Thursday, September 04, 2008
How Sarah Palin's Record impinges on her family life
Now I am the first to say that the fact that Sarah Palin 17-year old daughter is pregnant has nothing to do with anybody else and should not impinge on her candidacy, even if she does parade her family and use them as part of her campaign. However, her record as Governor of Alaska is a completely different ball game.
Stephen Glenn has been carrying out some research of his own and has blogged on some of the reasons why she is not the sort of candidate that any Liberal can or should support. In particular he has focussed on her use of the Governor's line-by-line budget veto:
Well she used it earlier this year to she used it to veto funding to allow funding for teenage mothers a place to live for up to 18 months while they gained the necessary skills and resources to change their life. So faced with a tough choice that unmarried teenage mums who don't have the supportive family of say the First family of the state, some Alaskan teenagers may face financial issues if they find themselves pregnant that may result in they choice to keep or terminate their unborn child as a result of that veto.
So it is OK if, like Bristol you have a loving family who will ensure that you marry the father so as not to upset the Presidential campaign have a home to live in and sufficient income to bring up your children, but not if you have made the same mistake as Bristol of getting pregnant, have been thrown out by your parents and have nowhere to live or the necessary skills to manage your own life and that of your child. How compassionate!
Stephen Glenn has been carrying out some research of his own and has blogged on some of the reasons why she is not the sort of candidate that any Liberal can or should support. In particular he has focussed on her use of the Governor's line-by-line budget veto:
Well she used it earlier this year to she used it to veto funding to allow funding for teenage mothers a place to live for up to 18 months while they gained the necessary skills and resources to change their life. So faced with a tough choice that unmarried teenage mums who don't have the supportive family of say the First family of the state, some Alaskan teenagers may face financial issues if they find themselves pregnant that may result in they choice to keep or terminate their unborn child as a result of that veto.
So it is OK if, like Bristol you have a loving family who will ensure that you marry the father so as not to upset the Presidential campaign have a home to live in and sufficient income to bring up your children, but not if you have made the same mistake as Bristol of getting pregnant, have been thrown out by your parents and have nowhere to live or the necessary skills to manage your own life and that of your child. How compassionate!
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... meanwhile the Welsh Lib-Dem party has helped create a Welsh economy that is at the very bottom of the British economic league tables in terms of GVA per head thus creating an environment where families struggle because neither parent has a job with a sufficient wage that makes sense for them to carry on working verses relying on the welfare state. I’ve seen that kind of thing close up, and it is a desperate situation. There are jobs in Wales, but so many of them come with such shockingly low wages that it is very hard going for Welsh families.
The Welsh Lib-Dems have been a party to creating a Welsh economy that positively encourages its science and engineering graduates to leave Wales in search of decent paid jobs – what kind of ‘choice’ is that?
The Welsh Lib-Dems have been party to creating an environment where real choices are severely limited. You talk of choices Peter, but Welsh graduates with high-skill sets are obliged to leave Wales or go on the dole or work in dead end jobs treading water.
In Alaska Palin works hard to bring good paying jobs to Alaskans/Americans; as Governor Palin she has won a multibillion dollar pipe laying project for her state which will mean more money for her state, more good paying jobs for her state, where young people can get training for well paid jobs verses what’s happening in Wales where youngsters coming out of Welsh schools are facing a very bleak future, one with fewer job choices, where offered training is not geared to engineering or trade jobs because the private sector is struggling so hard that there are few well paid jobs waiting for Welsh youngsters.
Real choices come with real opportunities, something that the Welsh Lib-Dems don’t get.
After 10 years of WAG administration the Welsh economy is at the VERY BOTTOM of the British league tables in terms of GVA per head of population. Think about that, the Welsh Lib-Dems have helped create that appalling situation where choices are curtailed for its citizens; there GDP growth is concentrated on creating yet more jobs in the Welsh public sector instead of in the private sector.
Alaska has a smaller population than Wales, but that hasn’t stopped Palin working hard to boost jobs for its people. Palin knows life is tough in Alaska, but Palin is working hard to bring good paying jobs to Alaskans/Americans – Palin is arguing that keeping the 700 billion of US dollars that otherwise flow out of the country to pay for oil imports is instead kept in the country to develop American oil exploration which will lead to more high paying job opportunities for Americans. As Palin argues, keeping that money here (in America) will mean more jobs – and with more jobs comes more opportunities and with more opportunities freedom to make meaningful choices. Compare that with the Welsh Lib-Dem’s ‘efforts’ on the ground which have helped create a Welsh economy that is at the VERY BOTTOM of the British economic league tables by GVA per head of population.
