Alaskan Woes, Senator, Pipe Line and Joe the Plumber?

With the election coming to a close, more hard ball playing is being tossed by the campaigns. More and more interesting information keeps popping up all over the internet. Scare tactics are showing up in blogs and emails, as well as chat rooms. Sad thing is, these scare tactics are working, as I read peoples comments. More interesting are little pieces of information that pop up in the articles and bloging.

The ever famous Joe the Plumber, hes all over the news, it started with a simple question to Senator Obama, then it came out that he could possibly be a relative to Charles Wurzelbacher, of the Keating 5. He is also a registered Republican, and once belonged to the Naturalist party according to cafearjun.com. Besides residing in Ohio, he also lived Arizona, and, yes, Alaska according to the sfgate.com. I will say this about having relation to a Keating 5 member, it does not make him a bad person by that association. Sam Wurzelbacher,or Joe the Plumber, actually lived in Alaska from 9/92 to 7/93, according to sfgate.com. Looking more into the Alaskan residence, all I found besides the information posted on sfgate.com, was a public document in which a, Samuel Wurzelbacher paid a $76 fine in Fairbanks, Alaska. Also, noting, a Mr. Doug Wurzelbacher lives in Wasilla, the same small town that Palin was Mayor. Mr Doug Wurzelbacher competes in competitive snow racing, just like Palins spouse. As I have lived in a small town, it is hard for everyone not to know everyone, and what they do and etc. That is just how a small town is, and that is not stretching the truth. So, do they know one another? It can not be said this is true or false. Is possible that there are two Samuel Wurzelbachers of the same age? And is Doug and Sam related? I could not find the answers to that one, but stranger things have occurred. So it can not be ruled out that there may be two Sam's, and that Doug and Sam possibly could be related, or not. Its all just gossip going around chat and blogging, and is just speculation, and interesting chat conversation right now, until someone comes up with solid proof.

Senator Stevens, the Alaskan senator with charges of 7 felony corruption charges, has ties to Governor Palin. According to an article written in the washingtonpost.com the headline reads "Palin was a director of Embattled Senator Stevens 527 Group." It is also stated in the article about the 527 group " experts called the group an example of the fine legal line between a legal effort to conduct political activity and then-new prohibitions against raising unlimited soft-money. " Further into reading the article states this about Palin and the Senator " the two filmed a campaign commercial together to highlight Steven's endorsement of Palin during the 2006 race. Shortly after Palin was announced as McCain's vice presidential pick, the ad was removed from her gubernatorial campaign web site. It remains available on You Tube." Pulling the ad ? Does his conviction makes you think is there something more in hiding? Or just that association would look really bad for her image. In time I suppose we will find out if there is or not.

Governor Palin claims that she wants an ethical government, yet she advocated for Stevens on the Bridge to Nowhere, and earmark funding request. The No Thanks was only due to Alaska having to foot part of the monies for the bridge. Something Palin thinks should of been fully funded by federal government. Now the pipe line bid. The winning bidder is TransCanada Corp. Palin claimed the bidding process would be fair, yet according to Associated Press "AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies. It is pointed out in the article from AP, that Palins leader of the her pipeline team "had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal, interacting with legislators in the weeks before the vote to grant TransCanada the contract. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team." Keeping it in the family more or less I guess you could say. Here is the thing that really makes you go hmmmm. The AP also states that four years prior "TransCanada had offered to build the pipeline without a state subsidy; under Palin, the company could receive a maximum $500 million." Keep in mind it states "Could" not will. But it sounds to me the deal should of been sealed with a kiss four years ago. The list goes on and on.

I am not too sure, that the term ethical government should be used. How can it be used, when grey issues keep popping up in the media? It kind of makes you question the morals. People say one thing, yet it is shown the totally opposite. You can not say you stand for something, and then record clearly shows you kind of do, but depending on the circumstance, I may or may not. I understand, and have read, that there is bad things on both sides. I guess this just may be a day in the life of a politician, I don't know, as I am not one. Can either side make good on their promises? Will they make good on their promises? These are questions I hope the answer is yes to, and things get better instead of going into a further downward spiral.

Sources:

Joe the Plumber:http://cafearjun.com/2008/10/16/joe-the-plumber-wurzelbacher-a-natural-law-party-meditator-is-now-famous/

Doug Wurzelbacher Alaska: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/ickyma/2008/10/could-joe-have-a-relative-in-w.php

Joe Alaska: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/16/MNQ013J6JV.DTL&type=politics

Joe :http://webofdeception.com/joetheplumber.html

Document of Alaskan fine: http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/pa/pa.urd/pamw2000.docket_lst?86721540

Senator Stevens: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/stevens_trial

Pipe Line : http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iJHCRuz2uN-jIx6RV8tbS1E8xOUQD941KJ0O1

Bridge to No Where: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/22/alaska.bridge.ap/