Arctic Horizon, The Rise of Sarah...sounds like a good movie

As an Alaskan, and as a person who has met Sarah Palin (albeit briefly…only a brush with fame) I can honestly say that she knows her stuff.  She led the town of Wasilla as mayor from little more than a sleepy rural town to one of the fastest growing areas in Alaska, and by percentage of growth, in the US. 

She also has guts, serious guts.

The woman was appointed by former governor Frank Murkowski as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.  Shortly after reporting for duty in Juneau she discovered some serious corruption that led all the way to her boss...she exposed it and got fired.  Two years years later deposed Murkowski in the Republican primaries and snatched his job from him. 

If you don't think politics in Alaska is tough enough to qualify her consider this.  In 1992 we elected a governor from the Alaskan Independence Party, yeah...for real...a secessionist group (don't worry, Sarah has nothing to do with them).  In the middle of the campaign season, the head of the party disappeared.  His bullet riddled body was found a couple years later by hunters wrapped in a blue tarp out on the middle of nowhere. 

She'd be the kind of VP that McCain could count on.  And if the chips fell bad for him, she'd be a good president in my opinion.  She can hack it. 

Downside - she's too real-American mom, and way too pretty for a politician (Miss Alaska contender 1984)...therefore she's gonna get hammered by the dirt flingers to no end.  Thus starts the grist mill of politics.

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Palin put Alaska on the map! And not just as an Island next to Hawaii!

After all these years of the maps in schools and text books showing my wonderful home state as a cutout next to Hawaii that seemed to leave many people confused about how Alaska could be such a cold state since it was an island in the south Pacific, finally people are getting to know where we are.

 

More to come from me on my thoughts about how she will work out as Vice President, but in the mean time I would recommend checking out Jim Wrights blog http://stonekettlestation.blogspot.com/2008/08/worst-kept-secret-in-ohio.html .  If you don’t know about our wonderful states political history Jim has a great run down.

 

Enjoy.

 

Basil

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If I were President, how would I have reacted to 9/11

I am involved in several online bulletin board chat rooms and have found no end to the number of people who constantly second guess the President and the military in regards to their actions and positions regarding the War on Terror. More often than not, those second guessers do little more than point out the failures of the President without providing the slightest constructive suggestion for how to fix the perceived problems.

The closest they come to creating a solution is only in the context of hindsight, after events went one way or another. And they almost never acknowledge successes either.

To me folks who act like that are nothing more than "Armchair Quarterbacks" who shout and rant and rave about a game, who curse in front of their children and throw beer cans at the television. They are all talk but lack either the intelligence to lead a real team or the testicular fortitude (figure of speech ladies) to train and get on the field themselves.

That having been said...I'd like to challenge my readers to say how they would have handled the situation different. Realistically that is.

I'm not looking for hindsight observations, but real "What if I was President at that time and had the information the President acutally had". That information is not what the anti-Bush conspiracy theorists claim he knew but what we can verify he knew based on the actions of former President Clinton and the known history of bin Ladin, Saddam Hussein, and others related their shared cause.

Here are a handful of facts to start with, all facts that were known prior to Bush being in office.
1. Clinton felt Hussein was a dire threat: provable by the continuation of the embargo and the "Iraq No-Fly Zone" throughout his eight year term.

2. Two attempts were made by US forces against Osama Bin-Ladin in the late 90's(missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan)

3. US Emabassy bombings claimed by Al Qaeda in Africa killed hundreds.

4. The USS Cole strike proved to be carried out by Al Qaeda.

These four items alone, when put together with numerous other publicly available information resources can serve as the basis of your knowledge. Nothing more than what was known prior to 9/11 shoudl be considered when creating your "How would I handle it" scenario.

Please feel free to create as deep a scenario as you like. If you are inclined to the Democratic party I would recommend going under the assumption of a Democrat majority in both houses. But what I am looking for is real life-like possiblities, not a bunch of mindless conspiracy nut drivel...tell me in plausible terms what you would actually have done after the 9/11 attacks.

I hope to hear from you soon.

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On the Turning of a Decade...for me at least

It's my birthday.  One of the major ones too.

The Big 4-0

Why am I announcing this?  Simply because I think 40 is the best of all birthday's

It's the age where an individual can, if they've taken care of themselves, still keep up with the twenty somethings, but is also wise enough to outsmart the vast majority of them with little effort.

It's also the age when we can afford a few toys and know how to have a good time without puking our guts out towards the end of the evening. 

Forty is the age when most men hit their peak, and may even be at that peak without graying hair…if they're lucky…I've been lucky.

Forty is the age where I expect to make major changes, take exponential leaps forward, and still be able to turn my wife on with little effort.  (wink…wink…nudge…nudge…know what I mean?)

Some have been harrassing me with such statements as "You're over the hill now" or "Man, you're old".

Some have said I've past my prime and might as well throw it in...

To them I say…I still bench nearly 400 lbs, can sprint faster than most guys half my age, and if I get in a fight am smart enough to throw sand in your eyes right before I disable you with testicle smashing knee…

Not only that, I've embarked on a totally new career and intend over the next few years to become a household name as far as thriller writers is concerned…things are looking up

In short…forty is cool…way cool. 

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Changes of heart...whatever

So I spend most of a year working with a particular agent who praises my work, and says it'll go far, and it'll make a great movie..yada yada yada...

Then after six months of stalling and repeatedly saying I'll get back with you in two weeks, says she's really concentrating on biographies and self-help books now and has decided not to carry my book and that I should look for a different agent.

Ya know...woulda' been nice to hear that in January after my final text made it's way up to the silent realm of her office instead of sitting on it for eight months.  Man...this is a hard business to get started in.

OK...that's off my chest.  Time to start over, where's the guy with the starting gun?  What?  At lunch...screw him then...I'm already out of the starting blocks anyway...time to sprint!

Basil Sands

Who Dares, Wins

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Karl's Last Flight
65 Below
In The Shadows
Faithful Warrior - coming late summer 2008

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