Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced his vice presidential running mate yesterday, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, 44.
Casey Mayville reports for Government Technology, “Elected governor in 2006, Palin became Alaska’s first female governor, as well as its youngest. She will be the first politician from Alaska to run on a national ticket in a campaign for vice president.”
“Palin has made efforts to expand the use of technology in Alaska. In 2007, Palin announced a new online training program for workforce development. The Work Ready/College Ready program helped to assess skills and offered training courses,” Mayville reports. “‘The skills needed to enter many vocations are similar to the skills needed to get into college,’ explained Palin at the time. ‘Work Ready/College Ready lets students know what level of skill they need for the occupations they’re interested in, how well they match up in those skill levels and it provides training to reach their goals.'”
Full article here.
More about Alaska’s “Work Ready/College Ready” program that was announced by Sarah Palin last August via GovTech here.
Carrie Tait reports for The Financial Post,” Ms. Palin, 44, is a lifetime NRA member who is in charge of a conservative state. She’s bullish on drilling offshore and opening up more of the contentious Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to exploration and production. ‘People are realizing, too, there’s been some deception, I think, from some on what ANWR is all about. Of the 20 million acres up there, we’re looking at 2,000 acres as a footprint,’ she said in the interview. ‘With new technology, with directional drilling, maybe that footprint [will] shrink even more.'”
MacDailyNews Note: CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo talks with Sarah Palin about ANWR drilling, which also touches on technology, in an 11:41 video interview here.
Stefanie Olsen reports for CNET, “Mead Treadwell, a technology-focused venture capitalist and chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, a federal advisory commission to President Bush and Congress on Arctic research issues, said he met Palin when she was the mayor of Wasilla, a small town in Alaska. Treadwell said that she has long been open-minded about the need for technology to solve problems.”
“‘We’re a natural energy economy and you can’t drill on- or offshore without bringing the best technology, like 3D seismic technology to find areas for drilling, directional drilling to exploit it, and satellites. She’s supportive of new tech,’ Treadwell said,” Olsen reports.
“Palin’s father-in-law was at one time staff officer at the Alaska Science and Technology Foundation, the state’s seed capital fund for technology. According to Treadwell, she was critical of her incumbent Republican rival Frank Murkowski in 2006 when he shut the foundation down. In her inaugural address as governor, she emphasized the value of research into science and technology,” Olsen reports.
“Despite Alaska’s absence of a big tech industry, the state’s chief industries, oil and gas, as well as some telecommunications, require cutting-edge technology. Treadwell said that in discussions with Palin about balancing development vs. the environment, she typically points to technology as a solution,” Olsen reports.
Full article here.
While we’re still exploring exactly which tech devices Palin uses currently, Bridget Carey reported yesterday for The Miami Herald of “the BlackBerry-wielding Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who had bloggers buzzing early Friday about her tech-centric lifestyle. She’s also three years younger than Obama.”
MacDailyNews Take: Send Palin an iPhone immediately, Apple!
As for Obama’s V.P. pick, Joseph Biden, 65, Carey reports, “The technology issue isn’t so much of his wired lifestyle as it is about his past stances on technology issues like Internet freedom and privacy. Biden has spoken out against peer-to-peer networks that allow the sharing of music and other copyrighted material. On the topic of Internet privacy, he is in favor of allowing communications companies to hand over a user’s personal information to the government, but with the intention to crack down on child porn and piracy.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Michael R.,” “Dennis,” and “Jen” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: If anyone has links to articles and/or photos of Palin and technology (listening to her iPod, using a Mac, or even a ratty old Dell) or any of the other candidates – Biden, McCain, and/or Obama – please send them to the MacDailyNews Webmaster (link below) for inclusion in this or future articles.
The birth control pill, the morning after pill, the condom, the diaphragm, etc. Apparently the Palins don’t know about these things.
P.S., she’s good at foreign policy because Alaska is right next to Russia (ROTFLMAO).
Puhleeeze!
NoPCZone: “Apparently the Palins, who are flat-earth, Neo-Con folks who believe in talking snakes and a 4,000 year old earth have yet to discover the rubber. It seems the promise ring and church ceremony didn’t protect their daughter from hormones, a boyfriend and a bed.”
Why don’t you pick on her down syndrome baby while you’re at it?
Very classy.
Rheinhard,
You’re vitriolic and inaccurate post deserves no further comment than that I hope you are sterilized and do not breed.
Apparently her 17 year old 5-month pregnant daughter is the new target of the day from classless, bigoted liberal hypocrites.
Keep it coming guys, party of compassion!
Vitriolic? You got that right.
Inaccurate? Please point out a single inaccuracy.
And twilight exposes the entire McCain campaign platform for the next 2 months:
Criticism of McCain policy: “He was a P.O.W!”
Criticism of Palin policy: “She has a Down’s Syndrome Baby!”
Republicans: still the party of whiny titty-babies.
