I couldn't have said it better myself...
One of my sister's friends wrote this as an e-mail to her Republican father, and then posted a copy of that e-mail on her Facebook.
I don't know the person who wrote it, but my sister has sent me a copy and asked me to post it here. The author apparently is pleased to have it distributed more widely. I agree with pretty much everything she wrote in this well-thought-out, nicely-researched essay.
Again, this is political. If politics aren't your thing, then scroll along, and I'll catch you with fandom stuff soon.
And now...
This is what my sister's friend wrote:
Regardless of some pretty substantial differences in opinion, I respect John McCain as a decent well-meaning, non extremist person, and up until his VP choice, would still just be happy to see Bush gone.
However, McCain's selection (or Karl Rove's selection, as it appears to be) is downright FRIGHTENING... and before anyone passes it off as unimportant based on the fact that she'd be VP and not president, we should keep in mind two things... 1. Dick Cheney, and 2. The fact that John McCain will be 73 years old by the time he takes office, and is not in great health.
For the sake of neutrality, I'll ignore the fact that she's opposed to abortion and just focus on non-debatable FACTS.
Pay attention because this is freaking serious:
1. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she supported BANNING BOOKS from the local library because of "bad language" and tried to fire the librarian who scoffed at her request, saying that she did not "support the mayor". I don't care if you're the most left leaning or right leaning person on the political spectrum, banning books is a BLATANT violation of our Constitution, and even the concept of banning books is something only extremists support. Liberals and conservatives alike criticize oppressive governments like China, The Taliban, Iraq under Saddam, etc - and censorship/banning of literature is one of the most popular tools of oppression for both left wing and right wing extremists. It should not be acceptable to ANY American.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1837918,00.html
2. She was almost recalled as mayor of Wasilla because of controversial firings of a state trooper and a library director.
http://hatthief.blogspot.com/2008/08/vetting-sarah-palin-irl-stambaugh-walt.html
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AS&p_theme=as&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F79408854D0C20B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
3. She has attended a church from age 12 to the present, where the Reverends Sermons make Jeremiah Wright look like a moderate. Some examples of his sermons include:
""I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."
During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."
"Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
4. In addition to her pastor's beliefs, Palin has made her own statements regarding God's role in politics. Of particular note, she believes that "God's plan" involves a 30 billion dollar gas line:
"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
5. She was a member of a fringe political group that advocated secession of Alaska from the USA.
How much do you have to dislike the USA to join a group that wants to secede from the union? Its one thing for an average citizen to support, but someone who is about to be the Vice President of a country she at one point didn't even want to be a part of? Running alongside a man who's campaign tagline has been "Country First" ?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/members-of-frin.html
6. She was the director of a fundraising group for Sen. Ted Stevens.... who has been indicted on corruption charges. She stated that she was still "behind him".
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/01/palin_was_a_director_of_embatt.html
7. She is a staunch supporter of "Abstinence Only" Sex Ed, while her 17 year old unmarried daughter is 6 months pregnant. Though she claims she wasn't trying to hide this, the speculation began when her daughter was quite obviously draping herself with a blanket and Palin's youngest child, an infant with Down's Syndrome. In a hypocritical bit of political irony, Palin has stated that this is a "private matter". However, not only does she not believe it's a private matter for the rest of American women, she also made a public spectacle of her "choice" to give birth to a baby with Down's. So its only a "private matter" when it's going to hurt her public image, but a very public matter when appealing to the pro life vote. She is now trying to appease her "values" voters by saying that her daughter will marry the father of this baby. Would anyone like to guess what the divorce rate is for 17 year moms?
8. This is probably the scariest of all. It appears as though John McCain actually wanted to pick Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge as VP, but was pressured or forced to chose Palin to satisfy the fundamentalist/pro life conservatives. Do we really want another 4 to 8 years of a government so easily controlled by the corrupt pockets of the religious right, and scary folks like Karl Rove?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26501863
9. She sued the EPA for adding Polar Bears to the "threatened species" list because protecting them was "too expensive" and "there is no proof that global warming is affecting their habitat". She also hunts moose and other wildlife with semi-automatic rifles. Awesome.
10. She only received her passport in 2007 and has not been a part of ANY international networking or policy making. By all factual accounts, I have more foreign policy experience than our potential Vice President. If that doesn't scare you...I'm not sure what would.
So there you have it. Your Christian, moral, "values" candidates for 2008. A guy who cheated on his disabled wife and then divorced her for the younger, wealthy bimbo he was having an affair with, and a woman who supports banning books, is the mother of a pregnant teen, and thinks killing living things with long-range weapons is a "sport".
With respectable republican women out there like Elizabeth Dole and Condoleeza Rice, and moderate republican men who could have changed the face of our political system to actually attempt to mend the huge and growing divide between the two parties, the republicans have chosen the female version of George Bush to be our vice president. Keep in mind, not even Bush supports banning books, and had at least left the country more than twice before being nominated for higher office.
I understand and respect that some people can not bring themselves to vote for Obama. That's fine... but at least write in someone you can actually feel good about voting for. And a vote that leaves America one heart beat away from a Sarah Palin presidency should NOT feel good to anyone sane.
Nice essay. I wish I'd written it.
I also didn't write this:
A delightfully candid, fact-based, revealing article about Sarah Palin from Time Magazine, online.
However, I'm delighted to see a reputable media source reporting on these things. Finally, this woman is being exposed for what she is, and hopefully, she'll bring down the rest of that agenda with her.
