"The Digital Revolution In Reverse"
June 10, 2011 9:25 AM Subscribe
"Mother Jones [and, later, other media outlets] requested [Sarah] Palin's gubernatorial emails during the 2008 election. Almost three years later, the wait is over. ... Today, at [1:00 pm ET] in Juneau, the state of Alaska is scheduled to release 24,199 pages of emails Sarah Palin sent and received during her half-term as governor of the Last Frontier. State workers will distribute six-box sets and hand trucks (which must be returned) to representatives of a dozen or so media outfits" "Volunteers from the League of Women Voters and the Retired Public Employees of Alaska will be at Juneau's Centennial Hall convention center ... look[ing] for any significant or interesting emails, stick a post-it note on the page, and pass them to journalists, who also will be reading through the 24,000 pages. Exact copies of the best of those emails will be posted online immediately. ... In the same room ... a second set of the documents will be scanned for msnbc.com by Crivella West, an analytics and investigative-research company from Pittsburgh, returning the records to their original electronic form, allowing anyone anywhere to join in the crowdsourcing. That free, public, searchable archive will go online, sometime later on Friday, at http://palinemail.msnbc.msn.com." "The Washington Post is looking for '100 organized and diligent readers' to work with reporters to 'analyze, contextualize, and research the emails.' The New York Times is employing a similar system.'"*
"Palin was governor for 966 days, before ending her term abruptly. As of Friday, [the various media outlets'] request for public records was pending for 997 days.
At $725.97 for the latest set of documents, that price is a bargain, only 3 cents a page for the photocopying, compared with the state's first cost estimate of $15 million for search and copying costs during the 2008 campaign, when officials were flustered by the burst of attention focused on their governor. At that point Crivella West offered to do the work for the state for free. The state didn't respond to the offer, but msnbc.com teamed up with the company to plan an online archive.
Executives in the office of the current governor, Sean Parnell, Palin's former lieutenant governor, said they could not figure out how to release the electronic records in an electronic form, not after certain records had to be printed so portions could be blacked out or withheld entirely."*
posted by ericb at 9:26 AM on June 10, 2011
Wow, good for them. It's weird, the setup of random volunteers flagging interesting snippets for the major press reminds me of nothing so much as Wikileaks.
posted by Lemurrhea at 9:28 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Lemurrhea at 9:28 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
Talk about your government make-work projects!
posted by briank at 9:28 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by briank at 9:28 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Poor Sarah, history is always bringing her down.
posted by 2bucksplus at 9:28 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by 2bucksplus at 9:28 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Unless someone has fairly strong reason to suspect she's secretly been paid off to muddy public discourse or has some other extreme and nefarious scheme going on, I honestly can't think why everyone is even going to all this trouble.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:29 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:29 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
well, everyone talks about crowd sourcing things .. This seems like the next logical extension.. (what were the words of wisdom for contracting ? "Never do spec work" ... )
posted by k5.user at 9:30 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by k5.user at 9:30 AM on June 10, 2011
Lemurrhea: "It's weird, the setup of random volunteers flagging interesting snippets for the major press reminds me of nothing so much as Wikileaks."
It reminds me more of the MP expenses scandal, which at least was plausibly not already in electronic form.
posted by pwnguin at 9:32 AM on June 10, 2011
It reminds me more of the MP expenses scandal, which at least was plausibly not already in electronic form.
posted by pwnguin at 9:32 AM on June 10, 2011
EmpressCallipygos: I honestly can't think why everyone is even going to all this trouble.
For the potentially endless source of additional hilarity at Palin's expense?
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:32 AM on June 10, 2011 [22 favorites]
For the potentially endless source of additional hilarity at Palin's expense?
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:32 AM on June 10, 2011 [22 favorites]
Frankly, EmpressCallipygos, especially in light of her recent knee-slapping statements regarding American History, I think it's purely for the entertainment value. Palin is the most hilarious performance artist I've ever... uh, you say she's serious, with actual political ambition? Never mind.
posted by kinnakeet at 9:33 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by kinnakeet at 9:33 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Slack, I remain confident that if Sarah Palin and everyone and everything connected with her exploded in a cloud of snowmobile exhaust tomorrow, we would still be able to find other things to laugh at.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:33 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well, after we finished laughing at the explosion.
posted by box at 9:36 AM on June 10, 2011 [23 favorites]
posted by box at 9:36 AM on June 10, 2011 [23 favorites]
State employees and interns opened each e-mail, one at a time, and converted it to a PDF file, and printed that file.
So they spent who knows how many hours doing this for tens of thousands of emails, rather than hiring a single programmer to spend 10 minutes writing a script to do that automatically?
posted by burnmp3s at 9:37 AM on June 10, 2011 [52 favorites]
So they spent who knows how many hours doing this for tens of thousands of emails, rather than hiring a single programmer to spend 10 minutes writing a script to do that automatically?
posted by burnmp3s at 9:37 AM on June 10, 2011 [52 favorites]
EmpressCallipygos: Slack, I remain confident that if Sarah Palin and everyone and everything connected with her exploded in a cloud of snowmobile exhaust tomorrow, we would still be able to find other things to laugh at.
I agree with you 100%, but I'd love to put that theory to the test.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:37 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
I agree with you 100%, but I'd love to put that theory to the test.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:37 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
Why was this digital information converted to hard copy before release? To create difficulties in reviewing it? Does the FOIA not have anything to say about information being made available digitally?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:39 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 9:39 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I have no good words to say about Sarah Inc but this kind of media circus only serves to fuel the cult of personality that she is cultivating. I wish she would just go away, and this is demonstrably the wrong way to make that happen.
posted by londonmark at 9:39 AM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
posted by londonmark at 9:39 AM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
TO: Sarah.Palin@alaska.gov
FROM: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
Subject: RE: Africa continent / country question
Governor Palin, per your request, attached is a map of the African continent, which you can clearly see is composed of several individual countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia, etc. I hope this clears up your concern. Please let me know if you need anything else.
Good luck with tomorrow's Katie Couric interview! Remember: If you're asked about it, the name of the major Anchorage-based newspaper is the "Anchorage Daily News." It also wouldn't hurt to toss in major names like Time, Newsweek and the New York Times as sources of information.
Best,
Dave
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:39 AM on June 10, 2011 [15 favorites]
FROM: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
Subject: RE: Africa continent / country question
Governor Palin, per your request, attached is a map of the African continent, which you can clearly see is composed of several individual countries such as Egypt, Nigeria, Namibia, etc. I hope this clears up your concern. Please let me know if you need anything else.
Good luck with tomorrow's Katie Couric interview! Remember: If you're asked about it, the name of the major Anchorage-based newspaper is the "Anchorage Daily News." It also wouldn't hurt to toss in major names like Time, Newsweek and the New York Times as sources of information.
Best,
Dave
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:39 AM on June 10, 2011 [15 favorites]
Why was this digital information converted to hard copy before release?
From the more inside text:
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:42 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
From the more inside text:
Executives in the office of the current governor, Sean Parnell, Palin's former lieutenant governor, said they could not figure out how to release the electronic records in an electronic form, not after certain records had to be printed so portions could be blacked out or withheld entirely.Which sounds like bull or extreme incompetence. Either or both is possible.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:42 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
I can't wait to run DadaDodo (a Markov sequence generator) against Palin's e-mails and then play a little game to see which output is a real e-mail, and which is gibberish.
posted by mark242 at 9:42 AM on June 10, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by mark242 at 9:42 AM on June 10, 2011 [9 favorites]
burnmp3s/stupidsexyFlanders: that way they can complain about how much the lib'rool meedia are costing the state... It also allows emails or sections of emails to be redacted no chance of recovering the original text (unlike if some fool sets the text to have a black background only)
posted by nielm at 9:43 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by nielm at 9:43 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
So they spent who knows how many hours doing this for tens of thousands of emails, rather than hiring a single programmer to spend 10 minutes writing a script to do that automatically?
If you did it with a script, you wouldn't know what was in the emails before they were released.
posted by carter at 9:44 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
If you did it with a script, you wouldn't know what was in the emails before they were released.
posted by carter at 9:44 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
stupidsexyFlanders: Why was this digital information converted to hard copy before release? To create difficulties in reviewing it?
I wondered the same thing. I'm assuming that they're thinking it will make it hard to immediately search for key words or group emails by themes or similar topics. Either that or they bought too much copier paper and need space in the closet for something else.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:45 AM on June 10, 2011
I wondered the same thing. I'm assuming that they're thinking it will make it hard to immediately search for key words or group emails by themes or similar topics. Either that or they bought too much copier paper and need space in the closet for something else.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:45 AM on June 10, 2011
I honestly can't think why everyone is even going to all this trouble.
