Palin personally cut funding that gave unwed mothers a place to live

[eleny]

http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/palin-personally-cut-funding-that-gave.html

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee who revealed Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, earlier this year used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live.

After the legislature passed a spending bill in April, Palin went through the measure reducing and eliminating funds for programs she opposed. Inking her initials on the legislation -- "SP" -- Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers.

According to Passage House's web site, its purpose is to provide "young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives" and help teen moms "become productive, successful, independent adults who create and provide a stable environment for themselves and their families."

[Lucky 13]

1. Damn right! Knocked up kids either need to get married or live with their parents.

The same parents that didn't teach them jack shit about sex education or condoms. Let's get this new kid started out on the same path!!

:sarcasm:

[eleny]

2. The hypocrisy is so galling

I really didn't think I'd read anything new about Palin today. But Thom Hartmann just mentioned this on his radio program so I went looking for an article and found this one from today.

[Lucky 13]

3. Essentially she has no problem with a rich, knocked up kid.

But if you are poor and knocked up and actually need HELP... well I guess you're shit out of luck.

I would be outraged by the hypocrisy, but sadly I think I've become somewhat numb to it. The party, the politicians and the platform itself is based in hypocrisy and class warfare.

UGH. We've GOT to take them down this time. I hope JoBama starts hammering them after the convention...

[eleny]

5. I know what you mean about being numb

Yesterday was electric around here. Today I feel somewhat deflated or maybe just have less energy.

But once again there's fodder here for the topic of the "unborn". Evidence that Republican hypocrisy reaches into the womb - one of their favorite places to politicize.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

4. Palin may have thought, "Let these children of poverty go into the foster-care system...

Why waste a dollar of middle-class taxpayers' money on them? By the time the kids age out of foster care, angry at never having been loved, 18 years will have gone by, and nobody will be able to trace their problems to me."

[eleny]

6. Here are the programs of Covenant House from their web site

"Covenant House Alaska provides invaluable services to youth 13 - 21 years of age. Our programs help them finish school, learn a skill, find a job, build a strong foundation, reunify with their families and begin their lives again. We believe that through love, understanding and patience, the kids we serve will flourish. It’s a success story waiting to happen."

http://covenanthouseak.org/programs.htm

And one of the RNC convention theme is 'family values'? But we know that's a load where the rubber meets the road.

[goodgd_yall]

7. What do you expect---she's a Republican

It's not only fundie Republicans who cut off funds to social services. This is what Republicans do when they are "reducing government spending." This is one of the fundamental differences between the Democratic and Republican parties. Republicans think it is not the government's responsibility to help people.

[eleny]

8. I expect nothing less - But I like to know details

This example conflicts with the Republican meme of the past few days about her devotion to family values.

Not a day ends since she got the nod from McCain that evidence is revealed to prove how her policies conflict with her image.

[goodgd_yall]

10. Yes, but let's not forget this is how the whole party thinks

There may be one or two that go against the grain, but the hypocrisy between "family values" and policy is one of the characteristics of the Republican party.

[eleny]

13. Absolutely - And they're pushing out thier moderates

[SidneyCarton]

14. Precisely.

Are there no prisons, no work houses? If they would rather die than they'd better do it, and decrease the surplus population! Unfortunately the latter comment would lose Mr. Scrooge the Republican nomination, because they like surplus population, the more the better. More wage slaves to be worked into the ground and discarded, more cannon fodder for imperialist wars. Misogyny plays a part, but in the end it all comes down to greed.

[eleny]

16. When I read the article, that Dickens sentiment immediately came to mind

And greed is what keeps Republican hearts beating.

[Cha]

9. palin the hypocrite and she lies. What could be more

exciting to the Greedy OIlY Perverts?

[FrenchieCat]

11. This is important!

[eleny]

15. I thought so, too, FC

I searched before posting and couldn't find it here. But Thom just got finished mentioning it. Being late to boot up today, I thought for sure this news would be a dupe or old news. But I guess the vetters on our side and the tabloids are sending new information by the hour.

Before it's over we'll have 74+ McCain flip flops and god knows how many glaring examples of Palin's being unfit to hold high office.

[SidneyCarton]

12. Of course she did.

In her warped view of the universe, women like that didn't deserve help. They deserve the derisive comments of the saved that are always directed at the sinner, as they progress into the gutter to die. It will be interesting to consider whether or not her personal opinions on such subjects have undergone any reconsideration at this point. It's always fascinating what happens when the very ills and vices you viciously decry come home to roost.

[eleny]

18. I doubt that she's spent much time reconsidering her position

Especially now that she has the Republican spin machine creating a positive slant on teen pregnancy.

Her elevation to VP nominee makes her family situation the center of a national right wing "baby watch". I believe that I can even hear the clacking of knitting needles, the soft hum of crochet hooks and the happy whirrings of sewing machine engines whipping out baby layettes.

[SidneyCarton]

19. You 're probably right.

Not learning from your mistakes seems to be the primary virtue of the Right.

[eleny]

24. Too many of them are sociopaths, imo

They have denial honed to a fine art.

[eleny]

17. A cartoon from dear Khaotic's cartoon thread to illustrate this issue

More cartoons here http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6901334

[SidneyCarton]

20. This is the clearest explanation of the hypocritical right's position on this

[zulchzulu]

21. Did she supply them with a Hibachi so they cook and eat their kids?

That's the kind of outdoor gal she is...

[LittleClarkie]

22. And THIS is what bugs me about her.

She would deny a woman's right to choose, and also likely cut the social programs that a family would need to have to cope with the same situations she finds herself in.

And so it's not that she has a daughter having a child out of wedlock, and it's not that she's gone back to work after having a child with special needs. It's that being in that situation gives her no empathy toward others in the same situation.

I'm glad her family has the ways and means to deal with such issues without help. But don't deny the choice, and the help, to others.

Hypocrite.

[Quixote1818]

23. These are the kids of issues Hillary needs to attack her with. We need Hillary. nt