An Evening with Sarah Palin: The Outdoors Enthusiast, Not the Politician

Above: Dr. Richard Kelley and daughter Bitsy Kelley

By Gary P Jackson

Dr. Richard Kelley the Chairman of the Board of Outrigger Enterprises Group, an upscale hotel and resort business, attended the fundraising banquet for the Weatherby Foundation International that Sarah Palin headlined in Reno, Nevada this weekend. Here he gives readers his first hand impression of the event:

This week I had a unique opportunity to explore another facet of the global Travel & Tourism industry and, at the same time, get a glimpse of one of today’s most talked-about personalities, Sarah Palin.

The occasion was a fundraising banquet of the Weatherby Foundation International, which immediately preceded the annual meeting of Safari Club International (SCI). Both events were held in Reno, Nevada. Both organizations are dedicated to ethical hunting, preservation and wildlife conservation.

My daughter Bitsy Kelley, an avid hunter and outdoors enthusiast, is a member of the Weatherby Foundation’s board of directors, and I was honored when she invited me to join her on this special occasion.

Former Governor of Alaska and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker at the Weatherby event and captivated the audience.

Since her presentation occurred at almost exactly the same hour that President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union address to the U.S. Congress, I had expected Gov. Palin to give a table-thumping speech slamming massive federal deficits, the size of government, “ObamaCare” and loss of individual freedom.

Not one of those political topics received anything more than the briefest of mentions. Her focus was on sharing tales of her own life experiences – growing up in small towns in Alaska and learning about nature, personal responsibility and family ties through outdoors experiences with her parents and siblings – something she has carried on with her own children.

She also got some chuckles and understanding nods from her audience when she talked about some of the funny and unexpected things that happened while filming the television series Sarah Palin’s Alaska for The Learning Channel.

Listening, I could personally relate to Gov. Palin’s proposition that outdoors activities are a great means of developing family relationships and instilling values in the next generation because I did something very similar with my own children. As they were growing up, we spent many, many days in the fields of all of Hawai‘i’s major islands and later, after I began to spend more time in Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains.

Ethical hunting, the outdoors and wilderness conservation are big business. SCI has approximately 45,000 members in 190 chapters worldwide. During the past three decades SCI alone has raised and spent nearly $300 million promoting ethical hunting and wildlife conservation. Its annual convention, traditionally held in Reno, is usually the largest convention to hit the “Biggest Little City in the World” each year. Typically 20,000 attend, including many vendors who display their goods and services in a massive tradeshow covering 650,000 square feet – about three times the size of the exhibition hall in the Hawai‘i Convention Center in Waikīkī.

I knew something really important was going on in town as soon as I stepped off my flight and into the Reno terminal. “Welcome Safari Club International” signs and displays were everywhere. The motif continued throughout the lobbies and casinos of the Silver Legacy, headquarters hotel for the meeting.

During my 24 hours in Reno, I had an opportunity to talk with many members of both Weatherby Foundation International and Safari Club International. These men and women are great travelers who go around the world in pursuit of their passion for hunting, the outdoors, and wildlife conservation. This includes Hawai‘i, where hunting is legal on the Big Island, Maui, Lāna‘i, Moloka‘i, O‘ahu, Kaua‘i and Ni‘ihau.

Yes, Ni‘ihau! Representatives from Ni‘ihau Safaris were at the SCI convention telling attendees of the unique opportunities available to hunt on the “Forbidden Island.” That activity not only produces an economic benefit but also helps control the population of Polynesian pigs introduced by early trans-Pacific voyagers centuries ago, as well as hybrid sheep brought there by ancestors of the Robinson family, which purchased the island in 1864.

A number of other SCI attendees were from Hawai‘i, had lived there in the past or visit Hawai‘i often. For example, I chatted with retired Marine Corps Lieutenant General Emil R. “Buck” Bedard. He told me how much he and those who served with him at Camp H. M. Smith in Aiea, Hawai‘i, appreciated the warm hospitality they always receive from Outrigger and OHANA hotels and the members of our ‘ohana. He singled out our Military Liaison, Mildred Courtney, for special praise.

Read more here.

Sounds like we all know who’s hotels we are staying in next time we get to Hawaii!

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Politico’s Andy Barr Caught Red-Handed “Making Things Up” About Sarah Palin

Above: Andy Barr. Lying, corrupt, left-wing hack.

UPDATED AT END OF THE ARTICLE:

SEE SECOND UPDATE AS WELL

By Gary P Jackson

The corrupt, left wing media is at it again. Andy Barr, a “journalist” reports an absolute lie at the so-called “political news site” Politico. At least this time he names a source, highly unusually for a website that’s famous for smearing Sarah Palin, and others, by quoting “unnamed sources.”

Barr used the lie to further the blood libel that somehow Sarah was responsible for the mass murders in Tuscon, even though that has been totally discredited. This is what Barr writes:

Palin retreats, won’t reload

Palin’s putting the safety catch on her references to weapons in the wake of Rep. Giffords’s shooting.

Continue Reading

Her speech last night to the Safari Club in Reno was closed press, but thanks to the Reno Gazette-Journal’s David Jacobs putting his ear to a closed door, we’re hearing the former Alaska governor’s new line.

Palin dropped the “reload” phrase from her routine, telling the audience of hunters “don’t retreat, stand tall” — a shift from her now infamous and well-known “don’t retreat, reload” line that played on a loop on cable in the after the Tucson shooting.

