Alaskans Speak
(In A Frightened
Whisper): Palin
Is “Racist, Sexist,
Vindictive, & Mean”
by Charley James posted on Friday, 5 September 2008
“So Sambo beat the bitch!”
This is how Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant a few days after Obama locked up the Democratic Party presidential nomination.
According to Lucille, the waitress serving her table at the time and who asked that her last name not be used, Gov. Palin was eating lunch with five or six people when the subject of the Democrat’s primary battle came up. The governor, seemingly not caring that people at nearby tables would likely hear her, uttered the slur and then laughed loudly as her meal mates joined in appreciatively.
“It was kind of disgusting,” Lucille, who is part Aboriginal, said in a phone interview after admitting that she is frightened of being discovered telling folks in the “lower 48” about life near the North Pole.
Then, almost with a sigh, she added, “But that’s just Alaska.”
Racial and ethnic slurs may be “just Alaska” and, clearly, they are common, everyday chatter for Palin.
Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N’-Fetch-It, “darkie musical” swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska’s Aboriginal people as “Arctic Arabs” – how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description – as well as the more colourful “mukluks” along with the totally unimaginative “f**king Eskimo’s,” according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.
But being openly racist is only the tip of the Palin iceberg. According to Alaskans interviewed for this article, she is also vindictive and mean. We’re talking Rove mean and Nixon vindictive.
No wonder the vast sea of white, cheering faces at the Republican Convention went wild for Sarah: They adore the type, it’s in their genetic code. So much for McCain’s pledge of a “high road” campaign; Palin is incapable of being part of one.
Tough Getting People Who Know Her to Talk
It’s not easy getting people in the 49th state to speak critically about Palin – especially people in Wasilla, where she was mayor. For one thing, with every journalist in the world calling, phone lines into Alaska have been mostly jammed since Friday; as often as not, a recording told me that “all circuits are busy” or numbers just wouldn’t ring. I should think a state that’s been made richer than God by oil could afford telephone lines and cell towers for everyone.
On a more practical level, many people in Alaska, and particularly Wasilla, are reluctant to speak or be quoted by name because they’re afraid of her as well as the state Republican Party machine. Apparently, the power elite are as mean as the winters.
“The GOP is kind of like organized crime up here,” an insurance agent in Anchorage who knows the Palin family, explained. “It’s corrupt and arrogant. They’re all rich because they do private sweetheart deals with the oil companies, and they can destroy anyone. And they will, if they have to.”
“Once Palin became mayor,” he continued, “She became part of that inner circle.”
Like most other people interviewed, he didn’t want his name used out of fear of retribution. Maybe it’s the long winter nights where you don’t see the sun for months that makes people feel as if they’re under constant danger from “the authorities.” As I interviewed residents it began sounding as if living in Alaska controlled by the state Republican Party is like living in the old Soviet Union: See nothing that’s happening, say nothing offensive, and the political commissars leave you alone. But speak out and you get disappeared into a gulag north of the Arctic Circle for who-knows-how-long.
Alright, that’s an exaggeration brought on by my getting too little sleep and building too much anger as I worked this article. But there’s ample evidence of Palin’s vindictive willingness to destroy people she sees as opponents. Just ask the Wasilla town administrator she hired before firing him because he rebelled against the way Palin demanded he do his job, or the town librarian who refused to hold the book burning Walpurgisnach Mayor Palin demanded.
Ironically, Palin was pushed into hiring the administrator by the party poobahs who helped get her elected after she got herself into trouble over a number of precipitous firings which gave rise to a recall campaign.
“People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day,” states Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla resident and one of the few Alaskans willing to speak on-the-record, for attribution, about Palin. In fact, Kilkenny actually circulated an e-mail letter about Palin that was verified and printed by The Nation.
For good measure, Palin booted the Wasilla police chief from office because, she told a local newspaper, he “intimidated” her.
Running on Extreme Fringe Evangelical Views
Sarah Palin drew early attention from state GOP apparatchiks when, during her first mayoral campaign, she ran on an anti-abortion platform. Normally, political parties do not get involved in Alaskan municipal elections because they are nonpartisan. But once word of her extreme fringe evangelical views made its way to Juneau, the state capitol, state Republicans tossed some money behind her campaign.
Once in office, Palin set out to build a machine that chewed up anyone who got in her way. The good, Godly Christian turns out to be anything but.
