Vids - BAM and Tammy Bruce

The Bob and Mark Show talk about Palin "looting" the Silver Spoon gifting suite:



And now for some Tammy Bruce:





Oh, and the rumor mill says that Bristol may have moved out and gotten a place of her own in Anchorage. I don't know if it's true or not. Of course the rumors are spinning it negatively. "Who's going to take care of Tripp? She hates her mother!" etc...

Um, Bristol already has a babysitter in Anchorage. I believe she works in Anchorage. The sitter already watches him while she's working. She goes and sees him sometimes on her lunch breaks. This would be more convenient for her all around. And seriously, who wants to live with their parents for the rest of their life? Sheeesh.

The "scandals" of the Underworld crack me up. Like the whole assertion that Sarah got plastic surgery. Okay, let's just say she got a nip and a tuck. So?

Throw her in jail, right? Because we all know that's illegal. LOL!

Another Rundown

Some of this news is a day old, but I've been busy lately.

Here's the latest on Bristol. People Magazine quotes Brenda Hampton, creator and producer of the Secret Life of the American Teenager:

Despite the fact that her family has been beaten up in the press for the past few years, Bristol was willing to step out of her comfort zone and try something new, and I really respect that.

She's a beautiful and intelligent young woman who is also really sweet.

Well that was nice.

Here's something else that was really nice, and just plain decent. Something that we're not used to when it comes to coverage of the Palins, but I could definitely warm up to.

Melissa Lemer of the Silver Spoon demands a retraction and an apology to the Silver Spoon, the vendors, and Governor Palin from entities such as E! Online who published bogus stories about Palin's visit to the Silver Spoon event:
---------------

The Silver Spoon, a company owned and operated by women and established with a firm belief in supporting women in business and leadership, invited Governor Sarah Palin and her family to participate in a charitable function sponsored by The Silver Spoon and the Red Cross to support the Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts in Haiti. Governor Palin graciously accepted since it was in support of such a worthy and timely cause.

The governor arrived with a small group about 15 minutes prior to our store’s official opening; and upon arrival, she and her entire group gave generous donations to the cause. We offered to open early to accommodate her schedule; she did not ask us to open early. The other vendors routinely set up an hour before the event opens, so they were already there when the governor arrived. No one was asked to come in early.

When Governor Palin arrived, she and her guests made generous donations. I escorted her around and introduced her to every vendor, and they talked to her about their products and gifted her with samples. She never asked for anything but politely accepted the products. The governor and her family and guests were very gracious and respectful to everyone.

We asked and the governor happily agreed to take a photo with the American Red Cross staff and the staff of The Silver Spoon. The governor stayed for a total of about 35 minutes, thanked everyone, made an additional generous personal donation pledge to the Red Cross, and then departed.

The stories currently circulating about Governor Palin’s attendance at our event are total fabrications.

Just one example of the many falsehoods is the ridiculous idea that Governor Palin walked away with 40 AIAIAI headphones. In reality, she was given two pairs of AIAIAI headphones – one for herself and one for her daughter Bristol who could not attend the event. The idea that she took 40 pairs is an outrageous falsehood. It would have been impossible because the vendors only bring around 100 items for the entire two day event. They would have run out of product after an hour of opening yesterday.

Just to clarify things, the entire point of giving someone a swag bag is to have them take your product and hopefully purchase more. The whole point of giving away products is to “give them away.” That’s why we call this type of event style a “gifting suite.”

We would like an immediate retraction and an apology to The Silver Spoon, its vendors, and especially to Governor Sarah Palin.
-------------------

Thank you. Who knew that someone in Hollywood had a decent bone in their body?

I don't know if the Silver Spoon people are fans of Palin as a woman or as a politician, but they are at least fans of the truth. And that is very much appreciated.

Some say that Palin donated the free stuff back for auction, others say she didn't. Either way she didn't do anything wrong. The New York Post reports that she did give it back:

While most stars were loading up on swag from the Oscar gifting suites, Sarah Palin left one of them with less than when she arrived. The former vice-presidential candidate made a $1,700 donation to the Red Cross for Haiti and Chile at a swag suite at LA's Interior Illusion store Wednesday.

