Via BarbinMD, we catch a glimpse into the mind of a "Man of Faith" and Tea Party leader:
But that's not just your typical, nameless, racist teabagger, that's the face of Dale Robertson, the head of teaparty.org., and the man who is devoted to "developing strategy to bring the Republic back under the control of ‘We The People.’"
Ok GOP... You can drag them under your tent because we will never want them on the left. Take all their money too, since that is what all you really want them for. They are and always have been yours since the days the GOP opened their arms to the bigoted Dixiecrats, anyways....
1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)
2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)
3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)
There are 7 more reasons, among the listed ones, for why you might have to call him a liberal/communist/socialist/etc. Blogger now. And, obviously, he is not the brightest bulb in the Blogosphere if it took him this long to figure it out, but among the right wing? About as close to a luminary as they had. And holy frick! He slams the door in every other right wing pundit's and Blogger's face as he leaves. I am just getting some disinfectant ready before I peek at the comment threads over there. ;)
I hope they don't mind the new communist logo I made for them.Just wondering if I should have changed it to a Russian football? (A soccer ball)
Trust me on this, there is a valuable lesson to be had from her book that every Blogger, journalist and pundit should be sharing with anyone that is truly interested in the politics of this nation. (H/T to Mike Finnigan at C&L's "Mike's Blog Roundup")
The argument is this: after the employer exclusion is repealed, employers will convert the money they spend on your health care benefits into higher wages and you’ll be able to use that increase and the ($2,290 per individual or $5,710 per family) refundable tax credit to purchase health care coverage in the new State Health Insurance Exchanges or the existing individual market.
Since everyone would have “universal access” to coverage, greater government involvement in health care would be counterproductive. Government rots the system, and Americans know this, they argue:
In solving our health care crisis, Americans already know that government will not work…Patients should be able to choose from a variety of private insurance plans. The Federal government would run a health care system — or a public plan option — with the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of the post office, and the incompetence of Katrina.
Therefore, greater government involvement must not only be avoided, but existing government involvement should be phased out. Low-income families with dependent children should shift out of Medicaid and into “higher quality private plans through direct assistance that will be coupled with a tax credit.” Medicare Advantage — the program that contracts with private insurers — should be “reformed” and possibly expanded.
But today, the Commonwealth Fund released a new survey indicating that “elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported greater overall satisfaction with their health coverage, better access to care, and fewer problems paying medical bills than people covered by employer-sponsored plans.” “The findings bolster the argument that offering a public insurance plan similar to Medicare to the under-65 population has the potential to improve access and reduce costs,” the organization concluded:
- Medicare beneficiaries report easier access to physicians. Ten percent of Medicare beneficiaries’ physicians did not accept their insurance, compared with 17 percent of respondents with employer-sponsored plans.
- Medicare beneficiaries are less likely to report not getting needed services. Twelve percent of elderly Medicare beneficiaries reported going without care, such as prescribed medications or recommended tests, because of cost restraints. Of individuals with employer-based plans, 26 percent reported experiencing these cost/access issues.
- Medicare beneficiaries are sicker and poorer but report fewer medical bill problems.
Medicare beneficiaries were less likely to report a medical bill problem than those covered by employer plans.
Within our hybrid public-private system of coverage, public plans compliment private insurers — providing services to vulnerable populations more efficiently. Today, talk of “government-takeover” conjures up images of health care rationing in Great Britain or Canada. If, however, Democrats are able to shift the frame of reference to an expansion and improvement of Medicare, then they may very well win this debate.
The overcomplicated answers republicans try to offer are simply a distraction from the really easy, inexpensive solutions that Americans want. It would be too easy and make too much sense to simply open up Medicare to anyone that wanted it. An even more common sense solution would be a single payer solution.
You know? The government pays the bill for healthcare, nothing more and nothing less from Uncle Sam, and everything else is between you and your doctor.
No insurance companies to mess it up by denying you care, or offering so many different levels of care from the poor man's death plan to the elites Cadillac plan (generally reserved for politicians), or making a 30% cut from your paycheck to buy a new yacht for their CEOs - the very people that caused this healthcare disaster.