I thought the whole thing started with how she allegedly used her powers as governor to retaliate against a business rival of her husband.
posted by nomisxid at 9:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
I thought the whole thing started with how she allegedly used her powers as governor to retaliate against a business rival of her husband.
posted by nomisxid at 9:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
I thought the whole thing started with how she allegedly used her powers as governor to retaliate against a business rival of her husband.
I'm trying to think of how absolutely anything would change at all if this scandal was either confirmed or disproved by the emails and I'm coming up blank.
posted by theodolite at 9:50 AM on June 10, 2011
I'm trying to think of how absolutely anything would change at all if this scandal was either confirmed or disproved by the emails and I'm coming up blank.
posted by theodolite at 9:50 AM on June 10, 2011
Twitter feeds I follow from conservatives indicated that Sarah Palin's team sent out an email to her army of devoted followers to 'volunteer' to read the emails for the journalists, but to send them stuff that showed how great Sarah was, not how inept, in an effort to sabotage the 'gotchas' from the 'lame-stream media.'
posted by crunchland at 9:51 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by crunchland at 9:51 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
I saw the hard copy and I can tell you that it's a 24,199-page list of all the magazines she's read.
posted by storybored at 9:52 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by storybored at 9:52 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Palin is a weapons-grade fucking idiot who has no business being left alone with anything more complicated than a pencil sharpener.
That being said... the people who believe she's a fucking idiot will not find anything in this document cache to convince them that she's not, and the people who believe she's this country's one true moral authority and savior-in-waiting will not find anything in this that'd make their faith in her lapse.
Anything incriminatory will have been scrubbed out -- they've had three years to hide the bodies -- so this is basically the Wasilla version of the Charlie Sheen show with fewer porn stars. Fun as a side project for Mother Jones, but it's a little disconcerting that the WSJ and WP are invested in this.
posted by delfin at 9:52 AM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
That being said... the people who believe she's a fucking idiot will not find anything in this document cache to convince them that she's not, and the people who believe she's this country's one true moral authority and savior-in-waiting will not find anything in this that'd make their faith in her lapse.
Anything incriminatory will have been scrubbed out -- they've had three years to hide the bodies -- so this is basically the Wasilla version of the Charlie Sheen show with fewer porn stars. Fun as a side project for Mother Jones, but it's a little disconcerting that the WSJ and WP are invested in this.
posted by delfin at 9:52 AM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
Yea, this is stupid and just plain obstructionist by the Alaskan government. The simplest explanation I can come up with as to "why" is that they have deliberately omitted certain emails and hope that swamping with a bunch of old-school paper would prevent anyone from noticing.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 9:54 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Old'n'Busted at 9:54 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
I wish she would just go away, and this is demonstrably the wrong way to make that happen.
Given that she isn't going to go away and that even if she might, there's no way to demonstrate that "ignoring her" would make that happen, would you accept this as the next best thing?
Those emails showed the vigorous role the 'first dude' played in the operation of state government.
Did he ever tweet his weiner? (The American people deserve to know!!)
posted by octobersurprise at 9:56 AM on June 10, 2011
Given that she isn't going to go away and that even if she might, there's no way to demonstrate that "ignoring her" would make that happen, would you accept this as the next best thing?
Those emails showed the vigorous role the 'first dude' played in the operation of state government.
Did he ever tweet his weiner? (The American people deserve to know!!)
posted by octobersurprise at 9:56 AM on June 10, 2011
Anything incriminatory will have been scrubbed out.
Probably, but I've gotten the impression that she may not have made many friends in Alaskan government.
posted by drezdn at 9:56 AM on June 10, 2011
Probably, but I've gotten the impression that she may not have made many friends in Alaskan government.
posted by drezdn at 9:56 AM on June 10, 2011
When you share electronic versions, it's hard to tell what information you might accidentally be sharing - information that isn't visible, like hidden Word edits or metadata. There have been examples before of governments redacting info in PDFs that turned out to be still intact in the PDF despite seeming to be blacked out.
posted by zippy at 9:57 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by zippy at 9:57 AM on June 10, 2011
I'm trying to think of how absolutely anything would change at all if this scandal was either confirmed or disproved by the emails and I'm coming up blank.
If she committed and admitted to a criminal act, some people might care. Some people might not.
posted by nomisxid at 9:58 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
If she committed and admitted to a criminal act, some people might care. Some people might not.
posted by nomisxid at 9:58 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
they have deliberately omitted certain emails
They already have said something like 2100 emails are omitted, and there is a broad definition for things that they feel fall under the criteria of needing to be held back.
I don't think there will be anything in here, but with this much data, and with The Internet™, it'll be interesting to see what nuggets do get found that catch her in lies.
Ultimately you can just hear her a month from now, talking about how her entire history has been laid out, and she survived it, blah blah, as she announces she's running for office.
posted by cashman at 9:59 AM on June 10, 2011
They already have said something like 2100 emails are omitted, and there is a broad definition for things that they feel fall under the criteria of needing to be held back.
I don't think there will be anything in here, but with this much data, and with The Internet™, it'll be interesting to see what nuggets do get found that catch her in lies.
Ultimately you can just hear her a month from now, talking about how her entire history has been laid out, and she survived it, blah blah, as she announces she's running for office.
posted by cashman at 9:59 AM on June 10, 2011
At least she gets to kill some trees.
posted by Artw at 10:00 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 10:00 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
It's for chrissakes ALASKA - what could they possibly need to redact? I mean, nothing against our brothers and sisters to the north, but not a lot of secret squirrel stuff going on in the land of the caribou, eh what?
posted by Mooski at 10:01 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by Mooski at 10:01 AM on June 10, 2011
Sarah Palin is a vocal and visible shill for a group of people who have no problem with claiming the right to do things like peer up our collective assholes for whatever reason they deem necessary.
Turnabout's fair play.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Turnabout's fair play.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
In my ideal world, it would be Laurie Anderson running for president in 2012, and Sarah Palin booking sold-out engagements at BAM.
posted by hermitosis at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by hermitosis at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
They already have said something like 2100 emails are omitted
On the upside, if she makes a run for office, The Missing 2100 can be the new Obama's Birth Certificate.
posted by sophistrie at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
On the upside, if she makes a run for office, The Missing 2100 can be the new Obama's Birth Certificate.
posted by sophistrie at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
It's for chrissakes ALASKA - what could they possibly need to redact?
Shhh. Not only has Sarah been watching Russia from her house, she's been TAKING NOTES.
posted by delfin at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Shhh. Not only has Sarah been watching Russia from her house, she's been TAKING NOTES.
posted by delfin at 10:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
So are some things online yet, or is msnbc's link (the search feature there) pulling up stuff from that earlier, smaller request? I did a search for 'happy' and found "Iron Dog". Todd can talk about Iron Dog all day. Iron dog?
posted by cashman at 10:06 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by cashman at 10:06 AM on June 10, 2011
TO: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
FROM: Sarah.Palin@alaska.gov
Subject: RE: Africa continent / country question
Dear Dave:
I'll just have to wing it, I can never remember things like that without a Tellapromter and that mean lady Katie won't let me have one. She's so smart but could she kill a moose from a snowmachine?
Maybe when I'm Vice-Pres, I can go to Arfica and learn more about this country or whatever it is. Do they have a Disneyland or something like that there? My kids would like that.
I had one of my assistance get a copy of the New York Times and it's all printed too small and the ink gets on my fingers. What kind of crappy newspaper gets your hands all dirty.
I don't know why you worry about all this. America loves me because I love America and the freedom that is America and the right to make money and not worry about what the rest of the world says. We need to push this.
Have to go. My computer's cup-holder won't stay out and i just spilled coffee all over that NY paper. That never happens when i watch Fox.
Sincerely
Gov. Sarah
posted by pyramid termite at 10:07 AM on June 10, 2011 [14 favorites]
FROM: Sarah.Palin@alaska.gov
Subject: RE: Africa continent / country question
Dear Dave:
I'll just have to wing it, I can never remember things like that without a Tellapromter and that mean lady Katie won't let me have one. She's so smart but could she kill a moose from a snowmachine?
Maybe when I'm Vice-Pres, I can go to Arfica and learn more about this country or whatever it is. Do they have a Disneyland or something like that there? My kids would like that.
I had one of my assistance get a copy of the New York Times and it's all printed too small and the ink gets on my fingers. What kind of crappy newspaper gets your hands all dirty.
I don't know why you worry about all this. America loves me because I love America and the freedom that is America and the right to make money and not worry about what the rest of the world says. We need to push this.
Have to go. My computer's cup-holder won't stay out and i just spilled coffee all over that NY paper. That never happens when i watch Fox.
