Ed's Opinion

SARAH PALIN IN A NUTSHELL: Going Rogue; Book Review: GOVERNOR PRIOR TO RUNNING FOR VICE PRESIDENT: WHERE WAS MOMMIE DEAREST?

2010-03-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

WHERE WAS MOMMIE DEAREST?

There are so many misconceptions/misperceptions in this book about herself, her family, her role in life and her motivation one can only think she must be a solipsistic megalomaniac and not a committed mother or politician with strongly held ideals and values

Palin glosses over much of her time as Governor with anecdotes about her children and family life. Track, for instance, graduated from high school and didn’t follow a career in hockey or go to college but joined the National Guard and was sent for training to Georgia. Up to now the reader got the impression Track was going to be a professional hockey player. Further Track, although he was a star player on the Alaska All-Stars team, spent most of his senior year of high school year in Michigan where he played AAA hockey and then returned to Wasilla to graduate from Wasilla High School in June 2007. He joined the Army National Guard in September 2007. No mention is made as to why he didn’t go on to play college hockey or even professional or semi- professional hockey. Bristol becomes pregnant as an unwed teen in 2008. Palin herself becomes pregnant and conceals it. Did all this happen because she sacrificed her family’s welfare to her political career? Track was shipped off to Michigan in September of 2006 and she took office as Governor on December 2006. Bristol gave birth in December 2008 in the year that Sarah ran for Vice-President while still Governor of Alaska.

Pages in the book are devoted to a cat fight between the President of the Alaska State Senate and the Scheduling of the State of the State speech so she could attend Track’s graduation from Army training. She treats this event like a momentous milestone in Track’s life like getting married or graduating from college drama queen that she is. Perhaps she was trying to make up for shipping him off to Michigan while she went off to be Governor

She also was President of the Oil and Gas Association so she was called upon to speak to that organization usually outside of Alaska in the lower forty eight. Was this conducive to a stable family life or even in the interest of Alaska or maybe just in her self interest?

When she became pregnant with Trig she was afraid to go to her OBGYN to confirm the pregnancy because of the publicity? A woman going to an OBGYN is not unusual, and not necessarily an indication of pregnancy and if it was so what. Why did she want to keep it a secret? One has to ask himself or herself that question of a woman that alleges she had two miscarriages before Trig.

She waited until she was speaking at an Oil and Gas meeting in New Orleans before sneaking out to a drug store to buy a pregnancy test kit. The test proved to be positive for pregnancy.

She then went to her OBGYN and got advice on her pregnancy. Later she learned the baby would be a boy with Down syndrome. By then the cat was out of the bag but she admits she toyed with the idea of abortion but her “beliefs” would not allow it.

Confronted with this fact she heard from God that that was what he wanted for her and her family. She wrote a letter to her family as if it was authored by God explaining his reasoning for her to have the child.

She was scheduled to speak at an Energy conference in Dallas, Texas five weeks before Trig’s due date, however when she got there she became aware of signs that the baby would be born early perhaps in Dallas. However she waited and delivered her speech and then flew back to Alaska leaking fluid and then had the baby in the Mat-Su Valley hospital. So Trig’s Alaskan birth qualified him for the benefits of claiming he was a native born Alaskan and part Eskimo. Luckily he survived his mothers self serving agenda.

She recounts her trips to Texas including the one where Trig’s life and health were placed in jeopardy by her “speaking schedule” with great fondness. Texas is a great source for conservative political donations and she has made many speaking trips to Texas before and after the presidential election. So she went to Texas for her own benefit over the danger that she might miscarry with Trig as she had twice before.

During this time Bristol also became pregnant. She alleges she was unaware the she was having sexual relations. Levi Johnston, the baby’s father, says he was living in the Palin household and sleeping with Bristol when the baby was conceived. Apparently her “principles” would not allow her to counsel Bristol on ways to avoid pregnancy and the consequences of failing to either take precautions or abstain so nature took its course. Now Bristol has become a television "expert"persona on unwed teen childbirth.

Strangely Sarah doesn’t describe the mother and daughter relationship she had with Bristol and the advice the gave her prior to allowing Levi to sleep with Bristol in her house. This book is as vague about important family matters as it is vague about politics up to this point.

She alleges for the first time that the enactment of the Alaska Gas Line Act was passed with the help of Democrats in the legislature and not her sole accomplishment although earlier in the book she speaks of it as if it was solely the result of her efforts.

There so many misconceptions about herself, her family and others, her role in life and her motivation one can only think she must be a solipsistic megalomaniac and not a committed mother or politician with ideals and values strongly held that drive her in a quest to benefit her family and the public rather than herself.

SARAH PALIN IN A NUT SHELL: GOING ROGUE: GOVERNOR: 2006-2009: EARLY YEARS. THE GREAT POLARIZER

2010-02-11T21:50:00.000-08:00

IF RONALD REAGAN WAS THE GREAT COMMUNICATOR THEN SARAH PALIN IS THE GREAT POLARIZER,

The Alaska legislature meets from January to April as stated and Sarah was in residence during those four months during the rest of the year she governed from her Anchorage office while living at home in Wasilla. She collected per diem while living at home for hotel expenses at $58.00 a day. However she did not accept compensation for meals. Later after an ethics investigation she had to pay taxes on this money as well as the per diem received for her family when they accompanied her on official trips. Her per diem claims are strange considering the fact she rejected a pay increase from $125000 to $150000 after becoming Governor. The only advantage the per diem claims would have is they are not taxable.

When she arrived in Juneau in January of 2007 the results of an FBI investigation were released and many legislators and others were indicted some pleading guilty to taking money for votes or other illegal acts. These were mostly Republicans. She states that Democrats were guilty of the same practices when they were in power. However the book is silent on any investigation or Democratic convictions or if the FBI only investigated Republicans.

The FBI investigation took place before she became Governor and so she cannot claim it was part of any “clean up” campaign by her administration. However she did blow the whistle on fellow commissioners who had conflicts of interest when she was on the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission before she came to the Governorship. This led to resignations and fines.

She commissioned a white paper to be written by a Republican and a Democrat as a bipartisan document on the ethics scandal ostensibly this document was to be the basis for remedial legislation however she doesn’t say what specific changes were to be made other than some general rules of ethics to be followed like not accepting money for votes but campaign contributions were okay. Her first legislative director recommended that she not release the paper as it would anger legislators who were working on their own bill (and with whom she would later have to work with) she did anyway and received an angry response from some legislators that she should not paint the entire legislature as being corrupt and attempt to change things on her own but with the legislature. Of course that was her plan to change the way things were done in the past to her way.

The Alaska Supreme court ruled that same sex couples had to receive the same benefits as heterosexual couples, despite this the legislature sent the unconstitutional bill to her for signing so she vetoed it as the Supreme Court had ruled it unconstitutional. However she says she still is for marriage only between a man and a woman.

The veto seemed like a no brainer since it was following the constitutional mandate as ruled upon but conservatives criticized her any way

She says her first choice as legislative director was an experienced staffer who she thought would help dealing with the legislature. As she put it he could tell her where the "light switches were” however the many early faux pas of her dealings with the legislature are blamed on this unnamed individual.

