Not Only Does Palin Kill Bullwinkle, She Spends Taxpayer Money To Slaughter Wolves And Bears

Stated upfront, I'm not anti-hunting. In my home state of Texas, the November-December ritual of deer hunters coming out to waste Bambi does serve an ecological purpose. The land can't support all the deer here, so annual culling actually helps.

So, it didn't shock or dismay me to hear that Klondike Hottie and her family are moose hunters. But what you are about to see on this video is disturbing. As Alaska governor, Sarah Palin has a record of supporting and bankrolling, with taxpayer money, barbaric aerial hunting of wolves and bears. This was posted on YouTube by defendersactionfund:



I know this isn't going to persuade very many people who were prepared to vote Republican anyway. The modern GOP isn't known for its empathy for wild, feral animals, unless you count Ann Coulter.

But to anyone who might still be fence-sitting, take note: Sarah Palin is a public official who may not even recognize that animals feel pain. And even if she does, she obviously doesn't give a wolf's ass.

To donate to Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, here's a link. They're trying to finance the airing of a TV ad about Palin's record on this issue.

That's all for now.

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At the end of the day

Clinton, McCain win Florida primary -- CNN: For the Democrats -- Clinton 50%, Obama 33%, Edwards 14%, Kucinich 1%. On the GOP side -- McCain 36%, Mitt 31%, Rudy 15%, Huck 14%, Paul 3%. Exit polls, gender and age breakouts at the link. More Democrats turned out than Repubs. Heh. [See Update II]

Digby rightly criticized MSNBC for behaving "rude, snide and dismissive about more than a million and a half Democratic voters in Florida (more than double the turnout from 2004)... ...If it is inappropriate for Clinton to declare victory it's also damned inappropriate for every gasbag on television to say that all these votes are completely meaningless. They may not add to the delegate count, but they were cast in good faith by American citizens and they should be treated with respect by these jackasses." Amen to that!

Clap harder! -- At Political Animal, Kevin examined "who [clapped] when" during Bush's SOTU and articulated valid points and comparisons between Hillary and Barack.

Disappearing wingnuts on the Hill -- "Two Republican representatives, Kenny Hulshof of Missouri and Ron Lewis of Kentucky, have announced plans to leave Congress, adding their names to a list of more than 24 House Republicans who will not be running for re-election. " Hulshof plans to run for governor of MO. Lewis wants to be with his family. NYT

Russ Feingold (D-WI) explained the privacy issue of FISA in video.

Ezra Klein rocks! -- Challenging a NYT article pronouncement, "Mr. Bush has spent years presiding over an economic climate of growth that would be the envy of most presidents," Ezra delivered a colorful chart on "Average Economic Growth by President" based on GDP. Who won? The Kennedy-Johnson Administration followed by Clinton. Go look at the presidential performers. Via Krugman who also had some choice remarks.

The House overwhelmingly approved -- by a vote of 385 to 35 -- a $146 billion economic stimulus program. Sen. Harry Reid "said the bill would be on the [Senate] floor by late Wednesday and was likely to be approved this week." Potential Senate amendments to the bill -- "to give more money to food banks, to increase food stamps temporarily, to increase subsidies for home heating and other energy costs for low-income families, to adopt alternative energy tax credits and to finance infrastructure projects." More at the link.

Sexual assaults -- Alaska is the worst in the nation: "In nearly 1,000 cases studied over two years, the average age of victims was 16, while the average age of those accused was 29. In four out of five cases, the suspects were relatives, friends or acquaintances.... Overall, 89 percent of the victims were female. One out of three cases were reported more than a month after the abuse occurred, leaving evidence hard to collect." Sexual violence is "worst in rural areas."

Pentagon WMD$? -- "The Office of Naval Research will test fire an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. on Jan. 31, 2008, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The gun will be fired at over 10 megajoules of energy – a power level never before achieved by an EMRG." See Spencer Ackerman.

