Barack Obama has been quoted as saying:

“ With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.”

The converse is also true; with no power you have no responsibility.

If you don’t like the responsibility of being an elected official, who has the responsibility of making tough decisions, you simply quit. By quitting you absolve yourself not only of the power to make decisions for your state or country, but you eliminate the responsibility. When Sarah Palin resigned her position as Governor of Alaska, she was also resigning any responsibility for making her state or her country better. For the last five years we have watched as Sarah Palin has attacked our President for every decision he has made. Even when President Obama found and brought Osama bin Laden to justice Sarah Palin was unable to give President Obama credit for the responsibility he took to find and kill bin Laden.

Syria has been involved in a civil war since March of 2011. For over two years the United States under President Obama’s leadership has remained as a passive observer. Estimates are that 93,000 people have been killed in Syria and the UN reports that the death toll may be “potentially much higher.” At least 5000 people are being killed every month. Even more outrageous is the number of children killed. An estimated 6,561 children have been killed, and of those are 1,729 children who were younger than 10 years old. Worse yet, UN teams have documented the torture and execution of children, which was verified by videos made of these sinister acts. Families, including babies have been slaughtered. 

At the same time, rebel forces have been depicted in video footage actually eating the heart and livers of dead government soldiers.

President Obama has been reluctant to become involved in the conflict.  For two years, he has resisted being drawn deeper into the civil war in Syria. It was a miserable problem, he told aides, and not one he thought he could solve. At most, it could be managed.

President Obama has now sent small arms and ammunition to Syrian rebel forces. But to do even that he had to be almost dragged into the decision at a time when critics, and even some advisers and Bill Clinton were pressing for more action. Coming so late into the conflict, Mr. Obama expressed no confidence it would change the outcome, but privately expressed hope it might buy time to bring about a negotiated settlement.

President Obama has had no other international challenges like Syria. As much as he wants to avoid getting entangled in what he regards as another quagmire, he finds himself confronted by a conflict that is spilling over into the region and testing American resolve. Already Syria has directly had the effect of destabilizing Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, and cause thousands to seek refuge in Jordan.

Iran has recently sent 4000 soldiers to assist and support the current regime.  At the same time the current regime has established themselves as being willing to use chemical weapons on civilians.  It is the use of chemical weapons that has been the most significant factor in the President’s decision to increase military weapons to rebels.

John McCain has attacked President Obama for not becoming involved sooner, explaining that the President’s action was “disgraceful.”

Sarah Palin, indicating absolutely no understanding the conflict or the international implications of a war, explained :

“… I say let Allah sort it out.”

What a great idea! Let God sort it out! Make God responsible for fixing all our problems. If that were the solution, why would Sarah need to raise money through her PAC? Why doesn’t she let God elect the people who could best lead the country? Why didn’t Americans let God deal with Hitler? Wasn’t it God’s will that 10 year old Sarah Murnaghan should face the life threatening effects of Cystic Fibrosis? Why not let God take care of providing a new set of lungs for her? Why not let God inspire people to make films in Alaska instead of politicians passing legislation to give out tax credits?

The truth is that Sarah invokes God’s name when she doesn’t want to take responsibility herself for a problem. When she can’t even begin to understand the conflict in Syria, much less what should be done to fix it, she simply says “let Allah sort it out!” Allah didn’t bring an end to polio. He didn’t leave medicine bottles in our cabinets with antibiotics, and he didn’t send President Obama a letter with Osama bin Laden’s return address on the top. God is who, or what, we turn to when there is nothing else we as a people can do. Thank heavens President Roosevelt didn’t adopt the plan of letting God “sort it out” when faced with the mass murder of people in Germany!

Dads changing diapers

Sometimes Dad just doesn’t get it.

Happy Father’s Day to every father reading. I hope for you to be able to spend time with your families who love and appreciate you so much!

It would be easy to focus this Father’s Day Post on the damage being a pimp caused to Todd Palin’s entire family. I could write about the fact that he never served in the military, never attained a college degree, and belonged to the Alaskan Independence Party, which advocates secession. I could write about the fact that Todd has been a horrible role model for his kids about premarital sex without protection.  I could focus on the report of Todd being a peeping-tom and how horrible it would be to have a father who was so perverted.   However, today I choose to write about that which no one, including his wife disagrees. It is the importance of time.

As early as September 25, 2008 Todd Palin was identified as a stay-at-home-dad.  Esquire did a story about Todd, identifying him as the “ultimate stay-at-home-dad.  The curious thing was that Todd was really a stay-away-from-home-dad. 

