Well, it's not "THE" North Pole, but it is North Pole, AK. We have Santa Claus House which operates year round and has a 20 ft. tall Santa out front and has reindeer on premise . They used to have Mr. and Mrs. Claus there to take pictures with the kids, but Mrs. Claus passed away this summer, so I don't know if that will happen anymore :(. They also send out "Letters from Santa" each year that have the North Pole postage stamp, so they look a little more "authentic" (I'm ordering one for my 6 year old niece this year, my own kids are too grown up to do the whole Santa thing, bummer) The light poles are in the shape of candy canes. All in all, it's a tiny little tourist attraction town, but a great place to raise a family. Here's the website for our town if you're interested: http://www.northpolealaska.com/
First of all people making much more than $42000 are still considered middle class and especially in Alaska where the cost of living is MUCH higher than in many other areas. They were middle class at one time, and losing a spouse didn't make Biden middle class. Even though he may at one time MANY years ago have known what is was like to be middle class it was so long ago it was likely before Palin was even born. Which as a whole how much they understand what it's like to be us doesn't really matter anyway because we have had many great Presidents who never were middle class but I like the fact that Palin understands us more than the other candidates.
This may have all been covered in other posts, as I haven't gotten through the full thread but:
Both McCain and Obama have executive experience in the sense that they have had to run their own staffs and budgets, major national campaigns, and make major decisions affecting the lives of many people.
Palin is the governor of a state whose economy runs on oil proceeds — they don’t even pay income tax, they get paid to live there - and has a 5 billion dollar surplus. Alaska is also given hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government each year. People talk as though her experience as governor has prepared her so much better but how does Palin's executive experience in Alaska qualify her to handle the current financial crisis when she's never had to balance a budget while tax revenues fell? How is managing a budget surplus relevant experience for governing a country that is trillions in debt?
My point here is that her executive experience does not in and of itself make her a good potential leader for this country. Plus, she is lacking in the other credentials and background knowledge that Obama, Biden and McCain do bring to the table.
Obama, who is hit particularly hard for his lack of executive leadership experience, spent 3 years as a brilliant community organizer (ie motivating people to help create the change in their communities that they want to see), became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, created a voter registration drive that registered hundreds of thousands new voters, spent 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor (I'm guessing he knows the constitution and American history and understands federal government a bit better than most), spent 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people in a diverse state, became chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spent 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills, and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees. How is this not relevant leadership experience?
As governor of Alaska, you have worked with Democrats like me to achieve goals we both shared. Since becoming the vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party, you’ve done nothing but ridicule Democrats and our goals. How do you expect to be able to get help from Democrats — either as governor or as vice president — after your performance on the campaign trail?
— MIKE DOOGAN, a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, a former columnist for The Anchorage Daily News and the author of the novel “Skeleton Lake”
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Well, it's not "THE" North Pole, but it is North Pole, AK. We have Santa Claus House which operates year round and has a 20 ft. tall Santa out front and has reindeer on premise . They used to have Mr. and Mrs. Claus there to take pictures with the kids, but Mrs. Claus passed away this summer, so I don't know if that will happen anymore :(. They also send out "Letters from Santa" each year that have the North Pole postage stamp, so they look a little more "authentic" (I'm ordering one for my 6 year old niece this year, my own kids are too grown up to do the whole Santa thing, bummer) The light poles are in the shape of candy canes. All in all, it's a tiny little tourist attraction town, but a great place to raise a family. Here's the website for our town if you're interested: http://www.northpolealaska.com/
This may have all been covered in other posts, as I haven't gotten through the full thread but:
Both McCain and Obama have executive experience in the sense that they have had to run their own staffs and budgets, major national campaigns, and make major decisions affecting the lives of many people.
Palin is the governor of a state whose economy runs on oil proceeds — they don’t even pay income tax, they get paid to live there - and has a 5 billion dollar surplus. Alaska is also given hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government each year. People talk as though her experience as governor has prepared her so much better but how does Palin's executive experience in Alaska qualify her to handle the current financial crisis when she's never had to balance a budget while tax revenues fell? How is managing a budget surplus relevant experience for governing a country that is trillions in debt?
My point here is that her executive experience does not in and of itself make her a good potential leader for this country. Plus, she is lacking in the other credentials and background knowledge that Obama, Biden and McCain do bring to the table.
Obama, who is hit particularly hard for his lack of executive leadership experience, spent 3 years as a brilliant community organizer (ie motivating people to help create the change in their communities that they want to see), became the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, created a voter registration drive that registered hundreds of thousands new voters, spent 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor (I'm guessing he knows the constitution and American history and understands federal government a bit better than most), spent 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people in a diverse state, became chairman of the state Senate’s Health and Human Services committee, spent 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills, and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran’s Affairs committees. How is this not relevant leadership experience?
I think that both VP canadates did well.
Thanks!
I wonder how she'd be received in the Senate at this point since she's been used as an attack dog.
This question in yesterday's NYTimes article made me wonder about that: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/opinion/02veepdebatefortheweb.html?pagewanted=1&sq=questions%20for%20the%20vice%20presidential%20debate&st=cse&scp=4
As governor of Alaska, you have worked with Democrats like me to achieve goals we both shared. Since becoming the vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party, you’ve done nothing but ridicule Democrats and our goals. How do you expect to be able to get help from Democrats — either as governor or as vice president — after your performance on the campaign trail?
— MIKE DOOGAN, a member of the Alaska House of Representatives, a former columnist for The Anchorage Daily News and the author of the novel “Skeleton Lake”
I disagree with you, but I'm pretty sure
Yup -
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