Well..well..well...James.Dobson.In.A.Dress & Family warned about 'EMOTIONAL CHILD ABUSE'

Hat tips: Daily Kos and Americablog

From Newsweek:

An Anchorage judge three years ago warned Sarah Palin and members of her family to stop "disparaging" the reputation of Alaska State Trooper Michael Wooten, who at the time was undergoing a bitter separation and divorce from Palin's sister Molly.

Allegations that Palin, her husband Todd, and at least one top gubernatorial aide continued to vilify Wooten—after Palin became Alaska's governor and pressured state police officials to take action against him—are at the center of "Troopergate," a political and ethical controversy which has embroiled Palin's administration and is currently the subject of an official inquiry by a special investigator hired by the state legislature.

Court records obtained by NEWSWEEK show that during the course of divorce hearings three years ago, Judge John Suddock heard testimony from an official of the Alaska State Troopers' union about how Sarah Palin—then a private citizen—and members of her family, including her father and daughter, lodged up to a dozen complaints against Wooten with the state police. The union official told the judge that he had never before been asked to appear as a divorce-case witness, that the union believed family complaints against Wooten were "not job-related," and that Wooten was being "harassed" by Palin and other family members.

Court documents show that Judge Suddock was disturbed by the alleged attacks by Palin and her family members on Wooten's behavior and character. "Disparaging will not be tolerated—it is a form of child abuse," the judge told a settlement hearing in October 2005, according to typed notes of the proceedings. The judge added: "Relatives cannot disparage either. If occurs [sic] the parent needs to set boundaries for their relatives."....

"It is the mother's [Hackett's] responsibility to set boundaries for her relatives and insure [sic] they respect them, and the disparagement by either parent, or their surrogates is emotional child abuse," Judge Suddock wrote....

Initially, Palin indicated she would cooperate with the investigation. But more recently, a lawyer hired by the state to represent her in the case asked the Alaska Attorney General to request that a state personnel board conduct its own special-counsel inquiry and demanded that the state legislature back off.

Ah, don't you love those FAMILY VALUES.

ABC does ACTUAL reporting on Trooper-Gate

Hat tip: Daily Dish

Watch the video at the link.

Corresponding Editorial of the Anchorage Daily News on Troopergate.

Already lawyering up and claiming Executive Privilege. Haven't we had enough of folks like this?

What's At Stake in this Election - NEVER FORGET

From TPM Cafe Talk:

From: Cafe, Election Central
GOP Going for Broke
By John K - September 3, 2008, 7:16AM

The conservative rhetoric has risen to a deafening crescendo. It has become impossible to examine what is going on in the McCain camp and not see the extreme push to the right. This is breathtaking to watch.

I'm trying to gauge the possibilities of the republicans laying and winning such a wager and find myself at a loss to evaluate the strategy. In my mind the risk they are taking seems preposterous but at the same time I am cognizant of what it would portend should McCain actually win in November.

The republican wager has raised the stakes to the point where a republican win would absolutely devastate the country.

Democrats really need to understand what a republican win would mean and take very seriously what a negative outcome that would be.

You could kiss freedom goodbye. Government intrusion into our lives would be derigeur like you could not imagine.

And forget about the intrusion of religion on government. It would absolutely become integral to the running of the nation.

The deregulation of big business would go unchecked and unfurl a horde of abuses on consumers that would make what has already occurred pale by comparison.

If you think our foreign policy is unhappily received now, just wat and see what would happen under a McCain presidency.

Roe vs Wade would be history.

Further attempts of the U.S. to use our dwindling economic power to bully foreign powers would end in a mass exodus of foreign investment and a crash of U.S. currency.

Domestic surveillance and militaristic conduct by law enforcement would be completely out of control.

I really think all these things are absolutely predictable outcomes of a republican win. This may sound alarmist but it is a very logical product of what is being espoused at the republican convention.

A republican win would provide them affirmation of their policies of the last eight years and allow them to totally disregard the fact that the outcomes of the Bush presidency have irreparably harmed the nation.

James.Dobson.In.A.Dress Invokes EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE

oh HELL NO

From DailyKos:

But that co-operation appears to have extended only so far. Her office has claimed executive privilege on emails requested by the state trooper's union in a separate civil suit*. But several Alaska lawmakers told TPMmuckraker Friday that those claims likely won't stand up, and that Branchflower should get access to the emails should he force the issue.

Sound familiar? Guess she learned it well from GW.

I would like to ask who will clean up the mess left by our rightist friends?

Palin is under investigation already

From The Daily Dish

Amazing
31 Aug 2008 01:38 pm

From Josh:

The investigator appointed by the state legislature began trying to arrange a time to depose Gov. Palin last week -- in other words, in the final days before her selection.

I ask again: who vetted her? Josh has a sober and clear overview of Troopergate and why it matters here. Money quote:

We rely on elected officials not to use the power of their office to pursue personal agendas or vendettas. It's called an abuse of power. There is ample evidence that Palin used her power as governor to get her ex-brother-in-law fired. When his boss refused to fire him, she fired him. She first denied Monegan's claims of pressure to fire Wooten and then had to amend her story when evidence proved otherwise.

The available evidence now suggests that she

1) tried to have an ex-relative fired from his job for personal reasons, something that was clearly inappropriate, and perhaps illegal, though possibly understandable in human terms,

2) fired a state official for not himself acting inappropriately by firing the relative,

3) lied to the public about what happened

4) continues to lie about what happened.

These are, to put it mildly, not the traits or temperament you want in someone who could hold the executive power of the federal government

.

Haven't we had enough of elected officials who have believed they were above the law?

She's bad news, all the way around.