In the wake of the tragedy, Palin came under attack for having put Giffords’s district in crosshairs on her website.

In Reno, Palin also spoke in favor of gun rights and of her love of hunting, telling the crowd that hunting and fishing is part of American “exceptionalism.”

This is, of course, not true. Almost as soon as this BS story broke, a member of Free Republic, SFMom, posted that she attended the event and Sarah not only used her and her dad’s trademark line: “Don’t retreat, reload” but used it several times.

Rebecca Mansour, who works for Sarah, confirmed via Twitter that the Politico story is “inaccurate” and Sarah indeed used her trademark line.

Is it just me, or is anyone else just a little pissed off this twerp put the word: “exceptionalism” as in AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM, in quotes?

How cosmopolitan of Barr.

Now some people may be asking “what’s the big deal?”

Well, there are several. One, this lie creates the false narrative that maybe somehow Sarah feels guilty for an event she had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH, or that maybe she is somehow “effected” or even “cowed” by the attacks on her from the vile left wing media, and the democrat party.

It also gives Barr a chance to continue the lies and blood libel from the Tuscon shootings. To plant that little seed again, that Sarah IS responsible, AND now maybe realizes it herself. That’s how these corrupt bastards work.

We make it habit of never believing a single thing written on the pages of Politico …. ever. We always consider anything they write an outright lie, unless it can be verified through many other sources, independently.

It should be noted that while Barr himself may not have been a member of the left wing media conspiracy known as JournoList, Politico is lousy with corrupt JournoListers. Many who have conspired to write false stories about Sarah Palin, and cover up damaging stories about Barack Obama.

The bottom line is: Sarah Palin has NOT retreated and has ALREADY reloaded. She’s loaded for bear and ready to take on the entire bunch.

This little story does, however, serve to remind Americans nationwide that our media is corrupt, and can no longer be trusted.

UPDATE:

After we wrote this article, a bunch of people took to Twitter to tweet the news story around. Corrupt “journalist” Andy Barr scrubbed the website Politico of the story altogether.

Barr has NOT publicly apologized to Sarah Palin though.

You can encourage Barr to do so on Twitter. His handle is @AndyBarr34

Free Republic and other websites reported Barr’s false story as fact, so you can still view what Barr wrote, even though he threw his bogus nonsense down the memory hole

** SECOND UPDATE

As the night rolls on, this just gets sadder for “journalism.”

Barr has restored the link to his original lie, but NOW his story reads:

Palin retreat? She’s reloading

Palin’s firing back after a Nevada newspaper reported she put a muzzle on her trademark “Don’t retreat, reload!!” phrase in the wake of Rep. Giffords’s shooting.

Her speech last night to the Safari Club in Reno was closed press, but the Reno Gazette-Journal’s David Jacobs put his ear to a closed door.

He reported Palin dropped the “reload” phrase from her routine, telling the audience of hunters “don’t retreat, stand tall” — a shift from her now infamous and well-known “don’t retreat, reload” line that played on a loop on cable in the after the Tucson shooting.

But Palin aide Rebecca Mansour denied that the former governor dropped the line, suggested to her by her father.

“The governor actually did use the phrase ‘Don’t retreat, reload,‘” Mansour told POLITICO in an email. “She also said, ‘Don’t retreat, stand tall.‘”

“Her father, Chuck Heath, was present at the speech yesterday, and the crowd cheered when she pointed to her Dad and repeated this favorite saying of his,” the aide added.

Compare the two stories.

Notice how Barr STILL refuses to apologize for his lie?

More diabolically, since he scrubbed the first story, someone who did not see the original story might get the idea that Barr is just a good old boy “objective” reporter who is merely reporting both sides of the story.

Notice he has no problem throwing the local reporter, who had no clue himself what Sarah did or didn’t say, right under the bus.

This is how the corrupt media works. They lie all day long, and when caught red handed, just erase the lie like it never happened.

BTW, Barr DID leave up the nearly 400 hate-filled comments from the left wing loons that read Politico. Make sure you read those. They represent the “cream of the crop” of the democrat party.

These sort of people do not deserve to have a job in the news business. At best Barr should be asking diners if they want fries with that burger. He represents everything that is wrong with journalism, as does the corrupt left wing publication that employs him.

Again, feel free to let Barr know how you feel.

WSJ: Eliminationist rhetoric against Sarah Palin: a production of the Missoula Children’s Theater – Update

By Stacy Drake

Disgusting.

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal reports:

For some perspective on the recent “debate” over “civility” and “eliminationist rhetoric,” let’s turn to Montana, home of the Missoula Children’s Theater. A recent production there gets a bad review today in a letter to the editor of the Missoulian, the local daily:

Open letter to MCT director Curt Olds:

First I would like to compliment you and the entire staff of “The Mikado” on the beautiful sets, costuming and professional performance we experienced on Sunday, Jan. 23. However, I must call you on something that was inserted into the play which I am almost positive was not in the original book.

The comments made in such a cavalier and oh-so-humorous way were uncalled for. Now, I realize you play to a mostly liberal audience in Missoula and so, I am sure, felt comfortable in your calling for the beheading of Sarah Palin. I am painfully aware that most in the audience tittered with laughter and clapped because “no one would miss her” but there were some in your audience who took great offense to this “uncivil tone” about another human being.

