I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln’s cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked “North to the Future”. But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this “Seward’s Folly”. Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but right path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.

Alaska’s mission – to contribute to America. We’re strategic in the world as the air crossroads of the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this – Alaska would be part of America’s great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, and oil and gas. It’s energy! God gave us energy.

WHAT?

To use a Fourth of July analogy, she just dumped another bucket of lighter fluid on the open flame.

BY THE WAY: Those of you in the MSM and conservative media who are trying desperately to make this nutty move sound like a brilliant plan from the mind of a political genius… keep it up, you’re encouraging her and she’s just dumb enough to buy it.

*wink*

Gov. Sarah Palin will resign her office in a few weeks, she said during a news conference at her home Friday morning. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the Governor’s Picnic at the end of the month.

UPDATE: Holy crap did you see her statement? Welcome to crazytown.

Beverly Wooley, who has worked more than 20 years in public health in Alaska, most of it with the municipality of Anchorage, ended her stint as state public health director on Wednesday.

…

The key source of tension was legislation that would have required girls under age 17 to get parental consent for an abortion, Wooley said Thursday. The bill, which Palin actively supported, passed the state House but stalled in the Senate.

…

Wooley said she also intended to answer questions from legislators and said she would rely on data, not anyone’s personal beliefs. Whether she personally agreed with the governor is beside the point, Wooley said.

She intended to refer to studies from states that already had passed similar legislation, she said. Some of the research shows that, with parental involvement requirements, girls tend to get abortions later in their pregnancy, which is riskier and more expensive, she said. Other research shows fewer girls get abortions, which abortion foes like Palin likely would applaud. Wooley cautioned that the studies are small and not definitive because such laws are still fairly new.

As we all know too well, Sarah Palin’s not exactly a fan of facts.

MP3

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is asking parents to immediately stop using a series of inflatable floats for babies in swimming pools, announcing a voluntary recall of about four million floats on Thursday.

The items — which inflate to seat babies and toddlers as they float on water — are manufactured by Massachussetts-based Aqua Leisure Industries. The company has voluntarily recalled 14 models because the legs straps in the seat of the float can tear, causing children to slip into the water and pose a drowning risk, the commission said in a statement.

Green Lantern First Flight DVD

“That’s not part of their platform and he was only a ‘member’ bc independent alaskans too often check that ‘Alaska Independent’ box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan,” Palin wrote. “He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed.”

Palin was attempting to bend the facts ever so slightly to fit neatly into her version of events. In truth, the box that Alaskans have the option of checking when registering to vote states the full name of the party, “Alaskan Independence Party,” not “Alaska Independent,” which would make an error by uncommitted voters more plausible.

Clearly irritated by what he saw as Palin’s attempt to mislead her own campaign and apparently determined to demonstrate that the ultimate authority rested with him, Schmidt put the matter to rest once and for all with a longer response to everyone in the e-mail chain.

“Secession,” he wrote. “It is their entire reason for existence. A cursory examination of the website shows that the party exists for the purpose of seceding from the union. That is the stated goal on the front page of the web site. Our records indicate that todd was a member for seven years. If this is incorrect then we need to understand the discrepancy. The statement you are suggesting be released would be innaccurate. The innaccuracy would bring greater media attention to this matter and be a distraction. According to your staff there have been no media inquiries into this and you received no questions about it during your interviews. If you are asked about it you should smile and say many alaskans who love their country join the party because it speeks to a tradition of political independence. Todd loves his country

We will not put out a statement and inflame this and create a situation where john has to adress this.”

If I were writing a book about the McCain campaign in 2008 I would have to call it “What The F**** Was John Thinking?”

Or, it is possible that Mitt Romney is an untrustworthy panderer of the worst sort.

There’s this thing called the first amendment, and even sickos get the benefit of it. At least they should.

A California-based company that produced and distributed obscene materials and its owners were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh today for violating federal obscenity laws, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan announced.

U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster sentenced Extreme Associates, Inc., co-owners Robert Zicari, aka Rob Black, 35, and his wife, Janet Romano, aka Lizzie Borden, 32, both of Northridge, Calif., to one year and one day in prison. Extreme Associates, Zicari and Romano pleaded guilty on March 11, 2009, to a felony charge of conspiracy to distribute obscene material through the mails and over the Internet. Through their plea agreements, the company and its owners acknowledged responsibility for the conduct charged in Counts 2 through 10 of the indictment – distributing three videos through the mail and six individual video clips over the Internet to Western Pennsylvania. In addition, they forfeited to the United States the Internet domain name, extremeassociates.com, which was used to commit the violations. The company is now defunct.

‘Extreme Associates produced and distributed sexually degrading material that portrayed women in the most vile and depraved manner imaginable,’ stated Ms. Buchanan. ‘These prison sentences affirm the need to continue to protect the public from obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy material, the production of which degrades all of us,’ she added.

They wanted this one 70-something heartbeat away from the Oval Office. Scary.

Two McCain camapign sources tell me Schmidt was a leading proponent of keeping Palin muzzled and preventing her from talking to even conservative media — a claim that seems to undercut Schmidt’s claims of confidence in her.