As chief executive of the largest state in the union with a 14 billion dollar( other sources say it was $6.6 billion) budget (mostly from taxes on oil production as Alaska has no sales or income tax) the development and conservation of oil resources was paramount in her policies. The price of oil was critical to Alaska and the price had gone from $9.00 a barrel in 1999 to $140.00 in 2008. However she had the luxury of governing when oil revenues were at their highest historically, which also was probably a factor in her gaining National attention.

She wanted to cut the fat out on the Alaska budget as she had when she allegedly sold the state plane on e-bay ( there were no bidders) so she sold the plane to a private party at a loss later saying I couldn't land on all the gravel strips in Alaska I might want to go to? However when she attempted the same policy with the state budget by cutting appropriations like expenditures for a blue berry farm, landscaping trimming for a school (the girl scouts should volunteer to do this) or a memorial for a legislator who committed suicide. What the deceased legislator’s real accomplishments were she omits. So she makes it look like she would not memorialize people who commit suicide no matter what their achievements.

She then had her legislative director notify the legislators that she would only consider appropriations for core services like public safety, education and infrastructure. If the legislature sent her pork she would cut it and she wanted the beneficiaries of appropriations to prioritize requests. This was never done because her legislative director, whom she later came to the conclusion was an “insider”, was against prioritizing the budget on public safety, education and infrastructure grounds had not conveyed her policies to the legislators.

As a result there was a huge outcry when she revealed her new budget after many items were line item vetoed. She fired the legislative director who was immediately hired as a staffer for another legislator ( from where she had hired him in the first place) and he became one of the more prominent critics of her administration. So she arrived and gave the impression that she wanted to work with the legislature by hiring one of their staffers and after she had milked him for knowledge about the in and outs of politics in Juneau she fired him. Incidentally she describes him as playing games on his blackberry during important meetings and walking around with the tail of his shirt sticking out from his fly. However other than this she doesn’t specifically relate any failures on his part other than her budget priorities. This may be something thought up after the fact because we know later she was initially for building the "bridge to nowhere" with federal money until it was publicized as an egregious example of pork barrel spending by way of earmarks. Then she was against it but accepted the money appropriated for it and used it for other purposes many of which could be considered pork by the standards she alleges she set for the state budget.

She created the Pipeline Systems Integrity Office to police the oil industry to make sure it kept the oil infrastructure in good repair. This was not in the Reagan philosophy, her hero, as he was against increased regulation letting the free market guide industry, but it is in line with her penchant for passing financial burdens on to non Alaskans.

She alleges that the pressure she kept on the state legislature and the ongoing FBI investigation prompted the legislature to pass an omnibus ethics bill making it a crime to sell votes for money and that any legislator who was convicted of a felony would forfeit his state pension rights. This last part on its face appears to be unconstitutional and unenforceable window dressing. Further she claims it as her accomplishment and not the legislatures although her proposed ethics bill was never passed.

The Alaska Gas Line Inducement Act (AGIA) was passed while she was in office to reimbure successful bidders up to $500 million seed money on an Alaska Gas Pipeline to the lower Forty Eight. Thus encouraging bidders other than the consortium extracting oil from Prudhoe Bay and other areas in Alaska. The cost of the pipeline has been estimated as low as $14 million and as high as $24 million. There was only one bid on the project so it was awarded to the Trans Canada Pipeline Company, a Canadian Company that operates major gas pipelines throughout Canada. The jury is out as to whether a gas line can be built through Canada’s McKenzie River Valley as the First Nations People are litigating its construction.

Also it is to be noted that the major oil companies refused to bid under the conditions proposed in the bill so the alleged purpose of the bill to encourage numerous bidders failed. This is considered her major accomplishment in office although it may never come to fruition.

So in sum she continued to be a polarizing politician creating discord and dissent with very little partisan (within her own party) results or bi-partisan achievements.

SARAH PALIN IN A NUT SHELL: GOING ROGUE: GOVERNOR: INITIAL YEARS.

2010-01-31T18:14:00.000-08:00

THE VEXATIOUS ONE IN THE CHINA SHOP

WORKING IN THE VINTAGE WHERE THE GRAPES OF POLARIZATION ARE STORED

Sarah Palin’s book is as much or more about her parenting experience than her political journey. While the two are obviously intertwined she is not the first woman nor will she be the last, to be a political figure so the anecdotal emphasis on her parenting and family life is more for filler than substance in this book and, to many, not that impressive.

She held the Alaska Governor’s office from December 4, 2006 until July 26 2009 when she voluntarily resigned. Although she took the oath of office on December 4, she did not move to the Capital, Juneau, until January 7, 2007 with her four children, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Track.

With its pristine vistas of mountains and sea, the Juneau mansion was a comfortable home although old. The first order of business was cost cutting and she reduced the staff at the mansion including the chef. Of course she sold the plane the preceding Governor had purchased. Much publicity and fanfare accompanied her cost cutting campaign taken on so shortly after she became Governor. One wonders about the wisdom of selling the State plane for 2.1 million in 2007 which was purchased by the prior Murkowski Administration for 2.7 million in 2005. This in a State she describes as one fifth the size of the entire continental United States.

As it turns out she lived in Juneau when the legislature was in session and in Wasilla the rest of the year governing from her office in Anchorage.

She notes that she fired the chef at the Juneau residence preferring for her and Bristol, born 10/18/90, to cook for the family and to use outside catering for official engagements.

She was often visited by Republican stalwarts while on "tourist cruises" and mentions Bill Kristol, the neoconservative Editor of the Weekly Standard, Fred Barnes, also an editor of the Weekly Standard and a Fox news commentator and Dick Morris a political consultant and commentator on Fox News.

She says her best dish is Moose Chili. One wonders if she served the Chili to these Washington power brokers. However she does say once the chef was fired the children were not happy to eat Moose Chili several times a week. One must surmise that if Kristol and Barnes took the time to visit her they must have given her a subscription to the Weekly Standard. Why she would not tell that to Katie Couric when asked what she read provides an interesting insight as to her character.

All this brings into question whether it was wise or even practical for a Governor with four young children and whose husband was 1300 miles away at his production job to fire her chef and take on the duties herself. This sounds as if it would be detrimental to her duties as Governor and the State would be impacted by the absence of a Governor who was at home cooking for her children. Perhaps this is an exaggeration as it seems more than likely she had help in the mansion although she doesn’t mention this in her book except to say sixteen year old Bristol, helped.

On the same subject the sale of the State plane at a loss seems like a less than practical move in a State the size of Alaska where a Governor and her staff might not want to depend on scheduled airlines to get to meetings and conferences around the State. Also a private plane would have facilities for working with her aides and resting while on her journeys as Governor. So both these cuts she brags about have negative side effects and may have made her a less efficient Governor ultimately costing the State more.

She became the subject of an ethics investigation regarding her per diem travel claims incurred to meet her many speaking invitations around the State while she was Governor. The entities requiring her presence also asked her to” bring the children along .“ She might have avoided this if she used a State plane

She states her main objective was not to clean up government and cut costs although these were certainly high on her list of things to do but to get a natural gas pipeline built to the Lower Forty Eight. While in office she proposed an inducement act to provide seed money to a firm that wanted to build a land line through Canada. The opposing plans would build an “All Alaska” gas line from Prudhoe Bay to a Valdez terminal for shipment as Liquefied Natural Gas to the Lower Forty Eight. It would also supply the energy source to Anchorage and Fairbanks, the State’s population centers.

