Sarah Palin At Las Vegas Right On Line Conference Cheers On Americans for Prosperity and Encourages Bloggers to "Keep on Telling the Truth" - UPDATE: HuffPost-blogger Geoffrey Dunn reports new details about Sarah Palin's scandalous "Trans Canada" crony capitalism

By Kathleen

Last night in Las Vegas Sarah Palin addressed on-line bloggers and activists from Koch Brothers backed Americans For Prosperity during the RightOnLine conference at the Sheldon Adelson owned Venetian hotel.

The speech included the usual Palin hyperbolic rant against President Obama. She sneeringly said that he leaned towards Marxist policies and was a socialist at heart who snorted cocaine, smoked pot and ate fido. All the typical Palin fare dished out with buzz words and no substance. Yadda yadda. I would worry about her influence if her deliberate exaggerations were not so worn out and banal. She needs to get herself a new scriptwriter because the present one isn't creating that starburst quality that's required of a GOP leader. Rather she comes off as all perky pep but there is no vigour to her words. An actress, as they say, is only as good as her script and this one isn't going anywhere.

Instead in her rush to endear herself to her audience Palin let something slip. Rule number one in the Palin book of giving speeches is to be sure to flatter the audience and tell it what it wants to hear. Palin reassured the bloggers and activists from organisations such as Americans For Prosperity that "New Media (bloggers) goes beyond just merely organising. It's more fundamental than that. New Media has become a force for activism and for information. You fill a vital role because you do what too many in the old media won't do, can't do and that's tell the truth." Isn't she precious? Bloggers tell the truth.

We bloggers certainly do tell the truth Sarah, even the somewhat inconvenient truths that you would rather stayed on a shelf collecting dust. Truths that you call untruths and assign to the "old media" such as "It still is a great mystery who really is Trig Paxon Van Palin's real mother" when you know full well that the "old media" will no longer touch that question with a ten metre barge pole. The reality, Sarah, is that you and your staff went to great lengths to shut up the media in Alaska when it tried to address that very question.

In true hypocritical fashion Sarah only supports the telling of certain so called truths such as who snorted cocaine as a young college undergraduate and who tasted dog meat as a child. All information that President Obama set out himself in his autobiography, Dreams From My Father. 

And that is the difference between the hypocrite and the revealer. One goes out of her way to cover up the truth and the other has no problem in telling it for what it is. It's time that Sarah Palin got herself acquainted with what the truth is. Meantime, I won't hold my breath.

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UPDATE (by Patrick):

Sarah Palin wants the bloggers to write the truth, and in fact several bloggers have in the past done just this. And they still do write the very inconvenient truth about Sarah Palin and her personal and political scandals. Just yesterday evening, our friend and outstanding Huffington Post-blogger Geoffrey Dunn posted a new investigative article about an issue which also has been ignored by the media: Sarah Palin's acts of "crony capitalism" as a Governor when it came to giving $500 million as state subsidies to Trans Canada for, well, for what exactly? CBS had the answer in September 2008: "To offset initial costs of obtaining regulatory approvals" for one of Sarah Palin's biggest propaganda projects, the planned "construction of a 1,715-mile, $40 billion gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to a distribution hub in western Canada".

That money will be paid to Trans Canada (looking at press reports, it is unclear to me how much of it has already been given to Trans Canada), but it remains more than doubtful that this construction project will ever start. That is also a lot of money for "obtaining regulatory approvals." I guess Trans Canada could not have been too unhappy about these kind of regulations.

Geoffrey Dunn examines in his article at Huffington Post how Sarah Palin and her team pushed for giving the $500 million to Trans Canada, despite the fact the Governor Palin was advised to remain impartial. Hard proof for this allegation can be found in Sarah Palin's published emails, the ones in which there was apparently "nothing to see here", according to the lazy and uninformed US mainstream media.

Geoffrey Dunn writes:

AGIA provided Palin with the authority to issue a state license for the construction of a 1,715-mile, $40 billion gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to a distribution hub in western Canada, replete with a fat $500 million subsidy from the State of Alaska. Talk about fiscal steroids.

