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Palin E-mail Hacker Convicted on Two Counts

April 30, 2010 By Jeff Leave a Comment

A federal jury in Knoxville, Tennessee convicted David Kernell, the 22 year old son of Democratic State Representative, on two of four counts related to the intrusion into former Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s personal Yahoo! Mail account during the 2008 elections today:

(Reuters) – A college student who hacked into former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s e-mail account and posted some of its contents on the Internet was found guilty Friday.

After four days of deliberations, a federal jury found David Kernell, the 22-year-old son of a Democratic Tennessee state legislator, guilty of obstruction of justice, a felony, and unauthorized access of a computer, a misdemeanor.

Kernell was cleared of a wire fraud charge, and the jury could not agree on a verdict on a charge of identity theft.

Judge Thomas Phillips declared a mistrial on the identity theft charge but did not set a date for sentencing.

The obstruction charge alone carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, while the misdemeanor count is punishable by up to one year in jail.

Ms. Palin issued a statement via her Facebook page, thanking the jury and prosecutors their efforts and explaining the case’s importance:

My family and I are thankful that the jury thoroughly and carefully weighed the evidence and issued a just verdict. Besides the obvious invasion of privacy and security concerns surrounding this issue, many of us are concerned about the integrity of our country’s political elections. America’s elections depend upon fair competition. Violating the law, or simply invading someone’s privacy for political gain, has long been repugnant to Americans’ sense of fair play. As Watergate taught us, we rightfully reject illegally breaking into candidates’ private communications for political intrigue in an attempt to derail an election.

I want to thank the public servants who worked so hard on this case, particularly the jurors who gave up precious time from their jobs and families to listen to the evidence and reach a decision.

My family and I appreciate the good people of Knoxville, Tennessee, who showed us true Southern hospitality. We can’t wait to visit again – but without having a subpoena in hand.

Although I expect Mr. Kernell will see some jail time it’ll be far less than the 20 year maximum, federal sentencing guidelines set a range of 15 to 21 months and allow for probation in cases like this. I do think prosecutors overreached a little in this case and as one witness said “put on a dog and pony show“. They had to though, never mind basic privacy considerations… Sarah Palin was a Vice Presidential candidate in the middle of hotly contested election, investigators and prosecutors had to aggressively pursue this case to send  a message that these types political dirty tricks won’t be tolerated.

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Filed Under: Crime, Internet, Politics, Security Tagged With: , , , ,

Video: Sarah Palin’s Keynote Speech at National Tea Party Convention

February 8, 2010 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin delivers the closing keynote address at the first-ever National Tea Party Convention, held in Nashville, TN. February 6, 2010:

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NY-23: Palin Endorses Hoffman

October 23, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

If the pop culture obsessed soundbite media wasn’t following the November 3rd special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district they will be  now that Sarah Palin has endorsed Doug Hoffman:

The people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York are ready to shake things up, and Doug Hoffman is coming on strong as Election Day approaches! He needs our help now.

The votes of every member of Congress affect every American, so it’s important for all of us to pay attention to this important Congressional campaign in upstate New York. I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York’s 23rd Congressional district. It’s my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.

Our nation is at a crossroads, and this is once again a “time for choosing.”

The federal government borrows, spends, and prints too much money, while our national debt hits a record high. Government is growing while the private sector is shrinking, and unemployment is on the rise. Doug Hoffman is committed to ending the reckless spending in Washington, D.C. and the massive increase in the size and scope of the federal government. He is also fully committed to supporting our men and women in uniform as they seek to honorably complete their missions overseas.

And best of all, Doug Hoffman has not been anointed by any political machine.

Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share: smaller government, lower taxes, strong national defense, and a commitment to individual liberty. Read the rest…

My quick and dirty analysis: There’s no downside for Palin here, no one expects Hoffman to win so if he gets beat Palin isn’t going to get the blame. On the other hand if Hoffman wins the upside is huge… it’ll be the shot heard around the world that shakes up the party establishment and forces them to take Palin and grassroots activist seriously.

As an aside, Hoffman’s campaign has raised $210,000 in the past seven days… That’s before Palin’s endorsement last night.

You can donate here.

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Weekend Briefing – Saturday, October 10, 2009

October 10, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

I’m going to be tied up with family all weekend but here’s a collection of must read links:

Feel free to add your links in comments.

Filed Under: Afghanistan, Economy, Health Care, International Affairs, Politics, War on Terror Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sarah Palin: Dollar’s Troubles Show Need for Energy Independence

October 7, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Two days ago the British newspaper The Independent published a rather dubious report by Robert Fisk claiming that  oil-producing Arab states along with China, Russia, Japan and France were conspiring on a plan to dump the dollar for oil trading, a move which would seriously weaken our currency and influence abroad.

The Arab states named in the report have issued denials… there may still be a grain of truth in the report though as  both Russia and China have been very vocal in their calls to end the Dollar’s reign in international trading:

Leaving aside the viability of the unified GCC currency – Oman and the Emirates have made clear they don’t want to play – the story has a ring of truth about it.

