Sarah Palin: Going Rogue Number One In Sales UPDATED!

In less than 12 hours after Barnes & Noble first offered "Going Rogue: An American Life," Sarah Palin’s brand new book, for pre-publication sales, it has hit number one on their chart!

The book is currently number two on Amazon.com. Amazon, for some reason, was many hours behind the curve, and didn’t have the book linked. This allowed Barnes & Noble to get the early sales, and the book to reach number one on their charts a lot sooner.

**** Updated! As of 5:15 PM "Going Rogue: An American Life" is now the number one best seller at Amazon.com! ****

This new book, so new that it doesn’t even have a cover design yet, has generated serious buzz. Easily the most anticipated book of the year, Palin and her publisher HarperCollins surprised everyone when they announced that Sarah had finished her book already and the launch date had been moved to November 17 from it’s original Spring 2010 time period.

From Fox News

NEW YORK- That was fast.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, has finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced, and the release date has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, her publisher said.

"Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project," said Jonathan Burnham, publisher of Harper. "It's her words, her life, and it's all there in full and fascinating detail."

Palin's book, her first, will be 400 pages, said Burnham, who called the fall "the best possible time for a major book of this kind."

The book now has a title, one fitting for a public figure known for the unexpected -- "Going Rogue: An American Life."

Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, has commissioned a huge first printing of 1.5 million copies. Sen. Ted Kennedy's "True Compass," published by Twelve soon after his Aug. 25 death, also had a 1.5 million first printing.

As with the Kennedy book, the digital edition of Palin's memoir will not be released at the same time as the hardcover. "Going Rogue" will not be available as an e-book until Dec. 26 because "we want to maximize hardcover sales over the holidays," Harper spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said Monday.

Publishers have been concerned that e-books, rapidly becoming more popular, might take away sales from hardcover editions, which are more expensive.

Palin, who abruptly resigned as Alaska governor over the summer with more than a year left in her first term, has been an object of fascination since Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, chose her as his running mate.

Although Democrat Barack Obama won the election and Palin was criticized even by some Republicans for being inexperienced, she remains a favorite among conservatives and is a rumored contender for 2012. Interest in her is so high that a fan recently paid $63,500 to have dinner with her, part of an Internet auction for a charity that aids wounded veterans.

Palin, 45, spent weeks in San Diego shortly after leaving office and worked on the manuscript with collaborator Lynn Vincent, a person close to her said. She was joined in San Diego by her family and her top aide, Meghan Stapleton, then spent several weeks in New York working around the clock with editors at Harper, said the person, who wasn't authorized to comment and asked not to be identified.

We knew Sarah was a hard worker, but oh my goodness, she didn’t let any time go to waste!

This also answers the question of those who wondered why she had been "heard (on Facebook) but not seen." It’s obvious though, after her great Hong Kong speech, and this announcement, that things are about to change on that front!

The synopsis of the book of the book reads as follows:

Sarah Palin burst onto the political scene at the height of the 2008 presidential campaign and overnight became a national sensation. Adored by the right, bitterly reviled by the left, she is the most polarizing figure to emerge in American politics in decades. Yet for all the dirt digging and gossip that has surrounded her, very little is actually known about who she is, what she believes, and above all, about her plans for the future. In her new book, Sarah Palin tells the story of her Alaskan upbringing, her marriage and family life, her political career, her religious beliefs, and her meteoric rise to national prominence. With her customary blunt common sense, she sets the record straight about the many myths and lies that have been spun around her and lays out her vision for an America that is strong, independent, and free.

We all knew this would be an autobiographical book, but it’s the last sentence that is intriguing and will sell the books! America is hungry for a true leader. The first person to come up with a real vison to get the nation back on track will most certainly shoot to the head of the pack.

Sarah started laying things out in her Hong Kong speech. It was a policy speech full of solid ideas, the book obviously looks to expand on that.

HarperCollins has ordered an initial printing 1.5 million. Currently, Sarah has 905,787 Facebook friends, and this increases every hour, on the hour. One can bet that most will buy, at minimum, one book, with many planning these as Christmas presents, and buying multiple books. I think we’re going to need more books!

Rush Limbaugh offered his thoughts:







The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund had some interesting insight on the behind the scenes goings on, and pretty much confirms what we already knew about the inept McCain campaign:

Sarah Palin may no longer be governor of Alaska, but she's certainly destined to become a best-selling author. HarperCollins, her publisher, has announced the print-run of her memoir will be a staggering 1.5 million copies -- equal to the print-run of Senator Ted Kennedy's posthumous autobiography published this month. Publishing sources tell me that such a giant run is only ordered up when there is clear evidence from booksellers and surveys of massive interest in a book.

The book, which will be published on November 17, was a crash project. Ms. Palin actually moved temporarily to San Diego after she resigned the governorship in July so she could be close to her collaborator, Lynn Vincent. I bumped into Ms. Vincent, a former editor at the Christian-oriented World magazine, in New York a few weeks ago, where she had parked herself in a hotel close to the offices of HarperCollins while working on the book's final edits.

Ms. Vincent didn't reveal any details about the book, but did acknowledge it will describe Ms. Palin's frustration over her treatment by the staffers she inherited from the McCain campaign after her surprise pick as the GOP vice presidential nominee last year. Ms. Palin was booked on grueling interviews with hostile reporters while talk-show hosts such as Glenn Beck couldn't even get through to her aides. Mr. Beck tells me he was stunned when he picked up the phone one day just before the election to discover Sarah Palin was on the other end of the line. "She explained that she had been blocked from reaching her audience, so she was now 'going rogue' and booking her own interviews," Mr. Beck told me. "I was thrilled she had burst out of the cage they'd built for her and we were finally talking."

That incident was the only time Ms. Palin declared her independence from her keepers, and it's fitting that the title of her upcoming book will be "Going Rogue: An American Life."

This was a brilliant move for the Arctic Fox, and not just for sales of her book. As all big books require a book tour, and a round of interviews on all of the top shows, Sarah will be laying out her vision for America at a time it is sorely needed. At the same time, she will be starting her effort to go and campaign for like minded candidates for the 2010 elections.

Brilliant timing, and we expected no less from Sarah Palin!

Despicable: Barack Obama Orders Pensions Cut Off To WWII Veterans

Once again, Barack Obama proves he is not fit to serve as commander-in-chief to our armed forces. In a continuing despicable act, Obama is refusing to honor WWII veterans who fought for our nation in it’s darkest hours.

From the McClatchy News Service:

WASHINGTON -- In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining its priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration today said it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.

The Guardsmen are among those assigned to protect Alaska from the Japanese during World War II.

The Army decided this year to no longer count service in the Guard in calculating the military's 20-year minimum for retirement pay, although it still counts for military benefits. As a result, their pensions were decreased in January.

An estimated 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit formed in 1942 to protect Alaska, then a territory, from attack. The 26 men have enough other military service to reach the 20-year minimum for retirement pay but would lose it if the Territorial Guard service doesn't count.

A Senate military spending bill up for a vote in the Senate allows the former Guard members count their service as part of active military duty, and it reinstates the payments.

State lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year to fill the pay gap until Congress made a permanent fix, but the White House said Friday it didn't think it was "appropriate to establish a precedent of treating service performed by a state employee as active duty for purposes of the computation of retired pay."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who along with Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, sponsored the fix, called the administration move "deeply disappointing, bordering on insensitive." The legislation honors 26 elderly Native people who are the few remaining survivors of a military unit that served the country with valor, Murkowski said.

"The administration's justification, which is that the legislation will set the precedent of treating service as a state employee as federal service, defies logic and history," she said in a statement. "Sixty-two years after the Territorial Guard was disbanded, the Obama administration minimizes the contribution of this gallant unit to America's success in World War II by calling its service 'state service.' "

This is beyond the pale, and just shows Obama’s continual disregard for what has made America the greatest nation on earth. To diminish these brave Alaska Natives as "state employees" is to diminish all of the brave men and women who served their nation in all sorts of ways during WWI.