Just you, your doctor, making medical decisions... And a medical bill that you (and any company you work for) never have to see again for the rest of your life.
Some basic and indisputable facts in this debate:
The majority of Americans want a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of Americans are willing to pay more taxes for a single payer healthcare system.
The majority of doctors want a single payer healthcare system.
Special interests and lobbyists are the only ones that are trying to force insurance companies into the middle of the Doctor patient relationship. And politicians are obliging them like their special-interest-life-after-politics-retirement-funds depended on it.
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The sudden move, coming as the veteran lawmaker already faces a fierce 2010 primary challenge from the right in the Keystone State, all but gives Democrats and Obama a roadblock-free Senate, putting them on the cusp of a 60-vote majority.
"I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans," Specter announced on his campaign Web site.
I really thought he would become an independent...
From Twitter, Erick Erickson of Red State - which is truly the base of the GOP these days - had this to say about Arlen Specter’s move to the Democratic Party:
Guess now that Larry Craig is gone & Specter realized there was no teabagging at the #teaparty, he had to go Dem for Frank to fondle him.
Today’s conservatives - if someone upsets you, call them gay.
Truly dealing from the bottom of the deck on a sinking ship of fools...
The hypocrites of homosexuality are, of course, already preparing to answer these statements by accusing me of homophobia, gay-bashing, bigotry, intolerance; but nothing that I have said here -- and nothing that has been said by any of the prophets or any of the Church leaders who have dealt with this issue -- can be construed as advocating, encouraging, or even allowing harsh personal treatment of individuals who are unable to resist the temptation to have sexual relations with persons of the same sex.
Not Card - He isn't homophobic... And he isn't advocating harsh treatment of them. Is he?
After blabbering on about how homosexuals must admit that they are sinning according to the rules of Card's personal lifestyle choice, his own personal religious views that he is trying to force on everyone else, he later goes on to discuss appropriate punishment for homosexuals:
This applies also to the polity, the citizens at large. Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.
And he has the gall to title the piece "The Hypocrites of Homosexuality"... You see, this has and always been about equality. The loonies at FIC, NOM and other anti-marriage equality groups are truly radical wingnuts that advocate Christianist hate and for treating others as second class citizens.
The latest face they have added to their stable of hate at NOM proves that it is all about equality.
But these days they know that they have to hide that fact because their real views are about as radical and un-American as it gets.
When we're tempted to dismiss the anti-marriage equality crowd as a bunch of passe cranks who are losing their battle against civil rights and who will soon disappear to lick their wounds, we need to remind ourselves that their organizations harbor a lot of seriously deranged people. Family Institute of CT on a local level, and the National Organization for Marriage on the larger stage have the potential to be much more dangerous than they appear at first glance.
People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch has noted that the science fiction writer Orson Scott Card has joined the board of NOM. PFAW shares an interesting quote from Card, which appeared last July during the Prop 8 battle, in the Mormon Times:
How long before married people answer the dictators thus: Regardless of law, marriage has only one definition, and any government that attempts to change it is my mortal enemy. I will act to destroy that government and bring it down, so it can be replaced with a government that will respect and support marriage, and help me raise my children in a society where they will expect to marry in their turn. [...] American government cannot fight against marriage and hope to endure. If the Constitution is defined in such a way as to destroy the privileged position of marriage, it is that insane Constitution, not marriage, that will die.
NOM has put a man who advocates overthrowing the American government on their Board of Directors. One can only assume that NOM and their followers either agree that the government is their "mortal enemy" and that the Constitution is "insane" or at least have no problem with people advocating that the government of the United States be destroyed and brought down.
But these people at NOM aren't the radicals.
We are. Because. we. preach. real. equality.
And they aren't homophobes preaching violence, either...
Blaming TV or radio hosts for the nutjob who killed three Pittsburgh police officers over the weekend is like blaming a flight attendant after a terrorist takes down a plane. In other words: Giving passengers a safety talk to prepare them for a worst-case scenario doesn't mean you are responsible should a terrorist make that worst-case scenario happen.
