<div dir="ltr"><div>I jsut thought I should add a few comments to these so called fact checkers....</div>
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<div>First thought I want to lay a bit of ground work. Sarah had a lot of vetos that would make those who do not understand (or those who want to distort the record) cringe. Yes, she vetoed money for special needs kids within the major spending bills of the state...but she made it clear that the school districts of the state should continue to pick up these costs as they traditionally have done. This is true for text books, wages, etc. In both the FY07 and FY08 budget, the Municipality of Anchorage, under the direction of Mayor Mark Begich, included in their budget requests for the state items such as special needs kids funding, text books, computers, play fields, running tracks, football fields, and so forth in an attempt to transfer their school district costs to the state. Gov. Palin vetoed all of those requests. Begich has tried to make political hay of it but has gone nowhere. The Palin administration had sent a memo out to all of us in government who put funding requests together telling us before hand what will be vetoed and what wouldn't be. Add to this tension between organized school districts and the unorganized areas of the state (not included in boroughs) that the state pays 100% of the education costs for all items, and that Anchorage is sick of this funding method and they wanted to make a point you get the list of vetos she made.</div>
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<div>The bridge to nowhere is a political mess that has its roots in the funding formulas that the federal department of transportation sets for distribution of highway funds. She, like most citizens were for the two bridges to no where. First, the Garvina Island bridge in Ketchikan was to be built to connect the city airport (on one island) to the city, another island. Why, because at the time Homeland Security was thinking of not allowing the Alaska Cruise industry to sail through Canadian waters. Hence, Ketchikan would have been the southern departure point for around 12,000 people a day who cruise Alaskan waters. Thankfully Homeland Security did not have there way and there became no need for expanding Ketchikan's airport to handle that many tourists. The Knik Arm bridge was a boondoggle to begin with as former Governors Murkowski and Hinkle had lots of land holdings on the other side. (As did Ted Stevens) and once that was exposed the bridge died. So now you have two unneeded projects but if the state turned the money back to the feds, by fedeal law, the state's other transporatation formula funds would have been drastically cut. If Alaska had returned the money, we would have gotten next to nothing for the next 5 years so the state kept it. </div>
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<div>The Obama tax stuff I am going to leave to you all...</div>
<div><br>In other postings on V2020 I have seen attacks for Sarah cutting funds to Covenant house and other non-profits. What you don't know is that in FY07 the governor decided to restructure how community non-profits were to receive state funds. Before they just received earmarks from the state with no real accounting procedures in place to justify expenditure. Gov. Palin issued an order halting that practice. All community non-profits were to apply for grants with ample documentation demonstrating accountability for all funds. No more give aways, each group must justify their expenditure, track it and be audited. Community non-profits run most of the homeless shelters, DV shelters, youth programs, sex education, and so forth in this state as local governments (under the state's consitiution) simply do not have the government powers to perform such operations. Long and short, Covenant House, the 13 DV shelters, the 10 homeless shelters, and so forth had their earmarks vetoed by Gov. Palin, but through a competitive, open, and accountable grant process they did get their funds. The fact checkers won't go out of their way to provide context because want headlines....</div>
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<div>One other thing, Alaska Republicans, unlike Idaho Republicans, are very libertarian. </div>
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<div>Enjoy the beautiful day,<br>Chris<br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Sep 4, 2008 at 9:43 AM, Sunil Ramalingam <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sunilramalingam@hotmail.com">sunilramalingam@hotmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<div>Roger,<br><br>Speaking only for myself, I'm not scared silly by Palin, not at all. Really. <br><br>And I don't think there's a good reason to be scared of her. I understand your view is different, but I haven't talked to anyone who agrees with my politics who is scared of her either. Puzzled by her selection, yes, but not scared.<br>
<br>Sunil<br><br>> Date: Thu, 4 Sep 2008 10:22:12 -0700<br>> From: <a href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com" target="_blank">lfalen@turbonet.com</a><br>> To: <a href="mailto:idahotom@hotmail.com" target="_blank">idahotom@hotmail.com</a>; <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Factchecking Palin
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<div class="Wj3C7c"><br>> <br>> Tom<br>> I think you guys are scared silly of Sarah Palin and with good reason. As to any misstatements she might have made an even longer list could be made for the Democrats if one were so inclined.<br>
> <br>> Roger<br>> -----Original message-----<br>> From: Tom Hansen <a href="mailto:idahotom@hotmail.com" target="_blank">idahotom@hotmail.com</a><br>> Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:56:15 -0700<br>> To: Vision 2020 <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
