Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs

Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly.
saiko Member	Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing.
Visibly Shaken Member	Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option.
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin.
CrownRoyal Member	Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol
CrownRoyal Member	Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol
saiko Member	Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon?
Renzo Marquez Member	Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984.
Troll Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant.
Teabagged Member	Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?
Rugian Member	Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180]
miltonfriedman Member	Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote.
Renzo Marquez Member	Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam.
Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge	Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke?
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread.
Cold Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /Ë?Ê?wÉ?rtsÉ?nÉ?É¡É?r/, German: [Ë?aÉ?nÉ?lt Ë?alÉ?Ê?s Ë?Ê?vaÉ?tsÉ?nË?Ê?É?É¡É?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links Early life Schwarzenegger was born in Thal, Austria, a small village bordering the Styrian capital Graz, and was christened Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger.[3] His parents were the local police chief Gustav Schwarzenegger (1907â??1972), and his wife, Aurelia Jadrny (1922â??1998). His father served in World War II with the German Army as a Hauptfeldwebel of the Feldgendarmerie and was discharged in 1943 after contracting malaria. They were married on October 20, 1945 â?? Gustav was 38, and Aurelia was a 23-year-old widow with a son named Meinhard. According to Schwarzenegger, both of his parents were very strict: "Back then in Austria it was a very different world, if we did something bad or we disobeyed our parents, the rod was not spared."[4] He grew up in a Roman Catholic family who attended church service every Sunday.[5] Gustav had a preference for Meinhard, the elder of the two sons.[6] His favoritism was "strong and blatant," which stemmed from unfounded suspicion that Arnold was not his child.[7] Schwarzenegger has said his father had "no patience for listening or understanding your problems... there was a wall; a real wall."[5] Schwarzenegger had a good relationship with his mother and kept in touch with her until her death.[8] In later life, Schwarzenegger commissioned the Simon Wiesenthal Center to research his father's wartime record, which came up with no evidence of atrocities despite Gustav's membership in the Nazi Party and SA.[6] At school, Schwarzenegger was apparently in the middle, but stood out for his "cheerful, good-humored and exuberant" character.[5] Money was a problem in the household; Schwarzenegger has recalled that one of the highlights of his youth was when the family bought a refrigerator.[7] As a boy, Schwarzenegger played many sports, heavily influenced by his father.[5] He picked up his first barbell in 1960, when his football coach took his team to a local gym.[3] At the age of fourteen, Schwarzenegger chose bodybuilding over football (soccer) as a career.[9][10] Schwarzenegger has responded to a question asking if he was 13 when he started weightlifting: "I actually started weight training when I was 15, but I'd been participating in sports, like soccer, for years, so I felt that although I was slim, I was well-developed, at least enough so that I could start going to the gym and start Olympic lifting."[4] However, his official website biography claims: "At 14, he started an intensive training program with Dan Farmer, studied psychology at 15 (to learn more about the power of mind over body) and at 17, officially started his competitive career."[11] During a speech in 2001, he said, "My own plan formed when I was 14 years old. My father had wanted me to be a police officer like he was. My mother wanted me to go to trade school."[12] Schwarzenegger took to visiting a gym in Graz, where he also frequented the local movie theaters to see bodybuilding idols such as Reg Park, Steve Reeves and Johnny Weissmuller on the big screen. "I was inspired by individuals like Reg Park and Steve Reeves."[4] When Reeves died in 2000, Schwarzenegger fondly remembered him: "As a teenager, I grew up with Steve Reeves. His remarkable accomplishments allowed me a sense of what was possible, when others around me didn't always understand my dreams ... Steve Reeves has been part of everything I've ever been fortunate enough to achieve."[13] In 1961, Schwarzenegger met former Mr. Austria Kurt Marnul, who invited him to train at the gym in Graz.[3] He was so dedicated as a youngster that he was known to break into the local gym on weekends, when it was usually closed, so that he could train. "It would make me sick to miss a workout ... I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror the next morning if I didn't do it."[4] When Schwarzenegger was asked about his first movie experience as a boy, he replied, "I was very young, but I remember my father taking me to the Austrian theaters and seeing some newsreels. The first real movie I saw, that I distinctly remember, was a John Wayne movie."[4] In 1971, his brother Meinhard died in a car accident.[3] Meinhard had been drinking and was killed instantly, and Schwarzenegger did not attend his funeral.[7] Meinhard was due to marry Erika Knapp, and the couple shared a 3-year-old son, Patrick. Schwarzenegger would pay for Patrick's education and help him to emigrate to the United States.[7] Gustav died the following year from a stroke.[3] In Pumping Iron, Schwarzenegger claimed that he did not attend his father's funeral because he was training for a bodybuilding contest. Later, he and the film's producer both said this story was taken from another bodybuilder for the purpose of showing the extremes that some would go to for their sport, and to make Schwarzenegger's image more cold and machine-like in order to fan controversy for the film.[14] Barbara Baker, his first serious girlfriend, has said he informed her of his father's death without emotion and that he never spoke of his brother.[15] Over time, he has given at least three versions of why he did not attend his father's funeral.[7] In an interview with Fortune magazine in 2004, Schwarzenegger told how he suffered what "would now be called child abuse" at the hands of his father:[16][17] My hair was pulled. I was hit with belts. So was the kid next door. It was just the way it was. Many of the children I've seen were broken by their parents, which was the German-Austrian mentality. They didn't want to create an individual. It was all about conforming. I was one who did not conform, and whose will could not be broken. Therefore, I became a rebel. Every time I got hit, and every time someone said, 'you can't do this,' I said, 'this is not going to be for much longer, because I'm going to move out of here. I want to be rich. I want to be somebody.' Early adulthood Schwarzenegger served in the Austrian army in 1965 to fulfill the one year of service required at the time of all 18-year-old Austrian males.[3][11] He won the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965.[10] Schwarzenegger went AWOL during basic training so he could take part in the competition and spent a week in an army jail: "Participating in the competition meant so much to me that I didn't carefully think through the consequences." He won another bodybuilding contest in Graz, at Steirer Hof Hotel (where he had placed second). He was voted best built man of Europe, which made him famous. "The Mr. Universe title was my ticket to America â?? the land of opportunity, where I could become a star and get rich."[12] Schwarzenegger made his first plane trip in 1966, attending the NABBA Mr. Universe competition in London.[11] He would come in second in the Mr. Universe competition, not having the muscle definition of American winner Chester Yorton.[11] Charles "Wag" Bennett, one of the judges at the 1966 competition, was impressed with Schwarzenegger and offered to coach him. As Schwarzenegger had little money, Bennett invited him to stay in his crowded family home above one of his two gyms in Forest Gate, London, England. Yorton's leg definition had been judged superior, and Schwarzenegger, under a training program devised by Bennett, concentrated on improving the muscle definition and power in his legs. Staying in the East End of London helped Schwarzenegger improve his rudimentary grasp of the English language.[18][19] Also in 1966, Schwarzenegger had the opportunity to meet childhood idol Reg Park, who became his friend and mentor.[20] The training paid off and, in 1967, Schwarzenegger won the title for the first time, becoming the youngest ever Mr. Universe at the age of 20.[11] He would go on to win the title a further three times.[10] Schwarzenegger then flew back to Munich, training for four to six hours daily, attending business school and working in a health club (Rolf Putzinger's gym where he worked and trained from 1966â??1968), returning in 1968 to London to win his next Mr. Universe title.[11] He frequently told Roger C. Field, a friend in Munich at that time, "I'm going to become the greatest actor!" Move to the U.S. Schwarzenegger with President Ronald Reagan in 1984.Schwarzenegger moved to the United States in September 1968 at the age of 21, speaking little English.[3][10] "Naturally, when I came to this country, my accent was very bad, and my accent was also very strong, which was an obstacle as I began to pursue acting."[4] There he trained at Gold's Gym in Santa Monica, California, under Joe Weider. From 1970 to 1974, one of Schwarzenegger's weight training partners was Ric Drasin, a professional wrestler who designed the original Gold's Gym logo in 1973.[21] Schwarzenegger also became good friends with professional wrestler "Superstar" Billy Graham. In 1970, at age 23, he captured his first Mr. Olympia title in New York, and would go on to win the title a total of seven times.[11] Immigration law firm Siskind & Susser have stated that Schwarzenegger may have been an illegal immigrant at some point in the late 1960s or early 1970s because of violations in the terms of his visa.[22] In 1969, Schwarzenegger met Barbara Outland Baker, an English teacher he lived with until 1974.[23] Schwarzenegger talked about Barbara in his memoir in 1977: "Basically it came down to this: she was a well-balanced woman who wanted an ordinary, solid life, and I was not a well-balanced man, and hated the very idea of ordinary life."[23] Baker has described Schwarzenegger as "[a] joyful personality, totally charismatic, adventurous, and athletic" but claims towards the end of the relationship he became "insufferable â?? classically conceited â?? the world revolved around him".[24] Baker published her memoir in 2006, entitled Arnold and Me: In the Shadow of the Austrian Oak.[25] Although Baker, at times, painted an unflattering portrait of her former lover, Schwarzenegger actually contributed to the tell-all book with a foreword, and also met with Baker for three hours.[25] Baker claims, for example, that she only learned of his being unfaithful after they split, and talks of a turbulent and passionate love life.[25] Schwarzenegger has made it clear that their respective recollection of events can differ.[25] The couple first met six to eight months after his arrival in the U.S. â?? their first date was watching the first Apollo Moon landing on television.[15] They shared an apartment in Santa Monica for three and a half years, and having little money, would visit the beach all day, or have barbecues in the back yard.[15] Although Baker claims that when she first met him, he had "little understanding of polite society" and she found him a turn-off, she says, "He's as much a self-made man as it's possible to be â??he never got encouragement from his parents, his family, his brother. He just had this huge determination to prove himself, and that was very attractive ... I'll go to my grave knowing Arnold loved me."[15] Schwarzenegger met his next love, Sue Moray, a Beverly Hills hairdresser's assistant, on Venice Beach in July 1977.[7] According to Moray, the couple led an open relationship: "We were faithful when we were both in LA ... but when he was out of town, we were free to do whatever we wanted."[7] Schwarzenegger met Maria Shriver at the Robert F. Kennedy Tennis Tournament in August 1977, and went on to have a relationship with both women until August 1978, when Moray (who knew of his relationship with Shriver) issued an ultimatum.[7] Schwarzenegger has said his big dream from the age of 10 was to move to the U.S.[26] He questioned what he was doing "on the farm" in Austria, and believed bodybuilding was his "ticket to America": "I'm sure I can go to America if I win Mr. Universe."[26] LA Weekly said in 2002 that Schwarzenegger is the most famous immigrant in America, who "overcame a thick Austrian accent and transcended the unlikely background of bodybuilding to become the biggest movie star in the world in the 1990s".