Beam me up, Scotty, ’cause I am there.
Now, I find Sarah Palin interesting. I find her daring. I find her beautiful (almost as beautiful as Barack Obama, and, for a connoisseur such as myself, that’s saying a lot).
But I am not going to vote for someone who wants to bring back back-alley abortions and who’s going to continue the great tradition of dragging this country of mine further and further into debt. NO THANK YOU.
Natalia A. 
“I find her beautiful (almost as beautiful as Barack Obama, and, for a connoisseur such as myself, that’s saying a lot).”
I have to be honest here, I find the supposed pulchritude of both to be somewhat exagerrated. Sarah Palin is an attractive middle aged woman, but not on a level I wouldn’t see going for an hour-long walk. Obama is young and fit but honestly looks almost like a black Alfred E. Neuman to me. Both are better looking than me, don’t get me wrong, I just would never notice either in a crowd.
I find that relative power often makes people more attractive.
Hi, I’m a spammer! I keep showing up under different nicks and being an ass! I am no longer welcome here!
Trolling; $44 a month for internet access. Or free at the library.
Trolling by posting repeatedly at someone’s blog under different names and adding propaganda video spam, while making it vaguely creepy by spending one post saying how pretty they are; $0 plus your dignity.
Yeah, seriously, what an ass. I’m going to go ahead and take this crap out. I haven’t been paying enough attention to the comments here. Arguing with these people in good faith is just a waste of time.
“Sarah Palin is an attractive middle aged woman, but not on a level I wouldn’t see going for an hour-long walk. Obama is young and fit but honestly looks almost like a black Alfred E. Neuman to me. Both are better looking than me, don’t get me wrong, I just would never notice either in a crowd.”
IAWTC.
–ooh, cool, WP lets you substitute your own text for troll comments? huh, maybe I -should- consider changing, that’s more fun at least…
That’s the eternal beauty of WordPress. Of course, I only use the feature with someone who has really, REALLY gotten on my nerves.
Hi,
I actually came to this blog from my own blog, as this particular blog entry was listed as “related topics” at the foot of my blog.
And well… even though you wrote a direct statement, I have to agree with you on both points. I’ve actually researched the Georgian \ Russian conflict (using the UN Security Council information which can be tracked to 1994 – with the USA government – specifically the republican government – interested in the Caspian sea oil. Which is no doubt why the US is so interested in this conflict, and I personally can not find fault with the Russian government, in regards to the prevention of genocide, as it is right to defend minority rights.
Also, in regards to Palin herself, she actually – when she was only a mayor – changed the law in an Alaskan city to force rape victims to pay for their own testing – which of course, then protects the rapist, since a rape kit is now invoiced to the victim.
if you’re interested you may visit my blog to review these items. I’ll read your blog more indepth later tonight after work 🙂
cheers,
James
RE: J. Van Leuvaan’s comment dated 9/29 at 9:14 p.m. regarding Sarah Palin & rape kits.
I agree that Sarah Palin is an absolutely worthless VP choice and the McCain/Palin ticket is unfit to be elected, as I stated elsewhere on this blog on 9/28.
But, just to set the record straight about Palin and rape kits in Wasilla:
While Palin was mayor of Wasilla, rape victims in Wasilla were never billed for rape kits. Wasilla Police Chief Fallon who served under Mayor Sarah Palin never billed rape victims themselves for their rape kits — rather, he billed the victims’ insurance companies. There is no indication of what Fallon did if the insurers rejected the claims or who paid for the rape kits of uninsured victims. But the current mayor of Wasilla says that there is no record of rape victims in Wasilla being billed for their rape kits.
The Alaska State Legislature passed legislation in 2000 banning the practice of billing victims for their rape kits because hospitals in the most populous region of Alaska were billing victims for their rape kits. The legislation was not drafted in response to practices in Wasilla itself, which is never mentioned in transcripts of the committee meetings held for drafting the legislation.
Furthermore, Palin, or rather Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the governor, gave an interview approximately two weeks ago to USA Today in which Comella stated that Governor Palin does not believe and has never believed that rape victims should be billed for their rape kits.
All of the above facts can be found at Slate.com under the installment series “XX Factor” in a 9/26/2008 piece by Rachael Larimore entitled “Debunk-a-Bunk.” Larimore is responding to an online New York Times op-ed by Dorothy Samuels which defames Palin regarding the rape kits by presenting methodically abridged facts and quotes so as to seemingly confirm the myth the Palin billed rape victims.
The URL for Rachael Larimore’s column is:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/xxfactor.
Again, Sarah Palin, in my opinion, is indeed a worthless candidate for VP and the McCain/Palin ticket will sink on its own very quickly. But Palin’s supposed billing of rape victims is not fact but myth, and that needs to be understood.
um…. what difference does it make to invoice the victim of rape, or invoice the insurance company which has been commissioned by the victim?
