. I’d win that one hands down! Because, you see, she did in fact quit and truth is a defense. I’d likely have a claim against crackpiper for my defense costs in this scenario.
It’s interesting that Palin’s attorney threatened to sue the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, and MSNBC for propagating speculation that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena when none of those media outlets made any explicit reference to speculation that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
Inferentially, these media outlets didn’t explicitly mention speculation that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena is because after due diligence they don’t have any confirmation that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
I don’t have the resources to conduct due diligence or independent investigative journalism, so I’m certainly not going to suggest that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena because I simply don’t have any information that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
Personally, I think Palin and her attorney are overreacting to speculation that she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena because the media isn’t saying she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
Until there’s some reason to believe Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena I don’t believe she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena; and as far as I know, nobody else believes she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
So, I don’t see why she’s so bent out of shape about speculation that she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena, when nobody is saying she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
@2
Roger, this post was partially inspired by an episode of Parks and Recreation (the new show with Amy Poehler), where the mayor (a right-wing douche with an entitlement complex) starts yelling at an oversight board about how there’s too much regulation by saying “this isn’t North Korea!”
Then later in the episode, he’s asked how government should work, and his response was identical to how the North Korea government functions. I’m not sure how many people actually caught that, but I loved it.
Lee, you’re a piece of garbage.
The city of Wasilla, and the State of Alaska, are nothing like North Korea.
Go blow your brains you, you fucking lying, intolerant, hate-filled nut. People like you are bad for America.
Palin’s lawyer did a fairly persuasive job of debunking any speculation that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
(Note: I never heard any speculation that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena so until her lawyer came along I didn’t even know there was speculation that she embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.)
Apparently this speculation focuses on the fact the Palins’ home was built with equipment and building supplies from the same suppliers who built the Wasilla sports arena.
As the lawyer points out, Wasilla didn’t have a Home Depot or Lowe’s Home Improvement Center back then, so Spenard’s Building Supply was about the only place you could get lumber.
The lawyer also pointed out that while Mayor Palin was instrumental in getting her town to build an expensive sports arena, the actual bidding and construction was managed by others, and she had no control over the bidding or construction management.
The lawyer also offered an alternative theory about how the Palins paid for their home: They “used a combination of personal savings, equity from the sale of their prior home, and conventional bank financing.”
That sounds more plausible to me than the speculation that she embezzled funds in the construction of the Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
Still, you gotta wonder why such a small town needs such a big and expensive sports arena. I mean, doesn’t that call her judgment and priorities into question? And isn’t that relevant to whether she has the judgment and priorities we want to see in a presidential candidate?
@5
I wasn’t comparing Alaska to North Korea, I was comparing Sarah Palin to Kim Jong-Il.
It was a joke. Get a life.
@5
“Go blow your brains you, you fucking lying, intolerant, hate-filled nut. People like you are bad for America.”
I have to believe you recognized the irony while typing that.
Man, I go off the grid for a couple days and Steve McNair extends the celbrity death streak, Palin quits because people said mean things about her, Michael Jackson’s funeral is going to sell out the Staples Center? Everything’s gone completely mad I tell you!
@5…Troll…
Here I will rise to Lee’s defense.
His commentary is good for America because it exposes the paucity of thinking on the far left, a segment of the vox populi that thinks it won in November, but finds its policies often getting short shrift (witness the last session of the Washington State Legislature).
I don’t want him to blow out his brains or do the other stuff you suggest – I want him to continue on since the cumulative effect of what he says only serves to further discredit his cause.
But I’ll bet deep down he’s not a bad guy, especially since he has a brand new son upon whom, by Facebook accounts, he dotes on. That’s a good thing, a mellowing thing.
So, we should cut him some slack since he might have been up all night tending to little Zach, who, by his picture, is as cute as a bug’s ear!
The Piper
The Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla, Alaska, is a 2,500-seat arena that’s home to the Alaska Avalanche, an amateur team of 16 to 20 year-olds in the North American Hockey League’s West Division.
