Levi Johnston's Tell-All

Here's a challenge with a purpose - let yourself imagine that Deer in the Headlights was originally written factually, dates and all. Imagine that Levi wrote a tell-all.  Or at least a tell-a-lot-more.  

Choose your own reason - maybe he wanted to unburden himself and his family from a web of lies; maybe he wanted to cash in; maybe Levi made so many errors and contradictions in the things he told James and Lois Cowan (the ghostwriters/co-authors)  that the couple figured out parts of  the truth and convinced him to come clean with the rest.

The purpose of this exercise  is so that you can read passages from Levi's book with your mind open to the possibility that he actually drafted a book that revealed our former VP candidate Sarah Palin perpetrated a hoax when presenting herself to the American electorate as the birth mother of Trig.

I actually believe what I'm asking you to imagine, and passages from the book make more sense if this is scenario is true.  

"Deer In the Headlights" did not turn out to be a scathing tell-all. Nor was it a bestseller. Not even close. In fact, with the forced feeling of the many references to Trig and Tripp being "only 8 months" apart, and the in-your-face statements about Trig being Sarah's bio baby, the book gets tediously repetitious.  It contradicts itself with confusing information about the timing of Tripp's conception, gestation, and birthdate.  Nevertheless, it's worthwhile reading for those in search of truths about Babygate.

Do you remember when the original release of Deer in the Headlights was delayed and the general consensus on the blogs was that Levi's publisher was going to ride the coattails of the release of "The Rogue" by Joe McGinniss?  Well, here's another idea. What if the delay were due to revisions - revisions that erased the truth about Trig?  What if the book was delayed in order to hastily edit it to support the phony Palin timelines and other assorted Trig and Tripp lies? What if those doing the changes missed a few things? 

This would explain why there are contradictions and why some things simply don't add up. It also explains why the book is replete with annoying phrases to underscore Trig's April birth and an eight month spacing between the babies.  It was some editing at the last minute, changing truth to lies by inserting things like "... eight months before, for Trig's birth... This was different. This was Bristol's and my baby.".

Levi, in the "Acknowledgements" section at the end of DITH said his ghost writers grilled him:

[The Cowans and I] we sat, drove, and walked; I talked, and the Cowans asked questions, mused and recorded. ...like another couple of goddamned parents --pushing, prodding, expecting me to understand and explain a confusing series of events and I time when I chose to bury my head under my quilt. (pg 287-288)

Hmmmm, pushing and prodding for the truth behind the wild ride,  behind baby Tripp being hidden from public viewing, behind the lack of either baby's birth certificates or either baby's picture taken  "just born and placed in mommy's arms"  ?

And if the Cowans got the truth from Levi, wrote the truth into each chapter, and had a near-finished manuscript, how did they feel when Levi changed his mind and they had to back off and edit out Trig's real story?

Levi said, "I wanted them identified as my coauthers. They felt one name should be on the jacket. It was my story, they said."

Yeah, right. DITH is a story. It's not entirely factual. Not an honest memoir. It's Levi's story.

How would the Cowans spin it to explain this final product? Here's what they wrote for the "acknowledgements" (page 288):

This book was researched, organized, and written on a tight schedule. ...our time-pressed picky phenomenal editor, Matthew Benjamin...carried the play to the end. (pg 288)

Okay, so how did obvious inconsistencies (such as described in detail in "Hockey Sticks and Pregnancy Sticks") get past "picky" Mr. Benjamin? Must be due to "a tight schedule."

Remember, when they wrote this book,  Levi and the Cowans knew full well that an audience of Truthers were hoping he would spill the beans and say Trig was not born April 18, 2008 to Sarah Palin.  They knew that.  They teased us with Levi saying he was writing the book for himself, his son, and the country.


Levi may have actually, as late as last May, intended to finally tell us the truth about Trig Van Paxson Palin.  The people who write the  Politicalgates blog have over three years experience tracking Babygate clues, and their regular contributor Leadfoot_LA met Levi at his 21st birthday bash in Los Vegas to see what she could learn about Deer In the Headlights.  Leadfoot_LA came away with the impression Levi really, really was writing an an exposé.

She asked about Tripp ("Yes, I've seen him recently") and about the book, then wrote on May 7, 2011 :

I asked if the book is completed and he said no, almost, but it still needs a little work. I said, well, you know that the people who read my blog are NOT fans of Sarah Palin. We are one of the big Palin watchdog blogs. So when your book comes out, will we like it, or will we love it? He smiled again, looked me right in the eye, and said slowly, "you will LOVE it." Tank echoed him. "YOU WILL LOVE IT." Everything about Tank is large, especially his voice. Levi said, "I promise you, it will be a best seller." 

My impression is that Levi will tell the 100% truth in this book. He was a sweet, genuine kid. "Deer in the headlights" is a perfect book title and is exactly how I would describe him. He is not "Ricky Hollywood." He is a proud father, who smiled, but almost seemed a tiny bit sad behind his eyes when I mentioned Tripp. He didn't come off as dumb at all. He was quick-witted. He's just out of his element a bit. But remember -- the clearest, loudest and most emphatic thing he said to me was that the readers of Politicalgates will not just like, they will LOVE his book. That said all I need to know. Before last night I was hopeful, but not sure. Now I am sure.

Leadfoot_LA may have been mistaken, but I don't think so. I think that as late as May 7, 2011 Levi was set to tell what he knew. He's been saying for over two years that he had "big things" in his arsenal. His book was coming out. He was promising we Truthers would love it. I think it was sincere bravado. I think he had come clean to the Cowans. The introduction to the book further teases with the suggestion that Sarah's deceptions were going to be detailed (bold type is my added emphasis):

Page 1  - ... [Sarah's] oh-so-carefully-crafted moment in the spotlight...

