The Mudflats

Afternoon Open Thread

1 03 2009

Looks like the comments are getting a bit overloaded, so here’s a nice open thread to speed the conversation along!

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Date : 1 March 2009
Categories : Uncategorized

118 Responses to “Afternoon Open Thread”

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101
the problem child (an aunt, also) Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:09 AM
Oh and re: those SAT scores: http://gawker.com/5062871/sarah-palins-fake-sat-scores-forged-from-born+again-virgin-dawn-eden Follow links within.
There are lots of others references if you care to google.
102
austintx Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:16 AM
And what honor society is Sarah Palin a member of ??……………………………..hello ??………………………the only thing I hear is crickets………………
103
sauerkraut Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 AM
the problem child (an aunt, also)No Gravatar (20:05:12) :

Oops, too many vowels in sauerkraut.
________________

blame it on the vinegar!

Not a huge deal here although already more than most weathermen predicted. Stuck in the house due to PennDOT being about as useful (useless?) as Sarah Palin’s government.
104
Ripley in CT Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:07 AM
I need someone to begin to open Churchgate. I believe that GINO is stepping all ever the premise of Separation of Church and State. There HAS to be something someone pursue about this. It can’t be legal or ethical. I just hope she has crossed the line and someone has it transcripted.

I really hate her. I don’t like to hate, but she brings out the worst in me.
105
Kate in Canada Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:12 AM
Something is rotten in (Denmark)

An amusing article on disgust- moral disgust or filthy toilet has the same physical expression. Only Canadians would bother to do research on this.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090227.wlmoral27/BNStory/lifeMain/?cid=al_gam_nletter_newsUp
106
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 AM
AKM…..hope ya feel better! sick is not fun

crystalwolf………I was just catching up on the last cookie thread, it’s 10:33 am here in MO……I seem to miss many of the later in the day posts from other parts of the country and don’t see them until the next day.

anyhoooo……..this is for you and those posting about Palin Pets. (I accidentaly posted this on the cookie thread, sorry to repeat, I meant to go forward to this thread, lol)

Palin doesn’t have pets now, at least I don’t think so……my post was pointing out what she grew up with, her dad was a science (I think) teacher, he had animals around the house used as teaching aids.

I was pokin fun at how these things may have formed our sick Sarah’s psyche and thought processes in order to explain what we seem to have today.

Dogs and skunks……..what works for me is cheap tomato juice, works wonders, the acid must neutralize the spray somehow, just pour it on, rub it in, let it sit a while, then hose off, redo if necessary……but, I’ve always applied it right away, I don’t know about weeks or days later……crystalwolf……I’d try drenching the ground area with juice.

Hey, maybe GINO knows, lol or call Chuck, lol.
107
Lainey Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:02 AM
I’m not so sure that the site is a fake…I believe it! She acts like her IQ is 83 and her GPA was 2.3! And I know she did “try” out many different colleges.
I still question her degree…now, THAT could be fake! Hell, she lies about everything else.
108
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:08 AM
Sorry for those who may read the last cookie thread…….this is another accidental post put there……it fits better in an open thread anyway.

Below is a comment from ADN article………I’m thinkin we need to do some delving into Joe Schmidt’s political ties…….I simply cannot understand “why” Palin would select this certain person to take over the gov or lite gov position if need be…….WHY? it’s just flat out weird.

I got thinking more about this last night after watching a news media coverage about the drug lord battles escalating in Mexico……and ties in US, including AK………ties including money, guns and drugs.

It’s really bad! The corruption in Mexican government and law enforcement is so huge its growing worse rapidly, becoming accepted as a way of life. Thousands of people are being executed by these thugs, they showed something like 11 police officers laying on the ground, murdered, decapitated as a “message” don’t mess with the drug lords. pitiful! people suspected as informants, the same, whole families murdered and put on public display, hung in the open to show what will happen. Mexican mafia gone rampant, over drug smuggling, gun selling and buying, money funneling, arg!

We should be very worried about this people. There are things going on around us, in our country that need to be exposed, the sooner the better.

There has to be US people involved, working with these drug lords, in airports, shipping, border control points, private planes, hangers, politicians, law enforcement, and yes, prisons, where is the heroin coming from in AK, it’s now becoming the lead drug to abuse in AK, meth has become harder to make, oxycontin is expensive…….all are addictive creating a vicious cycle to fund and get.

Alaskans seem to have a lot of unwatched freedom with so much private plane travel…….it’s easy to think much can be smuggled in or out………do they ever sweep these planes or hangers. Todd has his plane parked outside their house, how many others do the same?

