Mudflats is a MUST read today. Update: Palin QUITS Iowa speech!

If you have not been there yet, I suggest that you do not delay as it has confirmation of many of the stories about the Palins that we have been hearing for a long time. (Just click here to visit.)

They do not say anything too revelatory about babygate (If Frank actually knows the truth, as has been suggested, then it appears he did not share it, or swore Jeanne and Ken to secrecy), but it does suggest what others in her inner circle thought might be the reason she was so tiny throughout her pregnancy.

The claim that Sarah was never actually pregnant with her special needs child Trig—a widely circulated rumor that became known as “Babygate”—was partially based on Sarah shocking the world by announcing her pregnancy at seven months. Prior to that, nobody had suspected a thing. The revelation was even a surprise to staff, Frank Bailey, and the media. Even State Senator (and, according to Sarah and staff an evil-doer) Lyda Greene incredulously said, “It’s wonderful. She’s very well disguised. When I was five months pregnant, there was absolutely no question that I was with child.” 

How did Sarah manage to hide that pregnancy for so long? That question seemed to defy explanation to all except a small number of personal insiders who expressed alarming speculation. During her pregnancy with Piper (and it was suggested later with Trig), Todd asked a friend whom he thought knew about such matters, “As unhealthy as her eating is, what can those diet pills do to the baby?” 

The friend explained to him, “I’m not sure, but I’d be concerned about having a failure-to-thrive child.” (Failure to thrive is where there is a significant interruption in the expected growth rate during early childhood and can result from malnutrition). Was Sarah so vain as to try and hide her pregnancy and prolong her petite, almost perfect figure through drastic means? It’s a proposition that shocked everyone, including, reportedly, her husband.

This might have been something that was discussed by people with no understanding of pregnancy but as many of you can probably already surmise for yourselves, the diet pills might help to keep most of a soon-to-be-mother's body slim, the baby is still growing inside of her, and it would in fact look even MORE pronounced against an emaciated frame.

And as you can see from these two pictures taken on March 26, 2008, Palin did NOT appear nearly as skinny as we see her today, nor does she appear pregnant. She might have been taking diet pills at this time, but it in NO WAY explains the oddness of the square pillow in her belly.

Nor does it explain how she ballooned up to to her April 13 size in just a few weeks.

However we were to desperately cling to that explanation instead of admitting the truth that should be obvious to everybody who saw her then you would have expected  Trig to have been equally as emaciated when he emerged from his starvation period in the womb, and as you can see by pictures of the child presented as Trig by the Heaths on the day of his "birth" such was not the case.

Like I said, binging and purging, and pounding down diet pills does not adequately explain this bizarre "pregnancy."

I don't know why this is still being trotted out as a possible excuse by people who I am relatively certain do not buy into it, but I think most people, who are NOT trying to protect Palin's birth mythology, are well aware of what the overwhelming evidence demonstrates.

Having said that I still suggest that you head on over to the Mudflats and read the article as it is chock full of information about Todd and Sarah's battles, Sarah's lack of parenting skills, and her crazy mood swings.

Update: Okay I have no reason to think this is related to the Mudflats post, but Palin just quit her September 3, Iowa speech. Courtesy of Politico:

Sarah Palin canceled her Saturday appearance at a tea party rally in Indianola, Iowa, a person close the former Alaska governor told The Wall Street Journal. 

The person cited “continual lying” from event organizers at Tea Party of America, including a recent mixup over whether former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell of Delaware would also speak. 

Okay Sarah Palin quit because of "lying?" Ouch! The irony makes my head hurt!

Please, we all know she quit because the organizers had the audacity to schedule Christine O'Donnell on the same day. Palin lives by the law of the Highlander, "There can be only one!"

Of course on the plus side, there is DEFINITELY an opening for Christine O'Donnell to give a speech, and this time she does no have to worry about being tripped by that nasty old bitch as she walks off stage.

Update 2: Apparently the Teabaggers themselves have NOT been informed that her highness may not be coming. My somewhat educated guess is that SHE does not want to go, but that her "people" are flipping out that she might cancel yet again.

I am interested in how this all plays out, because it sounds to me like Palin might be having one of her manic episodes.

What do you think?  Will she show up, or not?

Palin turns to Twitter to make a summer reading suggestion. For morons.

If you are unfamiliar with this particularly disgusting piece of human excrement, count yourself fortunate.

He is a well known liar, fake, and promoter of carefully doctored video footage whose sole purpose for existence is to undermine liberals and destroy social programs that benefit women and the underprivileged.

