"No, believe it or not, even fundamentalist Christians don’t have to believe every little thing their pastor believes."
Wow, has anyone told the Obama-haters this? On Sep 8, 9:21 am, Gaar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/separating-palin-fact-from-palin-fiction/ > > Whether it’s really a Chinese curse or not, you can’t say we don’t > live in interesting times. > > Two weeks ago, I was reporting from the Democratic National > Convention; the Obama bounce looked solid, and on Thursday night, > following the Mile High Annunciation, things were looking pretty grim > for the Grumpy Old Man and the GOP. Of course, by Friday morning, > things were looking rather different — Sarah Palin was announced as > the vice presidential choice, political junkies were seeing their > chiropractors about their whiplash injuries, and suddenly a new fresh > face was in a free-fire zone. > > Now, make no mistake, I like Sarah Palin a lot; in many ways she’s > closer to my politics than anyone I’ve seen in a long while. I voted > for her in the PJM Veepstakes, multiple times. That was all based on > what I’d read, at Beldar’s blog and others, and a little bit I’d heard > from my relatives in Alaska. Of course, most people know that what > immediately followed the Palin announcement was a prodigious swarm of > new rumors; it seemed that, failing any useful opposition research, > people were just making things up about Palin. After I had received > thirty or so of them from left-leaning friends, I got a little tired > of it, and wrote an email with a bullet list of some of the things I’d > read, true, false, and simply ludicrous. I sent this to a private > mailing list of some friends, and then it occurred to me to create a > post on the Palin rumors. > > And, as Bart said, “The rest was history.” > > So this is the complete list of Palin Rumors, at least as it stands > about midnight Mountain Time on September 7, 2008. (The link will > take you back to the complete and current list on my blog > Explorations.) I make a point of the time because the list has been > growing by around seven rumors a day; there’s at least one in my queue > that I haven’t been able to completely track down yet. > > Warning: some parts of this are jokes. On purpose. > > Sarah Palin Rumors > > 1. Yes, she is governor of Alaska. No, she’s not the lieutenant > governor. No, she’s not currently mayor of Wasilla. Yes, she was mayor > of Wasilla, some years ago. > 2. Yes, as governor of Alaska, she’s the commander in chief of the > Alaska National Guard. And yes, her professional military subordinate > is quite impressed with her in that role. > And yes, the New York Times says the job of governor of Alaska is one > of the harder, and more powerful, jobs in state government. > 3. Yes, there are people in Alaska who think she’s too liberal. > 4. Yes, she did giggle when someone called Lyda Green a “bitch.” Yes, > Lyda Green is a cancer survivor. Yes, it was the same Lyda Green who > tried to force a scheduling conflict that would make Palin miss her > son’s high school graduation. Yes, this would also be the Lyda Green > who complained no one had asked her about Palin during the vetting > process. > 5. Yes, she did push for and approve the Wasilla Sports Center. Yes, > it did cost a lot of money. (People keep saying $20 million, that > article says $14.5 million, but then they also added a $1.2 million > dollar food service/kitchen piece. This year, after Palin was out of > office as mayor.) Yes, the city went into debt to do it (how did you > buy your house, bunkie?) and raised the city sales tax from 2 percent > to 2.5 percent to pay for it. 6. Yes, the city is paying it off early. > Yes, there is an ongoing dispute about title (following a struggle > with the Nature Conservancy and another buyer. And yes, at the time it > was built, Wasilla had a Federal judge’s decision that they had title > to the land. > 7. Yes, she did want authority to have wolves culled from the air, > because they were taking too many moose and caribou. Which people hunt > for food in the back country in Alaska. No, she isn’t shooting them > herself. I mean, not that she couldn’t, but I’m sure she doesn’t have > time. > No, the Downs baby (Trig) isn’t Bristol’s kid, and no, the kid wasn’t > born with Downs because (a) Palin flew on an airplane (b) went home to > have the baby after an amniotic leak (c) because he was the result of > incest between Todd Palin and Bristol. > No, Track (the kid who is leaving