Sincerely
Gov. Sarah
posted by pyramid termite at 10:07 AM on June 10, 2011 [14 favorites]
WackyLeaks?
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:07 AM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 10:07 AM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
In other Palin news: Sarah Palin snub by Margaret Thatcher aides infuriates US rightwing
posted by homunculus at 10:08 AM on June 10, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 10:08 AM on June 10, 2011 [9 favorites]
I am looking forward to following the extensive back and forth discussion as she attempts to claim her Nigerian inheritance.
posted by notme at 10:10 AM on June 10, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by notme at 10:10 AM on June 10, 2011 [10 favorites]
Ah, nevermind - I used the wrong search. The search for the new emails is here.
posted by cashman at 10:11 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by cashman at 10:11 AM on June 10, 2011
But it's not populated yet.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:12 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:12 AM on June 10, 2011
In related news: It's Sarah Palin vs. the GOP Establishment -- "The most striking part of the new documentary about Sarah Palin is its attack on the Republican Old Guard."
posted by ericb at 10:15 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by ericb at 10:15 AM on June 10, 2011
From the Thatcher link:
"What he doesn't understand is that Palin's nutsiness is not a partisan matter in Britain, or anywhere else in the world. It is an obvious truth marvelled at by all. Palin's emergence as a serious figure in American politics has made the country a laughing stock across the world. The idea that a stateswoman like Thatcher, in advanced dementia, would be used by such a crackpot is simply unseemly."
posted by Meatbomb at 10:18 AM on June 10, 2011 [20 favorites]
"What he doesn't understand is that Palin's nutsiness is not a partisan matter in Britain, or anywhere else in the world. It is an obvious truth marvelled at by all. Palin's emergence as a serious figure in American politics has made the country a laughing stock across the world. The idea that a stateswoman like Thatcher, in advanced dementia, would be used by such a crackpot is simply unseemly."
posted by Meatbomb at 10:18 AM on June 10, 2011 [20 favorites]
Palin is the most hilarious performance artist I've ever... uh, you say she's serious, with actual political ambition? Never mind.
You gotta do better than that; ALL politics is performance art.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:20 AM on June 10, 2011
You gotta do better than that; ALL politics is performance art.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:20 AM on June 10, 2011
MSNBC's 'Open Channel' live blog for the Palin email release.
posted by ericb at 10:20 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by ericb at 10:20 AM on June 10, 2011
Unless someone has fairly strong reason to suspect she's secretly been paid off to muddy public discourse or has some other extreme and nefarious scheme going on, I honestly can't think why everyone is even going to all this trouble.
"Another 2,275 pages are being withheld by the state, under exemptions in the state law regarding privacy, attorney-client privilege, executive privilege, and a deliberative privilege exempting 'work-product' discussions of public policies. These exemptions are not mandatory — the governor's office could release all of the records, but it has chosen to withhold the 2,275 pages. Many of the state employees making these decisions had worked in the Palin administration.posted by ericb at 10:24 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
Depending on how liberally the state applies these exemptions, the documents may reveal more about the tone and character of the Palin administration than they tell about her policies. A common theme among journalists gathered in Juneau was that they expected no blockbuster news, but that it's important for the journalists to follow through on requests for public records, no matter how long it takes.
The state has taken the legal position that these executive exemptions apply even though many emails on official state business were also copied to Todd Palin, who held no state office, other than husband of the governor.
The state also is withholding '140 pages of emails that were determined to be non-records,' according to Linda Perez, administrative director in the office of Gov. Parnell, a former oil-and-gas lobbyist who has won his own term of office since completing Palin's term.
And some of the pages that will be released will have information blacked out, or redacted."*
If you did it with a script, you wouldn't know what was in the emails before they were released.
To be clear I was not objecting to the fact that they wanted hard copies that they could go through redact by hand, but rather that they were presented with the problem of "Print out 20,000 emails" and came up with "Hire interns to go through each email individually, convert it to PDF, and print it out" rather than "Hire a programmer to write a script that will go through each of the 20,000 emails and print them."
posted by burnmp3s at 10:27 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
To be clear I was not objecting to the fact that they wanted hard copies that they could go through redact by hand, but rather that they were presented with the problem of "Print out 20,000 emails" and came up with "Hire interns to go through each email individually, convert it to PDF, and print it out" rather than "Hire a programmer to write a script that will go through each of the 20,000 emails and print them."
posted by burnmp3s at 10:27 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
In related news: It's Sarah Palin vs. the GOP Establishment -- "The most striking part of the new documentary about Sarah Palin is its attack on the Republican Old Guard."
But of course. The whole Frankenstein's Monster effect of the Tea Party movement is that while the Republican Old Guard has actively sought out the hicks + fundies vote for years, it's arguable that Palin was the first time one of them found her way _onto the Presidential ticket_, much less proceeding to dominate much of the election storyline the way that Palin did in 2008.
So when The Rabble rises up and declares "We're awake now, hand over the Republican Party" and the Old Guard of corporatist Republicans recoils in muted horror, it's no wonder that Palin would hitch her wagon to the faction that considers her a goddess instead of the one that would love for her to vanish back into obscurity.
posted by delfin at 10:29 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
But of course. The whole Frankenstein's Monster effect of the Tea Party movement is that while the Republican Old Guard has actively sought out the hicks + fundies vote for years, it's arguable that Palin was the first time one of them found her way _onto the Presidential ticket_, much less proceeding to dominate much of the election storyline the way that Palin did in 2008.
So when The Rabble rises up and declares "We're awake now, hand over the Republican Party" and the Old Guard of corporatist Republicans recoils in muted horror, it's no wonder that Palin would hitch her wagon to the faction that considers her a goddess instead of the one that would love for her to vanish back into obscurity.
posted by delfin at 10:29 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
I'm waiting for the collector's edition. I hope it comes with a free bobble-head.
posted by symbioid at 10:30 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by symbioid at 10:30 AM on June 10, 2011
What to make of this email:
Day 115: Restate my assumptions: One, Mathematics is the language of nature. Two, Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers. Three: If you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge. Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature. Evidence: The cycling of disease epidemics;the wax and wane of caribou populations; sun spot cycles; the rise and fall of the Nile. So, what about the stock market? The universe of numbers that represents the global economy. Millions of hands at work, billions of minds. A vast network, screaming with life. An organism. A natural organism. My hypothesis: Within the stock market, there is a pattern as well... Right in front of me... hiding behind the numbers. Always has been. You betcha.posted by drezdn at 10:30 AM on June 10, 2011 [37 favorites]
Twitter: @palinemails (WaPo), @gdnpalin (Guardian)
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:33 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 10:33 AM on June 10, 2011
TO: LarryH@obama_campaign.com
FROM: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
Subject: FW: Africa continent / country question
Larry,
Hey bud, how's it going? Haven't seen you since that Omega Psi Chi mixer senior year. Remember the look on Scooter's face in that one picture? "I can't believe I drank the whole thing." Fun times!
Anway, I heard you got a gig with the Obama campaign. Are there any openings for a guy like me? Wanna help one of your brother's out? Remember how I got you through that Chemistry exam that one time?
---
TO: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
FROM: Sarah.Palin@alaska.gov
Subject: RE: Africa continent / country question
Dear Dave:
I'll just have to wing it, I can never remember things like that without a Tellapromter ...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:34 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
FROM: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
Subject: FW: Africa continent / country question
Larry,
Hey bud, how's it going? Haven't seen you since that Omega Psi Chi mixer senior year. Remember the look on Scooter's face in that one picture? "I can't believe I drank the whole thing." Fun times!
Anway, I heard you got a gig with the Obama campaign. Are there any openings for a guy like me? Wanna help one of your brother's out? Remember how I got you through that Chemistry exam that one time?
---
TO: DaveG@mccain_campaign.com
FROM: Sarah.Palin@alaska.gov
Subject: RE: Africa continent / country question
Dear Dave:
I'll just have to wing it, I can never remember things like that without a Tellapromter ...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 10:34 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I thought the whole thing started with how she allegedly used her powers as governor to retaliate against a business rival of her husband.
Mother Jones | Sep. 7, 2008
Mother Jones | Sep. 7, 2008
"The Palin administration won't release hundreds of emails from her office, claiming they cover confidential policy matters. Then why do the subject lines refer to a political foe, a journalist, and non-policy topics? ... more] ..."posted by ericb at 10:34 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
OK, you guys have to stop posting fake e-mails, because I think they are real.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:35 AM on June 10, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:35 AM on June 10, 2011 [10 favorites]
In other Palin news: Sarah Palin snub by Margaret Thatcher aides infuriates US rightwing
I got a good laugh out of this:
One Thatcher ally told the Guardian: "Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts."