In other words, EXACTLY the kind of person that Sarah Palin would consider to be her comrade-in-arms in the battle against those evil "libruls."

Well I certainly cannot endorse Palin's choice of authors, but I completely support the idea of promoting a couple of great books for all of you to enjoy this summer.

First let me recommend this wonderful book by Geoffrey Dunn, The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power.

And once you have read this book, and it has whet your appetite for more, you can dive right into one of the most anticipated Sarah Palin books of all, this one written by  Frank Bailey, Ken Morris and our own Jeanne Devon, coming out May 24,  called Blind Allegiance To Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years.

Then after you have devoured these two delicious dissections of the Sarah Palin mythology, you can top it off with the Créme de la Résistance which will surely be the book that Joe McGinniss risked being shot by Todd Palin or poisoned with a Sarah Palin blueberry pie, to write for you, The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin.

If by then you are not completely overstuffed with Sarah Palin knowledge, and newly revealed secrets, you might wish to top your literary meal off with an "after dinner mint" of sorts by reading the long awaited tell all offered up by Levi Johnson, entitled Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palins Crosshairs.

So you see my friends, there really ARE lots of very interesting books to occupy our lazy summer afternoons on the beach.  And though I have not read ALL of them, I can almost certainly guarantee that they will be MUCH more interesting, MUCH more factual,  and MUCH better written than that dreck Sarah Palin is pimping on her Twitter account.

P.S. Oh before I forget, I should let you know that there is yet ANOTHER potentially explosive book coming out about Sarah Palin in the near future as well.  This one is still hush hush, and I don't know exactly when it will be ready, but for those of us who focused babygate, it may turn out to be our favorite book of all.

P.P.S. If you can't wait and want to order any of these books right this instant, just click the links and it will take you directly to Amazon where you can easily make you online purchase.

The Palin-bots are in a complete state of denial about Frank Bailey's book.

The flying monkeys are flapping around in a blind panic over Bailey's book while attempting to appear completely unconcerned.

Just check out this response from a spokeswoman from SarahPAC according to the ADN:

Pam Pryor, a spokeswoman for Palin's political action committee, said she didn't expect Palin to react. "Doubt she will respond to this kind of untruth," Pryor said in an e-mail.

The article also states the following:

Bailey wrote in the book that he and his co-authors put together the manuscript with the help of more than 60,000 e-mails he sent or received while working for Palin.

I have to wonder did Ms. Pryor read this part about the "60,000 e-mails?"  It seems a little careless to label something an "untruth" with 60,000 e-mails to back it up, don't you think?

And let me just add that I know Jeanne Devon quite well and there is little doubt that she has meticulously cross referenced just about everything in that manuscript to such a degree that the Palins will be completely unable to legally challenge its content. Then we will see just who is the one telling "untruths."

The nasty little gremlins over at the Sea o' pee used the headline "Why Nobody Should Be Worried About Frank Bailey’s Hilarious Manuscript" for their dismissive post about the book.  However from what I read it appears they have not actually had a chance to see what is contained in that leaked manuscript:

Bailey claims to have thousands of e-mails from Governor Palin that supposedly substantiate the charges that he levels against her in the manuscript but the Alaska media that has access to the manuscript has failed to cite even one damaging e-mail.

I am pretty confident that their tune will change dramatically after they see with their own eyes just how many damaging revelations are contained in those 456 pages.

Gee I wonder how winged monkeys get around after their wings have been clipped?

The leak of Frank Bailey's book. Update!

So yes, as many of you are already aware Sarah Palin's former Chief of Staff Frank Bailey, has written a manuscript with the help of our own Jeanne Devon of Mudflats fame.

Sadly it was sent to various publishers by Bailey's agent without a request for confidentiality, which then allowed it to find its way onto the internet.

Part of the e-mail sent along with the manuscript read as follows:

In BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO SARAH PALIN: A Memoir of our Tumultuous Years, Bailey explores such key events as Palin’s gubernatorial victory, Troopergate, illegal coordination with the Republican Governor’s Association, never-before-revealed scandals such as a judicial appointment as payoff for a favorable child custody ruling for Palin’s sister, the vice presidential campaign and the bizarre vetting process, and Palin’s resignation. Drawing on thousands of emails from the personal accounts of Sarah and Todd Palin as well as key members of the staff, Bailey reconstructs how the Palins’ pathologies became apparent, and how he and other members of the team rationalized Sarah’s increasingly erratic behavior and their commitment to a cause that was changing shape before their eyes. Bailey’s stories and representative emails—which are not subject to FOIA requests and therefore will not be included in the email correspondence scheduled to be released by Alaskan officials this May—sketch a disturbing portrait of Sarah Palin and her inner circle. Given the recent news that Palin’s political action committee has hired Michael Glassner, a veteran of both Senator Bob Dole’s and Senator John McCain’s presidential campaigns, as chief of staff, the revelations and insights of Frank’s story are more necessary than ever, as the public will seek to learn as much as possible about the woman who seems to have her sights set on the national stage. Both a chilling expose of the inner workings of Palin’s circle and the story of one man’s slow drift from his most cherished beliefs and his ultimate redemption, BLIND ALLEGIANCE TO SARAH PALIN is sure to strike a chord with readers on both sides of the aisle.

Frank Bailey was the first outside volunteer for Sarah Palin’s gubernatorial primary campaign, and served as a staffer and member of her inner circle until his departure from politics in the fall of 2009. He now runs a small coffee-stand business, having turned down an appointment from new Governor Sean Parnell in order to spend more time with his family. Ken Morris, a former Wall Street executive, has written for the San Francisco Chronicle and Jim Cramer’s RealMoney.com, and has appeared on Cramer’s former show Kudlow and Cramer as well as dozens of radio shows. Jeanne Devon is the editor and proprietor for The Mudflats, one of the most influential blogs in Alaska, and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, where she has an open invitation to post lead articles. She contributed a chapter to GOING ROUGE: An American Nightmare (Health Communications, 2009). She is a regular guest on Shannyn Moore’s popular Anchorage radio show, and has appeared on Rachel Maddow

I have known for some time that Bailey was writing this book, and I also knew that it contained some very damaging e-mails from Todd, Sarah, and various Palin insiders, as well as some behind the scenes information from Frank Bailey who seemed to know just about EVERYTHING that Palin herself was desperate to keep secret.

I did NOT know until earlier this week that Jeanne was involved, but I am not all that surprised because ALL of us are constantly being sworn to secrecy by somebody, and are often in the position of having to keep secrets even from our closest friends and family members.

I do have in my possession the manuscript which I received from a source just yesterday. I am only about nine chapters in, but I can tell you that it reinforces a LOT of the rumors that we heard about Sister Sarah these last few years. However I am sure you will respect the fact that it would be unethical for me to share with you anything from this yet unpublished manuscript on this blog.

Jeanne is my good friend and I am not going to do anything that may keep this book from being published and making both her and Frank Bailey a ton of money.  From what I have read thus far they certainly deserve it.

And by the way, even though I am pretty sure I will get a free autographed copy of this book, I am going to purchase at least one or two more, because THAT is what will make this a blockbuster. And I urge all of you to do the same.

I have already pre-ordered the books that are soon to come from Joe McGinniss and Geoffrey Dunn as well, because the story of Sarah Palin, Alaska politics, and how this travesty came to be, is MUCH too big to ever fit completely into only one book. 

By the time all is said and done I anticipate having a WHOLE bookshelf dedicated to the downfall of Sarah Palin.

Oh, and for those of you who wrote asking me if this book is one of the big pieces of damaging evidence coming out this year that will demolish Palin's chances of launching a successful Presidential primary campaign, my answer is you betcha!

However, and I know that you all hate this, it is NOT the only one.

Update:  While I am absolutely NOT going to cut and paste anything from this manuscript I did want all of you future owners of this book to know that it is CHOCK FULL of incredibly juicy scandalous information.  Multiple Palin lies are documented, as well as unethical behaviors, and even ILLEGAL behaviors. 

And I am only up to Chapter 14!

I had only heard a vague description of this manuscript's content, but now that I am reading it in black and white it is even better than I had imagined.  When this finally comes out Palin is doomed. Period!

Palin does the safest of softball interviews with Mary "Why won't my face stop smiling" Hart.

Here is the link to the video. (I decided to remove the embd because it was one that automatically played and it was driving people nuts.)

"Just a house that Todd and his buddies built" she says. (With "borrowed" materials from the Wasilla Sports Center of course!)

Hey I can see Joe's house from her yard!

"I have not decided what I am going to do in 2012."  Lies! She knows EXACTLY what she is going to do in 2012! IF she can find enough brain damaged  people to support her that is!

Did she really just say that if she feels there are not the right kind of candidates in the race SHE will make the sacrifice and run? How many people can there be in the country that believe  Sarah "look a shiny object" Palin has the intelligence, the experience, and let's face it, has the attention span required to do a job that incredibly demanding?