One person is providing important information. The other is a nutjob who would've acted no matter what.
Listen, Glen, and listen well...
The day I hear stewardesses calling on militant nutjobs to unfasten their seatbelts and prepare to rush the cockpit with their utility knifes in the upright position as part of their safety blurb is the day your most recent wingnutism will make sense when compared to your "grab yer guns before Obama does and surround them!" idiocy.
On Glenn Beck's radio show last week, I quipped in response to our wayward federal government, "I may run for president of Texas."
That need may be a reality sooner than we think. (...snip...)
How much more will Americans take? When will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders finally listen or will history need to record a second American Revolution? We the people have the authority according to America's Declaration of Independence, which states:
That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
When I appeared on Glenn Beck's radio show, he told me that someone had asked him, "Do you really believe that there is going to be trouble in the future?" And he answered, "If this country starts to spiral out of control and Mexico melts down or whatever, if it really starts to spiral out of control, before America allows a country to become a totalitarian country (which it would have under I think the Republicans as well in this situation; they were taking us to the same place, just slower), Americans won't stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will rise up." Then Glenn asked me and his listening audience, "And where's that going to come from?" He answered his own question, "Texas, it's going to come from Texas. Do you agree with that Chuck?" I replied, "Oh yeah!" Definitely.
...snip...
For those losing hope, and others wanting to rekindle the patriotic fires of early America, I encourage you to join Fox News' Glenn Beck, me and millions of people across the country in the live telecast, "We Surround Them,"
When I heard Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was McCain's choice, I knew she was a woman whom Americans could support and trust.
Will Palin renounce him and his lunatic call for secession? This is a woman who has secessionist issues of her own and still has aspirations to be the president. (Maybe president of Alaska?) But you have to remember that her and her families involvement in AKIP is about secession through a vote, not with some call for a violent revolution.
During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin's campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory.
Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including one that altered the state Constitution's language to better facilitate the formation of anti-government militias. She joined in their vendetta against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as "Black Helicopter Steve," to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. "Every time I showed up her door was open," said Chryson. "And that policy continued when she became governor."
...snip...
After intense evangelizing by Chryson and his allies, they claimed Palin as a convert. "When she started taking her job seriously," Chryson said, "the people who put her in as the rubber stamp found out the hard way that she was not going to go their way." In 1994, Sarah Palin attended the AIP's statewide convention. In 1995, her husband, Todd, changed his voter registration to AIP. Except for an interruption of a few months, he would remain registered was an AIP member until 2002, when he changed his registration to undeclared.
...snip...
Clark pointed to Palin's political career as the model of a successful infiltration. "There's a lot of talk of her moving up," Clark said of Palin. "She was a member [of the AIP] when she was mayor of a small town, that was a nonpartisan job. But to get along and to go along she switched to the Republican Party … She is pretty well sympathetic because of her membership."
Dec 8, 2007 ...Chuck Norris roundhouses. GOP presidential campaign. Surge of national support for Huckabee triggered by WND column endorsement ... www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59090 - 38k - Cached - Similar pages -
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Actor Chuck Norris sits in the audience during the CNN-YouTube Presidential Debate at the Mahaffey Theater at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts ... www.zimbio.com/pictures/aHV7U6TlYFj/CNN+YouTube+Host+GOP+Presidential+Debate/4oP2iirr8Vo/Chuck+Norris - 17k - Cached - Similar pages -
The call by some right wing leaders for rebellion and for the military to refuse the commander in chief’s orders is joined by Chuck Norris who claims that thousands of right wing cell groups have organized and are ready for a second American Revolution. (snip) Norris claims that; “Thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation.” The right wing cells will meet during a live telecast, "We Surround Them," on Friday March 13 at 5 p.m.
Norris and Beck are not the only crazies. Watch this video by a group called "Restore the Republic" calling for soldiers and law enforcement to not only to disobey President Obama but to be prepared to arrest and detain federal officials.
