Palin Speaks to 16,000 at Women of Joy Conference in Louisville, Kentucky

Governor Palin encouraged women in their faith at a conference of evangelical women in Louisville, Kentucky on Friday night. Peter Smith at The Courier-Journal reports:

Sarah Palin told a Freedom Hall crowd of about 16,000 Friday night that she was there to inspire women in their faith, not to talk politics.

But the 2008 Republican candidate for vice president acknowledged she couldn’t help but do the latter, saying politics “courses through my veins.

And Palin — now a best-selling author and headline speaker at tea-party tax protests — did plenty of both in the course of her nearly hour-long talk at an evangelical Christian women’s conference.

This nation needs you,” Palin told the women. “Know the facts. Stand for what’s right. Don’t be discouraged by the mocking of those who want to claim we just cling to our religion. I’m the first to admit — yeah, I do cling to my faith. That’s all I’ve got.”

Palin mixed stories of personal struggles, calls for women to be good mothers and good citizens and criticism of President Barack Obama — without ever mentioning him by name.

She asked for the women — who greeted her with an enthusiastic standing ovation — to provide a “prayer shield” to strengthen her against what she said was “deception” in the media.

She denounced this week’s Wisconsin federal court ruling that government observance of a National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional — which the crowd joined in booing. She asserted that America needs to get back to its Christian roots and rejected any notion that “God should be separated from the state.”

“Hearing any leader declare that America isn’t a Christian nation and poking at allies like Israel in the eye — it is mind-boggling to see some of our nation’s actions recently, but politics truly is a topic for another day,” Palin said.

That was allusion to an Obama speech on the shared values of America’s various religious groups and to his administration’s criticism of Israel expanding settlements in occupied territories.

Palin spoke for nearly an hour at the start of a three-day Women of Joy conference, one of a series of three-day women’s conferences held in various cities and featuring Christian speakers, musicians, comedians and others.

Phil Waldrep, whose ministry sponsors the conferences, said before introducing Palin that it would not be “a political rally.”

Rather, Waldrep said, Palin would encourage fellow mothers and others by speaking as someone who has demonstrated that “being pro-life for Sarah Palin was not a political position, it was a spiritual conviction.” Palin chose to bear her baby Trig in 2008 despite his prenatal diagnosis with Down syndrome.

“We thought she would be a very good fit for us,” Waldrep said. “There are a lot of women today who have special-needs children, such as with autism or Down syndrome.”

Palin said she struggled to maintain those convictions at the time, urgently praying that God would spare her child from the diagnosis. But she recalled looking out her Anchorage, Alaska, office on a snowy day and getting a doctor’s call confirming it.

“I had nowhere else to go… but prayer,” she said.

But when she held Trig after his birth, she was convinced they did the right thing. “Choosing life may not be the easiest path, but it really is the right path,” she said.

Special-needs children “make the world a better place,” Palin said. “It’s our job to make the world a more welcoming place for them.”

[…]

Tickets for the event sold quickly after Palin was announced as a speaker in earlier this year. Last year, the event drew about 5,000, Waldrep said.

S.E. Cupp On Religion, Tea Parties, Barack Obama, Michelle Bachmann, And Sarah Palin

One of our favorite Conservative commentators, S.E. Cupp, has written a new book: “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity” In support of this book S.E. sat down for an interview with Newsmax TV and discussed a variety of topics from religion, and the media’s continual disdain thereof, as well as Barack Obama’s radicalism and how the media simply can’t handle strong, smart, and attractive Conservative women.

S. E. makes some interesting and provocative points:

On religion, media bias, and her atheism:

“I am an atheist but I’m not one of those militant atheists. I simply don’t believe. I envy the faithful. I’ve always defended religious freedom. I’m grateful for mine and I’m grateful for everyone else’s.”

“I defend especially Christianity in this country because it seems to be under attack, and I’m bothered by the idea that the media has taken a side in this fight. I’m really bothered as a writer, as a member of the press, that the Fourth Estate has become so openly hostile to 80 percent of the country. This is a huge majority. And 90 percent of the country believes in God.”

“To go after a majority like this means they’re really not a representative media. They don’t deserve to be called mainstream.”

“I think the media is socially secular and increasingly so, and I think the judgment and the morality inherent in Christianity or any religious system is really threatening to a secularist movement like the media. If the media can go on unjudged, I think that makes them fairly happy.”

“I knew what I was getting into when I started researching this book, but I did not know the scope and scale until I really got into it. It’s not just The New York Times and CNN and MSNBC, places you’d expect. It’s on the blogosphere. It’s online. It’s the Huffington Post. It’s Salon.com. It’s USA Today. It’s radio. It’s everywhere. You really have to look hard not to find it.”

“The “worst offenders” include be Salon.com, Cupp says. “CNN is pretty bad. The New York Times is pretty bad only because of the clout and influence that paper has. You would expect them to be a bit more responsible. MSNBC is terrible. Some of the talking heads there like Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews — these guys really have it out for Christianity.”

On Barack Obama:

[Barack Obama has an] “affinity for radical Marxist theology.”

“If you look at some of his own testimony about his religious education, whether in his book or his speeches, he discusses at length his decision to follow black liberation theology, the kind of Christianity espoused by Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright and a number of other well-known pastors around the country.”

“Obama describes it as not particularly a Christ-driven move on his part but as sort of a recognition of the black social causes of the time. That’s what really drove him into Christianity. When you actually read about it, it’s far more radical than the Pentecostalism of Sarah Palin or the Baptism of a Mike Huckabee. Yet those folks are constantly painted by the liberal media as being fanatical and fringe.”

“If anyone bothered to look at Obama’s black liberation theology, they would have no choice but to recognize that it’s an incredibly radical — and I would even say extreme — version of Christianity.”

On Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, conservatism, and the left wing media’s inability to deal with “pretty” Conservative women:

“One, the liberal media always have a difficult time dealing with pretty, conservative women. They just don’t know what to make of it. She [Sarah Palin] can’t be that smart because she’s too pretty. She can’t be galvanizing because she’s too dumb.”

“Two, they’re frustrated by the fact that this is a self-made woman. They spent eight years telling us that George W. Bush was this nepotism experiment gone wrong. Well, here’s a woman who came from nothing, who worked her way up to become a successful wife and mother, had an amazing political career — the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest.”

“This is unequivocally an accomplished woman, and the right kind of accomplished woman if you ask the liberal media — the kind that did it on her own. That bothers them because they really dislike her policies.”

“I think it takes a lot of courage in today’s day and age to stand up as Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin have and say look, I believe there’s a traditional role for the family. I believe in traditional values. I’m a proud Christian.”

“That is an act of courage today, sadly. And I think the liberal media wants to position a Bachmann or a Palin as somehow backwards or lost in time, unsophisticated, a relic.”

“Conservatism rightly resists the changing tide, the changing social mores. The whole idea of conservatism is to preserve what we think is good. So these flag bearers like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, women no less, I think are really throwing mud in the eye of the liberals who would rather see them locked up in some museum.”

Check out S.E. Cupp’s new book: “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity” at Amazon.com.

Sarah Palin Speaks at Charity of Hope Fundraiser in Hamilton, Ontario

It is not often that we get to see a transcript of one of Governor Palin’s speeches, especially from her fundraising engagements.  But The Globe and Mail has posted a complete transcript of her speech as well as a video of Sarah and Todd arriving for the Charity of Hope fundraiser in Hamilton, Ontario on Thursday night.

Here is the transcript, minus the highlighted excerpts:

I don’t know if I should Buenos Aires or Bonjour, or… this is such a melting pot. This is so beautiful. I love this diversity. Yeah. There were a whole bunch of guys named Tony in the photo line, I know that. And in the introduction too, in the instructions to you all, I got a kick out of the instruction “No heckling.” I am so used to the heckling, it’s okay! We’re used to it. They just hit you into the boards and maybe get called for a penalty or whatever, but we can handle that too.

