The Liberal Coalition

from All Facts and Opinions

While the McCain/Palin camp falls over itself trying to parse language to say that Troopergate investigator Stephen Branchflower was wrong to say that Sarah Palin violated the Alaska Ethics Act, Time magazine reports that however one interprets the report issued Friday, it is clear Palin and her husband showed a "disturbing" lack of judgment and a great deal of self-serving immaturity.

Did Governor Sarah Palin abuse the power of her office in trying to get her former brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, fired? Yes.

Was the refusal to fire Mike Wooten the reason Palin fired Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan? Not exclusively, and it was within her rights as the states chief executive to fire him for just about any reason, even without cause.

... But the Branchflower report still makes for good reading, if only because it convincingly answers a question nobody had even thought to ask: Is the Palin administration shockingly amateurish? Yes, it is. Disturbingly so.

The 263 pages of the report show a co-ordinated application of pressure on Monegan so transparent and ham-handed that it was almost certain to end in public embarrassment for the governor.

... A harsh verdict? Consider the report's findings. Not only did people at almost every level of the Palin administration engage in repeated inappropriate contact with Walt Monegan and other high-ranking officials at the Department of Public Safety, but Monegan and his peers constantly warned these Palin disciples that the contact was inappropriate and probably unlawful. Still, the emails and calls continued — in at least one instance on recorded state trooper phone lines.

via Time: What the Troopergate Report Really Says

Palin and cronies insist she broke no laws because money was not involved. Clearly, they are mistaken or lying. Here is what the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act actually says:

Sec. 39.52.010. Declaration of policy.

(a) It is declared that

(1) high moral and ethical standards among public officers in the executive branch are

essential to assure the trust, respect, and confidence of the people of this state;

(2) a code of ethics for the guidance of public officers will

(A) discourage those officers from acting upon personal or financial interests in the

performance of their public responsibilities [emphasis mine].

Labels: alaska, anti-palin, anti-republican, Corruption, Elections, ethics, gop, law, McCain/Palin, political corruption, republicans, Right Wing, sarah palin, todd palin, troopergate, US Politics

posted by nr davis @ 4:07 PM |

From All Facts and Opinions

Brian Ross of ABC News reports that investigator Stephen Branchflower determined that while Sarah and Todd Palin's desire to have their former brother-in-law fired was not the only reason for Walt Monegan's sacking, it was part of the justification for it, and that made the move unethical and illegal.

I have read the 263-page Branchflower report from start to finish. These are its major findings:

Finding Number One:

For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides

“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”

Finding Number Two:

I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.

Finding Number Three:

Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.

Finding Number Four:

The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008, written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.

More from Bloomberg:

"Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda, to wit: To get Trooper Michael Wooten fired,'' according to the report issued today in Anchorage.

Even so, the report said Palin's firing in July of former state Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who had refused to fire Wooten, was a "proper and lawful exercise'' of her wide authority to fire department heads for any reason. Monegan contends the governor dismissed him for refusing to fire Wooten, who was involved in a divorce and custody battle with Palin's sister.

Violation of the ethics act could result in sanctions, such as a fine, by a state ethics board, lawmakers said.

Members of the Legislative Council voted 12-0 to release the report even though there wasn't agreement on the findings, lawmakers said.

"I don't think there is a consensus on the conclusions,'' said Representative Bill Stoltze.

Labels: alaska, branchflower report, gop, McCain/Palin, political corruption, republicans, sarah palin, todd palin, troopergate

posted by nr davis @ 1:54 PM |

from All Facts and Opinions

Jerry Falwell must be laughing in Hell. Some Christian fundamentalists say pro-GLBT philosophies are partly to blame for the nation's financial crisis.

From PageOneQ:

In a September 25th blog post titled "The Nation Will Right Itself If It Fixes Sex," Christian Civil League of Maine Executive Director Michael Heath writes that the financial crisis facing Wall Street is a symptom of America's sinful sexual culture, including the acceptance of gay unions.

"Our crisis is a symptom, not the cause," writes Michael Heath. "I am not saying I know whether this financial crisis is God's judgment or not. It is not for me to know that definitively."

Heath goes on to list policy changes that [the writer contends] would make God "crack a smile," including: End abortion rights and defund non-profit groups supporting it, amend state constitutions to ban gay marriage and eliminate domestic partnerships and civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and end discrimination against private religious schools and homeschools.

A related post by Center for Immigration Studies Executive Director Mark Krikorian at the National Review's web site pushes a similar theme, this time focusing on Friday's failure of [Washington Mutual].

Krikorian suggests the big bank failed because it was too accommodating to minorities, including gays, African-Americans and Hispanics.

In his September 26th post titled "Cause and Effect?," Krikorian writes, "I really thought this was a joke, but it's not. WaMu's final press release, before it sank beneath the waves."

The press release lists the general accomplishments of WaMu in diversifying its workforce, including earning a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index -- a rating indicative of the gay-friendliness of a company's official policies.

Fundamentalists blame Wall Streets woes on gays

So let's see... gays and their allies are responsible for Hurricane Katrina, the Teletubbies, 9/11, the state of Hollywood, and now the Wall Street mess. For second-class citizens, we sure have a helluva lot of power. No wonder the fundies are so frightened they make up this kind of hateful crap in order to keep us under their blessed, bigoted boots.

An alternative POV: The fundies are in power. They have the pols in their pious pockets. Their religious rules are inscribed in US secular law, and nonbelievers are punished every day in this country for not conforming to fundamentalist Christian values (or Judeo-Christian, in those times when they pretend to be ecumenical). Those are the facts. So even if such a charge would be unfair or untrue (just as is their charge against the inclusive gay community), wouldn't it make more sense to blame them? I'm just sayin'...

