Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

In the Pure Gossip Category

I thought of Crystal Gayle's song when I heard, from more than a couple people, that Bristol Palin's "fiance" has fathered another child besides Tripp.  This is being whispered by a few sources... and then I listened to Bristol's very vague answers about Levi Johnston during her recent exclusive interview with Greta, available here on YouTube.  "Eventually, we'd like to get married," said Bristol.  It sure doesn't sound like there are any firm plans.  We all thought the wedding was to take place last year, before Tripp's birth.  And then the wedding was supposed to happen this summer.  Could Levi's dallying around have anything to do with the hesitation?

Babies, Babies, Who Are Those Babies?

The baby that Sarah Palin brought into camera range as Greta was talking to Bristol could be, finally, the missing Tripp!  We didn't get to see much of him close up, but during the interview, several photographs of babies floated on the screen, interspersed with the live shots.  Just to play devil's advocate, we saw no attribution for any of the photos, nor any dating for the photos.  We should not assume that all the photos were of the same baby. Especially that one image of a grumpy-looking wide-nostriled baby sitting up. Just sayin'...

The Birth Date Issue

Since we have no way of verifying Tripp's birth date, I spent some time looking at babies on YouTube...

Here's a baby at 4 weeks:


And here's one at 7 weeks (Tripp's age if he was born 12-27-2008):


A seven-week infant seems to have more awareness of its surroundings, and responds more affirmatively to stimulus.

The shot we had of "Tripp live" could be at four weeks, five, six or seven weeks of age.  From what I've read, it is not at all uncommon to get pregnant again within 2-6 weeks of giving birth.  A little fudge on Trig, a little fudge on Tripp, and you've got a creamy bowl of Mudflats #4 winner of the new Sarah Palin Ben & Jerry's flavor:  "I Can See Fudge From My House!"

Xe = Blackwater

We all know the name Blackwater.  It is now synonymous with killing civilians without repercussions.

But now we learn that Blackwater has changed its name for its mercenary services... now that company and its employees shall be known as Xe. 

Xe????  Pronounced, btw, as the letter Z.

See story at TPM here. 

If you'd spent millions advertising your name and building the recognition, why would you change the name unless you were ashamed of what your former name meant?  Answer:  you wouldn't.

Color me unsurprised.  Also, color me very aware of this sleight-of-hand, and still angry at what now Xe's employees did to chip away at any good will others who represent the US may have been trying to create while working with Iraqi factions.

Shame on you, Blackwater.  And double shame on you for changing your name in what can only be a shameless attempt at sending valid inquiries off into the invisible yonder.

Caption This Image

It's you-know-who's birthday! Here's a picture in need of a good caption. I've started off with a few -- add yours in a comment!

 

Caption this image!

Where am I gonna find another AG with strong morals, also, like Talis?
----------------
Darn it, where's Bristol. I told her to have Tripp here by my birthday.
----------------
Can ya believe that Ashley Judd? I'd like to take her up in a plane with my rifle...
----------------
Gonna have to get Muthee to do his prayer thing on me again, too, this time for protection also from those pesky pajama-wearin' basement bloggers!

This Just In...

Talis Colberg, Sarah Palin's appointed Attorney General, turned in his resignation last night. It was effective immediately.

ADN has the story here.

SanityRant talks about it here.

Sarah said,

...and as the search for a new attorney general begins, I will look for someone with the same strong moral character as Talis.

Things That Make Me Go "Hmmmmm"

April 2008 was a busy month for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  She had a budget bill to sign, polar bear protecting environmentalists to dissuade, a speech to deliver at an energy conference in Texas sponsored by oilmen, and a documentary shoot scheduled with Israeli filmmaker Elan Frank.  Her most avid supporter, blogger "Elephantman" (aka Adam Brinkley), joyfully announced the publication of her authorized biography, Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska's Political Establishment Upside Down.

I'll come back to the Elan Frank film in a minute. But this information, from the first chapter of the Sarah biography, was just too interesting:

Born in Sandpoint, Idaho on February 11, 1964, Sarah Louise was the third of four children born in rapid succession to Chuck and Sally Heath.  The family moved to Alaska when Sarah was two months old... Her older brother, Chuck Jr., was two years old, Heather had just turned one, and Molly was soon to come.

Chuck Jr. was two, Heather just turned one, Sarah was two months and Molly was "soon to come."  [counts fingers, scratching head]

This means that Sarah was born just 10 months after Heather.  It also sounds like Sally was pregnant again just two months after Sarah was born.

Hmmmm.  I'm wondering if Bristol inherited this rapid-repeat-pregnancy tendency from Sally.

But back to Elan Frank.  He decided to do a documentary on 'women empowerment' and chose Sarah Palin as one of his subjects.  In early March, 2008 he was in Los Angeles preparing for his trip to Alaska when Sarah called him (from LA) and said she'd like to meet.  This get-together took place about a month before Frank traveled to Alaska to do his filming.

After Sarah was announced as a VP candidate, Frank remarked, "I was elated, it's like my best friend was picked for the job," and proceeded to sell his footage to Fox News.  In September, 2008 Fox aired a documentary that used substantial portions of that footage.

Elan Frank in Sarah's office, circa April 8, 2008

I can't find a video of that Fox program.  However, there is a video about Elan Frank recording Sarah Palin in which Frank describes his experiences shooting this documentary footage.

In a related Ynetnews story titled "Sarah Palin mesmerizes Israeli filmmaker", Frank says,

"I met her in my Hollywood office and we talked for over an hour… we instantaneously clicked and we had a blast. The funny thing is," he added, "that a few days later I got an email from a friend in Alaska telling me she was seven months pregnant. I didn’t notice a thing until later, when we were filming.

"I guess she's one of those women you can't really [tell] when they're pregnant, and she was probably dressing to hide it a little. You wouldn't know to look for it."

I can understand why Frank would be confused.  On one day he filmed Sarah slapping her squarish jelly-belly.  But a day or so before, she looked like this:

The 'fashion-assisting' scarf hangs straight down

The image above is a frame from the video about the documentary footage that Frank shot.  We see Sarah, Blackberry in hand, going out of her office, down some steps, and onto the sidewalk to greet daughter Piper who gets off the school bus. The only adjustments I made to this frame were to crop it and remove the letters that ran across the bottom.

For reference, here's the original frame, about the 00:02:03 mark:

By all accounts, Elan Frank shot this roughly 10 days before Trig Palin's official birthdate.  That would mean Sarah is supposed to be 33-34 weeks pregnant here.  I scrolled through more than a hundred pictures of women who are 34 weeks pregnant, and there's no reasonable comparison.

The author of a JewishJournal.com article about Frank's filming of Palin, titled Shooting Sarah Palin, tells us,

So yes, Frank seems to have fallen under her spell.  But Frank is no [sucker or fool] himself. This is a war hero who spent seven years in the Israeli army fighting a wily foe. He knows all about deception. He doesn't trust easily. He can tell real from fake and tough from soft.

"If Sarah Palin is anything," he says, "she's real and tough."