Please say it is only about twelve!

So Mary Hart came ALL the way up here just to ask Sarah those fuzzy non-threatening questions?

Is it possible she is also covering a certain desperate attempt to bring some, let's say "glamour" to butt-boy's failing campaign?

Well if she is she better hurry, because it looks like Miller's ship is sinking fast!

A new poll conducted by Hays Research confirms what we already intuitively know. Alaska U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller's candidacy is in big trouble.

The percentage of Alaskans who feel either "somewhat negative" or "very negative" about Miller has skyrocketed in recent weeks to an astronomical 68 percent. Only 8 percent feel "somewhat negative" and the remainder, a jaw-dropping 60 percent, feel "very negative" about Miller as a candidate.

A series of gaffes, inconsistencies, and controversial statements to the press, in addition to the arrest of a journalist by Miller security guards have come one on top of another, causing a trend that can only be described as a campaign death spiral. Miller's hardcore supporters who view him "very favorably" have held in there, showing a decrease of only 3 percent since Oct. 6, but his "somewhat favorable" rating went from 20 percent to 9 percent in that time. Miller's "somewhat unfavorable" rating dipped from 13 percent to 8 percent, underscoring the voter stampede toward "very unfavorable" which skyrocketed from 38 percent to 60 percent in less than three weeks.

Whoo Hoo! Is it possible that Alaskans have FINALLY wised up and decided to stop voting Republican regardless of how fucked up the candidate is, and to start using their brains for a change?  I mean is it finally time for me to be proud of my state for their political integrity?

Can I?  Can I please?


P.S. For those of you who did not check out my Twitter feed, yes I am finally in Washington DC.  And it is AWESOME!! In fact I already met a fellow rally participant.

Rachel Maddow films her show in Alaska and I get to sit in the audience. Please do not pinch me, because if this is a dream, I don't want to wake up!

Here is the show's opening.  The bar is called the "Taproot" on Spenard road.



Directly behind Rachel on the left you can see Jeanne Devon (Mudflats), Linda Kellen Biegel is also there (Celtic Diva). I am directly behind Rachel's head and you will see me intermittently.  Shannyn Moore of course was interviewed by Maddow, and that video is embedded below.

Much of the show focuses on Rachel's difficulty getting an interview with Joe Miller, and of course how awkwardly it went when she finally did get it, but she also interviewed both Lisa Murkowski and Scott McAdams. Here is the segment that contains those interviews, and here is an additional piece where Rachel visits McAdams campaign headquarters.

In this segment Rachel interviews one of the great Alaskans who crafted our constitution, Vic Fisher, and Shannyn Moore.



I love that Vic Fisher reminds the viewers that the constitution is a "framework for the future" and was never meant, either the Alaskan or American version, to be "static and forgotten forever."  Quick somebody show this to Joe Miller, THEN he might know what in the hell he is talking about! Or better yet make him talk to Vic, like Rachel pointed out, he is still right here to explain to people if they don't get it!

Here Rachel arrives in Alaska and meets Tank Jones. (Yes I talked to Tank last night, but he asked me not to blog about it, so I won't.)  In this segment Maddow has a very informative conversation with Miller supporters, and learns how uneducated they are about the issues that they claim to be so upset about.

And finally here is the "interview on the run" that Rachel was finally able to get with Miller.  Go ahead and try to make sense of his answers to Rachel's questions about gay rights, I double dog dare you.



What a rude vaguely bearded prick! Personally I am embarrassed that Rachel had to see that side of Alaska.  Miller and his followers represent the very worst of us, and it is with great shame that I watch how he treated somebody who I respect a great deal on national television.

As I mentioned in the comments section earlier, I DID get a chance to meet and talk to Rachel briefly at the Dena'ina Center right before she interviewed Miller.

I believe this picture was taken right at the moment that she told me that she has been reading my blog. Yeah, I was pretty stunned as well!

I don't believe I have the words to describe how cool yesterday was for me.  Essentially it rocked!

I thought the highlight of my week, hell my month, would be attending the "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, now I am not so sure.  Jon and Stephen are going to really have to pull out teh stops in order to beat my amazing day watching the filming of the "Rachel Maddow Show" and meeting her face to face.

AKMuckraker just posted her take on the Palin e-mail trial (which includes some very ineresting photographs) up on Huffington Post.

Huffington Post:

The trial of the infamous Sarah Palin email hacker is underway.