" Dictionary.com defines "craft" as a vehicle, as making things by hand, as skill in an occupation, and as "shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception."  Levi and the Cowans are saying in the intro that Sarah Palin's moment in the spotlight demonstrated skilled deception.  Bingo! Trig Truthers rejoice! After all, designer clothes, Levi losing the mullet he'd worn since second grade, and his being included on stage at the Republican National Convention were not shrewdness but simple necessities. So, the word crafted in the introduction set up expectations for something that everyone knew Truthers were looking for.

Why then, is there nothing in the rest of the book that supports the description of "oh-so-carefully-crafted" ?  My theory is that the word "craftted" was well chosen and fit the book when first written. Then, edits removed references to the great deception. Facts were changed to Palin party line prevarication, and fixing the introduction wasn't even  a thought.

Between the Introduction and Chapter One there are four pages devoted to "Las Vega, Nevada: Happy Birthday to You..."  I can't let that slide. It's not the intro, it's not part of the body of work the Cowans assembled as Levi's story. It's stuck in between. It's a late addition.  If it was about the birthday party, why not just put it in the end of the book in chronological order? What is the point?

I think the point is this - after the book was finished and the intro written and Levi decided against exposing Sarah's fraudulent pregnancy, his own paternity of Trig, and all the smaller hoaxes that splintered off from those two, he was feeling like sh*t . He knew very well that he was letting people down and he didn't like himself.

Like many times before, he found himself a braggert who couldn't follow through. DITH started out as a book Truthers would love, a book "for the country;" then, for reasons of his own,he betrayed his co-authors whose time and talents had been given to him for purposes of getting the real story out  and he was embarrassed that he'd come face to face with a pretty young woman blogger from Politicalgates and had led her to believe he had the courage to expose Sarah Palin.

He had to insert something of an explanation to assuage his own conscience and to explain to the blonde political blogger why he had done what he'd done  (which includes referring to Trig truthers as crazy). In this short excerpt, Levi first mentions Trig,  indirectly introduces Babygate, and explains that context is important to understanding the book he has written. It's Levi's offering of  an excuse for the book which will be published  with cowardly revisionism that took place in those last weeks when truths were deleted. Maybe Levi felt foolish for backing down and needed to insert this passage about the "blonde with a great smile" whom we know as Leadfoot_LA from Politicalgates:


Page 6 - She asks, Have you seen Tripp?

I feel myself come alive. Yes, I say. I had seen my toddler son recently.

...Are we going to like your book, Levi? She smiles.

You're going to love it, I say back.

My manager says, You're going to love it. 

Is it going to tell what you know about Trig? Will you describe what it was like to pose for Playgirl?

I think, but don't say, that I can't answer these questions out of context, without their history.  Without my own story -- how I got to where I  am today.  That needs to come first.

Is the book done? I'm asked.

I'm on it, I say. It still needs a little work.

And so does the rest of my life.

James and Lois Cowan did admit that the book was finished and then after the manuscript went into publication it was revised. They explain that Levi was asked to answer Bristol's most outrageous comments that came out in her memoir in June, 2011.

My thinking is that Bristol's charges aren't the only thing addressed in that last-minute rewrite. While an addendum was added for that, there's also that birthday insertion that isn't part of an introduction nor is it in a chapter. It sure looks like it got stuck in there after the fact.  Stuck in there because Levi backed off the honest parts about Trig?

If so, then the domino effect caused last-minute editing by someone not tuned in enough to catch what we caught in the inconsistencies.

In future posts I will provide passages from Deer in the Headlights for readers to consider whether they think Levi meant at one time to tell the truth about Trig's parentage, his age, and how the baby with Down Syndrome became Sarah's son.  (Full disclosure once again- I think Trig is Bristol's and Levi's bio kid.)

Of course, if the truth about Trig was coming out, there would be no reason not to come clean about Tripp, too. No reason to lie about when he was conceived.  (Personally,  I can imagine Levi telling the Cowans  that Bristol and he didn't take precautions after Trig was born because Bristol didn't want to prevent a pregnancy, and the result was Tripp's February 2008 conception. And there's my Tripp birthday theory laid out in "Hockey Sticks and Pregnancy Sticks" which may interest new readers who haven't seen that one yet.)

When interviewed on his book tour, Levi said he'd held some stuff back in case it gets crazy again.

How crazy does it have to get Levi? Not seeing Tripp for months on end isn't crazy enough? Wow, what dark, dark secrets are hidden in Wasilla up to  four years after Trig was born?  For now, we can only imagine, but we will keep digging. The coming year may be Sarah Palin's worst year ever, and after 2011, that's sayin' a lot.

Levi Doesn't Need a DNA Test to Know Tripp is His Son

Tripp's birthday has come and gone. Yesterday was not his real birthday.  Tripp turned three maybe three weeks ago, according to clues in his father's memoir "Deer in the Headlights".  I can't give you an exact date, not yet, but it wasn't December 27 any more than Trig Palin's birthday is April 18 (and we know that isn't true).

Now that that cute little son of Levi is a three year old boy, it's time to stop calling him a baby. It's past time for giving up the pacifier. And any day when there's love and hugs for him is a good day for cake and presents (hang in there, Johnstons!).  I have a present for him today. Actually, it's a gift to both  Tripp and Levi - a set of pictures showing how much one looks like the other.

For three years now, there have been suggestions that Tripp isn't Levi's son. Some say Levi should have a DNA test done. But when I see pictures of Tripp and compare them to pictures of baby or toddler Levi Johnston, I have good reason to believe Levi's genetic makeup would be confirmed by that test. Why waste the money? Why insult your son by sending his spit or his blonde locks to a lab? Levi, Sherrie, Keith, and Sadie don't need and don't want a DNA test.


For the rest of us who don't live in Wasilla,  I'm posting pictures below of Tripp and his dad so that you can see what Bristol must also see - Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston looks every bit like he is Levi Johnston's biological son. Those cute chubby cheeks that are often compared to Chuck Heath's jowls are also on baby Levi in the picture below. Those are not from the Heath clan. Let's stop giving Chuck/Sarah/Bristol credit for them and let's let this little boy know he's a Johnston. He has his daddy to thank for his good looks.