She settled in to Juneau which she describes as an environmentally beautiful place but with an “Animal House” like culture because of the many parties and drinking involving lobbyists and legislators. All this led to FBI investigations of conflicts of interest and illegalities.

Early on as Governor she solidified her credentials with the National Rifle Association describing her opposition to “Hollywood liberals” attempt to circumscribe wolf kills designed to prevent them from decimating the Moose and Caribou herds which many Alaskans depend on to supplement their diets. She says one of the animal rights groups presented their case through a “perky, pretty celebrity” to attack Alaska’s scientifically controlled, state-managed wolf control program. The issue involved the number of wolves to be killed and the use of helicopters. Pretty and perky seem to be one of her many attributes also as well as being a spokes person for the far right. Its was like the kettle calling the pot black bottom.

However her initial years as Governor were basically uneventful, she wasn’t cleaning up government as promised in her campaign, she was firing little people and making a less than astute decision to sell the State plane at a loss. Also not much new drilling was accomplished.

In other words she was like a bull in a china shop.

She tells us she created a group of advisers to define her gas pipe plan while in her Anchorage office the month before she arrived in Juneau. This doesn’t sound like a plan to engage the legislature in developing a plan that everyone could support.

After she arrived in Juneau she assembled another group of advisers. This sounds like the “insiders “she so roundly criticized the other side and the legislature for having in the election.

Thus she created the grounds for polarization before and after she arrived in the Capital instead of building political alliances to get things done with people in government who had the power she needed to realize her goals.

SARAH PALIN IN A NUT SHELL: GOING ROGUE: THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR

2010-01-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

PALIN IN THE GOVERNOR"S OFFICE SHE DECORATED

On Alaska Day October 18, 2005 she entered the race for Governorship of Alaska against an incumbent from her own political party, Frank Murkowski. Murkowski had not announced whether he was going to run for reelection at the time but she decided not to wait. Murkowski had abysmal approval ratings but he did have the backing of the Republican Party whose chairman was Randy Ruedrich, the Co-Commissioner on the Alaska Oil and Gas and Conservation Commission who she had blown the whistle on for his conflicts of interest. This led to an FBI investigation of the matter and Ruedich ultimately resigned and paid a $12000 fine. Murkowski was implicated in Ruedrich’s conduct by his failure to timely act on the matter.

The Irony of all this is that she would later resign the Governorship because of public interest lawsuits brought against her on alleged ethics violations while she was Governor. She said she didn’t have time to defend herself and also be the Governor. She then launched her present media tour.

After opening a campaign office in Anchorage she canvassed the state seeking support from politicians and activists disaffected by the perceived corruption and ethics violations involving lawmakers and the oil a gas interests in the State. She makes it a point to tell how she sought the support of small town people and even people on the fringe like a falafel maker in Anchorage who had political aspirations.

The FBI was investigating the ties lawmakers had to the Veco Corporation, a worldwide oil field services giant. Members of both parties were involved including Republican Senator Ted Stevens and his son Ben Stevens.

Also the public in general was critical of the many State funded junkets Murkowski took using a plane he bought with State money.

She won the primary with fifty one percent of the vote.

In the general election she faced a Democrat , Tony Knowles, a former two term Governor and a former two term State Representative whom she identifies as a liberal and an a wealthy Independent neophyte Andrew Halco. She describes him as effete without saying more except to describe him as generally inexperienced as a political candidate.

Although outspent by Knowles she defeated him by receiving 48.3% to his 40.9% in the votes cast. Her clean government and identity as an outsider coming to clean up corruption even her in own party if need be worked

"DRILL BABY DRILL" WAS HER CAMPAIGN SLOGAN TO PROMOTE MORE ALASKAN OIL PRODUCTION AND JOBS

Her campaign platform was for change. Change in what she saw as corrupt practices in Juneau involving back door deals with the oil and gas interests. She stood for policies that developed oil and gas resources in the public interest and not in the oil and gas companies interests. Her motto was “drill baby drill”. She was for forcing the oil companies to drill on leases they held but had not developed.

She alleges in her book that in this way Alaska would be contributing more to the nation.

She raised taxes on oil production by 25% while Governor so every barrel that went to the lower forty eight would cost more to the end user, the working families of America. Hockey and soccer moms who drive their kids to games and practices take notice. She seems to have a special expertise in passing taxes that will fall on the backs of others like the oil tax and the sales taxes she passed when she was mayor.

Her campaign chairman was the president of the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce, Kris Perry.

Change, elimination of corruption, lowering taxes and promoting more drilling which would mean more state income and more jobs for working Alaskans was her mantra. Also that the good old boys and their insider deals had to go was part of her mantra.

She alleges she ran a grass roots campaign driving to the small cities and towns while her opponents flew to the major cities. She also mentions the family owned a piper cub aircraft. Why she didn’t use it she does not say but it is presumed it was too small for her, the pilot, and staff members.

Anyway, it maybe a sexy way to cultivate an image as grass roots campaigner but there are not enough people in the smaller towns to elect a Governor so she campaigned in the media and in the larger cities. Also she established a presence on television; the most efficient way to campaign on a State wide basis is by commercials although she says did few political commercials.

However she says she was on many debate platforms with the other candidates and spoke at many functions attended by large crowds this would have been covered by all aspects of the media including television and since she has a charismatic television presence it must have been a major factor in the campaign just as it is now for what ever unannounced goal she may have.

And while she may not have had the support of the Republican Party and its close ally and fund raiser the Alaska Chamber of Commerce in the primary she certainly would have had it in the general election.

She announced her win at the Captain Cook hotel in Anchorage and was sworn in at Fairbanks. This is the city where the Alaska constitution was adopted. The fiftieth year of Alaska's statehood would take place during her term.

Thus she allegedly cultivated grass roots support (code word for ordinary people) to change government, make more it honest, transparent and to throw out the good old boys and there insider deals. However the real muscle for her success was the backing of the Republican Party and their close ally and fund raiser the Alaskan Chamber of Commerce in a traditionally red state. In the 2004 Presidential election George Bush won the state by 60% of the votes cast.

SARAH PALIN IN A NUT SHELL: GOING ROGUE: BETWEEN MAYOR AND GOVERNOR.

2010-01-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

SARAH PALIN THE HOCKEY MOM WHO ESCHEWS AMBITION, FAME, WEALTH AND FOLLOWS GOD'S PLAN FOR HER AS REVEALED?

MIKE WOOTEN THE VILLAIN

After resigning from the Alaska Oil Gas Conservation Commission Sarah returned to the tranquility of family life in Wasilla to reflect in January, 2004. The Commission was located in Anchorage, within daily commuting distance from her home, and paid $124,000 a year . This resignation was not without some loss to her financially and politically.

Her sister Molly filed for divorce in 2005 from Mike Wooten a man she married in 2001. While married to Molly Wooten had become a State Trooper after receiving a recommendation from Sarah. This marriage was the second for Molly who also had kids by a prior marriage. Wooten had a family from three prior marriages. Sarah says Wooten tasered his ten year old stepson and screamed that if Molly's father got a divorce attorney for Molly he’d “’eat a lead bullet’ while wearing his trooper gun belt.” Also she says he shot a moose of out season, he was a drunk and a bad guy because he allegedly took another woman to a convention.

