Bye Bye, Sarah -

[spudcon]

I wouldn't be bragging about Arnold's state. It's bankrupt. And here's your link repaired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...tories_by_area

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by spudcon

I wouldn't be bragging about Arnold's state. It's bankrupt. And here's your link repaired.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...tories_by_area

My link was fine. You don't govern acres.

[spudcon]

Originally Posted by Happy Monkey

My link was fine. You don't govern acres.

Check Bruce's post above.

[tw]

Reasons for Palin's resignation are due to a cacophony of details - quoted here in the same disjointed way that those details have apparently conspired to change her life. From the NY Times of 12 Jul 2009:

Palin’s Route to Resignation: Missteps and Ignored Advice
Sarah Palin was beset by such political and personal turmoil that some powerful supporters determined an intervention was needed to pull her governorship, and her national future, back from the brink. ...

Nick Ayers, arrived with a memorandum containing firm counsel, ... Make a long-term schedule and stick to it, have staff members set aside ample and inviolable family time to replenish your spirits, and build a coherent home-state agenda that creates jobs and ensures re-election. ... it appeared to be happily received and then largely discarded, ...

Almost as soon as she returned home, the once-popular governor was isolated from an increasingly critical Legislature. Lawmakers who had supported her signature effort to develop a natural gas pipeline turned into uncooperative critics.

Ethics complaints mounted, and legal bills followed. At home Ms. Palin was dealing with a teenage daughter who had given birth to a son and broken up with the infant’s father, a baby of her own with special needs and a national news media that was eager to cover it all.

Friends worried that she appeared anxious and underweight. Her hair had thinned ... Yet to the dismay of some advisers, Ms. Palin dived into the fray, seeming to relish the tabloid-ready fights ... his assertion that Ms. Palin had known the unwed high-schoolers were having sex all along. ...

But now, Ms. Palin had fewer defenders to lend support. ... Her growing list of detractors quickly signaled that they were not impressed with her celebrity status. ... When Ms. Palin made it back to Alaska in November, the state that had once given her an 83 percent approval rating was no longer so enchanted. ...

By all accounts, Ms. Palin became consumed with the complaints, no matter how small-bore — which many were — or where they came from. ... “Ethics Complaint on Governor’s Apparel Dismissed.” ... a Republican lawmaker, State Representative Mike Hawker, to accuse Ms. Palin of underfinancing sexual abuse programs.

... the swine flu, Ms. Palin skipped a briefing for administration officials on the outbreak by her chief medical officer, ... at the time the governor was meeting with top staff on the issue of federal stimulus funds. ...

Amid all the turmoil, Ms. Palin’s enthusiasm for the job itself seemed to be waning, her office appointment books from January 2007 through this May indicate. Since her return from the national campaign her days have typically started later and ended earlier, and the number of meetings with local legislators and mayors has declined.

... Paparazzi regularly stalked the family, once ambushing Bristol Palin ... If Bristol Palin was avoiding the limelight, her estranged boyfriend was seeking it. ...

Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfrey’s producer called with interview requests. She fielded lucrative book deals, ultimately accepting one estimated to be in the millions of dollars. A veteran television producer proposed a “West Wing” meets “Northern Exposure” reality show about her. Out-of-state political trips were flashbacks to the presidential campaign. Crowds chanted, “Run, Sarah, Run!”

... she expressed concern about her personal finances and complained that whenever she left Alaska “there was tremendous criticism up there.” ... the Palins seemed unprepared for the national stage. “I don’t think they got it, that they were in the arena,” ...

While the defense fund has raised more than $250,000, according to its trustee, the money cannot be spent pending resolution of an ethics complaint that contends that the contributions could amount to improper gifts. ...

Mr. Malek said he told Ms. Palin that “you have got to set up a mechanism so you can return calls.” “You are getting a bad rap,” ... “Important people are trying to talk to you. And she said, ‘What number are they calling?’ She did not know what had been happening.” ...

Hope for the intervention’s success soon faded. Despite advice to stick close to home and focus on an Alaska agenda, the governor accepted an invitation to attend an anti-abortion dinner in Indiana in April, even though the state budget was hanging in the balance in the Legislature.

When Tom Wright, chief of staff for the speaker of the Alaska House, suggested that the governor would catch heat for leaving, Ms. Palin stormed into his office and, according to a person familiar with the conversation, “proceeded to ream him out.”

