Governor Palin: Happy Alaska Day

From Governor Palin's Facebook page

In March 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for two cents an acre. On October 18 of that year, authority over the territory of Alaska officially transferred to the United States when the American flag flew over Fort Sitka for the first time. Alaskans have celebrated “Alaska Day” on October 18 ever since. Though the purchase was derided at the time as “Seward’s Folly,” Seward was a visionary, and history has proven that his purchase of Alaska from Russia was never folly. Alaska has contributed greatly to the United States through our export of natural resources – from wild Alaska seafood, timber, and ore to our oil pipeline and future natural gas pipeline. Today we remember the wisdom of Secretary Seward and look forward to the hopeful future of the Last Frontier. Happy Alaska Day!

Today also marks a special occasion for my family as my eldest daughter celebrates her birthday. Happy Birthday, Bristol!

- Sarah Palin

Alaska: God's Country - Sarah Palin
Video created and filmed on location by Seth Adam Smith and posted with his courtesy.

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Sunday Morning Video

This Cartoon, procuced 50 years ago, predicts the future. This could have well been made today.

h/t C4P commentator narciso

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Governor Palin: Good Intentions Aren't Enough with Health Care Reform

From Governor Palin Facebook page

Now that the Senate Finance Committee has approved its health care bill, it’s a good time to step back and take a look at the long term consequences should its provisions be enacted into law.

The bill prohibits insurance companies from refusing coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and from charging sick people higher premiums. [1] It attempts to offset the costs this will impose on insurance companies by requiring everyone to purchase coverage, which in theory would expand the pool of paying policy holders.

However, the maximum fine for those who refuse to purchase health insurance is $750. [2] Even factoring in government subsidies, the cost of purchasing a plan is much more than $750. The result: many people, especially the young and healthy, will simply not buy coverage, choosing to pay the fine instead. They’ll wait until they’re sick to buy health insurance, confident in the knowledge that insurance companies can’t deny them coverage. Such a scenario is a perfect storm for increasing the cost of health care and creating an unsustainable mandate program.

Those driving this plan no doubt have good intentions, but good intentions aren’t enough. There were good intentions behind the drive to increase home ownership for lower-income Americans, but forcing financial institutions to give loans to people who couldn’t afford them had terrible unintended consequences. We all felt those consequences during the financial collapse last year. Unintended consequences always result from top-down big government plans like the current health care proposals, and we can’t afford to ignore that fact again.

Supposedly the Senate Finance bill will be paid for by cutting Medicare by nearly half a trillion dollars and by taxing the so-called “Cadillac” health care plans enjoyed by many union members. The plan will also impose heavy taxes on insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, and clinical labs. [3] The result of all of these taxes is clear. As Douglas Holtz-Eakin noted in the Wall Street Journal, these new taxes “will be passed on to consumers by either directly raising insurance premiums, or by fueling higher health-care costs that inevitably lead to higher premiums.” [4] Unfortunately, it will lead to lower wages too, as employees will have to sacrifice a greater percentage of their paychecks to cover these higher premiums. [5] In other words, if the Democrats succeed in overhauling health care, we’ll all bear the costs. The Senate Finance bill is effectively a middle class tax increase, and as Holtz-Eakin points out, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation those making less than $200,000 will be hit hardest. [6]

With our country’s debt and deficits growing at an alarming rate, many of us can’t help but wonder how we can afford a new trillion dollar entitlement program. The president has promised that he won’t sign a health care bill if it “adds even one dime to our deficit over the next decade.” [7] But his administration also promised that his nearly trillion dollar stimulus plan would keep the unemployment rate below 8%. [8] Last month, our unemployment rate was 9.8%, the highest it’s been in 26 years. [9] At first the current administration promised that the stimulus would save or create 3 to 4 million jobs. [10] Then they declared that it created 1 million jobs, but the stimulus reports released this week showed that a mere 30,083 jobs have been created, while nearly 3.4 million jobs have been lost since the stimulus was passed. [11] Should we believe the administration’s claims about health care when their promises have proven so unreliable about the stimulus?