Hmmmmm.  Was Elan Frank mesmerized or not?  Was he under Sarah's spell?  Do seven years in the Israeli army enable you to tell the difference between a real pregnant belly and a fake one?

Doing the Math

Some time ago, originally as a comment on Mudflats blog, we read a post from one "Sue Williams."  Sue told us that Bristol Palin was rumored to be pregnant.  She said she had heard it from close to 20 people who are all long-time friends of the [Palin's] family.  She goes on to state that the rumor was rampant in April 2008, issuing from Willow's boyfriend who "wouldn't shut up about how Bristol was pregnant."

Then, we also have Bill McAllister's statement (former TV reporter, now currently working for Sarah Palin) who said that Sarah approached him, at some point before she announced her pregnancy ,

She said it's not true about Bristol.

Before Sarah announced her 5th pregnancy on March 6, 2008, she approached McAllister in an effort to stem rumors that Bristol was pregnant. That means she was telling McAllister sometime PRIOR to March 6 that rumors of Bristol being pregnant were not true.

So, we have two sources that place rumors of Bristol's pregnancy at least as early as April 2008, and very likely, back to February 2008.

Let's take a look at a pregnancy chart.

Conception occurred	April 5, 2008
First Trimester ends	June 14, 2008
Second Trimester ends	September 27, 2008
Estimated Due Date	December 27, 2008

If we believe Bristol was pregnant and gave birth on December 27, she would've conceived early in April.

Unless the rumors we heard from at least two different sources were both wrong, how could there even have been any rumors in February or March or April 2008?  Based on this chart, Bristol was not even pregnant before April 5, 2008.  There would have been no need to pull her out of school in December 2007.  Nobody, not even Bristol, would know about her pregnancy before mid-summer 2008.  Willow's boyfriend could not have known in April that Bristol had just .. JUST .. gotten pregnant.

If anyone has any other explanation for the existence of the rumors, please let me know.

Help Wanted - Bracelet Bloodhound

I've spent the better part of the afternoon looking for information on the bracelet Sarah Palin was seen wearing frequently during the campaign.  Some people suggest it is made of whalebone, and I also read someone refer to it as a "magic bracelet."  I've spotlighted it in the photo here that was taken on September 9, 2008.

Is the bracelet a good luck charm?  Does it ward off witches?  She is pictured wearing it on several official and casual occasions, including her State of the State address last month.

Where did this bracelet come from, and why is it such a favorite adornment?  When did she acquire it?  Anyone know anyone who might know?  Anyone feel like playing a sleuth?

Okay, Acting Like a Dick Won't Fix Anything!

Had this in my "great little song" category, and thought, given well, stuff and all, that it might be a nice thing to lighten our moods and also provide some subtle advice.

As a bonus, there's even a snippet of SWSNBN* in the video!

I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I do. Really, I do.

*The acronym stands for She Who Shall Not Be Named.  I use it when I've burned out on saying her name.  :)

Weird Things Palin Said and Did...

Here are a few gems from the Dallas News (bolding is mine):

Struggling to accept that her child would be born with Down syndrome and fearful of public criticism of a governor's pregnancy, Palin had concealed the news that she was expecting even from her parents and children until her third trimester.

...Palin sent an e-mail message to her relatives and close friends about her new son, [sister Heather] Bruce said. She signed it, “Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father.”

...At her baby shower, Palin joked about her long months of secrecy, [friend Marilyn] Lane said. “About the seventh month I thought I'd better let people know,” Palin said.

“So it was really great,” she continued. “I was only pregnant a month.”

1. How does one keep a pregnancy secret for 7 months from one's immediate family?
2. Who assumes the persona of God when sending e-mails?
3. Is the "I was only pregnant a month" statement more revealing than she thought at the time?

And this, from Alaska Daily News (bolding is mine):

An announcement from the state said that Palin's "labor began (Thursday) while she was in Texas at the governor's energy conference, where she gave the keynote luncheon address, but let up enough for her to travel on Alaska Airlines back to Alaska in time to deliver her second son."

Adding to this, we have the following from Newsminer (bolding is mine):

The governor did not feel the need to inform the airline of her condition, Leighow said.

Palin told her staff that she would not have boarded the plane had she thought she or her baby were in danger.

Then there's this, from Alaska Daily News:

"I am not a glutton for pain and punishment. I would have never wanted to travel had I been fully engaged in labor," Palin said. After four kids, the governor said, she knew what labor felt like, and she wasn't in labor.

..."It was smooth. It was relatively easy," Palin said. "In fact it was the easiest of all," probably because Trig was small, at 6 pounds, 2 ounces.

1. So, which was it? Labor started on Thursday or she wasn't in labor?
   
2. Real labor is relentless and unstoppable.  False labor can stop and start.  However, "If you're not yet 37 weeks, don't waste precious time trying to figure out what's going on [with contractions]. If you notice any signs of labor, call your doctor or midwife right away in order to rule out preterm labor."
3. Complications from PPROM (preterm premature rupture of membrane) to the baby include the need for resuscitation, infection, cord compression, and compression anomalies to face, limbs and lungs.  On what basis did Sarah decide that she and her unborn were not in danger?  And what about the other passengers on the plane and possible inconveniences to them... do they count?
   
4. I recall reading that Sarah had no problems with her first four pregnancies, so she was not worried with the early onset of labor with Trig.  If Trig "was the easiest of all..." is this some sort of recommendation for premature, induced births?  In what way was he the easiest?  Were all her labors 26+ hours long and did they involve medical intervention to take place?
   

Such are my thoughts this chilly February evening.  I would've never said my pregnancies lasted only a month, and each labor and delivery was poignantly memorable.  One took 3 hours, one 6 and one 12... but I would never have called one easier than the other.  And I never pretended to be God when I informed friends and relatives about the birth.  But that's just me. 

New Comments Tool Debut

As of this post, comments will be handled by Disqus (pronounced "discuss" -- just follow the link for a summary of what it does).  There is currently no need to register, but you will need to provide a name and an e-mail address when posting.  If you want, you can also join the Disqus community and get an "ID" there, which will help you track your own comments over time, making it easier to find what you (or someone else) said.  I'm hoping it will also make it easier for me to keep track of some of the great comments you make.

So, try it out and let me know (in a comment of course!) what you think.

In the meantime, another real post is in the works:  Weird Things Palin Said ... about her 5th pregnancy and birth.

About Those Superbowl Promo Sightings

I'm not sure that the pictures from Alaska Dispatch showing scenes from a taping done at Sarah Palin's "Superbowl Commercial" show us much more than the Guv's love of cameras.

It is pretty clear that Trig is in the crowd, along with Chuck Heath, Sarah's father.  Then there are two girls who trade off holding Trig.  One wears a reddish top and the other, a white sweatshirt.  Neither of those girls looks pregnant or post-partum.

The images below show the best shot I can get of the girl in red (reportedly taken in late January 2009), and then press photos of Bristol and Willow Palin around September - October 2008.  The second image of the girl in red has been de-speckled and sharpened somewhat.

