Diana Palin sentenced in Palmer, Alaska from Dennis Zaki on Vimeo.
And yes the man who greeted her as she stepped out into the gallery was indeed Mr. Turcott. I don't know exactly what he said, but if we have any lip readers in the group feel free to fill us in.(And yes I am aware of the irony of my above statement considering how aggressively I have gone after the Palin-Furby, but in my defense I do not see her simply as a female but rather a very dangerous individual who puts my country in jeopardy. And when it comes to people like that, male of female, the gloves are off.)
drugs do awful things to otehrwise nice people. ?
ReplyDeletethere is no reason to be any less confrontational with a woman than you would be with a man.
ReplyDeleteof course in a fair and civil society, all people -regardless of gender or age- ought not be purposefully menaced or threatened, but to think that a woman requires "softer approaches" than a man implies that women are too weak to handle things a man could handle (and i'm speaking of mental and emotional things here, not physical contests where no one involved uses steroids, etc.)
maybe you think it's "gentlemanly" not to confront women forcefully with facts, arguments, and other realities, but it's actually just sexist. and i generally read you as being not at all sexist, so i just wanted to point this out.
I think her apology was written for her by her attorney. I was about par for court room apologies and may or may not have been sincere, but I am not impressed by it, really, either way.
ReplyDeleteAlso, sexism is sometimes soooo deeply ingrained that we don't recognize it for what it is.
There is NO need to treat this woman differently than you would a male offender !!
Sorry, but she is not that fragile. She had the guts to break REPEATEDLY into someone's home in Alaska where most of us have weapons and are ok using them to defend ourselves.
Was her child along as a shield?
Sorry, I don't feel the least bit sorry for this woman.
Do the crime, do the time.
NO reason to feel sorry for her except she got caught. This woman's drug abuse is not recent, nor short lived and dollars to donughts, she will use again.
Character is a word we don't use much anymore and don't demand from others. Too often we are ready to say someone is a victim rather than accept the fact that they have NO "Character."
People are not robots. We make our choices and using drugs is not something that "happens" to a person. It is something that person "chooses to do."
They are not bystanders getting hit by a car, they are choosing to stand in front of a speeding car and cannot claim "victim" status when they are hit.
She got a sweet deal. Not even child endangerment. A really sweet deal cuz of her last name and because of who her bro is married to.
ReplyDeleteJustice again denied to the community.
I bet your daughter had you wrapped around her little finger!! A few tears,and you're done!! You big softy!
ReplyDeleteI wish you would rephrase the final part of your post. Of course Sarah Palin is a female. It doesn't mean that she is not also (too) a dangerous individual, etc. etc.
ReplyDeleteSaying that you don't consider her a female just sounds, well, dumb and a little sexist.
Pat in Texas
I prefer to hope for the best, rather than automatically expect the worst. I don't know who wrote the words she spoke, but they appeared to come from the heart, especially when she referred to her daughter.
ReplyDeleteShe's already begun to turn her life around, but still has a difficult time ahead of her.
I also think it would be pretty ridiculous for me to wish for her a greater punishment than Turcott does. As the injured party, he has the right. I do not.
I wish them both well.
Her offense was NOT just against Turcott !
ReplyDeleteIt was against the laws of the State of Alaska.
Remember, the prosecutor does NOT represent the victim. The prosecutor represents the State of Alaska as it is the state's laws which have been broken.
When someone breaks the laws, it is an offesne against the State ( i.e. all members of that state) and not just against the individual whose home was broken into. Mr. Turcott is just ONE OF MANY of the people of the State of Alaska.
If Mr. Turcott was represented, it would be by his own privately hired and privately paid attorney. Example: The state of california prosecuted OJ Simpson, but it was the family of his male victim that hired an attorney for the civil suit.
I personally am extremely offended that this woman took a toddler along, not once, but twice.
I have siympathy only for her child.
Don't confuse the tears from someone who just got "spanked" with the tears of someone truly repentant i.e. repentant even if NOT caught.
I truly hope for the sake of her daughter that she will be able to turn her life around and stay that way. However, I did read that her husband is seeking custody. Are the Palins' going to interfere in that case, too?