For those that don’t know, the Japanese attacked and invaded Alaska’s Aleutian Islands at the same time the battle of Midway was about to take place. It was part diversion, part payback for Doolittle’s bombing of Tokyo.





Above: Japanese bombing of Dutch Harbor, 4 June 1942...

Historical Photo - Public Domain: Naval Historical Center

Department of the United States Navy





Above: Japanese transport burning after U.S. air attack on Kiska Harbor, 18 June 1942...

Historical Photo - Public Domain; Naval Historical Center

Department of the United States Navy





This was a tragic bit of history for Alaskans, more of which you can read here and here.

From Wikipedia:

The Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG) or Eskimo Scouts was a military reserve force component of the US Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on American soil in Hawaii and Alaska by Japan during World War II. The ATG operated until 1947. 6,368 volunteers who served without pay were enrolled from 107 communities throughout Alaska in addition to a paid staff of 21, according to an official roster.

The ATG brought together for the first time into a joint effort members of these ethnic groups: Aleut, Athabaskan, European American, Inupiaq, Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Yupik, and most likely others. In later years, all members of some native units scored expert sharpshooter rankings. Among the 27 or more women members were at least one whose riflery skills exceeded the men. The ages of members at enrollment ranged from 80 years old to as young as twelve. (both extremes occurring mostly in sparsely populated areas)

Two things stick out in my mind. One, these 6,368 Alaskan Territorial Guards, of which the 26 men being denied by Barack Obama are part of, served their nation during war time, for NO PAY.

Second, the situation was so dire that old men and children all pitched in.

You can read more here.

Another historic perspective can be read here:

The Alaska Territorial Guard: A Debt of Honor Unpaid. As this article points out towards the end:

In 2000, largely due to efforts by former Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens, a bill was signed into law ordering the Secretary of Defense to issue Honorable Discharges to all members of the Alaska Territorial Guard. The bill was intended to repay the debt of honor we as a nation owe these people, these Americans, and provided many of the surviving members (now in their 80’s and many living far below the poverty line) with retirement pay and survivor’s benefits and medial care.

However history views Ted Stevens it must be noted that he was largely responsible for righting a dishonorable and inexcusable injustice. However, the story of the ATG doesn’t end there – most of the elderly surviving members of the ATG live in remote and inaccessible locations. Finding them was long and difficult.

In 2003 Colonel Bob Goodman USA(ret), undertook the effort to find and assist the remaining members of the ATG, at first funded by the state and later out of his own pocket. So far he and his people have located over 150 former members of the ATG, and they estimate there are several hundred more – and they continue their efforts to this very day.

Many of those located in the last five years have since died of old age. For those who remain, the benefits provided aren’t much, some medical care and a couple hundred dollars a month, but for folks who now live far below the poverty line in villages where gasoline costs more than $10 per gallon – those benefits mean the difference between life and death.

Those benefits, that mere pittance in retirement pay, would seem to be the least we can do for those forgotten veterans of that long ago conflict.

It would seem to be the very least we could do.

But it’s not.

It turns out we could actually do less.

It turns out that the Army could suddenly decide, say yesterday in fact, to reinterpret the law to read that these men and women of the Alaska Territorial Guard, these men and woman who came to defend our nation in its time of need, these men and women who fought bravely for a flag not even their own, who built the roads and the airfields and the hospitals and the bridges and who rescued downed airmen and stranded sailors and braved the cold and the isolation and the horror of war – these men and women – are not, in fact, entitled to even that small effort.

That’s right. The Army has decided to cut off retirement pay for the twenty-six surviving members of the ATG. Twenty-six, and applications from thirty-seven more identified by Colonel Bob Goodwin and his people have been suspended. Apparently we can not afford to take care of even this small handful of people, this small handful of veterans, this small handful of Alaskans, this small handful of Americans.

However, in a good hearted move, the Army will not seek to recoup past payments.

Big of them, wouldn’t you say?

It goes without saying that this issue has been boiling for some time. Senator Stevens indeed had worked to get these brave WWII veterans, these brave Native Americans, their due.

In what some might say was odd timing, or Chicago style politics, just two days after Barack Obama had taken the Oath of Office as Commander-In-Chief, ABC News reported:

The Army has decided to cut off retirement pay for veterans of a largely Native militia formed to guard the territory of Alaska from the threat of Japanese attack during World War II.

The change means 26 surviving members of the Alaska Territorial Guard — most in their 80s and long retired — will lose as much as $557 in monthly retirement pay, a state veterans officer said Thursday. The payments end Feb. 1.

Applications for retirement pay from 37 others have been suspended.

The state is pursuing a remedy for "these brave Alaskans, who did so much for the cause of freedom during a time of great national peril," Gov. Sarah Palin said.

The action comes almost a decade after Congress passed a law qualifying time served in the unpaid guard as active federal service. The Army agreed in 2004 to grant official military discharge certificates to members or their survivors.

An Army official said the law was misinterpreted. The law applies to military benefits, including medical benefits, but not retirement pay, said Lt. Col. Richard McNorton, with the Army's human resources command in Alexandria, Va.

"The focus is to follow the law," he said. "We can't choose whether to follow the law."

The Army doesn't intend to seek to recoup past pay, he said.

About 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit called up from 1942 to 1947 to scout patrols, build military airstrips and perform other duties. But only a fraction had enough other military service to reach the 20-year requirement for retirement pay.

Among those who did is 88-year-old Paul Kiunya in the western Alaska village of Kipnuk. Kiunya was 16 when he joined the territorial guard and worked in communications, reporting by radio any unusual noises or the direction of aircraft, including some Japanese planes he spotted.

"We did not get one cent being in the territorial guard," he said. "And we worked hard."

Kiunya — who later put in 22 years in the National Guard and another decade in the Guard reserves — will lose more than $358 a month in his retirement package because of the Army's decision. With gasoline in his village at almost $10 a gallon, that's a huge amount to lose.

For her part, Governor Sarah Palin, in her role as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska Defense Force, the modern day equivalent to the Territorial Guard, signed SB 89 which funded, these pensions until 2010.

For those that don’t know, the Alaska Defense Force is a federally recognized state militia, that trains as an auxiliary police force, as well as a military defense force, and is part of Homeland Security’s readiness plan, and is under the command of the Governor of Alaska.





This situation is incredibly disturbing. All indications are these brave WWII veterans served Alaska and the nation with honor. To purposely cut these aged men off, in the twilight of their lives, goes against everything America stands for. In fact, as this cuts off not only a substantial part of their paycheck, but other benefits, such as medical, one might even say this is sort of a death panel, especially knowing that winter is coming, and heating fuel is quite expensive in Alaska.

I can’t speculate what makes Barack Obama such a heartless and cruel man. I do know that once again, Obama’s radical, communist upbringing has shown it’s self front and center. Obama must really hate America, and Americans to pull a stunt like this.

Obama should be ashamed of himself, but I fear that is an emotion he is incapable of.

What can you do?

You can call your Senators and Congressmen and tell them that this dog just don’t hunt! Tell them cutting off pay to these brave WWII veterans is inhumane and un-American. Our veterans deserve better.

You can also call Barack Obama at the White House: (202) 456-1414

Tell Obama this cannot stand. Tell Obama this will not stand!

Outrageous: Barack Obama "Not Interested In Victory" In War On Terror!

This is beyond contemptible. It’s dangerous and even un-American. This guy, our supposed "commander-in-chief," is beyond description here. He’s Neville Chamberlain, wrapped up in Jimmy Carter, with a order of Code Pink on the side.







Not interested in victory?

The only real job a President has that is spelled out in the Constitution is protecting the Constitution, and protecting the nation, and this guy has blown it both times. Obama hasn’t followed the Constitution since day one with all of his communistic programs, like cap and tax, and the freedom and liberty destroying ObamaCare fiasco.

Oddly enough, when it comes to Obama himself, victory is cool. After he took office and the complaints were flying that he wouldn’t engage with the Republicans, that he didn’t care about the bipartisanship he ran on, the first of hundreds of lies he has told, Obama famously said "I won."