[26] Bodybuilding career Arnold Schwarzenegger Personal Info Nickname The Austrian Oak Birth July 30, 1947 (1947-07-30) (age 63), Thal, Styria, Austria Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[11] Weight 250 pounds (113 kg) Professional Career Pro-debut NABBA Mr. Universe, 1968 Best win IFBB Mr. Olympia, 1970â??1975, 1980, Seven Times Predecessor Sergio Oliva ('69), Frank Zane ('79) Successor Franco Columbu ('76, '81) Active Retired 1980 See also: Bodybuilding competitions featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger Schwarzenegger is considered among the most important figures in the history of bodybuilding, and his legacy is commemorated in the Arnold Classic annual bodybuilding competition. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the bodybuilding sport long after his retirement, in part because of his ownership of gyms and fitness magazines. He has presided over numerous contests and awards shows. For many years, he wrote a monthly column for the bodybuilding magazines Muscle & Fitness and Flex. Shortly after being elected Governor, he was appointed executive editor of both magazines, in a largely symbolic capacity. The magazines agreed to donate $250,000 a year to the Governor's various physical fitness initiatives. The magazine MuscleMag International has a monthly two-page article on him, and refers to him as "The King". One of the first competitions he won was the Junior Mr. Europe contest in 1965.[3] He won Mr. Europe the following year, at age 19.[3][11] He would go on to compete in and win many bodybuilding contests, as well as some powerlifting contests, including five Mr. Universe (4 â?? NABBA [England], 1 â?? IFBB [USA]) wins, and seven Mr. Olympia wins, a record which would stand until Lee Haney won his eighth consecutive Mr. Olympia title in 1991. Competition Weight: 240 lbs (top 250 lbs) Off Season Weight: 260 lbs Strongman In 1967, Schwarzenegger competed in and won the Munich stone-lifting contest, in which a stone weighing 508 German pounds (254 kg/560 lbs.) is lifted between the legs while standing on two foot rests. Mr. Olympia Schwarzenegger's goal was to become the greatest bodybuilder in the world, which meant becoming Mr. Olympia.[3][11] His first attempt was in 1969, when he lost to three-time champion Sergio Oliva. However, Schwarzenegger came back in 1970 and won the competition, making him the youngest ever Mr. Olympia at the age of 23, a record he holds to this day.[11] He continued his winning streak in the 1971â??1974 competitions.[11] In 1975, Schwarzenegger was once again in top form, and won the title for the sixth consecutive time,[11] beating Franco Columbu. After the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, Schwarzenegger announced his retirement from professional bodybuilding.[11] Months before the 1975 Mr. Olympia contest, filmmakers George Butler and Robert Fiore persuaded Schwarzenegger to compete, in order to film his training in the bodybuilding documentary called Pumping Iron. Schwarzenegger had only three months to prepare for the competition, after losing significant weight to appear in the film Stay Hungry with Jeff Bridges. Lou Ferrigno proved not to be a threat, and a lighter-than-usual Schwarzenegger convincingly won the 1975 Mr. Olympia. Schwarzenegger came out of retirement, however, to compete in the 1980 Mr. Olympia.[3] Schwarzenegger was training for his role in Conan, and he got into such good shape because of the running, horseback riding and sword training, that he decided he wanted to win the Mr. Olympia contest one last time. He kept this plan a secret, in the event that a training accident would prevent his entry and cause him to lose face. Schwarzenegger had been hired to provide color commentary for network television, when he announced at the eleventh hour that while he was there: "Why not compete?" Schwarzenegger ended up winning the event with only seven weeks of preparation. After being declared Mr. Olympia for a seventh time, Schwarzenegger officially retired from competition. Steroid use Schwarzenegger has admitted to using performance-enhancing anabolic steroids while they were legal, writing in 1977 that "steroids were helpful to me in maintaining muscle size while on a strict diet in preparation for a contest. I did not use them for muscle growth, but rather for muscle maintenance when cutting up." He has called the drugs "tissue building."[27] In 1999, Schwarzenegger sued Dr. Willi Heepe, a German doctor who publicly predicted his early death on the basis of a link between steroid use and later heart problems. As the doctor had never examined him personally, Schwarzenegger collected a US$10,000 libel judgment against him in a German court.[28] In 1999, Schwarzenegger also sued and settled with The Globe, a U.S. tabloid which had made similar predictions about the bodybuilder's future health.[29] Schwarzenegger was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, an aortic valve with only two leaflets (a normal aortic valve has three leaflets).[30][31] As late as 1996, a year before Schwarzenegger's open heart surgery to replace this aortic valve with a human homograft valve,[31][clarification needed] Schwarzenegger publicly defended his use of anabolic steroids during his bodybuilding career.[32] Acting career See also: Arnold Schwarzenegger filmography Arnold Schwarzenegger Other names Arnold Strong Arnie Occupation Actor, Director, Producer Years active 1969â??2004, 2010â??present (acting) Schwarzenegger wanted to move from bodybuilding into acting, finally achieving it when he was chosen to play the role of Hercules in 1970's Hercules in New York. Credited under the name "Arnold Strong," his accent in the film was so thick that his lines were dubbed after production.[10] His second film appearance was as a deaf mute hit-man for the mob in director Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye (1973), which was followed by a much more significant part in the film Stay Hungry (1976), for which he was awarded a Golden Globe for New Male Star of the Year. Schwarzenegger has discussed his early struggles in developing his acting career. "It was very difficult for me in the beginning â?? I was told by agents and casting people that my body was 'too weird', that I had a funny accent, and that my name was too long. You name it, and they told me I had to change it. Basically, everywhere I turned, I was told that I had no chance."[4] Schwarzenegger drew attention and boosted his profile in the bodybuilding film Pumping Iron (1977),[9][10] elements of which were dramatized. In 1991, Schwarzenegger purchased the rights to the film, its outtakes, and associated still photography.[33] Schwarzenegger auditioned for the title role of The Incredible Hulk, but did not win the role because of his height. Later, Lou Ferrigno got the part of Dr. David Banner's alter ego. Schwarzenegger appeared with Kirk Douglas and Ann-Margret in the 1979 comedy The Villain. In 1980 he starred in a biopic of the 1950s actress Jayne Mansfield as Mansfield's husband, Mickey Hargitay. Arnold Schwarzenegger's star on the Hollywood Walk of FameSchwarzenegger's breakthrough film was the sword-and-sorcery epic Conan the Barbarian in 1982, which was a box-office hit.[9] This was followed by a sequel, Conan the Destroyer in 1984, although it was not as successful as its predecessor.[34] In 1983, Schwarzenegger starred in the promotional video "Carnival in Rio". In 1984, he made the first of three appearances as the titular character and what some would say was the signature role in his acting career in director James Cameron's science fiction thriller film The Terminator.[9][10][35] Following The Terminator, Schwarzenegger made Red Sonja in 1985, which "sank without a trace."[34] During the 1980s, audiences had a large appetite for action films, with both Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone becoming international stars.[10] Schwarzenegger's roles reflected his droll, often self-deprecating sense of humor (including sometimes famously bad puns), separating his roles from more serious action hero fare. His alternative-universe comedy/thriller Last Action Hero featured a poster of the movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day which, in the fictional alternate universe, had Sylvester Stallone as its star. Following his arrival as a Hollywood superstar, he made a number of successful films: Commando (1985), Raw Deal (1986), The Running Man (1987), and Red Heat (1988). In Predator (1987), another successful film, Schwarzenegger led a cast which included future Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura (Ventura also appeared in The Running Man and Batman & Robin with Schwarzenegger) and future candidate for governor of Kentucky Sonny Landham. Footprints and handprints of Arnold Schwarzenegger in front of the Grauman's Chinese TheatreTwins (1988), a comedy with Danny DeVito, was a change of pace, and also proved successful. Total Recall (1990) netted Schwarzenegger $10 million and 15% of the gross, and was a widely praised, science fiction script directed by Paul Verhoeven, based on the Philip K. Dick short story, "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale". Kindergarten Cop (1990) reunited him with director Ivan Reitman, who directed him in Twins. The movie also featured actress Pamela Reed. Schwarzenegger had a brief foray into directing, first with a 1990 episode of the TV series Tales from the Crypt, entitled "The Switch", and then with the 1992 telemovie Christmas in Connecticut. He has not directed since. Schwarzenegger's commercial high-water mark was his return as the title character in 1991's Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which was the highest-grossing film of 1991. In 1993, the National Association of Theatre Owners named him the "International Star of the Decade."[3] His next film project, the 1993 self-aware action comedy spoof Last Action Hero was released opposite Jurassic Park, with the box office suffering accordingly. His next film, the comedy drama True Lies (1994) was a highly popular spy film, and saw Schwarzenegger, reunited with James Cameron, appearing opposite Jamie Lee Curtis. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the 2003 Cannes Film FestivalShortly thereafter came the comedy Junior (1994), the last of his three collaborations with Ivan Reitman and again co-starring Danny DeVito and also for the second time featuring Pamela Reed. This film brought Schwarzenegger his second Golden Globe nomination, this time for Best Actor â?? Musical or Comedy. It was followed by the action thriller Eraser (1996) and the comic book-based Batman & Robin (1997), where he played the villain Mr. Freeze. This was his final film before taking time to recuperate from a back injury. Following the critical failure of Batman & Robin, Schwarzenegger's film career and box office prominence went into decline. Several film projects were announced with Schwarzenegger attached to star, including the remake of Planet of the Apes, a new film version of I Am Legend, and a World War II film scripted by Quentin Tarantino that would have seen Schwarzenegger play an Austrian for the fourth time (after Stay Hungry, Junior and Kindergarten Cop). Instead, he returned after a hiatus with the supernatural thriller End of Days (1999), later followed by the action films The 6th Day (2000) and Collateral Damage (2002) all of which failed to do well at the box office. In 2003, he made his third appearance as the title character in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which went on to earn over $150 million domestically. In tribute to Schwarzenegger in 2002, Forum Stadtpark, a local cultural association, proposed plans to build a 25-meter (82 ft) tall Terminator statue in a park in central Graz. Schwarzenegger reportedly said he was flattered, but thought the money would be better spent on social projects and the Special Olympics.[36] His film appearances after becoming Governor of California include a 3-second cameo appearance in The Rundown (a.k.a., Welcome to the Jungle) with The Rock, and the 2004 remake of Around the World in 80 Days, where he appeared onscreen with action star Jackie Chan for the first time. In 2005 he appeared as himself in the film The Kid & I. Schwarzenegger voiced Baron von Steuben in Episode 24 ("Valley Forge") of Liberty's Kids. Schwarzenegger had been rumored to be appearing in Terminator Salvation as the original T-800 model, alongside Roland Kickinger. Schwarzenegger denied his involvement,[37] but it was later revealed that although he would appear briefly he would not be shooting new footage, and his image would be inserted into the movie from stock footage of the first Terminator movie.[38][39] Schwarzenegger's most recent appearance was in Sylvester Stallone's The Expendables, where he made a cameo appearance alongside Stallone and Bruce Willis. Political career Main article: Political career of Arnold Schwarzenegger Vice President Dick Cheney meets with Schwarzenegger for the first time at the White HouseEarly politics Schwarzenegger has been a registered Republican for many years. As an actor, his political views were always well-known as they contrasted with those of many other prominent Hollywood stars, who are generally considered to be a liberal and Democratic-leaning community. At the 2004 Republican National Convention, Schwarzenegger gave a speech and explained why he was a Republican:[40] I finally arrived here in 1968. What a special day it was. I remember I arrived here with empty pockets but full of dreams, full of determination, full of desire. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon-Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend of mine who spoke German and English translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since. In 1985, Schwarzenegger appeared in Stop the Madness, an anti-drug music video sponsored by the Reagan administration. He first came to wide public notice as a Republican during the 1988 Presidential election, accompanying then-Vice President George H.W. Bush at a campaign rally.[41] Schwarzenegger's first political appointment was as chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, on which he served from 1990 to 1993.[3] He was nominated by George H. W. Bush, who dubbed him "Conan the Republican". He later served as Chairman for the California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports under Governor Pete Wilson. Yet, political analysts have identified Schwarzenegger as a liberal, as he has become more left-leaning since his election.[42] Between 1993 and 1994, Schwarzenegger was a Red Cross ambassador (a mostly ceremonial role fulfilled by celebrities), recording several television/radio public service announcements to give blood. A small amount of interest was garnered by his wearing of a white t-shirt with the Red Cross on it, while posing with a flexed arm; the image made it into several celebrity magazines. In an interview with Talk magazine in late 1999, Schwarzenegger was asked if he thought of running for office. He replied, "I think about it many times. The possibility is there, because I feel it inside."[43] The Hollywood Reporter claimed shortly after that Schwarzenegger sought to end speculation that he might run for governor of California.[43] Following his initial comments, Schwarzenegger said, "I'm in show business â?? I am in the middle of my career. Why would I go away from that and jump into something else?"[43] Governor of California Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy in the 2003 California recall election for Governor of California on the August 6, 2003 episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[10] As a candidate in the recall election, Schwarzenegger had the most name recognition in a crowded field of candidates, but he had never held public office and his political views were unknown to most Californians. His candidacy immediately became national and international news, with media outlets dubbing him the "Governator" (referring to The Terminator movies, see above) and "The Running Man" (the name of another one of his films), and calling the recall election "Total Recall" (yet another Schwarzenegger starrer). Schwarzenegger declined to participate in several debates with other recall replacement candidates, and appeared in only one debate on September 24, 2003.[44] President George W. Bush meets with Schwarzenegger after his successful election to the California GovernorshipOn October 7, 2003, the recall election resulted in Governor Gray Davis being removed from office with 55.4% of the Yes vote in favor of a recall. Schwarzenegger was elected Governor of California under the second question on the ballot with 48.6% of the vote to choose a successor to Davis. Schwarzenegger defeated Democrat Cruz Bustamante, fellow Republican Tom McClintock, and others. His nearest rival, Bustamante, received 31% of the vote. In total, Schwarzenegger won the election by about 1.3 million votes. Under the regulations of the California Constitution, no runoff election was required. Schwarzenegger was the first foreign-born governor of California since Irish-born Governor John G. Downey in 1862. As soon as Schwarzenegger was elected governor, Willie Brown said he would start a drive to recall the governor. Schwarzenegger was equally entrenched in what he considered to be his mandate in cleaning up gridlock. Building on a catchphrase from the sketch "Hans and Franz" from Saturday Night Live (which partly parodied his bodybuilding career), Schwarzenegger called the Democratic State politicians "girlie men".[45] Schwarzenegger in December 2008Schwarzenegger's early victories included repealing an unpopular increase in the vehicle registration fee as well as preventing driver's licenses being given out to illegal immigrants, but later began to feel the backlash when powerful state unions began to oppose his various initiatives. Key among his reckoning with political realities was a special election he called in November 2005, in which four ballot measures he sponsored were defeated. Schwarzenegger accepted personal responsibility for the defeats and vowed to continue to seek consensus for the people of California. He would later comment that "no one could win if the opposition raised 160 million dollars to defeat you". Schwarzenegger then went against the advice of fellow Republican strategists and appointed a Democrat, Susan Kennedy, as his Chief of Staff.[46] Schwarzenegger gradually moved towards a more politically moderate position, determined to build a winning legacy with only a short time to go until the next gubernatorial election. He has appeared alongside his fellow actor from Around the World in 80 Days, Jackie Chan, in a government advertisement to combat copyright infringement.[47] Schwarzenegger ran for re-election against Democrat Phil Angelides, the California State Treasurer, in the 2006 elections, held on November 7, 2006. Despite a poor year nationally for the Republican party, Schwarzenegger won re-election with 56.0% of the vote compared with 38.9% for Angelides, a margin of well over one million votes.[48] In recent years, many commentators have seen Schwarzenegger as moving away from the right and towards the center of the political spectrum. After hearing a speech by Schwarzenegger at the 2006 Martin Luther King, Jr. breakfast, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom said that, "[H]e's becoming a Democrat [... H]e's running back, not even to the center. I would say center-left". It was rumored that Schwarzenegger may run for the United States Senate in 2010, as his governorship will be term-limited by that time, this was untrue.[49][50] With Schwarzenegger and Senator Dianne Feinstein behind him, President George W. Bush comments on wildfires and firefighting efforts in California, October 2007Wendy Leigh, who wrote an unofficial biography on Schwarzenegger, claims he plotted his political rise from an early age using the movie business and bodybuilding as building blocks to escape a depressing home.[6] Leigh portrays Schwarzenegger as obsessed with power and quotes him as saying, "I wanted to be part of the small percentage of people who were leaders, not the large mass of followers. I think it is because I saw leaders use 100% of their potential â??I was always fascinated by people in control of other people."[6] Schwarzenegger has said that it was never his intention to enter politics, but he says, "I married into a political family. You get together with them and you hear about policy, about reaching out to help people. I was exposed to the idea of being a public servant and Eunice and Sargent Shriver became my heroes."[26] Eunice Kennedy Shriver was sister of John F. Kennedy, and mother-in-law to Schwarzenegger; Sargent Shriver is husband to Eunice and father-in-law to Schwarzenegger. He cannot run for president as he is not a natural born citizen of the United States. In The Simpsons Movie (2007), Rainier Wolfcastle is portrayed as the President, and in the Sylvester Stallone movie, Demolition Man (1993, ten years before his first run for political office), it is revealed that a constitutional amendment passed which allowed Schwarzenegger to run for President. Schwarzenegger is a dual Austria/United States citizen.[51] He holds Austrian citizenship by birth and has held U.S. citizenship since becoming naturalized in 1983. Being Austrian and thus European, he was able to win the 2007 European Voice campaigner of the year award for taking action against climate change with the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and plans to introduce an emissions trading scheme with other US states and possibly with the EU.[52] Still, Schwarzenegger has always identified with his American citizenship, and has shown great affinity for the state of California beyond his foreign birth. Because of his personal wealth from his acting career, Schwarzenegger does not accept his governor's salary of $175,000 per year.[53] Schwarzenegger's endorsement in the Republican primary of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election was highly sought; despite being good friends with candidates Rudy Giuliani and Senator John McCain, Schwarzenegger remained neutral throughout 2007 and early 2008. Giuliani dropped out of the Presidential race on January 30, 2008, largely because of a poor showing in Florida, and endorsed McCain. Later that night, Schwarzenegger was in the audience at a Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The following day, he endorsed McCain, joking, "It's Rudy's fault!" (in reference to his friendships with both candidates and that he could not make up his mind).[54] Schwarzenegger's endorsement was thought to be a boost for Senator McCain's campaign; both spoke about their concerns for the environment and economy. Amendment of Three Strikes Law Governor Schwarzenegger played a significant role in opposing Proposition 66, a proposed amendment of the Californian Three Strikes Law, in November 2004. This amendment would have required the third felony to be either violent or serious to mandate a 25-years-to-life sentence. In the last week before the ballot, Schwarzenegger launched an intensive campaign[55] against Proposition 66.[56] He stated that "it would release 26,000 dangerous criminals and rapists". Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors In its April 2010 report, ethics watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Schwarzenegger one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Schwarzenegger's term as governor.[57][58][59] Some of Schwarzenegger's ethics lapses cited by the watchdog include: Used non-profit and campaign funds for personal benefit Built cozy relationships with special interests Created conflicts of interest by accepting a consulting position and doing state business with a company staffed by his former campaign aides Provided state jobs to friends with dubious qualifications Allegedly pressured government employees to change outcomes Did not provide adequate leadership to the state Vetoed bills to improve transparency in hospitals at the behest of powerful special interests[60] Electoral history California Gubernatorial Recall Election 2003 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger 4,206,284 48.6 Democratic Cruz Bustamante 2,724,874 31.5 Republican Tom McClintock 1,161,287 13.5 Green Peter Miguel Camejo 242,247 2.8 California Gubernatorial Election 2006 Party Candidate Votes % ±% Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger (Incumbent) 4,850,157 55.9 +7.3 Democratic Phil Angelides 3,376,732 39.0 Green Peter Miguel Camejo 205,995 2.3 -0.5 Environmental record On September 27, 2006 Schwarzenegger signed a bill creating the nation's first cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The law set new regulations on the amount of emissions utilities, refineries and manufacturing plants are allowed to release into the atmosphere. Schwarzenegger also signed a second global warming bill that prohibits large utilities and corporations in California from making long-term contracts with suppliers who do not meet the state's greenhouse gas emission standards. The two bills are part of a plan to reduce California's emissions by 25 percent to 1990's levels by 2020. In 2005, Schwarzenegger issued an executive order calling to reduce greenhouse gases to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.[61] Schwarzenegger signed another executive order on October 17, 2006 allowing California to work with the Northeast's Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. They plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by issuing a limited amount of carbon credits to each power plant in participating states. Any power plants that exceed emissions for the amount of carbon credits they have will have to purchase more credits to cover the difference. The plan is set to be in effect in 2009.[62] In addition to using his political power to fight global warming, the governor has taken steps at his home to reduce his personal carbon footprint. Schwarzenegger has adapted one of his Hummers to run on hydrogen and another to run on biofuels. He has also installed solar panels to heat his home.[63] In respect of his contribution to the direction of the US motor industry, Schwarzenegger was invited to open the 2009 SAE World Congress in Detroit, on April 20, 2009.[64] Personal life Schwarzenegger with his wife Maria Shriver at the 2007 Special Olympics in Shanghai, ChinaIn 1977, Schwarzenegger's autobiography/weight-training guide Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder was published and became a huge success.[3] After taking English classes at Santa Monica College in California, he earned a B.A. by correspondence from the University of Wisconsinâ??Superior, where he graduated Business and International Economics, in 1979.[3] On April 26, 1986, Schwarzenegger married television journalist Maria Shriver, niece of President John F. Kennedy, in Hyannis, Massachusetts. The Rev. John Baptist Riordan performed the ceremony at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church.