It’s so good to be here tonight. And uh, we’ll kind of shift gears tonight, we’ll leave a lot of room for the Q&A because that, having a conversation with so many of you, is something that I look forward to. And not being so political tonight. I will talk a lot about energy, because I want to talk about some of the things that both our countries, America and Canada, can do to ramp up production so that we can ramp up our economy, get it roaring back to life and a lot of that has to do with energy production, which I know that you all in Hamilton and this part of Canada can really respect and relate to, because the better our economies do, the better we do in terms of having opportunity to help children and to help those who are less fortunate, the better the rest of us do. We’ll talk a little bit about energy.

I’m wanting to, though, kind of shift away from the political. I’m just getting off the trough from doing a lot of Tea Parties across the US, man those are a blast. [applause] They’re rowdy and they’re wild and it’s just another melting pot, there’s just diversity there and all walks of life and all forms of partisanship and non partisanship just wanting good things to happen in this part of the world. It’s been a blast. The shift from the political, so now that I have that shift from the political but still have that desire to talk about the economy and talk about energy and resources and national security and all those things. I was telling Todd, okay, this is like [inaudible] on the vice presidential campaign trail, where you never really knew what you were getting into when you get into that line before you were interviewed. Obviously, sometimes I never knew what I was getting into in an interview. Obviously!

But this reminds me of heading out on stage on the VP trail when I was getting ready to debate Joe Biden. And there were like 40 some million viewers that I knew were out there waiting to see “is she going to crash? Is she going to be able to handle herself? How’s it going to go?” Whenever we go and do something big in life, like a vice presidential debate – it’s kind of big – I like to say a prayer about it, you know. I need some divine inspiration and I need to remember what it really is all about, so that evening before the debate I remember being back stage and looking around for somebody to pray with. And looking around at the campaign staff and there’s nobody to prayer with. But backstage there was Piper, at the time my seven year old. And I told Piper, I tried to make it easy for her to understand, I said “Piper, kay, I’m going out on stage. I’m debatin’ this guy, it’s going to be kind of tough.” I said, “So pray with me, honey.” And I grabbed her hands because that’s what we always do, we pray together. I said “Piper, just pray that I win.” Cause you know, why not?! Just pray that I do well, and oh man, try and keep it easy, I said “Just pray that God just speaks right through me.” And Piper said “God, speaking through you? That would be cheating.” Not that I would ever think that God would speak through me, but wanting to leave you with a little bit of inspiration and encouragement and maybe on a personal level have a conversation with you about some of the things that Todd and I have been through in the last year and a half, the last couple of years, that hopefully you can learn a couple of lessons from, because we’ve been through quite a few challenges, quite a few battles and you all too, everybody goes through battles, everybody has challenges. Some are played out in the newspapers, some of ours have been. Maybe yours have not been. But everybody has to make tough decisions and prioritize things in life and here we are tonight, given an opportunity to come together to reach out to help others, to help children, who are in need. We don’t want to squander this opportunity, we want to be inspired and encourage and remember that though we all do go through some tough challenging times, we talked at the head table tonight that we need to be able to count our blessings, not our problems. We need to share our blessings, so we’ll do a little bit about that tonight.

But wonderful to be here where your heart is obviously is in the right place, your wanting to help other people and um, it’s wonderful to be in Hamilton. I got to go for a run today and looking out my window at my hotel room, looking out at beautiful Hamilton, thinking how blessed you all are. It’s gorgeous here and you can just feel the hospitable spirit that is part of this town and I know that you are known for volunteerism and to help one another. Looking out at the landscape, I became so impressed you know with God’s country, this is gorgeous, and already having met some great people, thinking how lucky you all are. But I’m also looking out my hotel window and I’m overlooking Copps Colliseum and I’m thinking, What a great place for an NHL franchise! [applause] You’re all set up for it. I’d come in for the first face off, we’d love to be a part of it, so you know if ever I run into the president of the NHL, yeah, I’ll put a little bug in his ear, okay. We’ll do that.

Great to be here and to know that so many of you have travelled a long distance to get to be here, and thinking of that idea of a hockey team to be here, wow this would be great place for competition. You guys know what it’s like, competition in a place like this, with this steel capital of Canada, you having your highs and your lows, and this industrial place where people have strong work ethic and expectation for reward for work ethic, you know all about competition and hard work and then meeting the Marcanti family, too. And that was a story that they bring to this community.

My favourite quote, coach Lou Holtz from Notre Dame, and I know there are a couple of guys here who love Notre Dame, yeah. Well Coach Holtz, he had said that God did not put us on this earth to be ordinary, he expects great things from us. He’s not going to drive parked cars, either. We shouldn’t just sit around in a parked car and have him do something for us. No, you need opportunities to get out there and be productive and to contribute and he expects us not to be boring and depressed and not productive. He didn’t put us on this earth to be ordinary. And you, being here tonight, an example of those who are extraordinary because you’re part of an event tonight that is extraordinary. It’s an opportunity to reach out and help children, and I don’t think there is anything more important in life than helping children. So meeting Carmen’s team and you all helping with this charity, it’s inspiring to me.

Very, very good though, to be in Canada, our Alaska neighbour. I know that maybe others in the U.S. love Canada too, but who loves Canada more than your neighbour there in Alaska? We have such a great connection with you all, I think we share so much. With wildlife and resources and again with that work ethic and that pioneering spirit that just flows through Canada, that’s my state too, that’s Alaska. That’s the way we live and we’re brought up. And um, our accents too. You know how many people ask me on the campaign trail if I was Canadian? They think that we talk alike. We say ‘eh’ too, in Alaska. Never thought anything of it until some reporters… I’m the dingy one and they’re asking me if I’m Canadian as I’m running for VP. These reporters, because of the way that I talk. I feel right at home here with you all, I think we share a lot with that accent.

But too, my first five years of life were spent right there on the border of Canada, right next to you all, but further away. My dad was a school teacher so he went up there to teach school so we spent time on that connection between the two countries and we would travel East often, so many times drive the Alaska-Canada highway, loving that beautiful road trip and when I got older, participating in the Klondike road race. That was really cool too. You know the activities that really connected America, that state in America, Alaska, with our Canadian neighbours. And been here many times in different parts of Canada for kids hockey. So had lots of experiences that are very very good in this part of the world.

Relatives from Canada, too. We have the foundation of the Palin family, one grandfather was born in Manitoba, this was a farming family there. And then another one born in Saskatchewan and we were some pretty funny stories of our relatives who were bootleggers I guess. This was many, many years ago. Don’t blame me. There’s never a boring story when it comes to the Palins. So much exciting stories that you would hear about how they would live in Canada and Alaska, back and forth.

But I want to tell you, on behalf of the United States, how much we appreciate you. One thing, thank you for hosting our American athletes and athletes from all over the place in the wonderful Olympics that you did such a good job. Thank you so much. It was a beautiful event and it gave the world the opportunity to find out what Alaskans already knew that Canada is the beautiful place. It’s special and it’s a wonderful place and it’s full of some tough and talented hockey players, too. And congratulations on taking gold in hockey. [applause] It was palm worthy [holds up hand to reveal writing]. I had to remind myself on that one: Be nice about the Olympic gold. I promised that I would. Both our countries love that tough tenacious sport. And Todd and I spent some good hockey time with kids here over the years. It’s healthy competition. Yeah, you beat us from time to time on the ice, but coming in second team USA I thought they had nothing to apologize for. They fought their hardest and as said in the NHL all the time, yeah, maybe we lost, but the other team had more Canadians on it! In this case, yeah, of course.

Even the excitement of the Olympics recently though, couldn’t distract Americans from one of our oldest sports, and that’s politics. The upcoming midterm elections seem to be on everyone’s minds, it’s pretty fascinating to see kind of a shift in American policy right now and a lot of people lining up want to know what the heck’s going on? And wanting to be involved and it’s hard to believe too that there’s already much talk and speculation about what will happen in the US presidential race in 2012. We like to joke that that’s how we lost some reporters on the way up here. We usually have reporters following us and we said Yup, we’re flying north. And then we found out they misunderstood, they booked their flights for New Hampshire. Political. Yeah.