We are in the midst of a crisis that took place in Tucson where many started pointing fingers at that horrible right wing with all their hatred and targeting and standing for the second amendment and on and on and on. So, here we are in a lovely play with beautiful voices serenading us and we have to hear that it is okay to call for the killing of Sarah Palin because we don’t like her and no one would miss her. Unbelievable.

As a professional you should be ashamed of yourself, the audience should be ashamed of themselves and I am ashamed of myself for not standing up and leaving at that very moment. I would like to see an apology from you not because I want to hinder free-speech but for the hypocrisy this so clearly shows.

Rory Page, Clinton

Well, perhaps Olds made a clerical error and one of Andrew Sullivan’s works got into the Arthur Sullivan file.

In all seriousness, though, like much of what we have been writing about in the past few weeks, this incident is shocking but not surprising. For all the bogus accusations being thrown at Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, genuinely hateful political rhetoric is commonplace in the art world, even in art that is not overtly political.

You can read the piece in it’s entirety here.

Art itself is not overtly political, but a great number of artists are. Being an artist myself, having attended an art college, I am familiar with the prevailing mindset of many in the trade. A left-leaning, sometimes perverse, and poorly informed demographic, if there ever there was one.

This little spectacle at the Missoula Children’s Theater no less, is indicative of a bigger issue. The recent calls for “civility” from the left are, as most of us have figured out, a complete farce. For years, the left have used many avenues of communication such as art and literature to dehumanize and vilify their political opposites. Their tone can be vicious and at times, violent.

Yesterday, Alan Colmes insinuated that it was a “crazy right-wing conspiracy” to suggest that the left’s call for civility is nothing more than an attempt to silence their opposition. I think the actions of Curt Olds and his “liberal” audience prove the left’s mindset, thereby highlighting the lack of sincerity when they speak about a “new tone” in our political dialog. Go ahead and count this as just another example of left-wing America’s glaring hypocrisy.

Update: Warner Todd Huston from Rightpundits is reporting that Michael McGill, the Director of the Missoula Community Theater has “apologized.” The apology reads:

I am sorry that the satirical reference to Sarah Palin has offended some of our patrons. Gilbert & Sullivan were well-known as satirists, addressing the social and cultural issues of their day—aristocracy, government, etc…. Some of the lyrics performed in The Mikado around the country today reflect the issues and topics of our time. We know that “MCT” means many things to many people—and we are blessed with passionate, loyal audiences, here in Missoula and around the world. In this instance, however, we are talking about an MCT Community Theatre production (not to be confused with a Missoula Children’s Theatre production). Although MCT Community Theatre did not pen the lyrics that were found to be offensive, we have taken the action of removing them from this production. It is my hope that the audiences will appreciate the hard work, artistry and beauty within this MCT Community Theatre production of The Mikado.

Well, he clarified that the play was not a children’s production, which is good I guess. However, he did not apologize for what was said or the sentiment expressed, he merely apologized that people were offended. Which is really no apology at all.

(H/T: indemind)

Soviet Space Expert James Oberg: Sarah Palin Was Right About Sputnik

By Gary P Jackson

This never gets old. Sarah Palin makes a brilliant statement, or two, usually ripping the Obama regime’s agenda all to pieces, then the left and their media allies [the blood libel media] start trash talking, calling her stupid, or worse, then an actual expert will show up and say “you know, that Sarah Palin is spot on.”

This happens constantly, but the rabid left and the blood libel media still play their silly little Alinsky games. Too dumb to realize Sarah has read Alinsky too! [and she’s better at it than they are]

This time it’s Soviet space expert James Oberg. Via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit:

I’m seeing up close how ‘Palin Derangement Syndrome‘ can compel otherwise intelligent people to foam at the mouth and babble nonsense to prove they’re right and she’s wrong. The historical view is that the early Soviet victories in the Space Race led to the US response of the Apollo program, whose triumph validated the superiority of US space technology — which had profound diplomatic, military, commercial, and cultural consequences.

When Reagan challenged the USSR with Strategic Defense in the 1980s, Apollo had given that challenge credibility — and the same pundits in the West and in Russian who pooh-poohed SDI had also pooh-poohed the odds of Apollo working. Proven wrong once, they lost credibility when Gorbachyov had to decide when/.if to pull the plug on the USSR’s own hideously expensive space weapons programs (eg, Polyus-Skif and Buran).

Soviet leadership came to believe, rightly or wrongly, that SDI was a lethal threat to them, based on the success of Apollo that had only been made possible by the stinging US defeats in the early Space Race, It’s more complicated, but the essence is, Palin was right: the Soviets sowed the seed of their own collapse by setting off the Space Race.

~ James Oberg

As Reynolds puts it, it’s another “Party Like It’s 1773” moment!

Ronald Reagan famously said: “It’s not that our liberal friends are ignorant, it’s just they know so much that isn’t so.”

Sarah Palin On Sputnik vs. Spudnut, And A Look Forward To The Future

Above: Governor Sarah Palin meets with Russia’s Ambassador To The United States, Sergy Kislyak

By Gary P Jackson

If our readers checked out coverage of Sarah Palin’s interview with Greta Van Susteren and her follow up posting on Facebook, you know that (A) she has been ripping Obama’s pep rally for even MORE Big Government boondoggles [otherwise known as the SOTU speech] to shreds, and (B) she likes potato flour donuts!

