We have a problem with her.

[heidi]

Gacked from ellen_fremedon:

It turns out that one of the reasons cited by Sarah Palin for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan-- the one who wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law-- were even worse than we thought:

She did it because Monegan was going to Washington to ask for money to combat sexual assault -- Alaska has more forcible rapes per capita than any other state in the Union -- and Palin didn't want Monegan's request to interfere with her earmarks requests going through now-indicted Senator Ted Stevens.

Palin does not deny this-- it's the explanation being put forward by McCain's own spokespeople:

The last straw, the McCain campaign said, was in July, when Monegan planned to travel to Washington to seek federal money for a plan to assign troopers, judges and prosecutors who could exclusively handle sexual assault cases — one of the state's most intractable crime problems.

In a July 7 e-mail, John Katz, the governor's special counsel, noted two problems with the trip: The governor hadn't agreed the money should be sought, and the request was "out of sequence with our other appropriations requests and could put a strain on the evolving relationship between the Governor and Sen. (Ted) Stevens."

Four days later, Monegan was fired. He said he had kept others in the administration fully apprised of his plans to go to Washington.

Just think about those key points there. She fired her Public Safety Commissioner for seeking money for rape prevention and prosecution-- which surely falls under Public Safety-- because she was afraid that money might come out of the trough that was funding the bridge to nowhere.

The AP has the full story.

To quote a comment to ellen's post:
McCain people: No, Trig can't be Bristol's baby, because Bristol's pregnant!
Everyone else: Aaaaiieeeee!

McCain people: No, she didn't fire him because of her brother-in-law, she fired him because of rape kits and pork earmarks!
Everyone else: Aaaaiieeeee!

And, as a side note who's the senator who wrote the 1994 Violence Against Women act that mandated that states/municipalities not charge rape victims for the evidence-gathering kits?

That's Joe Biden.

Who voted against passage of the Violence Against Women act?

John McCain. Who now wants to criminalize embryonic stem cell research.

Comments

[marag.livejournal.com]

This election season has been so bad, I'm actually running low on outrage. This is not a good sign. ::headdesk:: I want to hide under the bed until election day.

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

All of my outrage was spent on the last 8 years of the current administration. I'm too numb to feel anything anymore. Maybe that was their strategy all along....

[marag.livejournal.com]

Veeeery clever. It's worked on me, as well. ::headdesk::

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

As long as you don't hide under the bed on election day.

How're you feeling?

[marag.livejournal.com]

Eh, I've gotten a minor virus from my dear sproglet, so I've been better. ::shrug::

As for election day, since I missed the last presidential election due to bed rest, this time I plan to vote by absentee ballot, just in case. If I don't end up on bed rest, then oh well, but if I do, I won't have to miss the election!

[shocolate.livejournal.com]

*froths*

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously considering getting out of government if McCain wins. I cannot work for these people anymore. I could have possibly worked under a McCain administration if he'd chosen a running mate that was less of a right-wing-nutjob, but I cannot work with a picture of that woman hanging on the wall of my office. Ugh.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Oh gah, I hadn't even thought of that. Her face would be everywhere, just watchingwatchingwatching!

Am scared now.

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

It's been bad enough with Bus/Cheney staring down at us. Cheney's actually SMIRKING in his photo. And the walls on the halls by the Secretary's office are all photos of Bush, so I avoid that area if I can help it. We're pretty immune (i.e., numb) now, but it would be hard to get used to seeing Palin's face up there every day.

It would be like this, right?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I apologize for what I am about to do to you.

Re: It would be like this, right?

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

THAT. IS. PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!! And truly scary. Do you mind if I forward to HP-fan colleagues?

Re: It would be like this, right?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I didn't make it - someone sent it to me. So, sure!

Re: It would be like this, right?

[phoenixsong]

<3 <3 <3

Re: It would be like this, right?

[gaspodia.livejournal.com]

I nearly choked on my cup of tea when I saw this :)

Re: It would be like this, right?

[sweill.livejournal.com]

That is friggin' BRILLIANT

Re: It would be like this, right?

[ixchelmala.livejournal.com]

Oh dear gawd!!!!

May I borrow this for my most recent post?

*shivers*

Re: It would be like this, right?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I didn't create it - I found it virally, and nobody seems to know where it comes from, so it's your call.

It is pretty fabulous, isn't it?

Re: It would be like this, right?

[enkeli.livejournal.com]

(here from ix's journal) dude - that photo plus your dr horrible icon equals TOO AWESOME FOR WORDS. v.nice find on both counts! :)

[phoenixsong]

I'm pretty sure you don't work for the Secretary whose department I'm contracted to, but I sympathize. Greatly. Not that I wanted to stick around here much longer than another year anyway, but...