Original image

Sharpened image

Bristol profile

Willow profile

The girl in red's nose/mouth/chin looks wrong, that is, if we suppose it might be Bristol.  Bottom line, the images from the Alaska Dispatch are too poor quality-wise to tell very much.

Now You See It - Now You Don't

A couple of posts ago, I blogged about Sarah Palin's intentions to run for US President in 2012.  She did start a PAC, and her name was listed in the Federal Election Commission's Web site as a candidate for President in 2012.  Other people took both of these happenings as a strong indication of her ambitions, in spite of her denial, "No, not at all, not at all, no," when asked if her PAC signaled her intent to run.

I was not the only one to notice these events.  Apparently, though, if someone starts a "committee-to-elect" someone (like David L. Kelly of Colorado Springs, CO -- coincidentally home to beleaguered ex-pastor Ted Haggard -- apparently did), they have to give the name of the someone they want to see elected.  So it might have been possible that someone other than Sarah, and without her knowledge or approval, filed with the FEC and listed her name, and that's how she came to appear in their database.

Fine, I said.  Maybe some of the Team Sarah people got ambitious (a couple years early).

Then I went back to check the FEC filing today.  And surprise, surprise, Candidate ID P20001939 has been wiped from the database.

 

So, okay, what happened?  Did David Kelly change his mind?  Did Sarah tell him to put the KABOSH on any public announcement of her ambitions?

Inquiring minds want to know.  Especially in light of the recent ethics violations filings, and how absent Sarah has been from Juneau or any pressing Alaska Governor issues.  Is she mounting a stealth campaign now?  Stealth seems to suit her ... in fact, one might say that deception is her modus operandi.

Where to Begin?

[Updated to remove list item - further research indicates that the McCain-Palin Compliance Fund, even though established in 2/2008, did not add Palin's name until late August, 2008.]

I've been puzzling for a few days about how to proceed in my campaign to keep shining light on the politician from Alaska who has made it obvious she has national aspirations.  Every time I start writing a blog entry, the research I do uncovers yet another great take on the falsehoods or deceptions or outrageousness of Alaska's current Governor.  So what I've decided to do is re-hash what has already been said, and along the way, if I can uncover anything new, I'll post it.

Current categories for future posts are lies, contradictions, and things that are missing.

Under lies, we have:

1. Sarah was surprised in late August, 2008, to learn that she was selected to be McCain's VP pick.  The truth is that Sarah likely knew well ahead of the announcement, that she would be named as McCain's running mate.
   
2. Sarah ignored the ruling and results of the Legislative committee charged with investigating Troopergate.  Sarah says, in full voice, that she was cleared of any wrongdoing.  The report clearly states that she was guilty of ethics violations.
3. Sarah claimed that she was responsible for telling the US Congress, "Thanks, but no thanks," when it came to a hefty earmark for "the bridge to nowhere."  The truth is Sarah pushed hard for that earmark, and only when it was nationally laughed at did she back off her support.  And then, even though the specific project was canned, the Congress still provided the funds which were used for general infrastructure projects.  Sarah did not return one cent of the money as she implies.
   
4. Sarah claims she has shown her medical records, proving that she gave birth to Trig.  The truth is, she has not permitted even one medical record to be released.

Under contradictions we have, so far...

1. Sarah says on one hand that she hid her (alleged 2007-2008) pregnancy with fashion-assisted camouflage, and on the other that she did nothing to hide it because she believed that women need to show they can do a job and have babies too.
2. Sarah claims on one hand that the McCain campaign kept her from doing more interviews with members of the press, and on the other, that the McCain campaign insisted she keep on with interviews (esp. Katie Couric) even when Sarah felt they were not going well.
3. Sarah's spokesperson keeps insisting that Sarah is keeping Alaska first now, and has only initiated SarahPAC so that she can "draw a bright line" between her activities as governor and her activities as a potential 2012 presidential candidate.  Meantime, Sarah does not have time to meet with Alaska's Mayors, or travel to Emmonak, or show up in Juneau during the current legislative session -- but she does have time, for instance, to go to D.C. for the Alfalfa Club dinner among other self-promotion activities.
   
4. Sarah blasted media in general for failing to take the extra step to investigate dastardly rumors concerning her alleged maternity, yet when her own state's premier news organization tried to get unbiased, verifiable information to disprove the rumors, she refused to provide it, calling the requests outrageous.

And then, things that are in-your-face missing:

1. We've got no confirmation of the date of birth, or the place of birth, for Trig Palin.
2. Following what seems to be a pattern, we also have no confirmation of the date of birth or place of birth (not to mention proof of birth) for Tripp Johnston.  This is critical because if Bristol was pregnant with Tripp and gave birth to him in December 2008, that makes it extremely unlikely that the rumors that Bristol is Trig's birth-mother are true.

I'm sure there are plenty more lies, contradictions and things that are missing.  But that's a start!  Let me know if I should include more items on any one of these lists.  I plan to do individual blog posts for each.

Off With the Gloves

Sarah Palin,

I've been hoping you would realize the futility of pursuing a national political career.  In fact, I've been waiting for signs that you were going to be content to remain in Alaska and keep "progressing that great State" until you were voted out of office by another candidate for Governor come 2010.  And then I was not going to spend more time on my blog pointing out your weaknesses, foibles, and deceptions.

But then I heard you started your very own political action committee (PAC).

 

And sure enough, you did. I won't link to it, because anyone with access to Google can find it easily enough.  

If that weren't bad enough, a poster at Alaska Daily News (ADN) noticed that you've filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a presidential candidate for 2012.

 

And I'll be darned if you didn't do that too!  Just so that folks don't think I'm making this up, here's the link to the record image showing your "Office Sought: President" in "Election Year: 2012" filing.

So, quit blaming the media and the bloggers, Sarah.  You entered national politics and you've now clearly stated your intention to remain a contender.  The gloves are off as far as I am concerned, and everything that can be known, or figured out, about you is fair game for exploration and discussion. 

Count on endless replays of Katie Couric interviews and that Sarkozy spoof.  Look for Bellygate to keep on growing.  Watch out for those fresh ethics complaints and a revival of interest in who told the Troopergate truth. Then there's Pebblegate and the elephant in the room, Gaslinegate.  It should be a fun couple of years ahead!

Tripp-in'

Back in late August, 2008, the media and blogosphere were asking, "Sarah who?"  John McCain's VP pick took a lot of people by surprise, so those who like to be informed about Vice Presidential candidates started trying to find out about Sarah.

When Sarah introduced herself to the country from Ohio on August 29, 2008, she presented four members of her family as well -- husband Todd, daughters Bristol, Willow and Piper, and baby Trig.  Bristol was wearing a burp-cloth and nestling Trig during Sarah's speech (video).

Immediately, the Internet began buzzing about rumors (that had already persisted for many months in Alaska) suggesting Bristol was the one who had been pregnant with Trig, not Sarah.

McAllister was an Anchorage TV reporter before working for Palin. He said Palin once approached him - before people knew she was pregnant - assuming he'd been hearing rumors.

