See you in January 2010- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I'll be taking a break from blogging (I've already been on a pretty long break, sorry about that) until the first week of January. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

For hockey fans, remember the Winter Classic is on New Year's Day at 1pm EST on NBC!! Go Flyers!

"Govern" vs. "Serve"

While reading Going Rogue I noticed something really important and I don't know if it's been mentioned anywhere else or not. Sarah uses the word "serve" where most other politicians say "govern." For example:

Ted Stevens served us for a long time.

I served Alaskans by ___.

In my terms as mayor, I served in a conservative way.

Those are just sentences I made up because I didn't want to copy directly from the book. But they are an example as to how Palin views public servants who we, citizens, elect. She views them as literally serving the public, not governing over the public. In each of those instances I've seen people use the word "govern," which if you think about it, is not what they were elected to do. That's such a refreshing distinction she uses.

Climate change: another issue the left has destroyed with their involvement

There are some real, pressing issues that we as humans should do regarding taking care of the Earth while we're here. In my opinion, we should be constantly examining and improving how we dispose of waste, create energy, use batteries, oil, construct buildings, use radio spectrum, etc. That being said, I do not believe that "climate change" is caused by man whatsoever. This is something the Left made up so they could get their claws into an important issue and milk it for all it's worth. Creating this outrageous idea that "climate change" is caused by man will give the Left free reign to police how we breathe and charge us for it. It's just like everything else the Left ruins. They exploit someone, something or some event by guilting you, blaming you, or pulling at your heartstrings in order for you to cave and give them what they want: votes, money and power.

They've created a smokescreen now by creating this fight over whether the change is caused by man or is natural - that takes away from other, more important conservation issues.

Palin had an op-ed piece published in the Washington Post today that really hits home how I feel about this issue. Once again, she says it so much better and taps into her actual experience, something DC beltway politicians don't have (yet they're creating the policy):

But while we recognize the occurrence of these natural, cyclical environmental trends, we can't say with assurance that man's activities cause weather changes.
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In his inaugural address, President Obama declared his intention to "restore science to its rightful place." But instead of staying home from Copenhagen and sending a message that the United States will not be a party to fraudulent scientific practices, the president has upped the ante. He plans to fly in at the climax of the conference in hopes of sealing a "deal." Whatever deal he gets, it will be no deal for the American people. What Obama really hopes to bring home from Copenhagen is more pressure to pass the Democrats' cap-and-tax proposal. This is a political move. The last thing America needs is misguided legislation that will raise taxes and cost jobs -- particularly when the push for such legislation rests on agenda-driven science.

Also take note that the corrupt media might try and "silence" Palin by not publishing her opinions in this manner anymore. I include NRO in this since they linked a HuffPo article about Palin being unqualified to write an op-ed instead of discussing the content of her op-ed.

The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder begged to differ with Smith's latter point. "Her boycott call is like a video press release," he wrote. "She's looking for a way to inject herself into this and found it." Ambinder published a critical "annotated" version of Palin's piece, noting at the onset, "Once again, the Washington Post has given Sarah Palin the chance to harness herself to the political story of the hour."
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The response to the op-ed was even more critical from science writers. ScienceBlogs.com's Tim Lambert chose to headline his piece on Palin's op-ed: "The Washington Post can't go out of business fast enough." He pointed out that the Post's own reporting contradicted claims made by Palin in the op-ed. "The Washington Post simply does not care about the accuracy of the columns it publishes," he concluded.

This is a perfect example of why Palin is smart to stay on Facebook and Twitter, so her voice will be heard unfiltered by the corrupt media, and also so her voice will be heard at all if media outlets give her the cold shoulder. By staying on social media sites and alternative methods for getting her voice out, she's in control of the message and always one step ahead of the corrupt media.

A few photos from today's book signing

ETA: I don't know why my photos are getting cut off on the sides. I swear they look better than this! I can't get them to publish normally on this blog. I'm not tech savvy so I don't know how to change the photos to make them look normal. I'm sorry.

What an exhilarating day!! Seeing Sarah in person was amazing! She is stunning and gorgeous in person, absolutely beautiful. I also got to see Todd, Trig, and Chuck & Sally Heath. I also got to shake her hand and she asked me my name! How exciting!!

I'm a Texas gal so I don't handle cold weather too well, and to me 30 degrees is cold. I arrived at around 5:45am and waited outside until they opened the doors at 9am. The first 400 people in line got to wait inside from 9am - 11am when the signing started, and boy was I glad for that! I couldn't feel my toes by the time we went inside.