The Welsh Lib-Dems have shared power with Labour, including at the ministerial economic level – so don’t tell me that the Welsh-Lib Dems have not played a role in the greatest choice robbery in recent Welsh history – real choices are not enlarged through creating a Welsh economy that is at the VERY BOTTOM of the British economic league tables.
But hey, if the Welsh Lib-Dems want to distract Welsh folks away from the misery that comes with such an appalling underperforming Welsh economy by focusing attention on a lady that is a governor of a state some 7,000 miles or so from Wales – then knock yourselves out.
Meanwhile, Palin will get on with the job of creating more good paying jobs for Alaskans, routing big tax breaks from oil drilled in Alaska to the people of Alaska, while the Welsh Lib-Dems can stay busy maintaining a very poor Welsh economy that robs its young people and graduates of choices.
The Welsh Lib-Dems have been a party to creating a Welsh economy that positively encourages its science and engineering graduates to leave Wales in search of decent paid jobs – what kind of ‘choice’ is that?
The Welsh Lib-Dems have been party to creating an environment where real choices are severely limited. You talk of choices Peter, but Welsh graduates with high-skill sets are obliged to leave Wales or go on the dole or work in dead end jobs treading water.
In Alaska Palin works hard to bring good paying jobs to Alaskans/Americans; as Governor Palin she has won a multibillion dollar pipe laying project for her state which will mean more money for her state, more good paying jobs for her state, where young people can get training for well paid jobs verses what’s happening in Wales where youngsters coming out of Welsh schools are facing a very bleak future, one with fewer job choices, where offered training is not geared to engineering or trade jobs because the private sector is struggling so hard that there are few well paid jobs waiting for Welsh youngsters.
Real choices come with real opportunities, something that the Welsh Lib-Dems don’t get.
After 10 years of WAG administration the Welsh economy is at the VERY BOTTOM of the British league tables in terms of GVA per head of population. Think about that, the Welsh Lib-Dems have helped create that appalling situation where choices are curtailed for its citizens; there GDP growth is concentrated on creating yet more jobs in the Welsh public sector instead of in the private sector.
Alaska has a smaller population than Wales, but that hasn’t stopped Palin working hard to boost jobs for its people. Palin knows life is tough in Alaska, but Palin is working hard to bring good paying jobs to Alaskans/Americans – Palin is arguing that keeping the 700 billion of US dollars that otherwise flow out of the country to pay for oil imports is instead kept in the country to develop American oil exploration which will lead to more high paying job opportunities for Americans. As Palin argues, keeping that money here (in America) will mean more jobs – and with more jobs comes more opportunities and with more opportunities freedom to make meaningful choices. Compare that with the Welsh Lib-Dem’s ‘efforts’ on the ground which have helped create a Welsh economy that is at the VERY BOTTOM of the British economic league tables by GVA per head of population.
The Welsh Lib-Dems have shared power with Labour, including at the ministerial economic level – so don’t tell me that the Welsh-Lib Dems have not played a role in the greatest choice robbery in recent Welsh history – real choices are not enlarged through creating a Welsh economy that is at the VERY BOTTOM of the British economic league tables.
But hey, if the Welsh Lib-Dems want to distract Welsh folks away from the misery that comes with such an appalling underperforming Welsh economy by focusing attention on a lady that is a governor of a state some 7,000 miles or so from Wales – then knock yourselves out.
Meanwhile, Palin will get on with the job of creating more good paying jobs for Alaskans, routing big tax breaks from oil drilled in Alaska to the people of Alaska, while the Welsh Lib-Dems can stay busy maintaining a very poor Welsh economy that robs its young people and graduates of choices.
# posted by 
: 2:41 PM
: 2:41 PM
Her abstinence stance has obviously worked remarkably well with her own daughter. Perhaps if she'd have advocated better sex education and access to contraceptives we wouldn't be having this discussion. As for those that fall pregnant and CHOOSE to keep the baby they deserve support not punishment for their actions. She obviously is incapable of thinking through the consequences of her actions from beginning to end. Knee jerk right wing "Christian" fundamentalism at its best!
HC
HC
# posted by : 3:45 PM
: 3:45 PM
Anon 2:41pm: I think you must be thihking of a different Wales. Quite apart from the fact that the levers of the Welsh economy mostly reside with the UK Government, the Welsh Liberal Democrats have not been in power here for over five years. To say we are responsible for the present situation is stretching it beyond credibility.
I am sure that Palin has some achievements as Governor which are worth crowing about but personally I find her social and moral agenda repugnant and would be very uncomfortable indeed about her being one 72 year old heartbeat from leadership of the free world. I think we would all be less safe as a result.
I am sure that Palin has some achievements as Governor which are worth crowing about but personally I find her social and moral agenda repugnant and would be very uncomfortable indeed about her being one 72 year old heartbeat from leadership of the free world. I think we would all be less safe as a result.
