The (((buzz))) around Anchorage.....

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From the townsquare in the city center... to the counter at Gwennie's old Alaskan restaurant.. to the pub at Chilkoot Charlies..

The chatter I've heard in the last 48 hours or so...

> "When McCain introduced her, why did Sarah blab on about Track (her oldest son) joining the Army because he wanted to proudly serve? Everyone here knows that he tried to play Division 1 hockey at the University of Alaska, but he didn't have a GPA of at least 2.00 that was required."

No biggie, but it irks some. There's no future in playing Junior Hockey and he couldn't get into college. Alaska's "first dude" (as he's called here) was pissed with the dismal direction of his son's future. Solution? .. Join the Army kid!

> "How could anyone select a VP candidate currently under investigation?"

By now everyone knows that she fired Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan.

After over 1.5 years of service by Monegan, Palin told residents that the firing stemmed from her desire to "move the department in another direction". After immense outrage from the public and media to explain the new direction she was referring to (Walt is very experienced and loved throughout Alaska), she finally came out about a week later saying that "he wasn't filling needed trooper positions".

Commissioner Monegan shared a memo to the Anchorage Daily News Governor Palin had issued to him insisting that he find a way to CUT positions. She goes on to hire her buddy from Kenai (pr: Key-nye) 'Chuck Kopp' to replace Walt Monegan. Only days into the job, questions arise as to how Kopp could be appointed "Top Cop in the State" when he was a defendant in a sexual abuse case and had been reprimanded. After briefly defending Kopp, she starts sweating bullets and "let's him go", but not without giving him a $10,000 severance package.

Note... Commissioner Walt Monegan, fired for no reason and who served for close to 2 years was given ZERO in severance pay.

Bad cop nets $10K - - Good cop nets nada.

Aside from all the other lies about never pressuring Commissioner Monegan to fire her sister's ex-husband, our governor still hasn't explained the severance pay questions. Independent investigation by former state prosecutor Stephen E. Branchflower continues....

> "Aren't people pissed that she sued the Federal Government after Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne added the polar bear to threatened species under the Endangered Species Act?"

Maybe. Maybe not. How will this go over with environmentally concerned Independents? Oh yeah. She doesn't believe global warming is actually occurring either..

> "The MSM keeps mentioning her high approval ratings, but they aren't explaining the reason"

Two reasons that people up here understand big time.

(1) She replaced an extremely corrupt governor with a 14% approval rating and (2) ... the BIGGEST REASON.. she lucked out and oil prices went through the roof -- SKYROCKETED --- after she took office.

Without so much as lifting a finger, the state went from a deficit of $475 million to over a $4 billion budget surplus and it's still growing strong. Oil money in Alaska = fat dividend checks to residents. Fat dividend checks = happy residents. (Every resident is handed a check each October from windfall profits)

The exact amount of this year's check is still unknown, but is expected to be well over $2,100.00 per person, with an added "fuel hardship check" of $1200.00 thrown in.

After the "trooper-gate" scandal, she smartly moved the date of the two fat paychecks a month ahead. So in approximately two weeks, every resident in the state will receive a minimum... MINIMUM.. of $3,300.00 each. (Residents will learn the exact amount of the dividend check in a week or so)

And speaking of oil... What do you think many Alaskans think will be used as the Republican's Rovian tactic to win this election?

----->> ENSURE THAT OIL PRICES GO THROUGH THE ROOF <<-----

With Governor Palin on the ticket, creating some sort of national defense crisis before the election is out the window.

But the one topic Palin can debate one side up and down the other, is Alaska oil and gas. If they can successfully create a situation where oil prices become America's top concern......



>>>>>>> BINGO.

People up here can already see the writing on the wall. No "October Surprise" in the form of a security situation...

...but keep an eye on escalating oil prices during the next two months.

Trust us. Sarah will b.s. the socks off everyone with her remedy to solve that specific problem.

And that's what the (((buzz))) around Anchorage has been..

