Keep it up, Palin!

After the election, I hoped that Sarah Palin would just...disappear. Honestly, I knew it was unlikely, but I still had hope. However, I have decided that I want her to stick around doing stupid stuff and saying stupid crap. I hear you asking, "Why?!?". Because she's terrific at raising money for causes she despises.

She has single-handedly managed to get an additional $1 million (yep, million) raised for Planned Parenthood. And all without lifting one of her well-manicured fingers for the cause. You see, back during the election, an email was circulated challenging people to donate to PP in Palin's name. Not only that, but to put Palin's address on the donation form, so that she would get the thank-you cards from PP. Some 40-something-thousand cards later, Ms. Palin is less than amused and is calling it "political theatre". While Planned Parenthood is denying that they had anything to do with the email (and in all honesty, they probably didn't), they are certainly not above taking the money!

Then you have the aerial hunting that Palin endorses...Defenders of Wildlife is trying to get it banned, and apparently there are some who have used the same idea from PP and donated money to Defenders in Palin's name. She's not amused by those thank-you's either. Bummer. Though in this case, she says it is from the "anti-hunting groups", which is a bit misleading. It's not hunting in general that Defenders and other groups are protesting, it's AERIAL hunting. For those unfamiliar with aerial hunting, this is how it works:

1. Find a wolf pack.
2. Chase them with a plane or helicopter until they are absolutely too exhausted to go any further and/or defend themselves.
3. Land the plane/helo and walk towards the wolf you have "chosen".
4. Shoot it. Hopefully kill it the with the first shot, but...if not...oh, well.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no issues with hunting as a sport. I grew up in a hunting family, and we ate venison and elk for the majority of our meals. But in what world is it a "sport" to chase an animal down first until it can barely move and then walk up and kill it? I was raised in a family that had 2 main rules with hunting:

1. You kill what you eat, and
2. If you can't kill it fairly, then you don't deserve to kill it.

I fail to see how either one of those rules would apply with the wolf hunting as it is currently done in the state of Alaska. There is not a single thing fair about aerial hunting - in fact, the hunters have so stacked the deck that the wolves have absolutely no chance at all to survive. Honestly, many hunters would say that this isn't really even hunting in any sense of the traditional word. And this is the "hunting" that Gov. Sarah Palin says is so vital to Alaska.

So, I hope that if Palin isn't going to just fade away into the sunset, then she can continue at least helping to defeat her own causes. Because I love irony, and it just doesn't get much better than this!

Like the rest of us?

I was driving around today, getting son #1 to school and listening to a radio program, when I heard someone say that Sarah Palin is so wonderful because she is "just like the rest of us". Now, I know she projects that image (as she is supposed to), but I think I'm offended at the notion that she is just like me. Here's why:

1. I have never been under investigation for misuse of ANYTHING - let alone misuse of the power that comes with a public office. Sarah Palin is not undergoing just one investigation, however. She is in the middle of TWO. Concurrently. Unless I'm missing something, that certainly does NOT make her like the majority of Americans.

2. I have never endorsed the gunning down of any animals as a sport, let alone when it's done by airplane. In my mind, that kind of takes away any sport that might have been involved in the first place. Now, don't get me wrong - my family hunts deer and elk. I grew up hunting. But...it is not done for sport. We eat the animals as part of our food for winter, and we go into it with a profound sense of thankfulness for what we have.

Last I checked, wolves are not eaten for food. Not by humans, anyway. And even if they were - following a wolf pack in a plane and shooting animals down without AT LEAST taking the time and making the effort to track them down yourselves marks a hunter as less than honest and extremely lazy. In fact, I hesitate to use the term "hunter" for something like this.

Here's where we get back to Sarah Palin - as Governor of Alaska, she has not only allowed this travesty to occur, but she has openly ENDORSED it! I refuse to believe that I am "just like" her.

3. I believe in a woman's right to choose. Period. The driving force in the camp trying to remove this choice is that "it is a sin". Well, maybe it is. But I believe that sin is between a woman and whatever God she chooses to believe (or not) in. And the cornerstone of almost every religion is that 'true salvation' comes when a person CHOOSES to believe and repent - not when that choice is made for them by someone else. My body + My soul = My choice.

Having said that, I'm sure people would wonder - and the answer is no. I have not had one. I don't know if I know anyone who has. I'm not even sure that I would be able to convince myself to have one, regardless of circumstances. But that does not take away from the fact that I should be able to make the choice of what goes on with my body.

I'm sure it's obvious where Sarah Palin comes into play regarding this, but...if she has her way, the right to choose will no longer exist. Roe vs. Wade will go the way of the wolves in Alaska. Terminated from on high by someone who feels they have the right to play God.

So - am I "like" Sarah Palin? No. And I hope that I never become like her, for the sake of my daughter's freedom, the wolves' lives, and the existence of honesty in public office.