Sarah Palin is a remarkable woman. She really defines class in a political official. She has shown time and again that she simply won't dignify many of the attempted attacks on her character with a response. Those that she does respond to, she does with a quick wit and a measured response. I applaud her for giving the press little to latch on to.
That said, the probe into her firing of her Public Safety Commissioner is reckless and unjustified. The background suggest that Palin was on the warpath to terminate the job of her brother in law, an Alaska state trooper. Following what has been described as "an acriminous divorce," the media would have you believe that Sarah wanted to destroy this man's professional life, and instructed her PSC to fire her former brother-in-law.
Let's ignore Sarah's right to innocense until proven guilty. Let's ignore her side of the story completely. You must still explain how she was not within her power to terminate an appointed official left over from the previous administration. The whole thing is reminiscant of the attempted scandal over the firings of various US Dept. of Justice Attorneys left over from Clinton's administration. Nevermind that Clinton fired all of the same attorneys left from George H. W. Bush's administration. Where was the outrage over those firings?
At any rate, Sarah is ignoring requests for her and her staff to testify concerning the firings. Do not forget that she has the right to do this, as granted by the checks and balances of our government through our Constitution. Executive branch officials do not have to appear or respond to subpeonas from Legislative branch officials. It's called executive privilege.
So I encourage you to challenge the tone of what you read regarding such incidents. Sometimes media outlets simply report on what they want you to hear.
The Market
Yesterday, I responded to the recent downturn in our various stock markets. Today, the Dow shed another 450 points, or roughly 4%. So total, we're down about 7% for the week. That's a pretty significant drop. This is mostly a response from the US government's inability to stay out of the free market. Every time a financial institution is in risk of going under, the government thinks lately that it is responsible for helping that institution. At least, as of late, that is.
The government is setting a precedent for this kind of action lately. Do you know what is going to happen? You and I are going to see one of two things within the next 10 years:
- Taxes are going to absolutely skyrocket. I don't mean Bill Clinton levels, I mean 50% and above for average-income households. Those of you wishing for universal healthcare will be challenged with first overcoming an absolute mountain of government spending before you could even begin to form a program. I won't even get into arguing why universal healthcare is bad for everyone. Social Security and formerly tax-free or tax-deferred ways of saving money will now be heavily taxed or completely eliminated.
- The United States will see another total catastrophic financial meltdown. However, with the amount of our debt that is spread abroad along with the fact that many have invested in global markets means that the Great Depression will seem like a mild recession.
Most of our esteemed members of Congress will have no idea how to fix it.
Suicide Bombers
Today, a group of suspected Al-Qaeda members attacked the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. The current death toll is at 16, but I wouldn't be surprised if that rises by tomorrow. Thankfully, no American personnel were harmed in the attack, but 6 brave Yemeni police officers lost their lives. Four civilians were also killed in the attack.
Here's a message to Al-Qaeda: if you're trying to get the rest of the civilized world to side with you in destroying the Western World, you should probably put up a better fight than to just slaughter those around you.
You can read about it here.
-Craig
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