It is still and always will be forcing a rape victim to suffer the further insult of having to pay for something which was not in their control. A voilation of the innate soverignty of individual rights, and furthermore – that same respect is accepted by the senate AND the house refusing to give funding to any state which has laws such as are on the books in the State of Alaska.
Tell you what… cross the street, get hit by a car, and then be told, that you, or your insurance company is responsible to pay the driver of that vehicle any damage which they may have sustained by hitting you with their car… and well, for fun? Let the driver be drunk at the same time ok?
there is no difference. semantics are a state of usefulness only to those whom have an issue with the innate truth of a scenario.
RE: J. Van Leuvaan’s comment dated 9/30 at 3:23 a.m.
Two points in response:
First: In my initial comment, I wasn’t defending or endorsing Palin’s record, or even the practice of billing insurance companies for rape kits. I was simply clarifying the facts about Palin’s record.
Second: If I understand correctly, most states do routinely bill the insurance companies of victims of alleged rape for the cost of rape kits simply as a matter of reducing public expense whenever possible — even though a case can be made that the forensic testing/analysis of the injuries of any victim of an alleged crime should be born by the state as part of the cost of law enforcement.
The only conceivable argument for billing insurers that I can think of would be that, by shifting the cost of rape kits to insurers, the public cost of prosecuting allegations of rape can be reduced, thus making it economically feasible to prosecute a larger number of rape cases and thus more likely that prosecutors actually will follow through in prosecuting each allegation of rape.
Considering that rape kits are expensive to begin with, and criminal prosecutions for any alleged crime are also hugely expensive for the public, any reduction in the cost of prosecuting rape cases is likely to be of benefit to victims of rape if it makes it more likely that each allegation of rape will be prosecuted.
But, as I stated above, I wasn’t defending the practice of billing insurance companies to begin with. I was simply trying set the record straight about Palin’s actual performance as mayor.
It sounds as though you’re justifying the billing of rape kits to the victim’s insurance company. So what if they’re expensive?
I can appreciate viewing an item from “all sides” however, even in a logical manner, there can sometimes only be one side, and it should be addressed with the indignation it in and of itself puts forward.
The logical reason for a government, institution, or corporate entity, doesn’t at all detract from the moral aspects of any given aspect or event.
We’re human beings and should and must look at things from a perspective of wisdom and humanity, otherwise we are endorsing each and every act of “acceptable” and “understandable” legalities, in order to fuel our own indifference.
In my opinion, any viewpoint that can see all sides of an argument, rationale, justification, validation, or argument, which still does not then, defer to the truth of moral and humanistic rights for their premise of position, has missed the point. Furthermore, it is this type of acceptable reasoning which has allowed the war in Iraq to occur. Slavery, genocide, rape, prostitution, gang violence etc – to plague our oh so “enlightened” western cultures.
It is pathetic with an indifference and viable deniability which has – as a result brought about the fall of the empire.
You know… I’m a Christian. By that I mean I serve a God that came to earth, as a man, lived, died and lived again, so that we could be free to care for the nature of those affected and afflicted around us. Yet at the same token, I will never, and have never subscribed to the idiocy of patriotic alignment, righteousness by nationality, or validation by faith system – in order to validate, justify or explain away acts of less than moral fortitude.
I’m Dutch. I’m living in Canada. I travel extensively, and I have watched more horror propagated by the lack of action taken where valid explanations are put forth in order to give less than the appropriate weight to acts of evil.
Rape is rape. It is a violation. Thusly no explanation can or should be presented let alone considered “an explanation” for a violation of such magnitude.
As for the rationale that “If I understand correctly, most states do routinely bill the insurance companies of victims of alleged rape for the cost of rape kits simply as a matter of reducing public expense whenever possible” is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
My best suggestion to you is that perhaps you read what you write prior to hitting the submit comment button.
There is an old adage… if everyone jumps off a cliff, are you going to do it as well?
I have read all of the different “explanations” and “legal reasoning” behind why rape kits are invoiced in many states toward the victim and/or their insurance company, however. In my opinion? so what? Nothing changes the fact that rape is rape, and this only serves to protect the aggressor, not the rights of the victim.
Thusly should be approached with quite a bit more humanity than the robotic sociopathic mentality of “this is why – shrug and I’m just saying …” kind of dialogue.
Especially if you consider on which blog you’re writing, and the events of the individual writing the blog and their experiences.
It is called common sense, compassion, understanding, and humanity.
Anything less is an attitude which 1: has destroyed this nation (USA), 2: allowed these atrocities to function uninhibited, towards the destruction of human rights as they were conceived, from their first perception, and writing.
I will not comment on this further, as I have no more interest in giving this any value. It deserves none. It is another example of typical American ignorance validated and justified through legislation, and therefore acceptable by the masses.
Of course… that attitude is the reason your nation is where it is now isn’t it? How are you fairing on the markets?