The defendant, David Kernell, managed to figure out Sarah Palin's super dooper top secret question that allowed the password on her personal Yahoo! email account (where she conducted government business), to be reset. One can only imagine the long hours of pacing, and brain straining it took to come up with the answer to.... "Where did you meet your spouse?" Google reveals all.

On Wednesday's witness list were then Governor Palin's designated attack dog Ivy Frye, top aide and keeper of the secrets Frank Bailey, and daughter Bristol, who has apparently taken lessons from Dear Ol' Mom about how to play the victim card to its maximum dramatic potential.

For more Huffington Post/Mudflats goodness just click the link at the top.

AKMuckraker has many interesting details concerning our Mayor and his young female...um...friend? Update!

AKM has really done a lot of digging and seems to have some up with come very interesting and troubling pieces of this potential scandal.  Just click click here to get brought up to speed.

And by the way AKM is on Shannyn's show talking about this right this minute!  Click here to listen in.

Oh this is getting very good!

Update:  Here is the podcast form today's Shannyn Moore show with her and Jeanne Devon discussing the "Strange case of the Anchorage Mayor and his party planning bimbette"

Predator control hunters using helicopters slaughter ENTIRE wolf pack in Alaska!

Helicopter-borne Alaskan predator control agents have killed an entire wolf pack from Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, prompting the National Parks Conservation Association to call for "immediate suspension" of the program near the national preserve.

National Park Service officials, meanwhile, are wondering why the shooters killed two radio-collared wolves, as the Park Service had an agreement with Alaska Fish and Game officials that collared wolves would be spared as they were part of a long-term study of wolf behavior in the preserve.

“We have meetings set tomorrow with state Fish and Game officials to ask that question," John Quinley, the Park Service's assistant regional director for communications and partnerships, said Thursday evening from his Anchorage office. "Basically, 'How did this happen? You’re two days into the (predator control) program and it’s already gone against the agreement that we thought we had pretty well in place, that was easy to understand.' We’re interested in how that fell apart so fast.”

The four wolves from Yukon-Charley's Weber Creek pack were killed Wednesday in the Fortymile area on the northwest side of the national preserve, the Park Service official said.

“We’ve been studying wolf populations in Yukon-Charley for 16 years and have a long data-set to understand the population dynamics," Mr. Quinley said. "These wolves are a value scientifically and they’re a value for visitors. Our position has been that we want to do all we can to maintain the naturally functionally ecosystems, which is a value of the Alaska parklands that you don’t find everywhere else.”

NPCA officials issued a statement Thursday saying "state gunners in helicopters killed the entire Weber Creek wolf pack from Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, including two collared wolves from a 16-year National Park Service scientific study."

"NPCA calls for the immediate suspension of the state’s wolf eradication program in and around Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve until the Park Service is fully satisfied that the biological integrity of Yukon-Charley wolf packs can be evaluated and a healthy population of wolves can be ensured," the parks advocacy group added. (You can read the rest of this article here)

Jeanne Devon (AKMuckraker) has a wonderful article up on Huffington Post about Bristol Palin's upcoming television debut.

So, Bristol Palin, one of those Palin children we were all admonished never to talk about because the former VP candidate's family life was nobody's damn business, is now going to star in a TV show. Yes, an actual episode that the whole country can see by simply pressing a button. It's called "The Secret Life of the American Teenager." Secret? Presumably the creators of the show feel that the more people that watch and talk about this show the better. One button, and Poof! It's Bristol in our living room.

Are we allowed to talk about it yet?

"Why does anyone even care about this Why is this news?" Bristol was purported to have cried to her mother over the phone when her pregnancy was discovered during the 2008 campaign and instantly became national news. The McCain campaign, in a desperate effort to "legitimize" the unplanned pregnancy, sent an airplane to pluck the baby daddy off a mountain where he was stalking sheep, hose him off and stick him in a new suit for the "we're getting married" tour on the campaign trail. He wasn't thrilled, but America was, and that's all that mattered. (To read the rest just click the title.)

Those of us in Alaska have become a little immune to hypocrisy after dealing with Sarah Palin for so long. However based on how uber-defensive the Palin's are when it comes to their kids, and how dismissive Sarah was of Levi's potential career in the entertainment field, this has taken hypocrisy to a whole new level. And that is really saying something when it comes to Sarah Palin and her band of Wasilla-billy misfits!

Update: If you like that you will probably like THIS jab at Palin hypocrisy as well. Here is a taste:

Bristol Palin is our hero. She’s living proof that unplanned teenage pregnancy can be crazy lucrative.