She alleges when his personnel file became public she learned of another dozen or so complaints about him.

What she doesn’t mention is his military service for more than ten years, the fact that he had two children with Molly and the majority of the complaints against him as a trooper were made by Palin, her family and friends or that she wrote letters more than once recommending him for a state trooper position in the first place. Here is one letter she wrote:

“It is my pleasure to provide character reference examples for Mr. Mike Wooten. Since I have become acquainted with Mike I continue to be impressed with his integrity, worthwhile community spirit and trustworthiness...
On a personal note, I have witnessed Mike's gift of calm and kindness towards many young kids here in Wasilla. I have never seen him raise his voice, nor lose patience, nor become agitated, in the presence of any child. Instead, Mike consistently remains a fine role model for my own children and other young people in Wasilla.

I wish America had more people with the grace and sincerity that mirrors the character of Mike Wooten. We would have a much kinder calmer trustworthy nation as a result.

I believe the United States Air Force has been fortunate to have the services of Mike the past 10 years. His work ethic, his American patriotism, his obvious dedication to traditional values, and his strong faith in God and truth is witnessed in Mike's everyday living.”--Sarah Palin, Mayor

She doesn't mention in the letter that he was also her brother in law.

One wonders if she was a great judge of character in the first instance or at the time of divorce. Also Levi Johnston seems to have fallen from grace in the same way. He was living with Bristol in Sarah’s house when their child was conceived yet she says she was unaware they were having sexual relations.

LEVI JOHNSTON The Villain

Now of course we see the bitter child custody suit between Levi, Bristol and the Palin’s with each side going public with derogatory comments much like Wooten’s experience .

The judge who oversaw the Wooten divorce was dumbfounded as to why the Palin’s were set on destroying his ability earn a living (They were trying to have him fired as a trooper at this early date) since he had to support the children he had with Molly as well as his other children. Palin and her family’s vendetta against Wooten continues to the present day.

During this period when she was out of office she alleges she devoted herself to family life but still felt unsettled and unfilled. Yet she describes herself as "not the ambitious type or driven to attain fame or wealth." This sounds like an oxymoronic statement when compared with her life activities.

However she says that her disaffection with private life was because God had other plans for her. She quotes a passage from the book of Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord ‘Plans for peace and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. When you call upon Me I shall hear you, When you search for me you will find Me; If you seek Me with all your heart.’”

She alleges that she looked for signs or open doors so she could ascertain God’s plan for her. He had created the passions of her life and He would show her the way by signs to fulfill those passions. This her leads to run for Governor because it was God’s plan for her to be in politics.

Chuck Wooten calls the passages about him in the book” a pack of lies.” One wonders why Sarah didn’t point out Wooten’s years of service to his country or the fact that the step son asked him to Taser him. (Not A good idea under any circumstances).Wooten is not the only person to dispute the veracity passages in the book among whom are Steve Schmidt, campaign advisor and John McCain, runningmate.

SARAH PALIN IN A NUT SHELL: GOING ROGUE: MAYOR AND THE FAUSTIAN BARGAIN.

2010-01-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin served two terms as Mayor Of Wasilla from 1996 until 2002 when she was termed out. She alleges she ran against the good old boy and politics as usual crowd however records indicate she introduced abortion, gun control, term limits (her opponent was a three term incumbent) issues in a small town race that had heretofore been a more sedate race based on local issues and not hot button issues like abortion and gun control. Wasteful spending and high taxes were other issues. These issues continue to be part of her mantra and that the incumbent politicians are good old boy insiders ( code word for older male incumbents who allegedly resent women in politics.)

Yet three men who were incumbents, John Stein Mayor, Nick Carney, Council member and Irl Stambaugh, Police Chief, endorsed her candidacy in her initial run for city counsel. In that first race she campaigned for a two percent sales tax and for reduction of property and business taxes.

Her endorsements indicate she was in fact a part of the" in "crowd as well as the fact that her mother in law and father in law were also active politically in Wasilla.

She states that her philosophy of carrying out the duties of mayor were to facilitate the building of streets, sewers, water systems and other necessities of a growing city. She was also opposed to restrictive building codes and zoning laws. The city financed the infrastructure improvements with bond measures and earmarked funds from the Federal Government. Because of this and of the sales tax previously passed she lowered property taxes and taxes on business by 75% and this in turn attracted big box stores and Wal-Mart to locate in Wasilla. The effect of this was increased sales tax revenue.

Wasilla’s population was growing as the result of Anchorage’s population increase which was linked to the discovery and development of the Prudhoe Bay oil field in 1968 along with the construction of the Alaska Pipeline and the all weather port of Valdez. Wasilla is preponderantly a bedroom community for Anchorage and it grew also with the oil boom.

She also built a sports center with a 15 million bond issue to be financed by a .5 % increase in the sales tax. Using these measures she doubled the long term debt of Wasilla and gave the impression she was reducing taxes and government expenditures however she was either stretching infrastructure payments out over a longer period or getting Federal aide from Senators like Ted Stevens who was celebrated in some circles for his ability to obtain earmarks for Alaska like “the bridge to no where.”

THE FAUSTIAN BARGAIN

What the long term effects of loose building codes and zoning codes will be on the city remains to be seen however more established and experienced cities value building and zoning codes as a means to provide a cleaner, safer habitat for it citizens. Frommer’s Alaska Guide book by Charles Wohlforth, a noted and prize winning author on Alaska, described Wasilla as "the worst kind of suburban sprawl of highway-fronting shopping malls and gravel lots."

In the short term money might be saved on lower government costs for building and zoning departments but the cost of rehabilitating a poorly zoned and constructed city will be much higher in the long run. Also the effects of the oil boom will decrease as time goes by as the flow of oil either decreases or levels off and alternate energy sources are developed.

However the developers, big box stores and Wal-Mart have been the immediate beneficiaries. Also a sales tax is one of the more regressive taxes taking a greater percentage of the income of the poorest citizens and ostensibly those with the least ability to pay. So the tax burden is greater on the poor for the benefit of the rich including businesses like Wal-Mart whose profits go to shareholders living outside of Alaska. While her tax policies may have induced big box stores and Wal- Mart to locate there, long term these businesses tend to decimate local businesses and are not the kind of “ born here, raised here, be buried here type of citizens” she extolled in her prior campaigns. Also stores like Wal-Mart are notorious for their low wages and meager benefits. So the majority of jobs generated are low value and not the type one can marry and build a family on.

She also alleges a conversation with the librarian over the nature and placement of books in the public library was blown all out of proportion and that she was trying to make sure certain books would not be placed adjacent to the children's areas. Others have said she was trying to inject her religious and personal beliefs into the administration of the library and was in fact attempting a form of censorship.

Former Mayor, John Stein, who is pro choice, says right to life groups outside Wasilla were sending out flyers in her behalf and against him in the mayoral race on this issue which was far beyond the true issues of taxation and growth policies in the race.

The librarian was later fired under her tenure as well as the police chief who was opposed to her cost cutting in the police department.