[65] They have four children: Katherine Eunice Shriver Schwarzenegger[66] (born December 13, 1989 in Los Angeles); Christina Maria Aurelia Schwarzenegger (born July 23, 1991 in Los Angeles);[67] Patrick Arnold Schwarzenegger (born September 18, 1993 in Los Angeles);[68] and Christopher Sargent Shriver Schwarzenegger (born September 27, 1997 in Los Angeles).[69] Schwarzenegger and his family currently live in their 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) home in Brentwood.[70][71] They used to own a home in the Pacific Palisades.[72] The family owns vacation homes in Sun Valley, Idaho and Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.[73] On Sundays, the family attends Mass at St. Monica's Catholic Church.[74] Schwarzenegger has said he believes the secret of a good marriage is love and respect.[4] "If you have the ultimate love for your wife and she has it for you, I think you have a great head start ... That's not to say it won't be difficult sometimes. You go through your ups and downs but you work through it."[4] Schwarzenegger has talked about parenthood in 2000: "One of the best things you can do with your children is play with them. At the same time, I act very silly. Many times I do a lot of sports with them. I play games with them. Act out parts. We do little plays, sometimes."[4] His official height of 6'2" has been brought into question by several articles. In his bodybuilding days in the late 1960s, he was measured to be 6'1.5", a height confirmed by his fellow bodybuilders.[75][76] However, in 1988 both the Daily Mail and Time Out magazine mentioned that Schwarzenegger appeared noticeably shorter.[77] More recently, before running for Governor, Schwarzenegger's height was once again questioned in an article by the Chicago Reader.[78] As Governor, Schwarzenegger engaged in a light-hearted exchange with Assemblyman Herb Wesson over their heights. At one point Wesson made an unsuccessful attempt to, in his own words, "[s]ettle this once and for all and find out how tall he is".[79] by using a tailor's tape measure on the Governor. Schwarzenegger retaliated by placing a pillow stitched with the words "Need a lift?" on the five-foot-five inch (165 cm) Wesson's chair before a negotiating session in his office.[80] Bob Mulholland also claimed Arnold was 5'10" and that he wore risers in his boots.[81] The debate on Schwarzenegger's height has spawned a website solely dedicated to the issue,[82] and his page remains one of the most active on CelebHeights.com, a website which discusses the heights of celebrities.[75] In 2005, Peter Pilz, from the Austrian Green Party, demanded that parliament revoke Schwarzenegger's Austrian citizenship. This demand was based on Article 33 of the Austrian Citizenship Act that states: A citizen, who is in the public service of a foreign country, shall be deprived of his citizenship, if he heavily damages the reputation or the interests of the Austrian Republic.[51] Pilz claimed that Schwarzenegger's actions in support of the death penalty (prohibited in Austria under Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights) had indeed done damage to Austria's reputation. Schwarzenegger explained his actions by referring to the fact that his only duty as Governor of California was to prevent an error in the judicial system. Schwarzenegger's home town of Graz had its soccer stadium named The Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium in his honor. It is the home of both Grazer AK and Sturm Graz. Following the Stanley Williams execution and after street protests in his hometown, several local politicians began a campaign to remove Schwarzenegger's name from the stadium. Schwarzenegger responded, saying that "to spare the responsible politicians of the city of Graz further concern, I withdraw from them as of this day the right to use my name in association with the Liebenau Stadium", and set a tight deadline of just a couple of days to remove his name. Graz officials removed Schwarzenegger's name from the stadium in December 2005.[83] It is now officially titled UPC-Arena. The Sun Valley Resort has a short ski trail called Arnold's Run, named after Schwarzenegger (It was named after him in 2001).[84] The trail is categorized as a black diamond, or most difficult, for its terrain.[85] He bought the first Hummer manufactured for civilian use in 1992, a model so large, 6,300 lbs and 7 feet (2.1 m) wide, that it is classified as a large truck and U.S. fuel economy regulations do not apply to it. During the Gubernatorial Recall campaign he announced that he would convert one of his Hummers to burn hydrogen. The conversion was reported to have cost about US$21,000. After the election, he signed an executive order to jump-start the building of hydrogen refueling plants called the California Hydrogen Highway Network, and gained a U.S. Department of Energy grant to help pay for its projected US$91,000,000 cost.[86] California took delivery of the first H2H (Hydrogen Hummer) in October 2004.[87] People in Thal celebrated Schwarzenegger's 60th birthday by throwing a party. Officials proclaimed A Day for Arnold on July 30, 2007. Thal 145, the number of the house where Schwarzenegger was born, belonged to Schwarzenegger and nobody will ever be assigned to that number.[88] On February 12, 2010, Schwarzenegger was the 18th runner on the 106th day of the Vancouver Olympic Torch relay. His leg was along the Stanley Park Seawall, and he exchanged a "torch kiss" with the next runner, Sebastian Coe.[89] Accidents and medical issues Schwarzenegger broke his right femur while skiing in Sun Valley, Idaho with his family on December 23, 2006.[90] He tripped over his ski pole on Lower Warm Springs run on Bald Mountain, an 'easy' or green level run. He is an expert level skier. On December 26, 2006, he underwent a 90-minute operation in which cables and screws were used to wire the broken bone back together. He was released from the St. John's Health Center on December 30, 2006.[91] Schwarzenegger did not delay his second oath of office on January 5, 2007, although he was still on crutches at the time. Schwarzenegger has twice crashed motorcycles on public highways, injuring himself in the process. On January 8, 2006, while riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle in Los Angeles, with his son Patrick in the sidecar, another driver backed into the street he was riding on, causing him and his son to collide with the car at a low speed. While his son and the other driver were unharmed, the governor sustained a minor injury to his lip, forcing him to get 15 stitches. "No citations were issued", said Officer Jason Lee, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman.[92] Schwarzenegger, who famously rode motorcycles in the Terminator movies, has never obtained an M-1 or M-2 endorsement on his California driver's license that would allow him to legally ride a motorcycle without a sidecar on the street. Previously, on December 9, 2001, he broke six ribs and was hospitalized for four days after a motorcycle crash in Los Angeles.[93] Schwarzenegger opted in 1997 for a replacement heart valve made of his own transplanted tissue; medical experts predicted he would require heart valve replacement surgery in the following two to eight years as his valve would progressively degrade. Schwarzenegger apparently opted against a mechanical valve, the only permanent solution available at the time of his surgery, because it would have sharply limited his physical activity and capacity to exercise.[94] He saved a drowning man's life in 2004 while on vacation in Hawaii by swimming out and bringing him back to shore.[95] Schwarzenegger's private jet made an emergency landing at Van Nuys Airport on June 19, 2009 after the pilot reported smoke coming from the cockpit, according to a statement released by the governor's press secretary. No one was harmed in the incident.[96] Business career Schwarzenegger has also had a highly successful business career.[6][26] Following his move to the United States, Schwarzenegger became a "prolific goal setter" and would write his objectives at the start of the year on index cards, like starting a mail order business or buying a new car â?? and succeed in doing so.[15] By the age of 30, Schwarzenegger was a millionaire, well before his career in Hollywood. His financial independence came from a series of successful business ventures and investments. In 1968, Schwarzenegger and fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbu started a bricklaying business. The business flourished thanks to the pair's marketing savvy and an increased demand following the 1971 San Fernando earthquake.[97][98] Schwarzenegger and Columbu used profits from their bricklaying venture to start a mail order business, selling bodybuilding and fitness-related equipment and instructional tapes.[3][97] Schwarzenegger rolled profits from the mail order business and his bodybuilding competition winnings into his first real estate venture: an apartment building he purchased for $10,000. He would go on to invest in a number of real estate holding companies.[99][100] In 1992, Schwarzenegger and his wife opened a restaurant in Santa Monica called Schatzi On Main. Schatzi literally means "little treasure," colloquial for "honey" or "darling" in German. In 1998, he sold his restaurant.[101] He invested in a shopping mall in Columbus, Ohio. He has talked about some of those who have helped him over the years in business: "I couldn't have learned about business without a parade of teachers guiding me... from Milton Friedman to Donald Trump... and now, Les Wexner and Warren Buffett. I even learned a thing or two from Planet Hollywood, such as when to get out! And I did!"[12] He has significant ownership in Dimensional Fund Advisors, an investment firm.[102] Planet Hollywood See also: Planet Hollywood Schwarzenegger was a founding celebrity investor in the Planet Hollywood chain of international theme restaurants (modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe) along with Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and Demi Moore. Schwarzenegger severed his financial ties with the business in early 2000.[103] Schwarzenegger said the company had not had the success he had hoped for, claiming he wanted to focus his attention on "new US global business ventures" and his movie career.[103] Net worth Schwarzenegger's net worth has been conservatively estimated at between $100â??$200 million.[104] Over the years, he invested his bodybuilding and movie earnings in an array of stocks, bonds, privately controlled companies, and real estate holdings worldwide, so a more accurate estimation of his net worth is difficult to calculate, particularly in light of declining real estate values owing to economic recessions in the USA and Europe. In June 1997, Schwarzenegger spent $38 million of his own money on a private Gulfstream Jet.[105] Schwarzenegger once said of his fortune, "Money doesn't make you happy. I now have $50 million, but I was just as happy when I had $48 million."[6] He has also stated "I've made many millions as a businessman many times over."[12] Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct Code Pink protesting against SchwarzeneggerDuring his initial campaign for governor, allegations of sexual and personal misconduct were raised against Schwarzenegger (dubbed Gropegate).[106] Within the last five days before the election, news reports appeared in the Los Angeles Times recounting allegations of sexual misconduct from several individual women, six of whom eventually came forward with their personal stories.[107] Three of the women claimed he had grabbed their breasts, a fourth said he placed his hand under her skirt on her buttock. A fifth woman claimed Schwarzenegger tried to take off her bathing suit in a hotel elevator, and the last says he pulled her onto his lap and asked her about a particular sex act.[106] Schwarzenegger admitted that he has "behaved badly sometimes" and apologized, but also stated that "a lot of [what] you see in the stories is not true". This came after an interview in adult magazine Oui from 1977 surfaced, in which Schwarzenegger discussed attending sexual orgies and using substances such as marijuana.[108] Schwarzenegger is shown smoking a marijuana joint after winning Mr. Olympia in the 1975 documentary film Pumping Iron. In an interview with GQ magazine in October 2007, Schwarzenegger said, "[Marijuana] is not a drug. It's a leaf. My drug was pumping iron, trust me."[109] His spokesperson later said the comment was meant to be a joke.[109] British television personality Anna Richardson settled a libel lawsuit in August 2006 against Schwarzenegger, his top aide, Sean Walsh, and his publicist, Sheryl Main.[110] A joint statement read: "The parties are content to put this matter behind them and are pleased that this legal dispute has now been settled."[110] Richardson claimed they tried to tarnish her reputation by dismissing her allegations that Schwarzenegger touched her breast during a press event (for The 6th Day) in London.[111] She claimed Walsh and Main libeled her in a Los Angeles Times article when they contended she encouraged his behavior.[110]
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 14:09:24 You really got the Hots for Arnold don't you Cold Rod? Now you got to make another trip to the bathhouse to get cooled down.