"She said it's not true about Bristol," McAllister said.

At the time, the rumor would have been that Palin's daughter was pregnant.
(ADN)

(Sarah had made her surprise announcement that she was 7 months pregnant on March 4, 2008, so her attempt to dispel rumors that Bill McAllister may have heard would have been earlier -- February? January?)

Three days after Sarah's entrance on the national stage, through a statement released by the McCain campaign on 9-1-2008, Sarah acknowledged that one rumor was, at least sort of, true.  Bristol was expecting a baby.  She was "about 5 months along," according to an aide who asked not to be named (CNN).   The campaign said this news was released in order to squelch the other rumor that Sarah was not Trig's biological mother.  Someone who gave birth 4-1/2 months ago could not also be 5 months pregnant.

At that time, the Internet storm subsided somewhat and people took a "wait and see" approach.  Would Bristol deliver on or about her (first announced) due date of December 18?



It turns out that there has been a birth - maybe. All the media outlets who picked up on the story referred to People Magazine as the source. According to People, Bristol's great-aunt (who lives in Washington State) got an e-mail from Bristol's grandfather, Chuck Heath, saying that Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston was born to Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston on Sunday, December 28, 2008 and weighed 7lbs 4oz.  The date and birth weight shifted a bit over the next few days and is now reported as taking place on Saturday, December 27, 2008 / 7lbs 7oz.  The same issue of People tried to get a statement from Sarah.

Bill McAllister, a spokesman for Gov. Palin said, "This office will not be issuing any statements on [Bristol's baby]. We’re here to talk about state government and that matter falls outside of that."  (People Magazine)

However, the Alaska State Web site did publish a news release about the birth on New Year's Eve, 12-31-2008.  Here's Bill McAllister again:

The governor's office previously declined to comment to honor the family's wishes that the event remain as private as possible. However, the high volume of press inquiries, along with some erroneous information that was published, prompted the governor to make a statement. (AK.US Press Archive)

The people who were waiting and seeing since September 1, 2008, are still waiting but not seeing anything yet.  Where's Tripp? 

The Fine Art of Discrimination

 

What do you see?

In order to make sense of the vast flow of information in which we bathe daily, we need to acquire the ability to discriminate -- to become discriminating, to be able to distinguish between the objective and the subjective, to discern the difference between an original and a copy for example. This skill is not routinely taught in even our best schools, although a broad education lays the foundation for acquiring it.

What we can see or know or understand (S-K-U) is a function of what we allow ourselves to S-K-U. We must draw upon the times we have stretched our minds to encompass all that we might S-K-U had we taken the time and spent the energy to really think about the subject.

I was struck by a phrase used by a poster on a blog that I frequent:

I truly believe [...]. I have never questioned it.

If we never question, are we not then willing dupes?  Think back to January, 2003.  We were told Saddam's Iraq posed a grave, looming threat.  We were told about massive stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Saddam's desire to unleash them on us.  Some of us never questioned it, but the information was untrue and acting on that belief, we ended up losing and wasting many precious things.

Believing without sincere, in-depth questioning is always dangerous.  Has not belief in one or another radical religious tenet or political principle caused untold death, destruction, torture and suffering throughout human history?

The first step to S-K-U what is right or true is to question.  Here is a simple practice that can be done anywhere.  Select an event or object from daily life and ask oneself questions about it such as: what are its origins? how did it occur? what is it made of? what will happen to it over time? who has been involved in it?  Attempt to explore the event or object in as many different ways as possible.

Unless we acquire and practice the ability to be discriminating, we will surely fail to achieve our potential as individuals and as a society.  And in that case, we become nothing more than cogs in someone else's machine -- used and eventually discarded when we wear out.

What a Difference Three Days Makes

The image on the left (source here) was taken in Juneau, Alaska, on April 10, 2008. The image on the right (source here), according to KTVA's Andrea Gusty, was taken on April 13, 2008.

To Pursue, or Not to Pursue...

I confess to a certain morbid fascination with the doings and sayings of Sarah Palin, the current Governor of Alaska, former runner up in a beauty pageant, and former (thanks to a citizenry who was so fed up!) candidate for Vice President on the Republican ticket.

I also confess to a persistent curiosity regarding the numerous scandals that seem to surround her, much like the dirt cloud that surrounds PigPen.  There are so many.  Troopergate.  Clothing-gate.  Per Diem-gate.  Bridge-to-Nowhere-gate. Pipeline-gate. Coal Mine-gate.  Husband-as-shadow-governor-gate. E-mail-gate. Baby-gate. Etc, etc.

It's baby-gate I want to blog about today.  There are a few very fine sites out there examining this issue in great detail.  As a result of reading them, I've been inspired to present some investigative results of my own.


What follows is, I hope, a reasonable debunking of a particular image that supposedly shows a pregnant Sarah Palin during an interview with Elan Frank in April 2008, the same month that she supposedly gave birth to her 5th child, the Down syndrome baby boy named Trig.

The Elan Frank video (which I would credit) is now no longer available online that I can find. I watched it once, and am kicking myself for not having downloaded it at the time.  However, the person behind BoJack.org has grabbed a frame from the video. For those who know the video, it is one of the frames where Sarah is sitting in her kitchen and roundly thumps (smacks) her supposedly pregnant belly with her hands.  Here's a cropped version of the image on BoJack's site:

 

Granted, this is of poor quality.  However, as they say, a picture tells a thousand words.  Here is the same image below, only with a shadow-enhancing filter (lighten shadow 50%) applied:

What this manipulation does is brighten the dark areas in the image, making it clear just what is shadow and what is dark fabric.  I'm already stunned that the lower abdomen shadow barely breaks from a straight line across.  And the upper abdomen is appearing as a straight line too.  I went a step further and applied a sharpening filter, to really accentuate the folds in the fabric that are covering Sarah's belly.  (What IS she wearing anyway?)

Here is a visual of what it looks like when the image is sharpened (450 sharpen radius 5):

 

The sharpening accentuates where the real folds are in whatever covers the skin here, and makes it quite plain that both the upper and lower abdomen (the supposed pregnant belly) are demarcated by straight lines.  What also strikes me here is how her pelvis is not encroached upon... that is, the lower part of the belly is still well above where her legs join her torso.  And she's sitting.  Which shortens or should shorten the distance.  Yet we can see the lower line of the "pregnant belly" well above the tops of her thighs.  The shadow at the bottom middle of the image looks to me to be where her pants fold under at her crotch.

Now, let's take a look at real pregnant bellies.  BTW, these images were all grabbed from Google by doing an image search for "pregnant woman sitting." 

Notice how ROUND these bellies are.  Notice how especially the lower extremes of the shapes are quite ROUND.  Now go back and take a look at Sarah's belly.  The real pregnant bellies round out and virtually "sit" on the laps of the women.  Yet Sarah -- ostensibly just days before delivering a normal-weight baby -- can somehow hold the full roundness up above her lap, and even square it off above her pubic region.