The top photo ran in In Touch Magazine, and that's an inappropriately dressed up Bristol playing "the busy single teen mom" and washing baby Tripp for the cameras in exchange for what I presume was an obscene amount of cash.

The center photo is from Levi's memoir "Deer in the Headlights" and shows he and his father Keith.  That's a fishing pole in his hand. (Sorry for the poor quality; it's much better in the book.)

The photo at the bottom was taken on Mercede's 19th birthday, December 22, 2010.

The value intended by this posting is to muffle the distraction of the paternity question so that it does not consume energy that could be directed toward Babygate and holding Sarah Palin accountable for her misleading American voters.


A very happy unbirthday to us all!

Bristol the Christmas Grinch

As commenter Anonymous @ 10:02 AM stated under my previous post,  Mercede posted  a picture of stockings for (Levi, his girlfriend Sunny, and ...) "Tripp's and Tripp's."

I'm not seeing a message in it, and I'm not sold on the two Tripps theory. But it's only fair to all of you to share this, as it has already made the comment section. Keep it in your mental miscellaneous file. We may want to pull it out and look at it again someday.

My gut feeling is that there was too much for one stocking, or that it's last year's stocking and this year's stocking.  Last year they didn't have enough time for Tripp to open everything, and this year Mercede put out everything he didn't open last year along with the new stuff. Today should have been a blast. Tripp was promised to them for today to be the combination Christmas and Birthday.

Guess what?  You-know-who backed out.  Tripp won't be with the Johnstons today.  


Now, if you think that it must have been a tough call for Bristol, and that maybe something really, really important came up, consider this - two months ago Tripp was supposed to see his daddy at Halloween. His Auntie Sadie decorated and baked cupcakes and the Johnstons got the place ready to give him an awesome time. Guess what? You-know-who changed her mind at the last minute. It was decided by Tripp's mother that Piper's little costume event was more important. You've seen the public Facebook pictures of Piper with Trig and Tripp all in costume. Well, that was on the Johnston's time. And to date, he still hasn't been to visit.

Anyone who can't feel sorry for the Johnstons at this point needs to have their pulse taken to be sure there's a beating heart inside. And speaking of hearts, Dr. Suess' Grinch who stole Christmas had a heart two sizes too small, but compared to Bristol's it was ginormous!

This is has gotten so far out of hand, it's a crime. Civil not criminal, but nevertheless it's a failure to follow court orders. But we are talking about the Palins - they are people who lie under oath. And we've seen what's happened to Shailey Tripp in her simple quest to recover her stuff.  The police ignored the court. So in this case, a child-custody matter  where the mother is a Palin, why would the police get involved? They won't. So, nothing is going to change without public scrutiny and an outcry for justice for Tripp.

Shall we try to make 2012 the year that Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston gets his court-orderd and much needed time with his daddy? How might we do that? Any ideas?  Anyone have experience with such things in Alaska?  Let's make some noise.

Mercede, Levi, Sherrie, Sunny - if the court of public opinion can help you, your friends here at The Palin Place will be first in line to testify on your behalf.  That little boy needs his time with his daddy and his paternal relatives. If I can help in anyway, please contact me at thepalinplace@gmail.com.

NEW LINIK A Gift of Encouragement

As a gesture of love and support, I'm posting a link to a four minute clip made by fledgling young actors with a dream to produce a web series of little  short clips. They hope to get 400 "hits" by Dec. 25.  My daughter was involved in the project  (but she isn't the one named Allison.) If you have 4 minutes, please take a look, you'll be doing a favor to some hardworking kids. Thanks, and Merry Christmas!

The Adventures of Fire and Ice

Life Before Sarah Palin

We all had lives before we heard of Sarah Palin. We all have lives now. Some visitors to this blog and other so-called anti-Palin blogs seem to think we have no life now except for thinking about her.  I had an email exchange recently with someone who made a comment along those lines and I responded that American society follows  celebrity gossip. National Enquirer and reality TV help to create some celebrities just to follow their ups and downs.  When televisions were first becoming household appliances, daily afternoon soap operas became an addiction for many. And  those personal stories were entirely fiction.

I’m not saying that the purpose of this blog is celebrity gossip, but I am saying we are not out of the mainstream  in following the actions, family problems, tweets and Facebook postings of a set of people we were introduced to on television. We are in the minority to be following Babygate, but it we get our collective wish in the new year, that will change.

That’s all I’m going to say today about the Palins.  Amtrak is taking me home for Christmas, and as the miles and the hours go by, I’ve been thinking about another Christmas time train trip long ago, and written about it In a letter to my grown daughters.  Below I am posting portions of that letter here, to share a bit of myself with my readers, should you be inclined to read what’s below. After Christmas,  I’ll be back with Palin postings,  Levi on my mind (does anyone know what was he doing in LA last week?) and maybe a look at Bristol and the green sweater ( because that post has been in “working on it” stage since I finished with Sue Williams).

So, here we go, back to the days before Sally met Chuck. Back to 1959.  In  American politics, a young senator named John F. Kenney was being talked about as a candidate for the highest office in the land, and in spite of being Catholic, he thinks he has a chance.  I was  four years old.

Half a century ago snow seemed to come earlier in western New York, and it piled up deeper.  Television broadcasts were in black and white, and for fifteen minutes on weeknights,  David Huntley and Chet Brinkley provided the nation with all the news of the day.

Christmas 1959 was difficult for my parents. My older sister was six, I was four and our little brother had passed away in September. He was only a year and a half old, he died unexpectedly of an attack of asthma,  and as I look at that now, I see that  my mom and dad must have still been reeling from their loss. Making merry wouldn’t have been easy so soon after their son died. But we girls naturally expected Santa to come and friends and family probably reminded our parents that there had to be presents and a tree for “the girls.”. Looking back on that, I see that neighbors were especially kind to us that year. 