Russia and China have both been vocal in their call to end the hegemony of the greenback in international trade. The single GCC currency, if and when it happens, would be more likely to use a currency basket than a direct dollar peg. With the possibility of intervention now back in its arsenal Japan will clearly do what it feels necessary to protect its deflationary economy from an over-strong currency. France, of course, would take any opportunity to give Washington one in the eye.

In that light it is no surprise that the dollar has taken a bit of a beating since the news broke. It has lost one euro cent and half a yen overnight, adding to the losses it had already made on Monday in the absence of any helpful comment from G7.

Regardless The Independent’s report should server as a stark reminder to our elected leaders of need for sound fiscal policy, a strong stable dollar and real energy independence.

Sarah Palin makes the case on her Facebook page:

All of this is a result of our out-of-control debt. This is why we need to rein in spending, and this is also why we need energy independence. A weakened dollar means higher commodity prices. This will make it more difficult to pay our bills – including the bill to import oil.

In his book Architects of Ruin, Peter Schweizer points out that the Obama administration is focusing primarily on “green energy,” while ignoring our need to develop our domestic conventional energy resources.[5] We’re ignoring the looming crisis caused by our dependence on foreign oil. Because we’re dependent on foreign nations for our oil, we’re also at their mercy if they decide to dump the dollar as their trade currency. We can’t allow ourselves to be so vulnerable to the whims of foreign nations. That’s why we must develop our own domestic supplies of oil and gas.

Though the chant of “Drill, baby, drill” was much derided, it expressed the need to confront this issue head-on before it reaches a crisis point.

Bottom line: let’s stop digging ourselves into debt and start drilling for energy independence.

Gas prices have dropped considerably since the last oil shock made energy independence a front burner issue in the minds of most Americans… The coming debate on Cap and Trade may help bring the issue of energy independence back to the forefront but I suspect it’ll be lost in amongst the debates on the new taxes, costs, and mandates Cap and Trade create.

Whether we like it or not our economy is powered by oil and natural gas… and there is simple no reason not to tap into a significant domestic reserves of both.

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Palin Already a Best Seller.

September 30, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

This should drive liberals nuts… Sarah Palin’s book hasn’t even been released yet and it’s already a best seller:

Sarah Palin’s forthcoming memoir, “Going Rogue,” has reached the top spot on the Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com sales rankings – more than a month and a half before it will hit bookshelves on November 17th.

The ranking is based on preorders of the book by the former Republican presidential candidate and Alaska governor who resigned in July, before the end of her gubernatorial term.

Palin, working with author Lynn Vincent, finished “Going Rogue” more quickly than initially planned, prompting the book’s release date to be moved up from the spring. It took the pair about four months to write the 400-page memoir, which her publisher describes as “her words, her life.”

I wonder how they’ll rationalize this?

Filed Under: Books & Movies, Politics Tagged With:

Sarah Palin’s Memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” to be Release November 17th

September 29, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Sarah Palin has finished her memoir, the 400 page book titled “Going Rogue: An American Life,” is set to be released on November 17th:

Sarah Palin Book CoverSarah Palin’s forthcoming 400-page memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” will hit bookshelves just in time for the holiday shopping season.

More than 1.5 million copies of Palin’s first book are expected in stores by Nov. 17, according to publisher HarperCollins. That’s as many copies as publishers printed of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s memoir, “True Compass,” after his death last month.

Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, completed her manuscript weeks ahead of schedule and four months after signing the book deal. The book had been slated for release in the spring.

“Gov. Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project,” Jonathan Burnham of HarperCollins told the Associated Press. “It’s her words, her life and it’s all there in full and fascinating detail.”

Palin told Alaska’s Anchorage Daily News in May that her memoir will provide an unfiltered forum as “there have been so many things written and said through mainstream media that have not been accurate.”

Palin, 45, reportedly did most of the work on her memoir in San Diego, Calif., after resigning the Alaska governorship in July with more than a year left in her first term.

I just pre-ordered my copy from Amazon.

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Sarah Palin: No Health Care Reform Without Legal Reform

August 22, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is once again wading into the debate on health care reform via her Facebook page.  Last week she raised questions about the end of life counseling provisions contained in the proposed legislation… provision that have since been removed from the Senate Finance Committee bill.

This week she raises questions about one of the biggest weaknesses in the current House Senate reform proposals:

President Obama’s health care “reform” plan has met with significant criticism across the country. Many Americans want change and reform in our current health care system. We recognize that while we have the greatest medical care in the world, there are major problems that we must face, especially in terms of reining in costs and allowing care to be affordable for all. However, as we have seen, current plans being pushed by the Democratic leadership represent change that may not be what we had in mind — change which poses serious ethical concerns over the government having control over our families’ health care decisions. In addition, the current plans greatly increase costs of health care, while doing lip service toward controlling costs.