It’s just unsettling……I know i’m not articulating this very well. But I don’t trust all the corruption in AK, so few people and so much crime…….not slamming all the good people of AK or your beautiful state, but I am worried about what goes on up there. You guys have got to watch every move by politicians, every appointment made, don’t just read articles and think nothing more, listen to the watchdogs! Thank goodness someone is interested in paying attention and connecting the dots.

this article seems nothing big on the surface, but read this comment and how much deeper and wider it goes…….read his/her last sentence…….think Bill Allen, felons, corrections, Joe Schmidt, Palin puppet, drugs, guns, money, Mexico mafia?

thank goodness for comment areas!

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/story/707451.html

Immigration administrator guilty of hiring unqualified personnel

The Associated Press

Published: March 1st, 2009 09:45 PM
Last Modified: March 1st, 2009 09:46 PM

TACOMA, Wash. — A former administrator at a privately run immigration lockup in Tacoma won’t serve any jail time after she admitted hiring guards without background checks to speed up the process.

fsmith wrote on 03/02/2009 00:48:29 AM:

Wong worked for GEO Group which has had a highly questionable past. Known previously as Wackenhut, with felons Bill Weimar and Bill Allen, they tried to build a for-profit prison on 40 acres of city property in South Anchorage, with the help of Eldon Mulder. ADN 3/28/96

GEO has been outed for overcharging the state of Florida for millions of dollars and for offering the then-current Director of Prisons in Colorado about a million dollars if he could get a prison built for them. They lost a wages and hours suit in California for $10 million where they were also made illegal campaign contributions. They hired drunken driver who killed another motorist in Texas. He left GEO to become warden of a CCA prison in Eloy, Arizona, where Alaska sends it inmates. GEO was indicted for murder as a result of inmate deaths in Texas where their prison

So the prosecutors’ question should have been, did Wong hire illegal guards entirely of her own volition, or at GEO’s direct or implied orders?
109
the problem child (an aunt, also) Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:17 AM
Wackenhut was in trouble way back in the mid-nineties.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950917/ai_n14006700
Are the same people still in charge at GEO? That would be the key.
110
Nan Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:27 AM
@ Ripley in CT
I think you’re right. The hard part is that to “reasonable” Americans, a candidate’s religion is not approached. Rev Wright being the notable exception. Most feel that one’s religion is one’s own business and that’s that.

The “other folks” seem to feel that everyone’s religion is *their* business. Rev Wright being a notable example.

The only way I can see to get the religion thing done is to coax it out. “How has your faith sustained you in your life? …in your work? …in your office/position? How could that translate to *what* you do in your work? (i.e. office/political office – but without using those words)

…Because from what I see, the (scary) Relig Right are incapable of keeping their mouths shut about religion for any extended period of time. Sooner or later, they’re going to have to show just how rabid this mentality is – sooner would be better than later – and then the topic is fair game.
111
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 AM
my rant earlier came after watching 60 minutes last night…..the Anchorage, AK connection caught my attention. Our own #1 organized crime.

Mexico: The War Next Door

60 Minutes: Homeland Security Secretary Says Every American Has A Stake In Mexico’s War Against Murderous Gangs

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/26/60minutes/main4831806.shtml

“In December, a group of Mexican soldiers was found with their heads cut off, and a note from traffickers warning “for every one of mine you kill, we will kill 10.”

A decapitated man was left hanging from a bridge; his head was found in the town square. Last year alone, nearly 6,300 people were killed in Mexico’s drug war – more than double the number the year before.

“The power of Mexico’s drug cartels has already spread far beyond the border. Just this week, the Justice Department announced they had arrested more than 700 people in the U.S. connected to just one cartel.

Mexican traffickers are operating in some 230 American cities, according to the Justice Department, and they’re now considered the number one organized crime threat in the United States.

“You’re seeing drug cartel involvement in Anchorage, Alaska.

In South Dakota. In Atlanta. In New York City,” Cooper told Napolitano.

“Right. Right. That’s why I say every– you know, the United States has a real stake in this. We have a stake in it– at that level. That– that they’re selling drugs. These drugs are being distributed throughout our cities, our communities, our neighborhoods. So this issue in Mexico, this very brave battle that the president of Mexico is fighting, is something that every American has a stake in,” she replied. “
112
former alaskan Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 AM
I just watched the Tucker/Palin video, I wish more people had the guts to stand up to her like that, I felt so sorry for him, she acted like she couldn”t wait to get away from him, like he was a bother to her. What an a-hole she is!! No respect for this native elder at all!! Wake up Alaskans she has no respect for any of you, its all me me me me.
113
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:31 AM
the problem child (an aunt, also)No Gravatar (09:17:15) :

Wackenhut was in trouble way back in the mid-nineties.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950917/ai_n14006700
Are the same people still in charge at GEO? That would be the key.
………………………………….

Thanks for the link………disturbing and sounds very republican……using public money to buy rare book collections, antique furniture, “trips”, spokesperson denying any wrong doing with a lame excuse, they did nothing wrong, wahhhhh.