Forget school or on-the-job training. Bristol Palin knows only too well that the best way to get ahead in life is to drop your knickers and have as much unprotected sex as possible.

Ouch! Well I hope that Bristol develops a thicker skin than her mother because if she is going to put herself out there like this she needs to expect this kind of reaction. I remember how quickly she folded under the criticism over her Candies ambassador gig, so I don't have a lot of confidence in the longevity of her new acting career.

Sarah Palin tax dodging story goes national!

This from the AP:

Records show that Sarah Palin has not paid any property taxes on cabins that have been built on two backcountry plots partially owned by the former Alaska governor.

It's unclear how long ago the structures were built, but records show that there are no tax assessments for the buildings. Property taxes were only paid on the land — and not the structures themselves.

The issue has attracted the attention of local tax officials who conducted a scheduled aerial survey of the property on Thursday.

Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, says it is not the responsibility of property owners to report structures that go up on their land. But local assessor Dave Dunivan says owners are required by state law to report any omissions or errors in their tax assessments.

The Palin-bots tried desperately to kill this story and complained that Jeanne had her facts wrong. But they do not know Jeanne Devon. She NEVER has her facts wrong!

Update: Anchorage news station KTUU now has the story as well.

Update 2: Add the Juneau Empire and New York Times to the list.

Update 3: Huffington Post has much, much more on this now.

Sarah Palin a tax cheat? Would that really surprise anyone?

Just click the title of this post and be whisked away to my pal AKMuckraker's Huffington Post piece investigating Palin's potential tax problems.

And for a bonus you will finally learn the contents of the mysterious envelope AKM received a while back.

Mudflats wins Best Political Blog of 2009!

Wow! I am so proud of my friend for winning this award TWO YEARS IN A ROW!

That is a very impressive accomplishment and I cannot think of a more deserving blog to have won. (Which I why I voted for her.)

If you click the title you can head on over to the 'flats to give your love to AKM.

I just know she will appreciate your visit.

Top Ten Things From 2009 For Which I Am Grateful

10) Alaska! I love this state, and cannot tell you how often I look out at the sky, and the mountains, and simply have my breath taken away. I have worked very hard this last year to fix the politics in Alaska, support the original inhabitants of Alaska, and to protect the beautiful wilderness of Alaska. How could I not, when this place has given me so very much?

9) The "so close we can almost taste it" passing of the Health Care reform bill. Yeah I know it is not passed yet but who could have imagined, even two years ago, that we would be this close to passing a bill that will help 36 million previously uninsured Americans get healthcare? Sure it is not perfect, not by a longshot, but it is SO much better than what we had before.

8) The faithful visitors to this blog! If it were not for you all keeping me honest there is just no telling what kind of unscrupulous things I might get up to. Seriously, I appreciate all of your support and all of your informative and fascinating comments.

7) Being placed on Sarah Palin’s “banned list”. That absolutely MADE my Christmas this year! My only regret is that if I had known Sarah was going to be so generous I would have made sure to get her something. Oh I guess if I keep digging around I may come up with something to pay her back. LOL!

6) The resurgence of 3D at the movies! Wow how did I ever watch movies without things flying off of the screen and bouncing off of my forehead? Do you remember back when you cared more about the acting and the story line than you did about super hi-definition images coming right at you at an alarming rate? Ah we were so young and naïve back then.

5) Pizza! Nothing more needs to be said. Simply the most perfect food on earth.

4) My fellow Alaskan bloggers! AKMuckraker, Dennis Zaki, Shannyn Moore, Celtic Diva, and Phil Munger, I love you guys! How could I have ever made it through this last year without your support, your informative e-mails, and your playful teasing? No way would this have been as much fun without so many brilliant, talented people standing by my side.

3) My daughter. She is the center of my world, the owner of my heart, and the reason that I will never stop fighting the bad guys (and gals) and searching for the truth. I love you angel.

2) President Barack Obama. To finally have a man in that office with the intelligence, the morality, and the honestly of this man absolutely makes my heart sing. I worked my ass off for him and I will do it again in 2012. Our country deserves a leader who REALLY takes his job seriously and who is working everyday to make this a better country. And, yes, that man is Barack Hussein Obama.

And the number one thing that I am grateful for from 2009 is....

1) That John McCain and Caribou Barbie did not win the election! Nothing gives me more pleasure this year than knowing that the American people finally woke up, and rejected the policies of the Republican party and that we do not have Uncle Fester and Queen Ester running my country.