A spy said, "She picked up a ton of gifts, but she gave the lot to the Red Cross, along with a cash donation. The only thing she took for herself was a bottle of Ty Ku sake."

On the list of things that are not refreshing but rather give you the urge to vomit, Levi Johnston was with Kathy Griffin in Anchorage when she went up there for her comedy show. Now listen, I understand that Griffin is a comedian. For her, Palin is comedy gold. I don't fault her for acting according to her nature, but I do fault her for being a classless "female dog." And thank heaven Bristol dumped the no-character kid.

eclectikak at C4P:

O/T- I'M GONNA PUKE!

That Katty Griffin skank had a book-signing at Borders bookstore in Anchorage with "I-take-off-my-LEVIs-for-money" leering at her side today.....

Ya, just saw a bit on the state-wide news, first they showed her prancing around up on the table then maniacly flashing a skull-like grin signing books while punk-boy leaned in giving her googly-eyes. Sorry for the visual but that's as it was.....

Thanks for that. I need something to scour my brain with now. eclectikak provides the brain-rinse:

The only time I have met her was in the hot-dog line at the "Farewell and FORWARD!" Governor's Picnic. When I got to her I gave her a bow and then said "No food, just wanted to say thank you for your service."

She kinda straightened up with tongs in hand and then quickly rejoined with "No, thank YOU for letting me serve." Pure humility and class.

No, NBC did not sweeten the laugh track of Palin's performance on Leno. If you follow that link you'll see a ton more from the guy who claimed NBC did. I gotta say, he sounds mental.

If her performance was so horrible and nobody laughed, you'd think there would have been lots of bad reviews of it the next day, right? (crickets)

Awesome follow-up article from the woman who found a new BFF in Sarah Palin on the streets of LA:
------------

I wrote a blog yesterday about meeting Sarah Palin. Oh. My. God. Never before has there been such an outpouring of both love and hate, for both Sarah and I. It would not stop, and continues to come in this morning.

I have received a lot of reader comments during my time writing for the Jewish Journal, but never have I received as much as I did after this blog. I invite you to take a look at some of those comments, at the bottom of yesterdays article.

Let’s get a few things straight. I am a Democrat. I believe in gay marriage. I do not support hunting, or gun ownership. I will fight for a woman’s right to have an abortion. I am a Jew. I love Israel. I also happen to think that Sarah Palin is a cool lady.

I did not write a political blog yesterday. I wrote about having a chance encounter with someone in the public eye, who I happen to think is interesting. Just because I think her politics are scary, does not mean that I can’t think she is a nice human being.

Conservatives wrote fast and furious to let me know they respected the bravery of my article, considering I was not a supporter of Sarah as a politician. I think it’s a sad day in America when people feel the need to commend you for being decent.

Liberals wrote to say that I took my picture with Hitler, was fraternizing with the enemy, and should be ashamed of myself. Six of my “friends” were so disgusted with my blog, that they decided to “un-friend” me on Facebook.

Listen to me people, just because you talk to a woman about glasses, purses, children, and dating, does not mean that you are going to sit down for a glass of Kool-Aid, and give up on everything that you believe in. Liking Sarah Palin is not a sin. Judging her as a politician, rather than a human being, is.

“A card carrying Democrat”, wrote to say I was going to hell, my Jewish son would soon take Jesus into his heart, and then bring home his pregnant teenage girlfriend, if I spent another moment buying into the rhetoric of Ms. Palin. To that charming writer, I say, kiss my ass.

People became ugly, unkind, and quite frankly, un-American. It was just a blog! I did not change my party, shoot a wolf from a helicopter, or decide to become a Christian. Why is so hard for people to separate out someones religion or political party, from their simply being a person?

We are all free to have an opinion. Regardless of what we think, or know about Ms. Palin, as someone who has met her, but certainly does not claim to know her, I will say again, that she is lovely, and no one is going to bully me into thinking differently.