Dickhead UPer Member	Sat Sep 11 14:23:41 Hell has no fury like a fake libertarian scorned.
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 14:27:57 Sorry, an oversight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin But this does serve a purpose what with you peopl dragging out the same tired old liberal lies about Palin.
saiko Member	Sat Sep 11 14:28:42 She's an idiot. That may be tired but it's clearly the case.
Dickhead UPer Member	Sat Sep 11 14:29:00 What lies?
Adolf Hitler Member	Sat Sep 11 14:31:58 this page takes me 8-10 seconds to load now thanks to the wiki spam.
Dickhead UPer Member	Sat Sep 11 14:35:22 It's kinda like saying that the same tired old conservative lies about Obama....
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 14:38:30 AH, then don't load it stupid. You are not contributing anyway. Jesus, every God Damned syllable.
Dickhead UPer Member	Sat Sep 11 14:42:00 You have to contribute by posting entire entries from wiki. That's how you contribute.
tumbleweed the wanderer	Sat Sep 11 15:37:32 Population #1 California 36,961,664 #47 Alaska       698,473 i'm sure they have a lot in common
tumbleweed the wanderer	Sat Sep 11 15:54:57 also ~90% of Alaska revenue is from oil & gas... i guess Ahnold forgot to distribute more valuable natural resources in his state
Hot Rod Member	Sat Sep 11 16:57:59 Yes he did. There is plenty of oil off the California Coast, but the tree huggers will not allow it to be pumped. The legislature needs to tell them to go to hell and start pumping.
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:04:57 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:03 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:08 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:15 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:26 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:33 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
Hot Rod Jackson Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:42 You know all about pumping (little boys) don't you Hot Rod?
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:42 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:51 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
pillz Member	Sat Sep 11 17:05:58 Welcome to the Utopia Forums! The current time is Sat Sep 11 17:04:19 2010 , You have 0 new messages. Chat on the IRC server here Utopia Talk / Politics / Arnold and Sarah Trade Jabs Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 06:49:24 Nero 'tweets' while California burns. "In the air over Alaska on his way to South Korea, the California Republican governor tweeted: "Over Anchorage, AK. Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41964.html The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" California has a $19 billion budget deficit. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/7996240/Arnold-Schwarzenegger-and-Sarah-Palin-trade-jabs-on-Twitter.html Guess Arnold got put in his place by Momma Grizzly. saiko Member Sat Sep 11 07:13:31 "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?" Obvious lies. She could do no such thing. Visibly Shaken Member Sat Sep 11 07:16:42 And maybe she could also explain why she quit her elected post and perhaps convince him that taking the easy way out is the best option. Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 07:48:42 And so begins the lies and misconceptions about Palin. CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:15:23 " Looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here. Will keep you updated as search continues." lol CrownRoyal Member Sat Sep 11 08:18:39 ""Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to" Whats she gonna explain to Arnie? How rugged Alaskans receive more federal money per capita than any other state? Including the stimulus money? Or how she pushed windfall tax on oil companies' profits, this great anti-tax crusader? She is good at quitting, I'll give her that. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:23:44 "The idiot was over 600 miles from Russia. " lol saiko Member Sat Sep 11 08:24:33 HR, Palin has shown time and time again that she's a hopeless retard. She couldn't explain Where's Waldo. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 08:33:27 How close was she when she could see Putin rear his monsterhead over the mountains like a dragon? Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 08:37:59 It's a little known fact that Union Carbide was experimenting on HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984. Troll Rod Member Sat Sep 11 08:54:42 Hot Rod was on an episode of different strokes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSAj2q_xHzU&feature=related pillz Member Sat Sep 11 11:30:58 "Sarah Palin's tweet in response. "Arnold should have landed; I could have explained our multi-billion dollar state surplus & US energy security efforts. What's he been up to?"" Hot Rod, she was governor for roughly 2.5 years. She spent 1 of those 2.5 years running for Vice President and neglecting her state and writing a book. She is completely and utterly irrelevant. Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984? Rugian Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:44 Gotta love how Hot Rod savagely turns on Ahnold the moment he makes a small jab at his hero, the not-not-neocon Sarah Palin. LMAO Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 12:22:11 Early political career Main articles: Early political career of Sarah Palin and Electoral history of Sarah Palin Throughout her tenure on the city council and the rest of her political career, Palin has remained a Republican, first registering as such in 1982.[45] Wasilla city council Palin was elected to the Wasilla City Council in 1992 winning 530 votes to 310.[46][47] She ran for reelection in 1995, winning by 413 votes to 185.[48] Mayor of Wasilla Motivated by concerns that revenue from a new Wasilla sales tax would not be spent wisely,[41] Palin ran for mayor of Wasilla in 1996, defeating incumbent mayor John Stein[49] 651 to 440 votes.[50] Her biographer has described her campaign as targeting wasteful spending and high taxes;[23] her opponent Stein has said that Palin introduced abortion, gun rights, and term limits as campaign issues.[51] The election was nonpartisan, but the state Republican Party took the unprecedented step of running advertisements for Palin.[51] Palin ran for re-election against Stein in 1999 and won, 909 votes to 292.[52] In 2002, she completed the second of the two consecutive three-year terms she was allowed to serve by the city charter.[53] She was elected president of the Alaska Conference of Mayors[54] in 1999.[55] First term During her first year in office, Palin kept a jar with the names of Wasilla residents on her desk. Once a week, she pulled out a name, picked up the phone and asked: "How's the city doing?"[56] Using income generated by a 2% sales tax that had been approved by Wasilla voters in October 1992,[57] Palin cut property taxes by 75% and eliminated personal property and business inventory taxes.[49][58] Using municipal bonds, she made improvements to the roads and sewers, and increased funding to the Police Department.[51] She also oversaw new bike paths and procured funding for storm-water treatment to protect freshwater resources.[49] At the same time, she shrank the local museum's budget and deterred talk of a new library and city hall.[49] Shortly after taking office in October 1996, Palin eliminated the position of museum director[59] and asked for updated resumes and resignation letters from "city department heads who had been loyal to Stein,"[60] including the police chief, public works director, finance director, and librarian.[61] Palin stated this request was to find out their intentions and whether they supported her.[61] She temporarily required department heads to get her approval before talking to reporters, saying that they first needed to become acquainted with her administration's policies.[61] She created the position of city administrator,[51] and reduced her own $68,000 salary by 10%, although by mid-1998 this was reversed by the city council.[62] In October 1996, Palin asked the library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, if she would object to the removal of a book from the library if people were picketing to have the book removed.[63] Emmons responded that she would not be the only one objecting: "And I told her it would not be just me. This was a constitutional question, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) would get involved, too."[63] In early December, Palin made a written statement about the book removal request, saying she had been trying to get to know her staff and had been discussing many issues with them "both rhetorical and realistic in nature."[63] No books were removed and no attempt was made to remove books from the library during Palin's tenure as mayor.[64] Palin said she fired Police Chief Irl Stambaugh because he did not fully support her efforts to govern the city.[65] Stambaugh filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination and violation of his free speech rights.[66] The judge dismissed Stambaugh's lawsuit, holding that that the police chief served at the discretion of the mayor, and could be terminated for nearly any reason, even a political one,[67][68] and ordered Stambaugh to pay Palin's legal fees.[67] Wasilla City Hall Location of Wasilla, Alaska Location of Wasilla, Alaska Second term During her second term as mayor, Palin proposed and promoted the construction of a municipal sports center to be financed by a 0.5%[51] sales tax increase and $14.7 million bond issue.[69] Voters approved the measure by a 20 vote margin and the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex was built on time and under budget. However, the city spent an additional $1.3 million because of an eminent domain lawsuit caused by the failure to obtain clear title to the property before beginning construction.[69] The city's long-term debt grew from about $1 million to $25 million due to $15 million for the sports complex, $5.5 million for street projects, and $3 million for water improvement projects. The Wall Street Journal characterized the project as a "financial mess".[69] A city council member defended the spending increases as being caused by the city's growth during that time.[70] Palin also joined with nearby communities in hiring the Anchorage-based lobbying firm of Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh to lobby for federal funds. The firm secured nearly $8 million in earmarks for the Wasilla city government,[71] including $500,000 for a youth shelter, $1.9 million for a transportation hub, and $900,000 for sewer repairs.[72] In 2008, Wasilla's current mayor credited Palin's 75 percent property tax cuts and infrastructure improvements with bringing "big-box stores" and 50,000 shoppers per day to Wasilla.[46] A local gun store owner said Palin made the town "more of a community ... It's no longer a little strip town that you can blow through in a heartbeat."[46] At the conclusion of Palin's tenure as mayor in 2002, the city had about 6,300 residents.[73][clarification needed] State level politics In 2002, Palin ran for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor, coming in second to Loren Leman in a five-way Republican primary.[74] Following her defeat, she campaigned throughout the state for the Republican governor-lieutenant governor ticket of Frank Murkowski and Loren Leman.[75] Murkowski and Leman won, Murkowski resigned from his long-held U.S. Senate seat in December 2002 to assume the governorship. Palin was said to be on the "short list" of possible appointees to Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat,[75] but Murkowski ultimately appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski, as his successor in the Senate.