Thursday, April 08, 2010

New anti-Palin panic: Oh, no, a documentary series!!!!!

In what has to be the most ridiculous thing I have heard all week, a whole lot of haters of Sarah Palin are trying to get Discovery Communications not to air "Sarah Palin's Alaska" on its channel TLC.  God forbid that people should find out that Alaska is, in fact, quite a beautiful state.*

Of course, this latest effort to hurt Sarah Palin is nothing but political.  Gary P over at A Time For Choosing examines this effort in immense detail.  (This is the type of detail I would love to include on my own blog if, you know, I dedicated more than about an hour a week to it.)

The gist of Gary's post is that a petition has been started by uber-political site Change.org; it is to be sent to Discovery Communications president/CEO David Zaslav.  Some of the, er, highlights of this petition follow:

Targeting: Mr. David Zaslav (President and CEO, Discovery Communications)

Sponsored by: Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Sarah Palin has signed on with reality TV producers and Discovery Communications to star in a new TV show about Alaska and its outdoors.

But the ugly reality is that as governor for only two-and-a-half years, Sarah Palin escalated a bloody aerial wolf-slaughter campaign that continues to this very day. She even planned to offer a $150 bounty for the severed forelimb of each killed wolf.

Palin also fought against increased protections for endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales and America’s dwindling populations of polar bears.
Sign our petition to Discovery Communications — and let them know that Sarah Palin doesn’t deserve to represent the “powerful beauty of Alaska” in front of millions of people.

(Gary P notes that the petition site states that it is "targeting" Mr. Zaslav; wasn't that type of language a bad thing just two weeks ago?)

So, there's a petition.  Big deal, right?  There are lots of petitions going around the net, from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Well, in this case, the issue is with the originator of the petition.  You see, Change.org is affiliated with one Barack Obama.  (You mean they support him, right, Snowed?  No.)  Gary P lays out the connection**:

Much like Obama uses the Alaska bloggers to stay at “arms length” from things, Obama uses Change.org in the same manner. At first glance, Change.org appears to be a stand alone organization, but a little bit of research finds that Obama has been using the website as a base of operations since he began his run at the presidency. The website was launched in 2007.

We found an article in a technical online publication touting Obama’s use of Change.org as a political tool dated November 6, 2008. Our operative also forwarded us numerous e-mails from this group to their registered “changemakers.” Changemakers are a group of high profile activists, as well as online volunteers who are dedicated to doing the Obama regime’s bidding. These e-mails coincide with the talking points of the Obama regime.

These "changemakers", as can be seen from the link, are people ranging from Senator John Kerry, to nasally affected actress Fran Drescher, to Sojourners head Jim Wallis (about whom this blog will be writing shortly***), to EPA head Lisa Jackson.  I'm sure their feelings about a documentary narrated by Sarah Palin is entirely independent of their political biases.

Gary P goes on to relate some truth about the "wolf slaughter campaign" decried in the petition.  (I have previously linked to a few takedowns of Ashley Judd's anti-Palin statements on this same topic here.)  Gary's explanation follows:

Now for some facts about the wolves: Sarah Palin didn’t start the Alaskan predator elimination program. It had been going on for years, and Alaska isn’t the only state that has this sort of program.

Wolves travel in packs. They are incredibly efficient hunters. So efficient, they had depleted Alaska’s herd of elk, moose, deer, and caribou significantly. Alaskans depend on these herds for their very survival, as much of the population hunt and fish in order to eat. In order to survive. As Sarah herself has said: “I eat, therefore I hunt.” That pretty much sums up the Alaskan lifestyle.

Since these programs were put in place, the herds have thrived and multiplied many times over. They are back in healthy, sustainable numbers.

He goes on from there, but the point is, don't let these Palin-haters define what is accepted "truth".  This petition to get Mrs. Palin's show off the air is nothing more than yet another attempt to silence her.  It must not succeed.

* Note:  I have never been to Alaska, but what I've seen of it is beautiful.

** Gary P was challenged on the comments to his post about an actual connection between President Obama and Change.org (not to be confused with Change.gov), and he stated that he has researched this extensively and stands by his statements.

*** If I ever get around to it, that is.

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