I hope that Sarah Palin is never elected as President of the United States. I hope that Sarah Palin knows that she is always welcome in my home. I hope that Sarah Palin and I can one day have a beer, sit and chat about our kids, and dance at her sister’s wedding.

To all the haters, you will never have peace in your life when it is so filled with hate. And one more thing, when Sarah comes over to my house for dinner, I am going to serve her Kool-Aid! Maybe she will leave craving matzo ball soup, and planning her grandson’s Bar Mitzvah!

Shabbat Shalom. I wish you all a wonderful weekend. Love your kids, be kind to others, and see people at human beings first. I hope all our troops come home soon, safe and healthy.

To Sarah Palin, I again want to say that it was a pleasure meeting you. No matter how fabulous your Prada boots are, I would never want to spend a day in your shoes, and have to deal with the hate that is projected towards you. That said, you have a lot of fans who support you. You can be proud, as they were kind to me, and represent you well.

I’m over talking about it now, and I am done with my foray into politics. I have a date this weekend, and perhaps he will be my last first date ever. Not sure it’s possible, but I believe it can be, and that is half the battle. I will always keep the faith.
-------------

In other news, Palin put out a Facebook note today:

First the Obama Administration opened up the possibility of prosecuting CIA interrogators doing their jobs seeking information from terrorists. Then they tried to go after the Bush Administration lawyers who acted in good faith to protect us in the months after 9/11.

Now some of the military brass are court-martialing three brave Navy SEALs for allegedly throwing a single punch at Iraqi terrorist leader Ahmed Hashim Abed. This is wrong. The Washington Times got it right: Save the SEALs.

These brave warriors belong in combat, not in the courthouse. They captured the most wanted terrorist in Iraq. We may never know how many other heroic missions they undertook on behalf of our country. The charges should be dropped, and they should be returned to their unit – with our gratitude for their service.

Stand up for the SEALs who are standing up for us!

- Sarah Palin

Levi Ordered to Pay Up (and Rex Butler is a PDSing Scumbag)

TMZ broke the story that Levi has to pay retroactive child support and interim child support. Court date for determining final child support is in September.

Different news outlets give you different amounts. According to TMZ, it's $1,688 per month retroactive to December 27, which would equal around $20,000, by my calculations. But TMZ says Levi has to pay back nearly $18,000. Levi's lawyer, on the other hand, tells ABC that the back child support is going to come to between 10 and 13 thousand.

Okay.

Anyway, we know that he'll have to pay retroactive and interim child support. The most common figure I've seen is $18,500. Not that it matters; I just found it odd.

This came on the heels of a hearing where the judge set the September date. Bristol was at the hearing. Levi was not. Apparently, his lawyer told him it wasn't important and he didn't have to show up. The judge didn't think that was very cool.

Bristol's lawyer told RadarOnline -

She still has both physical and legal custody of their son although she has been working with Levi so that he can see him on Saturdays. The pair are communicating via text and e-mail and are deciding to put their son first – we are actively working with Levi’s lawyer to get a more regular schedule set-up and we hope to have everything in place before the next court date on September 23, 2010.

The payments amount to around $18,000 and date back to when their son was born and Levi will be paying around $1600 a month in on-going child support payments.

It should take us around two weeks to subpoena his commercial earnings after the judge granted this to us today. Bristol just wants to get on with her life as this point and is determined to raise her son in a positive and loving fashion – all parties are working together at this point.

So, Van Flein says it's around $18,000 too. One of the two lawyers apparently doesn't know how to use a calculator.

What burns my butt is this line Butler told ABC when asked about Bristol's guest appearance on tv:

"We are glad to see that she got some work. This will mean she has some income and will be more independent of her mother, and that's a good thing. And this could change some things between her and Levi."

Um, you are aware, Mr. Butler that Bristol actually has a job? Right? Has for some time now. And you are aware that your client does not have steady employment, at least not to my knowledge?

