From the Rocky Mountain News’ Letters to the Editor, we get this parade of ignorance:

First, this letter to the editor is nothing more than a verbatim cut/paste job from an Internet message forum, and has been subsequently re-posted in numerous right-wing blogs.

Original posting here: http://forums.military.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/69719858/m/4970067791001

Rudimentary use of the Google (search terms: “Sarah Palin Security Clearance“).

Mr. Wooten’s points for originality = 0

The assertions, however, are completely unsubstantiated and the fail utterly under any degree of scrutiny.

Missile Interceptor Defense? Do you mean Star Wars? Or a Patriot missile battery? As it breaks down, the U.S. has three primary “front lines” of defense: one in Alaska, one in Europe, and one in Canada (for those missiles that would come across the North Pole/Arctic Circle). All of these “front lines” are legacy Cold War deployments for a threat that ceased to exist almost 20 years ago. Yes, Russia is still a threat, but they now pose a very different threat than what we knew back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

She’s “Commander in Chief” of the AK Nat’l Guard? Yes. But as others have noted, their primary (and most often performed) duties include search and rescue along the Alaskan coast, and cold-weather research and training for military units expected to operate in cold weather environments. The primary responsibilities of the missile battalion involve monitoring RADAR for airborne threats–they don’t even get to monitor movements of Russian missile batteries. The monitoring of Russian ground forces is the responsibility of the U.S. (federal, not state) intelligence agencies (the DoD, NSA, and CIA). Palin only gets that information which is relevant to Alaska.

Do you honestly think that Palin is the only governor briefed on national security issues? Yes, Alaska is sooooo critical. But New York, Florida, Texas, California? … Screw ‘em.

Palin has a higher security clearance? Please. Biden and Obama both serve on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. You’re asserting that the Gov. of AK has a higher security clearance than the Senate Foreign Relations Committee? Foreign relations don’t involve just champagne soirees and black-tie affairs, a la James Bond. From the committee’s website:

http://foreign.senate.gov/

So just what is the “terroristic threat” to which Alaska would be exposed that Sarah Palin would need briefing on counterterrorism efforts?

Of all the places where terroristic threats are of concern, Alaska has to rank in the bottom 1% of the list. Alaska has no national landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Sears Tower, or Golden Gate Bridge. Although it is home to Denali, the highest peak in North America.

The only viable target in Alaska is the Alaskan pipeline, and it is more likely to succumb to wear/tear/age/weather than to terrorist activity. Terrorists want to instill fear in the population and draw attention to their cause. In this respect, they would get more mileage from bombing a day care center or office building (i.e., Timothy McVeigh or 9/11) than the Alaskan pipeline. Besides, the Alaskan Pipeline has already been deliberately blown up once (Feb. 1978) and ruptured by a gunshot from a drunken hunter (Oct. 2001). Impact to our national energy infrastructure? Nil. In addition to the above referenced incidents, the pipeline has been shut down several times for maintenance and reconstruction with no visible impact.

What else would terrorists do? Scale Denali and blow its peak off? Kudos to them if they can accomplish it.

Joe’s question to Obama was this:

After an extended explanation by Obama and some follow up questions from Joe, Obama summed up with this:

… and it is this comment that has the Republicans squealing in agony, because “taxes are bad.”

As I have mentioned previously, the language is meant to frame the debate in exceedingly simplistic terms. In the end, it becomes a case where anyone who suggests a tax in any way, shape, or form—or anyone who does not advocate for the abolition of taxes—is a “socialist” or a “Marxist,” advocating “welfare,” the “redistribution of wealth,” an “economic nanny state,” or any other pejorative connotation of government actually providing something more to its citizens than a fire department and national defense.

Thus, people like Glenn Beck make a blanket accusation that Democrats are “Marxists” (via Crooks and Liars):

Oh really?

Since when is it Marxist to suggest that those who benefit from an economic system have an obligation to fund it?

If you really want to live in a law and order society, they you have to pay taxes. There’s no way around it. Government isn’t some sort of economic clown car that you can pull out whatever you want, but put in nothing.

Freedom isn’t free. You have to pay for it.

… and that’s what taxes are for.

Relics

Out of Thin Air

Solitary Standing

Lone Tree

Photos by Becca00.

These are the four images I submitted to my city’s annual, juried art show.

Soft Focus

Quandary Climber

Quandary Peak

Photos by Becca00.

I attempted to summit Quandary Peak this weekend, but the weather conditions just wouldn’t permit me to do it. Ambient temp was around 20 degrees (or just below), and winds of between 40-65 mph kept wind chills around -30 degrees. The middle image is a climber that was in front of me. He wasn’t able to summit, either. In fact, of a group of about 10 people, only four were able to reach the summit.

Looks like I have something to do this coming summer.

San Francisco cityscape, taken from Telegraph Hill.

Corner of Kearny and Columbus.

Grace Cathedral at the top of Nob Hill.

Coit Tower.

Photos by Becca00.

A few random pictures I took while wandering around downtown San Francisco.

The Reason for the Season, originally uploaded by Becca.

When the fundamentalists get their Christmas on, they can get pretty … umm … freaky about it.

Located in rural North Carolina, this abortion of a Christmas display (pun intended) is staged every year for the entertainment of the locals. Woopee doopee.

I want candy.

[The image hosted on Flickr has notes which point out some of the more absurd props in this scene]

Solitary Standing, originally uploaded by Becca.

Twilight Trees, originally uploaded by Becca.

More pictures from my visit to the North Carolina coast on Wed.

Labels: flickr, images, photography, photos

Sunset, Fort Fischer (21 Nov. 07), originally uploaded by Becca.

What am I thankful for? That there isn’t some boogeyman in the sky that I have to prostrate myself before for beautiful sights such as this.

Poppies by Georgy

Unknown by Becca.

Relics by Becca.

“And still the dark stain spreads between their shoulder blades.
A mute reminder of the poppy fields and graves.
And when the fight was over,
We spent what they had made.
But … In the bottom of our hearts we felt the final cut.”

—Pink Floyd, “Southampton Dock,” The Final Cut

Relics, originally uploaded by Becca.

Another life … another time.

Labels: flickr, images, photography, photos