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:40 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
I got a good laugh out of this:
One Thatcher ally told the Guardian: "Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts."
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:40 AM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
State employees and interns opened each e-mail, one at a time, and converted it to a PDF file, and printed that file.
burnmp3s: So they spent who knows how many hours doing this for tens of thousands of emails, rather than hiring a single programmer to spend 10 minutes writing a script to do that automatically?
As others have said, it's so someone (including the government lawyers) can go through everything and redact certain portions.
There was a public records request here where I work (a County office), requesting months of emails to be provided, including dredging up deleted emails. These were then printed and reviewed by hand. It's never so easy as passing along a DVD of data. Government transparency can only be so transparent, it seems.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:43 AM on June 10, 2011
burnmp3s: So they spent who knows how many hours doing this for tens of thousands of emails, rather than hiring a single programmer to spend 10 minutes writing a script to do that automatically?
As others have said, it's so someone (including the government lawyers) can go through everything and redact certain portions.
There was a public records request here where I work (a County office), requesting months of emails to be provided, including dredging up deleted emails. These were then printed and reviewed by hand. It's never so easy as passing along a DVD of data. Government transparency can only be so transparent, it seems.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:43 AM on June 10, 2011
MSNBC's 'Open Channel' live blog for the Palin email release.
On that page:
Note: Refresh this page (F5) to get the latest updates, which will be added from the top down.
Glad they have a page, but too bad they don't have it autorefresh like a lot of breaking news pages have.
9:05 AT (1:05 ET): The documents were released, and if you were in Juneau you'd see reporters spilling boxes as they try to push handtrucks downhill.
What is this, 1902? Take a picture and post it.
posted by cashman at 10:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
On that page:
Note: Refresh this page (F5) to get the latest updates, which will be added from the top down.
Glad they have a page, but too bad they don't have it autorefresh like a lot of breaking news pages have.
9:05 AT (1:05 ET): The documents were released, and if you were in Juneau you'd see reporters spilling boxes as they try to push handtrucks downhill.
What is this, 1902? Take a picture and post it.
posted by cashman at 10:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
Twitter: @palinemails (WaPo), @gdnpalin (Guardian)
Also: #palinemail.
posted by ericb at 10:48 AM on June 10, 2011
Also: #palinemail.
posted by ericb at 10:48 AM on June 10, 2011
Twitter feeds I follow from conservatives indicated that Sarah Palin's team sent out an email to her army of devoted followers to 'volunteer' to read the emails for the journalists, but to send them stuff that showed how great Sarah was, not how inept, in an effort to sabotage the 'gotchas' from the 'lame-stream media.'
I'm not sure that "devoted followers" could even tell the difference.
posted by malocchio at 10:49 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
I'm not sure that "devoted followers" could even tell the difference.
posted by malocchio at 10:49 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
1:30 p.m. EST (David Corn): It's been known that Sarah Palin, when she was governor of Alaska, used personal accounts for state business--and that made it difficult for the state to collect her emails in response to the open records request Mother Jones submitted for her emails.posted by ericb at 10:50 AM on June 10, 2011
But as this December 2008 email showed, state officials knew that if they wanted to reach her, they had to use her personal email: [image of e-mail].
Some documents up now at http://documents.latimes.com/sarah-palin-emails/
Man, that joke about the Indian with one testicle is really, really bad.
posted by BeerFilter at 10:51 AM on June 10, 2011
Man, that joke about the Indian with one testicle is really, really bad.
posted by BeerFilter at 10:51 AM on June 10, 2011
Note that the reason all of this is being done in person by an army of journalists and volunteers is because these documents are only available as physical copies, in Juneau.
EmpressCallipygos: Unless someone has fairly strong reason to suspect she's secretly been paid off to muddy public discourse or has some other extreme and nefarious scheme going on, I honestly can't think why everyone is even going to all this trouble.
I thought the (lack of) Presidential ambitions were sufficient reason to dig into her dealings as Governor.
Also note:
ericb: But as this December 2008 email showed, state officials knew that if they wanted to reach her, they had to use her personal email: [image of e-mail].
How much came out of the hacking of her private email account?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:53 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
EmpressCallipygos: Unless someone has fairly strong reason to suspect she's secretly been paid off to muddy public discourse or has some other extreme and nefarious scheme going on, I honestly can't think why everyone is even going to all this trouble.
I thought the (lack of) Presidential ambitions were sufficient reason to dig into her dealings as Governor.
Also note:
Palin resigned partway through her first term, in July 2009. Requests also have been made for Palin's final 10 months in office. State officials haven't begun reviewing those records. Sharon Leighow, the spokeswoman for Gov. Sean Parnell, said she doubted the release of those emails would come soon.
The emails released Friday were first requested during the 2008 White House race by citizens and news organizations, including The Associated Press, as they vetted a nominee whose political experience included less than one term as governor and a term as mayor of the small town of Wasilla.
ericb: But as this December 2008 email showed, state officials knew that if they wanted to reach her, they had to use her personal email: [image of e-mail].
How much came out of the hacking of her private email account?
posted by filthy light thief at 10:53 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
From: govsarah@alaska.gov
To: dr_shidu_addo@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: My Greetings To You Good Friend
Dear Dr. Addo,
Thank you for your email. I was very moved by your story about how your bank account has been frozen by the ruthless communistical Nigerian government, preventing you from depositing $25 million. This is the kind of thing makes me so flippin angry, but also makes me love America so gash darn much! I tell you what -- here is the State of Alaska's bank account information. You go ahead and transfer your money right into our account, and we'll hold it for ya and even give you some good ol' US of A interest to boot! How 'bout that?
Thank you so much for writing, and have a blessed day!
Governor Sarah Palin
P.S.: Are you by any chance related to the nice lady who keeps offering to send me medications?
posted by pardonyou? at 10:54 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
To: dr_shidu_addo@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: My Greetings To You Good Friend
Dear Dr. Addo,
Thank you for your email. I was very moved by your story about how your bank account has been frozen by the ruthless communistical Nigerian government, preventing you from depositing $25 million. This is the kind of thing makes me so flippin angry, but also makes me love America so gash darn much! I tell you what -- here is the State of Alaska's bank account information. You go ahead and transfer your money right into our account, and we'll hold it for ya and even give you some good ol' US of A interest to boot! How 'bout that?
Thank you so much for writing, and have a blessed day!
Governor Sarah Palin
P.S.: Are you by any chance related to the nice lady who keeps offering to send me medications?
posted by pardonyou? at 10:54 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
they could not figure out how to release the electronic records in an electronic form, not after certain records had to be printed so portions could be blacked out or withheld entirely
Having worked on Adobe Acrobat and currently working on PDF related technologies, I can say quite authoritatively that proper redaction of any arbitrary PDF is decidedly a non-trivial task.
That said, there are several alternative approaches that they could have used to still maintain electronic (and even PDF) form and proper redaction at the cost of of losing text as real text. Heck, if anyone had bothered to ask me I would've written a tool to do it for them gratis.
posted by plinth at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Having worked on Adobe Acrobat and currently working on PDF related technologies, I can say quite authoritatively that proper redaction of any arbitrary PDF is decidedly a non-trivial task.
That said, there are several alternative approaches that they could have used to still maintain electronic (and even PDF) form and proper redaction at the cost of of losing text as real text. Heck, if anyone had bothered to ask me I would've written a tool to do it for them gratis.
posted by plinth at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
"The log of documents withheld by the governor's office is online now at msnbc.com. Here's the PDF file (it's a large file with the list running to 189 pages. The number of pages of e-mails withheld is 2,275.)."*posted by ericb at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
When I see people with views like those held by Palin, Bachmann, and Sharron Angle dominating the discourse of the Republican party, when I learn that Newt Gingrich is TOO NUANCED, TOO OPEN-MINDED, AND TOO LIBERAL to win the GOP nomination, I can only conclude that the Tea Partyists won't be happy until every public policy is overtly tied to their fire-and-brimstone evangelical theologies, and a kind of Christian Shariat is imposed upon every citizen. The Tea Partyists envy the Taliban for its unfettered control over the lives of those who live under its cruel tyranny, even as they cheer the exploits of the US military over the hated Islamists. The Tea Party is the American Taliban, and Palin is Mullah Omar.
posted by Mister_A at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by Mister_A at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011 [9 favorites]
PDF with some titles of the withheld emails. (227-page PDF) I still can't believe she got "govsarah@yahoo.com", that's just hilarious.
posted by cashman at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by cashman at 10:55 AM on June 10, 2011
"But as this December 2008 email showed, state officials knew that if they wanted to reach her, they had to use her personal email ..."