And you just can't stop yourself from slamming Sarah Palin can you? Just can't help yourself. If there's anyone who's been drawing out the tensions among the parties involved, my money says it's you. I think it's pretty clear who Levi contracted his PDS from.

What a.... well, go nuts.

Tripp's Health Insurance

Todd Palin's Y'upik grandmother

Did you hear? Sarah Palin's grandchild is on government health care. That hypocrite!

Okay, first of all, the operative word is "grandchild." As in, not her primary responsibility.

Where is this all coming from? Some of the latest court documents in the Bristol/Levi custody case found here. It deals mainly with the child support issue. On page 8, we read this:

In addition to his request for accommodations based on his career choice, Mr. Johnston asks the Court to deduct $300 a month of his child support obligation for providing health insurance for Tripp.... There are two reasons why this request should be rejected:

First, Levi has never paid for any health insurance. One cannot seek a deduction for costs or support one has never paid.

Second, this insurance is unnecessary. Tripp is an enrolled tribal member of Curyung Tribal Council within the Bristol Bay Native Association consortium...The majority of Tripp's health care costs are already covered by IHS and the Alaska Native Medical Center, Mr. Johnston has no need to purchase additional health insurance and this deduction should not be allowed.

As you can see, the point of the passage is that Levi hasn't paid for any health insurance, nor does he have to, so a deduction for that is ridiculous.

But beyond that, the larger issue has become the supposed hypocrisy of Sarah Palin because her grandson has government health care. Um, you do know that this is because of Tripp's Native American ancestry, right? Whatever happened to the Left screaming at the top of their lungs about how we bad Whiteys stole the land from the Native Americans?

One of the commentors over at C4P has worked as a doctor with Native American tribes. This is what he had to say:

I worked for Indian Health.

The Indian Health Service is a part of the Public Health service. The commander is the Surgeon General. It is the sixth branch of the military in peace time. In the time of war it becomes part of the Coast Guard. More PHS doctors were killed in VietNam than any other branch of the service.

By serving with the PHS and IHS as a volunteer enlistee, I am an honorably discharged veteran. During the Iranian hostage crisis, I was put on standby to be shipped out to the Middle East.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) provides care for the Native Americans through their treaties. Health care was offered in exchange for giving up their lands. There is nothing socialized about this. The tribes bought their health care by giving up their lands.

One hundred years later, the white people are paying for health care that costs more than they ever expected. The Natives peoples are seeing oil and gas removed that they never knew existed.

Socialism is a redistribution of wealth. This is not socialism.

I believe the only member of the Palin Family who is not an enrolled Native American is Sarah Palin herself. This is an interracial couple, no matter what the left wants to say.

Part of being enrolled may vary from tribe to tribe. I had a patient who was part Hoh Tribe. She ran a general store on the reservation for 40 years and was good to the people. They asked her to be enrolled.

O/T and then there was the electrician who ran wiring out to the outhouse for his wife. They built a statue for him because he was the first person to wire a head for the reservation.

So just what is the Native American heritage of the Palin children? This article tells the story:

Todd Palin's 87-year-old Yup'ik grandmother, grew up living between two worlds. Her father was a Dutchman, Glass Eye Billy Bartman, a sled dog freighter in the Bristol Bay region and caretaker of the Alaska Packers saltry on the Igushik River."

Her mother was full-blooded Yup'ik, growing up in a sod-roofed barabara in the now-abandoned village of Tuklung, somewhere on the tundra between Dillingham and Togiak...

Lena Andree is one-half Yup'ik, and Todd Palin is one-eighth.

The Palin children are Native, too -- one-sixteenth, eligible for Indian health benefits under federal law, as lineal descendants of Native enrollees under the 1970 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act....

Well, there ya go. Health care in exchange for land, oil, etc.... A barter, if you will. And kind of a lopsided one, at that.

It just cracks me up that those on the Left, the supposed arbiters of social justice, are against this.