Our tradition was to open presents on Christmas morning. But in 1959 everything was done differently. An elderly couple that lived down the street joined us on Christmas Eve as we had an early opening of presents from Santa. The woman who rented the apartment on the second floor of our house was there, too. My parents weren’t people who socialized, so this gathering was unusual.  I remember it being dark outside. It impressed me that  we were up late, with grownups. Grandma must have been there, too. She was always part of our lives, she lived in town,  and was a great support to my mom in our care.  I remember being given a doll size playpen. It had bright colored dowls – red, blue, yellow and green - and l loved it. My pink metal doll highchair was a gift that year, too. And a big, tall book with pictures of baby animals. I got a tea set that was tin, with a red, white, black and blue pattern in it. And, of course, the wonderful gift from Aunt Marian of my Revlon doll (a pre-Barbie fashion doll with stockings, earrings, girdle, bra and extra outfits). It was as close to spoiled as I ever came as a child, and I think the visitors were mostly responsible for seeing that we had Santa gifts. 

My very best friend and cohort in crimes of four-year-olds, Mary Alice, called after we had finished with gifts. This must be the first telephone conversation I have in my memories. My mother stood right by me, telling me not to let Mary Alice know that Santa had already come. I’m sure I obeyed. What we did talk about, I’m not sure. Probably her mother wanted her to wish me a good time on my upcoming trip to Texas. 

Yes, we were headed for Texas later that night. My father worked for the Erie Railroad and had employee passes for all of us to go by train, leaving that night.  Again, it must have been a decision made after my brother died. A way to avoid being home during the holidays, seeing that empty corner in the living room where his crib had been. For me and for my sister, it was an adventure. We were oblivious to the undertones, and as an adult, I am grateful for that. 

I remember the railroad station on Christmas Eve, 1959.  I remember being in a waiting room. It was strange, and I was intrigued. Kind of like church, the seats were long and wooden. But, unlike  our church, the seats did not have three inch thick cushions. When the train pulled in, we moved with  the crowd of people, dressed warmly, assembling to board the train. Again, the darkness impressed me. I must not have been outside in the dark very much when I was a young child. It was unusual. It was a world  that belonged to grown-ups. I was a visitor in a strange land. 

When it came our turn to board, the steps were huge. I was tiny. Dad and my sister made it up the steps, Mom behind me was holding her purse in one hand and my hand with her other. She pulled my arm  way up over my head, coaxing me up. A man’s voice behind us somewhere said something to indicate he wanted us to hurry up. Don’t remember the words, but I do remember it didn’t feel friendly. It felt critical. I was a little kid in an adult’s world. Sometimes I didn’t feel welcome.

On the train that first night, Christmas Eve, we had our own sleeper car. If I am correct, that was arranged by my dad’s brother, Uncle Phil who was a Vice President (of something) for the railroad. Our car had a set of bunk beds, our own little bathroom, a sink, and a table by the windows – sort of a booth-like setting. That train sped through the darkness of western New York and into Ohio as December 24th became December 25^th,, the last week of the decade. Mom pointed out lights in houses and towns as we passed them. Christmas lights in windows in the dark, late at night, way past everyone’s bedtime. There was magic in the air. I looked for, but didn’t see, Santa in the dark Christmas skies.

I wanted to sleep on the top bunk and so did my sister. She got to do that. I didn’t. Mom and I slept on the bottom because  Mom thought I was too little and might fall out if I was on top. Lot’s of times in my childhood decisions about me were made on the basis of my being little. This was one example  I’ve remembered for over 50 years.

The dining car in the morning served Shredded Wheat. There must have been other choices, but that’s what I know I had. There were waiters. Black men whose white uniforms starkly contrasted with their skin – something that I noted with curiosity when my bowl was set in front of me. Our town  had very few African Americans, maybe two families. My mother had already told me why their skin was darker than mine. “They stayed out in the sun too long.”  At four years old I spent my outdoor playtime in the shade, even if the only shade I could find was from a Lilac bush. No way was I going to “stay out in the sun too long.”

The train had a layover in Chicago. That must have been Christmas Day. At the terminal there, my sister and I saw escalators for the first time. Moving stairs! More magic. I don’t know if we tried to go up the down side, or if we tried climbing them like regular stairs while they rose up, but whatever it was we did, some adult yelled at us for playing on them. The world of grownups was not always a friendly place.

On the train, we had regular seats in passenger cars. The sleeper car was only for the first night. I liked the passenger cars. Some of the adults there were nice to my  sister and me.  One man was amused by my four-year-old precociousness.  I was friendly and curious and bright, and he must have liked kids. Mom, knowing how she is, worrying about us and worrying that we not bother anyone, probably kept us on a fairly short leash, and wouldn’t let us “bother” anyone for very long. I remember learning the slogan to a toothpaste commercial from the man on the train. He was in advertising and he’d written the jingle “I wonder where the yeller went when I brush my teeth with Pepsodent.”  On one of my trips back to my seat after talking with him, I excitedly showed my mom a dime he’d given me. That was a lot of money.  It came with instructions, I told my mother. “He said to call him when I’m grown up.”

Much of the train time I played with my new Revlon doll. My sister had one, too, and we played together. Scenery flew by out the windows. At one point a buzz began among the passengers, and we children  were told to watch out the window for a big river. We were going to cross the Mississippi!  Now, I’d probably never heard of the Mississippi before that, but that didn’t matter. We were pumped with anticipation. We were taught to spell it, too. That was a long word –eleven letters! I must have sing-songed those letters for a year after that, saying it as fast as I could and emphasizing the repetitive vowel and expecting amazement from my audience.- “I can spell Mississippi – M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I.” When we crossed over, and I looked down at the water, I’ve got to be honest, I was not impressed. It was muddy and not so very big. Not as big as I’d built up in my imagination. I didn’t let on.  I wouldn’t have wanted to  disappoint the adults.