Peter, 'a different Wales'????
Are the Welsh-Lib Dems so out of touch they are not aware that Wales is at the very bottom of the economic league tables in terms of GVA per head of population?
See, ‘An Overview of the Welsh economy” by Professor Brian Morgan, in ‘Who’s Who in Wales 2008’ published by the Western Mail, see especially page 9 thereof.
Are the Welsh-Lib Dems so out of touch they are not aware that Wales is at the very bottom of the economic league tables in terms of GVA per head of population?
See, ‘An Overview of the Welsh economy” by Professor Brian Morgan, in ‘Who’s Who in Wales 2008’ published by the Western Mail, see especially page 9 thereof.
# posted by : 4:13 PM
: 4:13 PM
back to the point in question It baffles me (or maybe it should not knowing how little the Republicans have really done to reduce abortion in the US) why a governor who says that she is prolife should cut funding to one of the most prominent prolife charities in the US. Covenant House more than any organisation has done much to help teenagers get the help and support they need. Saving a child in the process. Here is their site
http://www.covenanthouse.org/
http://www.covenanthouse.org/
# posted by : 4:32 PM
: 4:32 PM
A different Wales in which the Welsh Liberal Democrats are responsible for this situation. I think my comment was quite clear. Your pedantic interpretation does you less credit than your first comment.
Peter, I have a LOT of respect for you because I believe you are honest, hardworking and willing to make sacrifices - that essentially you are willing to promote change even when this narrows your choices (e.g., you are promoting a change in Welsh-Lib-Dem leadership while ruling yourself out). I do believe you want the best for Wales, no doubt about it.
But the Welsh economy is very poor (as evidenced by Prof. Morgan's analysis, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC) and that this naturally limits choices for Welsh people.
What is your party going to do about improving the choices open to Welsh job seekers in Wales?
But I have to say, your personal comments about Sarah Palin's family are pretty awful. Would you speak of a Lib-Dem AM's children like that? Even Obama has said commenting on a politician's children should be regarded as off-limits.
But the Welsh economy is very poor (as evidenced by Prof. Morgan's analysis, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC) and that this naturally limits choices for Welsh people.
What is your party going to do about improving the choices open to Welsh job seekers in Wales?
But I have to say, your personal comments about Sarah Palin's family are pretty awful. Would you speak of a Lib-Dem AM's children like that? Even Obama has said commenting on a politician's children should be regarded as off-limits.
# posted by : 5:37 PM
: 5:37 PM
Sorry are you reading the same blog as I am writing.
(a) The Welsh Lib Dems are not in government so are not in a position to 'do' anything about Wales' economic problems though Vince Cable seems to have a disproportionate influence with the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what needs to be done. Naturally we are using the scrutiny process in the Assembly to try and focus the government's mind and for example, I raised the issue of the poor number of Welsh patents in plenary back in July.
(b) I have made no personal comments about Sarah Palin's family. In fact I have specifically said that what they do should not impinge on her candidacy unless she herself brings them into it. All my comments in this post relate to her policy position and her actions as Governor.
(a) The Welsh Lib Dems are not in government so are not in a position to 'do' anything about Wales' economic problems though Vince Cable seems to have a disproportionate influence with the Chancellor of the Exchequer in what needs to be done. Naturally we are using the scrutiny process in the Assembly to try and focus the government's mind and for example, I raised the issue of the poor number of Welsh patents in plenary back in July.
(b) I have made no personal comments about Sarah Palin's family. In fact I have specifically said that what they do should not impinge on her candidacy unless she herself brings them into it. All my comments in this post relate to her policy position and her actions as Governor.
Who is Anonymous @ 2:41, 3:45, 4:13 & 5:37 ?
Thought you weren't having any more Anonymous corrispondents unless they were making a valid political point.
G. Lewis etc
Thought you weren't having any more Anonymous corrispondents unless they were making a valid political point.
G. Lewis etc
# posted by : 6:56 PM
: 6:56 PM
Peter,
I have been intrigued by this Guardian article today and the comments it has generated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/sarahpalin.johnmccain
If there is validity in Linda Grant's somewhat simplistic analysis of two kinds of America never communicating with each other, then could this be a future scenarion for Britain?
I have been intrigued by this Guardian article today and the comments it has generated.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/04/sarahpalin.johnmccain
If there is validity in Linda Grant's somewhat simplistic analysis of two kinds of America never communicating with each other, then could this be a future scenarion for Britain?
Or even just being irrelevent. I thought the post was to do with Governor Palin's stand (or inconsistency on social matters, not the Welsh economy!
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: 9:06 PM<< Home