for Iraq) didn’t join the NG because > he was a drug addict. He may have joined the NG because he was tired > of people saying his Mom was getting him into the good hockey leagues. > (Yes, that one was original reporting. I’ve got sources in Wasilla.) > No, Willow and Piper aren’t named for witches on TV. Among other > things, Willow was born before Buffy came on TV, and Piper was born > before Charmed. > Yes, Trig’s name may be misspelled. Isn’t it usually “Tryg” as in > “Trygve”? In any case, I doubt he’s named for the secretary general of > the UN (1948-1952), either. But at least that was before he was born, > unlike the others. (Thanks to Chris, via his blog.) > Yes, it appears that she has a Big Dipper tattooed on her ankle. She > lost a bet. > No, she’s never been in any porn as far as anyone can find (and God > knows I get enough Google hits on those very topics.) I would think > the Big Dipper tattoo would be a giveaway. > No, no one seems to be able to even find swimsuit pictures of her from > her beauty queen days; God knows I looked. The bikini pictures that > are around are photoshopped, just like the Vogue cover I have up. > No she wasn’t a member of the (wild-eyed libertarian) Alaska > Independence Party, although her husband once was. > No, neither the (Canadian) National Post, nor Marc Armbinder at the > Atlantic have troubled themselves to issue a correction. Yes, the New > York Times did finally correct their story of September 1 — on > September 5. And on page 14. This was after Elizabeth Bumiller was > quoted by Howard Kurtz as saying she was “completely confident about > the story.” Yes, that was after the New York Times’s source retracted > the story. Yes, this should embarrass the Times, Bumiller, and Howard > Kurtz. No, there have been no signs of embarrassment. > No, she was never a Pat Buchanan supporter; even when Buchanan claims > she was, she was on the board of Steve Forbes’s campaign in Alaska. > Yes, Palin was a Steve Forbes supporter in 2000. > No, she’s not anti-semitic. In fact, she has an Israeli flag in her > office. (Contrary to popular belief, the usual Evangelical thinks > Israel has a right to exist, granted by God.) > No, I don’t think she’s being “indoctrinated by Lieberman and AIPAC as > we speak”; I don’t get the feeling that being indoctrinated is > something that Palin does well. > Yes, it seems unlikely that she’s going to be in hiding for the next > two weeks, seeing as she’s been in rallies twice in the last two days. > Or at least it’s going to be real rough, given that she has three > media interviews scheduled today (September 6) alone. > Yes, it does appear that Palin’s local pastor preached about an end > time when God will judge everyone, even Wasilla, Alaska, and the > United States. Duh. This is called the Book of Revelations, and while > I don’t believe it personally, I don’t see it as a disqualifier for > the hundred million or so Baptists, Methodists, Evangelicals, > Episcopalians, Catholics, Assembly of God, Presbyterian, Lutherans > (traditional and Missouri Synod), African Methodist, and so on > Christians in the United States. > Yes, I do sometimes wonder about the state of Andrew’s health. > No, she’s doesn’t believe that the Iraq War was directed by God. Yes, > she did pray that proceeding with the war was God’s will: “they should > pray ‘that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is > from God, that’s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that > there is a plan, and that plan is God’s plan.’” (Ever hear the phrase > “Not my will, but Thine, be done”?) Yes, this apparently freaks some > people right out. > No, Buchanan doesn’t support her now; in fact he’s supporting Obama. > (Buchanan did think her speech was amazing, but then so do 80 percent > of the people who saw it.) Or maybe not. Buchanan sure doesn’t like > McCain though. > Yes, she was apparently pregnant when she got married > No, so far there’s no confirmation she had an affair while she was > married, and they’ve denied it pretty strongly. No, she wouldn’t be > the first Christian woman who got a little on the side, if it were > true. > No, she wasn’t named as a co-respondent in a divorce; there’s no > evidence she had an affair with her husband’s business partner. The > partner tried to have his divorce records sealed because he was being > harrassed by journalists who used them to get his phone number. > Yes, barring immaculate conception virgin birth (whatever), Bristol > appears to have