Atlas Shrugs

Newsmax: Pamela on Palin

Read it all - Palin, a year later

UPDATE: Motivation: Truth: Palinistas Take Manhattan

Mike Huckabee: Here's Why This Man Will Never be President

UPDATE: Thanks to Kristie who tracked down the video:

Muck-it-up-a-bee was spouting nonsense about Rifqa Bary.

Mike Huckabee weighed in on Rifqa Bary yesterday and displayed an almost breathless stupidity and deliberate delusion that speak to the deeper inadequacy of this man.

Atlas reader Palin opined,

I just watched Huckabee on Fox. He, like everyone else, is completely clueless about this. He started by emphasizing that most Moslems are peaceful, trivialized her conversion to Christianity, raised concerns about sexual predators on the Internet luring kids with religion, stated the family has no history of violence, and stressed that this is "a very complex case."

Huck - this is not about an "angry family." This is about Islam, which loves death and which demands death for apostasy. Rifqa faces death from any and all devout Muslims. Moderate Moslems are simply unserious Moslems - they are irrelevant. This is about blind, clueless people who would send a girl to her death without even realizing the nature of the problem.

I understand now how the holocaust happened.

If anyone has a copy of Huckabee's dhimmitude, send the embed code.

It is important to point this out. Huckabee is surely on the 2012 radar screen. And so is rampant Islamic supremacism and the West's refusal to acknowledge the enemy within and without. Islamic domination is the defining issue of this young century.

Honor killings (outside of Islamic countries where the practice is rampant) in the United States, Canada and Europe are increasing dramatically as Islamic (shariah) law continues its creep apace. These brutal murders are well documented, even as the media caves to Islam by their refusal to cover them. The New York Times finally did a piece on Rifqa and never once mentioned "honor killing".

Swami points out in "Her father, Mohamed Bary, told the judge that Rifqa would be able to practice Christianity if she returned home."

Allah has no partner. To ascribe a partner to Allah is a great sin. It is called 'shirk'. 'I and my father are one'...is shirk. Shirk is also apostasy. All Christians are shirkers.
It is unlikely that Riqa's parents are going to tolerate a shirking apostate under their roof. This will cement the fathers loss of honor, and cause him to be scorned at mosque.Not only is he a failure at his family responsibilities, he is a failure to Allah. There is only one Islamic way to fix that and regain his lost honor, as well as getting right with Allah and we know what that is...

The thing is, how can a man who makes this commentary on the ideology that motivates devout Muslims who practice jihad disconnect so thoroughly on Riqfa Bary's plight? It is the same book, the same ideology. Devout is devout is devout.

UPDATE:Den transcribed the Huckabee video for us:

Title of Video: Rifqa Bary Maligned and Islam defended? Mike Huckabee's unbelievable comments

Transcript, skips straight to the interview with Huckablahblah....

Interviewer: She claims that she was afraid of an honour killing, being the victim.

H: Yep.

Interviewer: Of an Honour Killing at the hands of her parents, for converting, in this day and age, an Honour Killing? This seems so impossible to believe

H: It would be very very difficult to believe, in the culture of the United States, it would not be difficult to believe in cultures, lets say, in the Middle East and the Far East and other parts. But, let me be very quick to say, there are millions of Muslims across the World and not all of them believe in killing their children. And it is very important to separate radical Islam from the really more, eh, traditional and peaceful practice of Islam. So, I think it very important not to act like not every Islamic parent, eh, could, on any given day, could get a knife and hack up their child. Thats just not what is going on here (indistinguisable word - anyroads?).

Interviewer: Furthermore her parents say they don't believe in Honour Killing, they say they have never threatened her whatsoever. This must be a real pickle for the authorities in Florida to figure out if she is a run-away and she just wanted to leave home and go to Florida or if she really is in danger.

H: Well if you are 17 years old and you want to get away from your parents one of the things you do is you create the best barrier you can, and saying I think my parents are going to kill me, cos being an Honour Killing, would do it.

Now, the Florida authorities have to take that seriously, they can't just say, ah, it's just a kid talking. If they send her back and something happens then they are going to really feel horrible about it.
So you have State Law in Ohio, State Law in Florida, you have parents rights, you have childrens rights, this is a very complicated case. The implications are much larger and it is very important that they get it right.

I think what they are doing is the right thing, and thats taking it slow, step at a time. Do all the investigations of the eh eh, child's home situation and see if there is any indication whatsoever that these parents have ever given an indication that they are radical Jihadists. Because that again, you just can't go around saying, oh eh, they are muslim, therefore they are liable to kill their children, that is an insult to all the muslims who love their children as much as I love my children.

Interviewer: It is also complicated because she disappeared from her home and the Police tracked her, eh, using phone and computer records, she went to be with this church group, the Global Revolution Church, who she had met online through a facebook Prayer Group.

All of this scares parents of teenagers, because you don't want your teenager heading off to be with strangers, even if they are a Christian Prayer Group.

H: Well, and, eh, and a lot of things, in the, eh eh, I don't know about this group, so I am not going to say anything good or bad about them, I mean I am divorced from that group.

But, lets face it, religion is often used as a lure, to say that, look, we really love you, we really care...We just had a case in Arkansaw in which a man will spend the rest of his life in prison, and Tony Alamo(?), err, a horrible case there, its been nationally known, but here is a case where he sexually abused children, he used his religion to take kids as young as, 8, 9 years old, marry them, eh, it's a horrible thing, so, just because somebody waves a flag and says I am religious and I am a christian you still have to ask in what manner, and how does that relate to you.

Interviewer: Rifqa is in foster care, right now, until this next hearing on 3rd September, so we know that she is safe at the moment. This is really in the hands of Governor charlie Crist of Florida, to decide whether or not she is going to go back home. Here is his statement, let me tell you what he said:

"I am grateful for the good work of Department of Children and Families...for personally advocating the administrations position by attending (the) Hearing, we will continue to fight to protect Rifqa's safety and wellbeing as we move forward"

Interviewer: Does that go far enough?

H: It's all he can say at this point, because the interest of the child is what matters, BUT you can't ignore the parents rights to be parents. If everytime a kid doesn't like what's going on at home, and runs away, and say, oh and by the way my parents are religious nuts and are going to kill me, eh, you know, you would have most children in America cos they didn't get to go out with their friends, or they didn't get to use their computer when they want to...

Interviewer: What happens though if the Authorities do determine that her parents are extremists at some level?

H: If that were to happen then she would most likely end up in Foster Care and until she meets maturity age, where she would make her own decisions

Interviewer: it's scary stuff.

H: Strange stuff. No doubt about it, no easy answer here, none at all.

Interviewer: I bet you are glad you are not the Governor?

Lt. Colonel Allen West's Column: “Do unto Liberals as they have done to you”

My great friend and America's best hope, Lt. Colonel Allen West, has penned his latest column. American, if you can make Allen's town hall meeting in South Florida on the 18th of August, GO! Here are the details.

Read what he has written. This is the stuff of magnificence. I would follow West into battle any day ........... a real American, he knows what's at stake.  If you believe in him, support West here.

For those new to Atlas, West has been penning pieces for Atlas for years. His first column appeared here in March 2007 while he was stationed in Kandahar.

Washingtoons

16 August 2009

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Retired)

“Do unto Liberals as they have done to you”

Greetings fellow South Florida riders, South Floridians, and Americans, here we are for another monthly installment of our Wheels on the Road political assessment. The time just seems to fly between composing these missives, what a month it has been.

Last month’s Washingtoons piece was entitled, “The Breaking Point; Summer of Discontent”. Now I would never consider myself prescient but it does not take a rocket scientist to realize what has occurred this past month. Americans who have been disregarded by members of Congress and Senate have had enough.

They did not want the TARP bill last October. They did not want the stimulus bill. They did not want the Cap and Trade bill. They have seen the national debt, deficit, and unemployment grow. However, in each instance no one listened and all these pieces of legislation were passed; of course Cap and Trade awaits Senate approval.

We mentioned last month that the new target was healthcare and the 1000+ page bill is chock full of mandates that have nothing to do with improving healthcare for Americans. The people have read this bill, something that some members of Congress admit they don’t do……Congressman John Conyers. Americans are not convinced that this proposed plan will reform healthcare, rather just promote more government growth, government control, and tax increases.

As members have come home for their taxpayer funded summer recess, they have been welcomed home by constituents who want answers. These townhall forums have become rather heated, but who can blame the people?

However, what has been the response from the liberal Democrats and the mainstream media?

Concerned American citizens are being called Nazi’s, evilmongers, racists, tea bagging rednecks, and right wing extremists. They have been accused of organized protest and even had an email set up, flag@whitehouse.gov, which enables their “fishy behavior” to be reported. And there have been Americans who received unsolicited emails from David Axelrod with the White House letterhead to their private email accounts. Three of my friends have received such.

We are witnessing something really disturbing in America.

At issue is not the reaction of concerned American citizens but rather the response from the Democrats, liberal media, and the DNC. It seems they are resorting to their normal Saul Alinsky “Rules for Radicals” tactics; Rule #5, Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.

They are lowering themselves to calling American’s a mob and trying to depict concerned American’s as sore losers. What they fail to realize is that in America we live in a Republic where we respect the rule of law, not being ruled. We have a Constitution which affords its citizens rights such as free speech, freedom of expression, and freedom to petition the government.

It is amazing to me that when the opposition to President Obama’s questionable policies expresses their dissent they are demeaned. When I flip over to CNN and MSNBC, not often but to understand what the opposition thinks, I find that they don’t think. They only seek to create a racial confrontation by fomenting the belief that white American’s refuse to accept a black POTUS.

What the liberal socialists had best recognize is that their venom is no longer effective, we are anesthetized to their bite. Seems we found anti-venom and we all have been injected to produce anti-bodies. We are not going to back down.

As well, the DNCs running of insidious advertisements and the White House created “Great American Snitch” program only indicate desperation.

One must find it comical that the same folks who brought you the professional community organizer President are attacking citizens organizing. We have seen anti-war protests by Code Pink, PETA tossing blood on individuals, left wing enviro-terrorist groups attacking SUV dealerships, ACORN and SEIU protests, and even voter intimidation at polling stations (New Black Panther Party, Philadelphia). Yet, concerned American citizens are called extremists?

President George W Bush was constantly attacked from his inauguration in Jan 2001 to the day he departed office Jan 20, 2009. Dare you speak of the anointed one? You are a racist.

Left wing blogs attacked Governor Sarah Palin and made allegations that her young Son Trig is not hers. But when the opposition questions the birth certificate authenticity of President Obama they are referred to in derision as “birthers”.

Left wing news media attacked former First Lady Laura Bush reference a traffic accident when she was a teenager. No one is questioning the law license inactive status of First Lady Michele Obama. And what is up with (22) staffers for the First Lady Michele?

The Bush twins were regularly part of media attacks, dare no one speak of the Obama daughters who attend wonderful Sidwell Friends School. This is an exclusive school where it is not possible for other children in DC, who are just a little less fortunate but qualified, to attend thanks to their Dad’s decision.

What is happening is that some of us read the book “Rules for Radicals” and we are turning the table on the liberals. Here are some examples;

Rule 1: “Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have”

Rule 3: “Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy. Here you want to cause confusion, fear, and retreat”

Rule 4: “Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules. You can kill them with this……”

Rule 8: “Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions……”

Rule 9: “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself”

Rule 11: “If you push a negative hard enough and deep enough it will break through into its counterside”

Rule 13: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it”

It seems to me that the liberals are great at dishing it out but intolerant of taking a punch.

As for me, well, I am above the name calling. I would never say President Barack Hussein Obama is a thin skinned, inept, malignant narcissist. It is beneath me to call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid a weak spineless wimp. It is unconscionable to refer to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as a maniacal pathological liar.

However, my opponent Congressman Ron Klein, well, does remind me of the Cowardly Lion from Wizard of Oz….before the Wizard gave him courage.

As a 22 year US Army combat Veteran I can smell fear, and the left wing liberals are showing it.

My admonition, be like a shark which senses blood in the water and attack. The left truly felt that since they won, we would lie down and not fight back against their dangerous agenda, wrong!

I will say what may not be politically correct but the future and legacy of our Country is at stake. Get out there and live by the new Golden Rule, “Do Unto Liberals as they Have Done to You”….and watch them crack.

Steadfast and Loyal!

LTC(R) A B West

What An American President Should Sound like

Video of Sarah Palin's farewell address

Part II

This is what a great American sounds like. No apologies. No mention of Obama's relentless inane drone of "America's best days are behind us". No tearing down our nation. I spit when Obama ranks on us. Palin speaks of "country pride".

This is a Great American. First and foremost thanking our brave men and women defending this great nation. And Palin rips the media a new one and warns: "In honor of the American soldier, quit making things up!"

She bullets her plans for real energy independence - American resources for Americans. Commercializing our clean natural gas (AGEA) - private sector energy project in the history of America.

She invokes America's pioneering spirit. She urges us to resist enslavement to big central government: "Be wary of accepting government largess".

She embodies what an American is. She is what Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin envisioned when they carved out the American idea.

Palin believes (and rightly so) that the pressing issue of our time is energy independence."There is an inherent link between energy and prosperity". "We will prove you can be pro-development and pro-environment because no one loves their clean air, and their land, and their wildlife more than an Alaskan. We will protect it!"

Anyone who wants write her off, proceed at your own risk. 

"I will fight even harder for you, for what is right and for the truth. And I have never felt I needed a title to do that".......

This was no farewell address, this is just the beginning. North to the future!

UPDATE: Transcript here (hat tip Josef)

Sarah Palin: How can an American Patriot not love this woman?

The more evil succeeds and overwhelms our foreign and domestic policy, our culture, our discourse and the very social fabric of our lives, the clearer it becomes that Palin is the antidote, the answer to fighting this morally bankrupt sewer in which we find ourselves .

The low state of the world is a fact, but so are great Americans who will fight tooth and nail to stop the coup.  America is being tested in a way she never has been before. Treason is in power.

Go Sarah!

BUSTED: Country Clubber Ron Paul Smears Sarah Palin, exposes his own hypocrisy

Just for knowing, the always entertaining and lunatic Ron Paul said in a Politico piece here:

As for soon-to-be departing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Paul dismisses her supporters as "more establishment, conventional Country-Club type of Republicans.”

So the Stan Laurel look-alike Ron Paul is attacking Sarah and her supporters for being "country clubbers." An absolutely absurd comment. I am sure all those Joe Sixpacks are waiting for their golf carts as we speak.

Well, I've done some searching around, and there is zero evidence to indicate that Sarah has ever been a member of a country club. Is there a more down to earth, true grit haimish candidate out there, I ask you? My vlog on Sarah is here.

Ron Paul and his wife Carol are Lifetime Members of the Lake Jackson Country Club. It is located on Highway 332 in between Lake Jackson and Brazoria.

Nothing new here. Ron Paul is a full of shitnik glomming onto Sarah's star just to get a little (any) publicity. She wouldn't be a real frontierswoman, a real American. Her platform of small government, less taxation, individual liberties, energy, national security and good old fashioned American exceptionalism is the cure this sick country needs.

Ron Paul is a never has been. Next!

Palin in 2012!  World Net Daily

UPDATE: OT but related:

Delicious factoid: The latest Rasmussen Poll (out today) has Barack Obama leading Sarah Palin (for President) by 48% to 42%. Somehow, I don't ObamaLand was happy to hear those results.

Atlas Vlogs Sarah Palin - Oorah!

Atlas Vlogs Sarah!

Here is what I said the day she resigned the Governorship to join the fight.

UPDATE 11:15 am: Palin Talks to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

UPDATE: July 11 3:59 pm: Master List of Governor Palin's 2009 Accomplishments

UPDATE: Governor Palin on the Michael Dukes Show pt 5 July 10, 2009 (Listen to it)

PALIN LEADS POLLS! The Coming of the Second American Revolution

Clear thinking Americans see what is happening. The furious coup on America by a radical communist/Islamist -- best illustrated by the usurpation of the Constitution, the bankrupting of our nation, the illegal grab of private wealth, the infiltration of Islamic supremacism, the abandonment of our allies, the weakening of our military -- is stunning.

Sarah Palin sees it, too. Smart, sharp, patriotic, she best represents the majority of Americans. Not the BO hos in the press, not the chattering elites and the Beltway insiders. Americans. There was no way she would stay on as Governor, as she was unable to fulfill her duties. The leftist wing in America had her tied up in bogus lawsuits (all of which she won). She agreed to pay the travel fees for taking her children on one of her trips. Obama should do the same. Those trips to Paris for his two girls. Pay it back. Pay back the $100,000 it cost taxpayers for his "date" in New York. Pay it back. Pay for those ridiculous $100 steaks. Pigs at the trough. Not Palin.

The hypocrisy knows no bounds.

We want Palin. I heard Michael Steele say on FOX today that she would not run in 2012. Steele is a suit. He speaks for no one. The GOP won't even back Lt. Colonel Allen West. He (nor the GOP) will pick our candidate. Palin is going to help us win back the House/Senate by campaigning and working for candidates in that fight in 2010. And we, the good, decent folks in America, are going to help her win the White House 2012.

We need her. She knows it. She is heeding our call. Is she a hack like Obama and going to campaign on the taxpayers' dime, as he did as a junior senator when he ran for President? No. Extraordinary? Yes. But so is integrity, ethics and decency. The left is calling her a "quitter". Just the opposite, my friends. Just a fighter, a winner. And she is getting into the fight. Baruch hashem!

The American Revolution has its leader.

Check out my oped piece I wrote the day she resigned: Palin in 2012! World Net Daily

From Pollster.com:

Articles and Analysis
 
July 6, 2009
Palin's Base

So the point is this: The Pew numbers show that Palin's base as of June 2009 was as strong as Obama's on the eve of the 2008 campaign. Consider two numbers: Palin's "very favorable" rating last month on the Pew Research survey among all adults was 15%. Obama's very favorable score among all adults on a Pew Research survey in August 2007 was 14%.

As such, it is not completely crazy for Palin want to free herself from the time and travel constraints imposed by her gubernatorial commitments in Alaska. A month ago, Chris Cillizza outlined the logistical reasons why Palin would want to "take a pass" on a second term (resigning now is another story, of course). She has a big base and time is a resource. With more time to travel and speak, she would be able to build a grassroots army as Obama did.   

DEMOCRAT DESTROYERS: FBI "ABSOLUTELY NO TRUTH" to Leftwing Lily Livered Lies, Libels Against Palin

This beauty is Shannyn Moore, Puff Ho libel blogger.

The notoriously left wing LA Times reports that the FBI reports that there is  is "absolutely no truth" to the lies being spread by force of nature Sarah Palin. Palin scares the malevolent to death. Palin is the silver cross to the Democrats' Dracula.

Palin in a facebook message said yesterday:

I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint"
"How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it's about country," the statement said. "And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make."

"To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as 'fact' that Governor Palin resigned because she is 'under federal investigation' for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation," Van Flein said in a statement. "This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law."

I love her! She is the leader Americans need. She is the leader the tea parties need.

I hope Palin sues just to shut these fat bastids up.

Sarah Palin not under FBI investigation, agency spokesman says LA Times

The former GOP vice presidential candidate's surprise resignation as Alaska governor had set off speculation, including rumors of a pending federal corruption probe or charges.

Reporting from Washington -- A day after Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resigned, a federal official in her home state dismissed one potential explanation for her sudden and unexpected resignation: a rumored FBI investigation into the former Wasilla mayor on public corruption charges.

Despite rumors of a looming controversy after the Republican governor's surprise announcement Friday that she would leave office this month, some of them published in the blogosphere, the FBI's Alaska spokesman said the bureau had no investigation into Palin for her activities as governor, as mayor or in any other capacity.

."There is absolutely no truth to those rumors that we're investigating her or getting ready to indict her," Special Agent Eric Gonzalez said in a phone interview Saturday. "It's just not true." He added that there was "no wiggle room" in his comments for any kind of inquiry.

In case you missed this, read it: 

Palin in 2012! Exclusive: Pamela Geller lauds Sarah for 'assuming the mantle' of leadership vs. Obama --WND

UPDATE: Gary gets it

UPDATE: Oorah!

Marion man already driving around with Sarah Palin 2012 poster by James Q.
Lynch The Gazette

Harlan Muth isn’t organizing Sarah Palin’s presidential campaign, but pledges as soon as someone does, “I’ll be with ’em.In the meantime, the Marion maintenance contractor is turning heads with his “Sarah Palin 2012” poster prominently displayed on his van.

Pamela Geller, World Net Daily: Palin in 2012

Check out my latest oped piece in World Net Daily: Palin in 2012!
Exclusive: Pamela Geller lauds Sarah for 'assuming the mantle' of leadership vs. Obama
--WND

UPDATE: Want to get involved? Of course you do! From the folks at Team Sarah

We have had many new members join and many others come back in to Team Sarah to get involved, so I wanted to provide some basic  information to help you navigate the community.

To find out how things work here, go to this page: This explains our governance.

If you want to find people with a similar interest or participate in a get together and meet Team Sarah members in your state go here  and use search, type in your interest or state to find groups you can join.

How can you help Team Sarah and Sarah Palin?

SarahPAC is Sarah Palin's PAC, it is here: This is to support Sarah Palin's Political Action Committee and it's activities and candidates/causes she supports.

To support her legal defense fund go here:  This fund is working to retire the legal expenses accrued from all those false ethics complaints.

For general information and action project news “friend” these profiles:
Team Sarah Real World
The Watercooler

Follow us on Twitter: Palin Tweets

Palin's Complete Text of her Speech

Palin spoke from the heart. She is a natural leader. I unequivocally support her. I have to find the video of her full speech in Alaska today. Here is the official statement from her office: (hat tip Larwyn)

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has released her complete remarks announcing she will be stepping down from office; they can be found on her Web site.

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly to you, the people I serve, as your Governor.

People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.

I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln's cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked "North to the Future". But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this "Seward's Folly". Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but right path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.

Palin Stepping down! Palin Putsch: Pray for A Palace Revolution!

6:40 pm: The diseased and utterly morally left at work again (I talked of this very evil here, earlier this week) - photoshopping Palin family pictures here. Do you believe this represents America? (hat tip Dave)

Bear in mind, this is not the first time they have made fun of and photoshopped Trig. And these are not fringe blogs. These are some of the biggest blogs in the left wing blogosphere. (Wonkette, Tbogg, Firedoglake etc.)

CNN (!) video.  I LOVE HUH!

5:00 pm: FOX is running Palin's remarks. They must read Atlas :)

Turn on FOX, decide for yourself. And please, someone vidgrab it!

4:46 pm: Stop the ACLU has rounded up reaction from the right blogosphere. He culled the wrong opinion. They don't get it.

4:30 pm: My take? If Palin is anything like I think she is (know she is), Obama's treasonous presidency is responsible for this. She, like all patriotic Americans, is shocked by what is happening. Obama is destroying this country. She knows it. We all know it. We need a leader. She is answering our call.

She did not quit. She is going to get into the fight to save America. Watch what happens.

4:23 PM: FOX news cut her news conference. 7 days of Michael Jackson and they did not allow us to hear her remarks in full. First Iran, now this.

From what I saw - this is not a woman who is retiring. She is assuming the mantle. This was a campaign speech. She was amazing. I will try to get text or video.

4:09 pm: Liveblogging her announcement........... she is speaking (no teleprompter, how refreshing!) about the sacrifice great Americans have made on this eve of Independence day and what our founding fathers fought and died for.

"I am showing my independence"

She is outlining all of the achievements of her administration.

"living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow"

"vetoed debt ridden stimulus dollars"

"being right is better than being popular"

She is going after every Obama move without naming him. I have got to get a copy of these remarks.

The ethics legislation she championed was used by an army of political operatives who filed 15 charges against her, draining the public resources. She and her staff spend most of their day on the charges that have been dismissed, incurring over half a million in legal fees. That is not serving the people of Alaska.

The biggest problem today is that people are apathetic. They go with the flow. "Todd and I are fishermen and know only dead fish go with the flow".

This is a great speech.

She believes in and wants to fight for free enterprise, small government, national security .....

FOX NEWS JUST CUT OFF HER SPEECH. WTF???????????????

4:05 pm: The 2012 campaign began today!

3:47 pm: We are waiting for her press conference. There is lots of speculation. I am paying it no mind. In my opinion, it will allow her to spend more time in the lower 48 states without the left accusing her of neglecting her duties as Governor.

Her husband, Todd Palin, said she wants to do things to help the country that she can't do while fulfilling her role as Governor.

UPDATE: Governor Palin is stepping down! We are awaiting her announcement. She is the right's best hope for 2012. She is handing over control to Lt Governor Sean Parnell. He will be sworn in July 25.

I hope the reason is to run. Her country needs her desperately.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is being reported that Governor Sarah Palin will announce that she will not be running for reelection as Governor of Alaska. Eureka! This is magnificent news. The thrilla from Wasilla! Hope! Change! Seriously.

She has been mercilessly attacked. Brutal, but like water off a duck's back. Those on the right who have suffered the slings and arrows of the vile left smear machine (the depths of which are unthinkable to decent men, here) know that the more they throw, the greater you are. The more vile, disgusting, outrageous the smear, the more envious and afraid you know the destroyers are. 

The Democrats and their propaganda machine, the dinosaur media, will continue to attempt to destroy and marginalize this wonder woman. New media better pick up the slack. Jugular for jugular.

The hatred of the good for being the good. That is Palin. I am unmoved by assertions that Palin needs more foreign policy or more this and that. She has the key ingredient to great leadership - common sense. I am not concerned that she won't get up to speed on the nitty gritty details of national and international issues. Her thinking, her epistemology is good.

She has common sense, a moral compass and a very definite understanding of good and evil.

Best of all, she is not a product of the limpwristed, spineless, dickless GOP. She is outside the box. She has grit. She has balls. She is my kind of kishka.

PALIN: They Wanna Killa The thrilla From Wasilla

The hatred of the good for being the good. Ayn Rand

Sarah Palin scares the guts out of RINOs, leftopaths and freedom haters. She embodies all that good and fine and decent, and they vomit. You couldn't have written a more charismatic honorable character in a Victor Hugo novel. They will do anything and say anything to destroy this woman. They are so low, so corrupt .... their depravity continues to shock even the most jaded.

Wonkette Goes After Trig Palin Again

It really is hard to understand why some adults feel the need to make fun of Trig Palin, a one-year old who has Down Syndrome. Politics alone cannot explain it. If you don't like Sarah Palin, fine, but why go after Trig?

The controversy regarding the Photoshop of Trig by Alaskan blogger Linda Biegel is only the tip of the iceberg. Ever since Sarah's nomination, Trig has been a target. Last fall, the popular DC-based "gossip" website Wonkette joked how Trig must have wished he'd been aborted. Now Wonkette has taken Biegel's Photoshop antics as an excuse to go after Trig anew.

In a recent post, Wonkette promoted and joked about even cruder Photoshops of Trig at the Something Awful web forum, where people can post anonymously (examples below). Wonkette even included one of these photoshops in its post (above right) while mocking Trig as the "New Jesus," "Holy Infant" and "Sacred One."

All the attacks on Trig are Sarah's fault, according to the Wonkette post, since Sarah had the audacity to bring Trig on stage at the Republican National Convention (where the original photo in question was taken), which Wonkette calls using Trig as a "cheap political prop." I guess that makes the Obama kids fair game according to Wonkette since they were brought on stage at the Democratic National Convention.

Sarah is to blame for all the new Photoshops of Trig, according to the Wonkette post, because Sarah complained about Biegel:

The Virgin Palin, Our Lady of Eternal Anger, gave birth to the New Jesus at some point last year — or not, who knows, and now Andrew Sullivan just cares about Iran (which is a good thing!) so we’ll never find out the truth — and ever since it has been both a Cardinal/Venial Sin and Sharia Law that no mortal shall “desecrate” an image of the Sacred One … no one but Sarah Palin herself, because Allah both allows and encourages the use of the Holy Infant as a cheap political prop as long as such cruel hackery is performed by the Virgin Palin herself.

Palin’s fury was such, when she found out some blog “on the Internet” had combined a picture of her cradling one of her Magic Babies together with a picture of her Jedi Master, some dingbat old radio talk-show clown in Alaska, that she did verily send her dumbest disciple, “Brother Meg,” to start a Jihad against the Entire Internet.

But we know what happens when a fear-and-anger crazed Snow Witch starts a vain war she can never hope to win: The Internet Strikes Back.

Which is to say, Palin basically poked a stick in the world’s largest beehive filled with cheap & tireless insanity, and the SomethingAwful.com goons have unleashed a pack of Photoshop Dogs From Hell to make the most incredible collection of Sarah Palin Desecration Images in the History of Time, the end.

General Bullshit > Sarah Palin thinks photoshopping special needs babies is appalling [Something Awful]

Here are two of the milder Photoshops in the Something Awful forum, which are Sarah's fault according to Wonkette:

What a riot. It takes small people to stoop this low.

[Note: Accordingly to one of the commenters, the face imposed on the photo immediately above is that of a convicted sex offender, Brian Peppers, which makes that Photoshop particularly sick.]

UPDATE: Huffington Post blogger Jason Linkins has joined Wonkette in blaming Sarah for the crude Photoshops because Sarah complained and used the word "desecrate":

And now, all of these people that you had heretofore never heard of are famous, because Sarah Palin wouldn't let the stuff slide. Even dumber, she said that the photoshopping was a "desecration," which means she believes Trig had been "divested of her sacred character." Now I think Trig Palin is an awesome kid, but COME ON. That's a really pretentious thing for a parent to say.

Can't the Editors at Wonkette or bloggers at HuffPo check the dictionary? Desecrate has more than one meaning, and is not limited to someone being "divested" of "sacred character." The Merriam-Webster online dictionary includes "to treat disrespectfully, irreverently, or outrageously" in the definition of the term. Sounds right to me. More important, regardless of which words Sarah used, why does that justify attacks on Trig?

As if that weren't terrible enough, Vanity Fair has a hit piece coming out  filled with lies and propaganda. Worse, they were aided by the cancerous liberals of the Republican party.

There is a struggle in the Republican party for the heart and soul of our future. The RINOs (McCain, Romney etc. vs true individualists and conservatives). You must get involved in this struggle.

The GOP wants to knock her out, for the same reasons that they don't back the formidable, courageous Lt. Colonel Allen West.

Steve wrote:

Vanity Fair is loaded with Obama lovers and Palin-haters. It's right up there with MSNBC. My friends, this is more than a struggle to keep Sarah viable. It's a battle for the Republic. Ferocity, please!

The McCain Campaign was abominable in every way imaginable -- no strategy, low-quality support staff, pathetic fundraising, and a top-of-the-ticket candidate who was more interested in preserving his Beltway status than in winning the election. The low point in the campaign was when McCain essentially told the woman in Wisconsin who "feared" Obama that she had nothing to fear from an Obama presidency.

