Update on Hurricane Ike

Ike kicked my a**, I ended up with lots of damage to my home in Groves and will be concentrating on getting everything back to normal at home. I may be out of commission on this site for awhile but will update when I can. I'm thankful that we evacuated to Jasper and rode out the hurricane in our shelter. To our friends and neighbors who suffered also, our prayers are with you. The word is lots of deaths in Orange, Chambers and Galveston County, but the officials are not releasing the numbers. Keep us in your prayers and we will do the same.

Bob

Hurricane Ike- Projected Path

Friends, the National Hurricane Center and all the government employees at that place are working around the clock to predict the path and landfall of Hurricane Ike. This is the latest and I'm out of here until further notice.

Everyone stay safe, be prepared and I will be in my Jasper County shelter.

Bob

9-11-2001 Let Us Not Forget

On the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks this week, the presidential campaigns promised a joint appearance at Ground Zero to deliver a common statement about the nation's commitment to security. Let us not forget and give 2 minutes of silence on this day to remember.

Bob

Sarah Palin Milks Taxpayers

Friends, here is a story from the Washington Post about Sarah Palin billing the State of Alaska for nights spent at her own house and travel expenses for her kids. Granted the woman is hotter than a $2 pistol and made one heck of a speech in St. Paul but lets face it, she is another typical politican looking to line her pockets.

Bob

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Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home
Taxpayers Also Funded Family's Travel

By James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, September 9, 2008; A01

ANCHORAGE, Sept. 8 -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business.

The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife.

Palin, who earns $125,000 a year, claimed and received $16,951 as her allowance, which officials say was permitted because her official "duty station" is Juneau, according to an analysis of her travel documents by The Washington Post.

The governor's daughters and husband charged the state $43,490 to travel, and many of the trips were between their house in Wasilla and Juneau, the capital city 600 miles away, the documents show.

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin's expenses are not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so.

Before she became the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee, Palin was little known outside Alaska. Now, with the campaign emphasizing her executive experience, her record as mayor of Wasilla, as a state oil-and-gas commissioner and as governor is receiving intense scrutiny.

During her speech at the Republican National Convention last week, Palin cast herself as a crusader for fiscal rectitude as Alaska's governor. She noted that she sold a state-owned plane used by the former governor. "While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for," she said to loud applause.

Speaking from Palin's Anchorage office, Leighow said Palin dealt with the plane and also trimmed other expenses, including forgoing a chef in the governor's mansion because she preferred to cook for her family. The first family's travel is an expected part of the job, she said.

"As a matter of protocol, the governor and the first family are expected to attend community events across the state," she said. "It's absolutely reasonable that the first family participates in community events."

The state finance director, Kim Garnero, said Alaska law exempts the governor's office from elaborate travel regulations. Said Leighow: "The governor is entitled to a per diem, and she claims it."

The popular governor collected the per diem allowance from April 22, four days after the birth of her fifth child, until June 3, when she flew to Juneau for two days. Palin moved her family to the capital during the legislative session last year, but prefers to stay in Wasilla and drive 45 miles to Anchorage to a state office building where she conducts most of her business, aides have said.

Palin rarely sought reimbursement for meals while staying in Anchorage or Wasilla, the reports show.

She wrote some form of "Lodging -- own residence" or "Lodging -- Wasilla residence" more than 30 times at the same time she took a per diem, according to the reports. In two dozen undated amendments to the reports, the governor deleted the reference to staying in her home but still charged the per diem.

Palin charged the state a per diem for working on Nov. 22, 2007 -- Thanksgiving Day. The reason given, according to the expense report, was the Great Alaska Shootout, an annual NCAA college basketball tournament held in Anchorage.

In separate filings, the state was billed about $25,000 for Palin's daughters' expenses and $19,000 for her husband's.

Flights topped the list for the most expensive items, and the daughter whose bill was the highest was Piper, 7, whose flights cost nearly $11,000, while Willow, 14, claimed about $6,000 and Bristol, 17, accounted for about $3,400.

One event was in New York City in October 2007, when Bristol accompanied the governor to Newsweek's third annual Women and Leadership Conference, toured the New York Stock Exchangeand met local officials and business executives. The state paid for three nights in a $707-a-day hotel room. Garnero said the governor's office has the authority to approve hotel stays above $300.

Asked Monday about the official policy on charging for children's travel expenses, Garnero said: "We cover the expenses of anyone who's conducting state business. I can't imagine kids could be doing that."

But Leighow said many of the hundreds of invitations Palin receives include requests for her to bring her family, placing the definition of "state business" with the party extending the invitation.

One such invitation came in October 2007, when Willow flew to Juneau to join the Palin family on a tour of the Hub Juneau Christian Teen Center, where Palin and her family worship when they are in Juneau. The state gave the center $25,000, according to a May 2008 memo.