Let’s this Lou Holtz quote, because I just can’t get this out of my mind, in thinking about you all being here today and coming from a steel manufacturing community. Grounded people just um, real people who are here and obviously working so hard and obviously being so generous and wanting to not be ordinary but wanting to capitalize on the opportunities you’ve had to help other people and provide them opportunities.

I want to talk real quick about purpose in life and it not being an accident that you are all here today together at this time, in this hour, there is a reason things just worked out for all of us to get to be here. And I’ll talk about that in this context. In about one year’s time span, what Todd and I have gone through. Sometimes when I have just a second to stop and think about things, maybe just one of these events is pretty earthquake equivalent of, it’s pretty earth shattering, just one of these events. You think, wow, there could be some lessons could be learned in this. First of all I was very, very busy. I was governor of Alaska and not having been elected at a relatively young age, at the time looking back I think I was young back then when I was first elected, it seems eons ago. Being governor of the largest state to the Union and Todd was really busy. For many years Todd has worked up on the oil fields in Crudo Bay, up on the north slope of Alaska. Many weeks up on the north slope. In fact it’s the equivalent of about six months on the north slope and then six months home, but when he’s home his job is a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay, another tough, blue collar, hard core job. So he’s very busy with his vocations and allocations, in addition to being Alaska’s First Dude. He had official duties there too. First Dude. We couldn’t think of anything else to call him. Because he was Alaska’s first, first male… so anyway. In fact yesterday we were at the Tea Party in Boston, and I turned to Todd, and I just said, I said, I said this in front of thousands of people, one of his duties as First Dude of Alaska is that he used to go to tea parties and have first tea with the first ladies across the nation, Laura Bush and others. So I asked him yesterday, well is this Tea Party kind of to your liking too, Todd, because you’re not used to this kind of Tea Party, you’re just used to the real kind! Todd is so cool because one of the tea parties he attended he had just come off the airplane and had tea at the White House with the first ladies including Mrs Bush. He had just gotten off the snowmobile race, he’s the four time world champion of snow-machine racing, the longest snow-machine race in the world, it’s 2,000 miles across Alaska. Very rugged. He had broken his arm with 400 miles to go in the race and had finished the race and then got it casted. So he ripped his cast off before the tea party with Mrs. Bush and it was just cracking me up thinking, man, if only people knew, the way that we really live. But he’s pretty amazing that he’s been able to multitask like that. In fact, his commute from the governors mansion was about 1,700 miles. That’s how big Alaska is and that’s how long his commute was so that added to it.

Well, while I was younger I was busy, I was the chairman of the state’s oil and gas commission, so dealing on a national level with oil and gas issues. Having four kids, our oldest son, Track, who grew up obsessed with hockey. He too, like all of us hockey moms, he just thought he was going to be the next Wayne Gretzky. And don’t we all think our kids going to be that and we don’t want to take that dream away from them because life can suck a dream out of a kid, a mom, a dad, we shouldn’t be the one to diminish that dream, so encouraging him, travelling all over the nation and he doing really well. He just turned 18 and finally his last shoulder surgery, his injury had just, it, it, reality set in. He realized what are you going to make the next Wayne Gretzky, he’s going to have to kind of hang up his skates and kind of figure out what to do. So, he decides on September 11 that he’s going to enlist in the United States army as an infantry man. He’s barely 18 years old and that just kind of rocked my world. And it all of a sudden, shifted in me that perspective on what was going on in the world and how important peace is and we don’t want to send our sons and our daughters to war unless there is a good purpose to this. So Track enlisted in the army and he was to deploy to Iraq in a year, in a war zone, the next September 11. And it filled in me such an appreciation for country, for patriotism, such an appreciation for understanding freedom isn’t free, and we do have to fight for our freedom and there is great sacrifice involved in that. That’s what his enlistment and then his deployment, he being gone for a year in a war zone, taught me.

And then, around that same time Todd and I found out, well I found out, I don’t know how much he has to do with it. I found out that I was pregnant. And here I was no spring chicken, you know? So, that was kind of another earth-shattering experience to go through, all in one year. And I’m thinking “dang it” I didn’t know what to think, it was surreal. But I’m thinking I’m 43 years old, I know what the critics are going to say, they’re going to say “there Alaska goes, they finally elect the first woman governor and she goes and gets herself pregnant.” I knew the criticism would come but I knew I could handle that. Five kids, right on, the more the merrier. Todd and I love kids. Gosh, we just live for children and for helping children. Well, about 12 weeks along in the pregnancy, Todd was in Canada, a vo-tech school in Edmonton. I went to the doctor and he said well we’ve got some test results for you and you need to sit down and just be prepared. And I thought, I’ve never been sick a day in my life, everything’s going to be fine. And she told me the baby’s going to be born with Down syndrome. So that’s another thing that just sort of, wow, shattered my world for a minute, because I was scared to death. I said “wait a minute God, I didn’t order this.” How in the world am I going to handle this? Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we would be in that situation. And my sister has a child with autism and one of my thought’s was, “God, my sister is the one who is compassionate and she has more time and she’s kind of wired to deal with a child with special needs. I don’t think I am. And unless you change my heart, God, I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle this one.” But having to hold onto faith that I had always talked about and preached about and thought I believed in, that God wouldn’t give us something we couldn’t handle. For Todd, when he returned from Canada, I said Todd, aren’t you thinking ‘Why us?” And he said “Why not us?” And that shifted perspective right off the bat too, again thinking we are privileged and we are blessed. But it took me many, many months thinking that things would be okay with our son being born with Down syndrome. He really changed my world.

I didn’t tell anybody I was pregnant until I was seven months along and I knew people thought I was getting chubby but they were too nice to say anything. There we are in February, March, in Alaska and I’m just wearing more layers. They’re just thinking I’m cold all the time and I’m pregnant seven months. And then Trig came five weeks early so people thought I was only pregnant for like three weeks. And to this day some people still don’t think that the baby is my own, believe it or not.

He’s got this heart of gold. Here is the lesson that I learned from Trig, besides being more compassionate and really wanting to reach out and help those who have challenges and maybe are less privileged or have less ability than others. Oh my gosh. But this is the lesson we all can learn from Trig and I do know that he’ll be teaching us more than we’re ever going to be able to teach him. One thing he teaches us, he wakes up in the morning, he kind of looks around and rubs his sleepy little eyes, and he starts applauding. And I think “Oh my goodness, we should all have that perspective.” So I watch this little boy and I learn so much from him: he applauds the day! He’s just a blast, he’s so much fun.

So that all happened in one year’s time. And in that year, just a few weeks after Trig was born, my teenage daughter, my perfect teenage daughter, great athlete, great student, hard working girl, just in case you never read it in the tabloids, I’ll break the news to ya: My teenage daughter comes to us, to Todd and me, and she says, “what’s the worst thing you can think of?” And of course, lots of bad things popped into my mind. She was smart to say it that way, because by the time she told us she was pregnant it was like, oh, okay. The governor’s daughter tells us she’s pregnant and that rocked our world, because you’re selfishly thinking “no, you’re not the one who’s supposed to be pregnant, maybe one of your friends, but not you Bristol.” Wow, when it rains it pours. What are you preparing us for? What are you trying to teach us? I think what he was whispering in my ear was “are you going to walk the walk, or are you just going to talk the talk?”

Now she’s got the most beautiful little baby and I still can’t believe I’m a grandma! And I’m kind of glad Trip doesn’t talk yet because I’m not sure what he’s going to call me. But it’s teaching me to be less judgmental. She knows she did something she wishes she wouldn’t have done for ten years from now, because these are less than ideal circumstances. It’s very tough on a teenage mom who’s trying to make it on he own. A huge percentage of teenage girls do not have the resources that Bristol has, but she’s taken responsibility and a lot of other people take responsibility. It’s less than ideal but you make the right choice and then it does work out.