On the campaign trail Todd was always standing just behind Sarah, not in Alaska, but somewhere in the lower 48. The Palins had an infant, less than a year old, Piper, who was only 7 years old, and Willow who was a rebellious 14 year old. Who was providing for the “regular needs” of their “regular” kids? Were the kids accustomed to having no parents at home? Why wasn’t Todd at home providing at least some parenting to his children? We knew why Sarah wasn’t at home, but why didn’t Todd return to Alaska after Sarah was introduced at the RNC? Who was the real Todd Palin?

Even Sarah Palin has recognized the importance of a father’s role in parenting. She has written that “families matter and fathers do matter.” (America by Heart at 117) “Two-parent families do some obvious things. They provide more people to watch over and care for children, and they supply male role models for young boys.” ABH at 118 “…young people in father-absent families were twice as likely to be in jail as were those in two-parent families.” ABH at 119 “What matters is quantity time. Judging from my own experience-four kids- children crave prolonged attention, preferably undivided. … 90 percent of fatherhood is just showing up.” ABH at 103 The absurdity of Sarah Palin promoting the importance of a father in the life of a child is defined by the time she admits Todd has spent away from home. The only more graphic example of the hypocrisy of Sarah Palin writing about the importance of a father, is the disparaging remarks Sarah made, and adversarial relation with, Levi, the father of Sara’s grandson.

According to Levi, when Todd was home “there wasn’t much parenting going on”.  Neither Sarah or Todd cooked. TR at 50 The kids did the cooking, cleaning, and the laundry. Dinner wasn’t a family meal around the dinner table, but instead everyone was on their own. Todd was “always in the garage working on his snow machines and drinking beer or screwing off.” “Eighty percent of the time he’s in the garage. Once winter is here, he’s out riding every other day.”

However, even if Palin fans suggest that it was important for Todd to be by Sarah’s side while campaigning, what about after that? Even two years ago Sarah wasn’t a candidate for anything, they were worth $20,000,000 or more, and Todd no longer worked for British Petroleum. Todd was free to stay at home and provide the stable environment that Willow, Piper, and Trig were desperately seeking. Instead Todd has joined Sarah at ,

the Indie 500,

and high school graduations of people he didn’t know.

The message to his kids is crystal clear. Mom and Dad would rather be traveling, going to sporting events, and seeking publicity, instead of being there for you. Instead of coaching or attending Piper’s basketball games, Todd chose to attend random NBA games far away from Alaska.

My father died many years ago. However he was there for me. If he wasn’t at home, he was earning a living to provide for myself and my three siblings. In law school we had a Law Day, where four students competed before the Oklahoma Supreme Court in a moot court competition. As incredible as it was to win the competition, the tear running down the cheek of my father is what I remember most about that day. On this day that we honor the fathers around the world who make a difference in the lives of their children I wish that I could dance with my father again.

Wearing her Chick-Fil-A shirt, and donning a new wig, Sarah Palin

will reappear on Fox News as a “Contributor.” It is undisputed that Sarah Palin has been re-hired by Fox to “make” news instead of reporting on the news. Sarah’s first appearance will be on Fox and Friends on Monday, so those of us reporting on the continuing dysfunction of Sarah Palin will have to use our imaginations to anticipate what she will talk about on Monday. The following is a transcript of what she might say in this, her first interview, back on Fox.

(Transcript )

Greta Van Susteren: Welcome back Governor.

Sarah Palin, Governor Four Years Ago: It’s great to be back. I want to give a shout out to all the members of the military, especially those fighting in Viet Nam. They are often forgotten and I recently saw a wall in Arizona that had the names of all the soldiers still involved in the conflict and they are still fighting for our constitutional rights to carry guns, and I say to them “Don’t retreat, Reload!” Unlike President Obama, they have the cajones to carry big sticks and hit any enemy troops that come their way or might think about a blood libel on our friends in Israel who are fighting for our friends in Syracuse. Syracuse is under deadly attack of bombers who would use chemical weapons against them, and President Obama is totally unwilling to consult with the people of the Netherlands to learn from them about building dikes around Syracuse, which would solve the spread of chemical weapons into the rest of the country because in the end its got to be all about job creation, shoring up the economy, getting government out of our of the way, and letting the private sector generate jobs like I did in Alaska when we passed the legislation creating tax credits for people making films in Alaska, my home, and the place where Trig is learning to shoot guns as we speak while eating the moose stew I made this weekend. Our freezer is almost empty, so I’ll be hunting this summer to restock the frig, and Todd will be out peeping into the fishing in Bristol Bay where we will be for the 4th of July, celebrating our freedoms, and our founding fathers, and all of them, where Joan Rivers and her daughter will be visiting to celebrate the opening of Willow’s Studio where she will give them a complete make over and it will be documented in the reality show called “Dancing With the People Who’ve Swapped Hair in Sarah Palin’s Big Hair Alaska.” Joan will be in the chair waiting as Willow puts the finishing touches on my favorite wig ,