The arena was built in 2002 at a cost $14.7 million raised by increasing local sales taxes. Original plans called for a 5,000-seat arena. As of the 2000 census Wasilla had a population of 5,459 people. Apparently everyone there watches hockey when they’re not fucking because there isn’t anything else to do. It should be noted that even if the 5,000-seat plan had been built there still would have been 459 people who couldn’t get into the games. Maybe they should have paid for the arena by holding lotteries for tickets, instead of jacking up taxes.
So who’s this Curtis D. Menard guy they named the arena for? Well, first of all, he’s dead. Apparently folks in Wasilla, Alaska, follow the naming conventions used elsewhere, ergo, you have to be dead to get your name on an important public building, unless you donate $100 or more for its construction (in which case, you get your name on a brick or a paver) or are a big politician.
My research indicates Menard was a one-armed dentist and bush pilot. He lost his arm by touching a live power line while surveying his field for a landing strip, but that’s neither here nor there. What’s interesting is that he practiced dentistry and flew a plane with a prosthetic arm. He also was a state legislator and Wasilla mayor, which I guess is about as big a politician as anyone can get to be in those parts, unless they get picked to run for vice president on a national ticket that doesn’t have a chance to win. Menard died of cancer in March 2009, so I assume they named the arena for him very recently, and Palin had nothing to do with the naming. Maybe Palin intended to name it for herself, I don’t know.
Anyway, building a 2,500-seat hockey arena costing $14.7 million in a town of 5,459 people does seem a bit strange. Even if the mayor who pushed it through is a hockey mom. That sure looks like special-interest spending to me.
@5 Lee didn’t say Wasilla or Alaska are like North Korea. He didn’t even imply it. He implied Republicans are like North Koreans. Which is true.
@7 “It was a joke.”
It was? Coulda fooled me. I don’t see any difference between Palin and Jong Kim-Il, except she doesn’t have the Bomb yet. But she’s working on it.
@9 “I don’t want him to blow out his brains”
At least you’re consistently pro-life, we gotta give you that, pooper.
@9
The fact that you think I’m on the “far-left” (I’m actually more of a libertarian) is actually pretty damn funny in and of itself.
@14…Lee…
Does your libertarian perspective encompass economics, property rights, and the freedom of the marketplace?
The Piper
I am really going to miss Sarah Palin. I went back and looked at some of the old video of her with Cathy Couric and answering questions on the “Bush doctrine” and I will miss those deer-in-the-headlights, total gibberish, completely misreading the question replies.
What a refreshing newcomer to politics – someone who lacks the intelligence or even the filter to stop spewing out nonsense.
She was certainly entertaining. Why she is quitting…who knows? I couldn’t really figure it out from her speech. However, if this is the best the republicans can come up with (an incoherent quitter), than bring it on in 2012.
Just the chance of seeing her in a debate…that would be priceless.
@15
To some extent, yes. I’m not as doctrinaire as many libertarians, but I arguably share as much common ground with the folks at CATO as I do with many progressives.
@7
If she were really like KJI, then why weren’t city and state that she ran like North Korea?
At least Palin believes in a two-party system. I think Lee would be happier in a one-party country.
@17…Lee…
To some extent? How much?
More or less regulation and control over the economy, health care, the environment, and other policy areas?
Would you side with, say, an objectivist like Ayn Rand? We’ve had some discussion over at FB regarding Milton Friedman, but do you endorse his belief in the supremacy of markets over regulation? What about Ron Paul, who wants to ditch the Federal Reserve?
Cato’s mission, as stated on its Web site, is, “The mission of the Cato Institute is to increase the understanding of public policies based on the principles of limited government, free markets, individual liberty, and peace.” Sounds a lot like the mission statement of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation.
The Piper
Mr. Piper Dude:
if you believe in markets and liberty than please answer these questions:
1. do you agree the state can intervene and take away your liberty and your kids’ liberty and require they be eduated either at school ro at home thus taking away private and amily liberty for years and years and years for the “common good”?