But all of these life happens events all in one year. I’m thinking, I don’t know what’s around the next corner, but nothing can be bigger than what we just went through. And then I get the call from John McCain and he asks if I want to run for vice president of the United States of America. Just another little thing that happens in a year. And wow, I explain to him, you know that my teenage daughter’s pregnant, you know that I have a 16-week baby who’s been born with Down syndrome and that my husband works on the north shore of Alaska. So we’re debating all these things and it’s all going to be fine, so then we get on that roller coaster ride with the VP campaign. And certainly every day of that campaign I learned more and more about purpose and handling situations that seem less than ideal, but having to have faith that nothing is an accident and that everything that happens in our lives is to put us on a path that we were created to do, and we never know the outcome, no idea, no guarantees, no promises of where things will end up. But what an interesting year that he had, certainly teaching me too, as Plato had said: Be nice to everyone, because everyone has a challenge, a battle. That’s why I said, some of our battles are challenges, they may be played out on the front page of the newspaper and some are not. But just know that everyone has a situation where there’s something going on in their life where they could use a touch, they could use a positive, a reaffirming word and action to let them know that you care. And when you think about what we’re here tonight for, when you talk about the girls that this organization has helped, keep in mind if you hear a little voice tugging in your ear, on your heart, are you going to walk the walk too, or are you just going to talk to talk. Because in an event like this, walking the walk means you’re going to reach in and share your resources with others who are in need. Others who are fighting some challenges. But knowing that nothing is an accident and just hold on, if you’re in a tough situation right now, hold on because you never know what’s around the corner.

Some of the days we’ve had over the last year or two, we’ve had to just say to each other, Man, just hold on because morning is coming and we have to believe that there is a brighter day ahead. And we’re living that out. There have been very bright days. Getting to be here today. Somebody asked me tonight, How do you take the mocking and the political potshots and the kind of constant criticism? And I said, because look where I am today! I’m in Hamilton with the most wonderful people, with their heart in the right place, wanting to help others. I’ll take all that other stuff because I know we’re on the right path.

Some of these media saying things about me, I know what the truth is. And I will take that, if that’s kind of the price that has to be paid to be in a position where I can help others. So again, just being so extremely grateful for the situations we have gone through, though at the time, seeming less than ideal not knowing if I would ever get to a point of being really grateful. We certainly are grateful now.

In seriousness, too, I want to talk about what I’ve learned as an American, and what I see as a relationship building opportunity that we have between America and Canada, because I think as nations we’re getting closer together. We all will be given even more opportunities to help those who are in need, who have less privilege than many of us have. I’m very grateful for the strong bond between our two countries. Ronald Regan once remarked that Canada and the United States share more than a common border, we share a democratic tradition and hopes and dreams and aspirations of a free people. And he said that hope has made a difference in our lives. That’s why we’re here tonight. And remember that bond of hope and that love of freedom between our countries has withstood the test of time. Today we’re proud to work with you culturally and economically as partners, and as a trading partner and security ally in NATO. I want to tell you that we’re thankful to have our young men and women in uniform too, serving along side your young men and women, your sons and daughters. I don’t know if you hear it enough from the US, how much we appreciate you, your sons, your daughters, who are fighting terrorists, who want to bring peace on earth, and it is peace through strength that’s needed right now, but the sacrifices made by the country of Canada, as so many of your families making such sacrifice to allow this service in the war on terror. Especially your 142 warriors who have paid the ultimate sacrifice who have come from Canada, our hearts go out to those families and words can not suffice, but we appreciate this. Certainly as a mom of a son having recently returned from his year-long deployment in Iraq too, with the army, I thank you for your efforts and for our relationship there. I know that that one isn’t easy, again with words not being able to suffice. Except to say thank you.

But our country really does appreciate our neighbour. In the lower 48 states, they say to the north. In Alaska, we say just right next door. We appreciate our neighbours. A recent poll had asked Americans, which country do you like best? Other than America. Where would you go? And 90 per cent picked Canada. [applause] We do have so much in common. We both love good hunting and fishing and that great outdoors. And we love the amazing creation that is the north. The true north strong and free, as you all say. And we respect too, the talent and creativity of Canadians.

I get a kick out of telling. First, our unusual cultures really have benefited from the contributions and the arts and the sports coming from Canada. In fact, recently, I was in one of Canada’s most populous cities: which is Los Angeles, believe it or not. LA, population wise, is one of your top 15 most Canadian populated areas in the whole world. And you send us your celebrities and your screen writers, and your film makers, and every four years our celebrities start saying ‘come election time, I’m moving to Canada if the election results don’t come out the way that I want them.” You can imagine there were many celebrities saying that the last time around with John McCain and I were running. But they didn’t have to move, their team won.

But for Alaska and Canada having so much in common, and having worked together on some of the most important infrastructure projects in the world. And one of those is the Al-Can highway. Every time my kids and my Todd, we’ve driven the Alaska-Canada highway, which is our link to the rest of the world really, it reminds my kids that highway isn’t just a road, it really is a lifeline. And it was one of the most ambitious projects ever. Certainly the most ambitious project taken at the time of World War II, in terms of infrastructure. The Al-Can highway went from just a thought on paper to, within 26 days, being able to start ramming through that road. And can you imagine that today, 26 days from a thought to being able to plow through and build this road? It was because the attack on Pearl Harbor had meant that the stakes were very high and the north was very vulnerable at the time. And we needed to get this road through and our Canadian friends helped us do just that. In less than a year, with 10,000 American troops and Canadian troops and civilians they carved a road out of the wilderness that has been a lifeline. They worked seven days a week, around the clock, in frigid temperatures, with swarms of mosquitoes. It was perseverance, it was that work ethic back then. And when it was done, we finally had a key piece of infrastructure that helped secure and defend the North American continent, really, certainly Alaska. The highway represents that special kinship between our countries and today that bond continues with another enormous project that’s going on right now, and that’s an Alaskan gasline. And Alaska and Canada both understand the importance of developing both of our area’s energy resources responsibly and safely, to keep our part of the world safe and secure and free so that we’re not relying on dangerous foreign sources of energy. And that’s why, after I served on the Wasilla city council, then I served as a mayor, a city manager, and then an oil and gas state commissioner, and then finally as the elected governor of Alaska.

One of the pillars of my platform all the way through that was to ramp up production, to ramp up industry with our energy resources. And that included getting that pipeline underway, to finally get it off the diving board. It had talked about it for fifty years. Getting it off so it can finally bring an energy resource to hungry markets, and there are trillions of cubic feet of natural gas line in tact in these areas that will be developed, and geologists saying that there are hundreds of trillions more undiscovered both on shore and off shore. Just piles of energy in that part of North America that again can be tapped responsibly and make us all secure and make us more prosperous and make us more free. So we opened up the process while I was the governor with great transparency. And this is on the heels of eliminating a lot of corruption in our state government. It all had to do with oil and gas. A lot of the big wigs in Alaska’s political circles and some business community members they ended up going to jail because of those being purchased and just some untoward actions with oil and gas development and we cleaned up corruption and I think I’m a busy mom as governor, I just didn’t have time for all the things that were on the periphery that maybe some politicians want to get involved in. No, I just wanted to get the job done. No time for the drama in all the power plays, just get from point A to point B, get the job done and clean up the corruption.

Through this transparent process, we wanted to get out there on the world market and essentially have the world, who would be the best pipe line builder in the world to tap resources and allow them to flow into hungry markets? And through this process, an exclusive basis went to TransCanada was chosen, out of everybody in the world, it was TransCanada! There’s still lots of work to be done, but it’s going to help production, it’s going to help industry and it will provide all of us a better, healthier way of life and it is still in the works. We would not have come this far after 50 years of hoping for it, had it not been for Canadian ingenuity and that work ethic that proved in a competitive process that this company, from Calgary, had known what was best to tap resources. So I thank you for that. It is a mutually beneficial project.