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

Yeah, when I switched from contractor to fed, I really had qualms about working for these folks, and though I was pretty immune from the politics for the first two years, just doing my little bureaucrat job, it got pretty ugly this past year, so I'm definitely ready to get out if the election doesn't turn out. But I'd LOVE to be there for the transition if Obama wins. I wonder if I'd go to jail if I drew mustaches on the current pictures????

BTW, I'm home sick today, I never get on LJ at work!

[phoenixsong]

Yes, I'm a bad, bad monkey s;)

I was pretty freaked out when I started four years ago, though not as much now. But SP scares me in general.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I feel like I'm in Cloud Cuckooland (or Bizarroworld) when I listen to "arguments" like those.

Also, as an aside, did anyone see Beau Biden on Leno last night? He was wonderful - and a great surrogate/ambassador for his dad and Barack, at least until he ships out to Iraq *wibbles*

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Watching Beau on tv freaks me out. But I will force myself to watch it because it is just too cool.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Well, and who violated that act as mayor until the then-governor told her to knock it off? Sarah Palin.

btw, I think it's important to note that the reason that Palin didn't want Wasillia paying for the rape kits is the morning after pill they include, because she felt that it would be the state paying for contraception. Given that she doesn't believe in abortion even in cases of rape, at least she's consistent.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Oh gah, now I am singing Who violated that act as mayor until the gov told her to knock it off? SARAH! Ya damned right... to the tune of Shaft.

DO NOT WANT!

I do not dig her!

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

And, as a side note who's the senator who wrote the 1994 Violence Against Women act that mandated that states/municipalities not charge rape victims for the evidence-gathering kits?

That's Joe Biden.

Who voted against passage of the Violence Against Women act?

John McCain.

That's something the Obama campaign needs to say loudly and often.

[selinakyle47.livejournal.com]

Okay, turnabout on embryonic stem cell research surprises me. Was it necessary to pander to the right some more?

[sweill.livejournal.com]

G rand
O le
P anderers

yep.

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

Did you see the photos from the rally of Alaskans against Palin?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Weren't they lovely?

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

What really pissed me off was hearing that a local hate-spewing talk radio host called the organizer a socialist baby-killing maggot. And we wonder where the source of the vitriol and stupidity is coming from...

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

At least the radio station owners suspended him. For a week.

[sophiamaria03.livejournal.com]

Good. Though not long enough. Talk radio is at the root of the current inability that people have to think for themselves (she says as she downloads another NPR podcast...)

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

They were!! It reminded me of the night Cambridge City Hall started handing out same sex marriages licenses and there were thousands of people there to celebrate--and Fred Phelps had six people across the street protesting. :D

[deirdre-c.livejournal.com]

Just picked this up on the boards:

"A woman voting for Palin is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders. Yes, the Colonel loves chicken, just not in a way that is actually helpful to the chicken."

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I love that!

[sweill.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS.

I need to make a macro icon of that.

[deirdre-c.livejournal.com]

Definitely! ;)

[sparky77.livejournal.com]

God, I hate that woman so very, very much. I didn't think it was possible for me to hate another politician as much as I hate Bush, but she's getting pretty damn close.

Thanks for the link.

[gaspodia.livejournal.com]

Someone with such extreme and outdated views would be marginalised in UK politics. When thinking about the views held by McCain/Palin, I've almost come to appreciate some of our own right wing politicians - they seem almost electable in comparison :)

[sweill.livejournal.com]

Heidi!!! MAKE IT STOP!!!!!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I was going to comment on the stem cell research part, but then I saw your icon. How perfect! And while there's nothing funny about this stuff, I still ended up snickering!

[megaloo13.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*

I think your (made of win) icon says it all for me.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

The information about why Palin fired her Safety Commissioner is more than troubling, but should be high up on the massive list of reasons why she is not qualified to be VP.

As for criminalizing Embryonic Stem Cell Research. I might be missing something, but he always was in favor of criminalizing the creation of EST for the purposes of research. His comment about morals was precisely what he wanted it to be; ambiguous enough to try and please both sides.

He has said in the past that he would approve increases in Federal Funding for EST, but I haven't heard if that also means he would go along with increasing the number of cell lines used for that purpose, one that Bush put at a ridiculously low number that caused problems because a great many were unusable (too lazy at the moment to go look up exact figures and it doesn't add to my point anyway). :)

Whether or not McCain can be held to his word on anything is an entirely different matter, but I don't see this as a shift in his position on EST.

[ness-va.livejournal.com]

forcible rapes

What rapes aren't forced?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Statutory rape. Obviously they can be and then should be listed in both categories but a 15 year old with a 16 year old isn't categorized the same way by the FBI.