Palin's Alaska..mo' money, less taxes

Sarah Palin's Alaskonomics

By MICHAEL KINSLEY Tue Sep 9, 2:55 AM ET

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1839724,00.html

Sarah Palin thinks she is a better American than you because she comes from a small town, and a superior human being because she isn't a journalist and never lived in Washington and likes to watch her kids play hockey. Although Palin praised John McCain in her acceptance speech as a man who puts the good of his country ahead of partisan politics, McCain pretty much proved the opposite with his selection of a running mate whose main asset is her ability to reignite the culture wars. So maybe Governor Palin does represent everything that is good and fine about America, as she herself maintains. But spare us, please, any talk about how she is a tough fiscal conservative.
Palin has continued to repeat the already exposed lie that she said, "No, thanks," to the famous "bridge to nowhere" (McCain's favorite example of wasteful federal spending). In fact, she said, "Yes, please," until this project became a symbol and political albatross.
Back to reality. Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 21/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.
Alaska is, in essence, an adjunct member of OPEC. It has four different taxes on oil, which produce more than 89% of the state's unrestricted revenue. On average, three-quarters of the value of a barrel of oil is taken by the state government before that oil is permitted to leave the state. Alaska residents each get a yearly check for about $2,000 from oil revenues, plus an additional $1,200 pushed through by Palin last year to take advantage of rising oil prices. Any sympathy the governor of Alaska expresses for folks in the lower 48 who are suffering from high gas prices or can't afford to heat their homes is strictly crocodile tears.
As if it couldn't support itself, Alaska also ranks No. 1, year after year, in money it sucks in from Washington. In 2005 (the most recent figures), according to the Tax Foundation, Alaska ranked 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434) but first in federal spending received per resident ($13,950). Its ratio of federal spending received to federal taxes paid ranks third among the 50 states, and in the absolute amount it receives from Washington over and above the amount it sends to Washington, Alaska ranks No. 1.
Under the state constitution, the governor of Alaska has unusually strong powers to shape the state budget. At the Republican Convention, Palin bragged that she had vetoed "nearly $500 million" in state spending during her two years as governor. This amounts to less than 2% of the proposed budget. That's how much this warrior for you, the people, against it, the government, could find in wasteful spending under her control.
One thing Barack Obama and McCain disagree on is an oil windfall-profits tax. McCain is against it, on the theory that it is a tax and therefore bad and also on the theory that it would discourage domestic production. Obama is for it, on the theory that if oil companies can make a nice profit when oil sells for $50 per bbl., they can still make a nice profit when it sells at more than $100, even if the government takes a bit and spreads the money around to those who are hurting from higher oil prices.
Although Palin's words side with McCain in this dispute, her actions side with Obama. Her major legislative accomplishment has been to revamp Alaska's windfall-profits tax in order to increase the state's take. Alaska calls it a "clear and equitable share" tax. The state assumes that extracting oil from the tundra costs about $25 per bbl. and takes as much as 75% of the difference between that and the sale price.
Why is a windfall-profits tax good for Alaska but not for the U.S.? Well, it's obvious, isn't it? People in Alaska are better than people in the rest of the U.S. They're more American. Although there are small towns and farms and high school hockey teams in the lower 48, there are fewer down here, per capita, than in Alaska. And there are many more journalists and pollsters and city dwellers and other undesirables who might benefit if every American had the same right to leech off the government as do the good citizens of Sarah Palin's Alaska. View this article on Time.com

Liar, Liar (expensive) Pants on Fire!

Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 11:48 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_fact_check

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her Republican supporters held back little Wednesday as they issued dismissive attacks on Barack Obama and flattering praise on her credentials to be vice president. In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth.

Some examples:

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.

Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families.

He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.


Why or why will no one check sources! Politicians in general should be careful what they say, as lying only makes them look untrustworthy and mean. In this case, they look desperate and stupid; which could have been easily avoided.

One comment about the taxes - the reason Republicans don't like it is that a lot of them (in politics) are wealthy. They would get a tax increase in order to provide relief to the middle class. This is exactly what we need; less coddling and special interests to the rich. This economy is flat out disgusting, and we all need some help before every family who makes under $100,000 a year goes bankrupt.
___

He's Gone! Boot in the Bottom Kwame!

WOOHOO!!!!

Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick pleads guilty and resigns
By COREY WILLIAMS and ED WHITE, Associated Press Writers

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_re_us/detroit_mayor

DETROIT - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to a pair of felony obstruction charges on Thursday in a sex-and-misconduct scandal and will step down after months of defiantly holding onto his job leading the nation's 11th-largest city.

The plea deal brings to an end a seven-months-long sex scandal that led to felony charges against Kilpatrick and plunged the city, region and state into political chaos.

"I lied under oath," Kilpatrick said in court.

As part of the deal, the 38-year-old Democrat is to serve four months in jail, five years of probation and pay $1 million in restitution over the probationary period. Payments from his state pension must be assigned to the city of Detroit toward the restitution. He also cannot run for any elected office for five years.During a separate hearing moments after Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner accepted the mayor's plea, Kilpatrick offered a no contest plea in an assault case.

The judge also accepted that plea, which called for Kilpatrick to serve a four-month jail sentence that would run at the same time. Kilpatrick had faced 10 felony counts in the two separate criminal cases and could have faced up to 15 years in prison had he been convicted of perjury.
When all was said and done Thursday, Kilpatrick got up, motioned to his wife, Carlita, to come forward. They then embraced, and he kissed her forehead. Groner asked Kilpatrick if he understood he was giving up the right to be innocent until proven guilty.

"I gave that up a long time ago," Kilpatrick replied.

The married mayor and former top aide Christine Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. They're accused of lying under oath about an affair and their roles in the firing of a deputy police chief. Beatty did not plead guilty and next will appear in court on Sept. 11. Groner said a plea deal in Beatty's case appeared likely. The mayor will be sentenced on Oct. 28. He will report to jail that day, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

"We did not give an inch and these conditions were basically to a letter of what we wanted all along," she said.

The mayor has to announce his resignation immediately, and it will become effective within two weeks. Worthy said she was glad that Kilpatrick resigned but that was never a "bargaining chip" for her. She said paying restitution and serving time in jail were far more important.

"You don't just lose your job and walk away," she said.

Kilpatrick read a statement in court and admitted his guilt:

"I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit, Case No. 03317557NZ, regarding information that was relevant to claims made by Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope. I did so with an intent to mislead the court and jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice."

City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. will succeed Kilpatrick as mayor until a special election is held. Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, who was appointed by Kilpatrick, announced her retirement Thursday, effective immediately. The police department said in a statement Thursday that the retirement of Chief Ella M. Bully-Cummings is effective immediately
Meanwhile, at the request of the Detroit City Council, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm began a hearing Wednesday to determine whether he should be removed from office for misconduct, a power granted to governors in the Michigan constitution.

The pleas Thursday called into question what would become of the Granholm proceeding. Liz Boyd, the governor's spokeswoman, said the hearing would convene at noon, at which time Granholm would give a statement. William Goodman, the City Council attorney, said he thinks the mayor did the right thing by stepping down.

"I think it's very sad for his family. My sympathy is with them. I think it's sad for the people of Detroit," he said. "We'll all ... both grieve together and today we can look forward to moving on and reclaiming the city as a thriving and productive community that has so much to offer for all of us and for this country."

Until now, Kilpatrick had refused to resign even as the calls for him to step down grew louder and the controversy overshadowed all else at City Hall, tarnishing the national image of the much-maligned city even more. It made the most sense to make a deal in advance of a potential removal by Granholm because the mayor's office was his biggest bargaining chip — one he would have lost had he waited until the governor ousted him. Kilpatrick leaves a mixed legacy. He persuaded big business to invest in a city staggering from the auto industry's woes and a decades-long exodus of people, but he failed to live up to a promising political future due to repeated scandal.

The son of a Detroit congresswoman, Kilpatrick was just 31 when he was elected in 2001, becoming the youngest mayor in city history. His bold, pro-black, pro-Detroit rhetoric and diamond stud earring endeared Kilpatrick to many blacks, especially young voters who embraced the "Hip-Hop Mayor." But many whites in the suburbs began to see him as another Coleman Young, whose 20-plus years at City Hall deepened the racial rift between Detroit and its neighbors.
He was the biggest cheerleader when Detroit landed Major League Baseball's 2005 All-Star Game and the 2006 NFL Super Bowl. His ability to work with business leaders also has been credited with an overhaul of the city's riverfront and development downtown. But Kilpatrick's first term was marked by political immaturity and fiscal irresponsibility. He racked up thousands of dollars in travel on his city-issued credit card and the city's lease of a luxury Lincoln Navigator for his wife, Carlita.
Less than a year into the first term, rumors surfaced of a wild party involving strippers and members of Kilpatrick's security team at the Manoogian Mansion, the mayor's residence along the Detroit River. He has denied the rumors, and a state investigation backed him up. But a civil lawsuit pending in federal court claims a woman who performed at the party was beaten with a baseball bat by Carlita Kilpatrick, who arrived home unexpectedly. The woman, Tamara Greene, was fatally shot outside her home in 2003. The lawsuit claims Kilpatrick, then-chief of staff Beatty and police officials stifled the investigation. Her death is unsolved.

