Sarah Palin…

In terms of maps of the U.S., Alaska has long been neglected. Each morning on tv, the national weather maps represent our massive state as a shrunken-head version of itself tucked off in the left corner next to Hawaii… that is until today. 

McCain’s announcement in his choice of Vice President of the United States is… Sarah Palin? I thought last Tuesday’s statewide election results were a nightmare in which Palin played a starring role. Palin publicly stated her ’personal opinion’ on how she would vote against the Clean Water Initiative six days before the vote of her people at a televised news conference. The CWI would have placed important clean water and salmon protections in place for the proposed Pebble Mine.

The Pebble Mine is THE mother of all open pit nightmares that is planned by British mining giant Anglo American and it’s junior Canadian partner Northern Dynasty Minerals. At stake is the world’s largest sockeye (red) salmon fishery in the world as the backers of Pebble plan on digging right at the headwaters of the Kvichak and Nushagak river systems which are home to the most prolific runs of salmon worldwide.    

Add that to the continuing investigation to her alleged abuse of power in regards to the firing of her Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan over a family-related  issue regarding her sister and her ex-husband state trooper. Recorded phone messages from Monegan revealed Palin’s and her administration’s fabrications that no phone calls were ever made pressuring the highly respected life-long cop Monegan to fire said trooper. Monegan refused to comply and was promptly dismissed.

Palin was elected on a platform of a clear and transparent government. A bold new symbol of change against an Alaska tarnished by corruption and greed… sound familiar? Sadly, in just two short years her promises have fallen sickeningly short and mirrors that of former governor Frank Murkowski’s embarassing tenure.

Shame has befallen this once great state. I have heard it from conservatives and liberals alike. We have been stunned into submission. Corruption is now a household term we eat daily for breakfast and go to bed with each and every night. We are a state with so much potential but so few leaders. Now America has been introduced to Alaska’s Sarah Palin. Is America this desperate?