Bristol will be watching Trig and Tripp outside at the shooting range trying out their new guns, Piper will be serving everyone some of her cupcakes,

and Todd will be teaching abstinence at the local middle school. Track won’t be in this episode, but Britta will stop by just to let her daughter see her Aunt Willow working as a hair stylist, who will serve as a role model for Kyla, born just three months after the marriage of her parents in the hope that Kyla can see that a woman can achieve greatness even if she drops out of high school and never attends one of those elite colleges. Speaking of “elites”, I just want to say to those bloggers who keep writing about Todd, and sending us letters, that Boys Will be Boys, and Todd is a boy of different colors, and I am writing a new book about the role of faith and values during the Christmas season, and the importance of renewing the ties that bind husband and wife during the Christmas season.  Todd was in charge of the artwork for the cover of the new book.  I asked him to find the perfect picture to capture the Christmas spirit that is so important to our American family values.

He found the perfect picture of Trig’s babysitter in her Christmas outfit, to use for the cover.

The Anchorage Police Department will be sending out a press release in December declaring that there is no connection between Todd and my book about faith and values, or Trig, so there’s not one scintilla of evidence that Todd ever wore a Christmas suit himself, that he was Santa Claus, and that none of the evidence they reviewed and in their possession revealed that Todd was a bi-colored Santa.  If people continue to give a minimum donation of $1000.00 to SarahPAC, I’ll send them an autographed copy of my new book which will feature Todd and some of his friends dressed up for the holidays. Each of the girls will speak about the importance of faith and values in their lives, and how Todd instilled the Christmas spirit into each of them.

Good to be back on Fox.

Greta Van Susteren: Thanks for your valuable insight. Tune in tomorrow for my interview with Herman Cain who will be giving his take and experience with women in the State Department in Beirut. 

Listen to this clip of Herman Cain you’ll enjoy seeing.

Even though Sarah thought the name of her co-contributor on Fox was “Herb”, she seems to know now that his name is really “Herman.”  What she may not realize is that the similarities between Herman and Sarah are striking. Consider these things they have in common:

1. Both are Clueless:

Sarah- 

Herman - 

2. Both Have a History of Interracial, Heterosexual Sex:

Sarah-

Herman-

3. Both are Quitters

Sarah quit her job as Governor, and never entered the 2012 race.

Herman quit his campaign for President before the first primary race.  He dropped out in December, and the first primary race was held in Iowa in January.

4. Both are Fox News “Contributors”

Sarah, the one described by her boss as “stupid” and an “idiot”, was just rehired yesterday. 

Cain was hired as a “contributor” in February.

Note the title for both as “contributors”. It appears neither are smart enough to be hired as reporters or anchors.

5. Both have great Foreign Policy Credentials.

Sara has eaten at Taco Bell, so she is familiar with Hispanic culture.

Herman has long been associated with pizza, so he is familiar with Italian culture.

6. Both Have a History of Promoting Sexual Harrassment of Women.

Sarah has made a name for herself by eliminating funding for rape exam kits, and living with a pimp.

Cain has personally harassed as many women as he could, whenever he could.

7. Both Endorsed or Voted for Newt Gingrich, the Serial Adulterer.

Sarah voted for Newt  and recommended him to all South Carolina voters. Todd endorsed him.

Herman endorsed the serial adulterer before the Florida primary.

It seems that Fox should now adopt a new slogan. Fox should now be know and the unfair and imbalanced news station.

“m” just alerted us to Sarah Palin’s return to Fox News.

Roger Ailes has re-hired her.  He didn’t retract his previous comment that she was an “idiot” and “stupid”. He simply said :

“ I hope she continues to speak her mind.”

Ailes previously said he hired her because she was hot and got ratings.   As she ages, it is unclear if anyone still thinks she is still “hot,” but people will watch her just to see what stupid thing she’ll say next.  I wonder if that’s what he means when he says that he hopes she’ll speak her mind?

We know that employees at Fox agree that she’s an idiot.

It was Carl Cameron on Fox that reported on her stupidity the day after the ’08 election.

It was Bill O’Reilly who was incredulous at her suggestion that the solution to the Gulf Oil Spill was to build dikes.

Ailes has exchanged any thought he had about reporting “fair and balanced” news, for ratings. Consider the popularity of horror movies.  People will pay money to be scared to death.  With Palin back on Fox we get to be horrified, and get laughs, without any admission charge.