Lest you think this is an isolated incident:

"I’m always worried about using the word victory."

____Barack Obama

Are you kidding me?

This man is not fit to sit in the Oval Office. Period!




We have North Korea testing long range missiles, we have Russia flexing it’s muscles, and helping Venezuela start on the path towards nuclear weapons. We have a shaky Iraq, Afghanistan is in trouble, and this pathetic man cannot step up to the pump. Iran may possibly have a nuclear weapon this year, and Obama is at the U.N and the G20 talking rainbows, unicorns, and nuclear disarmament! (For us)

The world has become exponentially more dangerous since this inexperienced "community organizer" has taken office. Obama is totally asleep at the wheel on national security and foreign relations.

Actually, that’s only partially true. For the entire time George W Bush was President, he sent messages to the Iranian people that we were not their enemy, that our quarrel was with their leaders. The implication was if they decided to rebel against the mullahs, we’d be there. Well, after the last "election" in Iran, evidently run buy ACORN’S Islamic subsidiary, the Iranian people finally decided they had indeed had enough of their oppressive government, and took to the streets, en masse.

Where was Obama? It took him weeks to formulate a response, and it was weak, and basically a hands off deal, saying it wasn’t our problem. Meanwhile brave Iranians who, like all human beings, merely desired freedom and liberty, were being slaughtered in the streets.

Nice going Obama!

On the other hand, down in Honduras, we had a dictator wannabe legally and constitutionally removed from office. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who like our President, is term limited, was trying to manipulate the population into allowing him to remain "president for life" much like his communist pals Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers. In fact, world wide, Hugo Chavez, the Castro Brothers, and Barack Obama, all communists, are the only ones rooting for Zelaya!

Obama went so far as to call this an illegal coup de’tat, which is ridiculous. The Honduran military, Congress, and most importantly, their Supreme Court, had all ruled against Zelaya’s attempt to usurp their Constitution, and removed him from office, by force. This was perfectly legal. It fact, it’s exactly how a functioning government should work.

Unfortunately, the checks and balances in our own country are no longer working as well.

It’s despicable that we have one nation that is a threat to the entire world, whose leadership could have been toppled, with a possible democracy replacing it, and yet our so-called "president" did nothing, while at the same time, another nation, a functioning democracy, is about to be toppled by a communist dictator, and he sides with the dictator, and is still actively trying to force this free nation into installing this obvious traitor to his nation back in power!

This would be as if the Germans had figured Hitler out before he went off the deep end, and ousted him, only to have Roosevelt demand the Germans put him back in office! It would have been outrageous then, and it’s just as outrageous now!

The point of all of this is simply one thing. It’s obvious that Obama is not fit for office. Obama has left the United States, and the entire free world, vulnerable to attack from any number of rouge nations. Obama has abdicated America’s role as the leader of the free world.

While we have brave men and women serving, and dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama couldn’t care less. Obama is still in campaign mode trying to force his liberty destroying ObamaCare monstrosity down an angry America’s throat!

America has clearly spoken, they want no part of ObamaCare. None! But it seems Obama is very interested in a victory there, because it will usurp our Constitution, and fundamentally change America into a communist nation. Clearly THAT victory would be acceptable for Obama. But victory against nations that want to destroy all of mankind, not so much.

We have our theater commanders telling Obama, in no uncertain terms, that we need more troops in Afghanistan, or we will lose. General McChrystal is requesting 30,000-40,000 troops. What is Obama doing? Nothing.

Here’s a hint Obama, this isn’t like your Senate job where you can just vote "present" you are actually expected to make a decision!

Where is Congress?

The Republican party should be demanding this man’s resignation. Obama has clearly abdicated his constitutional duty to protect our Constitution and to protect our nation. Are there no patriotic democrats left? Are the members of both parties so interested in holding on to their phony-baloney jobs that whatever Obama wants to do is fine?

What happens when Iran sends a nuke into Israel and wipes them out? How about Iraq? Europe? How about when Hugo Chavez gets some nukes from Russia and decides to let them fly?

It’s time for the American people to demand Obama step down, resign. He is clearly not a leader and clearly does not have America’s best interests in mind. The world is too dangerous for an "on the job training" president.

Growing up, our greatest enemy was the Soviet Union. When Ronald Reagan became President, he had a very simple strategy: "We win, they lose!"

After we were attacked on 9/11 George W Bush stated "you are either with us, or against us."

We need leaders in this nation, not "community organizers."



Thanks to Ace and Weasel Zippers.

Sarah Palin Rocks Hong Kong

As expected, Sarah Palin made a worldwide splash with her speech at the 16^th Annual CLSA Investor’s Forum. According to CLSA’s website it was standing room only with over 1100 institutional fund managers and heads of leading Asian, Australian and US corporations.

Reports are Sarah received a lengthy standing ovation at the end of her speech. It’s also reported that a couple of whiny liberals left before she was finished., I guess they couldn’t handle the truth! They also wouldn’t go on the record. No guts, no glory!

In his introduction, CLSA Chairman and CEO, Jonathan Slone, quoted President Eisenhower on the responsibilities of citizens in a democratic society to debate issues that matter.

Following her remarks, Governor Palin responded to questions from CLSA’s clients.

You know how one knows this thing was a home run? The New York Times ran a fair story about Sarah’s speech without an ounce of snark! I imagine Maureen Dowd had a stroke!

From the New York Times:

HONG KONG — Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first speech overseas, spoke on Wednesday to Asian bankers,investors and fund managers.

A number of people who heard the speech in a packed hotel ballroom, which was closed to the media, said Mrs. Palin spoke from notes for 90 minutes and that she was articulate, well-prepared and even compelling.

"The speech was wide-ranging, very balanced, and she beat all expectations," said Doug A. Coulter, head of private equity in the Asia-Pacific region for LGT Capital Partners.

"She didn’t sound at all like a far-right-wing conservative. She seemed to be positioning herself as a libertarian or a small-c conservative," he said, adding that she mentioned both Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. "She brought up both those names."

Of course, the comparison’s of Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher are inevitable We’ve done it ourselves. No less than Michael Reagan, son of the great Renaldus Magnus, has compared the two favorably as well, as he did in his piece: "Welcome Back Dad."

Last December, writing in the Wall Street Journal, John O’Sullivan wrote a piece called "Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Palin." In his article, he compares Sarah favorable to Lady Thatcher, and cites Sarah’s executive experience as a major reason for why she will be successful on the larger stage. It should be noted that O’Sullivan was a special adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Now let’s be honest. Sarah Palin is not Ronald Reagan, or Maggie Thatcher. Sarah is her own person, with her own ideas, and her own brand of conservatism. But Reagan was a huge influence on her, and as Reagan and Thatcher really dominated the world stage in their day, I’m sure some of that interaction made an impression on a young Sarah Palin.

"Common sense conservatism" was a common theme from those that heard her speech.

Here’s the reason why everyone and their uncle compares Sarah Palin favorably to Ronald Reagan. Like Reagan, Sarah Palin is strong, and unwavering in her beliefs. She will tell you what she thinks, straight up, just like Reagan. And like Reagan, Sarah says what she means, and means what she says.

Sarah also articulates conservatism, real conservatism better than anyone out there today. This too is something she shares with Reagan, along with an unabashed love for America, and an unbridled optimism. Reagan’s optimism was key to his success. Reagan, like Sarah, was a realist, he knew we had issues, but at the end of the day, He knew America had it in her to shine. You hear that same spirit in Sarah Palin every time she speaks.

So fairly, or unfairly, this is why the two are always compared, and compared favorable. As a recent Rasmussen poll pointed out, "being like Ronald Reagan" is the only positive political description that voters care about. It’s the gold standard that all conservatives are judged by.







More from the Times:

Cameron Sinclair, another speaker at the event, said Mrs. Palin emphasized the need for a grassroots rebirth of the Republican Party driven by party leaders outside Washington.