Leighow noted that under state policy, all of the governor's children are entitled to per diem expenses, even her infant son. "The first family declined the per diem [for] the children," Leighow said. "The amount that they had declined was $4,461, as of August 5."

The family also charged for flights around the state, including trips to Alaska events such as the start of the Iditarod dog-sled race and the Iron Dog snowmobile race, a contest that Todd Palin won.

Meanwhile, Todd Palin spent $725 to fly to Edmonton, Alberta, for "information gathering and planning meeting with Northern Alberta Institute of Technology," according to an expense report. During the three-day trip, he charged the state $291 for his per diem. A notation said "costs paid by Dept. of Labor." He also billed the state $1,371 for a flight to Washington to attend a National Governors Association meeting with his wife.

Gov. Palin has spent far less on her personal travel than her predecessor: $93,000 on airfare in 2007, compared with $463,000 spent the year before by her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. He traveled often in an executive jet that Palin called an extravagance during her campaign. She sold it after she was sworn into office.

"She flies coach and encourages her cabinet to fly coach as well," said Garnero, whose job is equivalent to state controller. "Some do, some don't."

Leighow said that the governor's staff has tallied the travel expenses charged by Murkowski's wife: $35,675 in 2006, $43,659 in 2005, $13,607 in 2004 and $29,608 in 2003. Associates of Murkowski said the former governor was moose hunting and could not be reached to comment.

In the past, per diem claims by Alaska state officials have carried political risks. In 1988, the head of the state Commerce Department was pilloried for collecting a per diem charge of $50 while staying in his Anchorage home, according to local news accounts. The commissioner, the late Tony Smith, resigned amid a series of controversies.

"It was quite the little scandal," said Tony Knowles, the Democratic governor from 1994 to 2000. "I gave a direction to all my commissioners if they were ever in their house, whether it was Juneau or elsewhere, they were not to get a per diem because, clearly, it is and it looks like a scam -- you pay yourself to live at home," he said.

Knowles, whose children were school-age at the start of his first term, said that his wife sometimes accompanied him to conferences overseas but that he could "count on one hand" the number of times his children accompanied him.

"And the policy was not to reimburse for family travel on commercial airlines, because there is no direct public benefit to schlepping kids around the state," he said. The rules were articulated by Mike Nizich, then director of administrative services in the governor's office, said Knowles and an aide to another former governor, Walter Hickel.

Nizich is now Palin's chief of staff. He did not return a phone call seeking comment. The rules governing family travel on state-owned aircraft appear less clear. Knowles said he operated under the understanding that immediate family could accompany the governor without charge.

But during the Murkowski years, that practice was questioned, and the state attorney general's office produced an opinion saying laws then in effect required reimbursement for spousal travel.

Research editor Alice Crites in Washington contributed to this report.

A John McCain Supporter Speaks

Robin Williams Talks About Sarah Palin

In The News & My 2 Cents

Now everyone should be back in Southeast Texas after leaving for Hurricane Gustav.
Some didn't leave, like these no good for nothing burglars, too bad the homeowners weren't home, nothing like a good round of 00 Buckshot in the chest.

Indictment in the Summer Bourque murder and the no good piece of dirt accused suspect is sitting in a Seattle jail awaiting return to Jefferson County. Have the rope and tree ready when he returns.

Federal Judge has the hots for employee and ends up in hot water. Temptation crosses party line, Democrats and Republicans both like the opposite sex.

Local evacuees not eligible for expense reimbursement, well darn, maybe we shouldn't worry about someone else paying for our inconveniences.

Southeast Texans not out of the woods with other storms brewing. Yep, keep us worrying about what storm is going to get us next.

Everyone have a safe weekend, nice cool weather to get out and do something with the family.

Bob

Sarah Palin-Patriotic American Woman

This is my kind of gun toting woman, flag waving patriot, conservative American. Five kids later and not one scratch mark on her smart body. Has anyone noticed but aren't the Republican convention women delegates better looking than what the Democrats had last week?

Bob

Red State Update Guys Like Sarah Palin

I Survived Hurricane Gustav

I'm back in town after evacuating to Jasper County. As you can see from the photo, Hurricane Gustav did considerable damage to my lawn chair. I know some residents are mad for having to evacuate and not getting anything of substance from this hurricane but I count my blessing instead. I know it was a hard decision for the county officials and mayors but better safe than sorry.

In case you are wondering why I went to Jasper County with a hurricane approaching, well I actually have an underground bunker constructed at the old home place. Being in the construction business for years, I was able to utilize some of my building knowledge and built this bunker back in 2001. One thousand square feet living area, ten inch concrete walls and half in the ground, propane stove, electricity supplied by a 25K propane generator and a 14,000 BTU air conditioner and heating system. No trees within a 250 foot radius, no worry about trees falling on top of it or blocking the exit.

Now everyone keep your eyes on Ike and Josephine, they are coming like flies on a pile of crap.

Bob