In January 2008, presidential candidate Obama promised not to negotiate behind closed doors with health care lobbyists. In fact, he committed to “broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are. Because part of what we have to do is enlist the American people in this process. And overcoming the special interests and the lobbyists...” [12] However, last February, after serving only a few weeks in office, President Obama met privately at the White House with health care industry executives and lobbyists. [13] Yesterday, POLITICO reported that aides to President Obama and Democrat Senator Max Baucus met with corporate lobbyists in April to help “set in motion a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, primarily financed by industry groups, that has played a key role in bolstering public support for health care reform.” [14] Needless to say, their negotiations were not broadcast on C-SPAN for the American people to see.

Presidential candidate Obama also promised that he would not “sign any nonemergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House Web site for five days.” [15] PolitiFact reports that this promise has already been broken three times by the current administration. [16] We can only hope that it won’t be broken again with health care reform.

All of this certainly gives the appearance of politics-as-usual in Washington with no change in sight.

Americans want health care reform because we want affordable health care. We don’t need subsidies or a public option. We don’t need a nationalized health care industry. We need to reduce health care costs. But the Senate Finance plan will dramatically increase those costs, all the while ignoring common sense cost-saving measures like tort reform. Though a Congressional Budget Office report confirmed that reforming medical malpractice and liability laws could save as much as $54 billion over the next ten years, tort reform is nowhere to be found in the Senate Finance bill. [17]

Here’s a novel idea. Instead of working contrary to the free market, let’s embrace the free market. Instead of going to war with certain private sector companies, let’s embrace real private-sector competition and allow consumers to purchase plans across state lines. Instead of taxing the so-called “Cadillac” plans that people get through their employers, let’s give individuals who purchase their own health care the same tax benefits we currently give employer-provided health care recipients. Instead of crippling Medicare, let’s reform it by providing recipients with vouchers so that they can purchase their own coverage.

Now is the time to make your voices heard before it’s too late. If we don’t fight for the market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven reform plan that we deserve, we’ll be left with the disastrous unintended consequences of the plans currently being cooked up in Washington.

- Sarah Palin

[1] See http://tinyurl.com/yjs3mgf
[2] See http://tinyurl.com/yfuw3k3
[3] See http://tinyurl.com/yfxq8ca
[4] See http://tinyurl.com/ykefsk6
[5] See http://tinyurl.com/ygf42fj
[6] See http://tinyurl.com/ykefsk6
[7] See http://tinyurl.com/lkvgsp
[8] See http://tinyurl.com/nx4nh6
[9] See ibid.
[10] See http://tinyurl.com/yhhr56v
[11] See ibid.
[12] See http://tinyurl.com/yhzhkvg and http://tinyurl.com/lhyr9o
[13] See http://tinyurl.com/yksd6h3
[14] See http://tinyurl.com/yl9gg27
[15] See http://tinyurl.com/yknpxd6
[16] See http://tinyurl.com/d2k5hb
[17] See http://tinyurl.com/yf8qmfh

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Larry Kudlow On Palin's NRO Article

Larry Kudlow on his radio show (October 17 2009) Discusses Governor Palin's NRO Article

h/t C4P

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Governor Palin Talks Energy

Listen to Governor Sarah Palin talk about energy and America's dependence on foreign oil.
Created by Seth Adam Smith for C4P

Governor Palin NRO Article

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Stroller Rolls Off Platform, Hit By Train. Baby Alive

The following clip is not at all Governor Palin related but it's an amazing stroy. Definitely worth a post.

In Melbourne, Australia. A baby stroller rolls off a platform and is run over by a train. Baby escapes with just a bump on its head.

There sure is someone watching over us up there!

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Governor Palin NRO Article

Governor Palin writes in National Review today.

Drill

Petroleum is a major part of America’s energy picture. Shall we get it here or abroad?

By Sarah Palin

Given that we’re spending billions of stimulus dollars to rebuild our highways, it makes sense to think about what we’ll be driving on them. For years to come, most of what we drive will be powered, at least in part, by diesel fuel or gasoline. To fuel that driving, we need access to oil. The less use we make of our own reserves, the more we will have to import, which leads to a number of harmful consequences. That means we need to drill here and drill now.