The project is just one example of what we can do in terms of economic recovery. And America must really start concentrating on economic recovery and creating jobs because there are major economic woes in our country right now and certainly that adversely affects Canada too. It is time to re-tap our abundant domestic resources and send them to hungry markets at home and share competitively in the marketplace with our friends and allies. And doing so will make us less beholden to dangerous foreign regimes that could cut off energy supply at any time that they wanted. It’s amazing to consider what’s here in Canada too, untapped, and your tar sands, and the richness, the vastness, that you have in terms of amounts of energy that can still be tapped. There’s more energy here than really there is in Saudi Arabia when you consider what’s in the tar sands. And you guys have great potential here. You have the skill. You have great workers. You have everything in place to ramp up development and allow more job creation and allowance. Energy is so important.

I know Canadians understand this, but there is an inherent link between energy and prosperity and energy and security, and energy and freedom. And development isn’t the only part of the equation. As governor I had to advocate the three point approach to meeting energy needs with conservation and responsible resource development and promotion of renewable energy sources. But as we do this together, it will give us more opportunity for a better life, a healthier life, a more prosperous life. And then we can voluntarily share that better life with others who are in need. Tonight being a picture of opportunity to share with others.

So, over this past year, working on this energy project while I was governor and still working on them today, now in a different arena, moving across the nation to talk about energy, I have been very very blessed to travel and talk to those for whom energy is such an important, instrumental part of their business and local business economy, it’s been a blessing to get to do this. Travelling across my home country. And I’ve talked to people who support these kind of common sense solutions to tap domestic supplies of energy. So more people have a chance to make it with good jobs, so we can make it in this challenging world so we can all voluntarily help and having a good job allows us to do that.

One of the things I’ve been able to do is attend these Tea Parties across the US events. It’s just been invigorating and energizing and some of them are just a hoot. Some of the signs we read out there in the rallies. One of them I saw yesterday said “I can see freedom from my house.” I think they were quoting Tina Fey on that one. The other one said “the voters are coming, the voters are coming.” And that was exclusive to Boston. The hecklers are funnier than heck too. Usually if there’s a bad poster out there I pretend I don’t even see it. But yesterday I could not miss it. They were these life-size pictures of naked people. I was like, okay, that one is effective – I can’t… they caught me off guard on that one.

Other than that, and the stuff that goes on on the periphery. These Tea Parties have been an amazing manifestation of America’s pioneering spirit, where we’re saying we don’t want government to make us work for them, we want our government to work for us, we want them back on our side. The Tea Party are an important gathering of Americans who are really part of this grassroots people’s movement, it’s a conservative movement, but those involved in it, are parties, from independents. Like Todd’s not even registered in the party and people tell me I am the worst recruiter of the Republican Party if I can’t even get my own husband to join. But more power to him. He’s an independent. But this movement that’s sweeping the nation, getting to be a part of that is really awesome. I wanted to talk to and here from those whom natural resources and freedom and work ethic are so important. And what’s going on in our country we can’t wait even another day just being complacent and think that everything’s just going to magically work out for us, because they won’t. We’re spending too much money, we’ve got too much debt and we’ve got to start ramping up industry and reigning in the spending.

In our cities and in our towns, citizens understand this and they’re standing up and they’re speaking out on behalf of commonsense conservative solutions. Not really difficult things. Ronald Regan had said, there are no easy answers but there are simple answers. We just need the courage to do what we know is morally right. That’s kind of an underlying theme there too. People are hurting. So to see our private sector create jobs, not government, but our private sector and get our economy roaring back to life, those are the solutions that we need and include fiscal restraint and free market policies that don’t let government pick winners and losers but lower taxes and support for small business, with energy being such a key component to all of this. It’s not just about fuelling our cars and heating our homes and keeping the lights on, it’s an issue that touches every aspect of our lives in both of our countries, from the value of our paycheques to our allies and our interests abroad. Energy is important in all that. And then inherently between energy and security and opportunities. It’s real and undeniable.

Relying on major foreign regimes to meet our energy needs makes no sense, because it makes all of us less secure. And it costs us hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars every year asking the Saudis or Chavez to ramp up production so that we can purchase from them. We say no more. When it comes to something this important, we have to give it our all. And that’s a focus of mine as I go forward. And then we look at Canada, and we being so impressed with how you too have embraced the renewables, the alternatives, you’ve investing in real science and real projects that can be reliable and economic to keep our environment clean, to reduce emissions. The US can look at what Canada is doing and take a strong steps forward in this arena.

So I would hope there too, the strong relationship and open dialogue between our countries will produce an approach that will serve as an example for others on how to tackle this issue and other issues the right way. When it comes to so many issues, many Americans are looking for ways to strengthen that tie between the US and Canada. Not just in energy but in Alaska, and I know here in Hamilton too, we know that co-operation improves life for all of us, and provides us with more opportunities to help others. Our economies have benefited from trade, and that could be made better too. And we’ve successfully worked together on security measures to keep our citizens safe. As governor I felt it accomplished much good when our two countries worked closely together. My administration worked closely with your government on everything from security issues to wildlife and fishing agreements and our efforts achieved a lot of these things for a lot of people.

It might sound quite policy oriented. But you don’t need an office of a title to effect some positive change, to make a difference. I want you to apply that. Here in Hamilton, you’re known for your volunteerism, for your generosity, your contributions. And you know to voluntarily help and be generous is the key to be part of a connected and really inspired community that we all really want to be a part of. And we can feel that here in Hamilton. That serving others before self is what we want to teach our children. So you, you set that example and you live this out, and you’re blessed for doing so. This is a beautiful city and you have a hospitable heart that really shines through. And I ask that you keep that up, because it makes the world a better place.

And again, as Plato said, I just want to remind you to be nice to one another, and remembering that everyone fighting the battle, some played out publicly, some are not, everyone though going through some tough times once in a while, so be merciful and forgiving and generous and then you will be blessed in return. Hamilton illustrates that. One person, a lot of people that we see, if individuals decide to get together and to gather to support such a worthy cause, helping children, together there’s no limit to what can be accomplished. So I would hope that we can work together, even closer to build upon the proud history of co-operation and good will between communities in our two countries, between governments who represent our countries, between the good will that has already been a part of our traditions but it can be strengthened. There’s been bumps in the road, but just like building that Al-Can highway it’s taken perseverance, it’s taken some sacrifices on both ends but like that Al-Can highway, a lifeline between our two countries, we can do that. Hopefully we can do that economically. There are areas where we disagree, no doubt, and when disagreements arise thankfully we get to talk openly as allies, as friends, as neighbours, we can talk about these things openly as good friends do. And we’re always looking out for one another, seeking ways to help one another and seeking common ground. The heart of the friendship is created really an unbreakable bond between us. And I think former US president John F. Kennedy, he put it best, when he had said, “American and Canada, geography made us neighbours, history has made us friends, economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies.” I do believe that if he was here to look down us on today and see us here in Hamilton, I think he’s pleased to see that bond of friendship, it endures, and it can manifest itself in opportunity to provide for others in need. Now then, we can each do our part and set up to preserve what we have already started for the rest generation.

We North Americans we come from the stock of our ancestors. My husband, he’s Alaskan native. He’s Eskimo. And then my Idaho roots. And I look out here and man, this melting pot and I recognize all our diverse backgrounds. And North America and our countries together, it’s playing a role in history of all of us, and we share the ideals of freedom and prosperity and sharing with others. It’s great places like Hamilton that make up the fabric of our nations. So knowing that there are many challenges in the years to come, through strength and perserverance, we’re going to continue to hold the global stage and our responsibility to stand up for what’s right. This is our charge. This is our responsibility. This is part of our destiny and it’s why we’re all here tonight. It’s not coincidental. There’s purpose. We’ve been given a responsibility by our forefathers to carry the torch, to protect our core principals. We have to hold that torch in each of our own hearts, of generosity and kindness and helping children and never letting anyone tell you to sit down and shut up and tell you that you can’t do it. Because I’m here to tell you that believe it or not you can do it. So with that, I look forward to our Q&A and I say God bless our two great nations and I thank you so much for the honour of getting to be here tonight.