"Although Palin ran for governor on a platform of openness and transparency in government, it became clear when she was running for vice president that she and her aides had moved much of their email traffic on public matters to private Yahoo accounts, presumably out of reach of the state's public records law.posted by ericb at 10:59 AM on June 10, 2011
But one half of these conversations did become public records: Journalists and citizens requested under state law any emails sent between those private Yahoo accounts and government accounts. Specifically, the records to be released include emails that went between the Yahoo accounts of Palin or her husband, Todd, and about 50 top state officials: the governor, her senior staff, her Cabinet, department heads, and some other state agencies."*
Let's be clear about why they did this in such a brain-dead, labor-intensive way:
When the initial FOIL reqests were made, the (appointee) IT staff in state government produced some fairly absurd cost estimates for how expensive it would be to comply. Then they offered to comply for a fee and provided a schedule explaining the fee. It basically entailed doing a new search each time someone requested an email -- it added up the labor of mounting old archives and search all archives for each email. In other words, it was producing the stupid-mode worst-case scenario, and duplicating it, to get cost.
This is simply CYA on that. They're still claiming that this is a ruinously expensive and frivolous request, and using an obtuse method of compliance to justify their claim.
To say this demonstrates they're stupid, or even ignorant is, I think, a mistake. Rather, I think it speaks of a festering combination of venality and laziness.
posted by lodurr at 11:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
When the initial FOIL reqests were made, the (appointee) IT staff in state government produced some fairly absurd cost estimates for how expensive it would be to comply. Then they offered to comply for a fee and provided a schedule explaining the fee. It basically entailed doing a new search each time someone requested an email -- it added up the labor of mounting old archives and search all archives for each email. In other words, it was producing the stupid-mode worst-case scenario, and duplicating it, to get cost.
This is simply CYA on that. They're still claiming that this is a ruinously expensive and frivolous request, and using an obtuse method of compliance to justify their claim.
To say this demonstrates they're stupid, or even ignorant is, I think, a mistake. Rather, I think it speaks of a festering combination of venality and laziness.
posted by lodurr at 11:02 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
Some documents up now at http://documents.latimes.com/sarah-palin-emails/
And at the New York Times.
posted by ericb at 11:03 AM on June 10, 2011
And at the New York Times.
posted by ericb at 11:03 AM on June 10, 2011
This is pure obstruction. To create hard copies of electronic material and then behave as if we live in a world without package delivery (making journalist come to Alaska to review it) is absurd. It is criminally incompetent enough that the paid interns to make PDFs, but it willful scorn to not distribute them electronically.
posted by dgran at 11:03 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by dgran at 11:03 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
It is criminally incompetent enough that the paid interns to make PDFs, but it willful scorn to not distribute them electronically.
I truthfully think that tech people sometimes woefully overestimate how much of an understanding that non-tech people have about what tasks can be done via programing. Given some prior experiences I've had with similar (non-governmental) organizations, it is not at all outside the realm of possibility that it simply never occurred to them that a task like this could be automated.
There is a canard about "if a man has worked only with a shovel all his life, it is almost impossible for him to imagine a backhoe" but I truthfully think it applies here.
as if we live in a world without package delivery (making journalist come to Alaska to review it)
Delivery was an option available to journalists, with quoted costs, but who wants to be the journalist who waits a day for delivery while all their colleagues are in Juneau picking up their copies and leafing through them immediately?
posted by anastasiav at 11:08 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
I truthfully think that tech people sometimes woefully overestimate how much of an understanding that non-tech people have about what tasks can be done via programing. Given some prior experiences I've had with similar (non-governmental) organizations, it is not at all outside the realm of possibility that it simply never occurred to them that a task like this could be automated.
There is a canard about "if a man has worked only with a shovel all his life, it is almost impossible for him to imagine a backhoe" but I truthfully think it applies here.
as if we live in a world without package delivery (making journalist come to Alaska to review it)
Delivery was an option available to journalists, with quoted costs, but who wants to be the journalist who waits a day for delivery while all their colleagues are in Juneau picking up their copies and leafing through them immediately?
posted by anastasiav at 11:08 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
Why are all the searches for the term "Obama" coming up empty?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:10 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:10 AM on June 10, 2011
Try searching for "Canadian".
posted by cashman at 11:12 AM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by cashman at 11:12 AM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
sophistrie: "On the upside, if she makes a run for office, The Missing 2100 can be the new Obama's Birth Certificate."
There's lots and lots of military presence in Alaska, along with a massive, highly-vulnerable pipeline. It's entirely possible that those 2100 are legitimately security-related. I hate to be the person defending Palin or the withholding of Government information, but I find this entirely plausible.
As a percentage of "What goes on in the state," military and oil-related activities rank very highly for Alaska.
posted by schmod at 11:16 AM on June 10, 2011
There's lots and lots of military presence in Alaska, along with a massive, highly-vulnerable pipeline. It's entirely possible that those 2100 are legitimately security-related. I hate to be the person defending Palin or the withholding of Government information, but I find this entirely plausible.
As a percentage of "What goes on in the state," military and oil-related activities rank very highly for Alaska.
posted by schmod at 11:16 AM on June 10, 2011
A couple more links, for anyone interested.
Alaska's Records and Information Management Service
This a link to Chapter 40.21. MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC RECORDS, which appears to be the state law on public records.
Please note that only a few states have a "Freedom of Information Act" that is called that. The federal FOIA applies to the records of the federal government. Palin's records will mostly be governed by Alaska law.
posted by ES Mom at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Alaska's Records and Information Management Service
This a link to Chapter 40.21. MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION OF PUBLIC RECORDS, which appears to be the state law on public records.
Please note that only a few states have a "Freedom of Information Act" that is called that. The federal FOIA applies to the records of the federal government. Palin's records will mostly be governed by Alaska law.
posted by ES Mom at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Awww COME ON PEOPLE! This will ruin her private family vacation...
posted by Theta States at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by Theta States at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2011
These e-mails are from her first two years as governor of Alaska. Media outlets are still waiting for e-mails from the latter part of her governorship.
As quoted above:
posted by ericb at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
As quoted above:
"Requests also have been made for Palin's final 10 months in office. State officials haven't begun reviewing those records. Sharon Leighow, the spokeswoman for Gov. Sean Parnell, said she doubted the release of those emails would come soon."Knowing how ignorant she is, I doubt she even had any idea of who Obama was at that time.
posted by ericb at 11:17 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
That was a response to: Why are all the searches for the term "Obama" coming up empty?
posted by ericb at 11:18 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by ericb at 11:18 AM on June 10, 2011
From March 17, 2007:
"I beet Algernon. I dint even know I beet him until Burt Selden told me. Then the second time I lost because I got so excited. But after that I beet him 8 more times. I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon. But I dont feel smarter."
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:23 AM on June 10, 2011 [22 favorites]
"I beet Algernon. I dint even know I beet him until Burt Selden told me. Then the second time I lost because I got so excited. But after that I beet him 8 more times. I must be getting smart to beat a smart mouse like Algernon. But I dont feel smarter."
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:23 AM on June 10, 2011 [22 favorites]
I love all the advice in this thread that indicates the best way to find out about a person is to studiously ignore the things they've said and done.
Why on earth would we NOT want to see her emails? I mean...duh. No amount of wishing is going to make her go away. You have to prove she's evil in black and white, repeatedly. The only way to do that is to gather evidence.
posted by DU at 11:24 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Why on earth would we NOT want to see her emails? I mean...duh. No amount of wishing is going to make her go away. You have to prove she's evil in black and white, repeatedly. The only way to do that is to gather evidence.
posted by DU at 11:24 AM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
I like how they redacted public employees phone numbers but not journalists numbers.
posted by drezdn at 11:25 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by drezdn at 11:25 AM on June 10, 2011
Weiner who?
posted by furiousxgeorge at 11:33 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by furiousxgeorge at 11:33 AM on June 10, 2011
homunculus: "In other Palin news: Sarah Palin snub by Margaret Thatcher aides infuriates US rightwing"
FTA: Palin, who is planning to visit London next month en route to Sudan.
I hope she realizes she can't get from America to London by bus.
posted by I am the Walrus at 11:37 AM on June 10, 2011
FTA: Palin, who is planning to visit London next month en route to Sudan.
I hope she realizes she can't get from America to London by bus.
posted by I am the Walrus at 11:37 AM on June 10, 2011
Shhh. She think's it's an upside down pentagram, and even the Great Beast hasn't wanted to embarrass her by pointing out her error.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
To show her support for Israel or because she's joined the Gangster Disciples.
posted by drezdn at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
""What he doesn't understand is that Palin's nutsiness is not a partisan matter in Britain, or anywhere else in the world. It is an obvious truth marvelled at by all. Palin's emergence as a serious figure in American politics has made the country a laughing stock across the world."
