What Is the AIP?

And what does it have to do with Sarah Palin?

…the Alaskan Independence Party. Putting plunder above patriotism, the members of this treasonous cabal aim to break our country into pieces and walk away with Alaska’s rich federal oil fields and one-fifth of Americas land base–an area three-fourths the size of the Civil War Confederacy.

AIPs charter commits the party “to the ultimate independence of Alaska,” from the United States which it refers to as “the colonial bureaucracy in Washington.” It proclaims Alaska’s 1959 induction as a state “as illegal and in violation of the United Nations charter and international law.”

This is from an article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over at the Huffington Post. Apparently, Palin’s husband was a member until very recently, and Palin herself still has strong ties to it.

Palin’s husband Todd remained an AIP party member from 1995 to 2002. Sarah can be described in McCarthy-era palaver as a “fellow traveler.” While retaining her Republican registration, she attended the AIP’s 1994 convention where the party called for a draft constitution to secede from the United States and create an independent nation of Alaska. The McCain Campaign has reluctantly acknowledged that she also attended AIP’s 2000 Convention. She apparently found the experience so inspiring that she agreed to give a keynote address at the AIP’s 2006 convention and she recorded a video greeting for this year’s 2008 convention. In other words, this is not something that happened when she was eight!

AIP was founded by a man named Joe Vogler who said, “I’m an Alaskan, not an American, I’ve got no use for America or her damned institutions.”

Apparently, Palin doen’t see the same America as you and me.

Democrats Moving Forward

Saturday, Hillary Clinton did the right thing, and she did it with much grace and in a positive way. As she has said, it is now time for Democrats to come together and correct the course that this country has been on. For us to continue on the course that bush (and believers in his policies) has stubbornly followed, is insane.

Oh, and for those (alleged Hillary supporters) who say they will vote for McCain/bush rather than Barack Obama, the jig is up. Even if the news programs don’t get it, we all know you are really Republicans attempting to split the Democratic vote. It’s the only thing that makes sense.

the all-white elephant

Frank Rich (New York Times) has a fantastic column today entitled, The All-White Elephant in the Room,

in which he lambast the main stream media for its double standard.

…if there’s any coherent message to be gleaned from the hypocrisy whipped up by Hurricane Jeremiah, it’s that this nation’s perennially promised candid conversation on race has yet to begin.

This one is well worth the little time it takes to read. John Hagee is dealt with and questions are raised that have yet to be brought up by the MSM. The defense for not bringing up McCain’s ties to Hagee has been that McCain was not a member or Hagee’s church for 20 years. Mr. Rich points out however,

That defense implies, incorrectly, that Mr. McCain was a passive recipient of this bigot’s endorsement. In fact, by his own account, Mr. McCain sought out Mr. Hagee, who is perhaps best known for trying to drum up a pre-emptive “holy war” with Iran.

It should be interesting to see whether any in the MSM brings up the dead topic again without mentioning Hagee now that it has been exposed in the Times.

(image © Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)

coffee anyone?

Opponents Call Obama Remarks ‘Out of Touch’ – New York Times April 12, 2008

As Senator Barack Obama sought to broaden his appeal to voters in southern Indiana on Friday, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John McCain separately criticized him as being out of touch with the middle class, seizing on a remark Mr. Obama made at a California fund-raiser about “bitter” Americans.

Meanwhile, back at the 7/11, Hillary has some difficulty using the coffee machine that everyday people use, well… every day.

A cheap shot?! Compared to what?

Why Obama is my choice

I was wandering around the blogisphere reading comments by people about the Pennsylvania primary election, when I came across one comment response in which the writer spewed on and on about his hatred of Barack Obama and how if Hillary Clinton didn’t get the nomination, he was definitely voting for McCain.

I know if Hillary is not given the presidential nomination, I will definitely vote for McCain. McCain is a “mild” conservative — a moderate and has very little in common with Bush. I will never vote for Obama

He then goes on to tell us that Barack Obama is a liar and can’t be trusted and so on and so forth (without any citations or references). Obviously this person is angry and for some reason feels that it is Obama’s fault. It seems to me, that many of the Hillary supporters (at least on the web) fall into this manic, screeching, hatred hurling category, and very few of their blogs relate to issues. More of them seem to fall into the name calling category instead. There are a few who seem thoughtful and sane, though.