When we got to Texas we entered into a wonderful world of cousins. My mom’s sister had three kids,  boys the ages of my sister and me, and their older sister. Her nickname was Mamie,  the same as the country’s first lady. There was no snow in Texas! Where we had come from, there was snow. But  where our cousins lived, we could go to the playground during Christmas vacation and not wear boots!

There were more presents for us at our cousin’s house. I got another tea set, this one was a pink and gray Melmac (1950s plastic  in a perfect duo of 1950s colors). The set  replicated the full sized Frank Lloyd Wright dish sets that were trendy in the baby-boomer years of  post WWII America. My cousin David, my age, had a toy car that climbed walls. He must have gotten it for Christmas because he was playing with it a lot, showing off. Probably his brother Jimmy had one, too, but my attention was on the cousin who was my age.  Can’t tell you how it worked, but there was a pull string and that thing had traction. It made more of an impression than my tea set.

At night, I slept in Mamie’s bed and she slept on the floor next to it. I slept with a teddy bear that wound up and played “Braham’s Lullabye” He had belonged to my baby brother, and I had adopted him. His plastic face had a big smile, the rest of him was low pile fur, and I think he even had a red shirt. Mamie liked the bear. After I would fall asleep, she would take it. In the morning, I’d wake up and find it in her arms. I didn’t like that.

Grandma came to Texas that Christmas, too. She must have flown, because she wasn’t on the train with us. She stayed after we left, for another month.  Now that I’m thinking about all this, I wonder if that was extra hard for my mother when we got home and grandma was still in Texas. My grandma was the best grandma a kid could have and we spent lots of time at her house. It must have been extra lonely for my mom to have her own mother so far away when she was dealing with such sadness.  As for me, I missed my grandma that month she was gone. She played a large roll in my life. She died in 1983 and I still miss her.

Thinking about the Christmas of 1959 makes me appreciate the kindness of family, friends, and neighbors who did what they could to see that my sister and I had presents from Santa that year, and that in spite of my parents' grief, there was a plan implemented to help them deal with the holiday in a way that brought them some comfort and helped them make memories with their surviving daughters. They were Christmas angels.

May you all have at least one angel in your life this Christmas. 

Did Britta Wear White?

The Bride wore black.


Remember the May 2011 announcement that Track married his “long-time girlfriend”?  They both wore black (on Britta it hid the pregnancy bump) and carried flowers that looked like a bunch you get at Wal-Mart. Well, there was another part to that announcement. 

More than one website carried this back in May, 2011:

"We look forward to wintertime when Britta and Track will have a formal celebration of their marriage at a ceremony at Alyeska Ski resort," the Palin family added. "The couple chose December 16 for the event, when extended family and friends from the Lower 48 can travel North for a long ski weekend.”  

Do the Palins ever think of anyone other than themselves? My first thought was "hmmm, how unthoughtful to ask people to travel the weekend before Christmas."    Sarah's thoughts were more likely "How long will it take Britta to get her figure back and still be married to Track before the Iowa caucus?"  Hence, the plan to "formalize" the "marriage" on the last not-a major-holiday-weekend of 2011.

Normal people have a lot to do this time of year. People with kids in the lower 48 can't just rip them out of school and go for long ski weekends. Besides, the kids have school programs that they rehearse for and friends and teachers counting on them. But, what am I saying - Palins don't have any respect for education, school or teachers. (Sarah would protest that she was raised by a school teacher, but her reaction to the woman in this video says it all. "What do you do?" she asks. "I'm a teacher," is the reply. Sarah rolls her eyes at Bristol and rocks from side to side with a grimace, silent for a few beats. Then, "Ahhhh," she grunts, as if with pity and scorn.)  They respect free enterprise, though. And the third weekend in December is the time when business people throw their annual parties for clientele and employees and small retail owners have a couple of their busiest and most critical days. 

I've looked for an announcement, a photo, anything that says this celebration took place. Can't find one. Is anyone able to confirm that this "formal celebration of marriage" took place. Or is this another lie to the public - another needless, stupid, Sarah lie that she thought sounded better than the truth? Was this a hoax that got discarded once she announce she wasn't running in the next election? What's the truth?

Maybe we'll see pictures in People magazine next week. Bet they don't pay as much as they used to.

Maybe some journalist should put in a call to Sally Heath's sister in the lower 48. That's how previous Palin family December events were uncovered. 

Actually, I really don't care about Track and Britta except that they probably know the truth about Babygate. For that reason, I will pay them some attention to what they say and do as a test of their personal abilities to tell the truth.  So far, the jury's out.

Fun with pictures. See Tripp grow. Grow Tripp grow.

(When reading this post and looking at pictures, you may want to increase the size of images on your screen. If you use a Mac, hold down the command key and strike the plus key (+) to increase, use the minus key to make images smaller again (-).  For a PC, you might visit this website for instructions. It's not complicated, I just don't have a PC in front of me to use to describe the process. And by the way, I'm not making any judgements about my readership by linking to the Pennsylvania Dept of Aging. )

This post required my spending time looking at pictures of Levi and Bristol in happier times, and looking at the quick demise of their little family unit. It's sad.  So on a happier note, I want to say right up front: "Good Luck to Track and Britta on your REAL Wedding Day."

Above left is a a picture of Tripp with Levi taken in July 2010. It's my baseline comparison shot for the next several presentations.

Above right is a picture of Levi with newborn Tripp. We are told this was December 27, 2008.

In each side-by-side comparison, I have used the distance from the tip of nose to the bridge of the nose to the to keep the people (except the baby) the same size for comparison. This isn't perfect, but it may be useful.

Above left is a a picture of Tripp with Bristol during an interview with Greta Van Susteren on or around February 16, 2009. On the right is the July 2010 baseline comparison shot.