The lit match has always been there in the heart of the crazed GOP and these fanatics are trying to lead their allies into a pool of gasoline, dragging the entire USA into the fire with them.
Will the GOP stand by and watch their own side ignite a war on the USA?
Robertson ordered plaintiff's attorney John Hemenway of Colorado Springs, Colo., to show why he hasn't violated court rules barring frivolous and harassing cases and shouldn't have to pay Obama's attorney, Bob Bauer, for his time arguing that the case should be thrown out.
If justice had any sense of humor with a serious twist of irony the judge would sentence these idiots to jail time in Kenya or, maybe, just take away all of their citizenships.
And this is part of why you are not only a regional party, now, but your regional party is in serious jeopardy of becoming the 3rd party in this two party country. A country that no longer needs nor wants neoconservatives, far right wing authoritarians, obstructionists, childish name calling mud slingers, warmongers, haters, the criminals and the corrupt. We are done with all of the epic failures and political theatrics that the GOP brings to the political stage.
The problem is not that people stopped listening to you.
It is that they started listening to what you say and comparing it to what you do. And it is because they started looking at those actions and matched them up to the actual results that they are living through right now.
The real problem with your party is that people actually started paying attention. And it will continue to be the problem with the GOP as long as the the GOP continues to do what they have already done before. And, so far, they are.
Take a bow Mitch McConnell...
This could very well be the GOP's final curtain call on the national stage. And you, Mitch McConnell, had a grand part in it all...
Think Progress has provided an in depth study of Lieberman's betrayal of progressives. The information will not come as a shock to anyone on the left that has followed him closely and recognized this unholy alliance early on as Lieberman pledged his allegiance to the warmongering neoconservative whack jobs and their likudnik/AIPAC allies. Lieberman's story is a bizarre combination of apologist for their neoconservative failures and an accomplice in covering up their crimes.
“I’m a Democrat with a 35-year record of fighting for progressive causes, for the middle class, for civil rights, for women’s rights, for human rights and a lot more. I voted with my Senate Democratic colleagues 90 percent of the time.” — Joe Lieberman, 7/6/06
“I want Democrats to be back in the majority in Washington and elect a Democratic president in 2008.” — Joe Lieberman, 7/7/06
While Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) has fought for progressive policies in the past — such as protecting the environment and expanding civil rights — his recent record demonstrates that he’s a progressive no more. As this report documents, Lieberman has embraced the right wing on far more than foreign policy. In fact, he has betrayed progressive principles on a variety of domestic issues. As he has lurched to the right, Lieberman has actively worked to undermine the progressive agenda.
While interviewing Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) on his CNN Headline News show last night, right-wing talker Glenn Beck declared that there’s “nobody in Washington that anybody trusts anymore.” Saying that he’d “like oversight” of the money Congress is allocating for the bailout of the financial system, Beck suggested Gen. David Petraeus would be the perfect person to provide the oversight:
BECK: thought of it, Senator. I`d like oversight, but here`s who I would like to provide the oversight for the people who are overseeing this mess, and that`s General Petraeus. I would like to see somebody bring General Petraeus in and have him sit there with all the stars on his shoulders and say, “Ok now, explain again how you didn`t create this mess?”
The attacks were no mystery. What puzzled Turkish police was the weapons' origin. Glocks are high-quality sidearms, but by last year they had practically become common street weapons in Turkey. More than 1,000 had been taken from criminals, guerrillas, terrorists and assassins all over the country, and authorities believed tens of thousands more had found their way onto the black market
There are many more where those came from. At least three U.S. government agencies are now investigating the massive "disappearance" and diversion of weapons Washington intended for Iraqi government forces that instead have spread to militants and organized gangs across the region. The potential size of the traffic is stunning. A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office last month showed that since 2004, some 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols, bought with U.S. money for Iraqi security forces, have gone missing.
snip
Major U.S. arms transfers began when Gen. David Petraeus was commander of the Multi-National Security Transition Command—Iraq (MNSTC-I), better known as Minsticky. Its mission was to train, arm and organize Iraq's military and police forces, but the Iraqis' weapons came via the State Department, and the supply line was actually run by private contractors.
