22 sep 2008

Big Spender Palin's Self-Reliant Image of Alaska Is Bogus


Palin is trying to appeal to the self-reliant, anti-government voters while her state is the most dependent on government pork.
In her latest comment on the "Bridge to Nowhere" controversy, Sarah Palin appealed to the self-reliant, individualist, rugged, anti-government image most Americans have of Alaska. "If we wanted a bridge," she declared, "we would build it ourselves."
Actually, much of Alaska long ago lost the tradition of self-help. Palin might be campaigning on an anti-government, do-it-yourself platform, but her state is the most dependent on the federal government of all 50 states. Washington sends Alaska more money per capita than any other state. Alaskans receive back from the federal government almost $2 for every $1 they send to Washington. It's a sweet deal.
And when it comes to government pork, Alaska is king. As USA Today noted back in March, Palin's state ranks number one -- no other state is even close. In 2007 Alaska received some 2.5 times as much as runner-up Hawaii and 15 times more than the national average.
Alaska has by far the most state government employees per capita as any other state and about five times as many as Obama's Illinois.


The part of Alaska not dependent on federal government largesse is dependent on big oil. Almost 90 percent of Alaska's general budget comes from royalties and taxes on oil, which explains how the state can be number one in state government spending while ranking far down the list in taxes its residents pay. Alaska has no income tax or sales tax. Recently, its legislature suspended the gasoline tax.
Up to a quarter of an Alaskan's family income comes directly from the profits of oil companies. This may need a bit of explaining.
Back in the 1970s, when liberal Republicans still roamed the earth, former Alaskan governors Walter Hickel and Jay Hammond led a movement to create a state trust fund to bank part of the revenue derived from a non-renewable resource to be used later to ensure that Alaska would survive its inevitable disappearance.
In part to ensure the continued political support of the Alaska Permanent Fund, the legislature voted to use a portion of the fund's investment income to mail each Alaskan an annual dividend check.
Hickel and Hammond hoped the fund would be used to prepare Alaska for the day of reckoning. The day of reckoning is rapidly arriving, but contemporary Alaskan leaders like Palin aren't doing much preparing. Alaskan oil production peaked in 1988 at about 750 million barrels. In 2007 it was down to 250 million barrels, and it continues to fall. The exhaustion of its oil resources has not yet shown up in the economy or government coffers because of the fivefold increase in the price of oil since 1988 and by the relatively high returns the fund, now with more than $35 billion in assets, has earned.
Alaska has the most unbalanced and least diversified economy of all 50 states. Yet politicians like Palin do not appear to have the courage to change that imbalance. About 95 percent of the Permanent Fund is invested outside the state. Exxon Mobil Corporation is the fund's single highest valued stock holding. The state legislature has appropriated little money to diversify the economy and prepare for a new age of renewable energy.
This year Alaskans will receive a dividend check of some $2,000 for every man, woman and child. Palin requested that the legislature add another $1,200 to offset rising energy prices. Most legislators agreed. The check, to go out in a couple of weeks, will certainly boost her popularity before the presidential election, and Alaskan households are definitely hurting because of their high energy prices. But assuming that households use the money to pay energy bills, Alaska is sending part of the oil revenue it is receiving back to the oil companies to pay their customers' bills. That may be a short-term palliative. But Palin quickly quashed legislative proposals that money be spent in a way that might help reduce a household's reliance on oil.
Palin is the chief executive of a very unusual state. Alaska is almost completely dependent on federal government handouts and oil company profits. Of course its political leaders should try to maximize the revenue they can wring out of Washington and Exxon. But they shouldn't call that self-help.
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McCain's Diplomacy About the EU as the Center Of All Evil


McCain attacked our allies as "vacuous and posturing" for opposing war in Iraq. "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that "Iraq is the test" of both the U.N. and NATO. He charged that the alliance is failing the test because of the "flawed calculations" and "vacuous posturing" of Germany and France. McCain and Rumsfeld both said that recent French and German foot-dragging over even discussing the possible deployment of NATO assets, such as Patriot anti-missile batteries, to Turkey also threatened to damage the alliance." [Washington Post, 2/9/03]

John McCain engaged in the anti-French bashing of the far right because they opposed the invasion of the war. "The Lord said the poor will always be with us, and the French will be with us, too," said McCain, a member of the Armed Services Committee. "This is part of a continuing French practice of throwing sand in the gears of the Atlantic alliance. But now they're playing a dangerous game, and coming close to rendering themselves irrelevant." A few days later he even said that, "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) likened France to an aging '40s starlet "still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." [NY Times, 2/14/03. NY Daily News, 2/17/03]