“She’s doesn’t like different opinions and she refuses to compromise,” Kilkenny notes. “When she was mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t hers. Worse, ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.”
Sound familiar? Palin may well be Dick Cheney’s reincarnate.
Something else has a familiar Republican ring to it: Her tax policies, and a “refund surpluses but borrow for the future” attitude.
According to Kilkenny and others in Wasilla as well as Juneau, Palin reduced progressive property taxes for businesses while mayor and increased a regressive sales tax which even hits necessities such as food. The tax cuts she promoted in her St. Paul speech actually benefited large corporate property owners far more than they benefited residents. Indeed, Kilkenny insists that many Wasilla home owners actually saw their tax bill skyrocket to make up for the shortfall. Two other Wasillian’s with whom I spoke said property taxes on their modest, three bedroom homes rose during the Palin regime.
To an outsider, it would seem hard to do, but an oil-rich town with zero debt on the day she was inaugurated mayor was left saddled with $22 million of debt by the time she moved away to become governor – especially since nothing was spent on things such as improving the city’s infrastructure or building a much-needed sewage treatment plant. So what did Mayor Palin spend the taxpayer’s money on, if not fixing streets and scrubbing sewage?
For starters, she remodelled her office. Several times over, as a matter of fact.
Then Palin spent $1 million on an unnecessary, new park that no one other than the contractors and Palin seemed to want. Next, Sarah doled out more than $15 million of taxpayer money for a sports complex that she shoved through even though the city did not own clear title to the land; now, seven years later, the matter is still in litigation and lawyer fees are said to be close to at least half of the original estimated price of the facility.
She also worked hard to get voters approval of a $5.5 million bond proposal for roads that could have been built without borrowing. Anchorage may not be the center of the financial universe but, like good Republicans everywhere, Sarah Palin knows how to please Alaskan bankers and bond dealers.
For good measure, she turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores and disconnected parking lots.
Sarah Barracuda
En route to the governor’s igloo, Palin managed to land what Anne Kilkenny
says is the plumb political appointment in the state: Chair of Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (OGCC), a $122,400 per year patronage slot with no real authority to do anything other than hold meetings. She took the job despite having no background in energy issues and, as it turned out, not liking the work.
“She hated the job,” an OGCC staff member who is not authorized to speak with the news media told me. “She hated the hours and she hated what little work there was to do. But she couldn’t figure out a way to get out of the thing without offending Gov. Murkowski” and the state Republican Party regulars, some of whom were pissed off they didn’t get appointed.
But ever the opportunist, Palin quickly concocted a way. First, she waged a campaign with the local news media claiming that the position was overpaid and should be abolished – despite the fact that she lobbied Murkowski hard to get it. Then, mounting what she saw as a white horse, Palin raised a cloud of dust by resigning from the OGCC and riding away with an undeserved reputation as a “reformer.”
But when a local reporter dared to suggest that the reformer Empress has no clothes, Palin tried to get her fired.
“She came at me like I was trying to steal her kids,” said the targeted reporter, who now works for an oil company in Anchorage. “I heard she had a wild temper and vicious mean streak but it’s nothing like you can imagine until she turns it on you.”
Not surprising since some of her high school classmates still openly call her “Sarah Barracuda,” Kilkenny insists.
Still, as a Republican Party hack Palin managed to get herself elected running under the false flag of a “reformer.”
And what did she bring to the job? No legislative experience other than a city council of a village of 5,000 people, which is smaller than some high schools in Chicago. Little hands-on supervisory or managerial experience; after all, she needed to hire a city administrator to run Wasilla. No executive experience, except for almost being recalled as mayor. A philosophy of setting public policy based on one word: No.
And what has she done since winning the job?
According to Kilkenny, nothing. Well, nothing other than suggesting the state’s multi-multi-million dollar, oil-generated surplus be distributed to residents and finance future state needs by borrowing money. Gee, doesn’t that sound precisely what George Bush did with the surplus he inherited from Bill Clinton in 2001 and we all know in what great shape Bush’s economic policies left the nation.
It may explain why, when asked by reporters, including me, what she thought about Palin being picked to be McCain’s running mate, her mother-in-law replied with a sardonic, “What has Sarah done to qualify her to be vice president?” Of course, when the woman – said by many I spoke with to be well-respected in Wasilla – was running to succeed Palin as mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her, so that may explain the family tension.