I have a super busy weekend planned so I'm just going to have to post a few photos and then run, but I wanted to get these up. Hopefully I'll have some time later to explain how amazing the day was in detail.

At the book store around 5:45am








Around 8am


You might not be able to see but that's Mike Gallagher, host of the Mike Gallagher show on 660am KSKY; I think his show is national but not sure. He broadcasted his show live from Legacy Books.


This is from inside the store and seeing the people still in line.


Inside the store again, looking outside. I love this guy's sign.


This is the desk where Sarah sat to sign the books; she hasn't arrived yet.


You can kind of see Todd holding Trig in this pic. This is when they walked in store, but they were walking so fast I couldn't really get a good one. I believe the people next to them are Chuck and Sally because they were also next to Sarah's desk while she was signing.




The big blue bus :)




They checked our bags and cameras when we got close to the signing area so I didn't get any of her signing or up close at all. :( That's too bad. But I'm happy they had good security. I'm also the happy to be the proud owner of a signed copy of Going Rogue!!

Tomorrow is the big day!

I will be attending Palin's book signing in Plano, TX tomorrow. I'm so excited! I will of course give you a full report right here! I hope to take pictures of the outside line and maybe some of the inside of the book store as well, if they'll let me. I hope I can get some of the bus, too!! Whatever I get I'll post here. See you tomorrow with my report! :)

"Sarah Palin's Governing Philosophy Emerges in Going Rogue" -Riehl World View

Great article at Riehl World View posted November 30 regarding Palin's immunity to insider politics and her passion for fighting corruption in government, as shown in Going Rogue. Here's an excerpt but you should read the whole thing:

Palin is said to have resisted the type of influence peddling to which many politicians succumb, even when it meant going against her early political mentors. While the governing mentality first demonstrated itself in Wasilla, it's claimed it stayed with her right to the Governor's office in Juneau.

In one of the first tests of her independence, Palin opposed a proposal touted by Carney, her political patron, to force residents to pay for neighborhood trash pickup rather than hauling their garbage to the dump themselves, as most did, and as Palin says she still does. Why was this so important to Carney? Because he owned the local garbage truck company.

The portrait of Palin that emerges [from Going Rogue] is not someone who is anti-government, but someone who is focused on making government provide critical services and programs, while trimming out the fat.

Palin Facebook: Media's Priorities Shine Bright, Again! :)

From her Facebook notes:

Media's Priorities Shine Bright, Again! :)
Today at 3:40pm

It’s really comical at this point! Despite all of the important events happening in the world today – the president’s speech tonight on the strategy in Afghanistan, the Senate debate over health care reform, the disturbing details of the “Climategate” scandal, the continuing challenges facing the world economy – the media is concerned about my travel and lodging arrangements on my book tour?! Does this sound familiar? It should. The media showed the same out-of-proportion obsession with my personal arrangements, clothes, and hairstyles last year instead of focusing on the crucial issues involving the election.

So what is this news “story”? That I fly on an airplane to complete some of the stops on my book tour when it’s impractical or physically impossible to reach the next event on time by bus. Some news outlets are behaving as if my travel was a secret that they didn’t know about – despite the fact that I’ve tweeted about my flights and at least one local newspaper reported on the arrival of my flight into Rochester, NY. What’s even funnier is that these same media outlets think it’s shocking that we stay in hotels. I guess they expected us to pitch a tent alongside the road. We love the great outdoors, but such an arrangement is hardly practical for a book tour. Using common sense, it was determined that traveling by plane between some stops would save time and energy and allow me to go to more events. Economically speaking for HarperCollins, it’s more efficient to travel by charter, and I am very grateful to the publisher for providing my family and me with this incredible opportunity to shake hands with as many Americans as possible on this book tour.

If you’re scratching your head wondering why my flight and hotel logistics warrant news coverage, join the club. They can, of course, report on whatever they like, but in my opinion CBS loses whatever professional integrity it still has when it links in its report to a website devoted to the bizarre conspiracy theory that I’m not the real mother of my son Trig.

I’m truly humbled by the response to my book tour by everyday Americans, and if traveling by plane means that I can meet more of these wonderful people, I’ll travel by plane (or bus or train or canoe or dog sled or whatever it takes). Please enjoy the photos below!

- Sarah Palin