We find it delightful that Sarah was able to use a donut shop with a cool name [and an excellent play on Obama’s Sputnik reference] to illustrate the difference between the American Spirit, American Exceptionalism, and the ability to make one’s dreams become reality in a free society vs the crippling effect of Big Government intervention, and central planning.

Sarah elaborates on Sputnik and Spudnut further:

Please read this article by the Hoover Institution’s Research Fellow Peter Schweizer. Schweizer, who has written extensively on the subject of the decline and fall of the Soviet Union, offers a Washington Post writer an important refresher on the real history of Sputnik, since many critics are engaged in misreporting:

Palin’s other point is that Sputnik was the sort of government bureaucratic program that got the Soviet Union in trouble; it’s an example of what eventually did them in. Citing Wikipedia (what journalistic ingenuity!), Stromberg argues that actually the Soviet Union didn’t have a debt problem until some “thirty years after” Sputnik. Perhaps instead of relying on Wikipedia, Stromberg might have consulted Robert Gates’ book From the Shadows which chronicles, in part, his career as a Soviet analyst at the CIA. (Just in case they are unaware at the Post, this is the same Robert Gates who is now the Secretary of Defense.) On page 173, he accurately points out that the CIA knew early on of the “Soviet economic crisis. From the late 1950s, CIA had clearly described the chronic weaknesses as well as the formidable military power of the Soviet Union.”

Read the whole thing here.

Now, in a recent interview I mentioned analogies that could relate to solutions to our economic challenges, including the difference between a communist government’s “Sputnik” and the private sector’s “Spudnut.” The analogies I mentioned obviously aren’t comparable in size, but highlight a clear difference in economic focus: big government command and control economies vs. America’s small businesses.

If you’re near Richland, WA, you should stop by The Spudnut Shop, where you’ll find an all-American success story of a family owned small business that for over 60 years has been serving up a product that people want to buy. Businesses like this coffee shop don’t receive big government bailouts. They produce something with their own ingenuity and hard work. And here we see the former communist Soviet Union’s advancement (before its government debt-ridden demise) vs. America’s small businesses that are the backbone of our economy.

We’d be well off if we had a greater appreciation for the free market ingenuity of ordinary American entrepreneurs, both great and small – whether they make high-tech gadgets or potato donuts. And this goes for all our small business owners – whether they run a family farm, a commercial salmon fishing business, an auto shop, a print shop, a consulting firm, a restaurant, you name it. Our government should show them more respect by not punishing their success and limiting their ability to hire more people by over-taxing and over-reaching into their businesses. Don’t stifle their growth with burdensome regulations like Obamacare and cap-and-tax. Government should be on their side, not in their way.

I believe and trust in the strength of America’s private sector. But I sometimes fear that the current administration in Washington distrusts or discounts the individuals who have built this country; hence their belief that only a distant bureaucratic elite in D.C. can make decisions for our small businesses that will provide American opportunity. This administration’s thinking is wrong. We don’t need a command and control economy that “invests” our money in their half-baked ideas. We need freedom, reward for hard work, and a re-invigorated sense of personal responsibility and work ethic, especially among our young people.

We need to be as motivated and optimistic as our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents, many of whom started out with nothing but a dream as they built a life for themselves by the sweat of their brow. They didn’t ask for bailouts. They didn’t expect anything from anyone. They wanted the freedom and opportunity to work hard and prosper by their own merits. If at first they failed, they took their lumps, dusted themselves off, got back up, and tried again until they succeeded. They didn’t retreat. They built this country and they passed on to us more prosperity and opportunity than has ever been bestowed on any generation in human history. We must not squander that inheritance. Let’s get back to their common sense values.

~ Sarah Palin

This is spot on advice. America does need to look back at how our parents and grand-parents handled tough times. Not only making it through them, but coming out stronger, tougher, and more successful, as well.

I feel blessed in many ways. My parents were born in the early 1900s, as WWI was just getting cranked up, and I wasn’t born until much later, when they were in their mid-40s. I had the benefit of parents who lived through two world wars and the Great Depression. They both had a strong work ethic, and a no-nonsense approach to things. I didn’t get to spend as much time with them as most of my peers did their parents, as both passed on early in my life, but the couple of decades I did get to spend with them were essential.

America is in as tough a spot as it has ever been in, but common sense, AND history teach us that government is NOT the answer to our many problems. As Ronald Reagan often said: “Government is not the answer to our problems, government IS the problem.” He was right. Almost every problem we have can be traced back to something government did. Some well meant but misguided program, draconian regulation, or just plain old stupidity.

We need to do everything we can to get government out of our way, off our backs, and helping, not hurting.

We need to get back to First Principles, and our Founding Fathers’ vision for the Republic. One where the cities and states control their destinies, and the federal government stays out of the way, doing what it should do, protecting the nation from it’s enemies, foreign and domestic, while the engine of democracy does it’s thing.

Capitalism works, and works well, but only when government doesn’t meddle. Doesn’t try and pick winners and losers.

Not every business will succeed. Even Spudnuts, which was once a nationwide franchise, fell on hard times, but they survive today as a smaller group of independent owners, and carry on a brand that has been around since 1946. They did this by learning from mistakes, doing what had to be done to survive, and good old fashioned hard work. And, making a good product, as well. Not by government handouts.