In a picture supplied by Sarah Palin's family to the Associated Press, Palin appears with some rather odd reading matter: The magazine of the ultraconservative John Birch Society. The picture, dating to 1995, when Palin was a member of the Wasilla City Council, ran beside a profile of Palin in Saturday's New York Times. The magazine, The New American, is sitting on top of her calendar on her desk, unopened.
The Society is generally considered to be well on the right of the American political spectrumand has been described as "ultraconservative" on its own website. However, due to various changes in the personalities, tactics, and ideologies within the conservative movement, the Society has been greatly marginalized since the 1960s among mainstream conservatives.
This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States.
Besides a short period of a few months in 2000 when he changed his registration to undeclared, Todd Palin remained a registered member of AIP until July 2002 when he registered again as an undeclared voter.
There appears to be some conflicting reports on the Sarah Palin's membership which we hope to clear up soon. But there is no doubt that they both attended a 1994 convention, as well as Sarah Palin's video address to the group in 2006 (Video Below).
But make no mistake about the significance of this when you consider that as the "First Dude/Dunce" of Alaska, Todd Palin, has been seen having a significant hand in Alaskan politics not typically allowed for a person with the status of citizen, given his access to what is claimed as supposedly confidential information, information that Sarah Palin refuses to release to the media or any other citizen based on obviously and demostrably false claims of "executive privilege" Sounds like the corrupt bush admin. all over again, eh? Now wonder McCain likes her.
Considering just how well the McCain campaign vetted Sarah Palin before picking her as his running mate for the upcoming campaign, I wonder how Palin's "Patriotic" credibility will be viewed by his rabidly faux patriotic supporters when they find out that her idea of foreign policy experience may be in dealing with the government of the USA?
In the first clip we see Palin address the AIP convention earlier this year:
This next clip is the 1st of 2 parts from the convention itself. About half way through the speech(at 6:00), the Vice Chairman of the AIP, Dexter Clark, says this of Palin: "Our current governor who I mentioned at the last conference, the one we were hoping would get elected, Sarah Palin, did get elected . . . .and there was a lot of talk about her moving up. She was an AIP member before she got the job as mayor . . . "
This last clip is a continuation of the speech from Dexter Clark, the Vice Chairman from the AIP. In it, he talks about the necessity of infiltrating the major national parties in order to further the goals of the AIP.
The AIP’s main aim is to secede from the United States, becoming either a territory or a sovereign nation. They aim to be entirely "self-sufficient" using profits from the oil and gas resources of the state.
The Alaskan Independence Party can be summed up in just two words: ALASKA FIRST!
And their 2008 platform:
To seek the complete repatriation of the public lands, held by the federal government, to the state and people of Alaska in conformance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17, of the federal constitution.
Governor Palin’s connections with the AIP are also furthered by her connection to Wally Hickel, a former Alaskan governor. Hickel was elected on the AIP ticket. He served as the co-chairman of Governor Palin’s campaign in 2006 Here is a quote from an interview Hickel did with the Alaska Dispatch:
When Palin was running for governor in 2006, Hickel appeared in advertisements supporting her and the Alaska pipeline. "I made her governor," Hickel told me.
When asked earlier this year on CNBC about whether she’d be picked for McCain’s VP, Palin said, "We wanna make sure that that VP slot would be a fruitful type of position, especially for Alaskans, and for the things we’re trying to accomplish up here for the rest of the US, before I can even start addressing that question."
So, besides the fact that she doesn’t know what the VP does everyday, Palin wants to be VP only if it’s a good thing for Alaska?
Now this proves that she was once a member of the AIP, IMHO... Why would the AIP lie in that video and why else would Palin be willing to address the secessionists after being elected? Anyone outside of Alaska would consider that political suicide with those faux patriots on the right wingnut side of the aisle in the rest of the nation.
That is all just a canard, IMHO. A ruse to throw the dogs off of the scent of the real story they are covering up in all of those pictures. And it has nothing to do with any alleged nude pics of Sarah Palin.(NSFW!)