Some say that Sarah Palin wasn't kind to the Native tribes as Governor. I'm not going to get into a long-winded argument about that because I haven't researched it, but are you telling me that Tripp Palin should be denied the benefits of his ancestry because of something his grandmother did?

Blood is thicker than water.

On a sidenote, also highlighted in the court documents is the obvious fact that Bristol has only thus far asked for interim child support. In other words, support retroactive from this last year in which Levi has hardly paid anything, plus support until the court makes a final decision on the amount for the future.

The interim request is based on Levi's income in 2009. Those horrible subpoenas that Bristol's lawyer is issuing are to discover what Levi has made in the past to better figure out what the child support should be in the future.

This is how cases work. She demands an amount, you try to get less, she tries to find out your income, etc... And hopefully, the end result is a fair outcome for all parties. It's a back and forth. So quit whining.

And by the way, the burden of changing child support payments due to revised income lies on Levi's shoulders, not Bristol's. If he gets a job that only pays $25,000 a year, it's up to him to file papers for a modification of his child support payments.

So Levi, man up and quit crying about how much Bristol is asking for. Your ex-honey is raising your kid, not to mention, she has a job. And quit sending your pathetic sister out to whine for you. No wonder Bristol dumped your butt. You have some major growing up to do.

Just Got Back from Palin's RTL Speech

Kissin' Trig

I just got back from seeing Sarah Palin at the Right to Life event in Milwaukee. Here's a basic rundown of my experience. You probably don't care, but I'm going to tell you anway. I've only slept like four hours in the last two days. I pretty much have big raccoon rings under my eyes, so bear with me:

I jumped on ordering tickets as soon as the event was announced. I called my parents and told them about it, after which they refused to let me travel the four hours distance to get there on my own, so my Dad ended up taking me, which was fine. I mapped it out and told him where to go and we went.

We got to the event about 45 minutes before the outer doors opened (around 4:45) and there was a fairly small line. As we stood there we were glad we got there when we did because the line filled in behind us pretty fast.

There was a lady a ways ahead of us in line wearing an Alaskan sweatshirt who claimed that she either had been or currently is Sarah's neighbor. I wasn't able to get close enough to find out details, but I was dying, dying, of curiosity. At any rate, she seemed to approve of Sarah.

Once we got inside, the place filled up slowly, and from where I was sitting, it looked packed. I'd say a safe estimate would be a few thousand people, if not more.

I saw Sapwolf from C4P. He was about ten rows ahead of me. Yes, he's from New York, and yes, he came all the way here. Good grief, man, you get around. He was wearing his C4P shirt. I didn't say hi, mostly because I was about to fall asleep and probably looked like I'd been up for four days and had just stumbled out of a washing machine. But Sapwolf, if you noticed a girl lookin' at you with red hair and a red Wisconsin shirt, that was me.

Anyway, it was supposed to start at 7:30, but it didn't get started right on the dot, and people were getting antsy. All of a sudden, some applause and hollering broke out and people started standing up. I stood up too because I thought it might be Sarah, but no, it was the Republican candidate for Governor, Scott Walker. False alarm (sigh). Antsy again.

A couple minutes later some people started chanting "Sarah!" as if they were trying to bring her out. They chanted in vain. A couple more minutes ticked by.

Finally, at maybe 7:35, the organizer of the event got up and spoke, followed by one of the main people at Wisconsin Right to Life. They shared some good stuff. He apparently got his girlfriend pregnant when he was 19. They decided to have the baby, and today she's married and will soon be giving them a grandchild. It's safe to say that the pro-life movement is personal to him.

He was followed by a woman who talked about the successes Wisconsin's RTL is having and what they're doing. Again, good stuff, but not really why we came. She asked if anyone was here from out of the country and Sapwolf yelled out, "New York!" and raised his hand. Finally, the woman introduced Sarah, who came through the curtain off to the side of the stage.

I gotta tell ya, the place went absolutely insane. I've never seen her in person before. My first thought was, "Oh, my goodness, she's short!" (Not like, tiny short, but short, nonetheless). My next thoughts were somewhere along the line of "I can't believe she's right there! I can't believe she's right there!....." You get the idea.