A Declaration of Jewish Independence

An inspiring post announcing the launch of the new JewsforSarah.com website:

The Obama administration’s tilt against Israel, its tacit acceptance of a nuclear-armed Iran, and its weak approach to combatting Islamic terrorism all pose a direct challenge to Jewish Americans.

Governor Sarah Palin has described the “Obama doctrine” in United States foreign policy as “coddling our enemies while alienating allies.”  Ms. Palin has emerged as the leading public voice in opposition to President Obama’s dangerous new direction.

For these reasons, my colleagues and I are launching a national organization of Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin, supported by the new web site, JewsforSarah.com – A Home Page for Jewish Independents.

JASP is comprised of academic, religious, and community leaders who are dedicated to promoting consideration of Gov. Palin’s policy positions in the wider American Jewish community.  We are entirely unconnected to any other political campaign or fundraising organization.

We find Ms. Palin’s positions on Israel, Iran, national security, fiscal responsibility, energy, and social policy – as well as her record on these issues as governor of Alaska and candidate for Vice President of the United States – to be serious, substantive and politically mainstream.  Though not at present a candidate for any office, Gov. Palin’s track record in public office has been exemplary, and has withstood the test of the most demanding scrutiny of investigative news media.

[…]

In recent days, prominent Jewish leaders and other Jewish political figures have publicly challenged President Obama’s foreign policy in terms that were unimaginable only a few weeks ago.  Former New York City mayor Ed Koch, a life-long Democrat, has excoriated the president for “demeaning and slandering” Israel. “There is a foul whiff of Munich and appeasement in the air,” Koch writes.

Anti-Defamation League leader Abraham Foxman has raised the prospect of a Jewish march on Washington to protest Obama’s tilt against Israel.  World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder has taken out full-page ads in major American newspapers to criticize Obama for pressuring Israel to retreat to the “indefensible borders” of 1967.

Democratic U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee,  has characterized the president’s refusal to include militant Islam in his list of terror promoters as “offensive” and said it “contradicts thousands of years of accepted military and intelligence doctrine to ‘know your enemy.’ “


President Obama’s disgraceful personal treatment of Israel’s prime minister on his official visits to Washington, and the ugly personal tone that the president himself has injected into U.S.-Israel relations, has angered even many of his supporters and driven Obama’s personal popularity to an all-time low among the Israeli public.

The suddenness of the president’s change in his policies toward Israel, after having  campaigned vociferously in 2008 as a friend of the Jewish State, has caught many in the American Jewish community off-guard.  No longer.

We believe it is time for American Jews to declare independence from President Barack Obama. And we believe that Gov. Sarah Palin’s heartfelt and unflinching support for America-Israel friendship reflects the true spirit of the American people, among whom love and respect for the Jewish State has never faltered.

April 18, 2010 – 5th of Iyar, 5770

Israel Independence Day – Yom Ha’Atzma’ut



Published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

For more information about Sarah Palin’s position on Israel, see the “Israel” subpage of the Sarah Palin News Links page on SPIB.

Preview of Palin’s Women of Joy Appearance (Update: TV Spot)

By Adrienne Ross – http://www.motivationtruth.com

Tonight, in just about an hour, Governor Palin will speak to a sold-out room at the Women of Joy Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.

Their website states:

Together – Women of Joy and you, for 3 days, 2 nights and 1 purpose – to glorify God in joyful praise! What happens when thousands of Christian women gather in one place? Amazing worship, the exposition of biblical Truth, strengthened relationships, encouraged spirits and deepened faith.

Joe Arnold writes a preview of the event:

Sarah Palin has drawn thousands of women to Freedom Hall in Louisville, for a Friday night speech at the start of a three day Christian women’s conference.

“We came for Sarah Palin,” said Patricia Core of Springfield, Missouri.

“Her love of America, her wanting to put America back on the right track,” Core continued, “Change is not working for me, and it’s not working for a lot of people. And we need change and we need to get back to our basic values, what our nation was founded on.”

What does Core hope to hear in Palin’s speech?

“I hope she says I’m running for President,” Core said, a thought echoed by many supporters standing in line to register for the conference.

“I want her for my next President,” said Karen Schwochow of Flint, Michigan. “I do. I am dead serious about that. I think that her values are something I want in my President. And she is a gutsy lady who won’t take no. She will stand up to anybody. And she has far more experience dealing nationally than that duffus in the White House has.”

Read Arnold’s full article here.

Core will not get her wish granted. Governor Palin will not announce a run for the presidency tonight, I’m sure. In fact, I imagine she will touch on politics, but politics likely will not dominate her speech.

Nonetheless, while I don’t agree with calling the president a “duffus,” I certainly agree with the rest of Core’s words. The governor sparks such a strong reaction in people because she is a breath of fresh air, she is fearless in taking on the enemies of American greatness, and she is our best hope for getting this nation back on track with common sense conservatism and upstanding values.

I pray tonight will be an uplifting and encouraging experience, not just for the registrants, but especially for Governor Palin.

(H/T C4P)

Update: Below is the Women of Joy TV spot.

The Star (Toronto):

Sarah Palin Charms Well Heeled Quests At Hamilton Fundraiser

“We share so much with that wildlife and those resources,” she told the sold-out charity event with 900 guests.“Our accents too! Do you know how many people asked me if I’m Canadian . . . I feel right at home with you all. We share a lot in that accent.”

Photo By Michelle Shepard / Toronto Star

“I loved Sarah Palin from the first time I saw her on TV at the national convention. She thinks like I think – less government, less tax, more freedom,” he said, arriving three hours before the event to get a glimpse of Palin entering the banquet hall.

“It’s hard to describe my admiration for her but I put her really high up there.” Not everyone was awestruck by the politician who appealed to Americans as the small-town hockey mom but has become a one-woman media empire since her failed bid for vice presidency.

“I have mixed emotions about what to think but I’d like to come and see what she has to say,” said Hamilton resident Janis Abbott, who had been given the tickets by her business partner. “We’ll see if it changes my opinion.”

“It seems to be more working-class type of vehicles, not the exotic cars parked in the lot over there,” he said pointing to the lot outside Carmen’s Banquet Hall.  “You get the mini vans and pick up trucks and,” he paused as a carload of screaming and honking women went by. “And Chevy Luminas.”

The News (Nova Scotia):

Palinmania in Steel City as former U.S. vice-presidential hopeful holds court

Hamilton, Ont  –  Jenni Lecluse of Hamilton said could hardly wait to hear from Palin. “She is a strong woman and she’s an example,” said Lecluse. “Whether or not you agree with her politics, you still have to respect her accomplishments.” Gerry Levy, of nearby Stoney Creek, said he admired Palin. As governor of Alaska, he said, Palin had “turned around a corrupt Republican government.”

As people milled in the pre-dinner foyer sipping wine, Mary Burford said she wanted to make up her own mind about Palin. “She’s a personality,” said Burford of Hamilton. “She’s very influential and she’s very controversial.” Many seemed star-struck by Palin. “How often do figures like this come to Hamilton?” said Lecluse.

Vancouver Sun:

Love-in for Sarah Palin in Canada; protests for Obama in Washington

“I love her,” said Carol Broderick, a retired church secretary from Buffalo, N.Y. “I’ve always loved her. I love her smile. She’s a great lady.”

Broderick and her husband were among 900 guests who paid $200 each to hear Palin speak at a charity fundraiser in Hamilton, Ont., Thursday.  “She’s so different than all the other politicians,” Broderick said. “She’s so happy, vibrant, energetic.”

Photo By Kaz Ehara , Canwest News Service

Broderick, who now lives in Niagara Falls, Ont., but has dual citizenship, said she’d vote for Palin if she ran in the next U.S. presidential election. She said the Republican is treated unfairly in the media.

