Chapter Fourteen – Two debates with astonishing results

Chapter Fifteen – Obama and Britney consult with one another

Chapter Sixteen – The other shoe drops, the election, and the moose returns

I just created a new blog called the “Pesky Truth Outlet Store.” Those of you who have visited here before know how much I like writing satirical pieces. I’ve realized that I tend to get verbose when I get wound up with a story. Several posts here have fallen into that category and based on the number of comments they’ve received, they weren’t read much. So, the new blog will be used for ‘long” stories so I won’t clog up Pesky Truth with posts that get into more than 3 or 4 Word pages in length.

In other words, the “Outlet Store” will typically have stories, rather than normal posts. I’ll post here when a new story is published there and provide a link if you want to read it. If not, you can just ignore the “announcement” post.

Thanks, Garnet92

I picked this item up while trying to verify whether Sarah Palin has a valid pilot’s license. It is said that she does, but so far, no definitive proof. Her husband does – he is listed in the FAA database. The family does own a float plane, I’d be amazed if she doesn’t fly, but we’ll see.

This is unverified and could be a load of crap, but pretty much all of the opinions offered do jibe with the facts as we know them. It is a compelling opinion from an Alaskan bush pilot who thinks highly of Vice President Palin (I know, I know).

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Eddie S from San Antonio, fishes at the Wildman Lodge on the Alaskan Peninsula. The lodge is owned by Butch and Kathy King. The KING'S spend their winters in Texas and their summers in Alaska. Kathy's father and former husband served in the Alaskan legislature for around 30 years so Butch and Kathy know Alaska politics.

Eddie emailed Butch and asks Butch what the King's think of Gov. Sarah Palin. Butch's unedited email is attached below. Please read it. This is what the citizens of Alaska think of Sarah Palin!

The following is an email from Butch to Eddie

Hi Eddie:

When Sarah walked into the Governor's Mansion, she promptly dismissed the State Trooper detachment assigned to the Governor and had her and her husband's gun case brought in from Wasilla. Then, she got rid of the former Governor's STATE Jet and told legislators that there were no more free rides, they would have to fly Alaska Airlines, just like her and her family if they wanted to travel.

Next came the nut cutting (the Barracuda part) the heads that rolled were too numerous to name, but when Sarah finished cleaning house, a number of our legislators ended up in jail for on corruption charges, or tendered their resignations along with numerous department heads and those who have been riding the gravy train for way too long, AND THEN SHE HAD LUNCH.

By the end of the day, Sarah Palin had saved the people of Alaska millions and has not yet slowed down. She has truly brought CHANGE to Juneau. I personally know several persons in the private sector in Alaska, that hold her in high esteem. She surrounds herself with smart people, many from my hometown of Anchorage, she listens to them but makes her own decisions.

Sarah Palin is a no B.S. politician. It is refreshing that there is such a thing anymore. You want to talk about CHANGE? You should see a before and after picture of the State government in Alaska. That's CHANGE! Sarah will bring a number of things to the election. I am sure she will appeal to many voters who may otherwise could have gone the other direction on election day. The conservative block will not be for Barack. We have their vote. We need what Sarah will bring, first to the election and second, what she will bring to Washington D.C.

McCain has been advised well, Let's just hope the American people can get the straight scoop on her in the weeks ahead.

This is just the opinion of one Alaska Bush Pilot and Guide, who pays attention to national politics, watches the news and is deathly afraid of the direction our nation is headed. I guarantee that if Sarah gets a chance to dig her spurs into the flanks of the liberal Washington types, they will know that she is in the saddle.

Butch King
Pilot/Guide
Butch & Kathy King
Proprietors
Wildman Lake Lodge

I like the term “pesky,” especially as it applies to the truth. The dictionary definition of pesky is: causing irritation or annoyance.

My blog is called Pesky Truth because I fully intend to be truthful as best I am able to determine it – and I fully expect that the truth will irritate and annoy some who don’t want to hear the truth. So be it.

That brings me to the subject of this piece: Dave from the Townhall blog, “A Conservative in Cincinnati” brought to my attention some smears that have been aimed at Sarah Palin. They deserve investigation to either disprove them or learn of some negative that was previously unknown to us (at least to Dave or I).