ReplyDeleteThere is absolutely no denying that this woman got off easy considering her daughter could easily have been killed or injured during this robbery. We know that's a fact as the homeowner had a gun when he stopped her in the process of robbing his home. Personally, in this instance, I think the husband should have full custody and she should receive supervised visitation for at least a year until she has proven herself trustworthy.
Gryphen, I understand your actions in dealing with women and although it is often frowned upon to treat them differently, I do believe it's a sign of a true gentleman.
Hmm, was she trying to look like Sarah at the allocution?
ReplyDeleteI would suppose that many of us are prejudiced against Diana because of the Palin name. But the Palin name, in this case, doesn't seem to make much of a difference ONLY in public family support. They seem to want to separate themselves from her publicly (no family representatives present), but her sentencing compared to Sherry Johnston's (sp) is what sets her apart BECAUSE of her surname.
ReplyDeleteIt is a difficult opinion to have.
At the end of the clip, Turcott looked like he was going to hug palin. He did NOT carry himself as if a stranger to her. It would be REALLY interesting to know the whole story behind these two......
ReplyDeleteSo what did she learn from her little brush with the law? That she can do anything she wants and get away with it. Sound like someone else we know?
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone did her a big favor here. This court will be seeing her again.
Yeah, you're a big softy, Gryph. But we love ya because of it!
I'm betting on him telling her that she owes him now and that he would be home later and then she could come by and show him just how remorseful she really is. I didn't really see any real remorse (other than being caught and with her daughter) when she read from her script. I really didn't buy the I'm sooooo sorry that she said. She could make it in Hollywood on sheer acting talent. Certainly not from her style or physical attraction though.
ReplyDeletehmm.. something doesn't seem quite right about this. it seemed to me that statement wasn't really heartfelt, like it was more of a "going through the motions" thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the commenter who said they'd like to know the real story about these two.
I felt like she and Turcott were both laughing about getting away with something.
ReplyDeleteTo the Editor:
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your comment that you are "soft" (so to speak) on women. Instead, I would suggest two alternative explanations.
As a former public defender, over 90% of my cases involved drugs (possessing, using, selling, manufacturing, etc etc etc). Dope fiends (even Rush Limbaugh--I can hardly believe I'm typing this) really are a different class of offender. I'll go to the mat arguing that there is a qualitative difference between crimes committed by people driven by drug addiction--as opposed to crimes like not disclosing that an oil services company "remodeled" your mountain cabin in Gridwood at a cost of $410,000, but only billed you $160,000 (I'm just saying here).
So, it never surprises me that people--when push comes to shove--are soft on drugs.
Second, and more importantly, it is much easier to throw the proverbial book at people you don't know and don't see. If you're in a courtroom, and you're looking a Defendant in the eyeball, are you going to be ready to shut that Defendant up in a cage--and destroying their life? Crime victims--complaining witnesses, especially in property crimes, almost always get really teary in court.
There are very few situations that are black & white in this world, and it's been my personal experience that the people who are the most sure of themselves and their opinions know the least.
So Gryphen--I don't know, but I'm guessing your sympathy to Ms. Palin are for those two reasons...much more so than any implicit gender bias. I think if the situation were exactly the same, only with the Defendant Danny (instead of Diana) you'd still feel the same.
Bill Abendroth
Samsara Samizdat
I was not impressed one way or the other. Her statement was under a minute long so you'd think she could have memorized what she wanted to say and spoken more naturally. It sounded more like reading from a script than from the heart, but I'm sure she was nervous too.
ReplyDeleteI also hope that she is not given full custody of her child, but supervised visitation until she proves she can be a responsible parent. The risks are too high and the odds are not in her favor at this point in time.
Not that we really know anything about the father. If I remember correctly, he said he was shocked to find out about her behavior when she was arrested. Surely he knew she was an addict, and still trusted her to care for a small child. How was she getting money for drugs in the past? This couldn't have been the first time she did something crazy and endangered that child.
not impressed by her little mea culpa.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to know each other.