I've had three children, and I can vouch for the fact that pregnant bellies are taut, tight even!, and very round.  It's not like you have a bowl of jello inside you.  It doesn't sound hollow when you "thump" your belly.  It's solid, it doesn't give easily.  There's your skin, a thin layer of fat and muscle, and then the incredible muscle tissue that is the uterus, then the amniotic fluid and then the baby.  You could much more easily create a depression with a finger pressing into your inner thigh (unless you are a muscle-builder clenching those muscles) than you can with a finger pressing into your truly pregnant belly.

I would like to credit the following sites:

• Bojack.org, from which I grabbed the original image taken from the no-longer-available-online Elan Frank video (otherwise I would have taken a frame of my choosing for this work)
• Palin's Deceptions, probably the premier site now supporting research into the Palin Baby-gate scandal (be sure to visit the blog)
  

I would also like to reveal that I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for the modest manipulation I've done to the original image.

If you have any information that either supports or refutes the notion that Sarah Palin is fibbing about all or part of her birth of Trig story, please leave a comment and a way to contact you!

Year End CleanUp

There's pardons in the wings.  Who shall get the wings of release?

There's a baby supposed to be born, the one that would make it 'impossible' for the much-rumored mother of Trig Palin to actually be his mother.

There's the findings of the State Legislative body that Sarah Palin broke Alaska's ethics laws.  But what will come of that?

Then we recently learned that Dick Cheney knew and gave approval for torture.  And he also knew and was in part responsible for revealing Valerie Plame as a covert agent.  Will anything come of that?

Even though this year ends on a faintly hopeful note, given the results of the November election, there are quite a few lies to punish and liars to catch.  I wonder how many of these will be brought to justice in the year ahead.

Meantime, a most happy holiday to all.  Let us be grateful that we have electricity, food, shelter, and warmth over the cold days of winter.

All in a Rush

Bush.  Pardoning turkeys and being totally out of it for any other Presidential duty.

Obama.  Holding press conferences almost daily now, answering questions in full.  Doing public service on the day before Thanksgiving.  An excellent example.

Palin.  Pardoning a turkey and making an ass out of herself given the turkey rendering going on behind her during the following press conference.

 Right wing talking heads.  Trying to generate bullcrap about Obama's picks for the various positions open.  May they die a slow, painful death.

Why We Can't Let Up on the Sarah Story

Andrew Sullivan has a spot-on article today on why we cannot get off Sarah Palin's case.

Let's be real in a way the national media seems incapable of: this person should never have been placed on a national ticket in a mature democracy. She was incapable of running a town in Alaska competently. The impulsive, unvetted selection of a total unknown, with no knowledge of or interest in the wider world, as a replacement president remains one of the most disturbing events in modern American history. That the press felt required to maintain a facade of normalcy for two months - and not to declare the whole thing a farce from start to finish - is a sign of their total loss of nerve.

Please visit The Daily Dish for his incisive article named, "Why Palin Still Matters."

Sarah Palin Bites the Dust

Sarah Palin disagrees with those who say her campaign messages were negative.  She replies that she was just asking questions that were important—questions about Barack Obama's character and judgment.  How could he "pal around" with domestic terrorists, after all?  And for sure, Sarah said, her supporters really wanted to hear that Joe the (not) Plumber thought Obama's economic plans sounded like socialism to him.  And my goodness, this was the wrong time to experiment with socialism!  Terrorist!  Arab!  Muslim!  Socialist!  Marxist!  Kill him!  That's not negative, Sarah said.  That was just asking questions that people wanted answers to.

Sarah Palin denies she acted like a diva, and boy, she sure would like to know who would say such a thing.  She'd also like to know who told the world she didn't have a clue about Africa being a continent and all, and who spilled the beans about her greeting McCain aides wrapped in a bath towel.  She just won't even respond to the allegations of being a Wasilla hillbilly because hey, if you say that sort of thing anonymously, you can't expect her to address it at all.  And don't forget, she was completely exonerated of any wrong-doing whatsoever in Troopergate—the front page of the newspaper even said so, even though the front page of the same newspaper said exactly the opposite just a few weeks earlier.

Sarah Palin blames McCain aides for not noticing that she had this exclusive phone interview with French President Sarkozy all set up.  How could they be so incompetent?  And how was she to know it was a prank call?  He sounded French, and gosh darnit, what friendly world leader wouldn't want to have a little chat with her seeing as how she was almost the Vice President and all?  How was she supposed to know that she should've mentioned it?

There's a lot of chatter now about what happens to the Alaskan un-diva.  Can she be rehabilitated and show up again in 2012?  I don't think so, and here's why:

She is inherently lazy.  She participated in a beauty pageant in the hopes of winning prize money to pay her college tuition instead of getting a job and working her way through school.  She hired someone (for $50,000 a year) to handle the mayor-stuff in her village of 5-6000 people when she was the mayor.  She quit her job at  the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission because it involved travel and work away from home.  Even now, she would rather stay at home instead of travel to do her job as Governor of Alaska—witness the thousands of dollars of per diem she's charged.  The AK Legislature started wearing buttons saying, "Where is Sarah?" 

She thinks all it takes is prayer to be catapulted into office.  This is convenient because it means she doesn't have to prepare or learn more.  After all, she's been anointed as "the one" by the dominionists, and as long as Pastor Muthee and the rest keep praying, all she has to do is show up and file the paperwork on time.  She believes she already knows all she needs to know.  ("I know that I know that I know...") That's why she doesn't blink.

She is irredeemably provincial.  She's lived in Alaska and Idaho, two of the most red states in the union.  She is hopelessly unaware of the world as it exists outside those borders.  She only learns the names of those who can further her career directly, which explains why she didn't pause when the prankster referred to Canada's Prime Minister as Steph Carse.  Alaska is her whole world.

She is an unconscionable liar.  She denied being found in violation of Alaska ethics laws by her own state's Legislative Council.  She kept saying she refused the earmark funds for the "Bridge to Nowhere" which never got built, but she kept the funds.  She keeps denying she spent any money on a lavish wardrobe (including silk boxers and $20-40,000 more in men's wear for Todd) but the receipts keep coming in to RNC central.  She repeatedly implied that her biggest achievement as Governor was working to get a massive gas pipeline to deliver energy to the lower 48, yet the ground-breaking ceremony for this pipeline is 8-10 years away, if it even happens.

And finally, she fails to understand how woefully unprepared she still is for national office.  If she had acknowledged her shortcomings, she would have blinked in the first place... if she accepted that she needed serious schooling, she be talking about educating herself more now... if she admitted mistakes at all she wouldn't be playing the blame game.   Instead, she blames the media for raining on her parade.  She blames the Democrats for outing Joe the Plumber.  She blames the sexist people in the lower 48, saying they are not as advanced as Alaskans.  Sadly, for the GOP faithful who still see her as a viable competitor, they are doomed to be disappointed again.

Sarah, I wish we did not know ya
Like we do now, you bet'cha
I'll guarantee we'll keep an eye on ya
And we'll never ever let'cha
Hit the ballot on the national scene again.