They may be trying to hide the fact that Palin is still a member of the AIP and that she is one of the highest placed members of the AIP that they have managed to elevate in politics thus far.
If I were a betting man, I would be willing to bet that there are a lot of deleted Sarah Palin pics with lapel pins and other paraphernalia that show her true anti-American allegiance to the Alsakan secessionist movement.
There is no way on earth that McCain honestly vetted Palin before he picked her as a running mate. No republican candidate that understands their own base would ever have let this get so far.
Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which since the 1970s has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States.
And while McCain's motto -- as seen in a new TV ad -- is "Country First," the AIP's motto is the exact opposite -- "Alaska First -- Alaska Always."
Lynette Clark, the chairman of the AIP, tells ABC News that Palin and her husband Todd were members in 1994, even attending the 1994 statewide convention in Wasilla. Clark was AIP secretary at the time.
[update deux] I had a conspiracy tag on this diary since I know that it was speculative... I removed it since ABC confirmed the basis for my opinion is factual. This sure as hell would be a good explanation for all of those missing pics. Imagine what the faux patriots on the right will say when they find out she didn't like the USA at all back in the 90s. And she may very well not like it much now.
In my previous post you will find a Youtube video of Sarah Palin warmly addressing the Alaskan Independence Party. What sort of organization is this and what is its history?
The AIP was founded by one Joe Vogler, who seems to be a rightwinger from way back.
And then Gary gets into Vogler quotes and here is but one example among many:
"The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government and I won't be buried under their damned flag...and when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones home to be buried in my country."
Hate is a pretty strong word Mr. Vogler... Don't ya think? Anyways, Gary, thanks for the illuminating comment.
So it turns out that in the 1990s, Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party whose primary objective is to secure a vote on whether Alaska should secede from the United States. Their party's motto? "Alaska First - Alaska First Always."
I'm sure McCain will eventually have to comment, but according to Marc Ambinder: "A McCain spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment." I'll guarantee you that we know more about Sarah Palin than does McCain or his campaign.
I am willing to guarantee that as well. Because I know I still have Palin news that I am working on! lol Right now all the McCain campaign campaign can do is shut their mouths on this huge story and hope the media don't start covering it like they should.
[update quatre] The media everywhere is starting to pick up on this... I just watched David Schuster toss it out on MSNBC while interviewing some pundits and surrogates. And you could tell by the McCain flack's (?Andrea Tantaros?) reaction that she was taken aback - that flinch and look of "Say what?" - by this news before she plowed into her talking points on everything but the secessionist point.
Even Karl Rove acknowledged that she was a risky pick in his talk this morning with the Maine delegation. The soap opera is getting surreal. Sarah Palin's involvement with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party is just the latest punch in the stomach to a reeling Grand Old Party. She is a Buchananite who liked (and maybe voted for) Ron Paul? Now news of her daughter's pregnancy adds new poignancy to her 2006 campaign promise.
"Explicit sex ed programs will not find my support."
Lord have mercy, it's hard out there for a Republican pimp.
I think I may be getting closer to nailing down Sarah Palin's connections to the AKIP. But considering trying to keep up on all of the other Palin scandals breaking so fast it is hard to dig on. Added to the multiple scandal factor is the fact that the AKIP connections are very computer savvy, if I am even on the right track?
This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States.
Besides a short period of a few months in 2000 when he changed his registration to undeclared, Todd Palin remained a registered member of AIP until July 2002 when he registered again as an undeclared voter.
There appears to be some conflicting reports on the Sarah Palin's membership which I think I have found the way to clear up. But there is no doubt that they both attended a 1994 convention, as well as Sarah Palin's video address to the group in 2006 (Video Below).
And make no mistake about the significance of this when you consider that as the "First Dude/Dunce" of Alaska, Todd Palin, has been seen having a significant hand in Alaskan politics not typically allowed for a person with the status of citizen, given his access to what is claimed as supposedly confidential information, information that Sarah Palin refuses to release to the media or any other citizen based on obviously and demostrably false claims of "executive privilege" Sounds like the corrupt bush admin. all over again, eh? No wonder McCain likes her.
