By the day, the Alaska State Government is beginning to resemble an episode of Survivor. There are 2 tribes; the Red Tribe and the Blue Tribe. There are reward challenges and immunity challenges. There is Tribal Council. People get voted off the Island. There are strategies and strange alliances; hidden agendas.
After Day One of Attorney General Hearings, folks in Juneau are looking around the room to see if it's just them...or does everyone else realize Palin's appointee, Wayne Anthony Ross, is not quite right. He's better suited for an immunity challenge that would have him wrestling with Levi Johnston. Johnston, meanwhile, is on a tell-all media tour after he earned permanent immunity for fathering Palin's grandchild. Instead of publicly scolding Levi, the governor should send him a thank you card for distracting the national tribe.
Many have already been voted off the Island. Former AG, Talis Colberg voted himself off the Island-in a sort of kamikaze hara kari act to save the Queen. Then there was Tim Grussendorf. He went before the Alaska Survivor Tribal Council and was voted off once it was learned he was a mole from the other tribe. Joe Nelson is the next player to appear on Survivor Juneau. His fate is to be determined. Everyone plays this game. Last fall, the governor, in fact, tried to promote herself to the Big Island and was voted off by the National Survivor Tribal Council.
But back to W.A.R. His own testimony reveals a racist, abrasive, interrupting bully, completely paranoid about the federal government. I imagine Wayne and Todd throwing back beers around a fire, trading secession strategies. I knew W.A.R. was a colorful character, and by that, I mean controversial candidate, but didn't know the depth and extent of his pathology.
"Subtle like a chainsaw," is a phrase my pop used to say. Palin's pick must have had Husqvarna and Stihl for parents. VROOM! VROOM! Her choice should have her gender card recalled. The legislature, acting as the Alaska Survivor Tribal Council, need to form an alliance and reject Wayne Anthony Ross for Attorney General. Send W.A.R. back to his bunker...let him count his guns, and mutter about how the ERA took rights away from men. Time to vote him off the island.
My friend, Mudflats has meticulously dissected the words of W.A.R.
The following is a testimonial letter from Leah Burton. Realize as you are reading her words, she is talking about a man who would be, if Sarah Palin has her way, the Attorney General of our state; the highest law officer in the land. A man who condoned rape? WTF?
April 7, 2009
My name is Leah Burton. My father is former Commissioner of Public Safety, Richard L. Burton, who served under both Governor Hammond and Governor Hickel. I grew up in a law enforcement environment. Mr. Ross testimony today in response to Senator Hollis' questions about domestic violence and sexual assault victims enhances my testimony as to his prejudice on this very serious topic, especially given that, "Alaska rates among the top 5 states in the nation for per capita rates of domestic violence." (FBI/UCR 2007)
From 1989 through 1997 I lobbied on behalf of families and children in Alaska with regard to child support, custody, abuse, abandonment and neglect. In the course of that time my efforts put me in conflict with a group known then as the Dads Against Discrimination (DADS), and later renamed the Alaska Family Support Group.
Mr. Ross is one of the most successful attorneys in Alaska in his representation of the members of this organization and others who sought to avoid payment of child support through several means, not the least of which was to fight for custody.
In 1991, the DADS group held an area wide meeting at a Denny's Restaurant in Anchorage near DeBarr & Bragaw. I chose to go and sit in the main area of the restaurant near the opening of the meeting room where they convened so I was able to hear what they had to say and find out what plans they had for the upcoming legislative session.
At that point they still did not know what I looked like so I was able to sit there unnoticed. The meeting was well attended, Steve Strube was the head of the group at that time and another known member, John Grames (who Strube referred to as his Lt.), was also in attendance along with enough other members to fill the room. They were delighted to have Wayne Anthony Ross in attendance as a guest speaker.
Numerous comments were made that were appalling, not the least of which were remarks by Mr. Ross which included the following; "If a guy can't rape his wife...who's he gonna rape?" and "There wouldn't be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut."
Other members made their own contributions such as, "We have the right to discipline our wives and children without the interference of government in our lives!"
These comments were greeted with laughter and affirmative responses by the group. Given the fact that they had referred to me in recent months as a "femi-nazi", the comments I was witness to at this meeting, while abhorrent, were unfortunately not surprising.
This announcement by Governor Palin is a slap in the face to all single parents who have no choice but to rely upon the State Department of Law to support court orders for child support, as well as those persons who need the Department to enforce criminal laws against sexual assault and domestic violence. Mr. Ross is the antithesis of the type of person that should be the Attorney General. This has been clearly demonstrated by his own words and actions in public.
In closing, I am not alone in my assessment that anyone who condones, and contributes to that type of hateful and harmful discourse clearly does not have the judgment necessary to represent the people of the State of Alaska as their Attorney General.
Given his other special interests and his stated opposition to subsistence rights and other Alaska Native issues, I have brought this forth as yet another dimension of Mr. Ross' demonstrated inability to represent all the people of the State of Alaska fairly and impartially.