I Can't Stop Smiling

To our President-Elect Barack Obama, you have given us cause to hope.  Do not disappoint us.  I celebrate your victory and have used a whole box of tissues following your campaign and your speeches.  I have donated to you, volunteered for you, attended rallies for you, voted for you, and now I will be watching to make sure you make good on your promises.

'Nuff said. 

Election Eve Crazy Thoughts

So, why isn't there a capsule to make a woman smaller? 

Two Words - Two Days

The blue candle is lit and slowly effusing a sweet scent, next to a street-side window.  Armed with a new (and first for me) camcorder, I've signed up for duty on November 4, as needed, through Video The Vote.  Now that it's dark, I've lit the lights inside O'Pumpkin and placed it back on the rail of the front porch.  That's O'Pumpkin's place every night between October 29 and November 5.

 

Be sure to vote, and then help others vote.  Our voices must be heard this time, no matter how hard some try to suppress the sound.  Two days.  Hope is alive.

Fall Foliage, Voting and Chickens

By this time in October our deciduous trees are usually well done with shining golden, orange and red.  The chill autumn wind, brisk and cleansing, would have stripped the brightly colored leaf-confetti from the branches, blowing candy corn-tinted swirls across the yards and down the streets.  But on this day in late October, many leaves are still green and well-attached to their branches.  I'll call it anecdotal confirmation of global warming.

October 28, 2008 in Jefferson County, WV

But back to voting and chickens.  :)

I went to our local courthouse for early voting today — about 10:00 AM on a workday.  There was a steady stream of folks coming in the doors, with at least 30 people in line or voting at any one time.  First stop was at a table where two clerks helped sign us in, comparing our signatures with records they seemed to have on their computer screens. We then moved down the corridor to wait in line to enter a fairly small anteroom with six voting stands where we received a large two-sided ballot.  The process only slowed down when a few people finished voting at the same time and waited to return their completed optical scan ballot to the single clerk whose job it was to slip the paper ballot from its outer jacket into the reader and then pronounce, "Congratulations, you've just voted."

The fellow who was sitting by the entry, separating voters from other courthouse visitors and pointing them to the end of the early voting line, told me the turnout has been much larger than he's ever seen. I hope that is a good sign.

While there, I verified when and where the poll tapes would be posted, and plan to return (on November 5th) to take a photo of the results from the machines.  

But tell me if this isn't at least a little strange — at the top of the ballot we had the option to vote for a straight party ticket.  Here's what those ovals and descriptions looked like:

Image from 56th District, Jefferson Co., WV ballot

The Republican Party has a proud, wings-outstretched eagle, the icon of American patriotism.  The Mountain Party has an emblem depicting, well, mountains, as in 'purple mountain majesties,' and all that.  But the Democratic Party gets ... a chicken?  An indignant chicken even?  There's no pronounced comb or wattle befitting a rooster, so it must be a chicken.  Call me silly, but I have to wonder who is responsible for this imagery.  What's wrong with elephants and donkeys?

I don't understand how West Virginia became a red state.  It never used to be.  We have two Democratic Senators and a Democratic Governor.  Yes, well, my congressional district does have Republican S.M. Capito but I'm hopeful her Democratic opponent can unseat her.  Half the local races for positions like County Clerk, Sheriff, and Judge didn't even have Republican contenders.

On the way home I took comfort in noting that my neighborhood's Obama signs clearly outnumber the McCain ones.  I spotted two new Obama signs today, one at the house right across the street from me.  Now if the leaves would only turn color and drift down, we chickens would be able to rake up some fun piles to scratch in.

Only on Fox

I don't usually browse Fox Web sites.  But I ran across this image and just found it striking -- and sorry, ladies, I'm not referring to your smiling blonde heads.  Well, not individually that is.  But there are five of you, and the similarity is, frankly, striking!

I suppose Hemmer gets top billing because of his last name.  Alphabetical, right? Not some subtle message about male superiority.  Or even masculine wet dreams about multiple femmes.

But seriously, Fox -- these "reporters" are supposed to bring us fair and balanced coverage?  It looks like your hiring practices could stand a little scrutiny.  When I walk around my small town, I see all kinds of faces, but never five in a row the same!  Not even five in a year the same!

And ladies, have you no shame?  Or self-pride?  Or individuality?

What If Sarah Fails a Background Check?

According to CBS and other sources, the McCain campaign added Sarah Pailin's name to the list at a late date and the FBI did not perform a background check before she was picked as the Vice Presidential nominee.

Now that she has officially accepted the nomination, what happens if further checks turn up something awkward, or illegal, or even questionable?  Can she be un-nominated?  Would the McCain campaign send her back to Alaska?  Would the campaign even let us know about it?

On another blog somewhere, I read a comment that went like this:

What does it say about our media when we have to go to the National Enquirer for facts about politicians?  They earned some 'street cred' by staying on and being right about the John Edwards affair story.

Hey, Sarah Palin...

If you haven't already, visit Mudflats blog for a straightforward peek into who Sarah Palin is.

McCain Picks Palin: Lots of Real Stories

Depending on who you read, you'll get a different angle on what "the real story" is around the Republican nominee's VP pick. Here are just a few, accompanied by an image of Sarah Palin in Feb. 2008, reportedly 6+ months pregnant:

1. Sarah Palin's family values
• Endangering her unborn child with Down Syndrome, about to be born prematurely, by flying cross-country instead of seeking qualified medical care once her water broke
• Revealing to the world that her 17 yr old unwed daughter was pregnant, in order to counter viral internet rumors suggesting she had faked her pregnancy to cover the 17 yr old's pregnancy (let that one sink in a bit)
  
• Accepting the McCain campaign's offer to become the vice presidential candidate, a stressful and demanding role, instead of personally taking care of her special needs infant, her 7 yr old daughter, her 14 yr old daughter, and her pregnant 17 yr old daughter
2. Sarah Palin's ethics
   
• Alleged abuse of power as Mayor, firing two city officials and pushing two other city officials out for supporting her opponent in the mayoral election
• Alleged abuse of power as Governor, firing the state's chief law enforcement official because he would not buckle under pressure to fire a state trooper who was involved in a bitter custody battle with her sister
• Alleged abuse of power as Governor, summarily firing her own legislative liaison at the request of her husband who was distressed because the man was dating the soon to be ex-wife of the husband's friend
• Allegedly hacked into fellow Alaskan Oil and Gas Commission member's computer, obtaining 'dirt' on the member who was later fined for doing party work on government computers
• Alleged use of Mayor's office computers to do political work in her unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor in 2002
  
3. Sarah Palin's ability to govern well
   
• Hiring a deputy administrator to run the mayor's office for her, and leaving the town $20 million in debt when she left
  
• Disbanding the state's Agricultural Board because one of their subcommittees made recommendations she disagreed with, and hiring a new Board that ended up making the same recommendations, after costing the state an additional $900,000
• Replacing Alaska's public safety commissioner (whom she fired) with a man who had to resign two weeks later due when his sexual harassment history emerged, and then giving this man a $10,000 (or $15,000, I've heard both) separation paycheck
  