2. do you believe the state can regulate you and require you to house, clothe and feed your kids?
3. do you believe there should be a free market in marriage, or hsould the state restirct that marketplace so that only certain products are allowed, being a marraige between a man, and a woman, not related, over the age of consent and not married to someone else?
How do you reconcile your belief that the government should be limited and markets should rule if you think we should have oto feed and educate kids or if you think the state should be in the marriage business?
Your response is appreciated.
I’d also ask you about taxing people to pay for roads and surveys and a land office and title recording systems but this is enough for now.
Other libertarians/free market ideologues fee free to chime in.
Why no free market in family and marriage?
Who said this about Sarah Palin?
Hint: She is the republican Senator from Alaska.
Bill Kristol and the bandwagon for Palin has come to an abrupt halt….
I think we’ve had about all of Friedman’s “supremacy of markets over regulation” that we can stand. Once again, hard realiy has shown that Republican theology does not work. That shit is over.
Um, Piper, why don’t you tell us about Sarah Palin’s fabulous poll numbers again? You know, how well she stacks up against Obama and all?
@17 I feel your frustration, Lee. Pooper and the other trolls don’t seem to understand I’m a fucking capitalist even though I frequently post about fucking cute fluffy female bunnies and gambling in the stock market.
@18 Who says they aren’t?
@19 What’s your authority for this assertion? Cite, please.
@21(3) Now there’s an idea — why not legalize polygamy?
[thudding sounds in background]
Hmm … Mrs. Rabbit doesn’t like the idea, that’s why …
[more thumping noises]
@23 Actually, free markets do work; that is, when they’re truly free and if you have traffic cops, so to speak, to keep the rip-off artists in check.
But Republicans don’t like free markets. They prefer monopolies, no-bid government contracts, eliminating competition, market-rigging and price-fixing, as the last 8 years demonstrated.
Keeping markets free, so they can function as free markets, is a Democratic idea.
@24 I’m surprised Pooper hasn’t threatened to sue me for denying that Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena.
@20
I believe that government should not interfere in markets when it concerns the free will of individuals and their moral choices. This is an extension of things written by Jefferson and Bastiat and others (Friedman) who conservatives cite for their philosophical underpinnings.
I also believe that we should err on the side of individual liberty when it comes to many property rights disputes (which is why I’m often wary of various environmental regulations, eminent domain zealousness, affirmative action, and gun control).
On the other hand, I make a distinction between the pursuit of pleasure and the pursuit of profit. And we’ve seen how an unregulated financial system can self-destruct even when the individuals within the system act in their own rational self interest. This is where I diverge from many of the CATO-type folks, although as we saw with Greenspan’s recent mea culpa about putting too much faith in de-regulation, many of them are rethinking their previous ideologies as well.
I’m not sure how you could measure where I am on that scale, but I believe both progressives and free market conservatives have valid perspectives, and they both make attempts to achieve greater liberty. I think our freedom is maximized when those two competing forces duke it out in a democratic marketplace of ideas.
How is affirmative action a property rights dispute?
@31
Renting out your apartment complex to whoever you want to, for instance. Not every affirmative action regulation is related to property rights, but some are. And I tend to disagree with nearly all forms of affirmative action based on race.
32 Lee
You’re confusing anti-discrimination laws with affirmative action. They are related but not identical. Often, but not always, such regulation is linked to receiving federal funds. It seems to me that the federal government can decide what strings it wishes to put on funding.
Does that make you an opponent of the Civil Rights Act?
@33
You’re right. I shouldn’t have included affirmative action within that category, even though I do oppose it.
I don’t oppose the Civil Rights Act, of course, but I do believe that the recent Supreme Court case involving the firefighters in Connecticut exposes a case where a city can get caught in a Catch-22 involving anti-discrimination laws. They acted the way they did to avoid getting sued by one group and ended up getting sued by another group. When that happens, there’s a problem. It doesn’t mean we should scrap all the good legislation that came out of the 60s, but it does mean that we need to constantly evolve the way we deal with potential discrimination.