Here is a triptych (had to use that word) of the same shots.

Here are side by side shots of the same pictures used above, removing the baseline and bringing the babies closer together.

Now, for fun, we add Piper Palin in an undated photo first seen on the Greta interview and we are told this is Tripp.  Looks like Tripp to me. Looks like it's a day or two after he was born and he's lost some weight. That's pretty typical for newborns.

Now I want to introduce all three - Bristol, Levi and Piper. The picture I found is on the New York Times website. They are standing in a line, each approximately same difference from the camera. This was taken when the Palin family welcomed the McCain's on the tarmac prior to the start of Republican National Convention, and Piper would have been three months younger than in the photo above. Though it's likely she did grow some between the two pictures, I'm going to say it would be negligible.

Below I compare Tarmac Bristol with Greta Bristol to get the proportions right.

Now for the fun.  Below are photographed stages of Tripp's life presented in an overlay for your amusement, consideration, and dismay. Have a good look. Take out the ruler.  Think about the position of the baby and the angle of the shot(s). Then tell us what you think of Bristol claiming the baby in her arms February was seven weeks old

When you do this, forget what the Palins claim Tripp weighed at birth. More often than not, the Palins don't tell the truth.  They are smart enough to know that if they wanted to obscure Tripp's earlier birthday, it would make sense to add a couple pounds to his "birth weight" to fit the later-birth story.

Was Tripp  an average size newborn ? He looks tiny to me.  Over the years he's grown at an average rate, though.  At three, he doesn't appear off-the-charts for his age and height.  He isn't heavy. He's average. All I'm saying here is, he started small and grew normally. If we knew nothing of the date of the picture of Bristol holding Tripp in a blue outfit, how many weeks would we guess he was?

Someday I'm going to figure out how the birthdate fits with Trig's birthdate. Until then, it's one of the mysteries.

What do YOU THINK of all this?

UPDATED Book signings for Shailey Tripp

To all Truthers living in the Covington, LA area - Shailey Tripp is doing book signings in your area at PJS Coffee houses near you.  Shay has self-published. She believes in herself and has made the modest investment needed to launch herself as an author. That takes courage and humility.  Gotta respect that.  If you go, take a picture and send it to me. I'll post any of 'em - all of 'em.


NEW DATES:

 Fri,    Dec 16  7am-noon  PJS Coffee HWY 59 - Dove Park Rd  Mandeville, LA
  Sat,   Dec 17  7am-noon PJS Coffee 73015 HWY 25  Covington, LA
 
If you can't get there, you can order a copy of the book  at ANY ONLINE book store. It's a small and it would make a nice stocking stuffer.  Looking for Inspiration by Shailey Tripp.

Lessons in American History : Sarah Palin, Richard Nixon, Joe McCarthy

Readers of this blog know I write because I am convinced it is important to continue to raise the issues of fraud perpetrated by Palin and McCain/Palin to keep pressure on the Republican Party and the media. Underlying my work is the belief that the former governor of Alaska, who quit before finishing one term, has been an extraordinarily divisive force in this country. 

Remember hearing about Joe McCarthy or Richard Nixon? Well, add the name Sarah Palin to that list.

Each in his or her own time, wrapped themselves in the American flag (figuratively speaking) and used their political influence to pit some Americans against other Americans, step on the rights of citizens with whom they disagreed, and used the Constitution as their weapon of choice in battles against evil as defined by them and others like them.

Yes, Sarah Palin has a place in history. Will we, as a nation, somehow learn from these years, will historians point to the McCain/Palin ticket as having ushered in a rebirth of the late 60s unrest and the mid-fifties witch hunts?  The Tea Party Conservatives want to take their country back. Back to that?

Here's an R. Crumb cartoon from an "underground" comic circa 1972; it could be about Occupy Wall Street today.

Now compare that with today's events. Occupy Wall Street protesters are being arrested.  What happened to the right to assemble and to freedom of speech.  Sarah takes the stage and yells out "America, do you love your freedom?"  But has she tweeted one word of support to OWS? I don't think so.

And how about the treatment independent filmmaker (2011 release Sarah Palin, You Betcha!) Nick Broomfield got when he and his staff arrived in the US via the Seattle airport?  The name Sarah Palin turned what should have been a civil welcome to our UK visitors into a veritable nightmare complete with bullying and physical assault. This is from his recent article in the Daily Mail :

October 24, 2010: ...Everything is going fine at Seattle airport until they find out we are doing a film about Sarah Palin. The authorities go mad. They search our bags and detain my two researchers. [My assistant] Sarah, 22, is subjected to a urine test against her wishes – just in case she is pregnant and tries to get citizenship by giving birth on US soil. Her colleague Mark is spreadeagled against the wall and given a rectal search before being handcuffed. The 25-year-old spends the night on a filthy floor littered with cigarette butts. They are both sent back to England, supposedly because they don’t have the right visas.

So the next time Sarah Palin takes the stage and shouts “America, do you love your freedoms?” (and she will be on stages again, all too soon) and follows shortly with patriotic blather about veterans and of course, pats herself on the back for Track having worn the uniform of the United States Army, resist the impulse to turn away, and instead, look at it as a history lesson.  Listen and watch as the crowd cheers. This is a lesson for your children's children. In the past, feelings of pride in America and feelings of paranoia in a leader have converged to make patriotism a social weapon. That's what I'm seeing on the stage at the Republican debates. It became fashionable all over again when accessorized with a pair of red Naughty Monkey pumps.

I'm proud of my country. But I'm not proud of some of our behavior. I'm not proud of the uniformed personnel using mace on peaceful student sit-ins or pepper-spraying an octogenarian. I'm not proud of our Seattle airport personnel, and I'm not proud that Sarah Palin was chosen to run  for VP. 

I’m all for freedom of speech. I'm exercising my right to freedom of speech as I write this today. But I don't believe that putting crosshairs over political opponents' locations and publishing a map of targets is a wise application of that freedom. 