We rely on petroleum for much more than just powering our vehicles: It is essential in everything from jet fuel to petrochemicals, plastics to fertilizers, pesticides to pharmaceuticals. Ac­cord­ing to the Energy Information Ad­min­is­tra­tion, our total domestic petroleum consumption last year was 19.5 million barrels per day (bpd). Motor gasoline and diesel fuel accounted for less than 13 million bpd of that. Meanwhile, we produced only 4.95 million bpd of domestic crude. In other words, even if we ran all our vehicles on something else (which won’t happen anytime soon), we would still have to depend on imported oil. And we’ll continue that dependence until we develop our own oil resources to their fullest extent.

Those who oppose domestic drilling are motivated primarily by environmental considerations, but many of the countries we’re forced to import from have few if any environmental-protection laws, and those that do exist often go unenforced. In effect, American environmentalists are preventing responsible development here at home while supporting irresponsible development overseas.

My home state of Alaska shows how it’s possible to be both pro-environment and pro-resource-development. Alaskans would never support anything that endangered our pristine air, clean water, and abundant wildlife (which, among other things, provides many of us with our livelihood). The state’s government has made safeguarding resources a priority; when I was governor, for instance, we created a petroleum-systems-integrity office to monitor our oil and gas infrastructure for any potential environmental risks.

Alaska also shows how oil drilling is thoroughly compatible with energy conservation and renewable-energy development. Over 20 percent of Alas­ka’s electricity currently comes from renewable sources, and as governor I put forward a long-term plan to increase that figure to 50 percent by 2025. Alaska’s comprehensive plan identifies renewable options across the state that can help rural villages transition away from expensive diesel-generated electricity — allowing each community to choose the solution that best fits its needs. That’s important in any energy plan: Tempting as they may be to central planners, top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions are recipes for failure.

For the same reason, the federal government shouldn’t push a single, uni­versal approach to alternative-powered vehicles. Electric cars might work in Los Angeles, but they don’t work in Alaska, where you can drive hundreds of miles without seeing many people, let alone many electrical sockets. And while electric and hybrid cars have their advantages, producing the electricity to power them still requires an energy source. For the sake of the environment, that energy should be generated from the cleanest source available.

Natural gas is one promising clean alternative. It contains fewer pollutants than other fossil fuels, it’s easier to collect and process, and it is found throughout our country. In Alaska, we’re developing the largest private-sector energy project in history — a 3,000-mile, $40 billion pipeline to transport hundreds of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas to markets across the United States. Onshore and offshore na­tural gas from Alaska and the Lower 48 can satisfy a large part of our energy needs for decades, bringing us closer to energy independence. Whether we use it to power natural-gas cars or to run natural-gas power plants that charge electric cars — or ideally for both — natural gas can act as a clean “bridge fuel” to a future when more renewable sources are available.

In addition to drilling, we need to build new refineries. America currently has roughly 150 refineries, down from over 300 in the 1970s. Due mainly to environmental regulations, we haven’t built a major new refinery since 1976, though our oil consumption has increased significantly since then. That’s no way to secure our energy supply. The post-Katrina jump in gas prices proved that we can’t leave ourselves at the mercy of a hurricane that knocks a few refineries out of commission.

Building an energy-independent Amer­ica will mean a real economic stimulus. It will mean American jobs that can never be shipped overseas. Think about how much of our trade deficit is fueled by the oil we import — sometimes as much as half of the total. Through this massive transfer of wealth, we lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year that could be invested in our economy. Instead it goes to foreign countries, including some repressive regimes that use it to fund activities that threaten our security.

Reliance on foreign sources of energy weakens America. When a riot breaks out in an OPEC nation, or a developing country talks about nationalizing its oil industry, or a petro-dictator threatens to cut off exports, the probability is great that the price of oil will shoot up. Even in friendly nations, business and financial decisions made for local reasons can de­stabilize Amer­i­ca’s energy market, since the price we pay for foreign oil is subject to rising and falling exchange rates. Decreasing our dependence on foreign sources of energy will reduce the impact of world events on our economy.

In the end, energy independence is not just about the environment or the economy. It’s about freedom and confidence. It’s about building a more secure and peaceful America, an America in which our energy needs will not be subject to the whims of nature, currency speculators, or madmen in possession of vast oil reserves.

Alternative sources of energy are part of the answer, but only part. There’s no getting around the fact that we still need to “drill, baby, drill!” And if those in D.C. say otherwise, we need to tell them: “Yes, we can!”