[76] Governor Murkowski offered a number of other jobs to Palin, and in February 2003, she accepted an appointment to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, which oversees Alaska's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency.[75] Although she had little background in the area, she said she wanted to learn more about the oil industry, and was named chair of the commission and ethics supervisor.[1][75][77] By November 2003 she was filing non-public ethics complaints with the state attorney general and the governor against a fellow commission member, Randy Ruedrich, a former petroleum engineer and the current chair of the state Republican Party.[75] Palin had observed Ruedrich doing Party business on the state's time, and leaking confidential information to oil industry insiders. He was forced to resign in November 2003.[75] Palin resigned in January 2004 and put her protests against Ruedrich's "lack of ethics" into the public arena[23][75] by filing a public complaint against Ruedrich,[78] who was then fined $12,000. She also joined with Democratic legislator Eric Croft[79] in complaining that Gregg Renkes, a former Alaskan Attorney General,[80] had a financial conflict of interest in negotiating a coal exporting trade agreement.[81][82] Renkes also resigned his post.[23][77] From 2003 to June 2005, Palin served as one of three directors of "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group designed to provide political training for Republican women in Alaska.[83] In 2004, Palin told the Anchorage Daily News that she had decided not to run for the U.S. Senate that year against the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski because her teenage son opposed it. Palin said, "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. Senator?"[84] Governor of Alaska Main article: Governorship of Sarah Palin Palin visits soldiers of the Alaska National Guard, July 24, 2007. In 2006, running on a clean-government platform, Palin defeated incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican gubernatorial primary.[85][86] Her running mate was State Senator Sean Parnell. In the November election, Palin was outspent but victorious, defeating former Democratic governor Tony Knowles by a margin of 48.3% to 40.9%.[23] She became Alaska's first female governor, at the age of 42, the youngest governor in Alaskan history, the state's first governor to have been born after Alaska achieved U.S. statehood, and the first not to be inaugurated in Juneau (she chose to have the ceremony held in Fairbanks instead). She took office on December 4, 2006, and for most of her term was very popular with Alaska voters. Polls taken in 2007 showed her with 93% and 89% popularity among all voters,[87] which led some media outlets to call her "the most popular governor in America."[79][87] A poll taken in late September 2008 after Palin was named to the national Republican ticket showed her popularity in Alaska at 68%.[88] A poll taken in May 2009 showed Palin's popularity among Alaskans was at 54% positive and 41.6% negative.[89] Palin declared that top priorities of her administration would be resource development, education and workforce development, public health and safety, and transportation and infrastructure development. She had championed ethics reform throughout her election campaign. Her first legislative action after taking office was to push for a bipartisan ethics reform bill. She signed the resulting legislation in July 2007, calling it a "first step", and declaring that she remained determined to clean up Alaska politics.[90] Palin with the Engagement Skills Trainer, July 24, 2007. Palin frequently broke with the state Republican establishment.[91][92] For example, she endorsed Sean Parnell's bid to unseat the state's longtime at-large U.S. Representative, Don Young,[93] and she publicly challenged then-Senator Ted Stevens to come clean about the federal investigation into his financial dealings. Shortly before his July 2008 indictment, she held a joint news conference with Stevens, described by The Washington Post as intended to "make clear she had not abandoned him politically."[83] Palin promoted oil and natural gas resource development in Alaska, including drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Proposals to drill for oil in ANWR have been the subject of a national debate.[94] In 2006, Palin obtained a passport[95] and in 2007 traveled for the first time outside of North America on a trip to Kuwait. There she visited the Khabari Alawazem Crossing at the Kuwaitâ??Iraq border and met with members of the Alaska National Guard at several bases.[96] On her return trip, she visited injured soldiers in Germany.[97] Budget, spending, and federal funds Palin in Germany, July 2007 In June 2007, Palin signed a record $6.6 billion operating budget into law.[98] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The $237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to $1.6 billion.[99] In 2008, Palin vetoed $286 million, cutting or reducing funding for 350 projects from the FY09 capital budget.[100] Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet, a purchase made by the Murkowski administration for $2.7 million in 2005 against the wishes of the legislature.[101] In August 2007, the jet was listed on eBay, but the sale fell through, and the plane was later sold for $2.1 million through a private brokerage firm.[102] Gubernatorial expenditures Palin lived in Juneau during the legislative session and lived in Wasilla and worked out of offices in Anchorage the rest of the year. Since the office in Anchorage is 565 miles from Juneau, while she worked there, state officials said she was permitted to claim a $58 per diem travel allowance, which she took (a total of $16,951), and to reimbursement for hotels, which she did not, choosing instead to drive about 50 miles to her home in Wasilla.[103] She also chose not to use the former governor's private chef.[104] Republicans and Democrats have criticized Palin for taking the per diem and $43,490 in travel expenses for the times her family accompanied her on state business.[105][106] In response, Palin's staffers said that these practices were in line with state policy, that her gubernatorial expenses are 80% below those of her predecessor, Frank Murkowski,[105] and that "many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of 'state business' with the party extending the invitation."[103] In February 2009, the State of Alaska, reversing a policy that had treated the payments as legitimate business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code, decided that per diems paid to state employees for stays in their own homes will be treated as taxable income and will be included in employees' gross income on their W-2 forms.[107] Palin herself had ordered the review of the tax policy.[108] In December 2008, an Alaska state commission recommended increasing the Governor's annual salary from $125,000 to $150,000. Palin stated that she would not accept the pay raise.[109] In response, the commission dropped the recommendation.[110] Federal funding In her State of the State address on January 17, 2008, Palin declared that the people of Alaska "can and must continue to develop our economy, because we cannot and must not rely so heavily on federal government [funding]."[111] Alaska's federal congressional representatives cut back on pork-barrel project requests during Palin's time as governor; despite this, in 2008 Alaska was still the largest per-capita recipient of federal earmarks, requesting nearly $750 million in special federal spending over a period of two years.[112] While there is no sales tax or income tax in Alaska, state revenues doubled to $10 billion in 2008. For the 2009 budget, Palin gave a list of 31 proposed federal earmarks or requests for funding, totaling $197 million, to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.[113][114] Palinâ??s decreasing support for federal funding was a source of friction between her and the state's congressional delegation; Palin requested less in federal funding each year than her predecessor Frank Murkowski requested in his last year.[115] Bridge to Nowhere Main article: Gravina Island Bridge In 2005, before Palin was elected governor, Congress passed a $442-million earmark for constructing two Alaska bridges as part of an omnibus spending bill. The Gravina Island Bridge received nationwide attention as a symbol of pork-barrel spending, following news reports that the bridge would cost $233 million in Federal funds. Because Gravina Island, the site of the Ketchikan airport, has a population of 50, the bridge became known nationally as the "Bridge to Nowhere". Following an outcry by the public and some members of the US Senate, Congress eliminated the bridge earmark from the spending bill but gave the allotted funds to Alaska as part of its general transportation fund.[116] Palin holds up a t-shirt reading "Nowhere Alaska 99901" while visiting Ketchikan during her Gubernatorial campaign in 2006; the ZIP code for the area is 99901. In 2006, Palin ran for governor with a "build-the-bridge" plank in her platform,[117] saying she would "not allow the spinmeisters to turn this project ... into something that's so negative."[118] Palin criticized the use of the word "nowhere" as insulting to local residents[117][119] and urged speedy work on building the infrastructure "while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist."[119] As governor, Palin canceled the Gravina Island Bridge in September 2007, saying that Congress had "little interest in spending any more money" due to what she called "inaccurate portrayals of the projects."[120] Alaska chose not to return the $442 million in federal transportation funds.[121] In 2008, as a vice-presidential candidate, Palin characterized her position as having told Congress "thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere." This angered some Alaskans in Ketchikan, who said that the claim was false and a betrayal of Palin's previous support for their community.[121] Some critics complained that this statement was misleading, since she had expressed support for the spending project and kept the Federal money after the project was canceled.[122] Palin was also criticized for allowing construction of a 3-mile access road, built with $25 million in Federal transportation funds set aside as part of the original bridge project, to continue. A spokesman for Alaska's Department of Transportation made a statement that it was within Palin's power to cancel the road project, but also noted that the state was still considering cheaper designs to complete the bridge project, and that in any case, the road would open up the surrounding lands for development.[123][124] Gas pipeline See also: Alaska Gas Pipeline In August 2008, Palin signed a bill authorizing the State of Alaska to award TransCanada Pipelines â?? the sole bidder to meet the state's requirements â?? a license to build and operate a pipeline to transport natural gas from the North Slope to the Continental United States through Canada.[125] The governor also pledged $500 million in seed money to support the project.[126] It is estimated that the project will cost $26 billion.[125] Newsweek described the project as "the principal achievement of Sarah Palin's term as Alaska's governor."[127] The pipeline faces legal challenges from Canadian First Nations.[127] Predator control See also: Governorship of Sarah Palin#Environment In 2007, Palin supported a 2003 Alaska Department of Fish and Game policy allowing the hunting of wolves from the air as part of a predator control program intended to increase moose and caribou populations for subsistence-food gatherers and other hunters.[128][129] In March 2007, Palin's office announced that a bounty of $150 per wolf would be paid to the 180 volunteer pilots and gunners, to offset fuel costs, in five areas of Alaska. Six-hundred-and-seven wolves had been killed in the prior four years. State biologists wanted 382 to 664 wolves killed by the end of the predator-control season in April 2007. Wildlife activists sued the state, and a state judge declared the bounty illegal on the basis that a bounty would have to be offered by the Board of Game and not by the Department of Fish and Game.