Her term ended when she was thirty eight and she began to look for other opportunities in government. She entered the Republican primary for Lt. Governor against four other Republican opponents. She alleges she was able to raise only $40,000 for the race and the others each spent five times as much as she did. Despite all this she came in a close second. One wonders with all the tax cutting and loose building and zoning laws why she wasn’t able to raise more money from developers and business. Also where was the monetary support from right to life Christian groups in Alaska?

This was in 2002 and Frank Murkowski, an incumbent long term Senator, ran for Governor of Alaska and won. Thus he was able to appoint a successor to his remaining Senate term. Sarah says she was on the short list and interviewed for the appointment. However she says Murkowski felt strongly that the job would take too great a toll on Sarah’s family although she assured him that she would take the family to Washington with her if appointed.

In the end Murkowski appointed his daughter Lisa who had two children of her own. She was also was the majority leader designate of the Alaska House of Representatives and so Murkowski may have thought she was the more experienced person for the job despite the charges of nepotism.

However Murkowski did appoint her to the Alaska Oil And Gas Commission which she chaired in 2003 and resigned from in 2004 on grounds that other members of the commission, all Republicans, were unethical.

This is another thread in Palin’s story instead of trying to work with and form a consensus with her political allies she turns on them and says they are good old boys, insiders, unethical or unethical good old boy insiders. This inability to straighten out problems within her own neighborhood or with party members is apparently what she is calling her rogue or independent virtue.

This quality seems to be true in her own family in regard to her ex brother in law who she tried to have fired from the Alaska State Police and now with her public dispute with Levi Johnston, her grandchild’s father. Later we will see this same tendency in regard to the McCain aides.

SARAH PALIN IN A NUTSHELL: GOING ROGUE: POLITICAL AWAKINENING

2009-12-31T11:52:00.000-08:00

THE VALDEZ TRAGEDY: INFLUENTIAL IN PALIN"S POLITICAL ACTIVATION.

Sarah characterizes the Exxon oil spill in Prince William Sound as the event that made her decide to become active in politics. This occurred on March 24, 1989 while she was baking a cake and a friend called and told her to turn on the television and she saw the coverage of the Exxon spill which horrified her. Valdez is located 260 miles from Wasilla but she knew that all Alaskans would fell the consequences of the event.

Fisheries are the first business in Alaska even before oil production so a blow to this industry would be felt by all Alaskans including the Palin's whose fishing rights on Bristol Bay to the North of Prince William Sound would be tainted by the spill in an adjacent fishing grounds to the South. Subsequently the price of Alaskan salmon dropped because of buyers fears it might be contaminated with oil.

She says many members of her family and friends went to help with the clean up. Apparently neither she nor Todd joined in, however as a result of the devastation to the fishermen in the area and other people who derived a living from the Sound a seed was planted in her that in retrospect she believes led her to go into public service. Initially it was a belief that she should help her fellow citizens and that if ever she had a chance to do so she would.

WASILLA, ALASKA : DUCT TAPE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD : HOME TO RUGGED INDIVIDUALS AND ROGUE POLITICIANS

In 1992 a local activist, Nick Carney, recruited her to run for Wasilla City Council thinking she would be a kindred political soul. He lived to regret his belief about her. She was 28 at the time. Wasilla was a small town of approximately 4000 residents in 1990. However a new road the Parks Highway had been built in 1975 from Anchorage to Wasilla, traditionally a lumber, mining, and trapping center with some agriculture as a result of 200 farm families resettled there from the upper Mid-West. As a result Wasilla was transitioning to being a bedroom community of Anchorage (Population in 1990: 216000) .

The population of Wasilla has more than doubled by 2008 to over 10,000.

Sarah Palin was elected to a seat on the city council from 1993 to 1996. It met twice a month on Monday nights. She alleges she ran on a platform calling for the restructuring of government and the reduction of taxation.

However Wasilla was forced to adopt a sales tax in lieu of an increased property tax because the growing city needed a police force at the time she was first elected. She alleges she was against any increase in taxes but supported the sales tax as being “fairer and more optional" in a town like Wasilla which was a hub for tourism and commerce.” The apparent thinking was that a sales tax would partly fall on others just passing through Wasilla. This mind set has been a touch stone of her policies ever since i.e. tax oil production in the state so that the end user in the lower forty eight would pay the tax that benefited Alaska. In fact Alaska receives $5 for every $1 paid into the Federal Treasury. So it is a welfare state made of rugged individuals, rogue politicians and Wasilla according to Wal-Mart is the city where they sell the most duct tape.

She describes her self as being an independent minded council woman. This became evident when she voted against garbage collection services for a new subdivision preferring to let the residents hall their trash to the dump like every one else. This in a growing Wasilla which was becoming a bedroom community for persons employed in Anchorage who may not have the time to or means to take care of their own trash. Nick Carney her fellow councilman owned the trash company so there was a conflict of interest on his part but another service provider could have been found by the city council for a necessary service in a growing town.

The book indicates that at this early date she was establishing her independent and rogue credentials with an anti new tax and no new government mantra. Whether this was in the interest of Wasilla, a city in the path or progress with an exploding population is doubtful.

Wasillians she declares were rugged individualists not interested in professional city mangers or city planners. Consequently Frommers Alaska Guide describes Wasilla “as the worst example of urban sprawl of highway fronting malls with gravel lots”. One wonders why she thinks other people (non Alaskans) are not rugged individualists or that somehow Alaskans are more resourceful then everyone else since Alsakans depend so much on Federal support which comes from the other citizens of the U.S.

After three years on the city counsel where she established her credentials as anti new tax and anti new government programs she decided to run against the “good old boys” and challenged the incumbent mayor who was educated in city management and administration. Thus characterizing her self as an outsider or definitely not a good old boy insider and as candidate that would bring a new breathe of fresh air to the "politics as usual" culture which she had been a part of for three years. Thus we see her mantra as the representative of the common man an against the fat cat insiders. This is coupled with the assertion that taxes are too high (meaning the fat cat insiders are using the peoples money to benefit themselves) and government is growing too fast (The fat cats are padding the payroll with their friends and relatives) which she used in her campaign for mayor.

She alleged the city didn’t need urban planners nor did the people need to be managed by city managers who weren’t born there, raised there and intended to die there kind of guys.

She says the opposition candidate, a three term incumbent , mainly said she was a young, inexperienced mother of three small children. She won the election. However when she cut the mayor’s salary( her own) and tried to lower departmental budgets and in particular the police budget she was subjected to a recall movement which she defeated.

Thus she was allegedly inspired to go into politics by the Valdez incident. Her political policies are basically what we hear today: no new taxes or fewer taxes, less government, the people are capable of regulating themselves so they don’t need a lot of urban planning or city administration by educated people who weren’t born here raised here or going to be buried here. This in a city that was in the process of doubling in population. This simplistic, atavist approach to politics sounds good on the campaign trail against incumbents but in practice it leads to disaster as we have seen in the recent financial meltdown allegedly caused by unregulated “free market " policies. The market is never “unregulated” if the government doesn’t do it for the public private interests will for their own benefit and their interest may not be in the public's interest.