In fact, Palin and her administration slanted the selection process for building the pipeline so that only one company -- TransCanada Corp. -- had their bid accepted on the project. Four others were deemed "noncompliant."

TransCanada had direct ties to her administration. The head of Palin's so-called Pipeline Team -- Marty Rutherford -- had previously served as a lobbyist for Foothills Pipe Line Alaska, Inc., a subsidiary of TransCanada. Rutherford's former partner at her Jade North lobbying firm, Patricia Bielawski, served as TransCanada's lead lobbyist in securing the deal. A former TransCanada executive, Patrick Anderson, also served as an outside consultant for the Palin pipeline team.

Moreover, according to an investigation conducted by the Associated Press in October of 2008, "Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada."

When a large batch of Palin emails was released last year, the mainstream media essentially gave Palin a free pass on their content. It was a case of journalistic malfeasance. Not only were significant portions of the Palin email cache shamefully withheld or redacted, reporters unfamiliar with the details and nuances of Palin's career didn't understand the complex references and political contexts of many of her communications.

One of my favorite Palin email threads involves Palin's courting of TransCanada in June of 2008, less than three months before she signed an agreement with the Canadian company. The thread reveals Palin trying to assemble a group numbering nearly two-dozen of her advisors, legislators and TransCanada officials for an under-the-radar feast featuring a prized Alaskan salmon.

While some of the thread was redacted over claims of "privileged" or "personal" content, the communications nonetheless reveal Palin's particular brand of cronyism vis-a-vis TransCanada.

It is worth revisiting the excellent investigative AP-article about the pipeline project ("Bidding For Palin Pipeline Contract Flawed") which Geoffrey Dunn mentions in his post. This AP article is actually one of the very few hard-hitting investigative pieces on Sarah Palin that the mainstream media has ever published.

The Associated Press wrote in June 2010:

Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence.

Despite Palin's boast of a smart and fair bidding process, the AP found that her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited the winner, TransCanada Corp.

And contrary to the ballyhoo, there's no guarantee the pipeline will ever be built; at a minimum, any project is years away, as TransCanada must first overcome major financial and regulatory hurdles.

In interviews and a review of records, the AP found:

Instead of creating a process that would attract many potential builders, Palin slanted the terms away from an important group - the global energy giants that own the rights to the gas.

Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.

The leader of Palin's pipeline team had been a partner at a lobbying firm where she worked on behalf of a TransCanada subsidiary. Also, that woman's former business partner at the lobbying firm was TransCanada's lead private lobbyist on the pipeline deal. Plus, a former TransCanada executive served as an outside consultant to Palin's pipeline team.

So bloggers still write and have been writing the truth about Sarah Palin - and have continued to be very often ignored by the mainstream media, which has developed a distinct "touchy touchy" approach over the years as far as many of the "inconvenient" details about Sarah Palin are concerned. The quoted AP-article above is actually a very rare exception. Bloggers can have a great impact, as they are able to report the truth without corporate restraints, and the internet is their friend.

Geoffrey Dunn is also the author of the equally outstanding Palin-biography "The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power."

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UPDATE 2:

Barb Dwyer, our longtime reader, commentator and friend from Alaska left two very insightful comments regarding AGIA and the "All Alaskan Gasline", which are incredibly informative for readers outside Alaska.

Comment 1:

The discussion to build the all Alaska gasline did not just start this year, it has been legislated since 1974 and approved TWICE by the voters with the last bill being in '02. There are no "problems" with doing this, other than the big oil companies desperately DON'T want it built until the technology exists so they can pump the gas up over the polar ice cap into Asia, taking everything and giving Alaska nothing. People need to wake the fuck up about this.

It will NOT be expensive, since Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has promised the funds to build it and buyers have been lined up waiting to purchase the excess LNG since '04, The "guarantees on pricing" means you bought the whole "open season" fiasco Parnell came up with (but still refuses to show the results of) hook, line and sinker which was nothing but another huge smokescreen put out by the oil companies. Alaska owns the gas and the leases at Pt. Thompson, there's not a damn thing the oil companies can do about that other than stop the gasline being built altogether, which they have now managed to do for over 30 YEARS!