A number of attendees thought Mrs. Palin, the former vice presidential candidate, was using the speech to begin to broaden her foreign policy credentials before making a run for the presidency in 2012.

"She’s definitely a serious future presidential candidate, and I understand why she plays so well in middle America," said Mr. Coulter, a Canadian.

And this from a New Yorker and an Obama supporter who attended:

Melvin Goodé, a regional marketing consultant, thought Mrs. Palin chose Hong Kong because, he said, it was "a place where things happen and where freedom can be expanded upon."

"It’s not Beijing or Shanghai," said Mr. Goodé . "She also mentioned Tibet, Burma and North Korea in the same breath as places where China should be more sensitive and careful about how people are treated. She said it on a human-rights level."

Mr. Goodé, an African-American who said he did some campaign polling for President Obama, said Mrs. Palin mentioned President Obama three times on Wednesday.

"And there was nothing derogatory in it, no sleight of hand, and believe me, I was listening for that," he said, adding that Mrs. Palin referred to Mr. Obama as "our president," with the emphasis on "our."

Mr. Goodé, a New Yorker who said he would never vote for Mrs. Palin, said she acquitted herself well.

"She was articulate and she held her own. I give her credit. They’ve tried to categorize her as not being bright. She’s bright."

Appearing Wednesday night "On The Record" with Greta Van Susteren, Wall Street Journal’s Asia page editor Mary Kissel, who was in Hong Kong, told Greta that Sarah’s appearance generated the most interest in the forum’s 16 year history. That the media even followed her to the airport as she was leaving the country.







Speaking of which, the Wall Street Journal,had this to say:

The former vice presidential candidate understands Beijing better than the Obama Administration does.

The Journal added:

Sarah Palin was pounded by the media as a foreign-policy novice during last year's presidential campaign. But when it comes to the U.S. approach toward China, she has ideas worth listening to.

"Twenty years ago, many believed that as China liberalized its economy, greater political freedom would naturally follow," the former Alaska governor and Republican nominee for the vice presidency told a Hong Kong audience yesterday. "Unfortunately that has not come to pass."

Mrs. Palin sees China's authoritarian nature as a security concern for the U.S. and its allies in Asia-Pacific, and she has a point. North Korea, Burma and other rogue regimes couldn't sustain themselves without Chinese support. Not to mention the hundreds of missiles Beijing has pointed at Taiwan and its navy's increasingly muscular attitude in the South China Sea. "How many books and articles have been written about the dangers of India's rise?" she asked.

The solution, she argues, is to encourage political change from within China—a movement that regained momentum last year with the launch of Charter 08, a democratic manifesto.

Such developments, she argued, are in everyone's interest. "The more politically open and just China is, the more Chinese citizens of every ethnicity will settle disputes in courts rather than on the streets," she said. The more open China is, "the less we will be concerned about its military buildup and intentions."

Mrs. Palin also espoused the value of alliances with like-minded democratic countries in the region such as Japan, Australia and India. The U.S. "can, must and should" work with China to address issues of "mutual concern," she said. "But we also need to work with our allies in addressing the uncertainties created by China's rise."

The Obama Administration could take a page from this book. So far, the White House has gone out of its way to downplay human rights in China and tiptoe around recent crackdowns in Tibet and Xinjiang, preferring to focus on hipper issues like climate change. This "don't ask, don't tell" approach to Beijing does no favors to the Chinese people, much less to the West's core interests in Asia. At the same time, America's other alliances in the region have been largely ignored.

Mrs. Palin also made a timely call against trade protectionism—an issue that will be high on the U.S.-China agenda this week at the Group of 20 meeting in Pittsburgh. She spoke up for the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement, now stalled in the U.S. Congress. She also called the Obama Administration's decision to slap a 35% duty on Chinese tires a "mistake," while adding that China needed to respect intellectual property rights and "improve its rule of law." Again, she made the connection with human-rights: "Our economic relationship will truly thrive when Chinese citizens and foreign corporations can hold the Chinese government accountable."

Mrs. Palin's speech will almost surely be dismissed by her critics as a scripted exercise. What we heard was a balanced and realistic view of China, founded on universal values that Westerners and Chinese alike can believe in.

Appearing on Sean Hannity’s "Great American Panel" Wednesday Night, famed Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz has this to say:

"Sarah Palin excites me. She stands for something."

Holtz went on to expand on this, noting that Ronald Reagan’s successes came from standing for something, and that this recent tendency to "moderate" the message in an attempt to draw people in is a mistake. This echoes what we have been saying for a long time. Be who you are, true to your school. Reagan had the same conservative message for every single American.

People want someone who stands for something, believes in something. Those are the people we know we can trust. Those are the people we know will never, ever waver under pressure.

Sarah herself, recognizing folks wanted to hear a little bit of what she had to say in her address, released excerpts of her speech on her Facebook page, which we covered here.

Having read the excerpts from her speech, it’s simple to say this was some serious red meat, a nice, thick, grilled ribeye steak with garlic mashed potatoes and some veggies on the side, in fact! A good solid meal that was very filling.

It’s going to be a lot of fun watching Sarah Palin out there being Sarah Palin. For long time Palinistas, this is the Sarah Palin we liked before it was really cool to like Sarah Palin!

Airport photo courtesy Asia Media, Speech photos courtesy CLSA.

Sarah Palin: My Thoughts From Hong Kong

As a lot of people have been interested in what Sarah Palin had to say in Hong Kong to the CLSA Investors Summit, she has posted some excerpts on her Facebook page.

Many have asked to see my remarks as presented in Hong Kong. Here is an excerpt.

___Sarah Palin

So far, I’ve given you the view from Main Street, USA. But now I’d like to share with you how a Common Sense Conservative sees the world at large.

Later this year, we will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – an event that changed not just Europe but the entire world. In a matter of months, millions of people in formerly captive nations were freed to pursue their individual and national ambitions.

The competition that defined the post World War II era was suddenly over. What was once called "the free world" had so much to celebrate – the peaceful end to a great power rivalry and the liberation of so many from tyranny’s grip.

Some, you could say, took the celebration too far. Many spoke of a "peace dividend," of the need to focus on domestic issues and spend less time, attention and money on endeavors overseas. Many saw a peaceful future, where globalization would break down borders and lead to greater global prosperity. Some argued that state sovereignty would fade – like that was a good thing? – that new non-governmental actors and old international institutions would become dominant in the new world order.

As we all know, that did not happen. Unfortunately, there was no shortage of warning signs that the end of the Cold War did not mean the end of history or the end of conflict. In Europe, the breakup of Yugoslavia resulted in brutal wars in the Balkans. In the Middle East, a war was waged to reverse Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. North Korea’s nuclear program nearly led to military conflict. In Africa, U.S. embassies were bombed by a group called al Qaeda.

Two weeks ago, America commemorated the 8th anniversary of the savagery of September 11, 2001. The vicious terrorist attacks of that day made clear that what happened in lands far distant from American shores directly affect our security. We came to learn, if we did not know before, that there were violent fanatics who sought not just to kill innocents, but to end our way of life. Their attacks have not been limited to the United States.

They attacked targets in Europe, North Africa and throughout the Middle East. Here in Asia, they killed more than 200 in a single attack in Bali. They bombed the Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. Last year in Mumbai, more than 170 were killed in coordinated attacks in the heart of India’s financial capital. In this struggle with radical Islamic extremists, no part of the world is safe from those who bomb, maim and kill in the service of their twisted vision.

This war – and that is what it is, a war – is not, as some have said, a clash of civilizations. We are not at war with Islam. This is a war within Islam, where a small minority of violent killers seeks to impose their view on the vast majority of Muslims who want the same things all of us want: economic opportunity, education, and the chance to build a better life for themselves and their families. The reality is that al Qaeda and its affiliates have killed scores of innocent Muslim men, women and children.