Shock in Iraq -- "Civilians stumbled upon nine headless bodies in a field about 60 miles north of Baghdad on Tuesday. ...The nine, including three women, had been targeted because they were suspected of being part of a local awakening council, or concerned local citizens group, that was working with U.S. troops to fight al Qaida in Iraq, said a police officer involved in the investigation. ...On Jan. 17, a bombing killed 12 people in Diyala, and unidentified and headless bodies are found sporadically in the province." More disgusting news: "In Baghdad, five roadside bombs" injured 31 that included "five U.S. soldiers and seven members of the Iraqi security forces." McClatchy

Wasting tax dollars -- "A federal report released Tuesday says the Army Corps of Engineers charged the government hundreds of millions of dollars for supervising projects in Iraq that have been identified as having failed or fallen behind schedule specifically because oversight was lax or nonexistent." Adding insult to injury, "its rates were on average more than twice as high as those charged by an Air Force office that has also been active in Iraq reconstruction."

Tomorrow at the Daily Howler -- "Defeat of the Rubes." Bob Somerby: "Lower tax rates produce higher revenues! The rubes have been handed this flat-earth nonsense for years–and your hard-charging “press corps” just sits back and watches. Last night, two rubes repeated this blather to Luntz. Tomorrow, we give you full details." Main link.

Success! -- Blue Girl got her computer thanks to all of you who helped. Special recognition to Kevin Drum for his support!

UPDATE I: Check Yellow Dog for the 411 on Ron Lewis of Kentucky.

UPDATE II: Rudy drops out, endorses McCain. And I erred in stating that more Democrats turned out than Repubs. There are more registered Democrats (41%) than Repubs (37%) in FL... but the total number of voters who cast ballots for Democratic candidates came to 1,683,984 vs. 1,920,164 votes for Repub candidates. How dare I forget Independents. That'll teach me.

[That's all...no more after the jump.]

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Ted Stevens, Alaskan King Crab

The IRS and the FBI raided his home and he's caught up in a ever-expanding corruption scandal in Alaskan politics. So how has Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) handled the heat? He snapped at the press. It's their fault, don't you see?!

I can understand liberals' complaints about unfair and imbalanced press, because goodness knows, liberal media bias doesn't exist. But Stevens' whining about unwarranted and overdone media coverage of him and his son's slimy activities? Hell, the King Crab from Alaska deserves all the scrutiny he's gettin' and more. Stevens clacked his claws during his Anchorage Daily News interview:

[Snips below the jump]

...Stevens grew testy when a reporter suggested that the level of interest in the state's senior senator was high because so many Alaska politicians and public figures had been caught in the wider corruption probe. Also, as the longest-serving GOP senator in history, and the former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Stevens has a higher profile than the average Washington politician.

In the interview, Stevens made vague threats to the people who have suggested that he and his son, former state Senate President Ben Stevens, might be guilty of some sort of wrongdoing. The younger Stevens hasn't been charged with a crime, but his name has come up repeatedly in court proceedings. Plea documents in Allen's own case say that payments of $243,250 the Veco CEO made to Ben Stevens were bribes in exchange for "giving advice, lobbying colleagues, and taking official acts in matters before the Legislature" when the younger Stevens was a state lawmaker.

"Your papers print (the names of) those people who have been convicted and my son's name and mine at the same time. As far as the public is concerned, it's all the same ball of wax," Stevens said. "I'm not going to comment on that ball of wax."

"But we've been included in a way that I hope people understand the laws that are doing it," he said. "Because when it's all over, some people are going to have to account for what they've said and what they've charged us with."

It was unclear whom Stevens was threatening. When asked if he meant libel or perjury, Stevens said: "No. I'm just saying there are ways to account for this in the future."

When asked if he meant political retribution, he remained vague:

"I think the people out there ought to worry about that the way I worry about the investigation. There are myriad things you can do. Just a myriad of things."

Jeso Pete! Not only is King Crab a kook, but he's creepy, too. One wonders: Is Stevens thinking about urging the politicized DOJ to trash his enemies? Attack Democrats who have been consulting with Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich to run against crabby ol' Ted? Will he appeal to loyal Bushies to wiretap ADN reporters? The latter isn't beyond wild speculation. Come to think of it... sadly, none of these offhand questions seem far-fetched given the ascendancy of Republican corruption and disregard for the rule of law.

WaPo also reported that Ted is "a skeptic about human causes of climate change." Arctic drilling and oil executive bribes, I'm sure, haven't influenced Stevens' position.

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