4. Sarah Palin's education and life experience
   
• Holding only a BS in journalism (1987), with no evidence of continuing education
  
• Obtaining a passport for the first time in 2007 for her only trip overseas to date
  
5. Sarah Palin's religious influence
   
• Exhorting members of her church to pray for a gas pipeline because it was God's will that the pipeline go through
• Supporting teaching creationism in public schools
  
• Attempting to get certain books (on evolution?) banned from her local library while she was Mayor
• Believing that the US Military is doing God's work in Iraq
  
6. Sarah Palin's job history
   
• 1988—briefly worked as a sports reporter
• 1992-1995—Wasilla city council member
• 1996-2001—Mayor of Wasilla (pop. 5469 in 2000)
  
• 2003—Chair of Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, but then resigned
  
• 2003-2005—one of 3 directors of a 527 PAC supporting Ted Stevens
• December 2006-present—Governor of Alaska
7. Sarah Palin's honesty
   
• Ran for Governor on a "build-the-bridge" platform, but after Congress rescinded the earmark, claimed that she was the one who told Congress no thanks on "the bridge to nowhere"
  
• Claimed that no one in the Governor's office had pressured anyone to fire the state trooper (her sister's ex-husband) but later admitted it when e-mails and recorded conversations were released
  
8. Sarah Palin and "Country First"
   
• Associating with the Alaska Independence Party for more than a decade, addressing their convention from her Governor's desk with words of support and encouragement
  
• Happy about her candidacy because it will be "great for Alaska"
  
9. John McCain's wisdom (or absence thereof)
   
• Campaign didn't go through routine vetting process
• McCain met her once
  
• FBI didn't vet her either
  

In other Alaska news, attorneys for embattled Senator Ted Stevens will try to keep certain audio tapes from the jury—saying the FBI illegally wiretapped an Alaska oil contractor and just happened to get Ted on tape 105 times. The irony is delicious.

P.S. Here's a truly terrific blog about Alaska, and Sarah Palin in particular!

Watch the Sleight of Hand

Here we have John McCain under fire for failing to fully vet his recent VP pick.  Sarah Palin came on stage bragging about her "maverick-ness" in challenging the status quo.  As it turns out, she supported the "bridge to nowhere" before she opposed it.  Sarah Palin came on stage touting her fundamentalist Christian values.  But that was before the blogosphere investigated, and eventually Sarah had to admit that her 16-17 yr old daughter, unwed, was pregnant.

Don't count on the speakers at the disrupted (thanks to hurricane Gustav) convention to bring up either of these points.  And you can bet they will steer clear of the fact that VP nominee Sarah Palin had to hire lawyers in the probe about her abuse of power when firing Walt Monegan.  There are at least 3 more examples of Palin's vindictiveness and abuse to back it up.

But instead, the Republican National Convention will once again try to tie in 9/11 as a reason to vote Republican.   As many of us already know, the elevation of 9/11 to its sacrosanct position is pure theatre.  And even if 9/11 was not the egregious hoax that it was, Ms. Palin and Mr. McCain had precious little to do with the events of that day.

Maybe we should just call the Republicans the 9/11 party -- the people who perpetrated it, who promoted it, who let it happen, and who benefited from it immensely.

Palin, Trig, and Baldwin-Johnson

A few days ago John McCain announced his surprise Vice Presidential candidate: first-term Governor from Alaska, Sarah Palin. While most of us were scratching our heads asking, "why?" others began busily taking a look at just who Sarah might be.

Lying About Abuse of Power
One of the first things that turned up was a potential debacle concerning an abuse of power charge resulting from what looks to be Sarah's unjustifiable firing of Alaska's public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan. Governor Sarah, her husband Todd, and members of her gubernatorial staff tried to pressure the commissioner to fire her sister's ex-husband, an Alaska State Trooper named Mike Wooten. When Walt wouldn't get rid of the trooper, Sarah got rid of Walt. Audio tapes and e-mails now show that Walt was pressured to fire Mike, even though Sarah initially denied any interference. You can find detailed information about this ongoing investigation online, using keywords: Wooten, Monegan, Palin. TPM Muckraker has a detailed write-up on the scandal.

Pretending Motherhood?
The next thing that turned up is a rumor that has been floating around Alaska for a few months. It has to do with the Governor's surprise 5th pregnancy and the rather strange circumstances surrounding the birth of Trig Paxson Van Palin, now a 4-month old infant with Down syndrome. The rumor goes something like this: the Governor is not the mother as she claims, but the grandmother of the baby. The mother of the baby is the Governor's daughter, Bristol. Bristol, now 17, is seen in recent campaign videos holding Trig in a tender, motherly embrace.

I honestly don't know about this — whether Sarah or Bristol or someone else entirely gave birth to the baby. But I started looking up information about the birth story itself.


Risky Behavior
March 2008: Sarah publicly announces that she is 7 months pregnant. The announcement shocked everyone — reporters, friends, and people in the Governor's office that she worked with daily. To a person, everyone expressed disbelief, since the Governor didn't look at all pregnant.

April 2008: Sarah tells this story to the media. She was supposed to give a keynote address in Texas on Thursday, April 17, 2008, so she flew from Alaska down to Texas. At 4:00 AM on the 17th she notices she is leaking amniotic fluid. At this point, she is 8 months pregnant. Such a sign is never welcome, as it portends possible fetal distress and a premature birth. However, Sarah is adamant that she wants to deliver her keynote address so she stays in Texas and gives her luncheon speech. She says she called her doctor and the doctor said, okay.

After the speech is over, she reschedules her return flight and heads back to Alaska. Again, she says she called her doctor and the doctor said, okay. She takes off on a commercial jet that afternoon. The jet makes one stopover and she arrives back in Alaska around 10:30 PM that night. Then, she and her husband drive another 45 minutes to the Mat-Su Medical Center, a small, regional hospital near Wasilla, Alaska, where she checks in. Her doctor decides to induce labor and Trig is born around 6:00 AM on the 18th. The birth is announced in local news articles.

More Than Just a Doctor-Patient Relationship
Sarah's doctor, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, is a family practice physician. Baldwin-Johnson was named the 2002 Family Physician of the Year by the American Academy of Family Physicians, after being recommended by Sarah Palin, then mayor of Wasilla. In 2007, as governor, Sarah created the Alaska Health Care Strategies Planning Council and appointed Baldwin-Johnson to this important planning council.

The doctor practices her specialty (which I find very interesting WRT the baby-gate rumors) in a clinic she founded, the Providence Matanuska Health Care center.

Today, Baldwin-Johnson spends most of her days at Providence Matanuska Health Care center, a 38-employee facility she founded, but which became affiliated with Providence three years ago. She also spends at least a half-day per week volunteering at The Children's Place, a nonprofit organization with six paid employees that opened in March of 1999 after two years of planning.