Even John Gruber at Daringfireball has jumped on the dump-on-the-pregnant-17-year-old bandwagon:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/palins-17-year-old-daughter-is-pregnant/?hp
Rheinhard,
Criticism of her 17 year old pregnant daughter = criticism of her policy?
Boy you really are capable of some interesting leaps of logic.
I haven’t linked a single post concerning Sarah Palin’s record to her down syndrome baby in over 7 pages of this thread. It’s clear you haven’t actually bothered to read a single thing I’ve said, but that sure doesn’t seem to stop you from knee-jerk reacting to it.
I’m not a ring winger, I’m moderately pro abortion rights, but that sure won’t stop you from trying to ram a round peg into a square hole because it seems to fit your narrow black n white view of the world.
I’ve simple objected to your obscene use of language, and complete lack of respect for people that disagree with you politically.
I actually respect quite a few posts I’ve read in this thread from people I definitely disagree with, but you don’t happen to be among them, maybe you’ll change your tone and stop throwing insults and post with a little more temperance.
Is that even possible from you?
twilightmoon,
all i have to say is welcome to the world of white privilege when you make statement like “The reality, simply based on numbers, is that whites males elect president.”
Criticism of her 17 year old pregnant daughter = criticism of her policy?
Where did I criticise the daughter? I said I supported her choice, but that her mother’s POLICIES (abortion should be illegal under almost all circumstances) would deny the same *choice* to millions of women under different personal and financial circumstances, and (favor of abstince-only education) clearly doesn’t work to reduce pregnancy, either in any general study you care to cite and now in palin’s own family directly.
I’ve simple objected to your obscene use of language, and complete lack of respect for people that disagree with you politically.
I remind you, sir, that in response to my single use of the phrase “radical anti-choice stand” (and that is quite simply what it is) YOU called me a radical pro-babymurderer. As to “complete lack of respect who disagree” pot, meet kettle!
twilightmoon,
the issue isn’t about palin’s down syndrome child. it’s about an abstinence only governor who can’t even apply the same policy in her own home. as the executive of her state, how can she continue to justify a policy towards her populous that has failed in her own home.
that being said, i do believe that this (her daughter pregnancy) is a private family matter. it is however, another case of conservative hypocrisy.
james73: “all i have to say is welcome to the world of white privilege when you make statement like”
Elections are about raw numbers. In Nairobi I’d doubt that while males have significant impact on who gets elected to office.
This isn’t about racism, it’s just statement of fact. Being white doesn’t get all the magic privileges that you describe tho, not everyone who has white skin makes million+ dollar salaries and sips champaign from the decks of their yachts. Certainly doesn’t describe me.
James73: “that being said, i do believe that this (her daughter pregnancy) is a private family matter. it is however, another case of conservative hypocrisy.”
You obviously do not view it as a “private family matter” if you say “the issue isn’t about palin’s down syndrome child. it’s about an abstinence only governor who can’t even apply the same policy in her own home”.. you can’t have it both ways. I think it’s unfortunate that her 17 year old kid decided to have sex and got pregnant outside being married, but she’s old enough to have known better, and I doubt her mother encouraged her behavior. This isn’t hypocrisy, it wasn’t Sarah Palin’s decision, this was her daughter. Apparent you think parents should mind control their children?
You’re reaching here, James.
obama’s statement regarding palin’s daughters pregnancy as reported in the new york time’s caucus blog
“Mr. Obama, in his first remarks on the matter, raised his voiced when asked whether his campaign or other Democratic operatives were working to advance rumors surrounding the Palin family.
“Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be,” Mr. Obama snapped. “And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they’d be fired, OK?”
Mr. Obama said the pregnancy “has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president.” He added that, “my mother had me when she was 18. How family deals with issues and teen-age children – that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics.”
“So,” he added, “I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories.”
i really think that this should put a close on this matter, don’t you.
Wow…343 comments…300 made by twilightmoon who has been hanging around for two fsckin’ days. Get a life man. Let it go…there’s no need to troll this board any longer. Your obsession with having the last word is quite annoying. Start a blog, post the address, invite some friends, and have at it. Take your personal beliefs and just go away.
The Dude Abides…
The Dude,
My posts are topical, yours is not.
Mine are direct responses to what other’s have posted here, yours is not.
I’ve posted on MDN going back at least 4 if not more years. I try not to pollute non political threads with my political beliefs, this one thread is a political one.
You don’t like what I have to say, skip my posts.
Take your own advice.
James,
I wish it would put the matter to an end, I doubt it will.
I’ll definitely give Obama points for class in how he handled this publicly, and I’ll take him at his word that he won’t pursue the matter through back channels.
Rheinhard: “I remind you, sir, that in response to my single use of the phrase “radical anti-choice stand” (and that is quite simply what it is) YOU called me a radical pro-babymurderer. As to “complete lack of respect who disagree” pot, meet kettle!”
I’ll tell you what, find a less insensitive term to refer to those who believe abortion is killing a baby, and I’ll call you a pro abortion rights advocate. Just because you don’t agree with someone on an issue doesn’t mean you need to spit in their face.