Unlike the left, we conservatives generally do admit the failings of our candidates or office holders; a cursory read of several blogs on Townhall will confirm that many conservatives dislike a number of John McCain’s positions and are not shy about identifying them. In general, we conservatives don’t believe McCain to be a perfect candidate.

The left would rather commit hari kari with a rusty linoleum knife before admitting to ANY untoward activity on the part of their candidates or office holders – remember Bill Clinton? What do you hear about Obama’s qualifications from the left?

So, I’ll address two of the allegations now, with more to come later.

1. “She is the governor of a sanctuary state that is building a Mexican embassy”

If left unchallenged, that statement implies that Sarah Palin (as Governor) was somehow responsible for the “sanctuary” policy, and the sanctuary policy is akin to San Francisco’s demented policy.

Most folks immediately think of San Francisco and their pro-illegal policies when they hear the term “sanctuary city”. And, the statement above conjures up images of an entire state mandating similar policies. This simply isn’t true. San Francisco has had a “city of refuge” ordinance since 1989. Gavin Newsom, the mayor of San Francisco, California, is even publicizing the fact that San Francisco is a sanctuary for illegal aliens.  In 2007, Mayor Newsom reaffirmed San Francisco’s commitment to immigrant communities by issuing an Executive Order that called on City departments to develop protocol and training on the Sanctuary Ordinance. In practice, San Francisco has recently come under scrutiny for not reporting criminals to INS – even after multiple offenses.

Now let’s compare Alaska. In May of 2003, (before Sarah Palin was elected) the state legislature passed a joint resolution (No. 22) that “establishes that state agencies and instrumentalities may not use state resources or institutions for the enforcement of federal immigration laws, which are the responsibility of the federal government.” Shortly thereafter, the cities of Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Sitka adopted similar versions of the state resolution.

Since then, in September 2007, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich said he's concerned about the sanctuary label. "The fact is, we are not a sanctuary city. Our police department works very closely with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and all of the folks within the federal government and I don't know where this rating came from, or this labeling, but it is really, in my view, a bogus labeling for our city," Begich said. The Mayor said the city is already doing all of the cooperative type of work with federal agencies that is necessary.

Even so, the resolutions already contained wording that allowed an override of the notification ban under Section 4: “(1) Unless necessary to protect the safety of people” which means that when an illegal is caught committing a crime, he/she may be turned over to ICE without violating the resolution.

The points are: First, all of the sanctuary resolutions were passed before Palin even took office; she had no responsibility for them. Second, they were never as absolute as San Francisco’s and the resolutions contained an exception covering the case of a law-breaking illegal. And third, two major cities that originally signed on to the sanctuary concept are now rescinding that decision and no longer want to be considered a “sanctuary cities.”

It should also be noted that in the September 1, 2008 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, an article about The Republican Platform and sanctuary cities (and states), does not include Alaska among a list of sanctuary states.

And regarding the “building of a Mexican embassy,” there are already fifty (50) Mexican consulates in the U.S. California alone has 9 and Texas has 11. What is the stigma of one in Alaska? Fourteen other states have a single consulate. Is that a bad thing? What is the nefarious implication?

2. “She gave a Canadian company a $500 million subsidy to build a gas pipeline”

 The new Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) is Alaska’s law designed to advance construction of a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope to a market where the gas will be sold.

The AGIA replaced the failed Stranded Gas Development Act (SGDA) effort, which resulted in a privately negotiated agreement with three North Slope producers that was rejected by the legislature and the Alaska public.

The privately negotiated SGDA agreement, which required Alaska to give up its ability to regulate taxes on the companies for 30 to 40 years, would have cost Alaskans at least $10 billion in revenues over its term in exchange for no commitment to actually build the pipeline.

Enacted last year, AGIA requires a pipeline project builder to meet certain requirements that will advance the project, in exchange for a license that provides up to $500 million in matching funds, which will help reduce the financial risks that such a huge project faces in its early stages.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reported that five companies submitted applications by the Nov. 30 deadline for the exclusive right to build a natural gas pipeline to transport North Slope gas to market.