Much of her work there involves working with children coming from physical- or sexual-abuse backgrounds. Baldwin-Johnson has received special training in working with children of abuse. Her interest in working with abused children stemmed from what she was seeing in her medical practice.

"Family physicians not only see children that perhaps have been physically or sexually abused or neglected, but also they see the long-term effects (of that abuse). There are a lot of pregnant and parenting teen-agers with a history of maltreatment, especially sexual abuse." [my emphasis]

I've been unable to confirm if Baldwin-Johnson is affiliated with the Mat-Su Medical Center. For some reason their Physicians page won't load for me. [9-1-2008 Update: the whole site is down today.] What I find interesting is that Mat-Su does not show Trig's birth on their birth announcement page and the doctor doesn't seem to have expertise in premature Down syndrome babies, and the hospital was not equipped with a neonatal intensive care unit which one would hope to have available when a Down syndrome baby is born, especially when born prematurely.

No End to Questions
I'm not sure what all this might mean. But, why would 44-yr-old Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, risk serious complications by traveling so far, so late in her pregnancy? Why did her doctor give her the go-ahead? Why would she ask a family physician whose expertise seems to be with sexually-abused children to handle a risky birth of a Down syndrome baby, instead of seeing an OB-GYN with more specific experience? Why does Sarah go out of her way to travel to a rural hospital that doesn't have facilities to handle premature babies, when she knows there may be life-threatening birth complications? Surely she had the resources to go to the best facility Alaska (or Texas for that matter) had to offer! Why does the birth not show on the Mat-Su Medical Center's register? And why would she take this premature special needs infant to work with her 3 days after the birth?

One or two oddities does not a big deal make. But the story as told just does not add up. There are too many anomalies.

I'll leave aside for now my personal thoughts about a mother of 5 jumping in to a presidential campaign that, if successful, would transport her from Governor of a low-population state to Vice President of the United States.

Writing Reports, NIST Style

 

Here's an anatomy of the NIST's 115-page WTC7 final report. They use two pages to tell us what happened, and 14 pages to show pictures generated from their computer simulations. Don't miss the 4 pages where they put in disclaimers about the simulations! I found precious little "beef" anywhere in the 115 pages.

Number of Pages	Description
38	Preface including disclaimers, contributors and contractors, dedication, table of contents, abstract, list of figures and tables, list of acronyms, executive summary, etc., etc.
17	Historical World Trade Center information, WTC 7's structure, occupancy by floor, and NIST's best guesses about what floors were on fire when, and how the fire moved around.
2	NIST describes "Probable Collapse Sequence."
2	NIST lays out the hypothesis they ended up proving.
2	NIST does its best to debunk a commonly held hypothesis.
14	NIST treats us to a lengthy discussion about the computer simulations they used to prove their initial hypothesis.
4-1/2	NIST adds disclaimers re: the results of their computer simulations.
1/2	NIST shows its math for calculating the actual speed of fall for a few stories of WTC 7 at the beginning of the collapse, and compares it with free-fall speed.
14	These pages recap the findings.
10	NIST provides recommendations based on their findings.
11	Finally, these many pages are devoted to appendices and references.
115	TOTAL BS

WTC7 Coverup - Thermal Bullcrap

 
Had the latest NIST report actually investigated the collapse of WTC7, we may rest easier with their conclusions that a heretofore unknown process for bringing down steel-framed skyscrapers was in any way valid: fire-induced thermal expansion.

But they didn't.

Nist claims that they took a cursory look at a controlled demolition scenario. But what they did -- all they did -- was to dismiss the possibility because it was untenable. Why? Their only reason was that an explosion of sufficient size to blow column 79 (their key critical core column) would have caused a sound event that they were unable to verify actually happened.

All you have to do is Google "WTC7 Explosions" to find multiple videos recounting explosions in World Trade Center 7. Eyewitness accounts. Actual video taken on the day. There is no dearth of reports of explosions in WTC7, starting from before... yes BEFORE ... the twin towers even fell.

But hey, NIST was unable to find any of those accounts or videos, so they were left with the supposition that building 7 had to have collapsed by some mechanism previously undocumented.

With all due respect to Dr. Shyam Sunder and his contractors (which included Larry Silverstein and his development group), it is painfully obvious that they were overtly instructed to find a different conclusion from the most obvious one: controlled demolition.

They go so far as to say, hey! what we found looks just like controlled demolition but ... lookie here, it really isn't! It's really uhhh fires, regular office fires, uhhh... see here, column 79, got baked man, and heck, once that happened, the result was uhhh... total failure, into a neat pile! I mean, believe me, I work for the Government!

Forgive me for doubting.

NIST did not ever examine any physical evidence. NIST did not explain the dozens of witnesses who heard explosions. NIST did not ever view (or explain, if they did) the dozens of videos that clearly show explosions. NIST did not ever examine the forensic evidence gathered by other researchers (to wit, Dr. Stephen Jones). NIST did not build any scale models, they did it all by computer simulations. NIST took 7 years to foist this bastard of a report on us.

Lately, tptb are growing in their arrogance and their outrageousness. They know we have no WMD to strike them back with.

Or do we?

WTC7 Thermal Expansion Hoax: NIST Disses 9/11 Truthers

Remember, Remember, 11th September
There are some images of the impossible destruction on 9/11 that I can't forget. Here's an aerial view of the rubble taken a couple days after the event.

The smoke is still rising from the piles of both towers and building 7, in spite of firemen spraying millions of gallons of water on the heaps of debris. You can see severe damage to the building at the lower left, and more holes torn into the roof of the building at the lower right. The buildings across the street however (Verizon on the upper left, and the Post Office on the upper right) appear relatively unscathed -- except for the one in between. That's the remains of WTC7, the first and only steel-framed building over 10 stories to be totally destroyed by office fires and a "new phenomenon" NIST calls "fire-induced thermal expansion."

Here's a color-coded image identifying the remains:


Then and Now
Early theories about the demise of WTC7, put forward by Popular Mechanics in a March, 2005 cover story, and supported with statements from Dr. Shyam Sunder, supposed that serious damage caused by Tower 1's explosive collapse turned building 7 into a wreck just waiting to fall down. We have yet to see any photos revealing such extensive damage but Popular Mechanics said they saw them in a private showing. We were supposed to take their word for it. I always wondered how the Verizon building and the Post Office escaped similar damage from Tower 1's energetic debris. And then, I wondered why those two buildings showed no damage from the implosion of WTC7 either.

As we're told now, by the same Dr. Shyam Sunder, all that was needed to totally destroy this 47-storey steel skyscraper and make it look just like a controlled demolition, was an office fire on a few floors. NIST claims that those fires weakened the connection between a beam and a critical northeast core column. This initiated a domino effect resulting in first one, then several floors giving way. That left the critical core column unsupported over the span of 9 floors, so it buckled causing more floors and beams to break loose above, and then like dominos, the other 80 columns went along for the ride in rapid succession wherein the whole building fell down.

Dr. Sunder reassures us that they've got it right this time. "The public should really recognize the science is really behind what we have said," he said, adding: "The obvious stares you in the face."

Really.