The reality is that Muslims from Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan and many other countries are fighting al Qaeda and their allies today. But this will be a long war, and it will require far more than just military power to prevail. Just as we did in the Cold War, we will need to use all the tools at our disposal – hard and soft power. Economic development, public diplomacy, educational exchanges, and foreign assistance will be just as important as the instruments of military power.

During the election campaign in the U.S. last year, you might have noticed we had some differences over Iraq. John McCain and I believed in the strength of the surge strategy – because of its success, Iraq is no longer the central front in the war on terrorism. Afghanistan is. Afghanistan is where the 9/11 attacks were planned and if we are not successful in Afghanistan, al Qaeda will once again find safe haven there. As a candidate and in office, President Obama called Afghanistan the "necessary war" and pledged to provide the resources needed to prevail. However, prominent voices in the Democratic Party are opposing the additional U.S. ground forces that are clearly needed.

Speaker of the House Pelosi, Defense Subcommittee Chairman Murtha, the Senate Armed Services Committee Chair, and many others, recently expressed doubts about sending additional forces! President Obama will face a decision soon when the U.S. Commander in Afghanistan requests additional forces to implement his new counterinsurgency strategy.

We can win in Afghanistan by helping the Afghans build a stable representative state able to defend itself. And we must do what it takes to prevail. The stakes are very high. Last year, in the midst of the U.S. debate over what do to in Iraq, an important voice was heard – from Asia’s Wise Man, former Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who wrote in the Washington Post about the cost of retreat in Iraq. In that article, he prophetically addressed the stakes in Afghanistan. He wrote:

"The Taliban is again gathering strength, and a Taliban victory in Afghanistan or Pakistan would reverberate throughout the Muslim world. It would influence the grand debate among Muslims on the future of Islam. A severely retrograde form of Islam would be seen to have defeated modernity twice: first the Soviet Union, then the United States. There would be profound consequences, especially in the campaign against terrorism."

That statesman’s words remain every bit as true today. And Minister Lee knows, and I agree, that our success in Afghanistan will have consequences all over the world, including Asia. Our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if we have the staying power to protect our interests in Afghanistan. That is why I recently joined a group of Americans in urging President Obama to devote the resources necessary in Afghanistan and pledged to support him if he made the right decision.

That is why, even during this time of financial distress we need to maintain a strong defense. All government spending should undergo serious scrutiny. No programs or agencies should be automatically immune from cuts.

We need to go back to fiscal discipline and unfortunately that has not been the view of the current Administration. They’re spending everywhere and with disregard for deficits and debts and our future economic competitiveness. Though we are engaged in two wars and face a diverse array of threats, it is the defense budget that has seen significant program cuts and has actually been reduced from current levels!

First, the Defense Department received only ½ of 1 % of the nearly trillion dollar Stimulus Package funding – even though many military projects fit the definition of "shovel-ready." In this Administration’s first defense budget request for 2010, important programs were reduced or cancelled. As the threat of ballistic missiles from countries like North Korea and Iran grow, missile defense was slashed.

Despite the need to move men and material by air into theaters like Afghanistan, the Obama Administration sought to end production of our C-17s, the work horse of our ability to project long range power. Despite the Air Force saying it would increase future risk, the Obama Administration successfully sought to end F-22 production – at a time when both Russia and China are acquiring large numbers of next generation fighter aircraft. It strikes me as odd that Defense Secretary Gates is the only member of the Cabinet to be tasked with tightening his belt.

Now in the region I want to emphasize today: The reason I speak about defense is because our strong defense posture in Asia has helped keep the region safe and allowed it to prosper. Our Asian allies get nervous if they think we are weakening our security commitments. I worry about defense cuts not because I expect war but because I so badly want peace. And the region has enjoyed peace for so long because of our security commitment to our longstanding allies and partners.

Asia has been one of the world’s great success stories. It is a region where America needs to assist with right mix of hard and soft power. While I have so much hope for a bright future in Asia, in a region this dynamic, we must always be prepared for other contingencies. We must work at this – work with our allies to ensure the region’s continued peace and prosperity.

I know that you all -- like all of Asia and indeed the whole world – has a keen interest in the emergence of "China as a great power." Over the past few decades China’s economic growth has been remarkable. So has the economic growth and political liberalization of all of our key allies in Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Asia’s economic growth and political development, together with our forward military presence in the region and strong alliances, have allowed the region to prosper in peace for a long time. We hope that Asia will continue to be an engine of world economic growth, will continue to democratize and will remain at peace.

Our future is now deeply linked to Asia’s success. Our children’s future. We must continue to strengthen our key alliance with Japan, a country going through its own democratic change. Together the U.S. and Japan built the security umbrella under which so many Asians prospered. While there is so much attention to China these days, we cannot forget the importance of Japan in helping to make this the "Pacific Century."

The recent elections in Japan demonstrated that voters wanted reform and an end to debt and stagnation. We have a substantial stake in Japan’s success -- our alliance with must continue to be the linchpin of regional security.

With its open political system and vibrant democracy, South Korea wants to play a larger role on the international stage as well. Of course it wants us to work together toward a future where the peninsula is irreversibly denuclearized, and unified. But it also wants to play a global role. We need to work together with Japan, South Korea and our steadfast ally to the south, Australia, to make sure Asia remains peaceful and prosperous.

Australia rightly reminds us to keep our eye on Southeast Asia, where Indonesia has proved that Islam and democracy can co-exist. Indonesia has fought extremism inside its own border and is consolidating a multi-ethnic democracy that is home to hundreds of millions of Muslims. Those who say Islam and democracy are incompatible insult our friends in Indonesia.

Our great democratic friend India is also "looking East", seeking a greater role in East Asia as well. Together with our allies we must help integrate India into Asia. If we do so we will have yet another strong democracy driving Asia’s economy and working on shared problems such as proliferation and extremism. And we must continue working with the region’s most dynamic economy, China. We all hope that China’s stated policy of a "Peaceful Rise" will be its future course.

You know better than most the enormous change that has taken place in China over the last thirty years. Hundreds of millions of Chinese have been pulled out of poverty as China has undertaken economic reforms that have resulted in unprecedented growth. Even today, China’s economy is projected to grow by some 8%. It is helping to edge the world out of recession.

China has amassed huge financial reserves. Chinese diplomats are engaged on every continent and, through its vote on the United Nations Security Council, China has become critical in gaining UN support on multilateral issues from Darfur to Iran to North Korea.

Just four years ago, then-Deputy Secretary of State Bob Zoellick urged China to become a "responsible stakeholder" in the international system. He observed the many benefits to China of a "benign international environment."

The peaceful regional environment that China has enjoyed was created through the hard work of Americans, Japanese, South Koreans and Australians. Secretary Zoellick urged China to step up and play its role too. We are working with China to de-nuclearize North Korea. But to be a responsible member of the international community China should exert greater pressure on North Korea to denuclearize and undergo the fundamental reforms it needs. Zoellick urged China to play a greater role in stabilizing the international energy market by ceasing its support of dangerous regimes.

China could play a role in stabilizing its ally Pakistan, and working for peace in Afghanistan. There are many areas where the U.S. and China can work together. And, we would welcome a China that wanted to assume a more responsible and active role in international politics.

But Secretary Zoellick also noted that many of China’s actions create risk and uncertainty. These uncertainties led nations to "hedge" their relations with China because, in Zoellick’s words: "Many countries HOPE China will pursue a ‘Peaceful Rise’ but NONE will bet their future on it."

See: this is the heart of the issue with China: we engage with the hope Beijing becomes a responsible stakeholder, but we must takes steps in the event it does not. See? We all hope to see a China that is stable, peaceful, prosperous and free. But we must also work with our allies in the region and the world in the event China goes in a direction that causes regional instability.

Asia is at its best when it is not dominated by a single power. In seeking Asia’s continued peace and prosperity, we should seek, as we did in Europe, an Asia "whole and free" – free from domination by any one power, prospering in open and free markets, and settling political differences at ballot boxes and negotiating tables.

We can, must and should work with a "rising China" to address issues of mutual concern. But we also need to work with our allies in addressing the uncertainties created by China’s rise. We simply CANNOT turn a blind eye to Chinese policies and actions that can undermine international peace and security.

