TargetTalk

I've pretty much been following this woman in the news since I first became aware of her in 2007 at the Rifle Championships in Fairbanks. I am real excited to see her as the VP candidate and guess I will be voting for the Republican ticket instead of the Libertartian one this year. I just wish it was Palin/McCain ticket instead.

http://www.pilk-uns.com/picsU/AKaw/index.htm

So - how well did she shoot?

Alexander

Hmm Scott you know my politics pretty well . . . I may have to reconsider my "straight Libertarian Ticket" this year . . . John McCain's age has now become a big PLUS if ya know what I mean (no disrespect to the man intended or implied but facts are facts).

For those overseas (or domestically) who might not know, Governor Palin is a life member of the NRA, and has as much experience in government as Obama --- more, if you consider that she actually made decisions as the chief executive of a government.

This is SO d***ed cool. I just got a LOT happier about my choices come November.

Are you out of your mind, people?

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So, as far as as I'm concerned, it is only going to get worse no matter who gets elected - none of these corporate clowns have got what it takes to pull the US out of the nosedive we're in.

My boy reads this forum all the time; in the past I've felt real good about letting him.

He says his goal is to win a 10 meter AP gold medal in the Olympics some day. I'm sure we all think that's very laudable and spending time on this forum might well help him along the way.

He's only 12, though. He's growing up as fast as he can.

Not everyone on this forum is an adult.

Good old THINKOFTHECHILDREN!!! move is always in the top of the toolbox of every politician (seen that thread about the airgun accident involving a toddler in the UK?)

If your son is mature enough to shoot I would expect him to be mature enough to properly handle the sharp use of the language. Would you disagree?

AAlex wrote:If your son is mature enough to shoot I would expect him to be mature enough to properly handle the sharp use of the language. Would you disagree?

I would suspect that his son is probably mature enough to know that certain language is appropriate in certain places, but not others.

Is "sharp" the new synonym for "childish"?

To AAlex ....

In answer to your question:

If your son is mature enough to shoot I would expect him to be mature enough to properly handle the sharp use of the language. Would you disagree?

Yes I disagree .... Your "sharp" .... what I consider "foul" language, would get you kicked out of my youth range in a heartbeat
Request that it be kept "civil"

RE: Governor Palin .... I'm delighted.

If people who can't seem to express themselves without resorting to vulgarity, realized that most of us view it as an indication of a weak vocabulary, they'd make an attempt to pick up a dictionary or thesaurus now and then.
Paul

I apologize if I offended anyone with my moderated opinion.

Here in the UK, Sarah Palin is being presented in the media as an ultra-right wing, anti-abortion, creationist, gun nut...

I know nothing of her politics and would like to have a more informed perspective... If she does indeed hold these views, it will not help the cause of shooting in Europe, as it will reinforce the sterotype that shooters in general hold similar opinions.

Steve Swartz wrote:Hmm Scott you know my politics pretty well . . . I may have to reconsider my "straight Libertarian Ticket" this year . . . John McCain's age has now become a big PLUS if ya know what I mean (no disrespect to the man intended or implied but facts are facts).

Tell his 96-year old mother. If he was going to follow his dad (Admiral Jack) or his grandfather (Admiral Slew) then he'd have passed by now. I think he'll follow his mom's genetics, a real "pistol" at 96.

I REALLY suggest reading "The Nightingale's Song", I have had my personal copy for several years now. You've probably heard about that book from news channels; it tells his history without holding back an inch. Where I had a poorer vision of George HW Bush after reading his autobiography, I had nothing but admiration for John McCain after reading "Nightingale". It also talks about Ollie North, Jim Webb, John McFarlane, and John Poindexter, a very good read.

Todd Ellis

Welsh-shooter wrote:Here in the UK, Sarah Palin is being presented in the media as an ultra-right wing, anti-abortion, creationist, gun nut...

I know nothing of her politics and would like to have a more informed perspective... If she does indeed hold these views, it will not help the cause of shooting in Europe, as it will reinforce the sterotype that shooters in general hold similar opinions.

Your statement illustrates that the so called sterotype view or opinions held by many in Europe is why gun rights are being lost and in the end many other freedoms. Unfortunately, the same disease is affecting many of the people in this country. It is not surprising that the socialist views held by the media not only in Europe, but here in the US are criticism of values that have defended there right to be a critic. I cannot think of a socialistic government that has successfully defended their or other people from an oppressor and in fact history has shown that they weaken there peoples will so much they become easy victims for any outside oppressors big or small. In fact many of these so called socialist governments are creating so many rules and regulations that they are becoming the oppressor.

Having the government running so much of a persons day to day life may seem great, but it allows the people to become lazy and in some ways there some similarities with a drug addict. In exchange for the government going more for the people they are being told they have to give up not only more their freedoms but they have to pay for the privilege in more taxes to fund the politicians who are addicted to the public money. The danger that I have noticed is that the people lose their will to fight for there very own country. I have a relative in Japan and during the height of the cold war I asked him would he or his generation defend his country if the Chinese attached his country. His answer was shocking when he told me that not only would he not defend the country, but he and most others of his generation would leave the country.

You can argue that his comment or answer was a minority opinion, but is it really? When Germany invaded the rest of Europe to start World War II the Germans where successful not because the Germans where more numerically superior, but because the people and their governments where weak willed and so eager to avoid conflict that they only encouraged aggression by trying appease the current bully of the time. Well you can say that was then, but I can see many people and governments repeating the same appeasement calls with governments that are supporting terrorist around the world.

