Posted on 07/27/2009 5:05:46 AM PDT by Jeff Head
These rugged and hearty folk – some of the most patriotic people you’ll ever meet – live here. If there is one thing you are known for it your steadfast support for our military community up here. Thank you for that and a thank you to
the U.S. military for protecting the greatest nation on earth. Together we stand!
Getting here can be described as the best road trip in America! Soaring through nature’s finest show you will see Denali – the Great One – soaring under the midnight sun. Alaska has so many extremes. In the wintertime the frozen road
competes with the view of the ice-fogged frigid beauty. The cold, though, doesn’t it split the Cheechakos from the Sourdoughs? And in the summertime – when temperatures are 150 degrees hotter than they were just a few months ago and than
they will be just a few months from now – you will see the fireweed along the frost heaves. Merciless rivers rush and carve and remind us that Mother Nature wins. The big, wild and good life teeming along that road leads north to the
future. That is what we see here. What we, and the rest of America, see in the Last Frontier is hope, opportunity and country pride, and it is our men and women in uniform that secure it.
We face challenging times with some hell-bent on tearing down our nation by perpetuating pessimism and apologizing for America. They suggest that our best days were yesterdays. But how can this pessimism exist? Proof of our greatness and
pride is all around us today. We produce proud and great volunteers who sacrifice everything for their country. This week alone, at the chapel at Fort Rich, I heard the last roll call and the sounding of Taps for three very brave, very
young Alaskan soldiers who gave their all for all of us.
Together we stand with gratitude for the troops who protect all our cherished freedoms. This includes our First Amendment guaranteed freedom of speech – which, par for the course – I shall exercise. First, with some “straight talk,” I
will address some, just some, in the media because another right that is protected is the freedom of the press. You have such important jobs reporting facts and informing the electorate and exerting power to influence. You represent what
could and should be a respected and honest profession that could and should be a cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you. That is why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how about in honor of the American soldier
you quit making things up. And don’t underestimating the wisdom of the American people.
And, another thing, media: Our new governor has a very nice family, so leave his kids alone!
As we swear in Sean Parnell, no one will be happier than I to witness, by God’s grace Alaskans with strength of character advancing our beloved state. Sean is that. Craig Campbell has that.
I remember that December day when we took the oath to uphold our state constitution. And it was written right here in Fairbanks by very wise pioneers. We shared the same vision for government that they ground into that document. At the
time, the founders wrote:
“All political power is inherent in the people. All government originates with the people. It is founded upon their will only, and it is instituted for the good of the people as a whole.”
Their remarkably succinct words guided us in all of our efforts in serving you and putting you first. We have done our best to fulfill promises that I made on Alaska Day 2005 when I first asked for the honor of serving you.
Remember then, our state so desired and so deserved ethics reform. We promised it, and now it is the law. Ironically, it needs additional reform to stop blatant abuse from partisan operatives. And I hope lawmakers will continue that
reform.
We promised you that you would finally see a fair return on your Alaskan-owned natural resources. So, we built a new oil and gas appraisal system – an equitable formula to usher in a new era of competition, transparency, and protection
for Alaskans and the producers. ACES incentivizes new exploration, and it is the exploration that is our future. It opens up oil basins and ensures that the people will never be taken advantage of again.
Do not forget, Alaskans, that you are the resource owners, per our constitution. And that’s why, for instance, last year when the price of oil soared, our state coffers swelled, but you were smacked with high energy prices, so we sent
you an energy rebate because it is your money, and I have always believed that you know how to spend it better than government can spend it for you.
I promised that we would protect the environment while safely and ethically developing resources. And we did. We created the petroleum oversight office and a sub-cabinet to study climate conditions.
I promised that we would govern with fiscal restraint so as not to immorally burden future generations. And we did. We slowed the rate of government growth. I vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars of excess, and with lawmakers we saved
billions for the future.
I promised that we would lead a charge to forward fund education and hold schools accountable, while improving opportunities for special needs students and elevating vo-tech training. And we did. We also paid down pension related debt.