had sex with her fiancee. No, Bristol didn’t receive > only “abstinence-only” sex ed. [The biggest item of controversy in > this whole process has been, of all things, details of Christian > doctrine and sectarian differences.] > Yes, I have it on reliable report that Sarah Levi’s mom has been heard > screaming “Way to go Levi!” at her future son-in-law son. No, it > doesn’t appear to have been when Bristol broke the news to her family. > Note: I originally understood this story to be about Sarah, not Levi’s > mom, in the context of hockey games. As such, it’s shouldn’t be in a > Sarah Palin Rumors story, but I like the story too much to delete it. > Yes, her 17 year-old-daughter is pregnant; no, the baby’s father is > not an eighth grader; no, having sex at 16 is not statutory rape in > Alaska. And no, there’s no way that a 17 year old can be 5 months > pregnant as a result of having sex before she was 16. Learn to count > for God’s sakes. > Yes, she did fire the public safety guy — but he said in the Anchorage > paper that, for the record, she never, and no one else in her > administration ever, tried to make him fire her ex-brother-in-law. > And yes, the state trooper (her sister’s ex-husband) she was worried > about did: tase her 10 year old nephew; drive his state patrol car > while drinking or drunk; did threaten to “bring her down”; and did > threaten to murder her father and sister if they dared to get an > attorney to help with the divorce. > Yes, the state trooper was suspended when he was put under a court > protective order. > No, the trooper wasn’t fired. > Yes, she did fire the Wasilla police chief asayor; yes, it was because > he was lying to the City Council. > Yes, she did try to cut her own salary as mayor by $4000 a year; yes, > she had voted against the $4000 a year raise while on the City > Council. > No, she didn’t cut funding for unwed mothers; yes, she did increase it > by “only” 354 percent instead of 454 percent, as part of a multi-year > capital expenditures program. No, the Washington Post doesn’t appear > to have corrected their story. Even after this was pointed out in the > comments on the story. > No, she didn’t cut special needs student funding; yes, she did raise > it by “only” 175 percent. > Yes, she did try, clearly unsuccessfully, to get Bristol married off > to her fiancee before the story came out. > Yes, she did ask the librarian if some books could be withdrawn > because of being offensive; no, they couldn’t; yes, it was > “rhetorical,, at least as was reported contemporaneously in 1996 (and > thanks to Cecil Turner@ Just One Minute for this); yes, she did > threaten to fire the librarian a month later; no, that wasn’t over the > books thing but instead over administrative issues; no, the librarian > wasn’t fired either; yes, the librarian was a big supporter of one of > her political opponents; yes, the librarian was also a close friend of > the chief of police mentioned above; no, this is not the first time in > the history of civilization that someone has been threatened with > being fired over a political dispute. > No, the list of books she wanted to ban that’s being passed around > isn’t real; among other things, it includes a number of books > published after her time in office there. > No, that hasn’t actually deterred people from claiming it really is > true even if the list isn’t correct. For example: “This list might not > in fact reflect the books Sarah Palin wanted banned. As more than one > person in Comments has pointed out, some of them were not published > when Palin was in office. It is my hope that the mainstream media will > not let this story drop and that at some point an actual list will > surface. The very thought of having someone who once advocated book- > banning possibly occupying one of the highest offices of our land > fills me with profound dread. It should fill you with dread too.” > No, I don’t understand why a fake list is supposed to fill me with > dread, either. > No, it wasn’t won’t be [bad tense, hasn’t happened yet] a shotgun > wedding; Bristol and Levi been engaged for a good while according to > Levi’s mother. It was either an accident or just an unconventional > order. > Yes, she’s an was an Assembly of God Holy Roller. No, she doesn’t > attend an AoG church now. Yes, she did leave the AoG because they were > getting too weird for her. > No, she’s not anti-Mormon. No, not all AoG churches are anti-Mormon. > (AoG is even more hard-core about allowing each pastor and > congregation to make their own decisions than the Baptists are.) > (Thanks to AnonAmom in the comments.) > No, she’s not from another planet. No, I haven’t actually heard that > one yet, but you wait. Okay, I have now heard it. > Yes, she apparently believes in some variant of intelligent design. > No, she didn’t try to force the schools to teach it; she said if > someone brought it up, it was an appropriate subject for debate. > No, she doesn’t believe in “abstinence only” education. Yes, she > thinks abstinence is an effective way of preventing pregnancy. Duh. > Yes, she believes kids should learn about condom use in schools. > Yes, she did smoke marijuana, when it was legal in Alaska. Yes, she > apparently did inhale. > Yes, she kills animals and eats them, and wears their skins. > Yes, she was a beauty contest contestant. > Yes, she was once a sportscaster. > Yes, she has a college degree in journalism, but I won’t hold that > against her, as she seems to have found honest work as well. > Yes, she sometimes wears her hair up; no that’s not a “beehive.” > Yes, her husband is Not A White Person (he’s a Yup’ik; an Eskimo but > not an Inuit as my Inuit cousins have taken some pains to explain) > Yes, she has on occasion, as mayor, tried to get money from the > federal government. > Yes, she did finally turn down the money for the bridge. Yes, that > meant changing her mind about it. > Yes, she was vetted extensively, not just in three days — I’ve got > links to press reports about people coming to Wasilla on May 29, and > we had her on our Veepstakes at PJM from the first day we ran it. > Yes, she want to a bunch of colleges before getting a degree. No, > that’s not illegal. Yes, she seems to have made something of herself > anyway. > No, they didn’t talk to a lot of the R’s power structure during the > vetting; that probably has to do with the fact that she beat them in > elections and sent a bunch of them to jail. > Yes, Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech was written by a speechwriter. > Duh. No, none of Obama’s, McCain’s, nor Biden’s speeches were > impromptu off the cuff things either. > Yes, she did put the governor’s plane on eBay. No, that’s not how it > was finally sold. Yes, McCain did say it wrong. Bad McCain. > No, Sarah Palin doesn’t have such control of Alaskans that people are > afraid to say bad things about her. (What, are you nuts? Look at this > list.) No, I don’t think it’s likely that she called Obama > “Sambo.” (Good God, man, I’m ten years older than she and I barely > remember “Little Black Sambo.”) Yes, it seems unlikely to me that > she’d be a real racist and marry a Yup’ik (or a part Yup’ik). But yes, > people are capable of amazing things. Yes, I’m sure there are people > who don’t like her — I’ve talked with some myself. And no, I don’t > think this waitress would have been thrilled to be called an > “aboriginal.” And yes, if she called Hillary a “bitch,” I’m pretty > confident is wasn’t the first time anyone in politics has said that. > No, she’s not a “global warming denier,” and when the crush dies down > remind me to explain why the very phrasing “global warming denier” is > anti-scientific, anti-intellectual, and a clear sign of a desire to > impose your beliefs by coercion. But in the mean time, while I do > believe that she has expressed some skepticism that warming is wholly > human-caused, the existence of the Alaska Climate Change Sub-Cabinet > and the Alaska Climate Change Strategy work demonstrate that she’s > considering the problem and has brought together people more expert > than she to advise her. > Yes, Todd Palin did have a DUI. Twenty-two years ago. Get a grip. > No, Sarah Palin’s brother isn’t in jail. No matter what the commenter > at Anderson Cooper’s page says. (Thanks to Galynn in comments.) > Yes, Sarah Palin’s pastor apparently does believe that gays can > “repent” and be cured of homosexuality. No, believe it or not, even > fundamentalist Christians don’t have to believe every little thing > their pastor believes. Yes, Palin seems to be more libertarian about > this. > Yes, contrary to press reports, Sarah Palin’s mother-in-law plans to > vote for her and the R ticket (on Inside Edition this evening). > No, the fact that some 17-year-old was arrested for malicious mischief > at the right time doesn’t mean Track Palin was. Goddamn, Josh, have > you no shame at all? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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