I appreciate the military men and women. My son-in-law served seven years post-911. Where I have a problem with Sarah Palin, is that her brand of freedom is not for everyone. It’s only for everyone who agrees with her.  I have a problem with a person who says our men and women in service overseas are  “Patriots” and then stays totally silent when an audience at a Republican candidate debate is shown a video clip of a soldier and boos loudly upon learning he is gay. I have a problem with that. You betcha.

No, I don’t blame Sarah Palin for all of this. It existed before she became a celebrity. However, she chose to use her celebrity to promote divisiveness, even hate. Sarah Palin is near-sighted and self-absorbed. Books by Dunn, Bailey and McGinnis provided example after example so I don’t have to. Nick Broomfield provides a new account  to us in the Daily Mail, and I'm disgusted.

Sarah Palin has a place in history. Period. Like it or not, our children’s children will hear her name. But what will the story of Sarah Palin be after historians have a decade or two to analyze it? Will we somehow, as a nation, learn from these years and these experiences and become better and stronger because of lessons learned from McCain’s Folly? Or will this be one of the points historians see as lacking civility and a time when freedom, honesty, and democracy had a precipitous decline. Remember, it’s happened before. There was the Joe McCarthy era. And we elected Richard Nixon to four more years. 

Thank God we did not elect McCain/Palin for even one term. It's bad enough that she didn't go away and that he didn't make good on his election night promise to support this president in a bi-partisan way. Country First - what a joke. About as funny as an R. Crumb comic called "Four More Years." 

(Post script:  R. Crumb may have known that the song "God Bless America" was a tool used by politicians in the late depression-era. My Thanksgiving post, "This Land Was Made for YOU and ME," provided that bit of history, because it was part of the reason Arlo Gutherie penned the words to the  classic folk song, "This Land is Your Land.")

Don't Kill the Flowers While Attacking the Weeds

When I read Malia Littman’ recent post Sarah Palin’s New Reality Show: “Attack of the Barracuda”  it struck a chord with me. Maria raises the issue of name-calling. Sarah, as we have seen and heard, is an expert at name-calling. And if the smear can be twisted into a sexual accusation or put-down, she goes there first.  Anyone who read Bristol’s book knows that the daughter is a chip off the old block.

Malia herself has  been a recipient of slurs from people who lack any real ammunition to fight on a level field. When they can’t match Malia’s  well researched and superbly designed arguments, they may throw insults instead. And, because she is female, she gets the eggs thrown at her –“ugly” being the most common (perhaps because even the unschooled can spell it ?).  “Jealous woman” follows right behind.

I am 100% in agreement with Malia when she says the name calling reveals Sarah’s proclivity to avoid responding to allegations by launching an attack instead. The name “barracuda” is fitting.

Now that I’ve pointed that finger at Sarah  and all who follow her lead to destroy with meanness rather than engage in conversation, I have to think about what gets posted here at The Palin Place. After all, it reflects on me. It's up to me to allow all comments or to cull some out. I love all my thinking commenters, Trolls included - even a broken clock is right twice a day :) 


The Palin Place offers long, documented commentary. I put a lot of time and effort into each one. This blog attracts people with engaged minds. (I'm glad YOU are here.)  After investing the time and thought to digest a post, the reader may find added information among the comments. I love when that happens. 


On some blogs, the comment threads become so long that they are not read by most visitors, and, unfortunately, anonymous commenters sometimes feel free to be crude or rude to others, which discourages many people from wanting to cull through looking for items of value. The worst case scenario is when someone with information gets discouraged or attacked. Like Sue Williams, or Wendy Waitress.


Remember Wendy Waitress at another blog? When we abuse, even jokingly, another reader to the point where they pull away,  we have hurt ourselves and our mission.   


This is becoming a community of people who like one another and enjoy the exchange, the venting, and the occasional snark that is so easy to apply to the misadventures of Sarah the Baracuda.  There, see? I called her a name again.  It's okay to comment about Sarah’s physical appearance or Bristol’s, too, if the point is that the appearance supports a further observation, ie Bristol is lying about her cosmetic surgery;  Sarah wore a bathrobe on her Fox interview but hypocritically calls out “pajama clad” bloggers as if that unprofessional attire matters when one is not on screen;  Bristol had a young and fresh appearance at 18 and it's sad that she didn't know how pretty she was when she looked real instead of fake; Sarah has aged poorly which is a good indication that money hasn't brought her happiness. 


I hope we can develop a norm on this blog that comments add value.  


Please, comment even more than you have before. Add to the knowledge, share new ideas, make observations and - if it's in your personality - be clever and funny. Go ahead and say "Sarah is the Quitter Queen?"  She quit, and more than once, and it's part of her political resume, so why not?  


Then, even if comment threads become long, regular visitors will be happy about that, instead of simply clicking off. 


(Also, too) I would prefer that swearing be of the PG variety. A damn here and there for emphasis is great for creative writing, but the bodily function type swearing- well, now, that might turn someone away.  And right now, we need all the good minds we can get.  


Thanks for understanding.  

Pie Spy, LLC - Using Trig for Marketing?

In hindsight, it's clear that then-governor Sarah Palin of Alaska spent the months between her defeat in the November 2008 national election and her resignation in the summer of 2009 positioning herself to cash in.  Her sudden celebrity status was worth millions.  Think about that - literally, millions. 


Trig Palin, the most famous Down syndrome one-year old in the world, was integral to her marketability. She was one of a kind - former VP candidate who had a disabled baby and fit into size two designer clothes.  Far right conservatives everywhere identified with her, ridiculously seeing her as being like themselves. Huh?


This cauldron of political and personal brew produced not only SarahPAC but Pie Spy, LLC.  The former we think we understand, and it's made millions, just as expected. The latter never got resolved to anyone's satisfaction, nor did interest ever really take off, in spite of brief mentions by Huffington Post, Rachael Maddow, other media, and all the anti-Palin blogs.   