Welsh-shooter wrote:Here in the UK, Sarah Palin is being presented in the media as an ultra-right wing, anti-abortion, creationist, gun nut...

I know nothing of her politics and would like to have a more informed perspective... If she does indeed hold these views, it will not help the cause of shooting in Europe, as it will reinforce the sterotype that shooters in general hold similar opinions.

Let's look at the key work in your first sentence...."presented". As you are well aware, no news source in the UK is "firearm friendly". This is just another talking point against someone who has different views than that of the UK media.

You can do the research on line of her positions on various political issues...that will be much more accurate than the "filtered and edited" versions that will be presented in other countries. I say this because I frequently travel to the UK (Wales) and western Europe on business and it is very striking how the news is presented there versus what was presented in the U.S.

BTW, where are you located in Wales?

Now back to Sarah Palin.

As I understood from the initial picture, she has graced a rifle championship with her august political presence and has shaken hands. If some babies had been attending, she would have kissed them too, I am sure.

So, what is her own background? Is she a competitive shooter? Is she a hunter? A gun collector? Inhowfar (but exactly in detail, beyond mere empty right-wing phrases) has she changed Alaskan state firearms laws during her tenure as governor?

Thanks,
Alexander

Alexander wrote:Now back to Sarah Palin.

So, what is her own background? Is she a competitive shooter? Is she a hunter? A gun collector? Inhowfar (but exactly in detail, beyond mere empty right-wing phrases) has she changed Alaskan state firearms laws during her tenure as governor?

Thanks,
Alexander

She hunts (or did), and you can bet she'll be painted as a heartless killer because of it.

I don't have my gun-law guide handy, but I believe Alaska doesn't have much in the way of firearms restrictions beyond those mandated at the Federal level so you can't expect her to loosen them any further.

Alexander, With luck, Your "Sky News" channel will carry some "fair and balanced" bios of her. Living a long way from Alaska, this is what I've learned so far:

Her parents both worked for the school system, her father a teacher, and her mother an administrator.

Her father, an avid hunter, would wake her up at 3:00am to take her moose hunting with him.

She was active in sports competing in one(it eludes me) of them with a stress crack in her ankle, another one was basketball.

She came in 2nd, in a Miss Alaska contest.

She married her husband, an oil driller, commercial fisherman, and union member. I've seen films of her hauling in nets on a commercial fishing boat, ( before she was a public figure). He is also a champion snow mobile racer.

As a mother, and member of the school PTA, she ran for, and became a member of the school board.

Although not a "political person", she was urged to, and ran for town council, and then Mayor, which she won both. She was appointed to a commission to halt corruption in govt.(oil drilling)? and blew the whistle on a few persons,(fellow Republicans) who were later fined.

She ran for, and was elected Governor, with a 65% majority(Republican), and now enjoys an 85%-90% favorable rating by the Alaskan public.

She is the only one of the four candidates with any executive experience, including being the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National guard.

Alaska, being a state bounded by two foreign countries, Canada and Russia, she has experience in foreign relations. Obama was in the senate 143 days, when he began running for president. During this time he pushed a yea or nay button a few times, but never had any executive experience.

She's a life member of the NRA.

She's strongly anti-abortion, and doesn't only "Talk the Talk", but "Walks the Walk". Having four children, she unexpectedly became pregnant with a fifth, and when tests showed the unborn baby was afflicted with Downs Syndrome, and it was suggested she abort the pregnancy, she responded in terms that left no doubt, and now is blessed with a fifth child, a son she named Trig.

She's pro drilling in ANWR.

She's a staunch conservative.

She's going to be the next US vice president, and hopefully, follow McCain as our next President.

Not being a "political person, myself, or an historian. all the above is to the best of my recollection, and I invite constructive comment.

Paul

No idea how this thread got involved in the rise of European socialism and the struggle against Hitler...?

My point is that anti-abortion is virtually a non-issue in the UK and very few politicians will openly discuss the issue, as for creationism (does she really believe this?), no politician (conservative or socialist) in their right mind would even mention the subject, it would be political suicide.

These topics are seen from a European perspective as representative of an extreme fringe of religious right-wing American thinking, not mainstream politics, and are thought-of with severe scepticism and some unease. Guns, despite the media and political bias are still a subject of real political debate, and in the UK there is still some sense of injustice within the general public toward what was done to shooting sports following the Dunblane massacre and the fact that we cannot train for the Olympics in 2012.

It is a real danger that any remaining sympathy toward shooting sports could easily vanish, if the whole subject just becomes another example of the extreme views of those "loony Americans" - not my opinion, but the press in the UK just love that angle... From a European shooters perspective, what plays well in the US is often a negative for the rest of us.

Personally I hope she helps McCain win - if only to watch the BBC have a heart attack from the shock...

She ran for governor (and Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard, woohoo!) proposing that creationism be taught in public schools. Check yer freakin' brains at the door, guys. Oh, and being separated from Russia by the Bering Strait makes her an expert on foreign policy. Just like living across the Rio Grande from Mexico did for George W.

The best thing that will come out of her nomination is a future movie part for Frances McDormand! But who'll play Johnny Mac - Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Mike Myers?