I don't know the person who wrote it, but my sister has sent me a copy and asked me to post it here. The author apparently is pleased to have it distributed more widely. I agree with pretty much everything she wrote in this well-thought-out, nicely-researched essay.
Again, this is political. If politics aren't your thing, then scroll along, and I'll catch you with fandom stuff soon.
And now...
This is what my sister's friend wrote:
Regardless of some pretty substantial differences in opinion, I respect John McCain as a decent well-meaning, non extremist person, and up until his VP choice, would still just be happy to see Bush gone.
However, McCain's selection (or Karl Rove's selection, as it appears to be) is downright FRIGHTENING... and before anyone passes it off as unimportant based on the fact that she'd be VP and not president, we should keep in mind two things... 1. Dick Cheney, and 2. The fact that John McCain will be 73 years old by the time he takes office, and is not in great health.
For the sake of neutrality, I'll ignore the fact that she's opposed to abortion and just focus on non-debatable FACTS.
Pay attention because this is freaking serious:
1. As mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she supported BANNING BOOKS from the local library because of "bad language" and tried to fire the librarian who scoffed at her request, saying that she did not "support the mayor". I don't care if you're the most left leaning or right leaning person on the political spectrum, banning books is a BLATANT violation of our Constitution, and even the concept of banning books is something only extremists support. Liberals and conservatives alike criticize oppressive governments like China, The Taliban, Iraq under Saddam, etc - and censorship/banning of literature is one of the most popular tools of oppression for both left wing and right wing extremists. It should not be acceptable to ANY American.
Source: http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1837918,00.html
2. She was almost recalled as mayor of Wasilla because of controversial firings of a state trooper and a library director.
http://hatthief.blogspot.com/2008/08/vetting-sarah-palin-irl-stambaugh-walt.html
http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=AS&p_theme=as&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F79408854D0C20B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
3. She has attended a church from age 12 to the present, where the Reverends Sermons make Jeremiah Wright look like a moderate. Some examples of his sermons include:
""I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."
During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."
"Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute Ed, he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
4. In addition to her pastor's beliefs, Palin has made her own statements regarding God's role in politics. Of particular note, she believes that "God's plan" involves a 30 billion dollar gas line:
"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
5. She was a member of a fringe political group that advocated secession of Alaska from the USA.
How much do you have to dislike the USA to join a group that wants to secede from the union? Its one thing for an average citizen to support, but someone who is about to be the Vice President of a country she at one point didn't even want to be a part of? Running alongside a man who's campaign tagline has been "Country First" ?
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/members-of-frin.html
6. She was the director of a fundraising group for Sen. Ted Stevens.... who has been indicted on corruption charges. She stated that she was still "behind him".
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/01/palin_was_a_director_of_embatt.html
7. She is a staunch supporter of "Abstinence Only" Sex Ed, while her 17 year old unmarried daughter is 6 months pregnant. Though she claims she wasn't trying to hide this, the speculation began when her daughter was quite obviously draping herself with a blanket and Palin's youngest child, an infant with Down's Syndrome. In a hypocritical bit of political irony, Palin has stated that this is a "private matter". However, not only does she not believe it's a private matter for the rest of American women, she also made a public spectacle of her "choice" to give birth to a baby with Down's. So its only a "private matter" when it's going to hurt her public image, but a very public matter when appealing to the pro life vote. She is now trying to appease her "values" voters by saying that her daughter will marry the father of this baby. Would anyone like to guess what the divorce rate is for 17 year moms?
8. This is probably the scariest of all. It appears as though John McCain actually wanted to pick Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge as VP, but was pressured or forced to chose Palin to satisfy the fundamentalist/pro life conservatives. Do we really want another 4 to 8 years of a government so easily controlled by the corrupt pockets of the religious right, and scary folks like Karl Rove?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02vetting.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26501863
9. She sued the EPA for adding Polar Bears to the "threatened species" list because protecting them was "too expensive" and "there is no proof that global warming is affecting their habitat". She also hunts moose and other wildlife with semi-automatic rifles. Awesome.
10. She only received her passport in 2007 and has not been a part of ANY international networking or policy making. By all factual accounts, I have more foreign policy experience than our potential Vice President. If that doesn't scare you...I'm not sure what would.
So there you have it. Your Christian, moral, "values" candidates for 2008. A guy who cheated on his disabled wife and then divorced her for the younger, wealthy bimbo he was having an affair with, and a woman who supports banning books, is the mother of a pregnant teen, and thinks killing living things with long-range weapons is a "sport".
With respectable republican women out there like Elizabeth Dole and Condoleeza Rice, and moderate republican men who could have changed the face of our political system to actually attempt to mend the huge and growing divide between the two parties, the republicans have chosen the female version of George Bush to be our vice president. Keep in mind, not even Bush supports banning books, and had at least left the country more than twice before being nominated for higher office.
I understand and respect that some people can not bring themselves to vote for Obama. That's fine... but at least write in someone you can actually feel good about voting for. And a vote that leaves America one heart beat away from a Sarah Palin presidency should NOT feel good to anyone sane.
Nice essay. I wish I'd written it.
I also didn't write this:
A delightfully candid, fact-based, revealing article about Sarah Palin from Time Magazine, online.
However, I'm delighted to see a reputable media source reporting on these things. Finally, this woman is being exposed for what she is, and hopefully, she'll bring down the rest of that agenda with her.