I promised that we would manage our fish and wildlife for abundance and defend the constitution in doing so. And we have. However, outside political interests just don’t seem to get it. Alaskans need to stick together on this with new
leadership. Encourage the new leadership. Stiffen your spine to do what is right for Alaska when the pressure mounts because you will see anti-hunting, anti-Second Amendment “circuses” from Hollywood. And here is how they will do it:
tiny, delicate and talented celebrity starlets will use Alaska as a fund raising tool for their anti-Second Amendment causes. Stand strong and remind them that patriots will protect our individual guaranteed right to bear arms. And by
the way, in Alaska, we eat, therefore, we hunt.
I promised that we would seek energy solutions. And we have – with an energy plan calling for 50% of our electricity generated by renewable resources and by insisting that those who hold the leases to develop our conventional resources
do so on Alaska’s terms. And now, finally, after decades of inaction and just talk, we are drilling for oil and gas at Pt. Thomson.
I also promised that we would get a natural gas pipeline underway. And we did. Since I was a little kid growing up here, we would talk about, hope for, and dream of commercializing our clean, abundant, and much needed natural gas. Our
Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) was the game changer. This is, of course, thanks to our outstanding gasline team and the state legislature, who adopted this law by a 58-1 margin. They knew – they know – that AGIA is the vehicle to drive
this monumental energy project and to bring everyone to the table. This bipartisan victory came from Alaskans working together with free market, private sector principles. And now we are on the road to the largest private energy
infrastructure project in history. It is for Alaska’s future. It is for America’s energy independence. And it will make us a more peaceful, prosperous and secure nation.
What I promised, we accomplished. “We” meaning state staff and conscientious Alaskans outside of the bureaucracy, such as: Tom Van Flein, Meg Stapleton, Kristan Cole, and many volunteers who stepped up to the challenge as good Alaskans.
Nothing could have succeeded without my “right hand man” Kris Perry. She is the sharpest, boldest and hardest-working partner, and much success is due to Kris.
To Alaska, there is much good in store further down the road, but to reach it we must value and live the optimistic and pioneering spirit that made this state proud and free!
We can resist enslavement to big central government that crushes hope and opportunity. We must be wary of government largesse. It doesn’t come free and often accepting it takes away everything that is free. Melting into Washington’s
powerful and caretaking arms will only lead to suck away the incentive to work hard and chart our own course. This will only contribute to an unstable economy and dizzying national debt, and it will make us less free.
I resisted the stimulus package, and we championed earmark reform, by slashing earmark requests by 85%, in order to break the cycle of dependency on a stifling and unsustainable federal agenda. Other states should follow this example for
their, and America's, stability.
We don’t have to feel that we must beg an allowance from Washington – except to beg the allowance to be self-determined.
See, in order to be self-sufficient Alaska must be allowed to develop, to drill and build and climb to fulfill our statehood’s promise! At statehood we knew that we were responsible for ourselves, our families and our future, and 50
years later we can not start believing that government is the answer. It can’t make you happy or healthy or wealthy or wise. What can? It is the wisdom of the people and our families and our small businesses and industrious individuals.
And it is God’s grace helping those who help themselves. And then this allows that very generous voluntary hand up that we are known to enthusiastically provide those who need it.
Do you remember that years ago we sported the old bumper sticker that read, “Alaska: We Don’t Give a Darn How They Do It Outside.” I remember that. It was because we would be different, and we would roll up our sleeves and diligently sow
and reap. We can still do this. We can carve wealth out of the wilderness and make our living on the water – with strong hands and innovative minds, now with smarter technology. It is what our First People and our parents did, and it
worked because they worked!
We must be prudent and persistent and press for the people’s right to responsibly develop God-given resources for the maximum benefit of the people.
We have come so far in just 50 years. We are no longer a frontier outpost on the periphery of the world’s greatest nation. Now, as a contributor and a securer of America, we can attain our destiny in the promise of our motto: North to
the Future!
The pressing issue of our time is energy independence, because there is an inherent link between energy and security, and energy and prosperity. Alaska will lead with energy. We will prove that you can be both pro-development and pro-
environment. After all, no one loves their land, clean air, water and wildlife more than an Alaskan! We will protect it!