"Commissioner Monegan shared a memo to the Anchorage Daily News Governor Palin had issued to him insisting that he find a way to CUT positions. She goes on to hire her buddy from Kenai (pr: Key-nye) 'Chuck Kopp' to replace Walt Monegan. Only days into the job, questions arise as to how Kopp could be appointed "Top Cop in the State" when he was a defendant in a sexual abuse case and had been reprimanded. After briefly defending Kopp, she starts sweating bullets and "let's him go", but not without giving him a $10,000 severance package."

I'm always disappointed when the citizenry of the state supports right-wingnuts.

Chikoot Charlie's! Is that place safe now? My mom went there with Dad and friends once and was not too pleased.

I saw a show on Discovery Channel the other day and completely forgot that some people made their living by delivering drinking water to homes for the winter. People loading up on three months worth.

I miss icefog.

up and handcuffed him to the bar, even though he was dead?

You posted first ;)

And he gets a $10,000 severence package? Hmm.

She will be, and I hate to say this, be destroyed on the National Political level. I do not, and would not wish that upon most politicians, except the current Bush administration, and that is only because of how horribly they done. She was vetted? Amazing! I wonder if the 'Pukes will vote for her nomination at their convention. I know we are only human with many failings, yet she has abused her power, and she does not have, apparently much brain power. So one good thing, she would not be an evil genius, like Dick Cheney. But, a bad thing, she does not appear very bright.
Obama/Biden. Best Ticket for this time!

properly vetted, no way. The stuff that's coming out about her now and from her own state and party is more than enough evidence for that. I think he'd planned on Pawlenty, but decided on Palin at the last moment after watching the Dem convention. It's gonna backfire bigtime on him. She is his "Harriet Miers."

I'm sending this far and wide!!

Arm Chair Politician, you've posted a very worrisome list of problems.

What are your sources?

I would guess. What makes the papers is usaully a smidgen of what goes on.

Edits due to html errors...

To answer your question, my sources include Alaska's talk radio (1080 KUDO (progressive), 650 KENI , and 750 KFQD ) which I listen to daily (and they loathe Palin), local news papers (Anchorage Daily News, The Fairbanks News Minor (conservative rag), and The Anchorage Press, friends who live in Wasilla and are related to state troopers and are Sarah's neighbors, local Alaskan bloggers (Andrew Halcro (conservative republican upset he lost to Palin), and friends in both the republican and democratic party. Another source to watch is Ray Metcalf; when there is corruption Ray normally is the person that breaks it first and is responsible for taking down the multiple republicans in recent time. The laundry list is long and there is more to come.

All I can offer at this point is to keep reading, researching, and digging...McCain's camp has people here in Wasilla now researching Palin looking for ways to spin the firestorm that will soon hit. We will soon see what the media is made of and how they report on Palin and her flip-flopping. My bet is that Palin was chose to promote the Alaska gas pipeline, drilling in ANWAR, and because our state is so small and removed it will be impossible for us to correct the national media machine with the correct information about Palin.

Palin has already been caught in another lie. Palin stated in a news interview she never spoke to her former top cop about her ex brother-in-law Wooten. An article just surfaced the last few days that has proof Palin sent two emails on this specific topic. There are a number of people sending FOIA's to the state as we speak searching for more documents and emails.

Note of interest...Bill McAllister is now in the Palin camp and is her state spokesman. Bill used to work for Channel 2 KTUU in Anchorage and gave Sarah great press looking for a job and now works for the Governor. The governor's other/former spokesperson Sharon Lahow used to work for clear channel radio 650 KENI.

Like McCain, Palin is very good at pandering to the media. She has baked cookies for them in Alaska and has called them many times on their birthdays. Palin understands that the media is important to keep on your side - this will be a hard road to travel once the national media figures this out.

Our local newspaper is finally starting to write some critical stories about Palin. Have you seen her October 2006 candidate survey? It was posted shortly before the election when she ran for governor. http://community.adn.com/adn/node/130090

Palin's old campaign website was Palin for Governor . If you use this link, you can view her old archives and shift through some of her old webpages; unfortunately it is incomplete but goes back to 2005. Archived pages to Palin for Governor. Palin has flip-flopped on more than the issues I raised above - another issue was the Longevity bonus for Alaska seniors. Once elected, Palin failed to use her massive popularity to bring the old program back even though it was a promise to Alaskan seniors on the campaign trail.