China has some 1000 missiles aimed at Taiwan and no serious observer believes Taiwan poses a military threat to Beijing. Those same Chinese forces make our friends in Japan and Australia nervous. China provides support for some of the world’s most questionable regimes from Sudan to Burma to Zimbabwe. China’s military buildup raises concerns from Delhi to Tokyo because it has taken place in the absence of any discernable external threat.

China, along with Russia, has repeatedly undermined efforts to impose tougher sanctions on Iran for its defiance of the international community in pursuing its nuclear program. The Chinese food and product safety record has raised alarms from East Asia and Europe to the United States. And, domestic incidents of unrest -- from the protests of Uighurs and Tibetans, to Chinese workers throughout the country rightfully make us nervous.

It is very much in our interest and the interest of regional stability that China work out its own contradictions – between a dynamic and entrepreneurial private sector on the one hand and a one party state unwilling or unable to adjust to its own society’s growing needs and desires and demands, including a human being’s innate desire for freedom.

I do not cite these issues out of any hostility toward China. Quite the contrary, I and all Americans of good faith hope for the Chinese people’s success. We welcome the rise that can be so good for all mankind. We simply urge China to rise responsibly. I simply believe we cannot ignore areas of disagreement as we seek to move forward on areas of agreement. Believe me, China does not hesitate to tell us when it thinks we are in the wrong.

I mentioned China’s internal contradictions. They should concern us all. We hear many Chinese voices throughout that great country calling out for more freedom, and for greater justice. Twenty years ago, many believed that as China liberalized its economy, greater political freedom would naturally follow. Unfortunately that has not come to pass.

Ummm, in fact, it seems China has taken great pains to learn what it sees as "the lesson" of the fall on the Berlin Wall and the demise of the Soviet Union: any easing of political constraints can inevitably spin out of control. But, in many ways, it is the essence of China’s political system that leads to concerns about its rise.

Think about it. How many books and articles have been written about the dangers of India’s rise? Almost as large as China – and soon to be more populous – virtually no one worries about the security implications of India becoming a great power – just as a century ago the then-preeminent power, Great Britain, worried little about the rise of America to great power status. My point is that the more politically open and just China is, the more Chinese citizens of every ethnicity will settle disputes in courts rather than on the streets. The more open it is, the less we will be concerned about its military build-up and intentions. The more transparent China is, the more likely it is they we will find a true and lasting friendship based on shared values as well as interests.

I am not talking about some U.S.-led "democracy crusade." We cannot impose our values on other counties. Nor should we seek to. But the ideas of freedom, liberty and respect for human rights are not U.S. ideas, they are much more than that. They are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many other international covenants and treaties. They apply to citizens in Shanghai as much as they do to citizens in Johannesburg or Jakarta. And demands for liberty in China are Chinese, not American, demands. Just last year, many brave Chinese signed Charter 08, a Chinese document modeled on the great Czech statesman Vlacav Havel’s Charter 77. Charter 08 would not be unfamiliar to our Founding Fathers and was endorsed by Havel himself. No, we need not convince the Chinese people that they have inalienable rights. They are calling for those rights themselves. But we do have to worry about a China where the government suppresses the liberties its people hold dear.

Nothing of what I am saying should be seen as meaning conflict with China is inevitable. Quite the contrary. As I said, we welcome China’s responsible rise. America and China stood together against fascism during World War II, before ravages took over in China – we were ready to stand together with China to shape international politics after World War II. Much has been accomplished since President Nixon’s fateful visit. And again, we stand ready to work with what we hope will be a more open and responsible China on the challenges facing the 21st century.

All of you here know how deeply integrated the economies of the United States’ and China’s are. We rely on each other, sometimes unfortunately in unhealthy ways. America spends too much that we don’t have, and then we go to China as a lender of first resort. Our fiscal policy, lately, seems to be "tax, spend, borrow, tax some more, repeat" and then complain about how much debt China holds. America needs to gets its own fiscal house in order. That’s a Common Sense Conservative perspective. We can hardly complain that China holds so much of our debt when it’s over spending that created the debt.

But here’s the reality. If in fact the United States does the "right" thing – if we spend less and save more – then China will also have to rebalance its economy. We need to export more to China – and we’d like China to consume more of our goods – just as we need to save and invest more. This vital process – so crucial to both countries – is impeded by problems of market access.

We must talk about these issues with more candor. If China adopts policies that keep our highest value products out of their markets, by manipulating technical standards or licensing requirements, our economic relationship suffers.

Our economic interdependence drives our relationship with China. I see a future of more trade with China and more American high-tech goods in China. But in order for that to happen, we need China to improve its rule of law and protect our intellectual property. We need to avoid protectionism and China’s flirtation with state-assisted "national champions." On our part, we should be more open to Chinese investment where our national security interests are not threatened. In the end, though, our economic relationship will truly thrive when Chinese citizens and foreign corporations can hold the Chinese government accountable when their actions are unjust.

I see a bright future for America in Asia. One based on the alliances that have gotten us this far, one based on free and open markets, one that integrates democratic India into East Asia’s political life and one in which China decides to be a responsible member of the international community and gives its people the liberty – the freedom – they so desperately want.

Sadly, however, our largest free trade agreement ever in Asia, with South Korea, sits frozen in the Congress. In contrast, China is behaving wisely in negotiating free trade agreements throughout Asia. We want an Asia open to our goods and services. But if we do not get our free trade act together, we will be shut out by agreements Asians our making among themselves.

All of you here follow global financial markets and economic policy closely, I know that it will come as no surprise to you that United States leadership on global trade and investment is being sorely tested at this moment.

We are struggling with a monumental debate on whether fiscal discipline, or massive government spending, will drive a sustained recovery. We are struggling to repair the excesses that grew in our own economy and served as a trigger to a catastrophic collapse in the global financial system. And we are attempting to do so under the weight of a global imbalance of debt and trade deficits that are not only unbearable for the world’s mightiest economy, but also unacceptable in that they foster tensions between global economic partners like the United States and China.

I am proud to be an American. As someone who has had the tremendous opportunity to travel throughout the United States and listen to the concerns of Americans in towns and cities across the country, I can tell you that there is a sense of despair and even crisis afoot in America that has the potential to shape our global investment and trade policies for years, and even decades to come. Never has the leadership of our government ever been more critical to keeping my country, and the world, on a path to openness, growth and opportunity in global trade and investment.

It would of course be a mistake to put the entire burden of restoring the global economy on the backs of America’s leaders. There is plenty of work for all of us to do in this matter. Governments around the world must resist the siren call of trade protection to bring short term relief during a time of crisis.

Those who use currency policy or subsidies to promote their nation’s exports should remain acutely aware that if there ever were a time in which such policies could be viewed as "tolerable," that time has now passed. All participants who seek to find benefit in the global trading system must also take the responsibility of playing by the rules.

The private sector has responsibilities as well. For instance, it should not be the responsibility of government to dictate the salaries of bankers or the ownership of companies. And yet, due of the excesses committed by some, this is exactly where we find ourselves now because government now owns substantial portions of the private economy – even, unbelievably, in the United States.

These are challenging times for everyone, but we in the United States must humbly recognize that if we are to lead and to set the direction for the rest of the world, it must be by our example and not merely our words. And we must tread lightly when imposing new burdens on the imports of other countries.

Well, CLSA: My country is definitely at a crossroad. Polling in the U.S. shows a majority of Americans no longer believe that their children will have a better future than they have had...that is a 1st.

When members of America’s greatest generation – the World War II generation – lose their homes and their life savings because their retirement funds were wiped after the financial collapse, people feel a great anger. There is suddenly a growing sentiment to just "throw the bums out" of Washington, D.C. – and by bums they mean the Republicans and the Democrats. Americans are suffering from pay cuts and job losses, and they want to know why their elected leaders are not tightening their belts. It’s not lost on people that Congress voted to exempt themselves from the health care plan they are thrusting on the rest of the nation. There is a growing sense of frustration on Main Street. But even in the midst of crisis and despair, we see signs of hope.