Whether truth or urban legend, that stew eventually brought down Kilpatrick. Former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown filed a lawsuit in 2003, claiming he was fired for looking into the alleged party and investigating the actions of the mayor's bodyguards. During the 2007 trial, Kilpatrick and Beatty sat in the witness chair and denied having a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003.
But a bombshell rocked Detroit in January: The Detroit Free Press published sexually explicit text messages recovered from Beatty's city-issued pager that contradicted their courtroom denials.

"I truly apologize to you," Kilpatrick said, turning to his wife, who held his hand at Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ.
"I am the mayor," Kilpatrick told Detroit residents, looking into the camera. "I made the mistake."

He and Beatty were charged with perjury and other felonies. Detroit's mayor was fingerprinted and his mug shot was distributed around the world, but Kilpatrick remained in office.
More text messages released in April revealed the evolution of flirty and sexually explicit exchanges to professions of love and promises of marriage. In September 2002, Beatty described a sex act she wanted to perform on the mayor.

He replied: "Next time, just tell me to sit down, shut up and do your thing!"
Later that month, Beatty wrote to the mayor: "I love you so much man! Thank you for showing what it's like to be head over heels in love."

In May, the City Council asked Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office, saying it was misled into approving a $8.4 million settlement with Brown and two other officers. Council members said they didn't know about provisions to keep the text messages under wraps. In July, a sheriff's detective trying to serve a subpoena on a Kilpatrick friend said he was shoved by the mayor and showered with F-words. Assault charges followed. The next month, a judge ordered the mayor to jail for violating the terms of his bond by traveling to Windsor, Ontario, on business without notifying authorities. He was released the next day, but the incident prompted some politicians and community leaders who had remained silent on the scandal to call for his resignation.
At one point, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's camp even said Kilpatrick, a superdelegate, would be a distraction at the Democratic National Convention. Kilpatrick, whose bond kept his travel limited to the metro Detroit area, did not attend. On Wednesday night, a Michigan spokesman for Obama said Kilpatrick should quit for his city's good.

The HELL?!

Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'
By Gene Johnson, Associated Press Writer Wed Sep 3, 7:23 PM ET

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin_iraq_war;_ylt=Au3DuJznZOoRozev_mMU84Ss0NUE

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."
Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."
A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.
Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.
"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
"I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded," she added. "But really all of that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."
Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there. Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain's running mate.

Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, lamented Palin's comments.
"I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians delivered political speeches," he said. "The United States is increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify all those different people and bring them together around policy goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to God."
The section of the church's Web site where videos of past sermons were posted was shut down Wednesday, and a message was posted saying that the site "was never intended to handle the traffic it has received in the last few days."

This woman is insane. This article makes her sound no better than the Taliban, who believe THEY are fighting for their God too! God wants us to build a pipleine in Alaska?? God is FOR destroying thousands of animals habitats and polluting the surrouding water? How does she know this; does she talk to God? She is not only certifiable, she is dangerous. I don't care what religion someone is, claiming that you are speaking For God is so egotistical if makes me want to barf. I can even put her complete lack of experience on the back burner because of this nonsense. If a democrat claimed they spoke to God, the republicans would have a fucking field day with it.

It is true that I don't like this woman. I dislike her more than I do McCain actually. But the reasons I don't like her were always political ones; I don't like to attack a specific religion (with the exception of Scientology, which isn't a real religion). However, this is the biggest crock of shit I have ever heard. I would sooner believe that God is a giant cat giving orders in Aramaic to all of the people in the world while they sleep to feed them tuna on a silver platter. This woman has no idea what God wants nor does she use her faith for the good of the people. The republicans had so many choices for sane women to run along side McCain; what the hell happened??