Steve Burns, 46, and his wife Shannon, 40, drove from Woodstock, Ont., for the event. “It’s just so refreshing to have someone like her in Canada,” said Burns, a steel factory worker. “Her voice represents me. She represents pro-life, pro-family, pro-community.”

Canada.com:

‘People should stand up from being ordinary,’ Palin tells Hamilton crowd

HAMILTON – “Nothing is an accident just hold on, if you’re in a tough situation right now just hold on because you don’t know what’s just around the corner,” Palin, 46, told the crowd of 900 people who paid $200 each to hear her speech.

During the 30-minute address, Palin made many references to “cool” and “blast” and called her husband, who was sitting beside her “the first dude of Alaska.” She told many stories of her family, about her oldest son deciding to enlist in the army and go to Iraq, forcing her family to understand that “freedom wasn’t free.”

Photo By Kaz Ehara, Canwest News Service

Palin also appealed to the crowd by complimenting Hamilton on a number of occasions for the “hard work” of its residents in producing steel. She also said that she put in a good word with the NHL, saying Hamilton deserved its own hockey team.

“They pick her apart for whatever reason,” she said, “for what she’s wearing. But she doesn’t let it get her down.” Steve Burns, 46, and his wife Shannon, 40, drove from Woodstock, Ont., for the event.

“It’s just so refreshing to have someone like her in Canada,” said Burns, a steel factory worker. “Her voice represents me. She represents pro-life, pro-family, pro-community.” “She’s so basic, so common sense,” he said. “I’m a blue-collar guy and she understands me.”

Palin’s speech was to be followed by a question-and-answer session with Connie Smith, a veteran Hamilton personality and current host of a Christian television show. The event, billed “An Intimate Evening with Sarah Palin,” sold out shortly after it was first announced last November.

Hamilton police Supt. Ken Bond said officers would be monitoring the event, but notably absent were any protesters. Michael Marini, a spokesman for the event said he and Palin discussed Canadian and American accents. “What struck me is the media image of Ms. Palin,” he said. “When you’re up and personal with her, she’s so humble and down to Earth.”Marini said Palin wowed him when she told him she knew Hamilton was a steel-producing city.

National Post (Toronto):

Sarah Palin to speak in Hamilton tonight

Palin, 46, was expected to give a 20- to 30-minute speech on family values and community volunteerism, followed by a question-and-answer session with Connie Smith, a veteran Hamilton personality and current host of a Christian television show. The event, billed “An Intimate Evening with Sarah Palin,” sold out shortly after it was first announced last November.

“In any event such as this one where there is a high profile, we plan for it and that’s what we’ve done,” he said Thursday. “We have staff prepared for the purpose of allowing things to go smoothly, but we don’t expect any problems or anything that is too controversial.”

Security at the event is also under tight control by the organizers. Media are allowed to attend the formal dinner but are not allowed to bring in cameras or tape recorders. Journalists have been asked to dress in formal wear, with no blue jeans allowed.

A portion of the proceeds from the event — originally slated to go to two area hospitals — will be donated to Charity of Hope, a Hamilton children’s organization that supports United Way, Kiwanis Boys and Girls clubs and the YMCA. The charity was named as a recipient following controversy surrounding Palin’s outspoken views on the Canadian health-care system.

Original Post From:

Governor Palin 4 President (Photos) Canada’s Media & Hamilton Citizens Love Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Asks: Mr. President, Is A Strong America A Problem?

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the US was too strong
—Ronald Reagan—

This morning Sarah Palin has sent a second strong message to Barack Obama that he is on a dangerous path, a path that puts America and the free world in great peril.

As we wrote yesterday, Sarah called Obama out for his ridiculously insane statement: “Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower” Sarah called this “Unbelievable” and “Outrageous”

Sarah now adds this:

Mr. President, is a strong America a problem?

Asked this week about his faltering efforts to advance the Middle East peace process, President Obama did something remarkable. In front of some 47 foreign leaders and hundreds of reporters from all over the world, President Obama said that “whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower.”

Whether we like it or not? Most Americans do like it. America’s military may be one of the greatest forces for good the world has ever seen, liberating countless millions from tyranny, slavery, and oppression over the last 234 years. As a dominant superpower, the United States has won wars hot and cold; our military has advanced the cause of freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan and kept authoritarian powers like Russian and China in check.

It is in America’s and the world’s interests for our country to remain a dominant military superpower, but under our great country’s new leadership that dominance seems to be slipping away. President Obama has ended production of the F-22, the most advanced fighter jet this country has ever built. He’s gutted our missile defense program by eliminating shield resources in strategic places including Alaska. And he’s ended the program to build a new generation of nuclear weapons that would have ensured the reliability of our nuclear deterrent well into the future. All this is in the context of the country’s unsustainable debt that could further limit defense spending. As one defense expert recently explained:

The president is looking to eliminate the last vestiges of the Reagan-era buildup. Once the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are “ended” (not “won“), the arms control treaties signed, and defense budgets held at historic lows while social entitlements and debt service rise to near-European levels, the era of American superpower will have passed.

The truth is this: by his actions we see a president who seems to be much more comfortable with an American military that isn’t quite so dominant and who feels the need to apologize for America when he travels overseas. Could it be a lack of faith in American exceptionalism? The fact is that America and our allies are safer when we are a dominant military superpower – whether President Obama likes it or not.

– Sarah Palin

As always, Sarah is spot on. A strong America means a safe world. Throughout our nation’s history, every time America has pulled back from the world stage, really bad things have happened. In fact, in the last century, two world wars could may have been averted had America projected her strengths instead of being isolationist.

In more recent history, under another failed president, Jimmy Carter, we saw timidity coupled with ineptness on the world stage give birth to a renewed Islamic extremist movement which led directly to the terror attacks on September 11, 2001 that killed so many innocent Americans. Islamic extremists have killed untold numbers of innocent people world wide since the Carter years.

Sadly, Obama is such an inept leader and radical ideologue, that we find ourselves actually wishing we had a President who was only as dangerously stupid as Jimmy Carter.

Sarah Links to an article in The Weekly Standard that is a must read. One point sticks out to me though that really says it all about the Obama regime:

Obama seeks a quiet world in order to focus his efforts on domestic reform—and to create conditions that would allow him to dismantle some of the national security state inherited from the Cold War and given new life and vigor after 9/11. Preferring disarmament agreements to military buildups and hoping to substitute regional balance-of-power arrangements for massive unilateral U.S. force commitments all over the globe, the president wishes ultimately for an orderly world in which burdens are shared and the military power of the United States is a less prominent feature on the international scene.

Look, Obama and his party leaders are all radical Marxists. Many of the Obama regime’s top advisers are 1960’s rejects,… radicals who sought to bring America down and create some sort of communist utopia. Congress is full of these types as well.

The way Obama and his radical regime looks at it is the way the Marxist-democrat party has looked at national security expenditures for a half century: Every dollars spent protecting America, every dollar spent defending our nation and our allies, is a dollar that cannot be spent on some insane social engineering project designed to transform American society into their vision of a Soviet style utopia.

Radicals like Obama want a strong central command and control style of government that would shred the Constitution and take away all freedoms and liberty, exchanging them for a “benevolent dictatorship” that would control every function and facet of your life.

To these radicals anything that stands in their way of creating this “benevolent dictatorship” must go. This includes the protection of America and her allies.

Now should you think Obama himself is the only one infected with these ludicrous visions, his Science Czar, John Holdren, echoed this sentiment earlier in the week when he said this:

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Again, in the eyes of the Obama regime, a strong America, an America that is competitive world wide is not desirable. These radicals have a deeply embedded hatred for America and American exceptionalism.

For decades Marxist-democrats have sought to end American exceptionalism, to apologize to the world for America’s greatness. In the eyes of these people, American’s greatness, our exceptionalism, is somehow unfair to the rest of the world.

The kind of mental gymnastics one must go through to reach that conclusion are simply mind boggling.

We agree with Sarah Palin’s way of thinking: A strong America is one of the greatest forces for good the world has ever known. America’s place as the world’s only Super Power is something we should be proud of, not apologize for.