Democrats introduced the concept of “too big to fail.” This is a dangerous idea. Also a strange idea coming from people who believe in the THEORY of evolution as fact.

Part of evolution in business, as in the animal kingdom, is survival of the fittest. Just like some species of animals, plants, and what have you, fail, so do some businesses. It’s a natural thing. A healthy thing. We learn more from failure than success. Also getting struggling businesses, that can’t be turned around, liquidated, helps strengthen the market as a whole. Works the same way in the plant and animal world as well.

Government “investment” in failing businesses and “concepts” only continues to prop up the walking dead, and wastes billion, if not trillions of dollars on things that will never be.

The entire “green economy” would collapse tomorrow if the hundreds of billions of tax payer dollars stopped propping them up. But the “wise men” in Washington [and some “good old boys” on the take] have decided they are smarter than the markets, and have thrown common sense to the wind, literally, pushing an agenda few want, and one that cannot survive in the free market.

The “green economy” has failed the “survival of the fittest” test. It’s failed to “evolve” into a viable business. We’ve been funding “green” for almost a century. Time to let it sink or swim on it’s own, and stop throwing good money [that we don’t have] after bad.

The same goes for other failed ideas. Time to just let go. 

We must be smarter. We must tell the federal government to cease and desist. It’s well past time to stop the Soviet style central planning of our economy, and our lives. It has been a miserable failure. It has put us over $14 trillion in debt. That’s basically 100 percent of the nation’s yearly gross domestic product! [GDP] It’s beyond simply unsustainable, it’s a serious national security risk. The very nation could collapse under the weight of the debt. Simply cease to exist.

Washington wants to GROW the debt more and control even MORE of our lives from the central office in D.C.

This is unacceptable. The great American Experiment has always thrived when government was held at bay, and hard working American were left alone to do their thing. It’s time to DEMAND this be the case once again, and take solid steps to make sure it is ALWAYS the case moving forward.

Sarah Palin is the nation’s only top leader who is making this case for the American people. She gets it. This is why we must get behind her efforts to bring REAL CHANGE to America.

BTW, Sarah has visited The Spudnut Shop in Richland, WA and the Tri-City Herald reports on local reactions to this story and has a photo gallery of her visit. You can check that out here.

Michael Williams: I’m In!

By Gary P Jackson

Got a great email from Michael Williams today [as did all of his supporters] :

I’m In!

Dear Friends,

Today I officially announced my candidacy for the United States Senate in 2012. Let me tell you a little about how I reached this decision.

All too often, good people run for elected office for the wrong reasons. In each of my successful statewide races in Texas, I have sought that office with a specific purpose that involves serving our people rather than pursuing power.

First and most importantly, what guides me is a desire to serve God and my family. But I also feel called to serve the people of Texas, and my purpose in seeking this seat is to bring a prosperity agenda to Washington that empowers individuals instead of government.

I will go to Washington, D.C. to fight the establishment that expands government at the expense of our liberty. I will advocate for free markets unfettered by excessive federal regulation. I will champion life, and stand for the rule of law in enforcing our borders.

President Obama and the Democrats in the Senate are blocking true conservative reform including the repeal of ObamaCare, immigration reform, spending cuts, tax reform and the will of the electorate. If you send me to Washington, I will fight to restore our freedoms, and unleash future generations from a burden of debt.

But I need your help. Your contribution can help fuel a resounding victory in 2012.

Can you chip in $20 or more to help us start off strong?

Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support.

God bless,

Michael

This is what we have been waiting for since Kay Bailey Hutchison announced she was retiring. Michael Williams is the right man for Texas and the Right man to represent Texas in Washington. A solid, Common Sense Conservative. Someone to help turn things around!

Now that it’s official, send Michael a $20 to help him kick things off. Stop by his website WilliamsforTexas to donate.

Also follow Michael on Facebook and Twitter.

Sarah Palin Talks About What A Palin Presidency Would Look Like On The Bob And Mark Show

By Gary P Jackson

This is an incredible interview with Sarah Palin. She talks policy and what she will do as President. It’s slash and burn time for wasteful spending, strong foreign policy, entitlement reform and much much more. You understand really quick that Sarah is ready to rock and roll and get things done. She understands what must be done.

Oh, and she’s running! 

A must hear interview.

Audio courtesy PalinTV.

Caroline Glick : The Aim Of Blood Libels

By Stacy Drake

Caroline Glick wrote a powerful piece for the Jewish Press in which she discusses the recent attacks of Governor Palin, the similarity of the level and nature of those attacks to what Israelis have endured, and the real meaning of the silence from members of the governor’s own party in the wake of these horrible events. She writes:

For Israelis, the American Left’s assault on Sarah Palin and the conservative movement in the wake of Jared Loughner’s murderous attack in Tucson was disturbingly familiar.

Just as the American leftist media and political leadership immediately sought to blame Palin, the Tea Party and conservative media personalities for Loughner’s actions, so in 1995 their Israeli counterparts accused the Right – from then-opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu to various rabbis to the two million Israelis who protested against the so-called peace process with the PLO – of being responsible for Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination.

Just as Palin and her fellow conservatives are accused of inciting the schizophrenic shooter to pull the trigger, so Netanyahu and his fellow rightists were accused of inciting the sociopathic Yigal Amir to plot and carry out his crime.

