A Question of Values

Updated: The great reformer, hah!

This comes from the Washington Post:

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state
business.

…She wrote some form of “Lodging — own residence” or “Lodging — Wasilla residence” more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem. “

I hadn’t intended to write another word about Sarah Palin. I really had said about as much as I wanted to, but circumstances sometimes dictate that we change our paths.

The impetus for this post really comes from the reception I have received from other bloggers and other assorted people who have rolled their eyes or been dismissive about my concerns about Palin. I think that many of you have intentionally blinded yourself or are walking in double standard land.

Ultimately I don’t care if you agree with me. I know what I see and it is ugly. I see a candidate for V.P. who is inexperienced in key areas and has demonstrated values that I find to be highly questionable.

CNN has an article about Palin’s church that continues to feed my negative opinion of her. I criticized Obama for his relationship with Reverend Wright. It would be wrong and inconsistent not to call Palin onto the carpet as well.

Palin now attends the Wasilla Bible Church. She was there on August 17, just days before entering the national spotlight. David Brickner, the founder of Jews for Jesus, was a speaker. He told congregants that terrorist attacks on Israel were God’s “judgment” of Jews who haven’t embraced Christianity. Brickner said, “Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. When a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can’t miss it.”

The McCain campaign says his comments do not reflect her religious views. Palin’s spokeswoman says she is pro-Israel.

Pastor Ed Kalnin, the senior pastor of Palin’s former Pentecostal church, has also come under fire for his comments. In 2004, he told church members if they voted for John Kerry for president, they wouldn’t get into heaven. He told them, “I question your salvation.”

Assembly of God issued a statement online in response which said Kalnin was “joking” when he suggested “Kerry supporters would go to hell,” and statement went on to say, “We do acknowledge in hindsight that it was careless, and we do apologize for that. This statement is not written as a defense, but as a clarification.”

Where are the cries of outrage about this. Where is the call for condemnation. If you thought that Wright’s statements are outrageous you should be irritated, upset and angry. And what have we heard from Palin about this? Not a whole lot, mostly just the chirping of the crickets.

Let’s circle back for a moment and recap a few things. She hasn’t any experience with foreign policy nor economic. She has limited experience as governor running a state whose total population is smaller than many cities in the U.S.

It is acknowledged by her team that she explored the possibility of banning books. It doesn’t matter if it was one or 1000. This is America. Book banning is something that fascists do.

There is a history of her purging those who oppose her politically from their positions. Some of you may try to claim that this is just sour grapes or something that happens all the time. I don’t believe it to be sour grapes and I am not someone who supports cleaning house just because someone holds a different opinion.

Something stinks here and I think that it is her values. There is something lacking. And if you forgive me for projecting, there is something about her that smacks of the mean girl. I suppose that if I couldn’t criticize her bonafides, if I couldn’t drive a bus through the hole in her experience I might feel differently.

But that is not the case. I don’t sense principles that I support. And I don’t like the willful ignorance and shunting of reality that many of her supporters are engaging in.

All told I it is a question of values and I don’t think that she and I share them.

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