Excerpt also posted on Governor Palin's Facebook page

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Why Palin Mania Won't Die

Formar George W Bush Speechwriter Matt Latimer writes
(h/t thepalination)

Love her, hate her, or fear her, there is something undeniably mesmerizing about Palin's continuing appeal. She quits her job as governor—some might say erratically—and supporters applaud her courage. She writes a book no one has read, and it’s a bestseller before it hits a single Barnes & Noble.

I was a latecomer to understanding the Alaskan's allure. Fourteen months ago, I was working in the Bush White House when John McCain released Palin from political obscurity. So unknown was she that President Bush joked that he thought she was the governor of Guam. His own political savvy having often been underestimated—or is that misunderestimated?—Bush predicted that the governor and her family had not been prepared for the political Katrina that was about to hit them.

Despite the bruising she took from the Katie Courics and Tina Feys of the world, Palin’s appeal among rank-and-file GOPers never weakened. (To conservatives, scorn by the media is even considered "a badge of honor," if I may quote Dan Quayle.)

At the White House, staffers who never warmed to John McCain embraced Sarah Palin with surprising ferocity—high-fiving each other upon her selection. One senior official printed up bumper stickers reading, "Vote for the hockey mom."

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Palin isn't going away (at least not yet) because in her own way she represents what Barack Obama represented for many Democrats: someone who stands apart from the corrupt and cynical Washington system that has let true believers down. Republicans remember that Palin stood up against the crooked Republican establishment in Alaska—while out-of touch GOP senators in Washington actually applauded Alaska's crony-in-chief, Ted "Bridge to Nowhere" Stevens, after he was booted out of office amid scandal. (In April, a federal judge dismissed the ethics conviction of Stevens, based on evidence of misconduct by prosecutors.)

.....

So in the meantime, Tina Fey should keep her makeup ready and her writers primed. Sarah Palin will be with us for a while, the "first dude" proudly at her side. GOP graybeards many gnash their teeth. But they have no one to blame but themselves. After all, they were the ones who put forward the gritty Alaskan they are so tackily trying to put down.

Read the whole thing here

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Only 43 Percent Would Vote To Re-Elect President Obama. Fox News Poll

From Foxnews

In what may be the ultimate job rating, 43 percent of voters say that they would vote to re-elect President Obama if the 2012 election were held today, down from 52 percent six months ago, from April 22-23, 2009.

Obama's job approval rating comes in at 49 percent this week. That's down just one percentage point from late September, but it marks a new low approval for the president -- and the first time the Fox News poll has measured his approval below 50 percent.

Moreover, the number of Americans saying they would vote to re-elect President Obama has dropped. If the election were held today the poll finds more voters say they would back someone else in the 2012 election than would back the president.

Despite winning the Nobel Peace Prize last Friday, the latest Fox News poll finds the president's ratings on foreign issues are lower than his overall job ratings. All in all, 49 percent of Americans say they approve of the job President Obama is doing and 45 percent disapprove. His average approval for the term so far is 58 percent.

Doug Brady's take an C4P

A 43% re-elect number is startling...and ominous news for the president. In many respects the "re-elect" number is a more accurate depiction of political support than an overall approval number. Another item of note in the poll is this:

Finally, in a rare example of bipartisan agreement, majorities of Democrats, 53 percent, Republicans, 78 percent, and Independents, 61 percent, agree the country is more divided these days. All in all, 64 percent of Americans think the country is more politically divided today -- that's more than twice the number who say it is not more divided, 31 percent.

Why is this noteworthy? The latest fashionable meme among Democrats and the infamous "GOP insiders" is that Governor Palin shouldn't be the 2012 nominee because she is "polarizing". Hmmmmm... The above numbers tell me somebody is polarizing and, given that Governor Palin is not the president (yet), it isn't her. Today's Rasmussen poll has Obama's overall approval down to 48%, which indicates that the Fox News - Opinion Dynamics poll's 49% overall approval is not an outlier.

More here and here More poll data here

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Kimberly Guilfoyle: Gov. Palin Believable, Genuine and Authentic

While discussing Obama’s leadership, Sean Hannity, S.E. Cupp & Kimberly Guilfoyle compare the presidents numbers with those of Gov. Palin.

Kimberly Guilfoyle Explains: “Sarah Palin is very powerful in terms of the people that believe in her they find her to be Genuine, Authentic and I feel that they believe they know who she is and what she stands for and they see leadership in her”

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Governor Palin for President?