And just as it doesn’t matter to the American media elites that Americans conservatives engaged in no such incitement, and that Loughner himself seemed motivated to act by a mad obsession with grammar, it didn’t matter to their Israeli counterparts that Amir’s closest associate and the man responsible for the most incendiary anti-Rabin propaganda was Avishai Raviv – a government agent.

Palin’s characterization of the Left’s appalling assault on her and her fellow conservatives as a “blood libel” was entirely accurate. Moreover, as her previous use of the term “death panels” in the healthcare debate brought clarity to an issue the Left sought to obscure, so her use of the term “blood libel” exposed the nature of the Left’s behavior and highlighted its intentions.

By warning about “death panels,” Palin highlighted the fly in the ointment of government healthcare. Government control will induce scarcity of healthcare and government rationing will necessarily follow. That rationing, in turn, will be undertaken by panels of government officials empowered to decide who gets what care. Her remark focused the debate on the flaws in the program in a way no other had.

In the case of her use of the term “blood libel,” Palin exposed the Left’s attempt to criminalize conservatives and make it impossible for conservatives to either defend themselves or pursue their alternative policy agenda. A blood libel involves two things: First, an imaginary crime; second, the accusation that an entire group of people is guilty of committing that crime that never occurred.

Classically, of course, blood libels have been used against Jews. Anti-Semites accused Jews of killing non-Jews for ritual use of their blood. Jews had murdered no one and Judaism has no ritual involving the use of human blood. Yet, repeatedly entire communities were criminalized and persecuted based on these blood libels.

By criminalizing the entire community based on false allegations regarding a never-committed crime, anti-Semites made it impossible for Jews to go on about our lives. If we sought to deny the charges, we gave them credibility. If we ignored the charges, our silence was interpreted as an admission of guilt. And so no matter what we did, the blood libel firmly attached the stench of murder to a completely innocent Jewish community.

Just as its Israeli counterpart did in the wake of Rabin’s assassination, so the American Left seeks to attach a sense of criminality and violence to the American Right in order to make it socially and otherwise unpalatable to support or otherwise identify with it.

By calling the Left out for its behavior, Palin exposed its agenda. But the logic of the blood libel remained. Trusting the public’s ignorance, and the liberal Jewish community’s solidarity, the leftist media in the U.S. immediately condemned Palin for daring to use the term, hinted she was an anti-Semite for doing so, and argued that by defending herself, she was again inciting violence.

Many conservative thinkers and politicians have long viewed Palin as a liability. By remaining in the spotlight, they allege, Palin is helping the Left. They argue that the media have already destroyed her ability to communicate with non-conservatives. Since she is viewed as a conservative leader, by failing to shut up she is making it impossible for other potential leaders whom the media don’t despise to connect with the swing voters they will need to unseat Obama in 2012.

While alluring, this position does more than harm Palin. It renders the 2012 election irrelevant.

It matters not whether these conservative thinkers support Palin. What matters is that by telling her not to defend herself from libelous attacks, they are accepting the Left’s right to criminalize all conservatives. If she is not defended against a patently obscene effort to connect her to a madman’s rampage in Tucson, then conservatives in the U.S. are signaling they really don’t want to control U.S. policy. They are saying that if a Republican is elected in 2012, he or she will continue to implement Obama’s radical policies.

In certain ways, Palin is a revolutionary leader and the Tea Party movement is a revolutionary movement. For nearly a hundred years, the Left in its various permutations has captured Western policy by controlling the elite discourse from New York and Los Angeles to London to Paris to Tel Aviv. By making it “politically incorrect” to assert claims of Western, Judeo-Christian morality or advocate robust political, economic and military policies, the Left has made it socially and professionally costly for people to think freely and believe in their countries.

What distinguishes Palin from other conservative leaders in the U.S. and makes her an important figure worldwide is her indifference to the views of the Left’s opinion makers. Her capacity to steer debate in a way no other conservative politician can owes entirely to the fact that she does not seek to win over leftist elites. She seeks to unseat them.

The same can be said of the Tea Party. The reason it frightens the Left, and the Republican leaders who owe their positions to their willingness to accept the Left’s basic agenda, is because it does not accept the Left’s policy platform.

Today in Israel the Left is running a campaign to protect foreign-financed, anti-Zionist, Israeli registered NGOs from public scrutiny. All politicians who support an effort to publicly expose these groups’ foreign funders are demonized as “anti-democratic” and “fascist.”

Fearing the Left’s assault, Likud ministers Dan Meridor, Michael Eitan and Benny Begin as well as Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin have sided with these radical, anti-Zionist groups against their transparency-seeking Knesset colleagues. And all four men were congratulated for their commitment to “democracy” and “liberal norms,” by the media.

It doesn’t matter that the Left’s accusations against those demanding transparency are completely ridiculous and libelous. It doesn’t matter that the Left’s campaign exposes a deep-seated fear of the very democracy it fraudulently claims to value. What matters to these Likud politicians is that the media place them above their unwashed colleagues.

[…]

The Left’s campaign against Palin is not just about Palin. If she is discredited for standing up to blood libels then no one in the U.S. or anywhere else can expect to succeed in moving past the failed and dangerous leftist policy agenda. But if she is defended, a world of possibilities opens up for all of us.