Thanks for the response to my posts. I hope to post new information in the days/weeks to come.

This just in -

Palin Daughter Baby Daddy -- "Don't Want Kids"

Read the article here.

saying that it wouldn't look good if he went after her. I just don't understand this - if she wants the job she has to stand up to the criticism.

*a lot* of people out there who will consider Biden a cad or a bully when he wins the debate.

Joe will be walking a tightrope.

That's usually how they operate.

How does that work?

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The late governor Hammond died a year or so ago. But his idea of sharing the wealth with every state resident lives on.

Obama should mention that when he talks about the windfall tax "Just like Governor Palin does it in Alaska!"

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Palin will likely go out of her way in states like Louisiana, Florida and all other states that drill telling residents how they too could be reap the benefits of such a system.

She's a female version of James Dobson, but she's also shady.

another name for a tax.

The state of Alaska is the landowner, not the oil companies. The oil companies make lease payments to the state in exchange for resource extraction rights on land owned by the state of Alaska.

A "windfall profits tax" (which is the misnomer applied to the Permanent Fund program by the poster I was originally replying to) is something completely different. It's a tax on the monetary profits realized by oil companies through selling the resource they've extracted.

sw

which goes to the people of Alaska and which would NOT be going to them if it weren't for the oil coming out.

Whether it comes at the front end or the back end is not relevant except in the semantic sense.

You can argue all you want about what to call it, the point is not lost on the residents of the power 48 that they aren't getting a check every year like the residents of Alaska do.

In fact the state of Louisiana has been barred from sharing in the royalties from the offshore oil wells until 2007 when the Domenici-Landrieu bill passed and Bush signed it.

the oil companies bought about a zillion TV commercials accusing the state of "raising taxes." The initiative lost, and no royalties are paid.

That all assets of the state are owned by the people of the state. We lease land to the oil companies to drill, they give us our share (not taxes, just our share of the profits as owners of the resource), and since the people are the owner we get our dividend yearly.

we refuse to call it a tax, and say we got the idea from
Governor Palin

The state of Alaska passed a law to share the money it collects for leases on state-owned land with its citizens. Any state could do the same if they wanted to. The Federal government could also do the same with the lease money it collects from oil companies drilling on Federal land.

Whichever governmental body that owns the land that the oil companies drill on is collecting lease money from the oil companies. They just aren't sharing it with their citizens.

sw

out we were screwed. Every place else could have done it but they didn't. Too bad. That dividend pays for a lot of medical, heating and other bills. I don't know anyone anymore who blows it. I had a friend who was Mormon and had eleven kids. They did well once a year. Costs a lot to raise eleven kids, the nut cases. :)

Isn't Alaska part of America?

the power interests did massive ads and the citizens voted against this and in so doing against themselves - Canada has this type of agreement with oil too

I remember it was framed as a way to socially benefit from the exploitation of the state's natural resources.

The state of Alaska collects royalties from the oil companies in return for giving the oil companies permission to drill in Alaska.

The royalties are put into the "Permanent Fund". The profits and interest earned from investing the royalties is then distributed to Alaska residents as the "Permanent Fund Dividend".

The amount of the Permanent Fund Dividend checks varies from year to year -- when oil company profits are up, the amount of royalties paid to the Permanent Fund goes up, and therefore the amount of the Permanent Fund Divident goes up.

So, generally speaking, most Alaskans are pro-oil drilling, because THEY all personally profit from it. It's damn hard to turn away free money, after all.

They most certainly do NOT want a Windfall Profits Tax -- that would cut down on the amount of money paid into the Permanent Fund, and would therefore would make their individual Permanent Fund Dividend checks smaller.

There's no personal state income tax in Alaska, btw.

sw

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Thank you for explaining how the nuts and bolts of the PFD program works! ~~~

how the PFD worked -- being the politically minded person that I am. :D

sw

in Alaska suggested this to the * admin to help speed reconciliation along. I'll give you two guesses to figure what they told him.

