Let the campaign begin!

(Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots; I always wondered why they were red and blue)

It can be easily inferred how I personally feel about Sarah Palin. However, in all fairness to the proceeding report I wonder how factual it is.

This is the big story about Palin. It centers around a letter being circulated by Anne Kilkenny, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska while Palin was Mayor, sent to some friends telling them what she purports are facts about Palin’s term as Mayor. Interspersed with those facts are personal viewpoints that make this letter even more interesting.

Her reason for writing the letter? “I have long believed in the importance of being an informed voter,” she writes.
By the way Kilkenny is a registered Democrat. I wonder how the republicans will respond to an average citizen who is a PTA member, attends City Council meetings habitually, and a housewife.

Some responses to the letter by bloggers suggest that Kilkenny is jealous of Palin’s success. I find that to be insulting and an attempt to discredit when all the facts pointed in the letter need to be validated and if they are then it doesn’t matter how one woman feels about another. Yes, there is a lot of opinion, but so was a majority of Palin’s acceptance speech at the republican convention. Let’s let the facts speak loudest.

Though not an avid reader of “The Nation” a liberal magazine, I am using their page on the letter because it seems to be the whole thing where as other sites have only partial parts.

Also to show the legitimacy of the letter, here is an interview of Kilkenny by NPR

All the major facts have been checked and found to be true – Anne Kilkenny is a real person who resides in Wasilla, Alaska.

Another article from the AP on Sarah Palin. It centers around religion. There have been articles today inferring that she is pentecostal and how bad that is. There have also been articles about how she isn’t and that the AP are scoundrels for saying so and being impartial. To me it doesn’t matter.

what does bother me is in the Ap article she talks about God’s Will. a quote from the article reads, ” In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it “God’s will.”

and this: “Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God,” she said. “That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God’s plan.”

and this: “Ms. Palin told graduating students of the church’s School of Ministry that as they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she’d work to implement God’s will as governor, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to take North Slope natural gas to North American markets.”

God’s Will? Really? How does she know what God’s Will is? it’s god’s isn’t it? to say everything is god’s will is a cop out. If everything is gods will then murderers should use it as their defense and be acquitted. I think it is quite arrogant to say what is God’s will especially when it is something that you want.

Here’s a quote from The late George Carlin on the hypocrisy in the use of God’s Will with a bit of prayer thrown in.

“Trillions and trillions of prayers every day asking and begging and pleading for favors. ‘Do this’ ‘Gimme that’ ‘I want a new car’ ‘I want a better job’. And most of this praying takes place on Sunday. And I say fine, pray for anything you want. Pray for anything. But…what about the divine plan? Remember that? The divine plan. Long time ago god made a divine plan. Gave it a lot of thought. Decided it was a good plan. Put it into practice. And for billion and billions of years the divine plan has been doing just fine. Now you come along and pray for something. Well, suppose the thing you want isn’t in god’s divine plan. What do you want him to do? Change his plan? Just for you? Doesn’t it seem a little arrogant? It’s a divine plan. What’s the use of being god if every run-down schmuck with a two dollar prayer book can come along and fuck up your plan? And here’s something else, another problem you might have; suppose your prayers aren’t answered. What do you say? ‘Well it’s god’s will. God’s will be done.’ Fine, but if it gods will and he’s going to do whatever he wants to anyway; why the fuck bother praying in the first place? Seems like a big waste of time to me. Couldn’t you just skip the praying part and get right to his will?” [George Carlin, from "You Are All Diseased".]

(Really, I’m not this into politics. I should be blogging about music, which is what I know, but for a reason I can not think of this early in the morning I am stuck on politics.)

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska’s daughters pregnancy offers some perplexing questions about choice as well as for the Christian Coalition stand on the pregnancy.

In a NY Times Article by Katharine Q. Seelye, Seelye quotes Laura Ingraham, the conservative radio talk-show host who says, ” if Ms. Palin’s daughter, Bristol, who is 17 and pregnant, had been the daughter of a Democratic candidate and had chosen to have an abortion, that family would be “hailed by the same elites who are launching a blistering assault on this woman and her family.” What Ms. Ingraham fails to realize is that Palin’s Daughter Bristol has no choice.

“We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents,” Sarah and Todd Palin said in an AP article

Palin is a staunch Pro-Lifer. Would she really let her daughter have an abortion if that was what her daughter decided? If you’re pro-life there is no choice, except for adoption, but that is not even a factor in this young woman’s pregnancy.

Prominent religious conservatives, many of whom have been lukewarm toward McCain’s candidacy, predicted that Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy would not diminish conservative Christian enthusiasm over the vice presidential hopeful, writes Liz Sidoti of the AP.

“I think it’s a very private matter,” said Roberta Combs, president of the Christian Coalition of America. “It’s a matter that should stay in the family and they have to work through it together. My prayers go out to them,” quotes Sidoti in the same article.

I wonder why the Christian Coalition is not upset that Bristol had sex out of wed lock. I am sure that they are happy to see that she did not use a condom or other form of birth control. If the Christian Coalition is so adamant about the pregnancy being a private matter then why do they have such a problem with sexual identity and preference or gay marriage? Aren’t all of these private matters?