But the fact that the board is made up of X-FBI and X-Military is very disturbing don’t you think? egads………and they’re caught helping big oil against environmentalists?

So Bill Allen and other AK corrupt officials were involved in Wackenhut which is now GEO……..so who in AK is involved with GEO and the correction systems? and do they have anything to do with Palin appointing Joe Schmidt?

……………………………………………………….

“The alarm was raised in July when auditors found that managers for another private company were using public money from the drug programme to buy a rare book collection and antique furniture for themselves. A wider investigation was ordered and Wackenhut officials were allegedly found to have used $700,000 on what the Texas Rangers investigators describe as “unallowable petty cash expenses”. The money went on mobile phones and trips to Britain. The state has suspended payments to the firm while the inquiries continue.

The chairman of the Texas investigating task force, Senator John Montford, has said that two-thirds of the drug programme operators could face fraud charges. Wackenhut denies any impropriety saying that it had agreed to carry out the work with addicts for a fixed price and there was nothing wrong in keeping any savings made. “We carried out all the programmes successfully at that fixed price and we are convinced that all the costs were incurred properly,” said a spokesman.

Wackenhut’s board is dominated by ex-FBI and US military officers. Its services include helping employers break strikes and running undercover operations to unveil moles in multinational corporations.

The US Congress has been highly critical of one of its “stings” which involved agents posing as environmentalists to find where a leading green activist was getting his information about American oil firms.
114
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:15 AM
goodness goodness………Fox news is tied up with them, such a small world.

http://www.newshounds.us/2007/04/24/indiana_prison_operator_geo_group_formerly_wackenhut_corrections_has_long_rap_sheet_of_neglect_and_abuse.php

Watch the video and listen to the trust in Deborah Fleishman’s voice. She honestly believes, as do the inmates, that FOX News has their best interests at heart and will actually send in a crew to do an “investigation.” Little does this poor woman know that FOX News has been bought and paid for by the very interests that abused her son in the first place.

Check out the tone in Cavuto’s voice at the very end of the segment and see if you think he’s ever going to speak with this woman again.
………………………………………….
(and) here we have x-prez Bush

Under the heading “Warden for Profit” the Religious Freedom Coalition of the Southeast reports that George Zoley, CEO of The GEO Group was a large contributor to the Bush 2004 campaign.

The Warden for Profit
George Zoley makes no secret of what he wants from Bush: big-dollar contracts for his security firm, the GEO Group, to guard federal prisons. “We don’t want to provide guards at the local shopping center,” he says. “We are looking at a single government payer for our services.” Zoley’s company, formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections, is the world’s largest operator of private prisons, earning more than $600 million a year incarcerating inmates. Its facilities are notorious: In Louisiana, where guards routinely beat and tear-gassed teenage offenders, a Republican judge lambasted GEO for treating children “as if they walked on all fours.” In Texas, where male guards molested female inmates, a fourteen-year-old named Sara Lowe committed suicide after her release. Asked by CBS whether Lowe deserved an apology, Zoley said, “Not that I’m aware of. I don’t know what you meant by that.”
115
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 AM
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15308

GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit

by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch
March 1st, 2009

“I suspect that it’s a pattern all over. When you try to run prisons as money makers what you do is cut back on the most expensive thing you can, which is medication and medical care.”

GEO has said it will not publicly comment on pending legal cases or abuse claims by third parties, including nonprofit groups. Company spokesman Pablo Paez says that on the subject of business plans, “we have no comment beyond what’s in our public disclosures.”

Despite a wide array grievances and tragedies, GEO has accrued contracts worth more than $588 million in federal tax dollars since 1997, according to available federal procurement data. And as long as federal officials continue to remand a growing number of inmates and immigrants over to private businesses, without imposing strict oversight, GEO will likely remain profitable.
116
Say No TO Palin In Politics Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:21 PM
this should be interesting to watch, lol…….hmmmm who bets she’ll come up with her own appointment, oh lets see, like a high school or family friend OR will she select an appointee from the Dem. leg. list?

I bet she chooses her own.

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/138630

Elton leaving Senate for Interior job

Posted by Alaska_Politics
Posted: March 2, 2009 – 12:42 pm

“Gov. Sarah Palin will select Elton’s replacement but needs a majority of the Democrats in the Senate to approve her pick. The Democratic Party in Juneau will submit names for Palin to consider, but she does not have to follow its advice.”
117
the problem child (an aunt, also) Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:45 PM
@ Say No — But she’d be a fool not to pick from their list. OH wait!
118
InJuneau Says:
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:08 PM
@Say No TO Palin In Politics (13:21:01) :

Oh, paleeeze, like she has any high school friends who are residents of House District 3 who aren’t already employed by her and aren’t actually still registered in the Wasilla house districts…!!!