Monday, September 1, 2008

Saradise Lost - Chapter Nine

Bristol Palin - Just a Girl From Alaska

-- by Shanyn Moore

Unfortunately this isn’t a rare story in Alaska. The story of Bristol Palin is that of so many girls
I grew up with in rural Alaska. The age of consent is 16. Abstinence only works until it doesn’t, and then you’re buying pampers. This isn’t a reflection on her reputation, not at all.

We have some of the highest rates in the country when it comes to teen pregnancy, rape, incest, and domestic violence. Last year, the Democrats in Juneau fought hard to provide Denali Kid Care to more pregnant women and children.

As governor, Sarah Palin did not lift a finger to help this bill pass, a bill that may have covered her daughter. Bristol Palin’s story is not tragic in the sense that she has the love and support of so many. The tragedy is all those who don’t have family support , health assistance, vitamins or enough food.


image of Sarah, Trig and Bristol Palin, taken last Friday morning in Ohio, by Megan McCain

15 comments:

Matthew Hubbard said...

Hi, Phil. Thanks for all your work. I'm some Lower 48 interloper who has just stumbled onto your blog, and it's mighty good reading. I'll be putting a link to you in my latest entry entitled "Sarah Palin's Labor Day Weekend".

Thanks again.

Unknown said...

I encountered your blog yesterday surfing around Alaska blogs to get the facts... as Alaskan Progressives see them.

Thank you so much for putting up with the intrusions of the media and informing us.

Keep up the good fight... from a retired educator of similar age. I've gotcha bookmarked!

C...
North Dakota

Dr.T said...

Reality always seems to rain on the republican parade of lies and distortions. Too bad it got Palin's daughter wet this time. Poor kid's life has been completely altered by an all too common mistake a lot of kids make, especially those not educated about safe sex and birth control.
Hello from a Texas progressive!

Unknown said...

Hello from a progressive from California! I love your blog, mind if I blogroll ya?

Philip Munger said...

Welcome new readers!

Alaskans are as diverse as people in any other state. Alaska progressives have been fighting hard for a while to get our state back from the far right.

We appreciate your interest in our wondrously weird political environment...

Philip Munger said...

please feel free to blogroll ANY progressive Alaska blog listed here, including this one.

Anonymous said...

I've blogrolled you to DemocraticUnderground, Phil, so you'll probably be getting a lot more hits than usual. You do such a great job. Keep up the good work.

Unknown said...

Oh, thank you Phil & nice to meet you! We certainly are finding out a lot about your state and its leaders (and scandals) within just a few short days.

Unknown said...

Whats up with Bristol Palin's "sister-in-law" ( I thought her and Levi werent married yet)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=2279720&imageID=32721441



http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=0&imageID=27149119#a=0&i=27149119

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=0&imageID=27602607

Sister in Law with seemingly racist captions on her myspace picture

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=1088360&imageID=28881026

My best nig all growned up :'( I love you Gabriel

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=1088360&imageID=28144756

Niggggggggggs


http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=63524358&albumID=2279720&imageID=32721441

"Nigs Fo' Life."

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Texas.
Sarah Palin sure seems like one shifty broad.
Down here in the lower 48we are still trying to figure out who Trig's mother is. We think young Bristol may have had Irish twins.
That story about Sarah's water breaking in Texas and her flying back to Alaska to give birth smells like a week-old salmon left on an Alaskan pier in August.

Matthew Hubbard said...

Hey, Phil. As promised, I've put the link up in my latest post.

http://lotsasplainin.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palins-labor-day-weekend.html

I'm going to wait on adding you to my blogroll until the end of the Republican Convention, because I'm not sure Sarah's nomination is going to last any longer than that.

Forgive my cynicism, but as Lily Tomlin's bag lady used to say, "I try to be cynical, but it's so hard to keep up."

Philip Munger said...

attaboy, mattyboy!

Anonymous said...

so as an alaskan progressive, are you a 'minority' voice?? i hope not, but given the election of SP as governor, i guess you must be.

good work, & (for the sake of the rest of us) may your governor remain governor.

Anonymous said...

There is so much drama in this. Wasilla has a bunch of news people out here just asking stupid questions. I think that if one of my kids were pregnant and unmarried and 17, I'd put off my aspirations for a few years-- you know damned well that MY mother would be yelling at me to put it off. New baby with Down Syndrome, a son going off to Iraq, a 17 year old who is pregnant, 2 investigations within the state for her allegedly overstepping her bounds-- this is not her time. These people will implode under the stress! She's nuts for pushing forward with it. Marriage? For a 17 year old? OK, so we can applaud her for making the best of THAT bad situation, but this isn't the time to move into the national spotlight. Sure, Jesus is happy that she isn't aborting her baby, but shouldn't she have not gotten into that situation in the first place? Basically, screw up and ask for forgiveness later! This is fucking traumatic, whether they think so or not-- they are in the midst of it and can't see that they are in a storm. Let's compound the disaster with a marriage where you deal with the mentality of an 18 year old male and the insecurities of a 17 year old girl. I hope that I am wrong, but the odds are not in favor of any of these people staying sane. The fabric is already fraying and it will get worse. Do you think that Todd can stand hanging around and volunteering? The guy was an oil rigger! He snow machines! He's not a house husband, but he is also not political like some of the former president's wives. Is it even reasonable to think that their marriage will stay intact? They are not bumpkins, but this lifestyle is wrong for them right now. I don't see Todd staying in DC. He's an outdoorsman--maybe he will do something with the park service and get America's kids outdoors?

I initially wanted to see Sarah win, but you can't go in like this, seeing it as a challenge. Women can have it all, but not all at once: we shoulder more responsibility and if we take it (family) on, we have to see it through. I chose to not do medical school because I have teenagers and can't succeed with both.

We see having a baby as a choice. It's the first one! We keep having to make choices around that baby as it grows. A mother doesn't do her part by having it, then doing as she wants, it's a constant thing. So what if Bristol will be 18 soon-- one's responsibility does not end then, it just gets more intense. Then she has a son in Iraq-- God forbid it, what if something happens to him? Where will her priorities be?

Anonymous said...

Finally, some progressive alaskans. Having lived in K-town for 8 years and having a husband who owned a boat in Bristol Bay, I have to say that I'm not surprised that all the rightwing nutjobs from the "Higher 1" are coming out. I love Alaksa, but the politics used to drive me completely nuts with all that strange right wing Christian stuff. In Ketchikan it was Clover Pass church, where the big thing at the time was that they spanked kids who were bad. As always with those types of funda"mental"ist, there was a big flap about a bunch of people confessing to extra marital affairs. Like it was a big secret. As far as guns go. Yeah, it's a hunting and fishing culture. For most people you need to do both to eat. But I have to say that I've never personally known so many people who were killed by guns as when I lived in AK. Honestly, I would call my mom in Colorado and tell her about it and she was just stunned. People were getting killed all the time. Guns and alcohol....I mean it's so ironic. The alcohol thing is horrendous and don't get me started on domestic violence. I knew a wonderful coworker who was shot and wrapped in a tarp by her husband, the banker.
Alaska is cool, but also completely whack.