In fact, it’s a sea change in America, I believe. Recently, there have been protests by ordinary Americans who marched on Washington to demand their government stop spending away their future. Large numbers of ordinary, middle-class Democrats, Republicans, and Independents from all over the country marching on Washington?! You know something’s up!

These are the same people who flocked to the town halls this summer to face their elected officials who were home on hiatus from that distant capital and were now confronted with the people they represent. Big town hall meetings – video clips circulating coverage – people watching, feeling not so alone anymore.

The town halls and the Tea Party movement are both part of a growing grassroots consciousness among ordinary Americans who’ve decided that if they want real change, they must take the lead and not wait to be led. Real change – and, you know, you don’t need a title to do it.

The "Tea Party Movement" is aptly named to remind people of the American Revolution – of colonial patriots who shook off the yoke of a distant government and declared their freedom from indifferent – elitist – rulers who limited their progress and showed them no respect. Today, Main Street Americans see Washington in similar terms.

When my country again achieves financial stability and economic growth – when we roar back to life as we shall do – it will be thanks in large part to the hard work and common sense of these ordinary Americans who are demanding that government spend less and tax less and allow the private sector to grow and prosper.

We’re not interested in government fixes; we’re interested in freedom! Freedom! Our vision is forward looking. People may be frustrated now, but we’re very hopeful too.

And, after all, why shouldn’t we be? We’re Americans. We’re always hopeful.

Thank you for letting me share some of that hope, and a view from Main Street with you. God Bless You.

__Sarah Palin

Incredible: Senate Democrats Vote Unanimously To Destroy American Farmers, America’s Food Supply, And Our National Security!

As we wrote several days ago, there is a battle going on between the American Farmer and the Obama regime. Barack Obama has turned the water off to the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, some of the most fertile farm land in the nation, and literally the nation’s food pantry.

Thanks to Barack Obama, unemployment in parts of the Valley is at 41 percent. Hard working American Farmers, Patriots, who have spent a lifetime growing our food, are now standing in lines for six and eight hours at a time to get canned goods from China just to survive!

This is a crime against humanity.

If you don’t know the story, here’s the deal. The Obama regime is using the excuse of a fish, a two inch bait fish, the Delta Smelt, which they claim is an "endangered species" to shut down all of the water to the San Joaquin Valley. They have created a modern day dust bowl out of some of the most beautiful farm land on earth. Some 400,000 acres have been destroyed with one million total acres in jeopardy.

This is not only a human tragedy, it’s a matter of national security.

A significant amount of America’s entire food supply has traditionally come from this Valley. According to the California Foundation For Agriculture In The Classroom, the percentage of our national food supply that comes from the San Joaquin Valley for the various crops are as follows:

Olives 100%

Almond 99%

Walnuts 99%

Figs 98%

Kiwi 97%

Pistachios 96%

Apricots 95%

Celery 94%

Tomatoes 94%

Broccoli 93%

Plums 93%

Nectarines 93%

Strawberries 90%

Carrots 89%

Lemons 89%

Grapes 88%

Garlic 86%

Avocados 84%

Dates 82%

Lettuce 78%

Peaches 76%

Honeydew 73%

Asparagus 55%

Cantaloupe 54%

Bell Peppers 47%

Onions 27%

Cabbage 22%

Milk and cream 21%

Artichokes 19%

Honey 18%

Spinach 18%

Looking at that list it seems fantastic that Obama and his democrat/communist party would even consider destroying this farmland and these Patriotic American Farmers. But as fantastic as it seems, every single democrat/communist in the United States Senate voted to table an amendment to the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 that was offered up by Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina.

You can see the results of this vote here.

Even more incredible, three Republicans joined the democrat/communist party in voting to destroy America. These absolute traitors to the nation are Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine, and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.






And if you think calling these 61 members of the United States Senate traitors to the nation is harsh, then think again. Remember all of the food scares we have endured the last few years? Salmonella on fruits and vegetables has become a common occurrence. Why is this?

Well, it’s really pretty simple. We are having to import most of our fruits and vegetables from foreign countries. Why? Because the democrat/communist party has destroyed the American Farmer and his business. They have made it impossible for the Farmer to do his job, to grow our food for us.

That’s right, the democrat/communist party, the party that is constantly caterwauling about jobs going overseas has just turned the responsibility for growing our entire nation’s food supply over to a bunch of foreign countries who don’t have the same food safety standards that our Patriotic Farmers adhere to.

But why?

As I wrote my original story on this, it hit me like a ton of bricks, and it becomes even more clear each and every day. Anyone who has been paying even cursory attention to the so-called "green movement" knows it has been hijacked by communists, Marxists.

One of the leading groups is the Apollo Alliance.

You’ll note the Apollo Alliance's logo is very similar to other Obama/ACORN affiliated groups.

We know of this group because of it’s very close ties to Barack Obama. Two of the closet people to Obama are the recently departed "Green Jobs Czar" Van Jones, a self described communist revolutionary, and racist. But the other man intimately involved with Obama is Jeff Jones. (No relation to Van Jones) Jeff Jones wrote most of the nearly one trillion dollar stimulus bill that Congress passed and Obama signed into law without ever reading a single word.




Jeff Jones, along with another longtime Obama adviser and mentor, unrepentant murdering terrorist William Ayers co-founded the ultra-violent Weather Underground, a Marxist organization. Once these two murderers realized they couldn’t destroy America by blowing it up, they cut their hair, took baths, put on business suits, and infiltrated "respected" fields of endeavor.

William Ayers went into teaching, along with his convicted felon ex-wife, Bernardine Dohrn. These two are considered "respected educators," teaching teachers how to teach your kids. Infecting young minds with tails of Marx and Lenin. Reason number 8448 to home school!

Jeff Jones chose another path. Jones saw the "green movement" and realized that it was an effective way to slowly institute a communist agenda on America, and use fear and guilt to do it. The greens have been telling fairy tails about "climate change" for a generation, and so far none of it has been true. In the 1970's the coming ice age was all the rage. All of the major newsers of the day screamed in fear of global cooling, a new ice age that was coming our way. When that didn’t work out, they came up with "global warming" another hoax to end all hoaxes. Looking stupid, because the earth is actually cooling, they finally changed the name to "climate change" when they saw that they couldn’t fool enough people or scare enough to go along with their plans.





Funny thing, we’ve had one of the coolest two years in decades, and now they are revving up the "global cooling" fears again.

So what the hell does this have to do with Patriotic American Farmers in Central California?

Everything!

We talked about this before, but let’s break it all down again.

What do we always hear from Obama and all of his communist cohorts? "Social justice." "Re-distributive change." Obama has constantly talked about. Here is Obama in a 2001 Chicago radio interview where he called the Constitution "flawed" because it didn’t address the re-distribution of wealth.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need

Karl Marx

Now when Conservatives heard this communist nonsense coming out of Obama’s mouth we instinctively knew this guy was trouble, but unfortunately, this isn’t just about re-distributing wealth here in America. If only.







No, these communists want to distribute America’s wealth to the world. You see communism isn’t about creating wealth. (except for a select few) Communism punishes success by forcibly taking the fruits of one’s success and giving it to someone else, whether they have earned it, or not. The communist calls this "economic justice."

Of course, this is an insane and deeply flawed system. It punishes those who have the ability and skill to succeed. In fact, it so de-incentivizes a person from working hard, it so punishes success, that people just quit trying. There is no point. This is why communism has failed every time it has been tried. And of course, communism is not natural, so it must be forced upon a people. And by forced, I do mean forced. Some 100 million people worldwide have died of "forced communism."

But again, what does this have to do with these California Farmers and for that matter, Barack Obama’s sinister plans?