I guess on a side note I should probably thank Sarah Palin and the idiots who forced McCain to select her as well. If Sarah had not come along and scared the holy crap out of the independent voters we may now be facing this financial crisis with a man in charge who suspended his campaign so that he could study the problem and then essentially shrug his shoulders. A man who believes that all you need to win a war is more bullets. And a man who has had cancer numerous times, and whose running mate would have been anxiously standing beside him while he slept and watching his chest rise just waiting for the moment when it would suddenly stop and give her the break that Pastor Muthee had promised her was coming her way.

My evening spent with a room full of Muckrakers.

Last night I got the privilege of witnessing my friend, and fellow Alaskan blogger, Jeanne Devon receive the Muckraker of the year award from the Cook Inlet Keeper's.

Shannyn Moore was the "Mistress of Ceremonies" and the place was packed full of bloggers (Celtic Diva, Phil Munger, and John Aronno of the Alaska Commons were there as well), mudpuppies, local activists, and more than a few luminaries.

Jeanne (AKM) gave a great speech in which she talked about the importance of becoming involved in our community and having our voice heard in whatever way suits us, whether it be blogging, writing letters to the editor, leaving comments on established blogs, or even sending e-mails with information alerting bloggers to a new idea for a post. She also discussed the importance of the new media and reminded us that there are some who are working to silence us, after which she emphasised our concerns over Net Neutrality.

I also had a very interesting conversation with Anne Kilkenny, who did not know who I was at first but became fascinated with the story of my outing this last summer. Surprisingly she told me that she had received NO death threats which I found remarkable considering how many the bloggers have received over the last year or so.

I also congratulated Diane Benson on her wonderful portrayal of Elizabeth Peratrovich, in the amazing documentary "For the Rights of All". Which VERY person in this country should watch. It is an eye opening, and brutally honest look at how the Alaskan natives were treated, and mistreated, by the Americans since the purchase of Alaska from Russia, and how the native people fought to be treated as equals.

Diane also invited me to the Bartlett Club meeting on December 17, where she said she will be making a very special announcement. (Hmm, I wonder if this means what I THINK it means?)

All in all, I had a great time. I ate good food, had wonderful conversations, and watched my very good friend receive an award that she deserves more than anybody. (As you can tell because they named it after her.)

If you want to read AKM's account of the evening, you can do so by taking a hop skip and a jump over to Mudflats.

Update: Here is Phil Munger's account of last night over at Progressive Alaska.

Hey gang it almost time for Moore up North. Got your popcorn?

From left to right.

Bob Shavelson,Elstun Lauesen (I love talking to Elstun), Eric Croft, and in the middle is some blond whose name escapes me right now.

The show is on KYES, channel 5, and I hear from my sources that it should be a good one.

(I will have the embed available later for those who are not lucky enough to live in our wonderful state.)

Later you can listen to Shannyn live on the radio at KBYR 700. To listen just click here. And you can call in and hear your very own voice on the ray-dee-oh by calling 907.274.5297.

Then at 7:00 all of the truly cool people will be over at Rum Runners, in downtown Anchorage, to celebrate AKMuckraker receiving the award for "muckraker of the year". So if you get the chance, swing on by!


You know this is almost too much excitement for one Saturday evening. Don't you think?

Sarah Palin to give a speech that she does not want YOU to hear.

Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska who last year contested for the office of US Vice-President, undoubtedly enjoys a lot of media attention at every point in her life. Media has commented on her political as well as personal life and now it appears that she is justly upset with the onslaught aimed at her and wants to prohibit the media from covering her events further. According to the reports, Sarah Palin’s speech on December 2, in the College of the Ozarks, will not get any kind of media coverage.

Elizabeth Andrews, the director of public relations of this school in one of her statements declared that the terms of the contract were mutually agreed upon by Mrs. Palin and the school authorities. Therefore, media rights to telecast this event would be curbed. She said, though media representatives will not be allowed to carry any equipment for audio and video recording at the event, they will be provided tickets to remain present in the program. It has also been reported that Sarah Palin will sign copies of ‘Going Rogue’ but it has not yet been confirmed whether any media representatives will be allowed to cover that event either.

It may confuse people as to why Palin would even bother to give a speech if she did not want very many people to hear it. But I know why.

It is because of this speech.

(You can see part two here. If you can stomach it. If you cannot stand to watch it you can simply read AKMuckraker's brilliant transcript here.)