Military Power? Yes, we are!

I find it amazing that President Obama is making statements about the United States military force as if it were a burden. Sarah Palin wrote a spot on Facebook note today:

Asked this week about his faltering efforts to advance the Middle East peace process, President Obama did something remarkable. In front of some 47 foreign leaders and hundreds of reporters from all over the world, President Obama said that “whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower.”

She goes on to state:

Whether we like it or not? Most Americans do like it. America’s military may be one of the greatest forces for good the world has ever seen, liberating countless millions from tyranny, slavery, and oppression over the last 234 years. As a dominant superpower, the United States has won wars hot and cold; our military has advanced the cause of freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan and kept authoritarian powers like Russia and China in check.

Isn’t it interesting that the liberal media try to tell us that Sarah Palin is not fit to be president but yet they willingly drool all over Obama.

The truth is this: by his actions we see a president who seems to be much more comfortable with an American military that isn’t quite so dominant and who feels the need to apologize for America when he travels overseas. Could it be a lack of faith in American exceptionalism? The fact is that America and our allies are safer when we are a dominant military superpower – whether President Obama likes it or not.

Read Sarah Palin’s complete Facebook note here.

Tea Partying in New York (includes pictures)

By Adrienne Ross – http://www.motivationtruth.com

I met some great patriots today when I went down to the Tea Party in Kingston, NY. Peacefully, we demonstrated our great love for America and our disapproval of the direction President Obama and Congress are taking us.

As the pictures show, there were very creative signs all over the place, American flags, as well as Gadsen flags. I’ve included pictures of some of them.

Piles of cars drove by with people honking wildly and flashing thumbs-up. Yes, there were also some disgruntled people passing by. One woman, for example, stuck her head out the window and yelled, “You suck! You suck!” But those haters were far outnumbered; they did not dampen our spirits, and they did not incite us to respond in kind.

I wore a sweatshirt with a picture of Governor Palin and the words, “America’s President.” A few expressed their admiration for it. One woman exclaimed, “Go, Sarah!” I handed out “Sarah 2012: A New Energy for America” bumper stickers and “Sarah Palin President 2012” buttons, both designed by the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee. Clearly, people love the governor because she loves America, is proud of America, and never feels the need to apologize for America.

As I was heading out, I met a gentleman NRA member when he stopped me, shook my hand, and remarked that my Palin sweatshirt and my Tea Party attendance were definite contradictions to the lies about conservatives and the Tea Party movement. So…yes, there are Black people who attend Tea Parties around the country, and no, the movement is not a racist one. He and I had a great conversation, and I left even more proud of my country and very glad I drove the 40 minutes to join fellow Americans to declare, on Tax Day, that we are taxed enough already, we are counting the moments till election day in November, and we’re taking our country back!

I live-tweeted the event. In case you missed them, check those tweets out here.

See pictures below.

SarahPAC’s Expenses Reasonable, Customary

The Alinsky Left is predictably manufacturing scandals, this time over SarahPAC’s routine filing of receipts and disbursements at the closing of this years’ first quarter. “SarahPAC Ensures That Sarah Palin Travels in Style” an ABC News headline blares. It’s not until you read the actual story and get to the second page that the reporter, Matthew Mosk acknowledges that this practice is standard for all poltical action committees, and that the late Ted Kennedy had significant travel expenses.

As a Donor

As a mid-range donor to SarahPAC, I review these filings, because I have a vested interest in ensuring that my hard-earned money is being used for its stated purpose and that nothing untoward is being done with donated funds. I am completely satisfied with how my donated funds are used. As a donor I can wholeheartedly say that your donation to SarahPAC will be used properly to fulfill the organization’s mission. Oh, and since I’ve said many times on these pages, that I trust Gov. Palin with my life, it logically follows that I trust her with my money. I’ll even go so far as to say she is more responsible steward to it than I am!

My Responsibility as Supporter and Promoter of SarahPAC

As editor and publisher of US 4 Palin, I routinely run SarahPAC fund-raisers. I run house ads for SarahPAC all over this site. I ask people via Facebook and Twitter to donate. So, I have a fiduciary responsibility to you – my readers – who I am asking to donate to SarahPAC to ensure that nothing unusual or untoward is being done with this money. I am satisfied that SarahPAC is doing everything correctly. I continue to proudly run un-authorized fund-raising requests for SarahPAC.

SarahPAC’s Expenses: Reasonable, Customary, Appropriate

As a donor, I am satisfied that SarahPAC is properly and correctly using the money I have entrusted to them. The PAC is supporting Reagan Conservative candidates. Governor Palin’s travel expenses are a reasonable and routine part of this work. I am happy to help support her travel; to keep her and her family safe and secure. Let’s review some of these expenses that have the Alinsky left in a huge uproar.

Gov. Palin stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Phoenix, AZ. The stories implied rooms costing several thousand dollars per night complete with caviar and champagne dinners. The actual cost? $446. For a suite used to house Gov. Palin, her husband and some of her children. Other “luxury” hotels Gov. Palin stayed at included Courtyard by Marriott. Most of Gov. Palin’s air fares are under $400!

The $3400 Peninsula Hotel bill for lodging and meals was for Gov. Palin and several other people for several days. This bill was incurred when she was starting out her Fox News consultancy. I know New York hotels – this was a bargain!

Wise and Prudent Aviation Decisions

And as a pilot I say to Gov. Palin – kudos on paying that de-icing cost! I’ve read the NTSB reports of pilots who thought they’d save a few dollars by skimping on de-icing. The outcome was always a loud boom, fire, a huge debris field, and no survivors. If a little bit or even all of my donation money went to de-ice that plane, I am happy – and would donate to that effort again! And again! And as a pilot, I know the value of using private aircraft. Gov. Palin’s husband is a pilot. The Palins know aviation and know when it makes sense to fly commercial and when it makes sense to fly privately. For that trip, a private flight made sense and $7K to de-ice is nothing compared to the value of a human life. For those of you who do NOT donate to SarahPAC and don’t like how the Palin’s travel, as far as I’m concerned you have nothing to say about it!

Washington Speakers Bureau

Not related to the PAC, but related to the stories trying to build up a character of “Queen Sarah I,” I booked speakers for my old employer 10 years ago. These were bargain basement speakers with honorariums under $10K. Every last one of them traveled first class on these engagements. It’s standard procedure when you work with a speakers bureau. The bureau also gets a substantial amount of money from that speaking fee. That is how they earn their profit and pay their overhead. Gov. Palin is not “demanding” anything, Gov. Palin is booked many months in advance. Her speaking engagements keep U4P staff busy, that’s for sure! The organizers of these events are satisfied they are getting good value for their money spent. I agree with them.

Straw Poll

The Alinsky leftists are concerned about the state of Gov. Palin’s water bottles at her lecterns. No, she did not demand gold-plated crystal, though they would like you to think so.

Gov. Palin’s – or more probably Washington Speaker’s Bureau’s – very simple request: bendable straws in two water bottles filled with – you betcha – water. I’ve watched many of Gov. Palin’s speeches. I’ve never seen her drink anything at the lectern. Regardless, a box of bendable straws cost less than $2. Two straws out of the box probably cost a penny. This is what the left is so concerned about? Gov. Palin or the Bureau who works the contract wants one cent worth of plastic so she doesn’t have to go “Cheers! Bottoms Up!” during her speeches?

Talk about grasping at straws! This is the best they can come up with? Ironically, if someone were grab a bendable straw that touched Gov Palin’s lips and sell it on eBay, that used bendable straw would command a huge sum of money. How’s that for a straw poll?

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If you have read this far, please donate to SarahPAC. Support Reagan Conservative candidates, and Gov. Palin’s activities in helping them deliver their message. We need to take back our Congress in November.

References:

Schedule B Itemized Disbursements All Listed Line Numbers. Committee: Sarah PAC. Federal Election Commission. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00458588/461216/sb/ALL