Former Alaska Governor and Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is scheduled to give a speech at California State University in June. The contract for her appearance calls for $75,000 plus an estimated $18,000 in travel expenses; total equals $93,000. The event is the 50th anniversary gala at Cal State Stanislaus. One payment of $37,500 has already been made. University officials and Palin tried to keep the fee secret but it was revealed by an insider. The arrangements are being made through a Washington DC speaker’s bureau.
Sarah Palin was chosen as a running mate in the 2008 election by the then Presidential candidate, Senator John McCain. In retrospect, it appears his choice was made primarily because Palin is a woman and there were gender and racial issues surrounding the Presidential campaign. McCain hoped to attract more women, maybe some that had been supporters of Senator Hillary Clinton, to his side. Obviously, it did not work; at least not well enough.
McCain went down in defeat. One reason could well have been because he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Yes, she was the governor of Alaska, but she really had no experience, background, or education that would qualify her to be Vice-President of the United States and a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Voters realized this. She had not even completed one term as governor. She never did. She quit on the people of Alaska who had elected her. Besides, she was the governor of a state having a large amount of territory but few people. The population of Alaska is less than that of the City of Indianapolis. So, McCain asked the people of this country to elect him with a running mate whose only real qualification was that she was female.
Now Palin is the darling of a wing of the Republican Party. The “drill, baby, drill” bunch loves her. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and our own home grown, Peter Heck, love her. She preaches conservatism and advocates “family values” while all the while having one of the most dysfunctional families going. Her speeches are filled with cliques, re-used and re-hashed platitudes, and rah-rah. She has become more a TV/movie star celebrity with an adoring, cheering fan club rather than being a leader of substance and experience; the kind we really need.
Now, Sarah is making money hand over fist from her appearances and her best seller book. Good for her, but there is a big problem with this particular engagement at California State University. It reveals her true character. The State of California and its educational system are broke. Yet, she will be taking $93,000 from a foundation whose purpose it is to fund scholarships and education. To earn the cost of the Palin engagement back in a year, the foundation would have to invest about $1,860,000 at a 5% annual return. Just how many scholarships could this be funding in the meanwhile?
Sarah Palin has vehemently criticized others for corruption and greed. She preaches the need for a new kind of politician: one who has the best interest of the country over personal gain. She preaches fiscal responsibility yet is willing to charge an outlandish speaking fee to those whose purpose it is to use available funds for education of students. This is greed. This is hypocrisy. If some private company or group wants to pay her any amount of money; no problem. This is not such a case. If Sarah Palin’s values are what she preaches, she would forego any fee over, perhaps, the expense of her travel. What is the cost of an airline ticket from Alaska?
The President of Mexico, whose country is the source of millions of illegal aliens that have flooded the United States, was honored recently at a State Dinner at the White House by President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. In an address to a joint session of our Congress the next day, President Felipe Calderon escalated his assault on the Arizona law that allows law enforcement officials to detain anyone suspected of being in this country illegally, calling it a “terrible idea”. President Barack Obama himself has called the law “misdirected”.
The Governor of the State of Arizona has been in the news this week pleading for help from the federal government in addressing illegal immigration in her state. She asked for help in securing the border and has sent requests to Washington asking for financial assistance in enforcement of our nation’s laws. She said no response of any type has been received in her office. Phoenix, Arizona, now has the dubious honor of being the kidnap capital of the world. In a study released this past week, it was estimated that illegal aliens have cost Arizona over 2 billion dollars. The people of Arizona have said enough is enough.
One must wonder what side President Barack Obama is on. Is he on the side of enforcement of the laws of the United States as he pledged to do when sworn to office or is he on the side of defending law breaking for personal and Party gain. Clearly, the federal government has abdicated its responsibility so far to either enforce the law or initiate immigration reform which does not mean amnesty for those in this country illegally. Even the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has become mute when she advocated for corrective action as governor of Arizona. Some one got to her.
Arizona has taken right action. It should always be the responsibility of law enforcement at all levels to enforce the laws of a state and nation. It was never reasonable for local law enforcement’s hands to be tied in matters of immigration with only referral to an impotent federal agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as its only option. The people of Arizona do not think so either. They have enacted legislation which is reasonable and enforceable.
Many so called civil rights groups have filed a sweeping lawsuit against Arizona’s immigration law. Lucas Guttentag, an ACLU attorney called the law “extreme and dangerous”. He claimed this law would undermine public safety. It is quite the contrary. This law is an attempt by a State to establish the rule of law regarding immigration within its own borders. This law will help to restore public safety and confidence. This law is a message to those who willfully violate the laws of immigration that they are not welcome in Arizona.
Indiana should follow the lead provided by Arizona. It should empower law enforcement with the directive to apprehend and ultimately deport those who are in our state illegally. It should empower the legal system in Indiana to arrest and penalize employers who prey on illegal aliens for economic gain. We do not have problems the size of those faced in Arizona….. yet. It is time to act.
The more information rooted out by reporters concerning the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the more negligence or even criminal neglect bubbles to the surface. Now it turns out the agency of the federal government responsible for safe operation inspections of oil rigs in the Gulf fell grossly short of the number of inspections required by regulations. The short fall was from 25% to almost 60% fewer than the mandated 104 since the rig arrived in the Gulf some 104 months ago. The 25-60% range is due to the ever changing numbers provided by the Department of Interior who is the overseer of the Minerals Management Service, the agency charged with safety inspections. Clearly, heads need to fall.
Things just get worse. Now biologists are telling us that giant oil plumes many miles wide and long have been found under water where they may well enter major currents that would carry the oil to the Florida Keys, around to the east coast of Florida, and up to other east coast states. Conservationists warn of huge potential environmental damage. Already major fisheries along the Gulf States have been shut down. No one knows for how long. It could be many years, even decades, before recovery is possible. The lives of hundreds of thousands have been changed for the worse forever. The same is true for those who made a living in the tourist and travel industry. Who wants to walk beaches covered with globs of oil?
No company wants to be the example, but if any deserve it, BP does. Now, company officials seem to be back tracking from their original position of unlimited compensation levels for those who have been damaged. There is little doubt they will hide under the laws that provide such limits and that the American taxpayer will once again pay for the damage. What BP deserves is to go down under the weight of financial responsibility to all who will suffer the consequences of their stupid decisions.
One irony is that the Obama administration allowed the “drill, baby, drill” crowd to set energy policy for all. Deep water, Gulf of Mexico drilling was allowed. I wonder how this is working for them now.
If we had the political will in Congress to stand up to the oil companies, the United States of American could set a crash course for energy independence and freedom from oil. How many environmental disasters does it take to change direction? Even one is one too many.
In all of the articles published and programs aired, minor regard is always given to the wildlife affected by man’s actions. We had already poisoned an area over 100 miles in diameter from the outflow of the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. No life of consequence can be found there. Now we have created plumes of death in the millions of gallons of oil that have been released. It will be decades before we really know the full consequences of our incredibly selfish acts.
Haven’t we all heard the cry that to solve our oil dependency problems, we need to “drill, baby, drill!”. We heard this from any number of politicians from both major parties, but mostly from those in the Republican camp. What I have to say to them now is “how is that workin’ for you?”.
We have not even seen the tip of the iceburg yet. The oil spill from the BP platform in the Gulf of Mexico is predicted to go down as the worst environmental disaster the United States has ever seen. Already several Gulf states have seen their fisheries shut down. Why? Because all of the fish are either contaminated or will soon be dead. The same is true for shrimp, bivalves, and anything else that depends upon the sea for life. The devastation yet to be seen with bird populations will be huge. We can only imagine right now.
This evening a report on television said that there is a chance the contamination will spread through out the entire Gulf of Mexico basin before it is over. This means that not only will our citizens suffer, but so will those of all of the countries that border the Gulf. I wonder who is going to pay for the economic loss of livelihoods? I doubt BP even has those kinds of resources. This says nothing about all the silent voices, the creatures and plants that will surely die. The report even suggests there is a possibility the spill will round the tip of Florida and make its way up the east coast of the United States in months to come. The economic loss will be so difficult to measure. Again, who will pay?
Even though claimed to be an accident, what happened was predictable. With over 3000 oil platforms in the Gulf, failure on a large scale was just an accident waiting to happen. It did. The cause ultimately: our dependence on oil.
There is and has been no excuse for inaction. The oil companies have controlled the agenda. The United States needs to pursue alternative sources of energy like our lives depend upon success. It does. If what is said about the abundance of natural gas in this country is even half true, our economy could easily and quickly convert to natural gas while wind, solar, biomass, ethanol, and maybe even nuclear energy are being brought on line. We must get off of oil. We are vulnerable to manipulation by nations whose people do not like us and oil is extremely environmentally unfriendly.
The BP spill is a huge wake up call. It is a shame so many will suffer from this mother of all environmental disasters, but maybe it took this for anyone to listen.