Sarah Palin has been named as McCain's running mate in the forthcoming US presidential elections. The Palin Watch has started. To assist US voters I have documented 20 reasons why Sarah Palin is unfit to be VP.
1. Palin opposes polar bear endangerment listing.
Palin opposes adding polar bears to the nation's list of endangered species: "adding polar bears to the nation's list of endangered species, as some are now proposing, should not be part of those efforts" (see: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/opinion/05palin.html?_r=1&oref=slogin ) . Palin is suing the Interior Department on Alaska's behalf in reaction to the Feds' decision to list the animals as threatened (see: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/31/BARB12KSHM.DTL ).
2. Palin supports violators of Indigenous Rights.
Palin supports Bush and McCain. Palin and McCain support Bush's War on Terror that is so far associated with 2 million post-invasion excess deaths of Indigenous People in Occupied Iraq and 3-6 million post-invasion excess deaths of Indigenous People in Occupied Afghanistan (see: http://www.liberalati.com/?q=node/261 ); pro-Coal McCain was involved in the continuing removal of American Indians from their sacred land (see : http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/33033 ); pro-Oil Palin is involved in environmental vandalism of the sacred lands of the Indigenous People of Alaska (for the extent of the Arctic ice melting disaster see the US Snow and Ice Data Center: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ ); Bush refused to ratify the UN Declaration of Indigenous Rights (see: http://www.arcticpeoples.org/2007/09/13/arctic-states-split-on-un-declaration-on-rights-of-indigenous-peoples/ )
3. Palin is anti-gay in opposing same sex marriage and benefits.
Palin: "I am pro-life and I believe that marriage should only be between and man and a woman. I am opposed to any expansion of gambling in Alaska" (source: Campaign website, www.palinforgovernor.com , "Issues" Nov 7, 2006; http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Civil_Rights.htm ). Palin opposedbenefits for same-sex couples (see: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1837523_1837531_1837538,00.html ).
4. Palin supports gross de facto military violation of the "right to life" of BORN foreign infants.
Palin supports Bush and McCain. Palin and McCain support Bush's War on Terror that is so far associated with 0.6 million post-invasion under-5 infant deaths in Occupied Iraq and 2.3 million in Occupied Afghanistan (see: http://www.liberalati.com/?q=node/261 ; for detailed demographic details see the UN Population Division: http://esa.un.org/unpp/ ).
5. Palin supports Bush and ignores Bush policies killing BORN American infants
Palin supports the Bush Administration War and Domestic policies yet 20,000 under-5 year old American infants die avoidably each year due to the warped priorities and policies of the Bush Administration; 8 x 20,000 = 160,000 under-5 year old American infants will have died avoidably under the Palin-supported Bush Administration (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/7102/26/ ).
6. Palin opposes pro-choice laws for women.
Palin: "I am pro-life" (source: Campaign website, www.palinforgovernor.com , "Issues" Nov 7, 2006; http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Civil_Rights.htm ) and "I'm pro-life. I'll do all I can to see every baby is created with a future and potential. The legislature should do all it can to protect human life" (see: http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/sarah_palin_vp/2008/08/29/126139.html ). McCain also says "I am pro-life" (see: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_McCain_Abortion.htm ).
7. Palin ignores horrendous child sexual abuse in America
Palin supports horrendous abuse of women and children abroad by the US through the War on Terror that is so far associated with 0.6 million post-invasion under-5 infant deaths in Occupied Iraq and 2.3 million in Occupied Afghanistan (see: http://www.liberalati.com/?q=node/261 ) but ignores horrible abuses of American women and children at home. In an adult retrospective US study victimization as children was reported by 27% of women (1 in 4) and 16% of men (1 in 6); median age for abuse: 9.9 for boys and 9.6 for girls; 42% of the women and 33% of the men reported never having disclosed the experience to anyone; there are about 60 million US adult survivors of child sexual abuse (1993), corresponding to 69 million out of a total population of 300 million (2007) (data from Prevent Abuse Now, 2000; see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/11683/42/ ). The "Little Children are Sacred" Report refers to studies in America indicating that 25% of females and 10% of males experience childhood sexual abuse (Finkelhor, D. (1994): Current information on the scope and nature of child sexual abuse", Future of Children, 4(2), pp31-53; see also: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/15140/42/ ).