A phone number search for a number I got out of AKIP archives sent me to this dKos Diary by Ash Meerstrand... It appears he had the same lead I was on. The phone number:
The claim that the AIP held meetings in the town where Palin was mayor while her husband was a member can easily be confirmed using Internet Archive. Meeting information from that time (the first set is from 1998, the other 2000):
Wasilla ,Alaska
Country Kitchen Restaraunt,
411 W. Parks Highway, Wasilla
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM
Wasilla, Alaska
Nobody's Inn Restaraunt,
W. Parks Highway, Wasilla
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM
Call 376-8285
It's only 8pm in Wasilla, Alaska. Is it too late to investigate? Wasilla has only about 9,000 people, and about 5,500 people lived there in the year 2000, so maybe there could be someone there that would know if Todd or Sarah ever showed up.
I edited out the "image source" and formatting crap so you could see the plain email addy for the "same phone" number contact. I was unable to find another reference on a quick Google of that eMail BUT I also did on a search of "web-ak". Info on website addy for this site
Excerpted from the website description:
Alaskan owned and operated, Web Alaska offers web services for Alaskans and outsiders alike. Compu Doc offers computer repair and services thoughout South Central Alaska.
The following is a first hand account of a gentleman who has a story to tell about his experiences with Sarah Palin. I am granting him this venue to say what he has to say because firstly, it gives us another non-press view of a soon-to-be mainstream name, and secondly, the person giving this account is a Geek with Guns (and used to host this website for me when I needed his help).
"I just wanted to let you know ... Sarah Palin who McCain just picked as the next vice president is one of the most honest people I have known. I have known her for over 15 years, been in her house and have had numerous conversations with her, in person, on the phone both for personal issues as well as political issues.
"She is an excellent choice and this might have even saved McCain from going down in history as a loser in the presidential race. Sarah is one elected official that I can’t say anything negative about. And after 15 years of knowing her if there was something that was bad I would have known it.
"This lady has contacted me personally to get help discovering how one of her co workers was abusing his state office because she didn’t believe she could trust the states department of law. The guy later copped a plea, paid a hefty fine and lost his state job but this was after she quit her 2000 / week job and was forced to go public to expose his corruption. By the way he was/is the chairman of the state republican party "She is VERY approachable which is going to make the insiders and secret service crazy."Wanted to let you know."
Mark Chryson Wasilla, Alaska
If you would like to know more about the personal experiences of Mark in regards to Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin, Mark has given us permission to present the following contact information for that purpose, and offered his phone number up for that purpose as well (which I will decline to provide here do to the GwG haters).
mark [at] web-ak.com - Email Mark Chryson by removing the [at]
I have not verified the credibility of "Geeks with Guns," BUT remember how she hacked computers to out the Alaska Republican chairman...
But Fenumiai adds that Palin's husband Todd was a member of the AIP from October 1995 through July 2002, except for a few months in 2000. He is currently undeclared.
As part of their pushback against the charges of Lynette and Dexter Clark of the AIP, the McCain campaign says that Palin did not even attend the AIP convention in Wasilla in 1994.
But another former AIP official -- Mark Chryson, chairman of the AIP from 1995 to 2002 -- tells ABC News that "Palin was at the convention in 1994. She was there."
Was she a member?
Chryson can’t say. "She may have been, I do not know," he says. Their records don't go back that far.
"Ask Sarah," he suggests.
I'd love to. But she hasn't exactly been making herself available to the press.
Former AKIP chairman Chryson, friend and neighbor of the Palins for over 15 years. Chryson was in charge of Wasilla meetings for the AKIP. And Todd Palin was a member almost the entire time Chryson was in charge.
Chryson can't say if she was a member of AKIP? Or he won't say it knowing it would doom her politically.
This may turn into the missing link if we dig enough... heh
Side Note: This diary is just a follow up on Secessionist Sarah diary I did earlier that I felt deserved to be more than just an update in an outdated diary.
