No Plea Deal for Stalkers of Palins

A federal judge yesterday rejected a plea deal for father and son stalking team Craig (48) and Shawn (20) Christy, because he determined they were a public menace, according to widespread media reports.

The Christys were arrested on August 19, 2011 for violating the terms of a restraining order which barred them from contacting anyone in Alaska except their own legal counsel. The judge rejected the plea deal, because the Christys also harassed Gov. Palin’s attorney, John Tiemessen.

“While one person may be the object of their ire at one point, it clearly shifts to others,” Burgess said, saying the men had harassed and threatened children, law-enforcement agents and judges. “They seem undeterred,” Yereth Rosen of Reuters reported.

Burgess rejected the plea deal, because he did not believe probation would be sufficient to stop the Christys’ stalking.

The father and son duo had been harassing and threatening the Palins and Kristan Cole, and made threats against Obama and Senator John McCain, according to widespread media reports. The Christys stalking included vulgar calls to Gov. Palin’s home; sending the Palins receipts from a gun purchase and telling them of his intent to purchase a one-way ticket to Alaska. Shawn Christy in fact made a brief round trip to and from Anchorage at a cost of $700 around the time of Gov. Palin’s birthday. Shawn Christy also threatened to rape the former Alaska Governor.

According to the Reuters report, Shawn Christy suffers from cognitive dysfunction possibly resulting from his brain being damaged by Lyme Disease. The Christys will stand trial on January 3, 2012 unless a new plea agreement is reached.

Outing and Throwing Out the Permanent Political Class

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

People are often drawn to others who share the same values, interests, and passion–often referred to metaphorically as a fire in the belly. I am not surprised, therefore, that Governor Palin employs Peter Schweizer as her foreign-policy adviser. His commitment to exposing corruption in government mirrors her own. She, of course, determined years ago that something must be done about it. She took action, even to her own detriment, stating often, “In politics, you’re either eating well or sleeping well.” She continues to choose a good night’s sleep–and apparently so does Peter Schweizer. His new book, Throw Them All Out, outs corruption in Congress that ought to outrage every honest American.

Having just finished the book myself, I encourage everyone to do what Governor Palin asked of us: read the book. On every page, I was doing exactly what Governor Palin is doing in this video from 15:17 – 15:24 as Eric Bolling discusses the issue with her. The unethical behavior these politicians so arrogantly engage in leaves one shaking her head–again and again. I do not consider myself naive, certainly not a utopianist. Nor do I believe that to be the case for most of my fellow Americans, as evidenced by Congress’s dismal (dis)approval rating. However, I was indeed both shocked and appalled as I read. I do expect more from our elected officials. The insider trading and crony capitalism running rampant highlights the key word in the title: they all need to go. There’s a stench emanating from Washington, and it’s not confined to any particular side of the aisle. The Permanent Political Class is not partisan, just pathetic.

Throw Them All Out will educate and irritate, fascinate and frustrate, enlighten and yes, frighten. The idea that those who hoist themselves as representatives of the American people are more committed to enriching themselves than to exemplifying ethical behavior is disheartening at best. Schweizer takes no prisoners, withholds no names, and throws these people under the bus–where they belong.

He is careful to state that the insider trading they participate in is not illegal–for members of Congress, that is. Anyone else who would dare trade on information obtained in private would go to jail, and rightly so. These people, with access to taxpayers’ money, get away with it, however. They benefit personally from it. They very often come to Congress as average, everyday Americans. They leave rich, and they have us and the laws they exempt themselves from to thank for it. Now that a bright light is being shone on it, we must do more than just hope that something will be done. To borrow–and slightly alter–a phrase, we need more than hope; we need change. On page 137 of Throw Them All Out, Schweizer quotes Federalist No. 57:

If this spirit is ever corrupted to the point that it will tolerate a law which does not apply to both the legislature and the people, then the people will be prepared to tolerate anything but liberty.

Governor Palin has been studying this corruption for years, is drawing attention to it, and says it must end. In a Wall Street Journal article that was published on November 18, she states in no uncertain terms:

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

What part of “no” do we not understand? I think it’s safe to say she’s prepared to fight.