McCain attacked Germany for opposing the war - saying they lacked "political courage." McCain said that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder "looks little like the ally that anchored our presence in Europe throughout the Cold War...A German Rip Van Winkle from the 1960s would not understand the lack of political courage and cooperation with its allies on the question of Iraq exhibited in Berlin today." [Washington Times, 2/14/03]

On the war path, McCain said didn't care if invading Iraq damaged UN, thought Iraq would prove UN to be irrelevant. "If war is necessary, the United States will not 'be going it alone,' he said, but will wage war in Iraq with a coalition of allies - with or without the blessing of the United Nations. 'The problem here is not whether we do damage to the United Nations if we have to take military action,' he said. 'The question is, will the United Nations follow the League of Nations and risk irrelevancy.'" [Washington Times, 2/14/03]

McCain dismissed interests of French and Russians over invasion, said they were just based on commercial concerns. McCain said that "The French and Russians are putting their "commercial interests above international law, world peace and the political ideals of Western civilization." [Washington Times, 2/14/03]

At German security conference in the run up to the war McCain echoed Rumsfeld's notorious attacks on our European allies. "Rumsfeld has made headlines across Europe in recent weeks for a series of barbs at those who oppose U.S. policy." McCain clearly echoed Rumsfeld's statements, "McCain accused the Germans and French of "calculated self-interest" and "vacuous posturing" that left NATO with a "terrible injury." German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Germany would support its ally Turkey, but the question was one of timing. Both German and French officials have said that such a vote is tantamount to admitting war's inevitability. The conference's most emotional moment came from Fischer...he told how three times he had led the charge for German troops to be deployed: in Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan...His voice rising, and beginning to speak in English, he addressed Rumsfeld directly: 'My generation learned you must make a case and, excuse me, I am not convinced.' Rumsfeld sat against the wall, sipping water and watching without expression. Much was said at the meeting about the strident tone of U.S.-European discussions." [Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/9/03]

McCain rejected calls to get more international troops on the ground in Iraq. McCain said, "I think that the only military presence required right now would be American and British."
The old mad dog is not aware of the fact that the UK is also a member-state of the European Union.
Well, we have to await the full scale "Shock and Awe" from the USA, if the next idiot becomes elected.

McCain Might Not Meet With Spanish Prime Minister


Not a Gaffe? McCain Campaign Willing to Destroy Relationship with Europe to Conceal Confusion
Apparently they care so little about governing that they are willing to potentially nuke the U.S.-Spain relationship just to get elected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7LsPpaaIs8 (audio)

McCain seemed to think he was a Latin American autocrat -- despite the reporter repeatedly saying "I am talking about Spain." This gaffe would seem to have very significant implications. Not knowing who the leader of Spain was or thinking Spain was in Latin America would not really be shocking coming from his running mate, but McCain has run on his foreign policy expertise and such confusion completely undercuts his credibility. Furthermore this gaffe would bring up real questions about his age. Is McCain really prepared to deal with a crisis at 3AM, when he can't even remember who the leader of Spain is during a late evening interview?

But was it a gaffe? While it definitely seemed so, now Randy Sheunemann, McCain's foreign policy adviser is shockingly saying that this is not a gaffe but an intentional expression of policy toward Spain. Instead of just admitting that it was small gaffe late in the day, the McCain campaign has decided that they care so little about governing that they are willing to potentially nuke the U.S.-Spain relationship just to get elected. Sheunemann emailed the Washington Post, saying:

The questioner asked several times about Senator McCain's willingness to meet Zapatero (and id'd him in the question so there is no doubt Senator McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred). Senator McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview," he said in an e-mail.


This is beyond extreme. This is beyond reckless. This is insane.

McCain won't meet with a NATO ally, that has nearly 1,000 troops in Afghanistan, that has lost more than 20 soldiers there, has been brutally attacked by Al Qaeda, is incredibly influential in Latin America, has the seventh largest economy in the world, is a DEMOCRACY, and is a large and influential country in the EU. Won't meet with them?

Conclusion: McCain is completely OUT OF TOUCH
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Vietnam Veterans Against McCain

Vietnam Veterans Against McCain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFM1xqqTX_g

John McCain in "Missing, Presumed Dead"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBiti-ZbeO0

Sergeant Major John Holland Requests McCain Drop Out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Zt5S9DN3Bk