Standing-By...

...for possible deployment to New Orleans or the Gulf Coast area if it gets hit hard enough by whatever hurricane that is headed that way right now. I suppose the President learned something from the last hurricane to devastate that area, otherwise why would my agency have just called me to ask if I was available to go on standby? When my group supervisor asked if I was interested in being put on stand-by to travel to New Orleans, I at first said I was not interested. He then asked if I had traveled to Atlanta before on standby to go to New Orleans (that was after Katrina), and explained this current detail was just in case the expected hurricane hits them hard again. I had thought it was for something to do with rounding up illegal aliens; but once I heard what it was really for, to help out if there is hurricane devastation, I volunteered without further question. Now I have to go round up some gear I may need to have ready just in case I actually have to go.

All the best,
Glenn B

Sarah Palin - Experience Or lack Of It

Here is the scoop. No matter how much Barack Obama will cry foul, no matter how much he will now whine that John McCain has hammered him for lack of experience, no matter how much Obama will try to make it look as if Sarah Palin has less acceptable experience toward running for executive office than himself - the absolute truth of the matter is that Sarah Palin has years more experience as a chief executive officer in government than has Barack Obama. She is the current governor of Alaska, she is the curretn Commander of The Alaska National Guard, she was elected as mayor twice. (I seem to recall lkiberals, independents, and some moderate or left leaning republicans hoping Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York would run for office.)

Granted her stint as mayor was in a village; however, the fact is she was the chief executive of thousands of folks in that town, and not once but twice; and she has worked her way through the ploiitical maze, and up the political ladder step by step. Before that she was a city council member, also for two terms. Now while that may not be big time insider, as in Washington D.C. insider time like that of Barack Hussein Obama, wasn't it Obama who when he first started to run for the presidency that claimed he was for change and that he was not and insider (and that was supposedly a good trait when applied to himself by himself). She later ran for the position of Lt. Governor and lost, but was in the spotlight so to speak, and the ten Governor Frank Murkowski seemed impressed with her political prowess.

She also was appointed to be the Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, appointed by Governor Murkowski (Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_palin). She served in that capacity for only about one year, but bear in mind what she did there and just after that is more noteworthy than anything Barack Obama has done while a senator: She quit that job in protest of the corruption she discovered, and because her attempts at uncovering the corruption, and blowing the whistle on it, were ignored by the then governor of Alaska - the same guy who had appointed her to the position in question. After quitting she did something quite courageous - she exposed the corruption of state Republican Party's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, one of her fellow Oil & Gas commissioners, and yes she too is a Republican. Palin filed formal complaints against both Ruedrich and former Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who both resigned; Ruedrich paid a record $12,000 fine. She is not full of hot air about the supposed great things she has done, as you may remember Obama tries to tout about a bill or three he voted on during his brief time actually working in the Senate (time actually working as opposed to over a year running for the presidency in which time he has done virtually nothing in the Senate).

In 2006 she ran for the executive position of Governor of Alaska. She won, having run on a "clean government" (as in not corrupt) platform. She has continued with her campaign against government corruption since she has been elected. In July 2008 her approval rating as governor was at or above 80%. Some of the issues (note I said some of the issues - not some of the hoopla) for which she stands are:

1) Oil: She is all for the research and development of oil as a continued fuel source.

2) Oil Independence: She is for drilling in ANWR

3) Alternate Energy Sources: She is all for research and development of alternate forms of energy such as wind power, natural gas, and nuclear power. She has also implemented conservation programs for home energy use.

4) Global Warming: She has definitive plans to research and combat global warming, but does not as does Al Gore, readily attribute it to being a problem caused by mankind without any real evidence of such having been the case.

5) Environment: She sees the need for environmental issues and things like energy development to coexist. Governor Palin is chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, a multi-state government agency that promotes the conservation and efficient recovery of domestic oil and natural gas resources while protecting health, safety and the environment (from her State of Alaska website: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/bio.html). She also sees a need to be careful not to make knee jerk reactions and opposed placing Polar Bears on the endangered species just based upon a global warming scare, and without at least some scientific research being done as to the Polar Bears' status (does this mean she does things reasonably, can you imagine that in a politician).

6) Taxes: She is for a windfall tax on the oil companies (ala Hillary Clinton), and has instituted one in Alaska. This has resulted in the state having a huge excess of funding, and she plans to give this money back to the people in the form of about $1,200.00 each. A sort of tax rebate paid for by not the everyday tax payer, but by the oil companies because of the wealth generated by drilling for oil in Alaska.