Alaskans are doing is NOT "Windfall Profits" they will come up with some new term to call it...knowing their kool-aid drinking followers will just accept their explanation.

This is a thread in and of its self and my post isn't designed to take over or divert attention from this great thread. I'll give you more from an Alaskan perspective the next time I see an ANWAR thread in the forum and I have some time.

First, there is nothing in the ANWAR region - its an Arctic waste land and no-one lives there. The argument for the porcupine caribou is a joke. Caribou numbers increased after the Alaskan pipeline was installed because of a year round access to food and an easier travel route for the animals. Second, ANWAR is a tiny section of the overall region that is protected - a sliver of land. Third, Alaska is a resource state and the federal government and lower 48 (this means you) are dictating to us what we can and can't do with our resource. Fourth, we are preventing native Alaskans from developing their own lands and bringing in money for their people in addition to the jobs it would create in Rural Alaska which is starving for industry.

Did you know our state was supposed to be a resource state that kept 90% of our royalties and only give 10% to the government? From what I've read and have been told, in return we were supposed to not use federal dollars/earmarks. When the feds found out how rich of a state we were...well, we now pay 65% to the government and are allowed to keep 35% of our resource royalties.

I've worked on the north slope. Our vehicles drive around with diapers and if you drop a single drop of oil on the snow or tundra the job is shut down. Unlike Texas and other states, we are responsible with our resources - could it be better? No doubt. But in Alaska, we are cleaner and more respectful of our lands than anywhere else in the world. Argue with me if you must but I've been there, worked there, lived there. Did you know diesel fuel is $6.00 a gallon in rural Alaska right now?

Needless to say the more resources we use and sell, the less tax dollars our state needs from the Federal government.

I'm a progressive but part ways with progressives when it comes to ANWAR. I'll be the first to admit that drilling isn't the single answer to our oil problems, but if we could drill and sell our resource to America , we could start a multi faced effort to reduce our dependency as we continue to install geo-thermal, natural gas, wind, tidal, solar, and other types of alternative energy in Alaska and around the country.

But I digress - lets get back to politics!

larissa; good to hear 'real' news from AK!

sued against placing Polar Bears on the Endangered Species list. :wtf:

Its been a long time, but that place must have changed. It scared me when I was 24, and I wasn't afraid of anything.

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"Chilkoot Charlies.. what were you doing there?"


.....

I swear. I had one drink. A Baileys and coffee.. nuttin else.

And yeah.. "Koots" as they call it is safe.

I lived there from 76'-96' they had it pretty cleaned up for the 21-29 crowd in the early 90's. I remember my friends saying "they don't mop up blood from the floor nightly anymore"

thanks

:hi:

Remember how they praised Bush's record as the gov of TX but it was all fake?

excuse me, I just made myself sick
:puke:

nt

Please feel free to chime in... we're all ears about what's going on up there! :)

and what do Alaskans think of someone who would laugh at this garbage:?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x178478

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But not because I listen to his raunchy (and it IS raunchy) morning radio show > http://www.bobandmark.com/ .. but because he's also the in-house announcer at all of the Alaska Aces hockey games.

That is BOB LESTER.

recently? I can't remember but it was a doozy. I think. :)

I'm glad to hear the inside talk from people who are in the know about the situation. It's always good to hear different perspectives since most of us criticizing the pick don't especially know too much except what little has been dug up already.

have had it with them. Now we are so lucky to get a popular corrupted idiot form Alaska who can lie better than *co.

without resorting to *ATTACKS* like this. You know, they make us all look bad and tarnish the image of all Democrats online and all and eventually imperil Our Nominee Himself because everything posted here immediately swings the polls by up to zero points!

K & R!

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me > < you


LOL!!

I haven't been able to drop in here until this evening, and I've gotta say.. this baby-gate stuff found on Kos or wherever is totally nuts..

Sarah definitely had the baby - not her 17 year old daughter.