I've done a review of what we now know, and I think the purpose behind Pie Spy is pretty clear. It was Sarah's legal means to make big money for and off of Trig's celebrity.  By the time you finish reading this, see if you agree with me that Bristol is likely not the only one of the Palin kids marketed to the public after John McCain's folly.


Chronologically, these events play into the story of Pie Spy, LLC:


October 2, 2008 John McCain's campaign pulls out of Michigan. Sarah Palin claims later she was not consulted or even notified, and with her team hatches a scheme to take their bus into Michigan. John McCain's aide says she's "going rogue."


October 29, 2008 With less than one week to go and polls showing the McCain/Palin ticket is behind,  Sarah tells Elizabeth Vargas "I'm not doin' this for naught."


November 4, 2008  Palin learns the American public rejected her. She had many resentments, including and maybe especially, toward the president-elect.


January 20, Barack Obama sworn in as President of the United States


March 5, 2009  President Obama hosts a White House Forum on Health Reform, taking steps to make good on a campaign promise, and getting national attention.


March 12, 17, 23, 31, and April 6, Health Care Reform is continually in the news with five White House Regional Forums held around the country, starting in Michigan.  ( Vermont, Iowa with South Dakota, North Carolina and California follow.)


April 3, 2009   Thomas Van Flein, attorney for Sarah Palin, files papers to create Spy Pie LLC, categorized as a “marketing” enterprise in the area  of “elderly and disabled persons.”

July 3, 2009  The Governor of Alaska announces she will quit at the end of the month. 


July 31, 2009  Huffington Post notes that Sarah's five days of silence on Facebook is causing her followers distress and curiosity


August 7, 2009 Sarah breaks her silence and comes out swinging against the President that she resents. In "baracuda style" she bares her teeth and targets Obama's health care with a Facebook post destined to make history:


"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."


Then, Sarah is out of sight spending time with her ghost writer for "Going Rogue," using the snide remark dating back to the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan as her title, in typical Sarah-gets-even style.


November 18, 2009 "Going Rogue" book tour begins, starting from Michigan.


December 28, 2009  PolitiFact deems the "death panels" charge by Sarah Palin the "Lie of the Year."


During the book tour, Trig Palin is presented to his adoring public. He is dragged onto and out of buses, bookstores, and airplanes. He is barefoot in cold weather. He is set down on parking lot pavement. He is underdressed when others have coats and caps. Is this really necessary?  You betcha! The book tour was only a beginning.

Connect the dots, folks. Pie Spy was a stroke of genius. Through this private corporation, Sarah Palin could, and presumably did make a ton of money for herself and for Trig.  He may even be wealthier than Bristol. We'll never know, but we can consider whether it's likely that Sarah would do the following things. 

Have Pie Spy provide the services of and charge a fee for every appearance of the disabled clientele they represented. Trig Palin wasn't "doing it for naught," whether he was at a book tour stop, political or not-for-profit event where his mother spoke about Death Panels, or told her right-to-life story, or talked to groups about Disability Rights.

Sarah, the owner and only "member" of Pie Spy, LLC, could also hire Chuck and Sally Heath to work for Pie Spy as marketing agents, making money off of (and for) her parents when they made appearances at events where Sarah mentioned, even once, Death Panels for the elderly.  Sarah's parents, as she said on Facebook when she started her private businessperson life, are examples of people threatened by "death panels." Use her own parents to market a lie?  You betcha!

Of course, anyone helping take care of the product being marketed, ie Trig, would also be paid by Pie Spy and their related travel and expenses for the 24 hour care would be a cost of business to be  billed to the organization that wanted to have him appear.  And you know, if they wanted Sarah Palin, and she wanted Trig to appear, then it happened. You know it.

All of the above would financially reward Sarah’s family members (Willow, Britta, any of 'em and all of 'em) while adding to her own “take” for each and every event. While the Supreme Court may consider Pie Spy LLC a “person” we know that profits made through this shell game are in the pocketbooks and bank accounts  of real people. People who live in Wasilla, Ak.  


Does it sound too greedy? Padding her already obnoxious take of $100,000 + or – in  “speaker’s fees” and milking organizations like women's groups, parent's of disabled children, colleges, etc. for even more money?  Yes, folks, Sarah would do that. If you don't believe that, you need to do your own research. If I started with examples I couldn't finish this post today.


SarahPAC's third quarter filing in 2010 showed that Pie Spy, LLC reimbursed the PAC $3863 for airline tickets. 


Must be Sarah wasn't carrying the right checkbook one day. Oh well, no problem. A simple accounting adjustment. But it gives us our one and only factual piece of information about the type of expenses Pie Spy has. And it fits the theory just fine.


After nearly two years, Pie Spy, LLC changed it's purpose by filing a legal notice in Alaska in January, 2011.  


The original purpose was described in the state filings as:

” NAICS 624120: Services for the Elderly and Persons With Disabilities . This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in providing nonresidential social assistance services to improve the quality of life for the elderly, persons diagnosed with mental retardation, or persons with disabilities. These establishments provide for the welfare of these of individuals in such areas as day care, nonmedical home care or homemaker services, social activities, group support, and companionship, “

to this: 

“NAICS 711510: Independent Artists, Writers, and Performers . This industry comprises independent (i.e., freelance) individuals primarily engaged in performing in artistic productions, in creating artistic and cultural works or productions, or in providing technical expertise necessary for these productions. This industry also includes athletes and other celebrities exclusively engaged in endorsing products and making speeches or public appearances for which they receive a fee. “

I can't say I know why Sarah changed her purpose for Pie Spy, LLC. But it seems to me that around that time, people on blogs began to ask "Where's Trig? Has anyone seen Trig?" 

Just coincidence?  Sarah Palin doesn't believe in coincidence. Why should we?