7) Abortion: She is unabashedly pro-life. She has 5 children, the youngest only about 4 months old and has Down Syndrome. She was aware of the Down Syndrome before the child was born. She is a member of Feminists For Life.

8) Gay Rights: She opposes gay marriage. She did obey an Alaskan Supreme Court order to implement same sex benefits, and signed a bill into law to that effect.

9) Separation of Church and State: On education and religion, she believes that both evolution and creationism should be discussed in schools (can you imagine that she is willing to have both sides of an issue be taught about in public schools).

10) Law & Order: She is truly anti-corruption and when she became governor, despite her husband having been a former employee of oil giant BP, she negated a deal that the former Alaskan governor had made with BP by way of a new law she had passed into the legislation (hmm she even has some legislative experience, all that Obama can tout). This law now allows a huge amount of natural gas to be piped into the lower 48 states of the USA.

11) U.S. Military & The War In Iraq: She is very supportive of the United States Military. As the commander of the Alaskan National Guard (hmm, more executive experience here, something to which Barack Obama does not even come close) she visited the U.S. troops in Iraq, and in hospital(s) in Germany. (Her oldest son was recently deployed to Iraq in the U.S. Army in the infantry.) All this, yet she has been critical of the Bush administration’s lack of long term policy on the war in Iraq (she is no one's puppet or mouthpiece).

13) Use of Natural Resources: She is pro-sportsman. She is a hunter, fisherwoman, snowmobile enthusiast, has run a marathon and has played team basketball. She is a self described 'hockey-mom'. She, as pointed out above is willing to drill for oil, yet also willing to develop and use alternative fuel sources.

12) Right to Keep and Bear Arms: She is pro Right To Keep and Bear Arms. She is a Life Member of the National Rifle Association.

13) Morality: She is moral. She is religious and attends church. She has been married to the same man for 20 or so years. They have 5 children together.

Now for the other side.

1) She is truly somewhat inexperienced when it comes down to it. She has little to no foreign policy experience. Neither does Barack Obama, but granted Biden his running mate does. She has made more tripe to overseas though, I believe than had Barack Obama, at least more trips to visit the troops, and no one had to twist her arm, and yes she visited wounded soldiers in the hospital.

2) Her experience, what she has of it is limited. She has a short time in government, but she has more time in government that does Barack Obama, yes she does count the years in the City Council, as mayor and as Governor. Her experience as a chief executive is monumentally more than that of Obama because he has zero experience as a chief executive officer, remember he is a legislator not an executive - there is a huge difference. He also has zero experience as the commander of a state's National Guard.

3) She is under investigation for allegedly firing someone because he would not fire someone else who was a State trooper; she has been open about this and it sounds to me like a case of the guy getting fired just trying to muddy the water for her as in revenge for his being fired.

4) She only holds a Bachelor's degree. What can I say - she has actually worked on her husband's fishing boat where she broke her fingers while doing so, and she knows hard labor both physical and academic. In addition, she was intelligent enough to have been twice on the city council, elected a two term mayor, and now to be governor of the State of Alaska. She has worked her way up from the bottom with no silver spoon in her mouth.

5) She is not a lawyer. Can you imagine that, a politician in an executive position (governor) who is not, and has not been, a lawyer. Move over Barack Obama and over 95% of the U.S. Senate.

6) She is not a Washington, DC insider - so my guess is with her stance against corruption many Washington D.C. insiders are dirtying their pants just thinking she may be elected.

7) She is a virtual unknown outside of Alaska. This is probably her weakest point, but my bet is she will be well known before the end of next month, and certainly before the end of October and the election in November.

The Bottom Line: The bottom line for me is this, she makes a better candidate for vice president than Barack Obama makes for president as I see her; but I am somewhat concerned at her lack of experience just as I would be with Barack Obam's if I were actually thinking of voting for him. Her lack of experience though does not seem to be as lacking as that of Obama in the executive branch of government, and even outshines Biden there. (Yes Biden has much more overall experience, but limited to legislative experience; and he is not my choice of candidates anyhow.) Unless something earth shattering comes up in the next two months to show otherwise, she has my full support as does Senator John McCain. Yes that means I will be voting after all (remember I said if he picked Lieberman or Ridge I would not find myself able to vote for him). Thank you Senator McCain for choosing a running mate for whom I can vote with a clear conscience based on the issues.

All the best,
Glenn B