I served on a jury here last year. The case was a lawsuit between a family of a crippled girl and Chrysler over faulty brakes. Chrysler won, hands down, FWIW. While the case was going on, they were selecting the jury for OJ and for the guy who shot (sniper style) a judge in northern Nevada. If my number was picked a week later, I might have made one of those juries. Needless to say, outside the courthouse was a zoo that 2nd week.
good for you, serving on a jury is one of the greatest responsibilities of citizens of this country. Too many people try to weasel out.
I absolutely did not try to weasel out. I did act like an asshole during voir dire, but they took me anyway
Actually, Palin was a whistle-blower on her own party. In that sense, she betrayed Murkowski, but you're intent on defending Obama and politically motivated members of the legislature at all costs.
People try to weasel out until they themselves have filed a suit against someone, and need a jury to hear and judge their claims. Then, it isn't so fun to hear all the excuses that people come up with.
From what I saw, trying to weasel out didn't do anyone any good. They just put you back on the list to be called again within 90 days here. And most of the people who tried to claim hardship were denied. I do see it as a civic duty. I think they paid me $400 in cash at the end of the trial for my 2+ weeks service. The case and the process itself were fascinating. Those of us on the jury became close friends, too, and we've met periodically for a dinner somewhere to catch up on things. The bailiff was our only contact with the court for the 2 weeks, and he was ultra cool. I learned more about the inner workings of brake systems than I probably would have in auto class Chrysler clearly had the best lawyers money could buy and a budget plenty big for expert witnesses. I don't think that won the case for them tho. Every one of us on the jury concluded that someone had put transmission fluid in the brake reservior, which royally screwed up the entire brake system - not Chrysler's fault on a 10+ year old car with 100,000+ miles on it.
That is the irony of Palin . . . she is a whistle-blower but then she doesn't play by the book. Could you please show me one post in this entire thread where I am defending Obama????? So the decision to investigate Palin is all politically motivated, even though it the decision happened before the VP pick and it was a bi-partisian decision. Everyone is out to get Palin . . . that's it. You haven't conceeded at all that there may even be a slight possibility this was a vindictive move by Palin . . . not even possible. Exactly who is defending who at all costs?
The book sucks. It's time for a new book. It doesn't have to be in this thread. You know and I know if this were the Democratic Party VP, your position would be 180 degrees. I happen to think she's completely unqualified to be the Vice President, but this investigation is a side show. First, Alaska has politics too. Second, the investigation went from the back burner on simmer to the wok burner on full blast once the Obama campaign got involved in getting their supporters to push it front-and-center. No, I've conceded it. But my larger point is that I don't care. She's a boss and to accomplish her goals she needs to have the latitude to hire and fire at her will.
I don't know if you remember, but I was critical of Obama's relationship with the pastor, so I'm not sure where you are coming from on "if this was Obama's VP." But I think this is just a matter of you don't care why Palin fired someone and think it is a big deal. So I'm starting to see your position, it is just wrong. : ) To qoute a great philisophical political analyst, spiderman's uncle said it is how you use your power that will determine greatness . . . or something like that.
You knew the sentiment, you just didn't have the quote down exactly. I was just passing it on so you could quote it in the future.
Here's a follow-up on the news story. It doesn't appear to be a far-reaching conspiracy http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_el_pr/palin_hacked
If she would face the press as every single VP candidate has before her, there would be no need to hunt. Her incompetence would be glaringly apparent and they would replace her with a real candidate. Don't kid yourself, no way can Mccain survive a 4 year gauntlet in the hotseat with the mess Bush has created. He is so old and feeble, he's already showing signs of having infarctions, and likely has vascular dementia already. We are on the verge of the worst collapse of a nation since the USSR died. This race is about who will eventually be President, and it's either Obama or Palin. No one can seriously think she will EVER be able to help our country in that capacity.
While presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama each held press conferences where they addressed the Treasury Department’s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial markets, and Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden continued to make news with his awkward remarks, Palin continued to sidestep the media to an almost unprecedented degree for a national campaign. Perhaps as a result, Palin’s meetings with foreign leaders Tuesday were nearly marred by stories chronicling her campaign’s brief standoff with reporters over access to her pre-meeting photo ops. Palin, who has not held a single press conference since McCain announced her as the Republican vice presidential candidate, in the past week has held only one rally on her own, and has ditched her print press contingent to make an ice cream run with her family andto pose for staged photos with foreign leaders. http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20080924/pl_politico/13823
What else can the GOP do? She's spectacularly unqualified and has a lot of catching up to do to even sound like she has the faintest idea as to what she's discussing. Luckily for her, Biden has been giving her a free pass with gaffe after gaffe. Perhaps the Democrats should pursue the same strategy with Sen. Biden as the Republicans have with Gov. Palin.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1849399,00.html What the Troopergate Report Really Says Friday's report from special investigator Stephen Branchflower to Alaska's Legislative Council answered some basic questions about the political and personal bog known as Troopergate. Did Governor Sarah Palin abuse the power of her office in trying to get her former brother-in-law, State Trooper Mike Wooten, fired? Yes. Was the refusal to fire Mike Wooten the reason Palin fired Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan? Not exclusively, and it was within her rights as the states' chief executive to fire him for just about any reason, even without cause. Those answers were expected, given that most of the best pieces of evidence have been part of the public record for months. The result is not a mortal wound to Palin, nor does it put her at much risk of being forced to leave the ticket her presence succeeded in energizing.
And her presence has since then been enervating. The novelty of her selection created a big bump immediately (and in conjunction with the standard convention bump)...her favourability numbers have been sinking ever since and the bump in the polls dissipated over the weeks following the RNC. I would say she's overall been a complete non-factor to this election. This investigation really only affects her, not McCain or the election. Though, at a time when he needs a huge positive game-changer, a "Yes, she abused her power, but she didn't really break any laws" isn't exactly the thing.