Laugh now world, while you still can. Because Palin is brilliant. She is the perfect American product. Sexy and dumb and crazy and dangerous. And soon we will export this crazy to the rest of the world.
You laughed at our McDonalds, and now your waistlines grow, approaching the awesomeness of America's Freedom Girth.
You laughed at our drug wars and our intellectual property regimes and our little philosopher Child King George.
Even if it's the last thing we do as our country sputters to its end, we will export the crazy to you.
I eagerly await the image on the news of Palin in her "One World" hovercraft bus, wind ripping through her hair, as she leads the charge across the Atlantic.
It will be awesome.
posted by formless at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
Laugh now world, while you still can. Because Palin is brilliant. She is the perfect American product. Sexy and dumb and crazy and dangerous. And soon we will export this crazy to the rest of the world.
You laughed at our McDonalds, and now your waistlines grow, approaching the awesomeness of America's Freedom Girth.
You laughed at our drug wars and our intellectual property regimes and our little philosopher Child King George.
Even if it's the last thing we do as our country sputters to its end, we will export the crazy to you.
I eagerly await the image on the news of Palin in her "One World" hovercraft bus, wind ripping through her hair, as she leads the charge across the Atlantic.
It will be awesome.
posted by formless at 11:46 AM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
America home to funniest people. Germany, not so much.
posted by crunchland at 11:49 AM on June 10, 2011
posted by crunchland at 11:49 AM on June 10, 2011
Star of David you ask? I'll leave this right here.
posted by foggy out there now at 11:49 AM on June 10, 2011 [20 favorites]
posted by foggy out there now at 11:49 AM on June 10, 2011 [20 favorites]
I am the Walrus: "I hope she realizes she can't get from America to London by bus."
Perhaps she plans to circumnavigate via the great circle, to prove that ice caps melting were a hoax perpetrated by map makers and photographers?
posted by pwnguin at 11:51 AM on June 10, 2011
Perhaps she plans to circumnavigate via the great circle, to prove that ice caps melting were a hoax perpetrated by map makers and photographers?
posted by pwnguin at 11:51 AM on June 10, 2011
Has Sully penetrated the secrets of her womb yet?
posted by Trurl at 11:53 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Trurl at 11:53 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I should add something constructive to the current discussion too.
There's a lot of research going on right now with crowdsourced document analysis. It's a great use of crowdsourcing, a brilliant use of the "many eyes, all bugs are shallow" concept.
The site at DiaryDig.org provided a search index to the WikiLeaks Afghanistan and Iraq war logs, and the software is opensource now.
CrowdFlower has a blog article about crowdsourcing the Goldman Sachs investigation.
O'Reilly had a blog post a year ago or so comparing citizens to a mass of public sensors that can be used to help government, using SeeClickFix as an example.
Finally, Ushahidi is one of the big names in this space, providing a software framework to harness crowdsourcing for document and data analysis.
posted by formless at 11:58 AM on June 10, 2011 [8 favorites]
There's a lot of research going on right now with crowdsourced document analysis. It's a great use of crowdsourcing, a brilliant use of the "many eyes, all bugs are shallow" concept.
The site at DiaryDig.org provided a search index to the WikiLeaks Afghanistan and Iraq war logs, and the software is opensource now.
CrowdFlower has a blog article about crowdsourcing the Goldman Sachs investigation.
O'Reilly had a blog post a year ago or so comparing citizens to a mass of public sensors that can be used to help government, using SeeClickFix as an example.
Finally, Ushahidi is one of the big names in this space, providing a software framework to harness crowdsourcing for document and data analysis.
posted by formless at 11:58 AM on June 10, 2011 [8 favorites]
"Star o' David? What's a Star o' David? I thought it was a gosh-durn cute little ol' snowflake, so I bought it in that New York City gift shop jus' to remind me of my snowy home in Alaska, y'know?"
posted by aught at 12:02 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by aught at 12:02 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
In other Palin news: Sarah Palin snub by Margaret Thatcher aides infuriates US rightwing
posted by homunculus at 10:08 AM on June 10 [3 favorites +] [!]
God dammit, you just reminded me that Margaret Thatcher is still alive. That's like losing The Game.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:05 PM on June 10, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by homunculus at 10:08 AM on June 10 [3 favorites +] [!]
God dammit, you just reminded me that Margaret Thatcher is still alive. That's like losing The Game.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:05 PM on June 10, 2011 [8 favorites]
To show her support for Israel or because she's joined the Gangster Disciples.
Nah, man, she joined the Black Hebrew Israelites.
posted by NoMich at 12:07 PM on June 10, 2011
Nah, man, she joined the Black Hebrew Israelites.
posted by NoMich at 12:07 PM on June 10, 2011
Perhaps she plans to circumnavigate via the great circle
Thinking she actually knows the earth is round is a pretty big assumption.
posted by elizardbits at 12:08 PM on June 10, 2011
Thinking she actually knows the earth is round is a pretty big assumption.
posted by elizardbits at 12:08 PM on June 10, 2011
I love it. The first email I looked at was some some state bureaucrat sending the Gov a press release. It was quickly followed by a second email that said: "Oops, forgot the attachment."
The banality of evil.
posted by marxchivist at 12:10 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
The banality of evil.
posted by marxchivist at 12:10 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
"The Washington Post is looking for '100 organized and diligent readers' to work with reporters to 'analyze, contextualize, and research the emails.'
The Washington Post is looking for people to work for free.
posted by ambient2 at 12:13 PM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
The Washington Post is looking for people to work for free.
posted by ambient2 at 12:13 PM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
Stephen King had it almost right in The Stand, he just didn't realize Randall Flagg would be a woman.
posted by MarvinTheCat at 12:21 PM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by MarvinTheCat at 12:21 PM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
> (what were the words of wisdom for contracting ? "Never do spec work" ... )
Avoid quoting "fixed price". Quote "time-and-materials" instead.
posted by mmrtnt at 12:30 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Avoid quoting "fixed price". Quote "time-and-materials" instead.
posted by mmrtnt at 12:30 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Knowing how ignorant she is, I doubt she even had any idea of who Obama was at that time.
11:25 AT (3:25 PM): "An email from February 19, 2007, shows a meeting planned between Palin and Pete Rouse, described as 'chief of staff for a guy named Barack Obama.' At that point Obama may not have heard of Palin either."posted by ericb at 12:31 PM on June 10, 2011
At that point Obama may not have heard of Palin either. --- Too bad we all can't go back to that happier time.
posted by crunchland at 12:34 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by crunchland at 12:34 PM on June 10, 2011
In February 2007, Palin had been Governor all of two months.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:38 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 12:38 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Stephen King had it almost right in The Stand, he just didn't realize Randall Flagg would be a woman.
Just a different exit on the Tower, man.
posted by never used baby shoes at 12:39 PM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
Just a different exit on the Tower, man.
posted by never used baby shoes at 12:39 PM on June 10, 2011 [7 favorites]
What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he's around? Nobody is going to be taken in if he has a long, red, pointy tail. No. I'm semi-serious here. He will look attractive and he will be nice and helpful and he will get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation and he will never do an evil thing... he will just bit by little bit lower standards where they are important.posted by giraffe at 12:48 PM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
Wordle was designed for an occasion just like this.
posted by bricksNmortar at 12:50 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by bricksNmortar at 12:50 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
Stephen King had it almost right in The Stand, he just didn't realize Randall Flagg would be a woman.
But Flagg was the one in Vegas with all the atheist engineers who figured out how to get the power plants back up and running quickly. The folksy religious people were the good guys in that book.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:58 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
But Flagg was the one in Vegas with all the atheist engineers who figured out how to get the power plants back up and running quickly. The folksy religious people were the good guys in that book.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:58 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sarah Palin reminds me more of Greg Stillson from The Dead Zone.
posted by longdaysjourney at 1:49 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by longdaysjourney at 1:49 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
Hey the analogy doesn't have to be perfect.
Yeah, I was remembering the relentless progress of The Walking Man more than the religious aspects of the protagonists. This suddenly made me want to but an audiobook version of The Stand. Apparently due to publication rights the only versions exist on something called "cassettes."
posted by MarvinTheCat at 1:57 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
Yeah, I was remembering the relentless progress of The Walking Man more than the religious aspects of the protagonists. This suddenly made me want to but an audiobook version of The Stand. Apparently due to publication rights the only versions exist on something called "cassettes."
posted by MarvinTheCat at 1:57 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
I don't know what's more pitiful, Palin's career, or the people who froth at the mouth for stuff like this because they hate her so much.
posted by toekneebullard at 2:01 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by toekneebullard at 2:01 PM on June 10, 2011
Definitely Palin's career.
posted by entropicamericana at 2:08 PM on June 10, 2011 [16 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 2:08 PM on June 10, 2011 [16 favorites]
Apparently due to publication rights the only versions exist on something called "cassettes."