[update]Some preliminary digging on Mark Chryson, and this ain't pretty:
Okay, so Walter Hickel is widely believed to have just run on the Alaskan Independence Party ticket because he felt the Republican nominee was too liberal, since he was a major advocate for statehood in the first place. He did, however, threaten to "take our star off the flag."
This was documented once on the AIP's website until 2000, and it still has a reference here: http://www.akip.org/history1.html
The audio is from her 2006 inaugural speech, which I already wrote about, but failed to mention that. Nevertheless, here it is again: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/audio/inaugural_v1.mp3
Now, the Alaska state government may be scrubbing their website, but so far it's mostly as far as links go. If you poke through Internet Archive, even if their robot crawler didn't copy the old 2007 web page, odds are it'll still be hosted somewhere on their servers and accessible via Internet, if you just remove the Internet Archive part of the URL.
That might be a good place to dig.
You can't see them on the 2008 website, and http://www.gov.state.ak.us/... is "forbidden," but here's a link to 212 audio files.
dKos again, and this is some weird, scary and wacky stuff:
Okay, it appears that web-ak.com is a webhosting company that is owned by this friend of Palin's. I went to this site and had a look around. Under the links page, we find something called the "Waco Holocaust Museum". Now, note that this is on the links page and is hosted on the same domain. In fact, it appears to be the only thing on the links page on the same domain. At the bottom of this Waco page, there are more links, a big list of them at the bottom. Half the links don't work (archive.org anyone?), but the ones that do work include:
"Seventh Seal" An 'apolitical' history of the Axis (Nazis).
"The Confederate Memorial Association"
"Brasscheck" Appears to be a 9/11 truther site.
"Real History Archives" Assorted conspiracy theories.
"Brood of Vipers" More conspiracy theories.
"Final Conflict" Incoherent website about Nationalism. The page has an article "Did six million really die?"
Enjoy!
There are also hundreds of photos, gifs and other stuff stored in zips with file titles like /death/burial.jpg, /death/waco/burial.gif, /death/coffin.gif, /waco/coffin.html etc.. This is one wacko dude.
http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/web-ak.com/
McCafee site advisor shows 4 ZIP files that can be downloaded from the site... Virus free and all. But they look like they are just stuff for his wacky website. I really don't think I want to sift through them after looking at the site.
at the bottom of the waco page:
Published by Public Action, Inc, a news and news analysis service. All commercial rights are reserved. A full statement of terms and conditions for copying and redistribution is available in the Museum Library. "Waco Holocaust Electronic Museum," "SkyWriter," and the sky writing logo are trademarks of Public Action, Inc.
All original material is copyright 1996-2000 by Carol A. Valentine, on loan to Public Action, Inc.
Postal Address: Carol A. Valentine, PO Box 10933, Burke, VA 22009
This page last updated February 28, 2001
This Page is mirrored courtesy of Web Alaska
Not "hosted by web-ak"
"This page is mirrored COURTESY OF WEB-AK"
Interesting choice of outfits to offer freebies there...
More dKos comments because I had to wonder if he goes to Sara Palin's "non-demonicnational" church:
I couldn't find anything to that effect. But I did find a choice quote by him in an apparently defunct guestbook on the akip site that does not appear to be accessible from the main page.
This guy is seriously out there. He also derides someone else who posted to the guestbook as being "government educated" on Feb 25, 2001.
and a second reply:
Sorry about the second reply, but did you notice the article linked at the top of the Waco page called "The FBI's Catholic Church"? It seems to be trying to make the argument that Waco was a plot by the Catholic church because some FBI agents happen to be Catholic. These people are seriously lunatics.
Chryson is as loony as a right wingnut can possibly get... And seems to like reading from, hosting and linking to radical/bigoted/plain-freakin'-loony stuff.
And this is the guy who was the leader of Todd Palin's political party when he was a member? As well as their neighbor who ran the local AKIP meetups? And Sarah Palin got help from him to bring down the Alaskan GOP chairman according to Chryson's words.
And the media gave him a public stage to give a Sarah Palin testimonial. WTF???