> Subject: [Vision2020] Factchecking Palin<br>> <br>> > <br>> > Fact checking Palin's speech. You may need to close a few applications to load the whole thing.<br>> > <br>> > >From CBS News at:<br>
> > <br>> > <a href="http://tinyurl.com/5k4pgo" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/5k4pgo</a><br>> > <br>> > ---------------------------------------------------------<br>> > <br>> > Factchecking Palin<br>
> > By Hilzoy<br>> > <br>> > I thought Palin's speech was quite good: well-written, well delivered. And, as I said earlier, I think she's a genuinely engaging person, and comes across very well. There were just a couple of problems. One, which I have seen people notice, but which I suspect won't be a big deal for a lot of voters, is that it had very little substance. The other, which the commenters I saw on TV for some reason neglected to mention, was that she told a lot of lies. A few that stood out for me, or that I spotted in my quick run-through of some blogs:<br>
> > Palin: "To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."<br>
> > Sarah Palin might have changed her mind on this one recently. However, a comment here notes that Palin actually slashed funding for schools for special needs kids by 62%. Budgets: FY 2007 (pre-Palin), 2008, 2009 (all pdfs).<br>
> > Palin: "As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man."<br>> > Steve's list of McCain flip-flops is here. See for yourself whether constancy is, in fact, John McCain's middle name.<br>
> > Palin: "I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves."<br>> > Just to reiterate what others have said: Congress' requirement that funds be spent on that bridge (aka the 'earmark') were removed before Sarah Palin became governor. She was therefore in no position to tell Congress anything about the bridge, one way or the other. During her campaign, she said she supported funding for the bridge. Brad Plumer, citing the Anchorage Dialy News via Nexis:<br>
> > "5. Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?Yes. I would like to see Alaska's infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now--while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."<br>
> > Later, she accepted the money -- now not restricted by an earmark -- and used it for other infrastructure projects. Here's her statement about why she wasn't building the bridge (also via Plumer.) Decide for yourselves what role a principled opposition to earmark funding plays in it. Hint: here's what residents of Ketchikan AK said when they heard her recent remarks:<br>
> > "In the city Ketchikan, the planned site of the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere," political leaders of both parties said the claim was false and a betrayal of their community, because she had supported the bridge and the earmark for it secured by Alaska's Congressional delegation during her run for governor. (..)"People are learning that she pandered to us by saying, I'm for this' ... and then when she found it was politically advantageous for her nationally, abruptly she starts using the very term that she said was insulting," Weinstein said."<br>
> > <br>> > Palin: "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."<br>> > Ha, ha, ha. I gave a rundown of Obama's accomplishments in the Senate here. They include the Lugar-Obama bill on nonproliferation, and an ethics reform package that the Washington Post called "the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet." Ruth Marcus summarizes his record on reform:<br>
> > "He helped pass a far-reaching ethics and campaign finance bill in the Illinois state Senate and made the issue a priority on arriving in Washington. Much to the displeasure of his colleagues, Obama promoted an outside commission to handle Senate ethics complaints. He co-authored the lobbying reform bill awaiting President Bush's signature and pushed -- again to the dismay of some colleagues -- to include a provision requiring lawmakers to report the names of their lobbyist-bundlers. He has co-sponsored bills to overhaul the presidential public financing system and public financing of Senate campaigns."<br>
> > Not a single major law or reform, indeed.And I wasn't aware that writing memoirs was something to be ashamed of. Obama has, in fact, written only one. McCain (with Mark Salter) has written at least two.<br>> > Palin: "America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it."<br>
> > No -- he plans to develop a lot more energy than John McCain does. It's just that a lot of it is renewable, not carbon-based. Moreover, Obama hasn't skipped the last eight votes on renewable energy.<br>> > 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. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up?"<br>
> > Well, it all depends whose taxes go up, doesn't it? If Heather and her husband make less than $250,000, their taxes will not go up. Most Americans will pay less in taxes under Obama's plan than under McCain's. So they might well be better off.Those are just the falsehoods that leapt to mind. I'm sure there are others. Whether or not Sarah Palin's engaging personality matters more than the fact that she tells lies depends a lot on the media, and whether they allow her to say that she opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, or that Obama has neer authored a major law or reform, without calling her on it. I hope they do. But I'm not holding my breath.<br>
> > <br>> > ---------------------------------------------------------<br>> > <br>> > Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.<br>> > <br>> > Tom Hansen<br>> > Moscow, Idaho<br>> > <br>
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