“Personally, I think Palin and her attorney are overreacting”
Personally, I think Palin and her attorney are both incompetent.
34 Lee
I am guesssing also that you are confusing affirmative action with race-based quotas, which again are similar but not the same. Affirmative action is about ensuring diversity within hiring pools or other pools of applicants, such as at places of higher education. Quotas are a lazy way out of doing that well.
However, when diverse applicant pools still cannot effect the goal of increasing diversity or participation, I am not against changing entrance or hiring requirements in other ways (again, as a string of receiving federal funding).
One idea I think we should adopt is to remove legacy admissions from universities altogether. It only serves to institutionalize previous disrimination.
Have another toke asshole.
The marks are as charming as ever.
@36
If there’s a difference between race-based quotas and affirmative action, I wasn’t aware if it. I always thought that the former is a form of the latter.
I guess where I fall on this is that I think it’s the federal government’s role to ensure that no part of America allows discrimination, but I disagree with the federal government using the power of the purse to force local and state governments to pursue goals of diversity.
And I agree with you completely on the legacy admissions stuff. It’s archaic and pointless. More than one of the legacies I knew at U of Michigan couldn’t hack it there and were taking up a spot that someone more deserving should have had (one roommate of mine, whose father was a wealthy alum, was still a sophomore in his fourth year).
I already live in a country ruled by a president that tries to silence the media (THe fairness doctrine), uses public resources for her own personal projects (Dinner in NY and shopping in Paris), believes in his own lies as if they are true (No new taxes on those under $250k, unless you smoke, drink, use a car or heat your home, and pretends to be God, there’s already a country like that.
It;s the Good ole USA under Obama!
Palin’s 4th of July speech gave a hint as to how she wants to spin her penchant for quitting.
She wants it to be seen as Hillary accepting Secretary of State, Biden accepting Vice-President or Obama accepting President. They didn’t get made fun of, she shouldn’t either for her ‘higher power’ resignation.
@40
Um, Obama opposes the fairness doctrine:
http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....-doctrine/
Dumbass.
And by the way, dinner in New York City may be expensive, but it’s not as expensive as a hockey arena.
Wow, that’s some top-shelf stupidity right there.
People who live in glass houses, shouldn’t throw stones…
Stolen from Grouchy Old Cripple:
What If George W. Bush had …
made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the non-existent “Austrian language,” would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current on their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to “Cinco de Cuatro” in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the Fifth of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word advice would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potato as “proof” of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on “Earth Day”, would you have concluded he’s a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush’s administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually “get” what happened on 9-11?
If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a teleprompter installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how he is inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans, would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can’t think of anything? Don’t worry. He’s done all this in 10 weeks — so you’ll have three years and nine-and-a-half months to come up with an answer.
@43
You shouldn’t be stealing from the handicapped, especially the mentally handicapped.
@44
Typical Democrat, thinking GOC is a victim of some sort. The man has grabbed life with both hands.
43 del
Um, George Bush DID essentially double the national debt, and Obama has not, nor are there any projections of this occurring during the two terms he will surely serve. It might serve you well to investigate and understand the difference between a deficit and the debt. I should comment that the Congress has yet to pass the first Obama budget.
I am sure you take all of your stolen trivialities and small deceptions quite seriously. Republicans eat this shit up, pass it around and all nod sagely, and wonder why regular people just can’t SEE it.
The rest of the country has learned to ignore you all, because they learned how damaging it can be to listen to you.
I really came here to observe that Sarah Palin is a gutless narcissist.
#43…
So mr. jackass…
…let’s start with how gw “the shrub” LIED us (THE US) into a war that bankrupted the country, killed over 4,000 and injured over 20,000 of our precious service members.
Let’s start THERE, asshole, before we start debunking the fucking stupid right-wing viral email astroturf you pinheads just can’t seeem to get enough of.
‘spose the brain surgeons “gs” and “delbert” are birthers too…
how much limpballs would one have to listen to to get that stupid?
what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive?