[128][130] Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Main article: Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan on July 11, 2008, citing performance-related issues, such as not being "a team player on budgeting issues"[131] and "egregious rogue behavior."[132] Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein said that the "last straw" was Monegan's planned trip to Washington, D.C., to seek funding for a new, multimillion-dollar sexual assault initiative the governor hadn't yet approved.[133] Monegan said that he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palinâ??s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palinâ??s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.[134][135] At one point Sarah and Todd Palin hired a private investigator to get Wooten disciplined.[136] Monegan stated that he learned an internal investigation had found all but two of the allegations to be unsubstantiated, and Wooten had been disciplined for the others â?? an illegal moose killing and the tasering of his 11-year-old stepson (the child 'reportedly' asked to be tasered).[135] He told the Palins that there was nothing he could do because the matter was closed.[137] When contacted by the press for comment, Monegan first acknowledged pressure to fire Wooten but said that he could not be certain that his own firing was connected to that issue;[135] he later asserted that the dispute over Wooten was a major reason for his firing.[138] Palin stated on July 17 that Monegan was not pressured to fire Wooten, nor dismissed for not doing so.[131][137] Monegan said the subject of Wooten came up when he invited Palin to a birthday party for his cousin, state senator Lyman Hoffman, in February 2007 during the legislative session in Juneau. "As we were walking down the stairs in the capitol building she wanted to talk to me about her former brother-in-law," Monegan said. "I said, 'Ma'am, I need to keep you at arm's length with this. I can't deal about him with you.[139] She said, 'OK, that's a good idea.'"[135] Palin said there was "absolutely no pressure ever put on Commissioner Monegan to hire or fire anybody, at any time. I did not abuse my office powers. And I don't know how to be more blunt and candid and honest, but to tell you that truth. To tell you that no pressure was ever put on anybody to fire anybody." "Never putting any pressure on him," added Todd Palin.[140] On August 13 she acknowledged that a half dozen members of her administration had made more than two dozen calls on the matter to various state officials. "I do now have to tell Alaskans that such pressure could have been perceived to exist, although I have only now become aware of it," she said.[137][139][141] Palin said, "Many of these inquiries were completely appropriate. However, the serial nature of the contacts could be perceived as some kind of pressure, presumably at my direction."[131][142] Chuck Kopp, who Palin had appointed to replace Monegan as public safety commissioner, received a $10,000 state severance package after he resigned following just two weeks on the job. Kopp, the former Kenai chief of police, resigned July 25 following disclosure of a 2005 sexual harassment complaint and letter of reprimand against him. Monegan said that he didn't get any severance package from the state.[131] Legislative investigation On August 1, 2008 the Alaska Legislature hired an investigator, Stephen Branchflower, to review the Monegan dismissal. Legislators stated that Palin had the legal authority to fire Monegan, but they wanted to know whether her action had been motivated by anger at Monegan for not firing Wooten.[143][144] The atmosphere was bipartisan and Palin pledged to cooperate.[143][144][145] Wooten remained employed as a state trooper.[136] She placed an aide on paid leave due to a tape-recorded phone conversation that she deemed improper, in which the aide, appearing to act on her behalf, complained to a trooper that Wooten had not been fired.[146] Several weeks after the start of what the media referred to as "troopergate", Palin was chosen as John McCain's running mate.[144] On September 1, Palin asked the legislature to drop its investigation, saying that the state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues.[147] The Personnel Board's three members were first appointed by Palinâ??s predecessor, and Palin reappointed one member in 2008.[148] On September 19, Todd Palin and several state employees refused to honor subpoenas, the validity of which were disputed by Talis Colberg, Palin's appointee as Alaska's Attorney General.[149] On October 2, a court rejected Colberg's challenge to the subpoenas,[150] and seven of the witnesses, not including Todd Palin, eventually testified.[151] Branchflower Report On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release, without endorsing,[152] the Branchflower Report, in which investigator Stephen Branchflower found that firing Monegan "was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority," but that Palin abused her power as governor and violated the state's Executive Branch Ethics Act when her office pressured Monegan to fire Wooten.[153] The report stated that "Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates to advance a personal agenda, to wit: to get Trooper Michael Wooten fired."[154] The report also said that Palin "permitted Todd Palin to use the Governor's office [...] to continue to contact subordinate state employees in an effort to find some way to get Trooper Wooten fired."[154][155] On October 11, Palin's attorneys responded, condemning the Branchflower Report as "misleading and wrong on the law."[156] One of Palin's attorneys, Thomas Van Flein, said that it was an attempt to "smear the governor by innuendo."[157] Later that day, Palin did a conference call interview with various Alaskan reporters, where she stated, "Well, Iâ??m very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing... Any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."[158] State Personnel Board investigation The State Personnel Board (SPB) reviewed the matter at Palin's request.[159] On September 15, the Anchorage law firm of Clapp, Peterson, Van Flein, Tiemessen & Thorsness filed arguments of "no probable cause" with the SPB on behalf of Palin.[160][161] The SPB hired independent counsel Timothy Petumenos, a Democrat, as an investigator. On October 24, Palin gave three hours of depositions with the Board in St. Louis, Missouri.[162] On November 3, Petumenos found that there was no probable cause to believe Palin or any other state official had violated state ethical standards.[163][164][165][166] Approval ratings As governor of Alaska, Palin's approval rating ranged from a high of 93% in June 2007 to 54% in May 2009. Date Approval Disapproval May 30, 2007[167] 89% Not reported June 21, 2007[168] 93% Not reported November 4, 2007[169] 83% 11% April 10, 2008[170] 73% 7% May 17, 2008[171] 69% 9% August 29, 2008[171] 64% 14% October 7, 2008[172] 63% 37% March 24â??25, 2009[173] 59.8% 34.9% May 5, 2009[173] 54% 41.6% June 14â??18, 2009[174] 56% 35% Resignation Main article: Resignation of Sarah Palin An estimated 5,000 people[175] gathered in Fairbanks' Pioneer Park to watch Palin cede her office to Sean Parnell. On July 3, 2009, Palin announced at a press conference that she would not run for reelection in the 2010 Alaska gubernatorial election and would resign before the end of July. In her announcement,[176] Palin stated that both she and the state had been expending an "insane" amount of time and money to address "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her,[177][178][179][176] and that her decision not to seek reelection would make her a lame duck governor.[176] Palin did not take questions at the press conference. A Palin aide was quoted as saying Palin was "no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself."[180] miltonfriedman Member Sat Sep 11 12:26:58 If you want to plagiarize an article, molester Rod, learn NOT to include the footnote. Renzo Marquez Member Sat Sep 11 12:27:32 Teabagged Member Sat Sep 11 11:36:22 "what exactly did they do to HR's momma's rotted cunt at Bhopal in early December of 1984?" It's classified so I don't know. I only know that it caused a massive number of casualties. Adolf Hitler Member Sat Sep 11 13:57:34 that wiki page copy and paste trick should be considered spam. Clitoral Hood The Bloody Scourge Sat Sep 11 13:58:30 HR didn't get arnold's joke? Hot Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:05:25 AH, why? You do it all of the time. The only difference is I posted it just once, while you will post a page a half dozen times in an effort to ruin a thread. Cold Rod Member Sat Sep 11 14:06:26 Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (English pronunciation: /�?�?w�?rts�?n�?�¡�?r/, German: [�?a�?n�?lt �?al�?�?s �?�?va�?ts�?n�?�?�?�¡�?]; born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, model, businessman, and politician, who is currently serving as the 38th Governor of California. Schwarzenegger began weight-training at 15. He was awarded the title of Mr. Universe at age 22 and went on to win the Mr. Olympia contest a total of seven times. Schwarzenegger has remained a prominent face in the sport of bodybuilding long after his retirement, and has written several books and numerous articles on the sport. Schwarzenegger gained worldwide fame as a Hollywood action film icon, noted for his lead role in such films as Conan the Barbarian and The Terminator. He was nicknamed the "Austrian Oak" and the "Styrian Oak" in his bodybuilding days, "Arnold Strong" and "Arnie" during his acting career, and more recently the "Governator" (a portmanteau of "Governor" and "Terminator").[1] As a Republican, he was first elected on October 7, 2003, in a special recall election to replace then-Governor Gray Davis. Schwarzenegger was sworn in on November 17, 2003, to serve the remainder of Davis's term. Schwarzenegger was then re-elected on November 7, 2006, in California's 2006 gubernatorial election, to serve a full term as governor, defeating Democrat Phil Angelides, who was California State Treasurer at the time. Schwarzenegger was sworn in for his second term on January 5, 2007.[2] Schwarzenegger is married to journalist Maria Shriver. The two have four children (two girls and two boys). Contents [hide] 1 Early life 1.1 Early adulthood 1.2 Move to the U.S. 2 Bodybuilding career 2.1 Strongman 2.2 Mr. Olympia 2.3 Steroid use 3 Acting career 4 Political career 4.1 Early politics 4.2 Governor of California 4.2.1 Amendment of Three Strikes Law 4.2.2 Ethics group named Schwarzenegger one of America's worst governors 4.3 Electoral history 4.4 Environmental record 5 Personal life 5.1 Accidents and medical issues 6 Business career 6.1 Planet Hollywood 6.2 Net worth 7 Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct 8 References 9 Bibliography 9.1 Interviews 9.2 Film 10 External links
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 01:19:04 hot rod fantasizing about bathhouses in this thread too? Maybe we should put it to a vote whether repeating the same lame line in every thread should be considered spam.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 01:20:19 Thanks for deleting some of his spam in this thread though
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 02:11:40 tumbleweed raises an excellent point. It's patently ridiculous to claim that a state of a couple hundred thousand people that receives extensive federal subsidies can maintain a surplus as easily as a state of several dozen million that is a net payer to the federal government in terms of tax inflows/outflows.
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 02:12:29 Got the two states mixed up. Cali should come first in that sentence, followed by Alaska. Whatever.
