Maverick? Reformer? Huh?

OK, I hope this will be short and to the point. I must admit that, due to work obligations, I missed all but 30 seconds of Gov. Sarah Palin's speech. You can bet, though, that I will watch it eventually. However, I didn't need to see it to know that I don't support her policies.

The following are reasons why I won't be supporting a presidential ticket with Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on it:

1) She doesn't believe that humans are even the slightest cause of global warming, nor are they capable of slowing it down or speeding it up.

2) She is no friend of wildlife, only to wildlife killers.
A. When, to my amazement, President Bush listed Polar Bears as endangered, Palin tried to sue the federal government to have them immediately delisted, so as not to impose on the oil companies drilling and exploration activities.
B. She not only continued Frank Murkowsk's aerial wolf killing program in Alaska, she expanded it. Yes, in Alaska, not only are you allowed to fly over and run wolves to exhaustion before capping their asses, you're encouraged with Palin's $250 bounty for the left foreleg of a wolf. Also, as part of this "management policy," wildlife officials also pull the cubs from their dens and "humanely" bust a cap in their asses.
C. Same, same for grizzly and brown bears.
D. She approved $400,000, coupled with even more money from special interests, such as Safari International, to run fallacious ads on Alaska TV promoting aerial wolf-killing.
E. She says she's for smaller government? She has made it so that the public cannot get initiatives put on the voting ballots. As well, she's changed the rules regarding wildlife management, so that no longer does the board of game have to get public opinion on their policies. No longer do they have to consult state biologists and base their policies on real science and statistics. They don't even have to consult the Department of Fish and Game. Instead, the Board of Game, mostly hunters and hunting guides who make their money off of rich, out-of-state hunters, get to decide what the policies are.

3) She is very, extremely opposed to a woman's right to choose. (While I consider myself pro-life, I vote pro-choice; Who am I, a man, to decide what a woman can or cannot do with her body?) She's totally against abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest.

4) A great irony to Palin's and many social conservatives' ideology is, while they're super anti-abortion, they're also opposed to teaching about the realities of what causes pregnancy in schools.

5) She wants creationism to be taught in public schools. While I'm OK with a science teacher saying, "By the way, there are also people who believe that it was all created by a deity," I think any further religious discussion ought to be kept in the churches. We shouldn't be using the public tax monies to promote any particular religious beliefs.

6) She misrepresented (lied) the whole story of the "Bridge to Nowhere." She's been bragging about how she turned this earmark down. "I told Washington, 'Thanks, but no thanks,'." The truth is, she only stopped the project because congress wouldn't give Alaska the rest of what this project cost to complete. Did she then give the pork barrel money back? No, she kept it to use it on other things.

Governor Palin is a mostly nice lady. She's pretty like everyone says. (I'm sure she keeps McCain heart ticking rapidly.) She's charismatic and charming. She's a popular governor. But a reformer she is not. A maverick? I don't think so. Gonna change Washington with McCain? Not a chance.