As Governor, Palin gave the legislature no direction and budget guidelines, according to the chair of a legislative committee. But then she staged a huge grandstand play of line-item vetoing countless projects, calling them pork. “They were restored because of public outcry and legislative action,” the aide said. “She vetoed them mostly because she had no idea what they were or why they were important.”
But it was enough to get the McCain, who is mostly unobservant of the world around him anyway, to think Palin has a reputation as being “anti-pork”.
In fact, Juneau observers note that Palin kept her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork ladled out by indicted Sen. Ted Stevens. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be politically unwise to keep supporting it, these same insiders assert. Then, Palin fell back on her old habits and publicly humiliated him for pork-barrel politics.
As for being “ready on day one” to be commander in chief, despite the repeated public claims she’s made, the Alaska National Guard commander said that, “she has made no command decisions, other than sending some troops to help fight a few brush fires and march in parades at county fairs.”
“Sambo Beat the Bitch”
“Palin is a conniving, manipulative, a**hole,” someone who thinks these are positive traits in a governor told me, summing up Palin’s tenure in Alaska state and local politics.
“She’s a bigot, a racist, and a liar,” is the more blunt assessment of Arnold Gerstheimer who lived in Alaska until two years ago and is now a businessman in Idaho.
“Juneau is a small town; everybody knows everyone else,” he adds. “These stories about what she calls blacks and Eskimos, well, anyone not white and good looking actually, were around long before she became a glint in John McCain’s rheumy eyes. Why do I know they’re true? Because everyone who isn’t aboriginal or Indian in Alaska talks that way.”
“Sambo beat the bitch” may be everyday language up in the bush. Whether it – and the outlook, politics and worldview Palin reflects when she says such things in public – should be part of a presidential campaign is another thing altogether. The comment says as much about McCain as it does about Palin, and it says a lot of things about Americans who overlook such statements (as well as her record) and vote anyway for McCain.
Articles by Charley James:
- The Morning After The Night Before’s Debate
- “McCain Has Become a Walking Disaster”
- From a Dog Named Checkers to the Wholesale Looting of America
- Thanks, GOP, for Ruining Our Country So Your Friends Could Get Wealthy
- The End Is Near For The Richest Poor Nation On Earth,
- Interview Sarah Palin: “Not in the Campaign’s Interest”
- Sarah Palin and Me
- Alaskans Speak (In a Frightened Whisper): PalinIs “Racist, Sexist, Vindictive, and Mean”
- “Bush Lied, They Died” Draws a Drunken Punch
- Placid Lake Woebegon Begets a Nasty Police State
- Edwards The Confessor vs. McCain’s Ongoing Philandering
- UPDATE: Sarah Palin on Oprah Promoting New Book Nov 2009
I would like to see the Free Media portray this nut as a racist hater.
HuffPoCo: Seema Ahmad: Austin Plane Attack Highlights Double Standards
A week ago, Joseph Stack flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin. It is shocking that there wasn't non-stop news coverage of the tragic event. After all, the image of shattered buildings and a smoke-filled sky is forever ingrained in the minds of Americans after the attacks of 9/11.
Instead, the news of the day was dominated by the Conservative Political Action Conference and Tiger Woods' impending apology.
And although some reporters discussed the incident, it quickly became apparent that the intentional flying of an airplane into a government building would not dominate the news. Stack was not Muslim which meant there would be no hysteria and inflammatory rhetoric about the Austin attack.
This act wouldn't be politicized to marginalize certain groups as "soft on terror." It wouldn't result in draconian policy measures to expand government surveillance or to use racial profiling.
There wouldn't be a round-up of all middle-aged men who had expressed outrage at this country's tax regime. There would be no expectation for tax protestors to condemn Joseph Stack or risk the questioning of their patriotism. In fact, newly elected Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) discussed Stack's actions in terms of popular frustration with government and a desire for "transparency" and "accountability."
Yet when violence is perpetuated by Muslim extremists, the results are completely different. Fear is fanned by those who stand to benefit from it pressuring some Muslim organizations dedicated to American pluralism to defend their integrity by repeatedly explaining that the world's 2 billion Muslims are not represented by one individual's act of violence.
To examine the motives or mental state of terrorists is to risk being called a "terrorist-sympathizer." Legal and social norms are compromised all too often and we operate on prejudice masquerading as policy. Although the Obama administration has taken some courageous steps to reverse this trend and pursue a more balanced rhetoric, it has not been able to fully implement polices that restore American ideals of justice and equality.