Anyway, all of that is to let you know that MoveOn.org is asking for peoples’ feedback on their 30 second Barack Obama ads. You’re asked to rate the submissions on degree of positiveness, creativity, and overall message. I like Barack Obama because, yes, of the hope and “things can be different” attitude, but what it all boils down to, is that it’s not about him winning, it’s about them winning. They are what this election is about. This is one of my favorite ads.

FOX takes over ABC

Pa. Debate Stresses Politics Over Policy – washingtonpost.com

“So the problem that we have in our politics, which is fairly typical, is that you take one persons statement, if its not properly phrased, and you just beat it to death,” Obama said. “And thats what Senator Clinton’s been doing over the last four days. And I understand that. Thats politics. And I expect to have to go through this process. But I do think its important to recognize that its not helping that person who’s sitting at the kitchen table who is trying to figure out how to pay the bills at the end of the month.”

Thank you Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous. At such a dire time in this country’s history, we need more hard hitting questions like you asked during most of the debate. Now where’s my flag lapel pin? (Then editors wonder why journalists have lost respect).

Rev. Wright, history and Rev. Hagee

I was watching The News Hour yesterday, and they had a panel of people discussing the political races and religion. There was one panelist who kept insisting that Obama would never get past the so called “Jeremiah Wright controversy,” because of Wright’s “crazy paranoia” about the government planting AIDS in the black community. I couldn’t believe he was so totally unaware of history and of the infamous Tuskegee experiments.

Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male[1] also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Pelkola Syphilis Study, Public Health Service Syphilis Study or the Tuskegee Experiments was a clinical study, conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama, in which 399 plus 201 control group without syphilis poor — and mostly illiterate — African American sharecroppers were denied treatment for syphilis.

This study became notorious because it was conducted without due care to its subjects, and led to major changes in how patients are protected in clinical studies.

My emphasis added. 1972. That wasn’t all that long ago.

PBS has the MP3 on their site of the segment or you can try to listen here.

That same panelist also seemed to indicate (I’m sorry, I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing), that if John McCain had a controversial minister supporting him, he would be criticized terribly. uh… Feb. 29th 2008, from CBS evening news:

(CBS) Today, it was Republican frontrunner John McCain‘s turn to answer mounting questions about one of his supporters, Rev. John Hagee, a San Antonio pastor with a worldwide broadcast ministry, reports CBS News senior political correspondent Jeff Greenfield.

Hagee has offered some highly provocative views on a variety of subjects.

For instance, he linked Hurricane Katrina to the gay rights movement: ” … All of the city was punished because of the sin that happened there in that city.”

He has also denounced the Roman Catholic Church as “the great whore of Babylon” and “a cult.” He blames it for the Holocaust and predicts its imminent demise.

“This is the apostate church,” Hagee said. ” … this false religious system is going to be totally devoured by the anti-Christ.”

It would seem to me that sometime during the great Jeremiah Wright issue, that there would be some reference made about Rev. Hagee, but the last I remember it is from that day. McCain’s response: “I don’t have to agree with everyone who endorses my candidacy,” he said. “They are supporting my candidacy. I am not endorsing some of their positions.”

Hey,… sounds good to me.

what of the issues?

I was wandering through some of the political postings and getting routinely disappointed with what I was seeing posted in the right wing blogs (and occasionally a pro-Clinton blog) when I came across Staycspits Weblog. She not only has the complete sermon by Reverend Jeremiah Wright via YouTube (as opposed to the snippets seen on Full Of eXcrement), she also has a link to Fredrick Douglass’ 1852 speech “What to the Slave is the 4th July?” Very interesting. She then ends the posting with this sentiment that I so strongly identify with:

I am disappointed that our political discourse on patriotism has boiled down to whether or not Obama wears a flag pin. The mere action of running for president aside from service in the Armed Forces is the most patriotic action one could participate in.

Can we speak on education, healthcare, home foreclosures, and the 4,000 dead American men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, please.

You can find the entire posting here.

Obama’s speech

March 18th, 2008. Write it down. It will be an historical date. Listen to it. Only thirty seven minutes.

senator HRC

There appears to be some backlash on Senator Clinton for her response on 60 Minutes last night about whether she believes that Senator Obama is a Muslim.

As a seasoned politician she plants seeds of doubt with key phrases such as, “I take him on the basis of what he says,” and “As far as I know.” The thing is, that it’s not even subtle.

Another gaff for the Clinton campaign. She’s making people more and more angry at her, because she looks even more and more like the kind of politician that the country is tired of.