But the rest of the attacks.. er.. facts.. Those are all sadly true.

lest we rouse the recidivist fascists noble opponents from their Iraq-induced torpor and, um..., uh... make them mad or something. We cannot offend propriety, for God's sake. We're nice lib'rals with out tastefuly printed kick-me-hard signs firmly affixed.

The "buzz" around Anchorage is a hell of a lot more issue-oriented than BabyGate.

Only part I might have just the teensiest issue with in that entire post was about the son's intelligence/patriotism/decision to enlist, but the first thing that really came to my mind when I read it was:

"It's a lot more likely that the issue of the Iraq war might actually get some real discussion since now both of the VP nominees have children who are or will be going to Iraq, this could be very good for getting our point across that the Iraq occupation must come to an end."

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Actually, his playing ability was so good that it would have been an advantage to have him on the local college team.

Alaskans are pretty hockey crazy and many of them keep tabs on new recruits.

So yeah.. People were sad that he wasn't able to make the roster at this time.

You're right. He's as patriotic as any of us.

And who knows? He has plenty of time. He could be in college on the VA program thanks to Jim Webb, or he could eventually wind up on a full hockey scholarship.

Apologies. No insults were meant towards Track. He's a good kid.

Doesn't sound like stellar parenting. Considering that the kid is coming from an advantaged background. JMHO.

IIRC, last year he attended a prep school in Michigan.
Herr other kids have aattended public schools.

Cut the anti-homeschooling crap. Plenty of liberals homeschool, even here at DU. And they do a damned good job of it. Stanford admits homeschoolers at a higher rate than it admits from its general application pool. Look it up. They love the "intellectual vitality" that homeschooled kids bring to the college environment.

... from what I can tell. She thinks opening ANWR will significantly affect our oil situation.

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She can get flustered easily while debating.

I'm trying to see if any of the 2006 gubanatorial debates are available online, or if KTVA - the station they were done at allows people to review them?

I heard Michael Carey (former Anchorage Daily News Editor) on CNN yesterday talking about moderating the debates.. And I may call him and ask if they have them available anywhere.

She debated former governor Tony Knowles, and former legislature (Independent) Andrew Halcro a few times.

When they traded barbs with her and she got her feathers ruffled quite easily. It would definitely be worth looking over again! She was able to do okay in certain areas and even throw out a few zingers.. but that flustered look of hers is priceless


Here's one of the debates.. Sarah Palin > some Green Party Candidate > Tony Knowles (D) > and Andrew Halcro (I)

read it for insider stuff

... about a complete unknown, and as much background as possible needs to be made available.

(McCain should be done, just based on the fact that he's selected someone without properly vetting them, or with enough time for the public/media to vet her before the election.)

scrubbed from the official Alaska .gov website now, but it was written up at the time she issued it.

thanks for the new info on the scandal. Wow, it looks even worse with this added information.
Maybe there is more 'there' there than we thought.

Now if only the MSM will get on this and broadcast it far and wide!

you give an excellent perspective that would be prefecrt for that format!!!! You can give on-the-ground reports!!!! DO IT!!!! :)

BIG TIME cronyism with the Kopp guy and his $10,000. Yikes. She's just as bad as the current administration.

:loveya:

K&R!

I am beginning to think that, unless martial law is declared, Obama may actually win this thing.

What happens to him after that is another story. But I think Rove/Cheney may very well let this one ride. The Palin selection is the end for McCain. He loses, then they regroup.

Nice to see that Alaskans are asking the right questions. Now we need to work on the lower 48!

A big K&R!

i have been trying to find info all day. I like to hear about these people from the folks who have had to deal with them. i only wish the media would do their job. i can hope eventually they will, i guess. i know i can count on keith olbermann and rachel maddow to do their jobs.

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" Shadow Governor ??



In the aftermath of the Walt Monegan firing, one question keeps surfacing over and over again; why does the governor's husband, Todd Palin appear to hold so much power?

...

The stories started last year when Representative Ralph Samuels told me about going into a meeting, he thought would be private, with Governor Sarah Palin. Much to his surprise, Todd Palin was there and proceeded to sit through the entire meeting.