Well, lets look at what has been going on for decades with "progressives" in charge of Congress. "Progressives" come in two flavors, both equally dangerous to the nation. Of course, there is the democrat/communist, but there is also the "moderate" Republican, the enabler, the ones who see no danger in Big Government and do absolutely nothing to stop the democrat/communist.

We have several issues that have our nation is severe peril right now.

First of all, money. Our debit is so high it may never be paid off. Our deficit is completely unsustainable. In the nine months that Barack Obama has been in office, our deficit has quadrupled. Obama has spent more money since January than all of our previous Presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush have in 233 years. We are now a debtor nation. We are totally dependant on other nations to fund our government, including our national defense, our military. If I have to explain how dangerous this situation is.......

That’s just one mess we are in, and here is we start to see it all come together, communism and radical environmentalism.

Since the late 1960's early 1970's we have had issues with our energy supply. We’ve sat through two separate gasoline shortages and actually had gasoline and heating oil rationing. But why? It’s not like we don’t have more than enough oil, natural gas, and coal to fuel our nation for decades without a single drop of imported energy. We have more oil than Saudi Arabia, natural gas deposits that equal the entire world’s oil supply, and an estimated two hundred-fifty years worth of coal. And that doesn’t even take into consideration nuclear energy!

And yet, instead of going on a crash program, something akin to Kennedy’s quest to go to the moon, to develop our own energy, we actually use less of our own energy than we did forty years ago! But why?

Well, the greens would have you believe it’s to "save the planet." How ridiculous. We still use oil and natural gas. But instead of using our oil and natural gas, we use imports. Imports from nations that don’t particularly like us. Nations that don’t have nearly the safety record with oil exploration that we do in the United States. Nations that have to transport this oil to us.

These oil rich nations are mostly totalitarian regimes that don’t share the wealth with their citizens. The oil money goes into the coffers of dictators, like anti-American communist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Now Chavez is using the great wealth he has gotten from America to buy military equipment from Russia, and forge friendships with Middle Eastern terror states like Iran. Chavez, a dangerous communist, is a threat to destabilize the entire South American continent!





Here’s the real story. America sends somewhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion dollars a year to other nations, communist nations, to buy their oil. That is some serious wealth re-distribution, wouldn’t you say!

Not only does this spending severely deplete our national pocketbook, it fuels communism, and even terrorism worldwide. It weakens the United States financially. It also jeopardizes our national security. Both of these are communist goals.

America has great reserves of oil off our coastlines and in ANWR. But we are continually told that we can’t drill off the coast because it would destroy the ocean, and yet, Barack Obama just sent $10 billion dollars to Brazil, so they could drill off THEIR coastline for oil!

Of course, there is a lot more to it than that, there always is. You see, we all know that Obama is basically a sock puppet for George Soros, who basically owns and funds the democrat party, as well as groups like MoveOn.org, the Tides Foundation, ACORN, and dozens more little front groups. Anyhow, Soros, who made his money speculating on the British pound, almost destroying the currency, invested $811 million dollars in Petrobas, the Brazilian oil company, just a few days before Obama so generously sent them the care package.




Evidently it’s OK for some communists to make a lot of money, and "destroy the environment," especially when they fund your phony-baloney corrupt political party!

Let’s recap a minute.

Thanks to "progressive" policies of the democrat/communist party, and the enablers in the Republican party, we are flat broke and must depend on credit from other nations to keep us going. This leaves our nation in peril, our economy on the brink of destruction, and is a national security disaster. All our creditors have do is turn off the faucet, stop loaning us money, and it’s all over.

Also thanks to the democrat/communists, in the guise of "saving the environment" (unless it’s George Soros) we are total exposed to the world on energy. Not only are we held hostage to world oil prices, but to rogue regimes, many who don’t like us, and even more dangerous, many who would have little problem with just not selling us any oil at all if there was an angle to it.

This of course is an extremely dangerous situation. This may be one of the most dangerous situations there is to national security there is, if it weren’t for this:

Our food supply!

The communists have failed to destroy America, so far, with just debt, and restricting energy, the lifeblood of any economy, the lifeblood of freedom. America is just too strong. The American people too resilient.

So here comes this deal, in the guise of saving an "endangered species." Let me remind you, the Delta Smelt is plentiful. It is not native to the San Joaquin Valley waterways. It doesn’t do anything for the ecosystem. It’s not part of the food chain, and doesn’t benefit the waters, doesn’t perform a function that effects water quality in any way shape or form.

In other words, no one is gonna miss this thing!

But again, the communists are basically killing two birds with one stone. Like we have been doing with oil, we are now sending more and more of our treasure to other nations, mostly third world countries. In other words, we are re-distributing the wealth. This, is what Barack Obama and his communist friends call "economic justice!"

It’s bad enough that we are forced to buy food of questionable quality and safety, but these people aren’t just content with that. They also want to destroy our ability to go back and start feeding ourselves again.

Now you gotta ask why.

Well, anyone that has ever followed the left wing in this country for more than a few minutes knows the left wing in this country hates America. They blame America for the world’s problems. We’ve heard it our entire lives from these people. They used to be contained at the universities and on the San Francisco streets, but over the decades the Marxist professors, the communists, the severe anti-American traitors have mainstreamed themselves. Murdering domestic terrorists are now considered "respected" by a good portion of society. These people have completely co-opted the democrat party, and turned it into a party full of full blown anti-American, anti-capitalism, communists.

Here’s the thing. Barack Obama and all of those around him are dangerous communists who want to destroy the Republic. This is their stated goal. They want to "fundamental remake America through transformative change."

Barack Obama wants to do away with the Constitution and institute a Marxist state. A communist regime. But to do this, he must destroy the country. And of course, with the debt, and our artificial energy issues, the groundwork for Obama’s communist revolution was already in place. Now we have an artificial drought in California that will further destroy our economy, and further contribute to our nation’s chaos.

And Obama needs major chaos as an excuse to bring us "transformative change."

As a bonus, for Obama, we have over 40,000 Patriotic American Farmers who are now out of work, and totally dependant on the government to survive. Just what the communists want. The more that depend on government for their survival, the less to resist whatever government wants to do!




This cannot be allowed to stand. Obviously, our first consideration is these Patriotic American Farmers who have worked this blessed, fertile California land for generations. We must save these people. The solution is really easy too, just turn on the water!






But long term, we have serious issues in this nation. I mean serious issues. Our very Republic is in danger of extinction. Our very freedom and liberty.

Right now, against the wishes of the American people, Barack Obama and his communist stooges are plotting on a way to shove his socialist Obamacare down America’s throat. Never mind the fact that most of America is strongly opposed to this, and almost 90 percent of America is happy with their current health care plans.

The only reason for Obama to want to take over healthcare is it’s one sixth of the nation’s economy. The provisions’s in Obamacare completely and totally usurp our Constitution. They give the federal government unprecedented powers. They turn a republican form of government into a centrally planned, centrally controlled communist state. We will no longer be 50 separate states bound together by a common interest. We’ll be one big super-state forced to live under tyrannical rule.





We must stop this, and we must stop it now.

First, we must unite. This isn’t about being a Republican, or even a "normal" democrat. This is about being an American. This is about loving the America we all grew up in. The greatest nation the world has ever known. As Ronald Reagan would describe it, a shining city on a hill.

We need to unite behind other Americans. We need to join up with other Americans. Join the Tea Party movement. There are groups in almost every area of the country. If there is no group, start one. But get involved. Get your family involved. Get your neighbors involved.

You also need to contact your Senators and Congressmen. Let them know they work for you. Tell them you are no longer going to accept their poor job performance. That you will fire them and find someone else if they continue down this dangerous path. Tell them to turn on this water, now!

Also, contact the California Farm Water Coalition and help them any way you can. These Patriotic Farmers are the very fabric of our nation. What is being done to these Farmers, to America herself, is outrageous, and cannot be allowed to continue.

Barack Obama and the rest of the democrat/communists have not only destroyed the lives of these Patriotic Farmers, put nearly one million acres of America’s richest farm land in peril, they have put America’s national security in peril. This is very close to treasonous behavior.