RepublicanRetard Member	Sun Sep 12 06:44:50 "The legislature needs to tell them to go to hell and start pumping." DRILL BABY DRILL
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 07:59:50 >-It's patently ridiculous to claim that a state of a couple hundred thousand people that receives extensive federal subsidies can maintain a surplus as easily as... Just as it is patently ridiculous to quip you can't see Russia when you are 600 miles away from it. Especially when her statement, that you can see Russia from The United States, is true, His quip just feeds the stupid liberals. I'm sure it ingratiates him with The Kennedy Clan, but I didn't think it was funny.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 08:03:09 "Just as it is patently ridiculous to quip you can't see Russia when you are 600 miles away from it." This is how exactly backwards you are. You live in bizarro world. It is patently ridiculous to quip you CAN see Russia when you are 600 miles away from it. See the difference between reality and the exact opposite? Reality vs. the inside your stupid, little head?
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 08:03:54 "I'm sure it ingratiates him with The Kennedy Clan, but I didn't think it was funny." Awwwww poor liddew woddy awwww
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 08:06:30 *-can
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 08:07:17 Thank you for the assist. Haven't had my copffee yet.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 08:08:13 *-coffee #%^^$@@^&%$$#
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 08:12:09 Errr but you made the same allusion in your OP, little stupid troll lol...
jergul Member	Sun Sep 12 08:12:39 Hot rod You seriously forget that Palin said should could see Russia from her back door when asked to provide her foreign affairs experience? Arnold was making fun of her for once saying that.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 08:17:56 Next door neighbors was the term iirc
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 08:22:34 jergul, Tina Fey said that on SNL. Palin's exact words were, "They're our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska." "In the middle of the Bering Strait are two small, sparsely populated islands: Big Diomede, which sits in Russian territory, and Little Diomede, which is part of the United States. At their closest, these two islands are a little less than two and a half miles apart, which means that, on a clear day, you can definitely see one from the other." http://www.slate.com/id/2200155/ When are you people going to stop getting your news from entertainment television?
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 08:25:40 AH - Errr but you made the same allusion in your OP, little stupid troll lol... Damn it, leave me alone until I drink my coffee. You don't cheat fair.
jergul Member	Sun Sep 12 08:30:57 http://abc...te2008/story?id=5782924&page=2 There is some words from the horses mouth. No insult to horses intended. At least you know what Arnold was making fun of Hot Rod.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 08:42:51 I just read the first page, but I see no problem with it. Looks like she is advocating the same strategy that was used when The United States installed Pahlavi in Iran. Get a buffer zone as close to Russia as possible. Looks like a sound policy to me. I'm sure she is anticipating a different result though.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 09:16:40 AH, my statement was patently correct, as a matter of fact it was Arnold's statement. I was just quoting him. Like any good little liberal you will take any true statement and spin it to suit your purpose. You are just being silly as usual. Oh, BTW. I notice you are now plagiarizing my quip about the bathhouse. How does it feel to be so void of creativity that you have to copy your enemy to make a post.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 09:21:16 Aaah the bathhouses again, whats the that 50th time this week youve posted about bathhouses? Your repetitive lack of originality really is one of your most infamous trademarks roddy, but if it keeps you out of your white van for a few hours, Im all for it
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 09:22:40 May have to ban or delete the word bathhouse, as it is getting repeated.
Dead Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 09:26:06 Theres your tell. Heres your sign.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 09:30:09 LOL, you people sure are silly.
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 09:35:43 Hot Rod Member Sun Sep 12 08:42:51 "I just read the first page, but I see no problem with it. Looks like she is advocating the same strategy that was used when The United States installed Pahlavi in Iran. Get a buffer zone as close to Russia as possible. Looks like a sound policy to me." You're a fucking idiot. Iran wasn't a buffer zone. Also, it's interesting how you consider the installation of the shah as a "sound policy" when it ended so disastrously for the United States. But whatever, no one ever believed that you weren't a neocon even before this revelation you stupid fool. As for this, "Just as it is patently ridiculous to quip you can't see Russia when you are 600 miles away from it." He was obviously joking, and it was pretty funny, since Palin is so stupid. Lighten up you neocon idiot.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 10:09:55 Rugian, do you think you will ever read just one post of mine and understand what it really saying without making up a bunch of shit that is obviously not there? Just one? >-You're a fucking idiot. Iran wasn't a buffer zone. It was a buffer zone between The USSR and the Middle East and North Africa. Check your map. "Sometimes portions of a single country can fall into two distinct spheres of influence. In the colonial era the buffer states of Iran and Thailand, lying between the empires of Britain/Russia and Britain/France respectively, were divided between the spheres of influence of the imperial powers." Meaning at the time Britain controlled The Middle East as a part of their Empire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_of_influence >-Also, it's interesting how you consider the installation of the shah as a "sound policy" when it ended so disastrously for the United States. What part of "I'm sure she is anticipating a different result though." Went in one ear, rattled around a little bit, before exiting the other ear? >-He was obviously joking... What part of "but I didn't think it was funny..." Went in one ear, rattled around a little bit, before exiting the other ear? I am still entitled to a personal opinion as to what I think is or is not funny aren't I. Or do you want to deny me any decision on my own and follow you around like the other good litt,e liberals.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 10:22:48 You don't have to view the joke as humorous in order to understand the context of how and what is being said and referred. So your defense "it's my personal opinion that it isnt' funny" doesn't hold water and by-passes the point that was being made.
Milton Bradley Member	Sun Sep 12 10:25:02 What part of "He was obviously joking..." Went in one ear, rattled around a little bit, before exiting the other ear? Rugian is still entitled to tell you he was obviously joking. What part of that didnt you get? He is still entitled to a personal opinion as to what he thinks is or is not funny isnt he. Or do you want to deny him any decision on his own and follow you around like the other good litt,e far beck worshippers.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 10:27:59 ERR... Just exactly how can I have the personal opinion that it was *NOT* funny and still "view the joke as humorous"? Would you care to rewrite that post? BTW, I know it was *SUPPOSED TO BE A FUNNY JOKE,* it just wasn't.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 10:34:00 MB, if you are going to quote Rugian try to be man enough to post my response. ">-He was obviously joking... What part of "but I didn't think it was funny..." Went in one ear, rattled around a little bit, before exiting the other ear?" That is called *TWO PEOPLE* debating/discussing a single point. If you get off your ass and stop using one liners without posting the other side you never will grow up.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 10:36:33 Why should I rewrite it? It's quite clear of what was said. Very well, I shall dumb it down for you. HR: Duurrrr, Anhold words not funny! K: Doesn't matter if you find it not funny, the point remains that what he said was an attempt at humor, there for the context and reference remains. HR: Duuuur, Anhold words not funny! K: It doesn't matter what your opinion about it is. It's the idea that the ATTEMPT of being funny was implemented. HR: Duuuurrr, Anhold words not funny! K: That isn't the point. HR: Duuuur, Anhold words not funny!
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 10:41:15 Just figured it out. You are AH. Only he could be that stupid.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 10:41:46 Wrong again dweeblit.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 10:44:43 ">-He was obviously joking... What part of "but I didn't think it was funny..." Went in one ear, rattled around a little bit, before exiting the other ear?" That is called *TWO PEOPLE* debating/discussing a single point. If you get off your ass and stop using one liners without posting the other side you never will grow up."
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 10:44:46 Notice how you won't address anything because you can't understand it, then you hide behind making false accusations of being other posters. It's like you and JB sit around and ponder who is who always looking over the point of where your arguments are being destroyed. So what do you do? Resort to false accusations. Just admit that you didn't understand that the governator was just making a joke.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 10:45:09 So you're going to spam the thread copy and pasting yourself?
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 10:50:12 Since we are defending the governator, what are you going to do now, accuse all of us of being conservatives?
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 11:18:45 You are some piece of work. And while Arnold may be a republican he is far from a conservative. He should go take lessons from Christy. Now go away, you are spinning so much you are too dizzy to even try to talk to.
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 11:25:34 "And while Palin may be a republican he is far from a conservative." Fixed.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 11:26:44 What's the matter can't address any valid points? Resorting only to insults? I thought you wanted to debate? In the future of any threads you make if you could put a "troll disclaimer" that would help. Thanks.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 11:30:33 ERR... Epiphany for Rugian. Sarah Palin is female. k, What points are you talking about?
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 11:35:01 I couldn't help that you neglected to argue against the assertion that Palin isn't a conservative. Point noted.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 11:46:42 I am too busy and an important a man to argue every one of your tiny nonsensical points.
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 11:48:23 See, this is why no one ever takes your attempts to debate seriously. Because we all know by now that the moment you're confronted with something you can't answer, you'll make a dodge move like that and leave.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 11:51:00 Stage 5.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 12:02:41 What is the point of debating an obvious troll on your part. You know as well as I do that on the "conservative scale" she is in the to 5% to 10%. All you are doing is what you have accused me of a hundred times when I ask a serious question. You are trolling, nothing more. Just like KrYpToNiTe. The asshat accuses me of not addressing his "valid point." I ask him what they are and he tosses out an insult and ignores me. This is my cleaning day and I am spending far too much time on you trolls.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 12:07:17 Where did I insult you?
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 12:14:44 And the points still remain still in this thread, they did not move, nor was deleted.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 12:16:59 I asked you a question, now answer it or STFU.
KrYpToNiTe Member	Sun Sep 12 12:17:58 Use your scroll, find it or admit that you only want to troll in this thread.
Rugian Member	Sun Sep 12 12:19:48 "You are trolling, nothing more." How is it trolling? She's a -Neoconservative on foreign policy -A religious nut on social policy -A liberal on economic policy You can make the argument that she's some sort of hyper-regressive neocon, but a classic conservative? Out of the question.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 12:20:01 Yu are the one who cares dickless. Now STFU.
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 12:22:33 Rugian, let's take that up some other day. I really am too busy today to put that much time into a discussion of that complexity. I would appreciate it.
Adolf Hitler Member	Sun Sep 12 12:24:49 ^ The kids are acting up again. I guess that means Lil Jamie gets to set a terrifying example tonight of what happens to kids that act up, poor lil fellah.
Dickhead UPer Member	Sun Sep 12 12:39:13 Aww, why is HR always the victim?
Hot Rod Member	Sun Sep 12 12:46:17 Talk sense.
miltonfriedman Member	Sun Sep 12 13:11:33 "I really am too busy today to put that much time into a discussion of that complexity." This is a codeword for two things: 1. he got owned 2. and now he will be owning the asses of those abducted kids to compensate.
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