Palin Signs With FOX. Now That’s Scary
Well surprise, surprise. Sarah Palin has signed on with FOX News. You know, that’s the cable channel that touts “fair and balanced” coverage. If you’ve watched it, particularly the Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity shows, you will realize that it is neither “fair” nor “balanced”. Now with the addition of Palin, we can add “unbalanced”.
I do however, give this woman high marks for knowing how to take advantage of her 15 minutes of fame and make the leap from “just an ordinary hockey mom” to “MULTI-MILLIONAIRE MOM!” thanks to media coverage and the women out there who see her as a modern day Annie Oakley, rifle in one hand, baby in another and running for one of the highest offices in the land.
What makes me wonder is the fact that none of these women, particularly mothers, who seem to adore her, don’t question a mother who would haul around a baby with Downs Syndrome and subject that baby to the harsh lights and deafening noise of political rallies just so she can get a sympathy vote. She claims she loves her baby and I don’t doubt that, but there is a fine line between love and abuse.
Another thing, among many that bothers me about Sarah Palin, is her record. She loves to play up what she calls her solid political background, citing her term as mayor of Wasilla, an Alaskan town of about 7,000 when she served. I live in Las Vegas where we have hotels that employ more people than that.
But what interests me more is that Palin majored in journalism at the University of Idaho and worked part-time as a weekend sportscaster in 1988 for KTUU-TV in Anchorage. She apparently left after a few months because of the low pay. Her boss says she was a hard worker who enjoyed the entire process, not just being in front of the cameras. How much could she have liked it if she quit after a few months? She was single at the time so had no family to support. Almost every journalist I’ve know has struggled at the start, working for low pay but knowing they had to pay their dues. Not Palin. Can she not take the hard road or is she just restless, wanting to try other things?
Maybe the same thing happened as governor of Alaska. She quit that job with almost a year and a half left on her term and it was only her first term. Is this the kind of person Americans should even consider running for president? Does she not realize that we the people expect our president to finish out his or her term once we elect them?
It will be interesting to see how she does on FOX. I pity the team of experts that is assigned to prepare her for her segments. I can see it now:
Subject: Illegal immigration.
“Remember Sarah, when someone mentions illegal aliens, they don’t mean little purple people who are trying to come here from another planet. They will be talking mainly about Mexicans who live just south of our border (pointing at a map for her) and no, Mexicans cannot see Russia from Tijuana.”
Subject: The Mideast
“No, Sarah, the Mideast is not Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. It’s way over here (again pointing at map).”
I could go on, but I think you get the picture. It’s not a pretty one.
New Year’s Resolutions
Seeing that everyone is making a New Year’s resolution, or more than one, I offer my 10 resolutions for 2010 in no particular order.
1) I will not be persuaded to buy a Blackberry, iPod or any other handheld device that combines a phone, computer, camera, apps (whatever the hell they are) text messaging or anything else that allows people to communicate with me when all I want is some privacy.
2) I will continue my policy of never ever watching a reality show whether it be the Housewives from Hell or some idiots who exploit a bunch of kids.
3) I won’t be signing on to Facebook, nor will I Twitter or Tweet. I do a lot of interesting things but I don’t feel I have to tell everyone, nor do I have any desire to post my photo or any info about me so that people who I knew in the past can contact me. If I wanted to stay in touch with anyone, I would have already done so and I would have done it by phone.
4) I will continue to put my shopping cart in the parking lots’ designated drop spots in malls or at supermarkets while glaring or making nasty comments to those people who don’t. When did we start getting so lazy that we can’t walk 20 feet to put a shopping cart out of the way?
5) I will, whenever and wherever possible, help the homeless in any way I can. There might be a bunch of bums amongst them, but the majority are people who really do need our help. There but for the grace of God…….
6) I will not under any circumstance put a television set in my bedroom. A bedroom is for two things only and they both start with S. The choice is yours which is more important.
7) I will continue my quest for the perfect woman, which, I readily admit, is an impossible task but fun pursuing.
8) I will not stop ranting at the greed of big business which is destroying our country nor the bureaucracy of our government that endangers our lives.
9) I will continue to criticize the media who has lost its way and believes they are here to create the news rather than report it.
10) I will pray for peace.
My look back at the good and bad of 2009
Thumbs Up:
1) Pilot Sully Sullenberger for his heroic effort in landing a plane full of passengers and crew on the Hudson River.
2) The inauguration of a black president. A huge step forward for our country whether you voted for him or not.
3) Like it or not, the bailout to the financial industry that kept us from spiraling into a depression that would have devastated our country.
4) An initial bill to overhaul health care and provide it for millions of Americans who are not now insured. Far from perfect, but a start.
5) The continuing efforts of individuals and organizations to rebuild New Orleans and other communities destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Better late than never.
Thumbs Down:
1) The bailout of General Motors. Like any other business in America, if you can’t compete, you fail and there are no safety nets for the thousands of businesses that go under each year. Does being big make a difference? Shouldn’t. And there are plenty of other car companies who can keep us supplied with vehicles that aren’t getting government handouts.
2) The fiasco surrounding the shooting at Fort Hood and the attempt to blow up a Northwest plane at Christmas as it made its descent to the Detroit airport. Both acts could have been avoided if warning signs had not been dismissed. The passengers on Northwest flight were fortunate that the explosive failed to ignite properly. Not so at Fort Hood where the gunman, an Army major stationed at the base killed 13. Both men charged in the incidents were Muslim terrorists. Time to start racial profiling.
3) The polarization of Congress. We should toss them all out next election or support Independent candidates.
4) The polarization of Americans. We bitch. We gripe. But are we doing anything to change things?
5) The unspent billions of dollars from the stimulus package that were supposed to be used to help get people back to work. Nothing short of criminal.