Labels: anti-gay, anti-glbt, bailout plan, bailout scheme, bigotry, blame the gays, christian fundamentalists, gop, hate, hate speech, Politics, wall street crisis

posted by nr davis @ 2:18 PM |

from All Facts and Opinions

Author and HuffPo writer Naomi Wolf scared the bejeebus out of me with her latest piece, and this thought occurred: More people need to be frightened before this election takes place. Some will consider this scenario, wherein the writer casts John McCain's running mate as "the designated muse of the coming American police state" as nothing more than lunatic liberal fear run amok. But remember: Republicans have no problem with stealing elections and capitalizing on national tragedies to carry out their long-planned evil schemes to keep their kind wealthy, powerful, and in control of the world. Recall that the plan to attack Iraq existed long before planes flew into the World Trade Center towers seven years ago. Now imagine: McCain wins, something happens, and we have the embarrassingly out-of-her-league not librarian Palin in charge -- with a little help from Karl Rove and friends. Can you say "doomsday scenario"?

You have to understand how things work in a closing society in order to understand "Palin Power." A gang or cabal seizes power, usually with an affable, weak figurehead at the fore. Then they will hold elections -- but they will make sure that the election will be corrupted and that the next affable, weak figurehead is entirely in their control. Remember, Russia has Presidents; Russia holds elections. Dictators and gangs of thugs all over the world hold elections. It means nothing. When a cabal has seized power you can have elections and even presidents, but you don't have freedom.



I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. I heard her echo Bush 2000 soundbites ("the heart of America is on display") and realized Bush's speechwriters were writing her -- not McCain's -- speeches. I heard her tell George Bush's lies -- not McCain's -- to the American people, linking 9/11 to Iraq. I heard her make fun of Barack Obama for wanting to prevent the torture of prisoners -- this is Rove-Cheney's enthusiastic S and M, not McCain's, who, though he shamefully colluded in the 2006 Military Tribunals Act, is also a former prisoner of war and wrote an eloquent Newsweek piece in 2005 opposing torture. I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit -- but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain.



Then I saw and heard more. Palin is embracing lawlessness in defying Alaskan Legislature subpoenas -- this is what Rove-Cheney, and not McCain, believe in doing. She uses mafia tactics against critics, like the police commissioner who was railroaded for opposing handguns in Alaskan battered women's shelters -- Rove's style, not McCain's. I realized what I was seeing.



Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is "dialed in" to the McCain campaign. Rove's protege Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain's vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.

What's the plan? It is this. McCain doesn't matter.

This reading is worth your time. Share it with everyone you know, particularly well-meaning but open-minded GOPs and centrists who actually care about people. It's time to move beyond the choir... people's lives and the future of the US are at stake.

Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State? (via Alternet)

Labels: all facts and opinions, anti-mccain/palin, anti-palin, gop, huffington post, McCain/Palin, naomi wolf, natalie davis, News, palin, progressive commentary, Right Wing, US Politics

posted by nr davis @ 4:44 PM |

from Natalie Davis' All Facts and Opinions
http://gratefuldread.net
http://gratefuldread.wordpress.com

Tonight's speeches at the Republican National Convention are over, and I am exhausted, lemme tell ya. All that force-fed red meat... I'm going to have to stick to wheat germ and water for a week to feel normal again.

Seriously, were you surprised by the heartlessness of Mike Huckabee and the attacks by Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin? When it began, I figured we would get a slew of 9/11 references, anti-gay and anti-choice attacks, reminders that poor people are worthless, nods to Abe Lincoln (my 12-year-old moaned, "That's slander! Lincoln wasn't this kind of Republican!"), slick soundbites, hockey mom jokes, more references to 9/11, and outlandish claims that the party faithful won't bother to investigate for veracity. You know, the general sound and fury signifying nothing. And of course, the Grand Old Prosperity crowd roared their approval as Cindy McCain happily bounced wee Trig Palin on her knee. Whee! Well, their worldview always disappoints, and what went down in St. Paul tonight was exactly what I expected.

Did I learn anything new or useful about the Republican nominee for vice-president? Only that she is every bit as mendacious and craven and unacceptable as her number one. Ooh, she can earmark Alaska, shoot the wolves from the plane, and send every ounce of American decency down the drain... and she's a wooo-man... Feh.

Look: I stand with Palin and the insufferable McCain flack Carly Fiorino on this. No one would question a man who had five kids about his fitness for any job, so people need to leave Palin alone on that point. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to dismiss her, which we've already covered ad nauseum. Palin is indeed a firecracker with lots of spunk and apparently limitless ambition, but she has nothing worthwhile to offer in the way of making the US a better country, and her insult-filled, substance-free speech tonight made that all too evident to me.

My recommendation to Barack Obama: Just respond substantively and ignore repugnant Republican insults. Sarah Palin speaks well and looks great, but she has nothing on the Democrat, save three more cute kids and a snarling Rudy "9/11" Giuliani over her shoulder. (Message to RG: Hope is not a strategy -- and no, hope is not Obama's strategy, but cool line, Rudy. I would much rather be hopeful than heartless and greedy, though.)

I'll break the plutocrats' pap down tomorrow if the strength and interest can be mustered. Right now, my stomach hurts, as it always does after a night of listening to rabid right wingers. As a matter of fact, I really must go and throw up. My diet is primarily whole grains, veggies and fish. Red meat in the quantities dished up tonight -- especially when it's raw -- always makes me physically ill.

Labels: anti-republican, conservative, gop, palin, Politics, progressive commentary, republican, right-wing

posted by nr davis @ 11:22 PM |