Furthermore, in USA Today this week, she writes:

Our permanent political class relies on an apathetic and uninformed public to get away with this stuff. But if there is one issue that unites Americans across the political spectrum, it’s absolute disgust with the corruption of our elected leaders. Congress and the White House need to earn the American people’s trust again. We the people are not going to give up until we get the sudden and relentless reform we deserve or, as the book says, “we throw them all out” in 2012.

Governor Palin, of course, knows a thing or two about throwing people out. In Alaska, as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, she faced the decision of whether to eat well or sleep well when the blatant corruption of Randy Ruedrich, an AOGCC commissioner, led her to make a career-changing choice. On page 96 of Going Rogue, she details the situation:

When [Governor] Murkowski tapped me for the commission, he quickly named me chairman. That meant I also became the ethics supervisor of the staff, a job that turned out to be more than just a compliance title. When a staffer hinted that Ruedrich seemed to spend a lot of time running the Republican Party from his new AOGCC office, plus dealing with GOP operatives as a National Republican Committeeman, I mentioned it to the party boss-slash-commissioner.

Then another problem cropped up: Reudrich involved himself in adjudicating two cases that were closely intertwined with his old Doyon illegal dumping case. Commissioner Seamount and I urged Ruedrich to recuse himself, but he refused. An administrative assistant took me aside to say she suspected Ruedrich of sharing confidential commission information with a coal bed methane company we were supposed to be regulating. She was right: he was passing agency information to the company’s lobbyist.

When Governor Palin’s attempts to handle things quietly didn’t yield results, she did what she had to do to eradicate the corruption. The Going Rogue account continues on page 99:

Nothing happened.

So I had to make something happen. I prayed long and hard. I loved the job. And I had to consider that by making any drastic moves I would be crossing swords with the most powerful men in my own party. My political career would be over. My whole future was before me. But I also knew I couldn’t sit there and be a party to all of this.

I knew what I had to do, so I resigned–stepping away from the ethical lapses and hierarchical blinders to effect change where I could–on the outside.

[…]

Out of a job but sleeping well again, I knew that any shot I might have had to become a GOP insider was gone, which was fine, but I wanted Alaskans to be able to believe in the party ideals again. I knew the GOP planks made the strongest foundation upon which to build a strong state and country.

With this type of record, I have every confidence that what Peter Schweizer’s research has uncovered has placed an even hotter fire in the Governor’s belly. Reading the book should spark one in each of ours as well. From Nancy Pelosi to John Kerry to Dick Durbin to Judd Gregg to John Boehner, Ben Bernanke, Warren Buffett, and on and on, the “honest graft” is dishonorable. The corruption involves various industries, including–but not limited to–energy companies, credit card companies, railroad companies, and banking companies.

And perhaps the most deplorable of all is the involvement of President Obama and his administration. The big favors enjoyed by those who donated big bucks to his campaign speaks volumes and again leaves the reader shaking her head. Meanwhile, he continues with his class warfare campaign and demonization of job creators. Could this be part of the reason Governor Palin called him a “phony”?

Schweizer, on page 150, writes:

In our system of government, the legislative branch polices itself and the President is allowed to skirt conflict of interest laws because, well, he’s the president. It is time for that to change.

I’m looking for the sudden and relentless reform Governor Palin so often talks about. Many of us have been so focused on the 2012 presidential election, but it’s going to take more than that. Replacing President Obama with just another crony capitalist won’t do. What difference does it make whether there’s a ‘D’ or an ‘R’ behind a name, if the game remains the same? After reading this book, I appreciate more what Governor Palin said about changing the entire team, not just the uniform.

Speaking of teams, there seems to be more outrage at unethical behavior in sports than in government. Why isn’t every media outlet incessantly focused on what’s going on, encouraging the passage of these bills Governor Palin wrote about in her USA Today article, and demanding responses from members of Congress? Why do we spend more time discussing betting on games by professional baseball or basketball athletes? Shouldn’t members of Congress be held to an even higher standard? Shouldn’t the money that really belongs to we the people and the integrity of elected office matter? Indeed it should, and it must.