Americans must look north to the future. For security, for energy independence, for our strategic position on the globe – Alaska is the gatekeeper of the continent.
We are here today at a “changing of the guard.” Now, knowing how much I love this state – some still choose not to hear why I made the decision to chart a new course to advance the state. It should be obvious. It is because I love Alaska
this much that I feel it is my duty to avoid the unproductive, typical “politics-as-usual” lame duck session in one’s last year in office. How does that benefit you? With this decision I will be able to fight even harder for you – for
what is right and for the truth. And I have never felt that you need a title to do that. So, as we all move forward together, let us vow to keep championing Alaska and to advocate for responsible development and smaller government and
freedom.
When I took the oath to serve you, I promised to steadfastly and doggedly guard the interests of this great state – like that grizzly guards her cubs, as a mother naturally guards her own. I will keep that vow wherever the road may lead.
Todd and I, Track, Bristol, Tripp, Willow, Piper and Trig – we will forever be grateful for the honor of a lifetime to have served you. Our whole big, diverse, full and fun family thanks you!
I am very blessed to have had their support all along, and for Todd’s support.
I am thankful too that I have been blessed to have been raised in this Last Frontier. Thank you for our home, Mom and Dad.
In Alaska it is not an easy living, but it is a good living. It is impossible to lose your way here because wherever the road may lead us, we have that steadying Great North Star to guide us home. So let us all enjoy the ride!
God bless you and God bless Alaska!
That needs to be a sign at all her rallies.
“Look Ma, no teleprompter!”
Also, I love the direct signal that she is going to take it to the enemedia.
She said “just some” of them were exercising their 1st amendment rights to report the facts and inform the people. The rest were just making things up.
And, she implied that she would only deal with, or give interviews with, the respectable media outlets, and not with the leftwing propaganda organs.
Alaska was already invaded last summer by hordes of political operatives and hostile media (I know, I know, I'm being redundant... /g) who have waged an unrelenting war on her, her family and the taxpayers of Alaska through the media and the courts through shameful, vicious legal harassment by dishonestly exploiting a loophole in Alaska's flawed ethics statute.
As the well-known adage says "politics is war by other means", so her military allusions are perfectly apropos and have been regularly employed by politicians long before Palin.
BTW, what are "mountainees"? Perhaps you meant mountaineers, as a reference to the people of Alaska, but if so, then your analogy is backwards. You should have said "defensive" positions instead of "threatening". However, your next comment would seem to shine some light on the possible personal bias which influenced your comment:
I will say one thing for Sarah, she can’t be accused of having a grammar fetish.
Neither can Barack Obama when he is without his teleprompter. You may be genuinely unaware of the many instances where he has attempted to speak without it, and has been revealed to be embarrassingly clumsy, incoherent, disjointed, rambling and inarticulate in his speech. Without a script and a teleprompter he is a babbling fool - worse even than the dishonest caricatures of George Bush.
Palin gave her farewell speech without a teleprompter. Her grammar may not have been sufficiently precise and elegant enough for your tastes, but the facts, ideas and principles she enunciated were correct and honorable, and she communicated them effectively to her audience. THAT is the only thing that really matters when it comes to winning the variant of war that is politics...
She will win. You can see fear in the democrats eyes when ever Sarah’s name is mentioned. I kind of liken their reaction to the reaction Lucifer has when ever the name of Jesus is spoken.
Okay. You realize, of course, that although the Mounties “always get their man”, they would never take threatening positions against a lady. Their tradition is one of rescuing women who are being threatened, so it’s far more likely they’ll be coming to Palin’s defense...
Don't forget that "big government in bed with corporations" is also one of the primary components of the "real" definition of fascism. So far the "killing" is figurative, but the history of the Twentieth Century shows how it can easily become literal. Just do a little research on big government and Krupp, Agfa, I.G. Farben, etc., to mention just a few.
I keep telling my Senator that we have the throttle wide open on the way to Fascism. I think she’s getting irritated at me by now.
What emphasis?
Her speach was 2,185 words, of which only 176 words were even loosely related to military matters.
That's 8% which is quite a bit for a resignation speech. Moreover, it wasnt 1 176 word area, but rather smattered throughout so that it was a recurring topic of emphasis.