We need to address a REAL bipartisan reform proposition that will have REAL impacts on costs and quality of patient care.

As Governor of Alaska, I learned a little bit about being a target for frivolous suits and complaints (Please, do I really need to footnote that?). I went my whole life without needing a lawyer on speed-dial, but all that changes when you become a target for opportunists and people with no scruples. Our nation’s health care providers have been the targets of similar opportunists for years, and they too have found themselves subjected to false, frivolous, and baseless claims. To quote a former president, “I feel your pain.”

So what can we do? First, we cannot have health care reform without tort reform. The two are intertwined. For example, one supposed justification for socialized medicine is the high cost of health care. As Dr. Scott Gottlieb recently noted, “If Mr. Obama is serious about lowering costs, he’ll need to reform the economic structures in medicine—especially programs like Medicare.” [1] Two examples of these “economic structures” are high malpractice insurance premiums foisted on physicians (and ultimately passed on to consumers as “high health care costs”) and the billions wasted on defensive medicine.

Gov. Plain is right about the need for tort reform… One has to wonder why it isn’t a center piece of the health care reform proposals now before Congress the two intimately linked. Gov. Palin quotes extensively extensively from research by Dr. Stuart Weinstein of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons who notes:

Excessive litigation and waste in the nation’s current tort system imposes an estimated yearly tort tax of $9,827 for a family of four and increases healthcare spending in the United States by $124 billion. How does this translate to individuals? The average obstetrician-gynecologist (OB-GYN) delivers 100 babies per year. If that OB-GYN must pay a medical liability premium of $200,000 each year (which is the rate in Florida), $2,000 of the delivery cost for each baby goes to pay the cost of the medical liability premium.

It’s no surprise that tort reform isn’t a priority for the Obama Administration and congressional Democrats, as the Washington Examiner’s David Freddoso noted last week they’re beholden to trial lawyers:

An Examiner analysis of the 15 firms on the National Law Journal’s “2008 Plaintiff’s Hot List” shows that for 2009, their employees have contributed $636,305 to federal politicians and PACs. Only $4,875 of that amount has gone to Republicans, meaning that the nation’s top trial lawyers are giving more than 99 percent Democratic this year. The PAC for the American Association of Justice, the top trial lawyer lobbying group, has been marginally more balanced, giving Democrats a mere 96 percent of its $627,000 in contributions.

These trial lawyers are especially concentrating on the Senate. Members of those same 15 firms have given $236,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this year. And trial lawyers know that the Senate is controlled by one of their own — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who faces a potentially difficult re-election. Reid has taken in some $54,000 from the top 15 firms. According to OpenSecrets, he has taken $978,000 from the legal industry as a whole.

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Poll Question: If the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary were being held today who would you vote for?

August 22, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

If the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary were being held today who would you vote for?

View Results

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I’m not crazy about Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee so they’re not even on my short list. I love Sarah Palin but I think she’s been to damaged by partisan attacks to be viable candidate… Ditto for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, he’s to much of a lighting rod.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal are both rising stars but I think they’re still a little “green” to be viable challengers in 2012. I don’t know enough about John Huntsman to make an informed judgment… That leaves Texas Gov. Rick Perry… He has proven record and most importantly he’s not on any of the media short lists.

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Pres. Obama Backs Offshore Drilling… Just Not in U.S. Waters

August 19, 2009 By Jeff Leave a Comment

I was going to comment on this Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday but I didn’t get to it… In short the Obama Administration has finally embraced offshore oil drill, unfortunately it’s not in the U.S.:

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a “preliminary commitment” letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.

I’m going to defer to Sarah Palin here because rather than offer substantive commentary I’m tempted to say something inflammatory like… if this doesn’t take the cake for asinine, moronic moves by an American administration I don’t know what does… Oops, anyway here’s Gov. Palin:

For years, states rich with an abundance of oil and natural gas have been begging Washington, DC politicians for the right to develop their own natural resources on federal lands and off shore. Such development would mean good paying jobs here in the United States (with health benefits) and the resulting royalties and taxes would provide money for federal coffers that would potentially off-set the need for higher income taxes, reduce the federal debt and deficits, or even help fund a trillion dollar health care plan if one were so inclined to support such a plan.

So why is it that during these tough times, when we have great needs at home, the Obama White House is prepared to send more than two billion of your hard-earned tax dollars to Brazil so that the nation’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, can drill off shore and create jobs developing its own resources? That’s all Americans want; but such rational energy development has been continually thwarted by rabid environmentalists, faceless bureaucrats and a seemingly endless parade of lawsuits aimed at shutting down new energy projects.

Gov. Palin is right, the simple reality is whether we like it or not oil and natural gas fuel our economy… While it’s good to see the Obama Administration supporting offshore oil drilling, their efforts would be better directed at encouraging the tapping of domestic resources and creating jobs for Americans rather than $2 billion of taxpayer money overseas.

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