Alaska Native leader speaks out on Palin

Saw this in the ADN Newsreader today, originally from the New York Times. Willie Hensley, a prominent and VERY well-respected Alaska Native leader wrote an op-ed that landed in the Times, aptly titled "In Alaska, Qiviters Never Win." The "qiviters" is a play on a an Inuit word for... well, quitting.

From the article:

In short, Alaska had a governor who had the stature within the state, nationally and internationally, to deal with our problems. She could have used her position to find solutions to the high costs and financial insecurities of our far-northern state. Instead, she abandoned her role as the state’s leader in midstream, making her the only governor in our state’s history to "qivit" in the true sense of the word, at a time when we need strong leadership.

It's actually a great article on the history of this state, and endurance of ALL its people, and worth the read.

Phil Munger over at Progressive Alaska also had a great post today about the voice of Alaska Native people, highlighting Hensley and other Native leaders.

Palin's (predictable) problems

No exactly shocking today to hear that another of the ethics complaints against Palin have been found to have merit. Interesting, though.



Here's some of my favorite Palin postings of the past few days:



Shannyn Moore with "It's not Sarah's fault... just ask her."

When it comes to taking responsibility for her failures, Sarah Palin is completely unaccountable. Her finger is always pointed at the most convenient scapegoat. Last fall, I said she was George W. Bush with lipstick; nothing is ever her fault. With her resignation, she has set a new bar for blame.

From the Fairbanks Daily News-miner, "State's oil review stalls," about a few of Palin's unfinished projects.

Describing the project, which would cost $5 million and take two to three years to complete, Gov. Palin said, “no such system-wide risk assessment has ever been conducted on this complex system.”

Two years later, as Gov. Palin leaves office early, the risk assessment project is in shambles.

And, for the musical folk, a bit of theater: