Troopergate Report Now Public
Posted on | October 10, 2008
The public portion of the Branchflower report has just been released. Palin, it would seem, is toast, having broken laws in pursuit of her petty vendettas:
Finding Number One
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.11O(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.11O(a) provides
“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a
public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest
through official action is a violation of that trust.”
Finding Number Two
I find that, although Walt Monegan’s refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.
Finding Number Three
Harbor Adjustment Service of Anchorage, and its owner Ms. Murleen Wilkes, handled Trooper Michael Wooten’s workers’ compensation claim properly and in the normal course of business like any other claim processed by Harbor Adjustment Service and Ms. Wilkes. Further, Trooper Wooten received all the workers’ compensation benefits to which he was entitled.
Finding Number Four
The Attorney General’s office has failed to substantially comply with my August 6, 2008 written request to Governor Sarah Palin for information about the case in the form of emails.
Or is she? Will she and the McCain campaign brazen it out? Will the Alaska legislature impeach her? Read the report, then read the tea leaves.
Gratuitous Video Feed
Posted on | October 10, 2008
Paco de Lucía and Jan Akkerman jam.
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | October 10, 2008
“Wit, an’t be thy will, put me into good fooling! Those wits that think
they have thee, do very oft prove to be fools; and I, that am sure I lack
thee, may pass for a wise man.” —Twelfth Night, 1.5.34-37
Gratuitous Video Feed
Posted on | October 9, 2008
Rufus Wainwright: “Hallelujah”
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | October 9, 2008
“Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are
fools, let them use their talents.” —Twelfth Night, 1.5.14-16
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | October 8, 2008
“I know thy constellation is right apt
For this affair.”
—Twelfth Night, 1.4.35-36
Such Sweet Sorrow
Posted on | October 7, 2008
Poster boy for corruption Ted Stevens (R-AK), whose trial has resumed, was embarrassed further today by tapes of his phone conversations with VECO partner-in-crime Bill Allen:
“I think they’re probably listening to this conversation right now,” Stevens presciently says in one of the recordings.
“We might have to pay a fine and spend a little time in jail,” he continues in the recordings from the fall of 2006, the AP reports. “I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
The friendship between Stevens and the former VECO CEO was laid out in Allen’s testimony against the seven-term senator from Alaska last week. Allen himself pleaded guilty to three counts of bribery and conspiracy in 2007.
“Ted, I love you, you know,” Allen said in one of the tapes, illustrating how close the two once were.
“Let’s get through this and get back to our boot camps again,” Stevens said, referring to trips the friends would take together, The Hill recounts from the trial today.
I like my hypocrites steamed, with a light glazing of ridicule.
Shakespearean Daily Diss
Posted on | October 7, 2008
“O! then unfold the passion of my love;
Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith:
It shall become thee well to act my woes;
She will attend it better in thy youth
Than in a nuncio of more grave aspect.” —Twelfth Night, 1.4.24-28
Gratuitous Video Feed
Posted on | October 6, 2008
Slave: “Slide”
Wagging The Dog
Posted on | October 6, 2008
Obama earns himself the Humane Society’s first-ever presidential endorsement:
Michelle Obama pledged on Entertainment Tonight that when the family gets a dog - Barack Obama promised one to his daughters once the campaign is over - it will be a rescue dog from a shelter.
Online petitions urging the Obamas to do just that have been circulating, accumulating thousands of signatures from people - most of them probably voters - who want the Obamas to adopt a homeless dog, not buy a purebred. Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA, wrote to the senator personally, asking that he adopt a “Great American Mutt” from the thousands upon thousands of dogs doomed to die. “When you are ready, please adopt a homeless pound puppy - a grateful refugee from a society that has not always treated the true ‘underdog’ kindly”…
Icing on the dog-biscuit cake: the Humane Society Legislative Fund is endorsing Obama, in no small part because of Sarah Palin’s support for the appalling practice of aerial hunting of wolves, on which she overruled Alaska voters - real sportsmanship there on both counts — and because she sued to keep polar bears from being listed as a threatened species.
Gobama! My furry crew (eight cats and dogs) were all strays or hand-me-downs, with only one actually coming from a shelter. Read the endoresement here.
keep looking »