Other lawmakers have shared similar stories and were shocked at how inappropriate Todd's presence was at meetings with the governor. Yesterday on the Dan Fagan Show, Representative Jay Ramras mentioned that Todd was working lawmakers offices during the ACES debate.

But more importantly, Todd's fingerprints on trying to impact personnel decisions appear to go beyond the current scandal revolving around State Trooper Mike Wooten.

Consider the story of one of Governor Palin's former trusted advisors, John Bitney.

......

Bitney was respected as a hard worker by people who knew him and worked with him. In six months, Bitney guided the governor's policies through the legislature, including her hallmark legislation; AGIA.

But John Bitney made the fatal employment mistake; he got on the bad side of Todd Palin.

In June of 2007, it became known that Bitney was dating the soon to be ex-wife of Todd Palin's good friend. Palin reportedly began demanding that Bitney be fired.

......".

Confidential Emails

The most alarming indication of Todd Palin's reach into state government came just yesterday.

Last month, a group of Alaskans filed a freedom of information act for emails sent from the computers of both Frank Bailey and Ivey Frye. Along with several boxes of documents, they received a cover letter along with 78 pages detailing the emails that were not released due to "Deliberative Process and Executive Privilege". (Privilege log attached)
......

The serious concern about these emails is that they were prohibited from being released to the public due to executive privilege, even though Todd Palin was copied on these same emails.

......

So why in the world is Todd Palin getting copied on emails that his wife's administration is classifying as confidential? "

MORE (lots more)

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/shadow_governor

Keep it coming.. I have a feeling that the selection of Palin has stirred things up in Alaska, and the republicans admitted "lite" vetting of Palin is going to come back to bite her in the ass very soon. There is a wealth of info out there on her, and the Rovians can't control it all (though I hear they have been busy trying scrub as much as possible and have headed up there to fix things.)

"Wake up Andrew...
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2008-08-31 12:29.
You are sounding way too kind to our Queen in an article that appears to be an attempt at showing that you are a Statesman, not a grudge holder, someone who sees the good in Sarah, etc. For Christ's sake Andrew, you need to be using your position as the Number one public critic of Palin to be warning Americans of Palin, not posting this type of good point/bad point crapola. Let me explain it to you in a different way. I voted for Palin. I had the exact same opinions of Palin THEN that I see so many others in the other 49 states, who are being exposed to Sarah for the first time, spouting off now. She is a "champion, a maverick, someone who is going to stick it to the establishment, a multi-tasking mother", etc. etc. blah blah blah. But after watching her in action I realized how incompetent she was, her numerous personality flaws, how unfit she is in her role as Governor, and what a dreadful mistake I had made. There are many others here posting who are just like me. If McCain wins, and Sarah is ever put in a position of power, Americans who are being fooled now, will also realize what a mistake they made and what a bag of goods they were sold. I think at that time, they will be looking more kindly at you as someone who tried to warn them, instead of someone who was playing the part of objective diplomat. It's our COUNTRY we're talking about now, not just this great state of Alaska. For God sakes start warning them Andrew!!! "


That comment was on his blog, in regard to his guarded critique of Palin, the VP candidate. Andrew apparently tried to be diplomatic in his comments, after spending so much time as a vocal critic of her. Perhaps, as a biographical article on his blog points out.. he is trying to make amends for not reaching out to a legilsator that he felt he wronged, before her death. He is trying to do the right thing in his NY Post article, but the response by a fellow Alaskan, is just chilling. Read more here: www.andrewhalcro.com

Who's Boss Hogg?

guess the chene-roves have been busy.

Wonder how the other dicey thing will be kept quiet. Lots of phone calls to the msm. Well if you can out a cia agent and get by with it. Start a war on pure lies. You can do anything. Torture, wreck the constittuion, etc. this is so simple. Pretty woman. Who loves to shoot and kill moose.

THIS is what we need. This is the kind of infor that the 'net is good at surfacing...

thank you !

With stuff like this to paste on her, why the hell is almost everyone here (it seems) going on about the pregnancy? It's totally irrelevant, and I'm sick of that shit.

Here's the Link. Interesting timeline and comments along the way.