8. Palin ignores horrendous over 50 million infant excess deaths down to the US
Palin supports McCain and past US wars. For impoverished Third World countries, the under-5 infant deaths are about 70% of the total excess deaths (see "Layperson's Guide to counting Iraq deaths" on MWC News: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/5872/26/ ). From the 82 million excess deaths in the period 1950-2005 in countries occupied in the post-1945 era by the US (see: http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/ ), one can estimate that the 1950-2005 under-5 infant deaths were about 0.7x 82 million = 57.4 million, of which about 90% were AVOIDABLE i.e 0.9 x 57.4 million = 51.7 million or about 52 million avoidable under-5 infant deaths. Palin supports the Iraq War and the Afghanistan War. Indigenous under-5 infant deaths totaled 1.2 million (Sanctions War against Iraq, 1990-2003), 0.6 million (Iraq war 2003-2008) and 2.3 million (Afghanistan War, 2001-2008), a grand total of 4 million under-5 infant deaths in these US-violated territories, 90% avoidable (i.e. 3.6 million avoidable infant deaths) and largely due to gross US war crimes in gross violation of the Geneva Convention (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/19275/42/ ).
9. Palin supports the death penalty for Americans.
Palin: "If the legislature passed a death penalty law, I would sign it" (see: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Crime.htm ) - notwithstanding the "right to life" and the horrible reality that numerous innocent Americans are killed by the State each year under such laws.
10. Palin is a climate sceptic denying man-made climate change
Palin: "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made" (see: http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/sarah_palin_vp/2008/08/29/126139.html ).
11. Palin supports oil industry endangerment of Alaska wilderness
Palin is an enthusiastic supporter of oil and gas exploitation in the formerly pristine Alaska wilderness (see: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Energy_+_Oil.htm ).
12. Palin supports gun ownership
Palin is a life-long member of the National Rifle Association: "The right to own guns and use them responsibly is something I and many other Alaskans cherish" (see: http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Gun_Control.htm ). Americans kill about 30,000 Americans annually with guns; 8 x 30,000 = 240,000 Americans will have been killed by Guns under the Bush Administration (see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/14042/26/ ).
13. Palin is pro-War and pro-Zionist i.e. supports violent occupation and colonization of foreign lands
Palin supports the pro-War and pro-Zionist policies of McCain and Bush that involve the violent invasion, occupation, devastation and colonization of foreign countries. Using estimates from the UN Population Division, UNICEF and top US medical epidemiologists one can estimate the following carnage in the ongoing, Zionist- , Bush-ite and neo-Bush-ite-promoted Palestinian Genocide, Iraqi Genocide and Afghan Genocide - post-invasion excess deaths 0.3 million, 2 million, and 3-6 million, respectively; post-invasion under-5 infant deaths 0.2 million, 0.6 million and 2.3 million, respectively; refugees totalling 7 million, 4.5 million and 4 million, respectively) (for the latest details and documentation see: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/19915/42/ ; http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Messages190308.htm#polya ; http://www.countercurrents.org/polya080208.htm ; http://www.liberalati.com/?q=node/261 ).
14. Palin supports teaching creationism and "intelligent design" in schools
Palin, BS in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho and former Beauty Queen (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin ), believes that the anti-scientific nonsense of creationism and "intelligent design" should be taught to children in school (see: http://religionclause.blogspot.com/2008/08/first-look-at-sarah-palins-religious.html ).
15. Palin ignores horrendous avoidable death of 1 million Americans annually under Bush
Palin ignores the horrendous avoidable deaths of about 1 million Americans annually due to warped Republican policies (for a detailed, documented breakdown see: http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/19/1593137-carbon-burning-zionism-war-kill-1-million-americans-yearly ).
16. Pro-Oil and pro-Coal Palin ignores huge American deaths from particulate pollutants
Recent European data (2005) (see: http://www.burningissues.org/bbc-2-2005air-pollution-dea.htm ) indicates that 310,000 people of the European Union (2005 population ) and 33,000 in the UK (2005 population 59.6 million) die each year from particulates, from which one can estimate that for the US (2005 population 300 million) about 300 x 33,000/59.6 = 166,000 Americans die each year from particulate pollutants (see: http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/06/19/1593137-carbon-burning-zionism-war-kill-1-million-americans-yearly ).
17. Pro-Coal Palin ignores huge American deaths from coal-based power generation
Palin is a pro-Oil and pro-Coal climate sceptic (see: http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm ) but ignores the horrendous deaths of 49,000 Americans annually from coal burning-based electricity generation. Pollutants from fossil fuel-based electricity generation (as carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, particulates, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, volatile organic components and heavy metals, notably mercury (Hg) ; see: http://dar.csiro.au/…/urbanpollution.html ) kill 170,000 people world-wide each year and cause about 49,000  "annual coal-based electricity deaths" in the US as compared to 72,000 "total annual fossil fuel-based electricity deaths"in the US (see: http://green-blog.org/2008/06/14/pollutants-from-coal-based-electricity-generation-kill-170000-people-annually/ ).
18. Palin supports shooting wolves from the air
Palin opposed Congressman Miller (D-Martinez, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee) who introduced federal legislation (supported by US environmental groups) to end Alaska's policy of allowing people to shoot wolves from airplanes. Palin evidently argues that wolves diminish the moose and caribou available for human eaters (see: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/31/BARB12KSHM.DTL ).