She was wearing a red suit and looked awesome. I didn't try to get any pictures or autographs at the end or anything. One, they wouldn't let us bring cameras in; two, that's not why I was there. I know what she looks like; I wanted to hear what she had to say.

The applause went on for awhile. She tried a few times to get us to shut up so she could speak, but nothing doing, we just kept on cheering. Finally, we decided to sit down and let her have her say.

The event was obviously not tailored for recording. There were a couple of screens, but the lighting wasn't quite right so the screen version of her was just a little off. I'm pretty sure it's the shadows that weren't right. I was pretty close though, so I just looked at her. In person she looked great, but you'd be surprised what improper lighting can do to the camera version of something. I just ignored the screens. Besides, I was trying to take notes.

The first thing she did was ask if there were any soldiers or veterans in the audience and asked us to give them a round of applause. My dad is a vet. Then she asked them to stand while we observed a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting at Fort Hood. She said she'd be prayin' during that silence. Two of the soldiers killed were from Wisconsin.

After that she started off like she always does, making connections to Alaska. First up, her grandmother was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Secondly, she gave a shout out to Greta van Susteren. She said she's never been around Greta where she hasn't heard her singing Wisconsin's praises. Greta, of course, is from Appleton, Wisconsin.

Sarah said the third connection was a bit more nebulous. Her father (her mom was there with her, by the way. She was sitting in the audience. That's the only family member I saw or heard mentioned as having been there.) Anyway, I think she said her father had gone to high school with a Jerry (Jeremy?) something, a guy who turned into a Green Bay Packer. I'm not a Packer guru, so don't ask me for details. But Sarah was saying how she was on the phone with her Dad asking him this stuff, and she wanted more details. Her dad was going on about the guy and asking her, "Don't you remember...?" this, this, and that about the player's record. Sarah was like, "Dad, I don't even know if I was born!"

She then got into more serious things. She took out a gold coin, one of those new gold dollars. She said a friend of hers got it as change or something at a car wash (don't quote me, I was writing notes) and asked her what was missing. It was, of course, "In God We Trust." It's been moved to the edge of the coin on the new gold dollars. Sarah said that she knew it wasn't seemingly a big deal, but it was indicative or what's going on in our country, and she just had to wonder, who gave their stamp of approval to that? "In God We Trust," our motto, is being pushed to the outside?

She then mentioned the size of the crowd and said that she liked it for selfish reasons. She said that she looks out at the crowd and thinks, "Thank God; I am not doing this alone."

The theme of her speech seemed to be Truth. She kept coming back to that word. The idea being that as the truth gets put out there by groups like Wisconsin RTL, things will change. They are already changing.

She quoted a Bible verse, but good gravy if I caught the reference. I've got an idea of what it was though; I'll keep looking.

Here's a few other quotes. Some are fairly accurate, others are as best as I could write them down:

"...Babies who survive botched abortions; there are some politicians who would choose to see those babies die."

(referring to the Gallop poll) "The majority of Americans do identify as pro-life, and I thank God for that trend."

(talking about Wisconsin right to life and others in the rank and file) "You didn't sit down and shut up - you went rogue!"

"Some politicians did not support providing care to botched abortion survivors...one is now in the White House."

"They call our position extremist; it is not....(she talked about Roe vs. Wade defining abortion as a right and our position is now seen as anti-liberty, anti-freedom...)

"We're not anti-anything; we're for the very best of life."

"Just simply affirm life."

"A baby is a baby, regardless of the circumstances of her conception."

She called out Nancy Pelosi, talked about how the federal government is looking to fund abortion on demand in healthcare bill. She demanded that Nancy Pelosi live up to her promises and allow transparency in the healthcare bill. She mentioned some Democrats that are fighting these provisions, and said that at the very least Pelosi should allow them their say and a vote.

"I appreciate the Democrats that are fighting abortion on demand in the healthcare bill."