Joseph Stack committed a horrific act. So did Nidal Hasan when he went on a shooting rampage at Fort Hood military base. And although the threat of Al-Qaeda and Islamic extremism is serious and real, it is problematic that the media only inquires about religion, organizational affiliation, or ideology when Muslims are involved.
In the news coverage that only lasted a day or two, few have asked, "Who was Joseph Stack?" And yet, tax-protester violence is not new.
Right-wing extremist groups -- sometimes religiously inspired -- have a history of aggression in this country. Take anti-abortion groups that supported the death of Dr. Tiller or anti-semitic members of Posse Comitatus who refuse to pay taxes and have killed or threatened federal officials. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report in April of 2009 on the rising threat of right-wing extremism. It may be that Stack has no affiliation with these groups, but the public inquiry should be made.
Stack deserves our condemnation, as does Hasan for taking innocent lives. Both of their motivations and actions deserve intense scrutiny. But we should not allow Hasan's assault on humanity to malign all members of a particular religion, when both he and Stack only represent the most extreme elements in society.
=====
I like this reaction in the article:
Matt Osborne - Huffpost Blogger wrote:
Stack's religion was himself. He tried a tax dodge, got caught, tried getting out from under it, and then when he got the final bill he decided burning his family to death and crashing his $30,000 airplane into a building full of strangers was the right thing to do.
Some hero.
His one and only victim was Vernon Hunter, a decorated Vietnam vet on the cusp of retirement. So you'll excuse me if I don't give a rat's a$$ about Stack, because the hero in this story is Vernon Hunter.
Start using HIS name. Vernon Hunter.
Vernon Hunter identified as victim of plane crash at IRS building in Austin, Texas
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A longtime Internal Revenue Service employee died this week when a pilot harboring a grudge against the agency flew his plane into a building in Austin, Texas, his family said Saturday.Authorities investigating the crash have positively identified the remains of Vernon Hunter, 68, said family spokesman Larry McDonald. Hunter had been missing and presumed dead since Thursday, when software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack III slammed his plane into the building where Hunter worked as a manager for the IRS.
Hunter's son Ken said he assumed the worst after not hearing from his father within an hour of the crash, which set fire to the black-glass building that houses offices where nearly 200 IRS employees work. Stack was the only other person to die in the crash, which also injured 13.
Stack, 53, apparently targeted the lower floors of the building, which houses offices where nearly 200 IRS employees work. He lashed out at the agency in a ranting manifesto posted on a Web site shortly before Thursday's attack, claiming the government and the tax code robbed him of his savings and derailed his career.
"It sounds like it's from some other person," Samantha Dawn Bell, Stack's daughter from his first marriage, told The Associated Press in an interview from her home in Norway. "It's not him. The letter itself sounds like it's coming from a different person. It didn't sound like it came from him."
In the note, Stack says he realizes "violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer." He apparently set fire to his home before taking off Thursday from an airport 30 miles north of the Texas capital. His current wife and daughter were not at home, but have been left homeless by the blaze.
"Words cannot adequately express my sorrow or the sympathy I feel for everyone affected by this unimaginable tragedy," Stack's wife Sheryl said in a statement released Friday.
Federal law enforcement officials are trying to determine if Stack put anything in the plane to worsen the damage. One law enforcement official also said they were looking into whether a marital dispute precipitated the attack. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.
Vernon Hunter laid to rest at Fort Hood
2/26/2010 8:50 PM
By: News 8 Austin Staff
Friends and family said their goodbyes Friday to the IRS worker who died in last week's plane crash into the Echelon building in Northwest Austin.
Vernon Hunter, 68, is remembered by friends and family as a joyful person whom they could always rely on.
"Vernon was the kind of guy that always had a smile on his face 24/7, and he was always a very helpful man. If you needed, Vernon's the guy to go to," his friend Marie Woodard said.
Hunter was honored with a military salute. His son told News 8 that he served 20 years in the military and two tours in Vietnam.
He was laid to rest at a military cemetery near Fort Hood.
Forget Joseph Stack. Remember the man he killed, Vernon Hunter. Anyone making Joseph Stack a hero should remember the man Stack killed. Vernon Hunter a true American. A man who served his country and helped those who couldn't make their payments to the IRS.
====
Austin Plane Attack: Tea Party Terrorism?
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If the Asshats strike on the 20th - we'll be sorry we didn't identify those haters as terrorists.
posted by ZenPupDog @ 1:24 AM
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