You can read this great article in it’s entirety here

Governor Palin on the Issues: Energy Regulation

By Whitney Pitcher

A piece published in Kiplinger earlier this month discussed how, under the Obama administration, energy production is down to a trickle in the Gulf in particular. While the Obama administration lifted the deep water drilling moratorium in October, no leases for drilling in water deeper than 500 feet have been issued. If this continues, estimates state that it would result in lost production of 400,000 barrels a day (equivalent to 7% of the domestic production). The moratoriums and regulations that President Obama have placed on drilling and the subsequent effect these measures have on energy independence show how interlinked energy independence and energy regulation are. Recently, I discussed Governor Palin’s stance on energy independence. The next issue I’d like to address is Governor Palin stance on energy regulation.

Governor Palin’s experience has made her an authority on this subject. Following her time as mayor of Wasilla, she served as Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) chairman from 2003-2004. In her book, Going Rogue, she discusses the role of this Commission:

AOGCC functions include maximizing oil and gas recovery, minimizing waste, approving oil pool development rules, and maintaining state production records. The commission also lends a hand in protecting the environment from contamination during drilling and also ensures environmental compliance in production, metering, and well abandonment acitivities, so federal agencies like the EPA as well as private interests and environmental groups have key interests in the commission’s activities. In my view, the nation deserved an agency that was a fair, impartial body with the best interests of Alaskans and the country in mind.

In short, Governor Palin’s experience has given her the expertise to know how best energy development must be overseen to optimize production with environmental protection within the framework of the state and federal government. This framework is something that she would later appropriately challenge as Governor when she sued the federal government for unnecessarily placing a healthy polar bear and beluga whale populations and on the endangered species list which prevented oil and gas development from taking place in those areas. She also has, of course, been a strong proponent of opening up the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to development arguing that its small carbon footprint would do little to affect the environment as a whole nor the animal population. Excessive and misplaced environmental regulations prevent energy exploration which in turn makes America more dependent on foreign sources of energy. She also set up a Petroleum Integrity Office to oversee oil companies and keep them accountable.

What you’ll find in Governor Palin’s approach to responsible energy development is a 180 degrees different than President Obama. President Obama focuses on over-regulation while Governor Palin focuses on oversight. This is seen most clearly in the way that both approached last year’s Gulf oil spill.

She pointed out in a Facebook post last summer following the spill that President Obama took nine days to deploy Dept. of Defense equipment to assist in stopping the leak, 3 weeks for Energy Secretary Chu to bring together experts to discuss how to deal with the spill, and more than a month for approval of sand barriers to help protect the Louisiana coastline at the request of Governor Jindal. So as the President dithered, as he often does with tough decisions, Governor Palin offers the a solution based on what the federal government put in place following the largest oil disaster previous to this one, the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska:

The 1990 Oil Pollution Act was drafted in response to the Exxon-Valdez spill in my home state. It created new procedures for offshore cleanups, specifically putting the federal government in charge of such operations. The President should have used the authority granted by the OPA – immediately – to take control of the situation. That is a big part of what the OPA is for – to designate who is in charge so finger-pointing won’t disrupt efforts to just “plug the d#*! hole.”

In a previous Facebook post, Governor Palin offered another solution for how she would deal with such a disaster especially as it pertains to the involvement of oil companies (emphasis mine):

In the meantime, let me make a constructive suggestion to help the White House out of its current impasse. They should reach out to the best oil and gas team in the nation and tap into its expertise. I know just the team: Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, led by Commissioner Tom Irwin. Having worked with Tom and his DNR team as Governor, I can vouch for their expertise and their integrity in dealing with Big Oil and overseeing its developments.

This team’s (and Alaska’s PSIO team’s) expertise on oil spill issues is particularly relevant. We all lived and worked through the Exxon oil spill, and we all committed to the principle that this would never happen again in Alaska’s waters, at least not on our watch. That’s why we created the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office (PSIO) when we saw proof of improper maintenance of oil infrastructure in our state. And that’s why we instituted new oversight and held BP and other oil companies financially accountable for poor maintenance practices. And that’s why we cracked down on unethical and unsound practices by oil companies and their contractors that operate in Alaska. And that’s why I filed a Friend-of-the-Court brief against Exxon’s interests for its decades-old responsibility to compensate victims adversely affected by the Exxon-Valdez oil spill. None of these actions made us popular with oil company management. (In fact, Commissioner Irwin received a message from a North Slope oil company employee that summed up their view of our efforts well: the message told him to “go to hell, but resign first.”) Our relationship with Big Oil may have been perceived as contentious because we always put the interests of Alaskans first.

One thing that stands out about Governor Palin approach to regulation is that it is not regulation, but instead, oversight. For Governor Palin, it is not about heavy handed regulation or government putting “their boot on the throat” of an oil company. It is about ensuring that an oil company or a company in any industry is accountable for their actions and accountable to the consumer. It is indicative of Governor Palin’s philosophy of government. In Going Rogue, Governor Palin wrote, ” the role of government is to protect us, not to perfect us”. This is quite the opposite of what President Obama is doing. Following the spill, he decided to suspend drilling in the Arctic and canceled leases in the Gulf and off the coast of Virginia; some of this has continued to this day. This is an example of the government trying to perfect. If no drilling is allowed, there is no chance for spills or environmental problems. There is “perfection”– the absence of accidents. However, as Governor Palin, suggests government has a role of oversight and insurance of accountability as she has suggested with the federal law and the Alaskan office. The occurrence of car and plane accidents have not stopped people from driving or flying, nor should the occurrence of a drilling accident cause the halt of drilling. As Governor Palin also suggested, drilling must continue, and safer opportunities exist–like ANWR:

Please, Mr. President, hear me on this, if nothing else: if it’s your administration’s decision to suspend the leases of new oil field developments off the coast of Alaska in response to the Gulf’s deepwater spill, and you still remain committed to locking up ANWR and other oil-rich lands, please know you are making a mistake. Unless we continue to drill here and drill now, we risk digging ourselves deeper into the hole created by our continued dependence on foreign energy – which often comes from regimes that care nothing for our prosperity or security, and even less for global environmental safety.