Again, I encourage each person to read Schweizer’s book. Read it, share it, and embrace the anger derived from it. But don’t just get angry. Sudden and relentless reform is needed. I did a lot of shaking of the head and rolling of the eyes as I read, but that simply isn’t enough. The question I’m asking myself now is: “What can you help do about it?” I agree with Peter Schweizer’s words on page 165-66:

If we accept crony capitalism with a shrug and an eye roll, we might as well accept a world of bribery and out-and-out vote buying. Crony capitalism has a corrosive effect on our politics, our economy, and our character. And we don’t have to accept it.

Cross-posted at MotivationTruth

Palin: Congress, it’s time to stop lining your pockets

Op-Ed by Governor Sarah Palin for USA Today:

Thanks to the solid new research and recent revelations in Peter Schweizer‘s book Throw Them All Out and the subsequent coverage on 60 Minutes, we have concrete proof to explain how members of Congress accumulate wealth at a rate astonishingly faster than the rest of Americans and have stock portfolios that outperform even the best hedge-fund managers’. (Full disclosure: Schweizer is employed by my political action committee as a foreign policy adviser.)

From sweetheart land deals to initial public offering (IPO) stock gifts to insider trading with non-public government information, the methods of unethical wealth accumulation for our permanent political class are endless. The reaction from the Beltway establishment to the revelations concerning insider trading among members of Congress was predictable. First they denied it, then they dismissed the problem as much ado about nothing. Some said there was no need for new laws or action because the Securities and Exchange Commission could prosecute members of Congress under existing laws against insider trading.

But under current law, there is no way the SEC will ever go after a powerful congressman or senator. The SEC never has, even though insider trading prohibitions have existed since the 1930s. Here’s why: Congress sets the SEC’s budget, and senators approve the head of the SEC. Congress uses its power of the purse strings to threaten federal agencies that get in their way.

For example, in 2006 the FBI got a search warrant from a federal judge to comb former congressman William Jefferson‘s office. The FBI already had evidence that Jefferson was taking bribes. Congress was furious that the FBI would dare search a fellow member’s office. Members claimed the search was unconstitutional. They even threatened to cut the Justice Department‘s budget in retaliation. All this despite the fact that 86% of Americans supported the FBI raid.   More

Scenario for a February Entry for Sarah Palin in the Republican Race

Building on a lengthy discussion by Rhodes Cook of of late entry possibilities for the GOP race,  Mark Whittington proposes the following scenario:

The scenario looks something like this:

Newt Gingrich’s momentum is blunted by the ongoing attacks that have been levied against him from all sides. Perhaps someone like Ron Paul or Rick Perry does unexpectedly well in Iowa and/or South Carolina. Romney stays pretty much as he is now, at about 20 percent.

So, as February dawns, there is no obvious candidate. There is Romney and three or four not-Romneys, none of whom has a commanding position. Republican voters start to get dispirited about the choices. No one seems to be a perfect fit for the presidency.

Then, from out of the blue, comes the big announcement. Sarah Palin calls a press conference at some appropriate venue and says, in effect, ya talked me into it. Game on.

The effect is electric on all sides. A surge of popular support boosts Palin to a number of wins in the later primary states. One or two of the not-Romney candidates drop out and throw their support to her, urging that their pledged delegates do likewise. By the time the Republican National Convention occurs in August, Palin has it sown up. The Obama campaign is reacting in full-fledged faux horror, as are certain inside the beltway pundits. But like Reagan in 1980, she cannot be denied. That November, the first female president of the United States is elected.

Read more here ….

In this YouTube video, Tim Donovan  narrates Whittington’s article and adds a few comments of his own:

h/tp Tommy Miller and Sarah Palin’s Earthquake Movement

Gov. Palin on Bolling: Candidates Should Attract Diverse Voters

Candidates “can’t just be preaching to the choir…Candidates should not be afraid to debate in front of the nation regardless of who the host is,” former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said tonight in a wide-ranging two-segment TV interview with Eric Bolling of Follow the Money from her home in Wasilla, Alaska.

Gov. Palin was referring to Donald Trump’s proposed debate which Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman both declined. She said both candidates should reconsider their attendance and if she were a candidate would be attend so as to get her message out to a diverse audience which includes independents and those who are “not into the inside baseball.”

Bolling said that he does not consider either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney true conservatives and queried Gov. Palin as to how someone like him should proceed with the field of candidates. “You and so many Americans are in the same boat,” she said. Our choice is between “being socialist” or “being a nation of free men and free markets.”