Sarah Palin In A Nut Shell: Going Rogue; Early Years Of Marriage

2009-12-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

EARLY YEARS OF MARRIAGE

“On April20 1989 my Life truly began.” That is the day she gave birth to Track Palin so named because he was born during track season? So much for the Christian tradition of naming children after biblical figures like the Apostles , older family members or carrying forth the mothers maiden name. Track was named because he was born during track season and she liked sports. She says jokingly he was lucky it wasn’t the hockey season or he could have been named Zamboni. Some people select names with more care and significance. Later Track told her we would have liked to have been named Colt.

Sarah goes into great detail describing the trials and tribulations of her first labor and delivery and the pain associated with it. Sarah says her drive to become a big time sports reporter was “mellowed’ by the arrival of Track, who was the center of her attention and adoration, so she settled for weekend work at an anchorage network affiliate.

Todd was working for British Petroleum on the North Slope so he didn’t get home that often.

Todd also had fishing rights on Bristol Bay that he acquired from his grandfather and while he was away with BP Sarah, despite being pregnant, and other family members worked the rights during Salmon season. This franchise reportedly brought in $50,000 for a months backbreaking work in the year before she ran for Vice President.

She and Todd moved into their own small apartment and while she was pregnant again with a child they expected to be named Tad for a mixture of Track and Todd. We are not told the significance of Todd’s name.

However her maternity doctor discovered the fetus did not have a heart beat and gave Sarah her choices in getting rid of “it”. The doctors word not Sarah’s.

She says the child miscarried although the medical form used by the doctor to describe the event had the word "abortion" typed in the space describing the procedure. This was changed using Wite-Out and “miscarriage’ was inserted. Sarah is careful to never use the word fetus in this passage and always called the pregnancy a baby and characterizes him as a boy child from the time gender was determined and designated by the name Tad.

She is devastated by the loss which she described as terminated by a D and C procedure. Curiously we are given no dates or doctors names involved in this event, except she describes it occurring one year after the birth of Track, and whether the dilation and curettage procedure was really the method chosen to remove a dead fetus or to remove the remaining products of conception after a miscarriage is any one’s guess. Also no information is given as to why the fetus should die in a presumably healthy mother. However, whatever the circumstances it appears to be a desired child because Bristol came along the following year.

She says we were “more cautious” with our next pregnancy apparently meaning she was less physically active and there is no mention of participating in the fishing season on Bristol Bay.

The next child was a girl whom Todd named Bristol after his beloved bay and fishing grounds. She says she thinks of the name as the substitute for her intended sports career at ESPN which is located in Bristol, Connecticut.

She devotes herself to raising her kids and abandons her goal of being a top sports reporter although she says she worked part time as a proof reader and occasional sports column writer for the Frontiersman, the Wasilla newspaper. Also she remarks she read the newspaper from beginning to end while tossing duct tape hockey pucks at young Track to practice on in hallway of the family home.

She doesn't say what newspaper she read. If it was the Frontiersman it is published three times a week now. So back then it doesn't sound like it would have a lot of thought provoking commentary and reportage on political, economic and cultural events outside of Wassila or Alaska.

So far this book is curiously silent on her academic achievements, interests and civic activities except sports reporting and beauty contests. Also she describes no transformative moments like reading Ayn Rand, or the day John Lennon was announced shot to death by her hero Howard Cosell during the broadcast of a football game or any other book signifying her reading preferences.

This book is very vague and doesn't really suggest the basis of her allegedly strongly held beliefs on i.e. creationism, global warming, right to life or even death panels or how she acquired them except in a most superficial way up to this point.

The book is really a most self centered, solipsistic, (as all political autobiographies seem to be) and soporific account and one wonders why she needed a ghost writer to assist her along with a phalanx of editorial assistants. It sounds like one air head talking to another who writes it down. Probably all the high powered talent at Harper Collins was driven out when Rupert Murdock became owner and the Judith Reagan’s of this world took over the storied publisher.

Thus far there is nothing to suggest this woman is the strong minded, independent who is a “rogue” politician as the title suggests. In 1989 she was twenty five.

Hillary Clinton by this time in her life had established herself as a force to be reckoned with as a student leader, a leader on children’s issues with published articles, and a lawyer.

Sarah Palin In A NutShell: Going Rogue: College Years 1982 -1987

2009-12-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin Discovers Conservative Politics, Motherhood And The Flag

Sarah Palin And Hillary Clinton Both With Middle Class Republican Roots But Different Carreer Paths.

Palin first intended to go to the Hawaiian Pacific University lured by the warm climate and romantic setting. However with the beaches and the climate so unlike Alaska she soon became disenchanted with the Islands and decided to transfer to Idaho to continue her education in a climate and terrain some what like her home in Alaska. She was not on the Hawaiian Pacific basketball team although she mentions she did tryout but thought she would be better off devoting her time to academics . At Idaho she majored in Journalism and her first year appears to be uneventful returning to Alaska in the summer to work for next years tuition.

An old friend Linda Menard talked her into entering the local Miss America Beauty Pageant. Sarah didn’t consider herself a beauty contest type however the lure of tuition money caused her to enter and she won in all categories including Miss Congeniality the title she seems to value most. She became Miss Wasilla and the next summer she entered the Miss Alaska Contest and became second runner up and again won Miss Congeniality

which she again seem to value most. On the other hand she was a heartbeat away from being Miss Alaska and going on to the Miss America finals. These contests ended her pageant career but provided tuition for the first two years of college. Her question at the pageant was whether she would vote for a woman for Vice President because she was a woman. Geraldine Ferraro was running on the Democratic ticket. She answered “no” she could only vote for some one who supported the same political beliefs and family values she held.

Thus we see that she had begun to form her political beliefs at this time. Later she extols Ronald Reagan and the ideas of Reagan's Administration. Most of which she still holds today and form part of her “message.”

Immediately after college she worked at various odd jobs including a slime line gutting fish, also as a waitress and with her fiancee, Todd, fishing on Bristol Bay. She married Todd in August 1988 and their first child, a son, Track, was born in April 1989. She is careful to give exact dates as to each event and that maybe iis a clue that this book is mainly for people who can read but cannot think. The fine hand of Ms Vincent is at work here in the

structuring of the information and disclosures of this book.

Palin’s political awareness flowered during her college years. She declared herself to be a Republican and was an admirer of the policies and accomplishments of Ronald Reagan. However she had not become a political activist at this point in her life. She doesn’t describe her academic standing in her class at the University of Idaho nor did she describe herself as a leader of her class like Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton also entered college as a Republican but left the party for what she viewed as racist policies espoused at the 1968 convention and for the Nixon primary campaign against Rockefeller. Hillary at an early stage of her career began to question the values she grew up hearing. Ms. Palin extols the conservative mantra of Ronald Reagan even though unregulated Capitalism, which he preached, is blamed for the current economic situation. We have yet to feel the full pain of the massive deficit spending needed to correct the excesses of the free market policies that flowed from Reagan and his advisors.

Hillary also worked in Alaska after her senior year as a waitress and on a Salmon slime line. However Hillary was an academic leader of her class and at her classmates urging gave the commencement speech. The speech in which she criticized, Republican Senator Edward Brooke, the prior speaker, and earned a seven minute standing ovation and nationwide news coverage. Two young women both from middle class Republican roots but with vastly different career paths who could someday oppose each other for political office one a high achiever intellectually and otherwise and the other a middle class homemaker, and state governor.