Via C4P From Colorado Springs Independent by Pam Zubeck

You betcha!, says a federal political action committee based in Colorado Springs.

David Kelly's home office in Briargate is a typical middle-aged guy's hideout. It has a computer, two desks, books stacked floor to ceiling and maps on the walls. But at the foot of one desk sit a couple boxes filled with buttons and bumper stickers promoting Sarah Palin as a 2012 presidential candidate.

The full-time library district worker spends up to 20 hours a week collecting money and mailing political paraphernalia as part of his federal political action committee's effort to persuade Palin to run.

The 2012 Draft Sarah Committee is the only one of its kind registered with the Federal Election Commission, but it actually represents the second effort by locals to elevate the former Alaska governor's political profile.

Adam Brickley, a former Peyton resident and political science graduate of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, set up a blog in early 2007 to push Palin for vice president, and made the talk-show circuit after her selection in August 2008.

.....

"She's not part of the Beltway," Kelly explains. "She's a mother who got angry one day and decided, 'I'm going to do something.' She's real. She truly is telling us from her heart what she wants to do, rather than what party officials are dictating to her.

Randy Highsmith, the committee's chairman, saw a story on the Web about the committee and volunteered to organize from Florida. He raves about Palin in an e-mail: "Palin excited me and many other conservatives due to her proven and consistent conservative stances." He notes she's pro-life, pro-business and favors oil drilling in Alaska wilderness.

.....

"Sarah Palin is an outstanding leader," Mims says in a phone interview. "She has the values and morals to lead our country in a positive direction."

Kelly says Palin is "careful" not to communicate with his PAC, although the group's New York-based spokeswoman has met her. He adds that he's not doing this to build his own political career; in fact, Kelly has other interests, such as learning how to play bagpipes, and looks forward to cleaning up his home office and declaring "mission accomplished."

"The day she announces," he says, "our job is done."

David Kelly and daughter Shannon, looking ahead. (Debra Kelly)

More here

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Hannity reports on the upcoming announcement by Gov. Palin on her new political group “Stand Up for Our Nation”

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Steve Schmidt Defends Palin Pick

From Arkansas News

[T]he top strategist for Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign defended the decision to pick Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate.
.....

Former McCain adviser Steve Schmidt praised Palin during remarks at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, despite having said earlier this month that a Palin presidential nomination would be “catastrophic” for the GOP.

“I believe to this day that had she not been picked as the vice presidential candidate, we would never have been ahead — not for one second, not for one minute, not for one hour, not for one day,” Schmidt said today.

Schmidt said the former Alaska governor has “great talents,” and putting her on the ticket generated enough excitement to transform the race. Other circumstances worked against McCain, however, he said.

“We were three points ahead on Sept. 15 when the stock market crashed, and then the election was over,” he said.

Asked after the talk if he stood by his recent critical comments about Palin’s viability as a presidential candidate, Schmidt said he did.

“I said what I said on the 2012 (race). … I said what I said today,” he told reporters.

More here

Bret Baier on Foxnews reports

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Big Sales Expected for Palin Memoir

From WSJ

Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life" will likely be a mega-seller when it hits bookshelves next month, a shot in the arm for the book business and perhaps also for the former Alaska governor's unorthodox political career.

Harper, an imprint of News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers, said it has received media inquiries from major TV and radio talk shows and is teeing up a major promotional schedule. "Going Rogue" has an initial print run of 1.5 million copies, the same number at the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's memoir, "True Compass."

"Right now it's our top preorder online," said Kathryn Popoff, vice president of trade books at Borders Group Inc. "They may feel one way or another about her, but they will want to read about her."

.....

Fascination with Ms. Palin could turn her into a gold mine for retailers. In a season crowded with new books from leading authors, many stores expect "Going Rogue" to be a hit...

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"It's going to be a No. 1 best-seller, the hottest book in the country when it comes out," said Edward Ash-Milby, a buyer for Barnes & Noble Inc. "She has a lot to say, and a lot of people will want to hear it."

More here

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Bill O’Reilly and Jane Skinner take on Letterman

How about it David? While the whole country reads Governor Palin’s bestseller book, you go and try out those “fun” things you suggest.

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