By the way I’d say the same thing to an unborn life advocate, if they were disrespectful towards you and your views.
The problem with that is that for years on this issue the conservative, anti-abortion forces have been able to “frame the debate”. Have you ever seriouly demagogued pro-life boards or discussions and demanded that they refer to not refer pro-choice groups as “pro-babykilling”?
Framing the debate is very important and for far too long we have allowed right-wing frames to prevail throughout our media. Our political coverage is about “latte-sipping liberal elitists” vs. “patriotic salt of the earth conservatives”. When one points out that these patriotic salt-of-the-earth conservatives don’t know how many houses they own (just like most hard-working Americans), and that they have repeatedly voted against increased body armor for troops or veterans benefits, we are told that is merely being “petty” and “spiteful”.
The use of “anti-choice” (to which I will steadfastly adhere, sorry), is an important element in attempting to reframe the debate. I hardly see how that phrase is “spitting in their face”. Especially considering most of the spitting I’ve encountered is done by the anti-choice brigades protesting at Planned Parenthood centers and so, and is directed at women and doctors.
twilightmoon,
while having a yacht and drinking champagne is an extreme example of white male privilege can be it is a misunderstanding to believe that it is the definition of white male privilege.
besides economic, and sometimes economics of scale, white male privilege is defined as benefiting status in this country simply because one is white and male. unlike white women, white men never had to fight for the right to vote; unlike black people white men have never had to go through the end of slavery, to jim crow laws, to the civil right era, unlike minority groups and women in this country white men have always been apart of the power structure of this country. the power structure in this country is geared towards white men. whether that is because of shear population numbers overtly and covertly white male privilege does exist in this country.
It looks like you typed a short comment while I was in the middle of writing my previous one, and it goes very well to my point about framing.
The question is being a “pro-abortion-rights” advocate vs an “unborn life advocate”. Do you see the rhetorical difference between these phrases? If you presented them both to someone who had no idea and no opinion of the subject, which do you think sounds better? Of course everyone is in favor of “life”, right?
And most people would not recognize the semantic difference between “pro-abortion rights” and “pro-abortion“. I am emphatically not pro-abortion qua abortion! As I said I would like to see less abortion: but I believe the way to do that is NOT to criminalize women for making very tough real-life decisions.
We need effective sex education, availability of contraception, and perhaps above all — EQUAL rights and opportunities for women in the workforce and education! Many studies show the best way to reduce pregnancy rates is give women education (not just sex ed, but in math, science, the arts, etc.) and make sure they know that there are opportunities for them other than getting hitched at age 14, as often happens in societies where women are not valued except in as far as they are able to bear sons! In this sense I resent being called “pro-abotion-rights”, which, though accurate generally, fits the old right-wing frame of the debate. I want women to have CHOICES, both in the reproductive rights and in education and employment, and firmly believe that more CHOICES == LESS ABORTIONS.
Heh, ironically my security word is “choice”…
Rheinhard: “The use of “anti-choice” (to which I will steadfastly adhere, sorry), is an important element in attempting to reframe the debate”
No, its you being a jackass.
Look, I am in favor of abortion rights, the difference is that I respect people who feel that its murdering a human life. You do not.
Therefore you feel justified in insulting those with legitimate ethical beliefs. As soon as you do that, you delegitimize yourself and your argument.
Have some respect for people you disagree with who have legitimate ethical beliefs, and you can form your argument on the basis of your own ethical standards, and explain them rationally.
What you are saying is because there are loud-mouthed and disrespectful people on the right, you can and should stoop to that level and act exactly like them.
That’s a human reaction, but it’s the same type of eye for eye “I’m going to get mine” mentality that leads to the majority of wars, divorces, and rape, murder and robberies.
You’re quite capable of rising above it, I’m merely asking that you do so, not that you change your views on the subject. Just be more civil about it.
James73: “unlike white women, white men never had to fight for the right to vote”
Learn your history. Look up the American Revolutionary War, or if you prefer the British term “American War for Independence”.
“unlike black people white men have never had to go through the end of slavery”
You’re unaware that tens of thousands of white American men gave their lives fighting to end slavery?
“to jim crow laws, to the civil right era,”
Human history is full of bullshit as far as you can look back, and it will likely remain that way into the future unless decent people get off their ass and do something about it.
Starting by treating other people with respect, even if you disagree is a good place to start as any.
“whether that is because of shear population numbers”
It’s not merely a case of numbers, but that’s a definite factor. It cannot be ignored that women and many minorities have worked hard and found success in the “white male system” too. I would argue that willingness to work hard, and learn, and adapt, and better yourself is a greater determination of success in America than skin color.
My terms are not perfect, I’ll grant you that, but they are less charged and euphemistic than pro life and pro choice.
They are at least descriptive and honest.
Even if you don’t agree with those who are pro unborn life, you have to agree that that is the basis for their beliefs, and respect it. I would not ask you to respect those who call you a baby murderer, but I’d also say that not everyone who is pro unborn life uses that term.