Sarah Palin In A Nut Shell; Going Rogue High School Years 1978-82:

2009-12-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

NO. 22 WASILLA WARRIORS
HIGH SCHOOL 1978-1982

After a normal adolescence Sarah goes to high school where her Dad was a teacher and mom a volunteer and part timer in the school. She she is interested in sports and dreams of one day becoming The female equivalent of a sports caster like Howard Cosell in the mean time she played woman’s basketball , softball and other sports. She was thankful for the feminine movement which made woman's sports programs possible. Her dad was coach of the basketball team.
During these years of growing up with her siblings she takes pleasure in the outdoors, athletics, religion and family life including hunting moose. Her high school years are uneventful yet formative. She plays basketball and meets Todd Palin a fellow student and part time commercial fisherman.
They graduate and he goes to Seattle for college and she goes to college in Idaho after winning scholarships for the Miss Wasilla Beauty Queen title and being second runner up in the Miss Alaska Contest. Life is pretty prosaic . She says she is a wholesome kid with no vices . She had a platonic relationship with Todd in high school and he gives her her first kiss, no other hot romances, no bout with drugs, no falling out with parents and book doesn’t talk about grades or academic standing. She says father teaches her to love reading.
The most interesting thing in the book is she gives little credit to Lynn Vincent allegedly the person who wrote the book with help from her and her journals or diaries . She does thank the executives at Harper Collins (a Rupert Murdock Property), her editor Adam Bellows and Lynn Vincent and the five others who helped" put words on paper and communicate her message" . This meager recognition shows up on the second page of acknowledgments at the back of the book. If Lynn Vincent never existed would their have been a book? Sure with another ghost writer. But Lynn is a real ghost in this book.
Also we really don’t know her motivation for writing the book except getting" her message" out … and maybe to cash in on the notoriety she gained by being chosen by John McCain as his running mate. One might say he is the real maverick in all this and we have yet to see him write a book on the campaign. Also this is starting out as a most self serving of books, however most autobiographies are. It is a disease that most writers have when they write about themselves. Maybe Ms. Vincent will add the perspective that has been missing up to now.
The most important information in this book is what she doesn't say or write about.
During her high school years (1978-1982) she alludes to no political activity or conviction to speak of except an admiration of the feminist movement. She was not active in any causes and these were the years Regan was campaigning for President. He took office on January 20, 1981. Their is no talk about the Reagan Revolution or how her family voted or supported Reagan. no discussion of what the issues she was interested in were or if she was on any student organization supporting Reagan. There is no mention of Roe v. Wade,(1973), or belonging to any Right to Life organization or supporting same. Guess they were not in her diaries. If she is following her diaries closely it would be like someones Twitter tweets about how they felt physically and mentally and what was happening on personal level at the time except for parts left out. So when we read a political personage's account of their life we expect to find out about their political development, how their ideas began and the mentors or influences that formed them. For instance: we hear from Hillary Clinton in her book that she was active in church and conservative politics in high school as well as being a high achiever academically. No strong influence has yet emerged as lasting influence or a guiding light for Palin. No mention of Barry Goldwater founder of the modern conservastive movement. Labels: Sarah Palin: Going Rogue/ High School

SARAH PALIN IN A NUT SHELL: GOING ROGUE

2009-12-06T11:51:00.000-08:00

THE ATAVIST

Going Rogue

Chapter 1

Alaska: “The Last Frontier”

Sarah Analogizes living in Alaska as living in the last frontier. An unrealistic, atavistic dream of a lifestyle in the West during the Nineteenth Century.

Life in Alaska; Ch.1

Is life in Alaska really comparable to the life of the plainsmen and pioneers who settled the West in the Ninetieth Century? No, and she is not a pioneer woman. As she has stated often, Alaska is modern with up to date communications , transportation, sanitary facilities, schools and all the amenities of life in the Twenty First Century. This Includes easy access to newspapers, books and magazines.

She drives an SUV, flies to her destinations, Todd has a private plane for his journeys and she doesn't relieve herself in an out house, as in days of yore, they live in a modern house and are building a second house.

Who does the cooking is anyone’s guess but it is done on a modern stove with food bought at the local supermarket for the most part. We hear a lot about eating wild Salmon, Moose and Reindeer but how often does this happen. Maybe at special occasions, outings and fairs to reaffirm their psychic connection with the old Alaska which was purchased by Seward in 1867. This dream of Alaska as the Last Frontier is just that a dream. Alaska never was self sufficient except perhaps under the Eskimos.

This is a State where for every one dollar paid to the Federal Government in taxes four dollars is spent by the U.S. Government in Alaska. So Alaska is on welfare and has been and still is even with the oil revenue received from the oil companies with a stipend paid by the State out of the Alaska Permanent Fund of $1305 per individual in 2009 and in $3269 in 2008. Was this why she wants more drilling as the North Slope bonanza will run out and is this why she flew from Texas to Alaska leaking amniotic fluid so Trig could be born in Alaska and thus qualify as a resident immediately for this and other the State benefits ? Thus she begins her book with a fantasy of living in a world that no longer exists and can never be brought back by would be pundits or politicians nor would the majority of Americans want to live that way.

Of course promising people a simpler and more satisfying life like they imagine their antecedents had is an old political theme that strikes a sympathetic cord in many people’s hearts but in truth it is a deception as we can never go back to the past and the conclusions drawn from studying the past can only be guides to addressing the new and different problems that confront society in the present.

Sarah Palin- Oprah Winfrey “Interview” What a Disgusting Love Fest.

2009-11-16T20:13:00.000-08:00

TWEEDLE DUM AND TWEEDLE DEE

THE PALIN-WINFREY INTERVIEW: INTELLECTUALLY AND MORALLY BANKRUPT

What a disgusting love fest. It sounded like Sarah had determined the subjects of the interview in advance and knew what was coming.

No tough questions on “death panel”allegations, or pro life- pro choice issues or even Creationism.

What about when President Obama called her a liar by reference on the issue of death panels in his State Of The Union Address? What was her answer to that? Not Covered.

She says Katie Couric took advantage of her when she pressed her on what periodicals she read? Palin still didn't say what periodicals she reads regularly. Wonder why? There are none except maybe, maybe the The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (local Wasilla paper.)

She alleges that Senator McCain’s political operatives are responsible for all the gaffs of the Presidential campaign including the new luxury wardrobe she and her family received when she signed on. Her theme was an All- American hockey mom but she took to the Armani and Saks Fifth Avenue wardrobe like a fish going for a silver lure. Who’s fault was that?

All and all it was ten minutes of kissy questions and answers followed by five minutes of vapid commercials for an hour of conversation that avoided the substantive issues.

She said Levi Johnson’s Playgirl layout was akin to pornography? If so then Oprah’s interview with Palin was the epitome of pandering to the TV audience; Palin for book sales and Winfrey for ratings

If baloney was electricity then they both would be powerhouses. To coin a phrase.

Oh, by the way Palin Has a new do and Macy's wardrobe. She looks more like a middle American housewife now like she was supposed to be in the campaign. Guess she learned something from the past election.

Film Review: Michael Jackson’s This Is It. Rated A+: Director Kenny Ortega

2009-11-01T09:52:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, WE GET TO SEE THE REAL MICHAEL JACKSON.

