Then you need to vote this November! No, I have never gotten political on this blog before, but I felt with new events occurring recently in the election that I need to. Don’t get me wrong, I am very political off my blog (hey what do you expect from an opinionated person?). Now you not only need to VOTE, but you need to vote Democratic. I am not necessarily endorsing Barack Obama (although I do think he is a good candidate), but I am SEVERELY against the McCain-Palin duo.
I was under the impression for quite some time that McCain simply was not as bright as he needs to be. (See, I’m even being nice 
) And I never considered voting for him BEFORE, but then he went and announced that Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, would be his VP. Like most Americans, I didn’t know who the hell she was. Turns out, I liked it much better that way. Let me introduce you to Sarah Palin and the many reasons why you need to vote AGAINST her and McCain in November, if you love animals and the environment. Or if you generally just want future generations to see polar bears and not live under water.
Well for one, she is wearing a fur in this photo. Doesn’t she look classy! Nothing says class quite the way a dead tortured animal around your neck does.
She does not believe in Global Warming. “A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I’m not one though who would attribute it to being man-made,” said Palin to Newsmax.
She filed a lawsuit when the Bush Administration put Polar Bears on the threatened species list. Even Bush eventually realized (or thought it was good political move, which is more likely) what horrors are occurring to polar bears. But, apparently Palin’s greed for oil money is the most important thing (polar bear protection could interfere with oil and gas development).
Promoted the shooting of wolves and bears from aircrafts. Alaska, under her command, even offered an incentive to those who were shooting wolves in order for them to shoot more. Palin also spent PUBLIC money to advertise against campaigns (Measure 2 in Alaska, voted on this week and NOT passed) that were trying to stop the shooting of wolves and bears from aircraft.
She is a hunter herself (how impressive, she enjoys death.)
She has been going after natural predators of moose and caribou (such as wolves) so others of her hunting clan can go out and shoot moose and caribou till their hearts’ content!
She believes more drilling for oil is the answer to our energy crisis and future needs. She agrees with opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “I beg to disagree with any candidate who would say we can’t drill our way out of our problem or that more supply won’t ultimately affect prices. Of course it will affect prices,” said Palin to Investor’s Business Daily. Apparently the here and now is the only thing that matters. 10 years from now? Eh, screw it!
I’m sure there are countless other things she has done that would horrify any environmentalist and animal rights supporter (or general animal lover), but these here should be enough to affect the way you vote. I dare say she might just scare me more than Bush, and THAT is saying something. I believe that electing her as a VP candidate is some oddball stunt move. At first I thought it was because she was a woman, then I realized it is just to make McCain more of the evil-idiotic-style of Republican. That is, afterall, the style they prefer it seems. I sincerely hope that any Hillary voters who were unsure of their voting status (or if they were going to vote at all), will NOT vote for McCain simply on the Palin is a woman and Obama beat Hillary thoughts. The pure absurdity that this woman could be running this country one day (lets face it, McCain is NOT a young chap) leaves me with nightmares. Well, if McCain were to be elected, I sure hope we all have our SCUBA gear, 200 SPF sunblock and our Encyclopedias (so we can recall all the species lost) ready to go.
For more information on Sarah Palin’s record with animals and the environment, go here:
Humane Society Legislative Fund-Michael Markarian Animals & Politics
Sarah Palin’s Piece for The NY Times (Oh this is a gem, apparently polar bear populations are UP, did you know that?)
Defender’s of Wildlife (Also has a link to videos.)
Rural Vegan said,
September 5, 2008 at 11:30 am
You know the status of polar bears is bad when even W steps up for them. How awful of a human being must one be, to be even more heartless than W?
Shudders….
Sara said,
September 5, 2008 at 12:55 pm
UGH! This woman irritates me so bad! I am so tired of these effing politicians that portray themselves as all but intelligent in order to relate to the middle-class working family. The ‘get down and dirty, I’m just like you, I feel your pain’ personality. Personally, I don’t want someone that is on the “working mans” level running the country. I want someone more intelligent than myself, and certainly more intelligent than farmer Joe down the street running the country. You don’t have to be an idiot to listen to what the people are saying, in fact you should be more intelligent if you actually want to solve problems in the most efficient and logical manner. I want someone who can handle a complex situation and tackle multiple facets with more than the basic common sense to not inhale when eating a pretzel..but that could be asking for to much. Can anyone tell us what critical thinking means?
Blake said,
September 13, 2008 at 9:41 am
Sara,
Based on your response.. Sarah Palin is much more intelligent than you. She is a governer, one of only 50 in our 300 million population. The latest liberal politics of destruction have lead to rediculous ideas like yours. Sarah is a articulate and intelligent woman no different than Hillary is yet because she is conservative, the liberal nutballs are doing their best to destroy her personally. You are just another in their lemming army. Get over yourself. You have no idea what this woman is yet.