His clear racial and gender prejudice raise serious concerns with regard to his ability to represent all residents of the State of Alaska fairly and impartially as their Attorney General.
http://www.timepolls.com/hppolls/archive/poll_results_317.html
Whoa! If he is confirmed as the AG Alaska, women are in for a world of hurt. Nothing will be done to help them if this man can interfere with it.
she was democratically voted by the Alaskan people with 48% of the vote compared to 40% for Knowles.
she has enjoyed high high popularity with approval polls as high as 93% and still fairly high (http://www.themudflats.net/2009/03/17/palins-approval-index-continues-to-erode-in-her-home-state/).
at some point Alaskans have to realize that Palin is not good for them. Alaskan women have to realize that Palin is not good for them. Until people see that, she will continue to appoint people like this and succeed. As for the natives in that state, they represent 15% of the state (http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/02000.html). They have to get the other groups, who Palin is disenfranchising, together and than you got a shot. Until that happens, and her numbers stay high, she has no incentive to save her job, and she will continue to do as she wishes. If Alaska suppports her, why should she change? Send her the message.
Good luck.
Governor Sarah Palin wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates:
"Your announcement of a proposed $1.4 billion reduction of the Missile Defense Agency's budget is not the best decision for today's threat environment. Alaska is committed to supporting continued missile defense implementation at Fort Greely and the development of future technology through our Kodiak Launch Complex, which has access to the Gulf of Alaska Maritime Exercise Area. This unique training space offers a safe and secure location to further develop and test future missile intercept technologies in conjunction with the latest sea-based and land-based radar.
I am deeply concerned with North Korea's development and testing program. It has the clear potential of impacting Alaska, Hawaii, and possibly the West Coast, with a nuclear-armed warhead. I can't emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect our global missile defense shield."
Is Barack Obama being schooled on foreign policy by the political rival his campaign mocked for being able to see Russia from her house? Say it ain't so, Barack.
So please zip it with your canonization of Sarah Palin.
As for WAR, he cannot deny that he was involved in that "DADS" group, which was engaged in outrageous behavior and was mounting an effort to dismantle all of Alaska's much-needed defenses against domestic violence. If you lived here, you would know that Alaska has a terrible record for domestic violence.
Ross was very open and up-front about his affiliation with this group, and very much a public spokesman for it. I remember. I was there; I remember.
We cannot have in Alaska an attorney general who is anything less than fully committed to combatting domestic violence and sexual assault. We cannot afford to have as an attorney general a person who makes light of the problem, or denies the problem. Alaska has the nation's highest rates of rape, violence against women, child abuse and child sexual assault. We need our government officials to take the matter seriously.
I assume the logic is once the state of Alaska pays you your negative property tax, then your body and mind belong to her.
It seems that there are no depths to which Palin will not sink, no sewage that she will not mingle with, in order to further her own agenda (whatever nutcase agenda that might be).
Actually, this subject does have merit in the national arena. It's not just an Alaska issue, and it's certainly not just a Sarah Palin issue -- although it IS that for sure.
Check out WAR's "credentials" and history. He's out to declare war on Washington (the feds are "the enemy"), indigenous people, wildlife, women, children and people who depend upon law enforcement for protection.
Is this the kind of attorney general *any* state should have? I would expect to hear from people in all other 49 states as well!
Alaskans ignored far superior candidates to elect this joke to office. She can do incalculable - and irreversible - damage to Alaska, but I don't see any moves to recall her.
Shannon, you have breathed way too much of the ash from Mt. Redoubt!
WAR is the pick, and I support Governor Palin's choice.
UH-OH......That statement doesn't bode well for the Guv. who flaps her jaw interminably.
Great post, Shannyn! Mr. W.A.R. sounds like he's a sympathizer with the more extreme elements of the Taliban who reagrd women as chattel. What a huge backward step for Alaska if this guy gets the position of AG!
And should Wayne Anthony Ross get the appointment, I'd love to see her try to whine any bogus charges of sexism ever again. Could anyone hear her complain of sexism without pointing to a picture of her shaking hands with Ross? No words necessary.
(By the way, she has some kind of weird thing with rape. From charging Wasilla victims for their own rape kits to appointing a man who condones and jokes about rape, it's more than a little creepy. It's a very strange reaction from a woman.)
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/the-alaska-divi.html
Remember, there are some decent people here in Alaska. All we'd like is to have our state run the way it should be - according to the will of the people. Unfortunately, our governor just can't seem to do it that way.
There have been way too many ethics complaints to count, standoffs with the legislature, and too many questionable appointments ......
But when does it end? Doesn't seem like it will ever end.
But should I have to leave my home because I have a power-hungry governor? I think not! I love my country and do not want to leave it. My governor cannot force me to leave my country.
Also, best of luck to the Native Alaskans who had such a tough winter because of the high cost of heating oil and gasoline. Hope the coming winter is easier for them. Did anyone from Palin's office ever make it to the area to judge whether it deserved to receive disaster assistance funds?
Check out http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45538795204 to get more info on the situation.