As a 3-year-speechwriter, I found it obvious that Sarah needed a topflight speechwriter/advisor (Elaine Lafferty would have been fine, and I would have done it for nothing) with her; she had no such person. Biden did. Sarah didn't. McCain clearly resented the fact that Sarah drew huge crowds . . . and he couldn't draw flies.

The GOP is trying to knock her out.

Below is to give you a taste of what is to come. There is a devastating hate piece in Vanity Fair, in what can only be a pathetic attempt at complete and total character assassination.Vanity Fair on Palin: 'It came from Wasilla'  - reporter Todd Purdum relies heavily on quotes from unnamed McCain campaign officials.

The same shills that laud Obama for dropping a cool $100,000 on a "dinner and a show with Meesh in NYC, are aghast that Sarah spent $150,000 of donated bucks on her wardrobe for the presidential campaign. 

By the time Election Day rolled around, the staff had been serially pummeled by unflattering press reports about the gaps in Palin’s knowledge, her stubborn resistance to direction, and the post-selection spending spree in which she ran up bills of $150,000 on clothes for herself and her family at high-end stores.

The leftopaths have chutzpah!

Todd S. Purdum, Vanity Fair: NY Daily News

"Whatever her political future, the emergence of Sarah Palin raises questions that will not soon go away," Todd Purdum writes in a long piece that ranges from her campaign for governor to her current status as the "sexiest and riskiest brand" in GOP politics. "What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded? What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life? Why did so many skilled veterans of the Republican Party-long regarded as the more adroit team in presidential politics-keep loyally working for her election even after they privately realized she was casual about the truth and totally unfit for the vice-presidency?" ...

As Palin makes her way slowly across the crowded ballroom—dressed all in black; no red Naughty Monkey Double Dare pumps tonight—she is stopped every few inches by adoring fans. She passes the press pen, where at least eight television cameras and a passel of reporters and photographers are corralled, and spots a reporter for a local community newspaper getting ready to take a happy snap with his pocket camera. For a split second she stops, pauses, turns her head and shoulders just so, and smiles. She holds the pose until she’s sure the man has his shot and then moves on. A few minutes later, the evening’s nominal keynote speaker, the Republican Party’s national chairman, Michael Steele, who has been reduced to a footnote in the proceedings, introduces the special guest speaker as “the storm that is the honorable governor of the great state of Alaska, Sarah Palin!”

[...]

In the aftermath of the November election, the conventional wisdom among Palin’s supporters in the Republican establishment was that she should go home, keep her head down, show that she could govern effectively, and quietly educate herself about foreign and domestic policy with the help of a cadre of experienced advisers. She has done none of this. Rather, she has pursued an erratic course that, for her, may actually represent the closest thing there is to True North. Her first trip to Washington since the election was to attend the dinner of the Alfalfa Club, an elite group of politicians and businesspeople whose sole function is an annual evening in honor of a plant that would “do anything for a drink.” Some of her handlers first said she had accepted—though she then went on to decline—an invitation to speak at the annual June fund-raiser for the congressional Republicans. She created a political-action committee—Sarahpac—with the help of John Coale, a prominent Democratic trial lawyer. But just months into its existence the pac’s chief fund-raiser, Becki Donatelli, a veteran of Republican campaigns, suddenly quit. One person familiar with the situation told me that Donatelli could not stand dealing with Palin’s political spokeswoman in Alaska, Meghan Stapleton, who has drawn withering fire from Palin friends and critics alike for being an ineffective adviser. Also with Coale’s help, Palin formed the grandiosely named Alaska Fund Trust, to defray a reported half million dollars in legal expenses arising from a slew of formal ethics complaints against her in her home state—prompting yet another formal complaint, that the fund itself constitutes an ethical breach. Onetime supporters have become harsh critics. Walter Hickel, 89, a former two-term governor and interior secretary, and the grand old man of Alaska politics, who was co-chair of Palin’s winning gubernatorial campaign, in 2006, now washes his hands of her. He told me simply, “I don’t give a damn what she does.”

Palin is unlike any other national figure in modern American life—neither Anna Nicole Smith nor Margaret Chase Smith but a phenomenon all her own. The clouds of tabloid conflict and controversy that swirl around her and her extended clan—the surprise pregnancies, the two-bit blood feuds, the tawdry in-laws and common-law kin caught selling drugs or poaching game—give her family a singular status in the rogues’ gallery of political relatives. By comparison, Billy Carter, Donald Nixon, and Roger Clinton seem like avatars of circumspection. Palin’s life has sometimes played out like an unholy amalgam of Desperate Housewives and Northern Exposure.

Another aspect of the Palin phenomenon bears examination, even if the mere act of raising it invites intimations of sexism: she is by far the best-looking woman ever to rise to such heights in national politics, the first indisputably fertile female to dare to dance with the big dogs. This pheromonal reality has been a blessing and a curse. It has captivated people who would never have given someone with Palin’s record a second glance if Palin had looked like Susan Boyle. And it has made others reluctant to give her a second chance because she looks like a beauty queen.

Soon Palin will take a crack at her own story: she has signed a book contract for an undisclosed but presumably substantial sum, and has chosen Lynn Vincent, a senior writer at the Christian-conservative World magazine, as co-author of the memoir, which is to be published next year not only by HarperCollins but also in a special edition by Zondervan, the Bible-publishing house, that may include supplemental material on faith. During the presidential campaign, Palin’s deep ignorance about most aspects of foreign and domestic policy provided her with a powerful political reason not to submit to interviews. The forthcoming book adds a powerful commercial reason.

