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Caribou Ken Sues the Feds - Alaska joins anti-HCR lawsuit

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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:20 PM
Original message
Caribou Ken Sues the Feds - Alaska joins anti-HCR lawsuit
From Shannyn Moore http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shannyn-moore/caribou-ken-sues-the-feds_b_545631.html



My dears, sadly Caribou Barbie has been replaced with Caribou Ken.

Tuesday, Governor Sean Parnell and Attorney General Dan Sullivan announced plans to sue the federal government over health care reform.

Every GOP/Republican dog whistle was blown during the press conference. Parnell was partisan, pathetic and pure pander. Governor Parnell had a personal feeling the health care bill was unconstitutional and had the department of law look it over. "This is not about health care. It's a battle for freedom." He stated the federal government "is taking our freedoms".


He had no choice; the government could decide to mandate we "all buy gym memberships to fight obesity" or force us to buy GM cars. He claimed to protect "liberty interests". Huh? He won't "trade freedom for health care". Really? Easy to say when you have state paid health insurance for you and your family.

My favorite bite of this Parnell word salad? "It's time for us to breathe again, and deeply, of this American air rather than labor like colonists for an individual mandate." Oh, good, Palin's speech writer has a back-up job.

<snip>

In 1993, Sean Parnell was a state representative. I have looked high and low for his outrage and response to a Republican bill co-sponsored by Senator Ted Stevens. In November, 1993, Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., introduced what was considered to be one of the main Republican health overhaul proposals: "A bill to provide comprehensive reform of the health care system of the United States" that MANDATED HEALTH INSURANCE. So, Uncle Ted Stevens and the Republican party were trying to take away our freedoms? Well, where were you, Sean? Why didn't you speak up then? Oh, wait. You weren't running for governor.

In October of 2007, Sean Parnell endorsed to Governor Mitt Romney. "I am supporting Governor Romney because his record shows that he can improve America." Wow, is the mandated health care that Romney ushered in during his governorship of Massachusetts "improving America?" Parnell went on, "Additionally, he earned respect by keeping government spending under control as Governor of Massachusetts." What? How could Parnell support a man who killed the "liberty interests" of his own citizens?

Quite a day for the "Wish-I-Were-an-ELECTED Governor" Parnell. He basically called the founding fathers "unconstitutional"; accused Senator Ted Stevens and company of "taking away our freedoms" in 1993, and must now be horrified he endorsed candidate Romney after Romney implemented legislation that enslaved the fine folks of Massachusetts! What would Parnell say about the Bush Administration spending almost a billion dollars to implement universal heath care...in Iraq?

<snip>

After the string of Tea Party bumper sticker slogans, the governor was asked how much he expected the state to spend on the lawsuit. He said he didn't know. Sean, when you put something in the shopping cart that you aren't paying for, you should know what it's going to cost...or put it back on the shelf.



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mike_c Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:24 PM
Response to Original message
1. damn, I thought the headline was about Todd Palin....
THAT would be cause for celebration, IMO. Anything the Palins become involved with is automatically made dubious and unlikely to succeed.
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:26 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. Parnell is a Palin puppet.
We call him SP version 2.0 here.
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mediaman007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:26 PM
Response to Original message
2. How cynical can Alaskans be? Every year they send out check for thousands
of dollars to their citizens. If that isn't socialist, nothing is! If someone cut off those checks, that governor would be feeding the tuna 6 fathoms down!
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:29 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. There's definitely some governmental schizophrenia
going on here, no doubt. One of the big concerns the Republicans had about Mark Begich was they were sure he wouldn't be able to bring home the federal pork like Ted Stevens did all those years. And yet they want to whine about government spending. They're really terribly confused, poor babies.
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mediaman007 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:56 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. I hope that Begich is doing a good job, because I'm in the family.
Wouldn't want the name to take a beating!
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 02:06 PM
Response to Reply #5
7. So far he's doing okay.
I wish he were a little more liberal, but he's walking a fine line here in Alaska. I think he's doing the best he can.
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gratuitous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 01:59 PM
Response to Original message
6. Parnell's flip-flop isn't due to racism
So stop saying that. It's demagoguery, pure and simple. How many taxpayer dollars will Mr. Parnell spend tilting at this windmill? Oh well, it's not really his money, anyway.
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 02:10 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. I don't think anybody accused him of racism.
This is purely political posturing. He has two or three opponents in the Republican gubernatorial primary in August, so he's trying to get out in front and capture Alaska's right-wingers.
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gratuitous Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 02:39 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. It's just coincidental
That when Parnell suddenly discovered how bad health care reform is, it just so happened to be associated with a black man. No, I don't think anyone else was accusing Parnell of racism, but I sure was. However, as a big fan of your posts over the past year or so, I know that you're far more knowledgeable about Alaska and its politics than I am. So if you say Parnell's position is solely due to politics, I will take your word for it.
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Blue_In_AK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 03:00 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. If he's racist, he conceals it a lot better than SP 1.0 did.
I'm basing that on my perception that he appears to be more responsive to Alaska Native issues than his predecessor was. We don't have a large African-American population up here, so I can't say with any certainty how he feels about AA's.

I honestly believe with this suit he's responding to pressure from his Republican opponents, Ralph Samuels (who is a corporatist) and Bill Walker, who is of a more libertarian, Alaska-first mindset, in the mold of former governor Wally Hickel.
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EFerrari Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Apr-21-10 02:57 PM
Response to Original message
10. Omg. He even looks like Ken
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