Is there another topic that got more than 8%?
Yes
I would add that her grammar was as precise and elegant as one sees from anyone, regardless of their educational attainment, in a transcript of the spoken word. Anyone who sneers at Governor Palin’s speech patterns here is either playing the tired, old political game called mock the conservative, or has never seen a transcript of their own speech.
My grammar is precise. I'm a former Law Review Articles Editor with three Ivy League degrees. Words have been both a profession and a hobby for me. I've seen many transcripts of my own appellate arguments which have a lot in common with political speeches delivered from notes rather than read from a text. Every time I see my own words transcribed something makes me cringe. Sometimes the transcription fails to catch what I said exactly. Sometimes my tongue slips. Every time the experience is humbling.
This is true for everyone who confronts their own words in print. Picking nits with an extemporaneous speaker's grammar proves absolutely nothing. The Governor's farewell speech was tightly focused, effective and moving. She is a very talented communicator with a bright political future if she wants one. Anyone who tells you different is whistling past the graveyard.
People who sneer at Governor Palin are all trying to protect someone from the competitive threat she represents. Sometimes that someone is Obama. Sometimes it is some Republican who wants to run for President in 2012. Either way the game plan is the same: try to paint an extremely sharp brunette as a ditzy, dumb blond. It is a sexist variant of the game “moderate” Republicans and Democrats played for years against Ronald Reagan. It didn't work then and it won't work now.
Talent will out. You can't stick a dumb label on someone who isn't dumb and the Dems and the Rinos would be better advised not to try.
By the way, I’m sure you may have edited an Obama law review article from time to time.
Oh, ...wait.
Best,
Chris
Nonsense, it was perfectly appropriate. Furthermore, who do you think you are to be making arbitrary and subjective judgments about the proper statistical weightings of topics in other people's speeches? Who anointed you the arbiter?
Moreover, it wasnt 1 176 word area, but rather smattered throughout so that it was a recurring topic of emphasis.
Irrelevant.
Is there another topic that got more than 8%?
Several. The accomplishments of her administration. The plans and hopes for Alaska's future. The need for remembering to be proud of America and honoring those who sacrificed to make it possible, etc.
Balding Eagle, note that ERF never addressed the point I made in post #22 about the appropriateness of Palin's military references in her speech. The bottom line here is that his entire attempt to focus on Palin's so-called "military emphasis" (which as I pointed out in post #22 was simply common military references) is a red herring, an attempt to distract the discussion from the overall content and message of the speech.
I realized ERF is just a malcontent. Even just a few words can quickly reveal a lot about the poster.
I just was yanking her chain a bit.
re: Talent will out. You can't stick a dumb label on someone who isn't dumb and the Dems and the Rinos would be better advised not to try.
Well said, but we all know they won't be able to stop themselves from trying. After all, except for Reagan, it's almost always worked for them... /g
However, I am genuinely worried about what will happen when it becomes obvious to them, and to those who pull their strings that this approach isn't working. To speak bluntly, I am concerned about Palin's and her family's physical safety.
The interests to which she represents a threat extend well beyond the political parties, and if it appears that she, or anyone else like her, threatens to upset their control of the political "system", I fear they will resort to more direct methods to eliminate the threat.
Our history shows that game-changing "deranged individuals" or "lone gunmen" seem to pop up at awfully convenient times. I truly hope my concerns prove to be unfounded, but I do know that those playing the winner-take-all game for America right now are playing for keeps, and it is dangerous to underestimate them or their resolve.
I believe it was a great speech...and that it responates with conservatives and with independents who are interested in American interests being recognized, maintained, and defended.
Sarah has my dedicated and unflinching support in revitalizing America and turning us back towrds out traditional values and constitutional foundation.
Who do you think this might be?
Misheard. was actually "Tina, dilettante and talented celebrity starlet"
Great speech.
“Are the mountainees taking threatening positions?”
Might I ask what a “mountainee” might be?
-------------------------------------------There were lots of words
Melting into Washington’s powerful and caretaking arms will only lead to suck away the incentive to work hard and chart our own course
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