“You are looking for the perfect candidate,” she continued. “We’re going to have to support the GOP nominee.”

Like Hannity before him, Bolling asked Gov. Palin if she was going to endorse a candidate before or after Iowa. She reiterated that her endorsement will not come before Iowa and that Iowa is the beginning, not the end. She said that Gringrich has risen in the polls because he has reached out to Tea Party and Constitutional conservatives, who in turn have forgiven some of his past political sins. Romney has yet to reach out conservative voters.

But, Gov. Palin warned that Gingrich cannot pretend to be a DC outsider when he was an insider. She said that he had in fact done good things as an insider, such as balancing the budget during the Clinton administration, and he needs to remind voters what he has done to reform corruption.

Gov. Palin said whoever rises to the top must campaign on sudden and relentless reform. “If you’ve been part of the problem, you are not going to get my support or the support of Constitutional Conservatives.”

“Any of the candidates would be infinitely better than Obama.” Further, Gov. Palin noted that all the candidates have cut budgets, taxes or fought for smaller, more limited government. “I have studied their records.” She said a good bellwether on where conservatives might go would be to see who Ron Paul endorses if he leaves the race. Though Gov. Palin disagrees with Paul’s foreign policies, she agrees with his domestic spending policies.

Gov. Palin also again said that she did not believe this had become a two-candidate race. “History shows that the winner or second place in Iowa doesn’t necessarily get the nomination.”

In the second segment, Gov. Palin said that it was typical that Nancy Pelosi and others in Congress would lie about their insider trading – a practice that is illegal for every US citizen outside of the Congress. She said that this activity is appalling and accounts for why people of modest means leave the Congress unusually wealthy. Bolling spoke about how Senators and Representatives were calling and trading stocks after meeting with Treasury Secretaries – accessing both tax payers’ money and inside information.

The loans given by the Obama administration to campaign bundlers and friends are also a form of crony capitalism. Gov. Palin referenced Peter Schweizer’s Throw Them All Out and said it’s time to do precisely that.

About Obama’s forthcoming 17-day trip to Hawaii, Gov. Palin said he is “deaf, dumb, and blind” to what is going on in the nation. She predicted “he threw the number 17 days out there just to tick people off, then will come back in 15 days to address some issue in the White House and look like the hero.”

Video retrieved from SarahNET

Gov. Palin on Hannity: “Obama is Phony,” No Endorsements

“I’m very encouraged by these poll numbers and we will have a candidate rise to the top to beat Obama. We want passion…solutions proposed…to undo what Obama has done to this country,” Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said tonight in her single-segment TV interview with Sean Hannity as her fireplace roared in her Wasilla, Alaska home. Gov. Palin was referring to a poll in which a generic GOP candidate would beat Obama 49% – 41% if the election were held today.

Hannity recited a list of Obama’s negative statements about the Republican Party and Gov. Palin responded, “you gave examples of more of Obama’s hogwash. He doesn’t mean it and he doesn’t walk the walk. He is a phony. Obama is a phony.”

Gov. Palin acknowledged that her ticket “missed the boat during the last go-around,” but said unlike in 2008, Obama does have a record.

Hannity asked Gov. Palin if she ready to make an endorsement.

“I am not ready to make an endorsement. This is a long process. Iowa is not the end. It is the beginning. We can’t be complacent with this poll….Obama will have $1 billion 90% of the lamestream media in his back pocket,” Gov. Palin said.

He followed up by asking Gov. Palin specifically if she would support either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney.

“At the end of the day, I will support the GOP nominee,” Gov. Palin said, adding that any of the independents and unsung candidates would be better than Obama.

Even the lamestream media might be souring to Obama. A coworker informed me about a hard-hitting column written on October 30 by Matt Patterson, a columnist for the Washington Post, the New York Post and the San Francisco Examiner, in which he refers to Obama as an “Affirmative Action President” and discusses Obama’s lifelong lack of accomplishment in all of his pursuits.

Video retrieved from SarahNET.

H/T Michael Monahan for lead to Affirmative Action President article.

“Smoking Gun” in Fast & Furious?

Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

For anyone following the Obama administration’s scandalous cluster-of-an-operation Fast & Furious, which resulted in the deaths of innocent people, please see the article excerpted below. (And in my humble opinion, I do believe the anti-2nd Amendment characters working in the Obama administration purposefully used their Fast & Furious gun walking operation to propose more gun control regulations.)

Scour this article and let me know if you too think this might be a “smoking gun” in the Fast & Furious case.

ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3”. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.”

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as “(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue.” And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: “Bill–well done yesterday… (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case.”

This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 “disappointing and ironic.” Keane says it’s “deeply troubling” if sales made by gun dealers “voluntarily cooperating with ATF’s flawed ‘Operation Fast & Furious’ were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles.”

The Gun Dealers’ Quandary

Several gun dealers who cooperated with ATF told CBS News and Congressional investigators they only went through with suspicious sales because ATF asked them to.

Sometimes it was against the gun dealer’s own best judgment.

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150414989148435.

SarahPAC: Get Signed Undefeated for Christmas

SarahPAC Supporter,

We stand at the edge of an uncertain future. From the uncertainty of the millions of unemployed to the uncertainty of future tax burdens for small business owners, it is clear that we must now fight against the fundamental transformation taking place against all that has made America truly exceptional. We must bring certainty back into the lives of the American people.

To do this, SarahPAC will continue to be a driving force in the discussion for reforms that tackle the problem of crony capitalism and promote free markets, smaller government, domestic energy development, and removing the excessive tax and regulatory burdens that have left American industry more uncertain and less prosperous.

With the 2012 elections right around the corner, now is the time to join Governor Palin and SarahPAC’s continuing efforts to take our country back.

If you give a gift of $100 or more to SarahPAC, we will send you a copy of “The Undefeated” DVD signed by Governor Palin to show our appreciation for your ongoing support.

With the holiday season upon us, this collector’s item is the perfect gift for a friend or family member and if your gift is received by December 18th, we guarantee delivery of the DVD by Christmas!

With your donation of $100 or more to SarahPAC, you will not only be receiving this exclusive signed copy of “The Undefeated,” but you will also have a direct impact on the 2012 election cycle by ensuring that Governor Palin and SarahPAC have the resources needed to help elect conservative candidates and send them to Washington.

The future of our country belongs to those who are willing to fight for it, and with your vital support we can continue to help elect commonsense conservatives who will do what is necessary to ensure that America’s prosperity is renewed.

Once again, I ask you to take this stand with us.

Thank you for all you do for Governor Palin and SarahPAC,

Tim Crawford
Treasurer, SarahPAC

 

Paid for by SarahPAC Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee www.SarahPAC.com

P.O. Box 7711
Arlington, VA 22207

December 7, 1941 – A “Day of Infamy” – May We Never Forget!

Today we remember the American  lives that were lost on December 7, 1941, a day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt called “a date which will live in infamy” in his address to Congress. More Americans – 2403 military and 68 civilians, with an additional 1,178 injured  – were lost in that attack than any on American soil before the September 11, 2001 attack on the Twin Towers.

Michael Schindler sums it up in his article at the Seattlepi blog:

The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. Over 2400 lives were lost in that attack and it woke the sleeping giant – the Spirit of America.

Today, Japan is one of our greatest allies and there is no question that those who served during WWII (which many are leaving us daily) are responsible for a rebirth in America that was much needed. Today we salute you and thank you. You served us well.

In this video posted today by  TelegraphTV, a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor describes the rescue efforts that day.  He ends by saying,  “We had a lot of help from above.”   Amen.

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Here is another memorial video, posted by EverittJames, with a list of the names of the American lives lost that day,  photos of the attack,  and a recording of FDR’s address to Congress.

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New Rumblings in the Palin Earthquake (Reconsider) Movement

There are new rumblings in the Sarah Palin Reconsider movement.  A new group on Facebook, called Sarah Palin’s Iowa Earthquake, is in the process of producing a new TV ad for Iowa and is considering an ad campaign and possibly a write-in campaign as well.   Shelly Dankert has posted a preview of their new ad at Nebraska Attitude.  You can read her article here.

An ad sponsored by Conservatives4Palin, called The Challenge, is currently running in Iowa.  This new ad, or possibly a series of ads,  planned by the new Facebook group should intensify the Reconsider effort in Iowa.

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