19. Palin supports "business as usual" and expanded carbon burning
Palin supports "business as usual" and expanded logging, drilling, coal mining, gas and oil industries (see: http://www.ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm ) that contribute to net increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution that threatens the world with runaway climate change. Top US climate scientist Dr James Hansen and his colleagues at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York have a completely opposite and EXPERT view: "If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm. The largest uncertainty in the target arises from possible changes of non-CO2 forcings. An initial 350 ppm CO2 target may be achievable by phasing out coal use except where CO2 is captured and adopting agricultural and forestry practices that sequester carbon. If the present overshoot of this target CO2 is not brief, there is a possibility of seeding irreversible catastrophic effects" (see: http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.1126 ; for similar views of top world climate scientists see the detailed and documented Climate emergency Fact Sheets of the Melbourne, AustraliaYarra Valley Climate Action Group: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/Home ).
20. Palin policies depart from rational, science-based risk management – the Arctic is melting, the World faces a Climate Emergency
Dan Quayle-like Sarah Palin is a real-life caricature of a female Religious Right Republican – a former Beauty Queen, BS in journalism and small-town mayor, Palin is a Religious Right climate sceptic who is anti-abortion, anti-Science, anti-intellectual, anti-Gay, pro-capital punishment, pro-Oil, pro-Gas, pro-Coal , pro-Creationism, pro-Intelligent Design, pro-Zionist, pro-Bush, pro-McCain, pro-War, pro-Gun and pro-Carbon pollution and may end up with her finger on the nuclear trigger.
Rational risk management (that, for example has made aviation extremely safe for passengers and for those wanting to shoot endangered wild life from aeroplanes in Alaska) successively involves (a) getting accurate date, (b) applying scientific analysis (science involving the critical testing of potentially falsifiable hypotheses) and (c) sensible, informed systemic change.
Unfortunately the Bush era of Lies, Spin and War has seen the appalling perversion of rational risk management by (a) lies, deceit, censorship and propaganda , (b) anti-science spin involving the selective use of asserted facts to support a partisan position and (c) "blame and shame" (with war the ultimate obscenity).
The consequences of the Bush-ite policies of people like Sarah Palin and those she supports can be seen in the horrendous carnage in America (1 million Americans die avoidably each year), the horrendous carnage in the American Empire (post-invasion excess deaths in the Occupied Palestinian, Iraqi and Afghan Territories now total 0.3 million, 2 million and 3-6 million, respectively) and the devastation of the biosphere - extinction rates are 100-1,000 greater now than in the past and the World is facing a Climate Emergency and a Sustainability Emergency (see: http://sites.google.com/site/yarravalleyclimateactiongroup/Home and http://www.climateemergencynetwork.org/ ) .
A picture says a thousand words – there is no more damning testament to the utter evil and irresponsibility of Bush-ite policies than the images of the rapidly melting Arctic provided by the official, expert, United States National Snow and Ice Data Center (2008 is almost as bad as 2007, the year of the lowest recorded Arctic ice cover): http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ .
According ot the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, the world's biggest general scientific organization and the publisher of the world's top scientific journal Science), the major RISKS to humanity are (1) nuclear weapons, (2) global warming and (3) poverty (see: http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/holdren-aaas1/ and http://rationalriskmanagement.blogspot.com/) .
Where does Palin stand on these core RISK issues for America and the World?
A. Palin supports American Empire, nuclear weapons, US and Israeli nuclear terrorism, and the invasion, occupation and devastation of other countries (countries currently occupied and devastated "in whole or in part" by the US or its surrogates with Palin's support include Occupied Haiti, Somalia, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Diego Garcia, Iraq, Afghanistan and robot-bombed Waziristan in Pakistan)
B. Palin is intimately connected with Big Oil and supports the burning of fossil fuels to the extent of raping one of the world's last pristine wildernesses (Alaska) to get more oil to burn (see what Palin's mates have done to Alaska's environment that now threatens the world via the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, NSIDC, "Arctic sea ice now second-lowest on record": http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ ).
C. Palin supports violent and subversive US global hegemony that is associated with 16 million avoidable deaths annually (9.5 million of these avoidable deaths being under-5 year old infants) (see: http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/ and Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950 ,G.M. Polya, Melbourne, 2007: http://mwcnews.net/content/view/1375/247/ and http://globalbodycount.blogspot.com/ ).
Dan Quayle-like, Religious Right Republican, Desperate Housewife Sarah Palin and her Bush-ite and neo-Bush-ite colleagues represent a huge threat to Alaska, to Indigenous People, to America and to the World. Sarah Palin is unfit to hold any public office, let alone that of Vice President of the United States of America with a potential finger on the nuclear trigger.