THIS IS IT is the distillation of over 100 hours or video footage made while Jackson was preparing for the scheduled 50 concerts he was to give in London's O2 Arena. The footage was videotaped from April through June, 2009, and Jackson was eight days away from his first concert when he died.

While this production is excellent It must be remembered that the final show is not here and from what we see here it is easy to imagine it would have been a more spectacular achievement.

One must feel sadness for the young musicians, dancers and singers who survived the competition and would have been in the London shows and probably more had Michael lived. We see Michael nurturing these young artists and helping them to give their best.

It is obvious from the footage we see that Michael was in command of the production musically, dance wise and in all other aspects as well. He is open to suggestion from the other artists and production people, and there is a give and take but he is the final arbiter.

Also we see a man at peace with himself, or a man in full, a genius hard at work not the bête noire of recent years or the eccentric, reclusive man as painted by the media and in particular the tabloid sensationalist aspect of that medium.

Michael sings new compositions written by himself and others as well as songs from a prior albums like Thriller and Billie Jean. However the choreography and costumes are all new. Also we now have computer generated enhancements to the sets for the scheduled London shows.

He does a magnificent set with Orianthi Panagaris the lead guitarist, a 24 old woman from Australia. This the set piece of the film

Also we see that Michael is trying to save his voice and emotions for the London stage and he asks the musicians not to push him too far.

So what we see here is not what would have been his final achievement

At all times we are aware of Michael’s humanity and professionalism. There are no outbursts of anger or the prima donna like carryings on of lesser talents seeking assurances. Michael is the consummate professional, self assured, well aware of his talents and abilities and how to best use them.

One wonders what’s in the rest of the footage. Is there enough for a, one hesitates to use the word, sequel? Or should there even be one as this film is testament enough as to who the man was. The man we never truly knew. The man who was unjustly denigrated by the greed driven media and our media driven justice system with its greed driven lawyers and justices. Greedy for fame, money or notoriety.

Unfortunately everyone wanted a piece of Michael even members of his own family. If it wasn’t for his children he would have been the loneliest man on the planet. Rest in peace Michael. God be with you.

FILM REVIEW: A SERIOUS MAN: THE COEN BROTHERS: RATED A+.

2009-10-25T13:03:00.001-07:00

LARRY GOPNIK (Man Out Of Sync
With His Times i.e. A Fish Out Of Water)

When the truth is found to be lies

and all the joy within you dies

don't you want somebody to love
don't you need somebody to love
wouldn't you love somebody to love
you better find somebody to love

Jefferson Airplane,1967

This film is a comedy, a black one and probably one of the best black comedies. Lawrence Gopnik the protagonist (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a responsible physics professor living in a Mid-Western suburb with his wife Judith and two teenagers, a boy and a girl, (He is a mensch, a decent responsible person with admirable characteristics as the saying goes in Yiddish. It may also mean he is somewhat feckless too.)

Pretty routine so far? Right. Well, leave it to the Coen Brothers to make it interesting. First there is an introductory old world sequence concerning the presence of evil in the world in the form of a dybbuk the malevolent spirit of a dead person which enters and controls a living body until exorcised.

Then we are brought up to the Sixties America and the Gopnik family. The Sixties were a watershed decade of change and the old values and beliefs were under attack by the fact of the baby boom, the pill and other post WWII facts like the Cold War, prosperity relative to the pre WWII era, rising drug use, the draft and the Viet Nam War to name a few plus the average age of the population was declining. Our music, books, films and culture reflected that.

The Gopnik family is reasonably well off living in a Levittown like suburb in a new house with a driveway, a family car and green lawn. The next door neighbor is a right wing gun nut who is slyly trying to encroach on Larry’s property so he can build a garage for his boat. Things go downhill from there.

First his wayward, pot smoking, teenage son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is listening to the above Jefferson Airplane song with a Sony Walkman through an earpiece. He is discovered by his Hebrew teacher and his Walkman with a twenty dollar bill tucked into the leather case is confiscated. The twenty dollars was owed to the local tough kid who sells marijuana.

Danny was listening to the Find Somebody To Love by the Jefferson Airplane. "When the truth is found to be lies, and all the joy within you dies, don't you want somebody to love" is the theme of the picture in an odd sort of way.

First Larry as a professor and religious man is seeking answers to life’s dilemmas. One of which is his wife’s (Sari Lennick)announcement that she doesn’t love him anymore and is going to marry Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed), a wealthy, sly usurper if there ever was one. The film is salted with Jewish jokes from beginning to end. It is about the uncertainties of life and that there are things that are unknowable including questions about God and our own destiny which have to be taken on faith not reason. The youth driven culture is also less accepting of the answers supplied by government leaders, religious leaders and their elders as in the past.

Larry being a professor of physics in his secular life knows that that there are mysteries that are not understood because he teaches the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle relating to quantum Mechanics and the paradox of proving whether a cat in a box is alive or dead also related to Quantum Mechanics but he also believes that everyday life is a rational experience.

In his religious life he follows tradition and relies on his Rabbi’s to furnish the answers as to what to do to save his marriage and why his wife is leaving in the first place. Sy a retired, older man who spends his days playing golf and talking in platitudes like “No one is playing the blame game here Larry” in answer to Larry’s questions as to why his wife is leaving him.

Sy also says as, he slickly smooths his way into destroying Larry’s family life,” these things happen, we make adjustments and go on.” Larry is dumbfounded as to the fact no one has the answer as to how to cure his problems in a positive way for him. At this point he is living in a motel room with his gonif (thief, scoundrel, rascal,) brother and financially sinking.

Super imposed on all this is the problem of his children, Danny and Sarah’s (Jessica McManus) constant rivalry and bickering and his loser brothers(Richard Kind) life style which includes no wife, no children ,no job, a penchant for abstract, irrational codes he keeps in a notebook, illegal gambling and pederasty.

Sarah is stealing money from Larry’s wallet to save up for a nose job, Danny is stealing from Sarah to support his marijuana habit and finally a bill collector is calling him about money owed for music records he knows nothing about.

In school, his candidacy for tenure is jeopardized by anonymous letters about sexual misbehavior on his part. We find out later in the film they are being written by Sy and are based on his wife false imaginings. Larry is tempted by the comely, brunette in the adjacent property who likes to sunbath in the nude and smoke marijuana. However his yearning s remain just that and are never consummated.

Larry is taken for granted by everyone even though he probably the best educated but not the most streetwise person in the film.

In the end we see life’s calamities strike randomly. Sy is killed in a car accident while at the same time Larry has a different car accident. His brother is arrested on pederasty charges and Larry has to pay for the legal defense. To do this he has to compromise his values by accepting a bribe from a Korean student for a passing grade in his Physics class. This act is a crushing blow to his self identity and esteem already under attack by the other changes around him.

On the day of his Bar Mitzvah ,when Danny is welcomed into religious manhood by the Senior Rabbi who returns his missing Walkman with the cryptic words from Jefferson Airplane’s Find Somebody to Love “When the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies... airplane.”

The Rabbi, whose own values and teaching are challenged by the societal changes around him, obviously approves of the song’s message and sends the boy on his way with this guide to life and its apparent random uncertainties.

This is just before the climax of the film which also confirms the message that life is a process and random events cannot be plotted on a Bell shaped curve so enjoy what you can while you can.