Sarah and the Polar Bears–Not a Bedtime Story

In January of this year, Sarah Palin wrote a piece for the New York Times, explaining her opposition to listing the polar bear as an endangered species.  She wants us to know that she is as much a fan of polar bears as anyone, and wants them to be protected–that is, if they need it.  But they don’t.  There are more polar bears today than there were 40 years ago, so what’s the problem?  She wants us to know that Alaskans have been taking care of polar bears since Time Immemorial, and no pointy-headed scientists from elsewhere need interfere.  The Science with a capital S just doesn’t support there being a problem with polar bears, at least the science she pays attention to. 

She thinks there should be a balance between the needs of polar bears and the needs of people.  Hello.  Who today doesn’t recognize that as hypocrisy?  She could just go ahead and say, Polar Bears be damned, ’cause they don’t vote, and I’d feel a bit better about her.  But don’t pretend to be an environmentalist, a conservationist, or whatever happy term you’d prefer for yourself. 

Allegedly she agrees that “climate change” (the euphemism for global warming) is a reality, but sees no connection between that and human activity.  There go those pointy-headed scientists and Nobel Peace Prize-winning idiots like Al Gore again. 

The “real” reality is that listing the polar bear as an endangered species will, according to the Associated Press, interfere with “prime oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off Alaska’s north and northwestern coasts”.

Another quote:  “Oil and natural gas and the jobs they create are part and parcel of life in Alaska: “If you are not for opening ANWR, in the state of Alaska, you couldn’t get elected dogcatcher,” says former Alaska state Rep. Ray Metcalfe, a Republican-turned-Democrat who supports Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and anticipates Palin’s critics will probably zero in on the oil drilling issue.”

In Palin’s photos yesterday she is sporting some kind of lapel pin, which I took to be a seal.  Maybe it’s a polar bear.  A seal, being the primary food of polar bears, would be more appropriate. 

Sarah Palin and Wikipedia

On Thursday morning, just after 8:00 A.M., someone using the name “YoungTrig” went into Wiki and edited Sarah Palin’s page.  Overall, 32 changes were made, and those changes placed her in a more favorable light, minimizing any “problems” and maximizing accomplishments. 

When Wiki discovered it, they froze her page so that no further editing can take place.  (Apparently G.W. Bush’s page has been frozen for years, so this is not uncommon.)

I learned this yesterday from an interview on NPR with one of Wiki’s editors.  Naturally, suspicion as to who did it falls on Palin herself, since “Trig” is the name of her newest child.  Whoever “Trig” really is, and Wiki didn’t know (at least not yesterday), it’s someone who has never edited before.  The editor interviewed said it’s considered bad form to edit information about yourself, but of course it isn’t prohibited.  It could have been some Republican operative, who knowing she would be named McCain’s veep choice the next day, was charged with the task of “cleaning up” whatever might be found about her on the Internet.  (Can’t have any nude pictures floating around out there on MySpace, can we?)  If so, it was really stupid to use the name YoungTrig, pointing as it does to Palin herself, but whoever said Republican hit-men were overly smart?

An even better conspiracy theory would be for it to have been a Democratic operative, deliberately using the name to implicate her.  And the very smartest thing would be to make her sound more favorable; if edited to make her look worse, especially using that name, everyone would have immediately smelled a rat.  Diabolical!  Rovian!

I’m staying neutral on the issue, until Wiki comes up with the “culprit”, if ever.  My main point is, however, that if you’re using Wikipedia as your main source of information about Palin, you might want to choose something else.