If you’re someone who was impressed by George Bush, then you should be REALLY impressed with Barack Obama, who somehow managed NOT to be a Yale and Harvard legacy or the son of a former president.
However, he DID rise from state representative to president in the space of four years. Impressive.
Obama was the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history and only the third to have been popularly elected. Impressive.
In the 2008 presdential primaries, he beat the candidate regraded by many as “inevitable,” the most well-funded and well-known Democratic heir apparent in decades, by out-planning, out-strategizing, and out-organizing her and her team. Brilliant.
He beat John McCain and Sarah Palin. Heck, you guys must think that this is pretty impressive. We don’t.
He is the first African-American president in a country with a history of brutal racism toward blacks. Impressive.
He was the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review and graduated Harvard Law School magna cum laude. Brilliant and impressive.
He beat Alan Keyes for his Senate seat. Not too impressive, to be honest. More like forunate to have such a cartoonish nincompoop as an opponent.
Obama served as a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. This is impressive to me because I have a passion for the U.S. Constitution and for constitutional law.
There’s more but that’s enough.
…yeah,, but the shrub can fall off a Segway…bet Obama can’t do THAT!
Well as Obama the perpetual Liar says “Read MY Lips, ANYONE WHO EARNS LESS THAN $250,000 will not see their taxes increase by a single dime.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ5fOsyj-bk
Tell me who is a lying sack O S!
well, the problem with lee’s statement that sarah palin tries to silence the media is the following. liberals certainly try to silence the media they dont like. fox news, hannity, rush etc. and you cant deny that. obama took on fox news as a sitting president. something unheard of. then of course there’s the fairness dictrine. and dont forget the da in florida that tried to indict rush for doctor shopping. in this country you can have a left wing democrat like patrick kennedy claim he was driving to vote at 3am because of prescription drugs, and get away with it. but a private citizen apparently gets the attention of the da for painkillers.
Hey! You forgot to mention Obama speaks fluent Austrian.
@49
You must have me confused with Andrew Sullivan. I’m the straight, sane, good-looking one.
The FBI stating that it was not conducting an investigation into any criminal activity of Sarah Palin, certainly leaves open all of the possibilities that various state and local departments and agencies are conducting various inquiries as well as several Federal ones, just not the FBI. Palin claiming that she is not being investigated, though only her spokesperson and attorney have said that, might also suggest that the investigations are complete and the indictments are pending. It will take many more denials and claims on the part of the Palin camp to cover all the possibilities. Greed, graft, and corruption–the hallmarks of great GOP leadership; while ignorance, juvenile and asinine thinking, and general bitterness and hatred seem to be the hallmark of GOP trolls.
@50 Still a vast improvement over the warmongering, torturing, lying, thieving Bush dictatorship — or anything else we’re likely to get under any Republican.
@53 Nobody’s taxes have gone up, but mine have gone down.
@58
Except all those policies that Bush implemented, Obama is keeping…
seems like those Gitmo choir boys are, in fact, bad guys. Whodathunkit?
I wonder how many of the “teabaggers” protesting in Olympia yesterday voted for a pair of sports stadiums costing a billion bucks?
I wonder how many of them are enthusiastic supporters of an ex-mayor of a town of 5,459 people whose main accomplishment as mayor was building a $14.7 million hockey arena at taxpayer expense? That works out to $2,692.80 for every man, woman, and child in town.
I’m sure they can’t imagine why the rest of us are ignoring them.
troll,
Pot, kettle, black.
Moe-ron.
God, you make this too easy.
Next.
If you want to live in a country run by a man who tries to silence the media,=obama
uses public resources for her own personal projects,=obama
believes in his own lies as if they are true,
=Obama
and pretends to be God,= there’s already a country like that= America since january 20th 2009
Yes Lee, you are a Horse’s Ass!
If you want to live in a country run by a man who tries to silence the media, uses public resources for His own personal projects, believes in His own lies as if they are true, and pretends to be God, there’s already a country like that.
It’s called O-merica.
– There…fixed it.
Time to go wabbit hunting……..