Well...lets just say there are MP3 versions around if you know where to look.
I remember when the original request for the emails was made, back when the nation was first trying to figure out who Palin was. They seemed full of importance back then because we non-Alaskans had so little to go on, but now I think we all have a pretty good picture of who she is. I'm going to just sit back and wait to see if anything interesting does turn up but I'm not holding my breath with excitement.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 2:15 PM on June 10, 2011
Well...lets just say there are MP3 versions around if you know where to look.
I remember when the original request for the emails was made, back when the nation was first trying to figure out who Palin was. They seemed full of importance back then because we non-Alaskans had so little to go on, but now I think we all have a pretty good picture of who she is. I'm going to just sit back and wait to see if anything interesting does turn up but I'm not holding my breath with excitement.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 2:15 PM on June 10, 2011
Dear Dave: I'll just have to wing it, I can never remember things like that without a Tellapromter and that mean lady Katie won't let me have one. She's so smart but could she kill a moose from a snowmachine?
Oh, dear!
Oh, dear!
12:19 AT (4:19 ET): Just a note for those who enjoy tweaking President Barack Obama for using a teleprompter. (Doesn't every president or governor use a teleprompter for speeches?) On March 20, 2007, Gov. Palin's staff was setting up an interview on natural gas issues with Energy TV from Canada. Here's how the interview was set up: Her aide, Sharon Leighow, asked the questions, and the answers were posted on a teleprompter for Palin to read. Then the fake interview was uploaded by satellite to Energy TV. "You're awesome," the governor told her staff. "You're all awesome. What a day..." Here's a copy of that email. (PDF)posted by ericb at 2:34 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
From: Various_commenters@metafilter.com
To: govsarah@alaska.gov
Subject: Re: Reading you emails
Dear Governor Palin:
I hate you so much, and you are so stupid. I wish you would go away forever, but I love to read you emails and discuss how much I hate you and how I am much smarter than you. You should see the funny fake emails I am writing about you but you are probably too dumb to read them because you are just so stupid and conservative and always want to deny people their rights. Please stop letting the media cover you because it makes me so mad!!!
posted by Slap Factory at 3:36 PM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
To: govsarah@alaska.gov
Subject: Re: Reading you emails
Dear Governor Palin:
I hate you so much, and you are so stupid. I wish you would go away forever, but I love to read you emails and discuss how much I hate you and how I am much smarter than you. You should see the funny fake emails I am writing about you but you are probably too dumb to read them because you are just so stupid and conservative and always want to deny people their rights. Please stop letting the media cover you because it makes me so mad!!!
posted by Slap Factory at 3:36 PM on June 10, 2011 [3 favorites]
I know a little of the inside story on why the emails are in the format they are in and why they have taken so long. I can assure you that it is not obstructionism. Most state workers could give a shit and Palin is seriously unpopular in Juneau. It's mostly a mixture of an outdated email delivery system from her early months as gov, a fractured IT setup, a seriously underfunded and understaffed dept. to handle this problem, and a lack of talented people with the time to devote to the project. I mean, seriously, there are tech-savvy people working for the state but not nearly in the numbers that you would expect in a normal state government. Leaving the lower 48 to come up here to work in tech is really taking yourself out of the loop. Manhattan has twice the number people living in it than live in this entire state. That's not a large labor pool to draw from. Go easy on us.
posted by Foam Pants at 3:41 PM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
posted by Foam Pants at 3:41 PM on June 10, 2011 [5 favorites]
God dammit, you just reminded me that Margaret Thatcher is still alive. That's like losing The Game.
Not only that, but she's only being kept alive by the mechanisms of the Golden Throne, and the daily sacrifice of a thousand psychic humans. It's kind of annoying, really.
posted by happyroach at 3:59 PM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
Not only that, but she's only being kept alive by the mechanisms of the Golden Throne, and the daily sacrifice of a thousand psychic humans. It's kind of annoying, really.
posted by happyroach at 3:59 PM on June 10, 2011 [6 favorites]
Slap, no one has to claim to be smarter than Palin. It's too obvious to bother with.
She recently claimed that Paul Revere used a gun to warn the British that the Americans were going to defend their freedom. When she was called on it, she claimed it was a "gotcha" question. Here was the question: "What have you seen so far today, and what are you going to take away from your visit?"
If you want to be a folksy political commentator for the propoganda arm of the GOP, sure thing. Go ahead. When you desperately want to take control of our nuclear arsenal and you're too dumb to handle the responsibility, don't expect anyone to be nice.
posted by notion at 4:09 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
She recently claimed that Paul Revere used a gun to warn the British that the Americans were going to defend their freedom. When she was called on it, she claimed it was a "gotcha" question. Here was the question: "What have you seen so far today, and what are you going to take away from your visit?"
If you want to be a folksy political commentator for the propoganda arm of the GOP, sure thing. Go ahead. When you desperately want to take control of our nuclear arsenal and you're too dumb to handle the responsibility, don't expect anyone to be nice.
posted by notion at 4:09 PM on June 10, 2011 [4 favorites]
This is what you get when you use fucking yahoo for your governmental email.
posted by gjc at 4:54 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by gjc at 4:54 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
It's mostly a mixture of an outdated email delivery system from her early months as gov, a fractured IT setup, a seriously underfunded and understaffed dept. to handle this problem, and a lack of talented people with the time to devote to the project.
Seriously though, having people manually create PDFs from each individual email (I'm guessing via copy and paste) and print them out one by one is pretty much the slowest and most labor intensive way to do this. I don't care where you work or how crappy your IT system is, there's no excuse for not automating something like that.
posted by burnmp3s at 5:54 PM on June 10, 2011
Seriously though, having people manually create PDFs from each individual email (I'm guessing via copy and paste) and print them out one by one is pretty much the slowest and most labor intensive way to do this. I don't care where you work or how crappy your IT system is, there's no excuse for not automating something like that.
posted by burnmp3s at 5:54 PM on June 10, 2011
Redacting PDFs is a very error prone undertaking. Doing it the hardcopy way mitigates that.
posted by unSane at 7:11 PM on June 10, 2011
posted by unSane at 7:11 PM on June 10, 2011
Nobody's saying that the redacting needs to happen in softcopy, just that the initial email -> hardcopy step should have been automated, as in:
for email in * ; do a2ps $email | lpr -Pbig_printer doneposted by claudius at 7:21 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
From: govsarah@alaska.gov
To: slapfactory@metafilter.com
Subject: all those people making up e-mails in my name
People hate Britney too. Haterz gotta hate. I don't care what these people make up in my name because I will pass a law requiring all mothers to monitor what their kids are Texting in there basements and I will make sure thier wellfare is cut off or they do not work for governments.
You should know that media is short for mediacrity. This explains everything.
We will have a brand new rising sun in America just like Ronald Reagan did and it will even shut out that Putin guy rearing up his head from Russia because the sun's bigger and brighter. I will look from Alaska to Russia and see that rising sun and there will be no more Commie Russian rearing, you betcha.
Sincerely
Gov. Sarah
posted by pyramid termite at 8:47 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
To: slapfactory@metafilter.com
Subject: all those people making up e-mails in my name
People hate Britney too. Haterz gotta hate. I don't care what these people make up in my name because I will pass a law requiring all mothers to monitor what their kids are Texting in there basements and I will make sure thier wellfare is cut off or they do not work for governments.
You should know that media is short for mediacrity. This explains everything.
We will have a brand new rising sun in America just like Ronald Reagan did and it will even shut out that Putin guy rearing up his head from Russia because the sun's bigger and brighter. I will look from Alaska to Russia and see that rising sun and there will be no more Commie Russian rearing, you betcha.
Sincerely
Gov. Sarah
posted by pyramid termite at 8:47 PM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]
In tabloidy oops land, Palin may have been one of the last to know Bristol was pregnant.