We need affordable, reliable, secure, environmentally-sound, and domestically-produced energy, but this administration continues to lock up federal land filled with huge energy reserves. If there is to be a moratorium on offshore development, then it’s time we stop ignoring our safest options for domestic development – places like ANWR and NPR-A in my home state of Alaska.

It also must be pointed out that suspending a large portion of drilling and continual over-regulation does not only make America more dependent on foreign sources of energy, it also affects our economy and American jobs–the very focus of President Obama’s State of the Union address earlier this week. Over-regulation and agenda driven economic policies, rather than consumer driven policies, hurt the economy and kill jobs. This has not stopped President Obama from implementing burdensome legislation and EPA administered policies.

Governor Palin has stood for energy oversight, rather than regulation, that protects the environment and hold energy producers accountable while providing both energy and physical security to America. Energy producers are accountable directly to the American people, who are their consumers, and indirectly to the American people via the government, elected by the American people. The Obama administration does not hold oil companies accountable as evidenced by the BP oil spill when the rig that caused the disaster received a regulatory pass just 10 days prior in addition to a waiver the previous year.

Proper oversight by state level agencies like AOGCC and PSIO in addition to appropriate federal regulations can ensure environmental, economic, physical, and energy security for America while ensuring ethical practices of these producers. Burdensome over-regulation accompanied by insufficient accountability leads to an economic and energy environment where America becomes dependent upon foreign sources of fuels,as the Kiplinger piece mentions. Such policies also have a negative affect on the economy and American jobs. Governor Palin promotes oversight that allows for energy industry to remain accountable and America to be secure and independent in every sense of the word.

Sarah Palin To Headline Reagan’s 100th Birthday Celebration At The Reagan Ranch

By Gary P Jackson

This is an exciting announcement. As we start the year long celebration of the life of one of our nation’s greatest leaders who better to be front and center than Sarah Palin, a true Reagan Conservative who embodies the spirit of everything that made Ronald Reagan great.

From Publius at Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government:

Governor Palin Chooses Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan Ranch Center as the Backdrop for her Speech to Honor the 100th Anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s Birth

Young America’s Foundation announced today that Governor Sarah Palin will give the keynote address on February 4 at its Reagan 100 Opening Banquet at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, California, for the 100th anniversary celebration of President Reagan’s birthday. Governor Palin was Alaska’s youngest and first woman governor and the first female Vice Presidential candidate in the history of the GOP.

“I am very excited to have been selected to address Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan 100 dinner,” Governor Palin said. “Young America’s Foundation has been sharing the values of President Reagan with young people for more than 40 years, and there is no organization more committed to preserving freedom’s future.”

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth, Governor Palin will reflect on the seminal speech by President Reagan, “Time for Choosing,” that discussed the risks and rewards before an America at a crossroads in the early 1960’s. Governor Palin will draw parallels to today while calling for young people to continue the Reagan revolution into the future.

Vice President Dick Cheney will also headline the celebration weekend and deliver the keynote address at the closing Reagan 100 Dinner Banquet on Saturday, February 5 at the Reagan Ranch Center.

On Saturday night, the celebration weekend will close with a screening of Young America’s Foundation’s first film production, Still Point in a Turning World: Ronald Reagan and his Ranch. The film, directed by Stephen K. Bannon, addresses the importance of the Ranch as a representation of the values of the President and the urgency of passing those values on to the next generation.

The weekend’s festivities will include a series of panel discussions on Ronald Reagan’s lasting accomplishments as well as his important role in the future of freedom in our country. Panels will feature an array of scholars, writers, artists, and luminaries, including Reagan authors Lou Cannon, Peter Schweizer, Craig Shirley, and Lee Edwards; best-selling novelist Brad Thor; Reagan intimates and former Secret Service agents John Barletta and Dennis LeBlanc; artist Steve Penley; renowned film maker Stephen K. Bannon; Reagan administration alumni Frank Donatelli and Michelle Easton; as well as Young America’s Foundation President Ron Robinson, Director and author Wynton Hall, and Vice Presidents Kate Obenshain and Andrew Coffin.

These special events kick off an entire year-long celebration of President Reagan’s life and ideas and his relevance for today’s times. The weekend is part of Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan 100: Freedom’s Future initiative, celebrating the leadership of President Reagan and how important his vision is to the future of freedom in our country.

During the birthday weekend, select members of the press are invited to observe the birthday weekend festivities and tour the Reagan Ranch—Rancho del Cielo—where President Reagan spent nearly a year of his Presidency. Press must make reservations to participate. Space is very limited.

For further information on this event, or to request non-transferable press credentials, call Evan Gassman at (800) USA-1776.