What, pray tell, "TransCanada" line is there to interfere with? It will never EVER be built and it is impossible to interfere with something that will never exist. These are the oil company talking points, that no matter how absurd (remember the Denali line which was nothing but a bullshit ploy that Conoco pumped millions of dollars into to keep everyone confused) people of Alaska seem to buy into and repeat over and over, when there isn't a shred of truth to any of it.

The all alaska gasline is the largest "shovel ready" infrastructure project in the world. The permits have existed since 1974 to bring it right next to the pipeline and that causeway is cleared all the way down to Valdez where the EPA permits and cleared land exist for the terminal which has sat vacant since 1974. It was supposed to have been built within 5 years of the pipeline and the oil companies have been fighting against it ever since then. Since they DON'T own the rights to the natural gas they can't make huge profits off of it by sending it to Alaskans, which is why they want to go over the polar ice cap and keep it ALL for themselves. All they need to do is keep blowing smoke up Alaskans ass for another 20 years and Alaska will get absolutely nothing and the oil companies will have a free export they can send to Asia making pure profit on all of it.

Last but not least, let's not forget that Palin running around the state promising to build the All Alaska Gasline is what got her Wally Hickels endorsement, the Port Authority endorsement and won her the election. If she had done what she said she was going to do, Fairbanks would already be online and the spur to Kenai would be completed. Instead we are out 500 million with a treble damages clause that puts the state on the line for 1.5 billion for a gasline that was never ever going to be built. It was nothing but another big ruse and a get rich quick scheme for all those involved.

Comment 2:

Yes. We found out about the 500 million AND the fact she put us back in bed with Exxon all at the same time. People were shocked when she announced AGIA in the first place! Remember her administration then had to do major damage control and backtrack because of the huge outcry and say they were going to look at all the proposals again and take comments online at the state website. The comments left were 99% Incredulous that this kind of BS was going on again and the other 1% were tribal leaders in Canada telling them there was no way in hell any gasline was going to go through their land.

People forget that this is what caused Gov. Murkowski's downfall thus opening the door for Palin as well. He was TOLD by the voters in '02 to build the all alaska gasline that has been in place since '74. He thumbed his nose at the voters, climbed back in bed with big oil and sealed his own fate. Palin then went in and did exactly the same thing except in a much sneakier (and more devastating) way.

The crowning moment had to be when Galvin was asked if Alaskan workers would be granted work permits in Canada, since most of the line was going to be in Canada, and his response was that he had no idea if Alaskans would be allowed to work in Canada because it had never been discussed.

Barb Dwyer today also sent me the following information via email, together with some fascinating pictures:

"I thought you might like to see some literature with the truth about the gasline. This was just recently released and produced by the agency that the state set up to actually build the gasline under the bill that was approved by the voters in '02. Even though 3 Governors now have slipped around abiding by that bill, the agency it set up to actually build the all Alaska gasline still exists and works everyday to fulfill that initial task."

Let's take a look at the pictures:

It's "time for America to compete in the global energy game?"

The project is "shovel-ready?"

Well, I guess then they could start digging tomorrow, right...?

Barb Dwyer also sent me a copy of the 2002 Gasline Bill - it can be downloaded HERE.

Hopefully we will be able to publish at some point more about the "All-American LNG Project" and the scandalous details surrounding its permanent non-completion.

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UPDATE 3:

Barb Dwyer sent me the following additional comment:

Thanks Patrick. It should also be noted that this line the literature (the pictures above) is about (the one approved by the voters) was one of the proposals her team called "incomplete" not just once but twice after backtracking the first time. The one with all the permits already approved or intact for some time, the route established and the only one with the ability to actually obtain any of the gas (thanks to the bill), plus it was written essentially by the state agency that was created and tasked in '02 specifically to secure everything needed to build this line immediately. THAT was considered incomplete but TransCanada with no permits, no established route, no hope for ever getting some Canadian permits and most importantly NO  rights to the gas was the winner and given a 500 million dollar signing bonus.