The applicants are Alaska Gasline Port Authority, AEnergia LLC, TransCanada, Sinopec ZPEB and Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. Applications were submitted under the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, or AGIA, passed by the Alaska Legislature in May 2007.

"Today marks yet another milestone in our quest to commercialize our vast reserves of North Slope gas," Palin said. "With five good companies investing a lot of money just for the opportunity to compete for the exclusive $500 million AGIA license, they have shown how profitable a project like this can be for them, and how Alaska has created a positive environment in which to do business." What? Five companies competing for the $500 million? Competition? Why didn’t someone in a previous administration think of that?

Each application will be reviewed to determine whether it complies with AGIA's mandatory terms. Palin and her team insist that applications must meet each of AGIA's 20 requirements to be considered for the award of the AGIA license. Following the review, all applications will be made public.

On August 27, 2008, Gov. Sarah Palin signed House Bill 3001, authorizing the state to award an AGIA license allowing TransCanada Alaska to start developing a 1,715-mile natural gas pipeline from a treatment plant at Prudhoe Bay to the Alberta Hub in Canada.

In summary, Palin rescinded a previously negotiated agreement that would have cost the state $10 billion in revenues and had been rejected by the legislature and the Alaska public. She replaced it with competitive bidding for the rights to build the pipeline. As part of the inducement to meet specific timeframes, etc., the five companies were also competing for $500 million in matching funds that would be available to the company winning the bid. In the end, TransCanada won the competition. The AGIA license will be issued in 90 days.

TransCanada’s application states that it anticipates completion of the pipeline by November 2017. The project has an estimated cost of $25 billion.

This is my third posting on Sarah Palin; you could say that she’s the gift that just keeps on giving. She came out of nowhere and now we’re scrambling to flesh out the Republican candidate for the second most important job in the country.

My earlier posts have concentrated mostly on her political attributes. This piece contains more personal information about Sarah and her family – a traditional family.

What? She comes from a “traditional” family? That’s not normal. Dysfunctional families are now the norm, aren’t they? At least that’s what the left would like us to believe.

No brother living on $1/month? No attorney son working as a Washington lobbyist? No ties to admitted domestic terrorists? What’s wrong with that family? Didn’t they get the memo?

She was raised by a loving mother and father. Now that is just soooo wrong – don’t they know that a “traditional” family is passé today? Apparently no one is in any kind of “counseling”? There aren’t any custody issues or wayward children?

Their oldest son voluntarily joined the Army and is scheduled to be shipping out to Iraq, and they’re proud of that?

The left is already asking “what’s wrong with this picture?” It’s a rhetorical question since they already know their answer – everything is wrong.

There is no place in their world for a traditional family - one that honors our traditional values of honesty, hard work, and responsibility. The left has been slowly but consistently training us to believe that all families are dysfunctional to some degree – and it’s ok, it’s “normal” to be dysfunctional – but isn’t that an oxymoron?

It is time for conservatives to stand up and call BULLSHI* on that.

Following are some excerpts from an article in the Daily Mail (UK) 8/31/2008, when Caroline Graham interviewed Sarah’s mother, Sally Heath. Her mom describes the woman who could become President and I, for one, couldn’t be more pleased.

Her 68-year-old mother last night told how Sarah had always been “a girl powered by a driving force.” “She has never been a typical girly girl. We moved to Alaska when she was a baby and she was raised to hunt, shoot, fish and play sports. She is a frontierswoman.” “She was a sporty girl and played basketball and ran track and field. She loved it so much she called her first son Track.”

“Sarah grew up hunting. She can use a gun. She and her daddy would wake up at 3am on schooldays to hunt moose.  She loves caribou [wild reindeer] burgers and is most at home with a cold beer at a barbecue.”

She said Sarah entered beauty contests, not for vanity, but to earn prize money to pursue her dreams. “She was always good-looking but never vain. We raised her to believe she could be anything she wanted to be.”

Sarah wanted to be a journalist. She wanted to go to university but knew the family budget was slim. So she went in for a beauty contest because it offered money. Sarah entered the Miss Wasilla pageant in 1984, which she won wearing a red Crimplene dress she made herself.