It was after the media got a hold of THIS bizarre, wandering, spiteful speech filled with word salad and stolen bits of a speech given by Newt Gingrich, that Sarah Palin decided that she had had enough. The next speech in which the media was invited, and only given 55 minutes to attend, was her resignation speech.

Sarah Palin was so upset and frustrated that the media (and bloggers, yes I was there too) had found so much wrong with her speech that she was simply terrified at what might happen in the future.

So she quit. She essentially said take this job and shove, I ain't working here no more. (That one is for you dad.)

And then Sarah Palin turned to Twitter. And so did we. As it turned out Palin was just as ridiculously bizarre on Twitter as she was in person. So ridiculous in fact that it inspired the Tonight Show to have William Shatner read them as rambling beatnik poetry. So somebody hid her Blackberries from her. (She owes that person her eternal gratitude by the way.)

And then came Facebook. Only this time she had a ghostwriter to help her. Though it really did not help that much. Sure the sentences were punctuated properly, and somebody introduced a little concept called footnotes, but crazy Palin ideas are still crazy, even with all of the comma's in the right places.

Next came Sarah Palin's "Book of Lies".

A book so full of fabrications that if they were removed the book would only be about 70 pages long.

And, as all of you know, the media has been having a field day with this latest attempt by Sarah Palin to communicate with the masses.

It has become so bad that Palin will not even allow a film crew in to record her talking to her fans while autographing their books. Paranoid much?

Look I have some advice for Sarah.

Hi Sarah. Remember me? Of course you do, you even once wrote down my license plate number. (Yet you never call.)

If you REALLY want people to stop making fun of you, or pointing out that you are crazy, you need to do one simple thing. Shut up and sit down.

Yes, yes, yes I know that is the one thing you hate to be told (well that and the fact that Levi has a book deal), but let's face it as long as you keep talking, people will keep listening. And as long as we can still hear you, we can still tell that you are batshit crazy.

You have money. You have a brand new compound. You have your cosmetic surgery. Why not simply move on to what is we all know will be your ultimate destination. Selling cheap jewelry on QVC. And spare yourself all of the embarrassment of standing up in front of people and trying to make some kind of sense. We all know you can't do that, so why even try?

So you have a nice day Ms. Palin. And remember, your worst enemy is that person staring back at you in the mirror. Isn't it time you just fired her stupid ass?

Finally Sarah gets her wish as she becomes the focus of everybody's attention.

This courtesy of MAD magazine.

Behold, our exclusive preview of attempted Vice President and former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as "Blunder Woman," where she battles against David Letterman, imaginary death panels, and her desire to quit everything she does.

Then we have the upcoming Barbara Walters interview, in which Sarah decides to discard about four pounds of hair. (I kid you not. Just take a look at the video.)

We also learn that Caribou Barbie will be making a stop at Fort Hood, to hawk her book to the grieving soldiers. Haven't they suffered enough?

If you find yourself wondering today, "How did this woman ever get elected as Governor of Alaska?" , my friend Jeanne Devon (AKMuckraker) will enlighten you over at Huffington Post with an article adapted from her chapter in the book "Going Rouge".

And for the conspiracy minded you may be interested to learn that Palin seriously considered suing Andrew Sullivan of the Daily Dish and that the Wall Street Journal is supposed to have a story about that sometime today. (Oooh babygate stuff!)

Geoffrey Dunn has read the book "Going Rouge" and offers his opinion over at the Huffington Post.

In what is surely a brilliant bit of counter-insurgency marketing, OR Books will be releasing the political antidote to Sarah Palin's memoir Going Rogue with Going Rouge--Sarah Palin, An American Nightmare, on November 16, the day before Palin's tome explodes on the national book market.

Well it certainly sounds like he enjoyed the book.

He even takes a moment to point out the contributions of two of our Alaska bloggers.

While two of Alaska's best known bloggers (and HuffPo contributors) Jeanne Devon (AKMuckraker) and Shannyn Moore are included in the collection (Devon thoughtfully explains the brutal ironies of Palin using the term "rogue" in the title of her book), the Last Frontier gets more than a bit short shrifted in Going Rouge, and that's too bad.

To read the rest of Geoffrey's take on this most revealing publication just click the title and visit the Huffington Post.

Hey did you know there was even a YouTube video about "Going Rouge"? I had no Idea.



You can order a copy for your own personal library right here.

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If you are an Alaska resident turn on your radio and listen to the creator of Muflats, the most famous Alaskan blog in the world, discuss politics, Sarah Palin, and whatever else might come up.
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