Blake
veganverve said,
September 13, 2008 at 3:17 pm
Even though I have no doubt Sara can defend herself, I would like to state for the record that Sara is a VERY intelligent woman. Beyond that, I would like to dissect your little comment. First of all, George Bush was governor of Texas at one point–which clearly makes being intelligent NOT a characteristic necessary of being a governor. Second of all, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton are nothing if not different. No, I did not necessarily believe in everything Clinton did, but at least she was trying to progress female rights not send them back to the dark ages like Palin (who thinks even a woman who is raped or a victim of incest SHOULD NOT be allowed to have an abortion)! How is that for pro-life? What kind of LIFE will the poor woman who was raped by a family member or complete stranger and became pregnant have? Pregnancy or not the woman would suffer emotional and mental turmoil for years. Add a pregnancy on top of that, which she would not be allowed to abort, would be disasterous. Making a woman carry a rapist’s (familial or stranger) baby is cruel beyond belief. Even if these statements made by Palin were the ONLY statement I had from her, I would have heard enough. She can go back to Alaska and join her friends who wish to leave the USA and who want shoot all the beautiful creatures this planet has to offer. The woman only thinks she has values because she bases everything on God and religion. Just because you supposedly follow the Bible does not make you a moral person. Which leads me to another point: she apparently believes everything revolves around God…even Iraq was a “task from god”….ever hear of separation of church and state? Yeah, Sarah Palin go the F**K back to Alaska, Washington has enough problems as it is.
Sara said,
September 17, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Blake, Thanks for your thoughtful words on the subject. You illustrate so poignantly the pitfalls of having someone like Sarah Palin (i.e. a female George Bush clone) in office. We’ve already had 8 years of an extremely ignorant and deceitful executive branch. And whether or not I am a liberal or a conservative, I follow all the candidates simply so I can have all the facts when creating my opinion of someone. Sure, I didn’t base my opinion on her solely on her VP acceptance speech during the RNC – I could’ve seen that same speech many other times since then, as she doesn’t seem to know how to say anything else. But I’ve also watched her interviews, and assessed my opinions from all of it. And if you must know, Blake, I’m a scientist and so I am not usually swayed by public opinion. I do research and form my own opinion based on the facts – it’s part of the scientific method. I know just as much about her as what is available to know about her – and since I seem to take the responsibility to educate myself about all the facets of this election, I most likely know more than you about her, and the other candidates as well. The only reason you would call Palin “a articulate woman” (which should say ‘an’ articulate woman..but whose being nit-picky) is because she’s given the same automated speech at every press event she’s spoken at. In her interviews, if she is swayed from that same speech – verbatim, mind you – she gets tripped up. To me, that indicates a lack in articulation, but luckily I was educated long before the ‘no child left behind’ policy came about..perhaps you weren’t so lucky. When asked about specific issues she fails to give her positions on certain things – which conveys to me someone who is untrustworthy – which I believe we’ve all seen before with the current administration. When asked about abortion, she answers that her personal belief is “life above all else” even in the case of rape and incest, as Nikki has mentioned. When she was asked if she would try to overturn Roe vs. Wade, she responded with the same verbatim answer. I’m sorry, that’s actually not an answer..would you try to overturn Roe v Wade is a yes or no question. It’s dodges such as that which cause me to be annoyed with her. Ok, so if she is pro-life but says we should try to reduce the number of abortions that occur in this country – that’s a contradiction in terms. If you want to make abortion illegal, yet only REDUCE the number of abortions..doesn’t that say to oneself that abortions will go back to being underground (and I don’t mean that literally Blake, it’s figurative) and therefore performed under less sterile conditions leading to much more complications for the woman? Or that women will be seeking abortions in other countries? Education about where babies come from should be first and foremost. Access to birth control and condoms to teenagers, and more open discussion about teen pregnancy, and such should be the issue in reducing the amount of unwanted pregnancies which lead to abortions – not even touching the rape issue.
And when I was saying that I want someone more intelligent than I to head this country – I was referring to someone that has the ability to empathize with the working man, but doesn’t talk like one – or feel he or she has to talk like someone less educated to relate. I didn’t say I didn’t want a “working man.” I don’t think dumbing down a campaign speech when attacking the issues is not what is going to fix this country. It’s a sad state of affairs when we have to simplify things simply because we can’t expect others to educate themselves and take responsibility for thinking critically. I’m sorry if you couldn’t read between the lines and understand that..perhaps next time I’ll have to be more blatant and depend less on the publics ability to infer comprehension, since apparently we have become a confederacy of dunces. Why is it to much to expect someone to have enough intelligence to speak clearly and concisely without dumbing it down in order for the public to understand? Doesn’t that indicate a problem at the level of public? Why are we so happy with being ignorant, and when it comes to deciding who will be in charge of this country, why don’t we want someone of the most intelligent caliber to lead us? They have spin doctors to dumb it down for the masses, but I want someone in charge who can attack a problem by thinking about all the ins and outs without first reaching for a pistol – foresee the potential outcomes of each possible reaction, and intelligently decide what is best for this country…that’s what critical thinking means Blake.