The following spring she came second in Miss Alaska, winning a £5,000 scholarship to Idaho University, where she studied journalism.

Sarah eloped with Todd, her childhood sweetheart, in 1988. Her mother said: “It was a shock but she did it because she knew we couldn’t afford a big white wedding. They have been together ever since. He is her rock.”

Todd is as colorful as his wife. He works on the Alaskan oil fields and has won a 2,000-mile snowmobile race called the ‘Iron Dog Race’ four times. He is one-eighth Yup’ik Eskimo. Todd is also a member of the steelworkers’ union and a seasonal oil production operator for BP, from which he earned $93,000 last year. He also helps to run the family’s commercial fishing business.

Sarah, a staunch anti-abortionist, gave birth to her youngest son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, four months ago, despite knowing he would have Down’s syndrome. Sally said: “Sarah loves that boy more than anything. When she learned he had a problem, it didn’t affect her love for him at all. In fact, I think she feels closer to him.”

Last December, Sarah posed for Vogue magazine but Sally said: “I didn’t really like the pictures. They had her in fur. She looked too glamorous. The Sarah I know is the girl in sweatpants, her baby in her arms.” “Sarah doesn’t really wear make-up. She’s much more at home with a gun than a mascara wand.”

“I would never have put Sarah down as a future vice-president, but I always knew she was destined for big things. She knows what she wants and goes after it full throttle.”

What’s not to like?

And here’s a comment from a noted democrat, Camille Paglia: “We may be seeing the first woman president. As a Democrat, I am reeling,” said Paglia, the cultural critic. “That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.”

Pollster John Zoby says: "Palin is not to be underestimated. Her real strength is that she is authentic, a real mom, an outdoors person, a small town mayor (hey, she has dealt with a small town city council - that alone could be preparation for staring down Vladimir Putin, right?). She is also a reformer."

"A very important demographic in this election is going to be the politically independent woman, 15% of whom in our latest survey are undecided."

"In the final analysis, this election will be about Obama vs. McCain. Obama has staked out ground as the new JFK - a new generation, literally and figuratively, a new face of America to the world, a man who can cross lines and work with both sides. But McCain is the modern day Harry Truman - with lots of DC experience, he knows what is wrong and dysfunctional with Washington and how to fix it, and he has chosen a running mate who is about as far away from Washington as he could find.

"This contest is likely to be very close until the weekend before the election - then the dam may break and support may flood one way or the other."

This is my second post on the subject of Sarah Palin today and covers some information that wasn’t covered in the earlier one.

I was driving back to Dallas on Friday and had Rush tuned in when the formal announcement came, followed by Palin’s acceptance speech. I’d heard of her before and knew that she was Governor of Alaska and was for drilling in ANWR, but little more than that. I’d heard that she was one of many under consideration, but like most others, had no reason to believe that she’d be the chosen one. Up until now, she would’ve been listed as a really dark horse, a really long shot.

I’d been hearing all morning that she was the pick and was intrigued by the possibilities, but not necessarily enthusiastic – I figured, let’s wait and see.

Her speech blew me away. She came across as an accomplished public speaker, confident and forceful. Her story is a real American dream, as it would’ve been defined 30 or 40 years ago (when men were still men and women were still women) before everything had to be “green,” before men had to get in touch with their inner female, before political correctness went amok, and before metrosexuals agonized over the price of arugula.

She and her husband hunt game, fish commercially, and raise their five children together. She knows how to take care of herself, and by extension, her kids.

You want a role model for your daughter, there she is.

Some of her accomplishments include:

• As Mayor, she cut her own salary and reduced property taxes by 40%.
• As Governor, during her first legislative session, her administration passed two major pieces of legislation – an overhaul of the state’s ethics laws and a competitive process to construct a gas pipeline.
• She objected to the decision of the U. S. Secretary of the Interior to list polar bears as an endangered species and threatened to file a lawsuit to stop the designation. The listing would dramatically affect oil and gas development in the state’s northern and northwestern coasts.
• When Governor Palin signed the state’s operating budget, she also used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects and reduced the construction budget to nearly $1.6 billion.
• When legislative attempts to prevent the state from having to fund part of the “bridge to nowhere” failed, Palin cancelled the bridge altogether.
• Under her leadership, the state invested $5 billion in state savings, overhauled education funding, and implemented the Senior Benefits Program to provide support for low-income older Alaskans.
• As Governor, she rescinded 35 appointments made by the outgoing Governor in the last hours of his administration. One of those was his former chief of staff, who later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to feed money into the former Governor’s re-election campaign.
• Palin replaced a deal negotiated by the former Governor to build a natural gas pipeline with a new one awarded to a different vendor. Only one legislator (the Senate has 20 members, and the House has 40) voted against the bill. The pipeline will carry gas from the North Slope to the lower 48 states through Canada.