Palin is a cipher by choice. When she chooses to reveal herself, what she reveals is not always the same thing as the truth. Her singular refusal to have in-depth conversations with the national media—even Richard Nixon and Dick Cheney, among the most saturnine political figures in modern American history, each submitted to countless detailed interviews over the years—has compounded the challenge of understanding who she really is. There has been Hollywood talk that Palin could star in a reality-TV show about running Alaska, but nothing has come of it yet. Recently, Palin did star in a week-long seriocomic feud with David Letterman over some of his borderline jokes. Meanwhile, she has begun sharing insights several times a day on Twitter, with chipper reports on her own doings and those of her husband, Todd, and the rest of what she calls the “first family.” “Look forward to today’s staff discussion re: my 3rd justice appt to highest court in 3 yrs. Supreme Court truly effects AK’s future,” reads one. And another: “Picking up my handsome little man to rtrn to Juneau, Trig got 1st haircut so my little hippie baby’s ready for AK sunshine on his shoulders.”

It gets worse. Newbusters had this:

Moving on, Purdum writes:

The top McCain aides who had tried hard to work with Palin—Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist; Nicolle Wallace, the communications ace; and Tucker Eskew, her traveling counselor—were barely on speaking terms with her, and news organizations were reporting that anonymous McCain aides saw Palin as a “diva” and a “whack job.”

This quote, irritating as it is, is merely a setup for a later assertion:

Some top aides worried about her mental state: was it possible that she was experiencing postpartum depression? (Palin’s youngest son was less than six months old.)

One might ignore the jab about being a diva – after all, then-candidate Barack Obama said:

"Like any politician at this level, I've got a healthy ego."

However, quoting anonymous sources to imply that a national political figure may, in fact, have been mentally unstable during a campaign is beyond any stretch of journalistic integrity.  And yet, Purdum is not content to smear Palin with the ethereal possibility of postpartum depression:

More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly.

It is amusing to consider the idea that random, unidentified constituents would, unbidden, pick up the copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders that they just so happened to have sitting on the bookshelf, and wonder if Sarah Palin suffered from a mental disorder.

For the sake of argument, however, let us simply settle on the fact that failing to identify these people – or their expertise in the field of psychiatric medicine – leaves this paragraph as a near-libelous attack on the mental state of a public figure.

KING IS KING

If America is to survive ......... you'll thank brave heroes like Rep. Peter King.

We are going to have to elect real leadership, American leadership. Not socialists, communists, apologists, dhimmis, corruptables, appeasers. We are going to have to elect real Americans who love America, who understand America and who promote America and stand by the law of the land, the  Constitution.

Who are those leaders? Lt. Colonel Allen West, Michelle Bachmann, John Bolton, Tom Tancredo, and this man - NY Congressman Peter King. King restated the obvious when the leftists and dhimmis at DHS came out with their report targeting patriots, vets, and law abiding citizens. King said DHS "has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police. If they sent out a report saying that, there would be hell to pay."

BRAVO!

Of course CAIR is rabid, which is the best litmus test there is. If CAIR hates politicians, VOTE FOR 'EM.

Long Island, NY - Rep. Peter King Remarks About Mosques Draw Muslim Ire Voz Ie Neias (hat tip Atlas readers)

Long Island, NY - Muslim leaders Saturday attacked as "bigoted" comments made by Rep. Peter King involving mosques and terrorism, although King shot back that he believes there is a "real problem" involving some mosques on Long Island.

In response to a recent Department of Homeland Security report about right-wing extremism, King told MSNBC Friday the department "has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police. If they sent out a report saying that, there would be hell to pay."

The New York Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) issued a news release saying King was stereotyping Muslims and that the FBI itself has said most Muslims cooperate with the agency.

"We urge elected representatives to distance themselves from King's bigoted remarks," said Faiza N. Ali, CAIR-NY's community affairs director. "Sweeping generalizations about Muslims and mosques have no serious place in national security discourse."

CAIR threats and thuggery.

King said Saturday, "I stand by everything I said. I consider any attack by CAIR to be a badge of honor."

The Seaford congressman, who is the ranking Republican member of the Homeland Security Committee, also said that "right now there are a number of mosques under surveillance by law enforcement agencies" on Long Island. He would not state which mosques or which law enforcement agencies, but said the surveillance has been going on for four or five years.

In August 2007 an NYPD report acknowledged surveillance of Muslim communities in a bid to identify risks from extremists.

King said he has been angered by what he called a lack of cooperation by Muslim leaders on Long Island with law enforcement agencies, their alleged refusal to condemn al-Qaida, and conspiracy theories some have floated about the FBI, CIA and Israel being involved in the 9/11 attacks.

Muslim leaders on Long Island called King's allegations nonsense. Attorney Omar Chaudhry of Huntington said he personally gives diversity training courses at the Nassau County Police Academy, and that the Westbury-based Islamic Center of Long Island has hosted FBI officials at its dinners.

Another center leader, Habeeb Ahmed, called al-Qaida "a bunch of loonies," and said, "You cannot blame the whole community for the actions of a few. Every community has a few bad apples."

JOHN BOLTON AT CPAC

Visions of 2012 dancing in my head ..uh huh uh huh

Part II to follow................ complete video to follow.