She talked about how we need to help and not be afraid of getting our hands dirty. Too often we shove these things off on the government so we don't have to worry about them: "Don't look to government to walk the walk for us.....Life happens. Don't just hand the government our pregnant teens." She said that beauty could come from less than ideal circumstances.

"I feel a real change is coming, and we can't give up now."

She talked about some feminists of today who "claim to speak for all women. The earliest feminists were pro-life."

She mentioned some of those feminists and what they said. "More young women today agree with our feminist foremothers." (Young women today, the Millennials, are more pro-life than their parents' generation.)

"Don't wait for the government." (talking about how laws have their own process and take time, we just need to get out there and promote life, even if nothing is moving politically.)

She talked briefly about how the danger of judging human life based on utilitarianism. She said that if you judge by utilitarian standards, and the government has to cut costs (under new healthcare bill), our elderly would not be first in line for care, neither would our special needs children.

She said it was funny to see the media's heads spin when she boiled it down to simple terms of truth. She said, "I don't think they can handle the truth yet, but...."

And then finally: "If you feel like you've been pushed out on the edge, come back in; you're not alone; come in and fight with us."

She repeated some of the things she'd said in Evansville. She recounted the ultrasound she got at around 12 weeks. "The technician told me that she saw boy parts!" And, of course, the tests later revealed an extra chromosome.

Sarah talked about her fear, and how she had to cling to just that seed of faith that she had gotten from pro-life proponents. She said it's easy to stand on the side and do the preaching; it's another thing to be asked to walk the walk. She said that she asked Todd and God, "Why us?" And Todd said, "Why not us?"

She talked briefly about Bristol too, and how both her and Bristol understand what you go through in those situations and the temptation to just make it all go away. She then said that she was thankful for all that her family had gone through in the last two years, and that she wouldn't trade it, nor Trig, nor his extra chromosome for anything in the world.

Near the end of her speech she talked about how politicians who resisted the partial birth abortion ban were either heartless or cowards. She said she would call it like she saw it and that partial birth abortion was killing a baby.

She talked about Pope John Paul II and his passion for life. There were a few other things. I'm sure I'm not the only one who was taking notes.

After she was done, the lady from RTL came back and they brought out a check for a $1,000 that Sarah was giving to help fund their tv ad campaign. Everyone who attended got a kind of postcard and a pen. Basically if you would match Sarah's donation for a $1,000, then you will become one of Sarah's "Rogues" and will be shipped an autographed copy of her book when it comes out. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money. I guess I'll have to try for a book signing.

The lady also mentioned, "As you know, Jim Doyle is our Governor." Boooos filled the hall, mine included (boos also rang out when Sarah mentioned Nancy Pelosi earlier on). The lady said we'd elect a pro-life Governor next time around. Too early to call that, but I admire her enthusiasm. Truth be told, I know nothing about Scott Walker; I've been focused on other things.

When it was all over, a bunch of people surged forward to get autographs. A couple of guys were there in their Packers jerseys and cheeseheads. They were shoving their cheeseheads forward trying to get them signed. We hightailed it so we could make it out of there. Got home at around 2:00 in the morning.

So, that's the rundown. If I remember anything else I'll mention it later. Good night:)

LOTUS: Happy Alaska Day!

The purchase of Alaska in 1867

LOTUS: In March 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia for two cents an acre. On October 18 of that year, authority over the territory of Alaska officially transferred to the United States when the American flag flew over Fort Sitka for the first time. Alaskans have celebrated “Alaska Day” on October 18 ever since. Though the purchase was derided at the time as “Seward’s Folly,” Seward was a visionary, and history has proven that his purchase of Alaska from Russia was never folly. Alaska has contributed greatly to the United States through our export of natural resources – from wild Alaska seafood, timber, and ore to our oil pipeline and future natural gas pipeline. Today we remember the wisdom of Secretary Seward and look forward to the hopeful future of the Last Frontier. Happy Alaska Day!

Today also marks a special occasion for my family as my eldest daughter celebrates her birthday. Happy Birthday, Bristol!

- Sarah Palin