Sarah Palin has done more than talk, she has actually accomplished things. And, can you believe it, there have been no reports of her failing to participate in any discussions, meetings, or negotiations with her legislative peers by hiding behind a “present” vote.

True, her longevity in public office yields a slim resume, but her achievements outweigh what Obama or Biden have ever done as a leader. Both of them (and admittedly McCain, too) have shared their responsibility with many other Senators – none were ever the only one whose butt was on the line (and a lovely butt it is).

And somehow, through it all, she managed to maintain a voter approval rating ranging from 76 to 90 % - unbelievable.

I’m looking forward to hearing the democrats call Sarah Palin “a strong woman” - in any context – even a negative one.

Bet they don’t.

Hillary was identified as a strong woman and we were told that any man who didn’t buy into her leftist agenda was afraid of a strong woman. This “strong woman” rhetoric has been used as a weapon by feminist for years, much as the charge of “racist” is used to label any white person who doesn’t intend to vote for Barack Obama.

Just what defines a “strong woman”?

Following are some attributes summarized from several sources to describe what I believe approximates a “strong person.” I am specifically leaving out references to physical power since those attributes have no bearing on this context. Here are some definitions of “strong” that are appropriate when assessing a person’s character.

• Having a force of character and will
• Intense in degree or quality, forceful or vigorous
• Not easily upset, resistant to harmful or unpleasant influences
• Morally or intellectually powerful, having a powerful effect

While I can’t speak for everyone, I believe that most people will agree that anyone, man or woman, who can be described as having those attributes, is a strong person. And therefore, a woman possessing those attributes is, by definition, a “strong woman.”

Enter Sarah Palin.

Sarah is a MOM, in the truest, most admirable sense of the word. Her children weren’t raised by nannies and sent to boarding schools. She and her husband have five children, four still at home. The oldest son joined the Army on September 11^th of 2007 and will ship out to the Middle East this year. She’s been a “hockey mom,” and assisted in coaching youth basketball. A wife and mother of five should be enough to classify someone as a strong woman, but of course not to the militant feminists.

She began her political career in 1992 when she ran for a seat on the City Council of Wasilla, Ak. She won and served two terms until 1996. Serving on a city council of even a small town (under 10,000) takes a certain amount of assertiveness and practical judgment.

In 1996, she was elected Mayor of Wasilla, beating out the incumbent. She reduced her own salary and reduced property taxes by 40 %, as promised during her campaign. She ran for reelection in 1999 against the same previous mayor and won by an even greater margin. Once again, Sarah showed spunk and determination in firing the police chief and the library director for misdeeds. She was also elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors.

The Governor appointed Palin Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, where she served from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, she resigned in protest over what she called the “lack of ethics” of Republican leaders (her own party). After resigning, she exposed the state party’s chairman and a former Alaska Attorney General for wrongdoings and both men subsequently resigned, one paying a record fine. She bucked her own party’s leaders and won.

In 2006, she upset then-Governor Murkowski in the primary, and then won the gubernatorial election in November by over 8%, despite being outspent by her opponent, former Governor Tony Knowles. She became Alaska’s first woman Governor, and the youngest in the state’s history. She challenged the party politics and the “good old boy” network and won.

Palin’s approval rating as Governor have frequently risen above 90% but reached a low of 76% after she fired Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Note that her LOW approval rating is approximately seven times that of our current U.S. Congress.

Her list of substantive achievements in two years as Governor exceed the “major” accomplishments of Barack Obama during his six years as Illinois State Senator combined with his time as a United States Senator.