One other factor apparent in all these examples is a disconnect between Palin and her staff. They appear to be somewhat uninformed and therefore largely disorganized.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by spudcon

Check Bruce's post above.

For what? A source of free money makes her job even easier, on top of the tiny population.

[spudcon]

And surplus of oil? The entire country has a surplus of oil. The difference is, Alaskans have enough guts to drill. And the politicians were trying to steal it, but Palin took them out. Obviously MSNBC and CNN didn't bother reporting that.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The Alaskans had the guts to drill? C'mon gimme a fuckin break.
Every bit of the oil and the drilling is on Federal land, they had no say in the matter. The state didn't put up a dime, the oil companies paid for everything including the pipeline and ports, Alaska is reaping the benefits from. Not only employment but a check every year to every state resident big enough to More than pay their state taxes.

Aside, the pipe and heavy equipment came from Japan and that's where the oil goes, to pay for all those Sonys and Toyotas.

[TheMercenary]

Gov of the largest state by land area.

1 Alaska 663,267
2 Texas 268,581
3 California 163,696
4 Montana
5 New Mexico
6 Arizona
7 Nevada
8 Colorado
9 Oregon
10 Wyoming
11 Michigan
12 Minnesota
13 Utah
14 Idaho
15 Kansas
16 Nebraska
17 South Dakota
18 Washington
19 North Dakota
20 Oklahoma
21 Missouri
22 Florida
23 Wisconsin
24 Georgia
25 Illinois
26 Iowa
27 New York
28 North Carolina
29 Arkansas
30 Alabama
31 Louisiana
32 Mississippi
33 Pennsylvania
34 Ohio
35 Virginia
36 Tennessee
37 Kentucky
38 Indiana
39 Maine
40 South Carolina
41 West Virginia
42 Maryland
43 Hawaii
44 Massachusetts
45 Vermont
46 New Hampshire
47 New Jersey
48 Connecticut
49 Delaware
50 Rhode Island

[TheMercenary]

By population Calif is number 1, AK is number 47.

By personal income Calif is number 7, AK is number 42.

Fun facts which don't change the fact that Caif is bankrupt and a shinning example of how socialist states fail.

[sugarpop]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

By population Calif is number 1, AK is number 47.

By personal income Calif is number 7, AK is number 42.

Fun facts which don't change the fact that Caif is bankrupt and a shinning example of how socialist states fail.

Governing a massive state means nothing if there are very few people there, you know? And California isn't the only state that is in serious trouble. Part of the problem is the federal government isn't doing it's job, and California is having to pay for things which it shouldn't, like the big sucking black hole that is illegal immigration.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by sugarpop

Governing a massive state means nothing if there are very few people there, you know? And California isn't the only state that is in serious trouble.

It is the only one I have heard of that issuing IOU's and not paying it's bills.

and California is having to pay for things which it shouldn't, like the big sucking black hole that is illegal immigration.

Agreed.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

It is the only one I have heard of that issuing IOU's and not paying it's bills.

Agreed.

Well part of it is Prop 13. It's great to reduce taxes by 57% and then lock it all in by required a 2/3 majority to increase them - unless you actually need the money. And even if you wanted to cut social programs and such, you still need a government to handle earthquakes, fires, and other natural disasters. With the stock market tanking, California is probably down to the bone and a 2/3 majority almost guarantees gridlock in any emergency tax measures. I doubt they can find enough significant cuts, hence the stalemate.

The proposition's passage resulted in a cap on property tax rates in the state, reducing them by an average of 57%. In addition to lowering property taxes, the initiative also contained language requiring a two-thirds majority in both legislative houses for future increases in all state tax rates or amounts of revenue collected, including income tax rates. It also requires two-thirds vote majority in local elections for local governments wishing to raise special taxes. Proposition 13 received an enormous amount of publicity, not only in California, but throughout the United States.[1]

[ZenGum]

It is natural to want more from the government in services than you give it in taxes.

Low tax and low spending might work.
High tax and high spending might work.
Low tax and high spending might be appropriate in times of war, disaster, or economic crisis; but as a business-as-usual policy it can only lead to collapse.

It seems many people lack the resolution to live within their means, either individually or collectively.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Alaska is #1 in federal pork.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Hitting the lecture circuit