10:38 p.m. EST (Tim Murphy): With rumors circulating that the governor's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant in early April of 2008, Governor Palin goes into full-scale Mama Grizzly mode. The rumors, she says, are "pretty pathetic"—and she knows who started them: state senate president Lyda Green and her staff: "Flippin unbelievable. Wouldn't you think they'd be afraid of being proved wrong when they rumor around the building like that?…hopefully it'll be another reason why reporters and the public can't trust that odd group of strange people." Staffer Ivy Frye shared that sentiment: "I'm callin them on the flipping carpet!"posted by drezdn at 9:11 PM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]
Bristol gave birth to son Tripp on December 29, 2008.
claudius writes "Nobody's saying that the redacting needs to happen in softcopy, just that the initial email -> hardcopy step should have been automated, as in:
The redaction probably happened on the PDFs so you couldn't just send the original mails to the printer. Now creating the PDFs should have been automated pretty easy.
posted by Mitheral at 9:12 PM on June 10, 2011
for email in * ; do a2ps $email | lpr -Pbig_printer done"
The redaction probably happened on the PDFs so you couldn't just send the original mails to the printer. Now creating the PDFs should have been automated pretty easy.
posted by Mitheral at 9:12 PM on June 10, 2011
According to the journalist who filed the request for her emails, current lawyers for the current governor, who were former lawyers for Palin, were allowed to redact anything they chose. Good luck finding anything incriminating if you were out to prove personal corruption. It's the little mistakes like this one while posturing that cause me to shudder at the thought of her being president (thanks to memories of junior Bush):
“I am a hunter. I grew up hunting - some of my best memories growing up are of hunting with my dad to help feel our freezer... "
posted by Brian B. at 11:03 AM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
“I am a hunter. I grew up hunting - some of my best memories growing up are of hunting with my dad to help feel our freezer... "
posted by Brian B. at 11:03 AM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
"You're awesome," the governor told her staff. "You're all awesome."
And then they shared some Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage sandwiches.
posted by scalefree at 11:11 AM on June 11, 2011
And then they shared some Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage sandwiches.
posted by scalefree at 11:11 AM on June 11, 2011
I can only conclude that the Tea Partyists won't be happy until every public policy is overtly tied to their fire-and-brimstone evangelical theologies, and a kind of Christian Shariat is imposed upon every citizen. The Tea Partyists envy the Taliban for its unfettered control over the lives of those who live under its cruel tyranny, even as they cheer the exploits of the US military over the hated Islamists. The Tea Party is the American Taliban, and Palin is Mullah Omar.
It's variously called Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism. See also the Council on National Policy & the Seven Mountains Movement (of which Palin is an adherent).
posted by scalefree at 11:16 AM on June 11, 2011
It's variously called Dominionism or Christian Reconstructionism. See also the Council on National Policy & the Seven Mountains Movement (of which Palin is an adherent).
posted by scalefree at 11:16 AM on June 11, 2011
delfin: "Palin is a weapons-grade fucking idiot who has no business being left alone with anything more complicated than a pencil sharpener."
You are giving either Palin or the pencil sharpener a lot of credit here.
posted by Splunge at 11:54 AM on June 11, 2011
You are giving either Palin or the pencil sharpener a lot of credit here.
posted by Splunge at 11:54 AM on June 11, 2011
Monday, 4th of July, watch her announce she's running.
posted by cashman at 1:55 PM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by cashman at 1:55 PM on June 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
I can't wait. I was so sad when The Donald was out...
posted by Theta States at 3:07 PM on June 11, 2011
posted by Theta States at 3:07 PM on June 11, 2011
Monday, 4th of July, watch her announce she's running.
posted by cashman at 1:55 PM on 6/11
[+] [!]
That makes plenty of sense. That's when the American patriots stopped the mean old British's war against our guns using the bells they hung from the Statue of Liberty in -- where is it? New York? That anti-American terror den? You've got to be kidding me!
posted by gc at 3:13 PM on June 11, 2011
posted by cashman at 1:55 PM on 6/11
[+] [!]
That makes plenty of sense. That's when the American patriots stopped the mean old British's war against our guns using the bells they hung from the Statue of Liberty in -- where is it? New York? That anti-American terror den? You've got to be kidding me!
posted by gc at 3:13 PM on June 11, 2011
10:38 p.m. EST (Tim Murphy): With rumors circulating that the governor's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant in early April of 2008, Governor Palin goes into full-scale Mama Grizzly mode. The rumors, she says, are "pretty pathetic"—and she knows who started them: state senate president Lyda Green and her staff: "Flippin unbelievable. Wouldn't you think they'd be afraid of being proved wrong when they rumor around the building like that?…hopefully it'll be another reason why reporters and the public can't trust that odd group of strange people." Staffer Ivy Frye shared that sentiment: "I'm callin them on the flipping carpet!"
Bristol gave birth to son Tripp on December 29, 2008.
Not to give Palin any credit here, but doing the math on that, I'd be surprised if Bristol knew she was pregnant in early April, 2008.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:32 PM on June 11, 2011
Bristol gave birth to son Tripp on December 29, 2008.
Not to give Palin any credit here, but doing the math on that, I'd be surprised if Bristol knew she was pregnant in early April, 2008.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:32 PM on June 11, 2011
Not to give Palin any credit here, but doing the math on that, I'd be surprised if Bristol knew she was pregnant in early April, 2008.
Someone started a teen pregnancy rumor that just happened to coincidentally be true around the time she actually was pregnant? Imagine the luck?
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:20 AM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Someone started a teen pregnancy rumor that just happened to coincidentally be true around the time she actually was pregnant? Imagine the luck?
posted by 0xFCAF at 1:20 AM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Someone started a teen pregnancy rumor that just happened to coincidentally be true around the time she actually was pregnant? Imagine the luck?
Sometimes the clerks at the convenience stores will playback the security tape to see who shoplifted the only pregnancy test that night, and that jumpstarts the rumor.
posted by Brian B. at 8:18 AM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sometimes the clerks at the convenience stores will playback the security tape to see who shoplifted the only pregnancy test that night, and that jumpstarts the rumor.
posted by Brian B. at 8:18 AM on June 12, 2011 [1 favorite]
Did the media take the weekend off, or are they just done finding information bits from the emails?
posted by drezdn at 11:01 AM on June 12, 2011
posted by drezdn at 11:01 AM on June 12, 2011
Palin Emails Let Old Media Test New Media Methods -- "The analysis of Sarah Palin's emails over the past few days may end up teaching us more about the future of journalism than about the former Alaska governor's past."
posted by ericb at 3:58 PM on June 12, 2011
posted by ericb at 3:58 PM on June 12, 2011
Sarah Palin Supporters hack Twitter feed
The Twitter feed of the company that put online 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails for msnbc.com was hacked over the weekend, with vandals posting a series of pro-Palin and anti-Obama messages.posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:07 AM on June 13, 2011
In fairness -- the article ericb links above says that writing at an 8th-grade level gives her better writing cred than most CEOs.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:15 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:15 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
The average American writes at a 7th or 8th grade level. This is why many news media outlets make sure their articles are written to meet but not exceed it. (USA Today is a good example.)
Writing at an 8th grade level is an asset when one needs to communicate with people.
posted by zarq at 9:30 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Writing at an 8th grade level is an asset when one needs to communicate with people.
posted by zarq at 9:30 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think there is a difference between writing at an 8th grade level and writing like an 8th grader.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:52 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:52 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
The Juneau Empire wrote a decent story on this today . It seems that the current governor, Palin's former LT. Gov., had a heavy hand in this failure to hand over digital docs. Also, their were some Palin holdouts involved in the decision. So, the extreme delay had a lot to do with the State's antiquated email system but the handover of paper was pretty much a Parnell thing.
The comments on the story also make for a good read. Small town Juneau politics means you usually know some of what it going on behind the scenes.
posted by Foam Pants at 10:01 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
The comments on the story also make for a good read. Small town Juneau politics means you usually know some of what it going on behind the scenes.
posted by Foam Pants at 10:01 AM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
....the State's antiquated email system....
... was, if I recall correctly, Exchange 2000. Not ideal*, but well within the territory where difficulty in complying with FOIL requests implies either incompetence, obstructionism or both.
--
*A really antiquated one might have been easier.
posted by lodurr at 12:36 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
... was, if I recall correctly, Exchange 2000. Not ideal*, but well within the territory where difficulty in complying with FOIL requests implies either incompetence, obstructionism or both.
--
*A really antiquated one might have been easier.
posted by lodurr at 12:36 PM on June 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
John Ziegler: The Sarah Palin I Know.
Also, TheSarahPalinIKnow.com.
posted by scalefree at 3:07 AM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, TheSarahPalinIKnow.com.
posted by scalefree at 3:07 AM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
John Ziegler: The Sarah Palin I Know.
Also, TheSarahPalinIKnow.com.
Interesting, but difficult to get through without cringing; its like an open letter written by a stalker to his fair-weather mean-girl friend who won't do what he wants. Creepy.
posted by blueberry at 11:53 PM on June 15, 2011
Also, TheSarahPalinIKnow.com.
Interesting, but difficult to get through without cringing; its like an open letter written by a stalker to his fair-weather mean-girl friend who won't do what he wants. Creepy.
posted by blueberry at 11:53 PM on June 15, 2011
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