Alaska is a tough place to live.  Winters dropping to -60 and more below zero, short summers that make it difficult to get things that need to be done finished before the cold returns.  To live in Alaska demands that you have a strong spirit and (to quote Galaxy Quest) a ‘never give up, never surrender’ attitude.

Palin just gave up.  She stepped down as Governor of Alaska with 18 months remaining in the promise she gave us to be our governor for 4 years.  What looks like the ‘follow this’ notes from Palin’s speech can be found on the Governor’s website.  I was a bit tripped up by one point in her speech, where she said (pulling ‘quote’ from the notes I linked to there):

It would be apathetic to just hunker down and “go with the flow”.

Nah, only dead fish “go with the flow”.

Ummmm… one second… she is bailing out and leaving her Lt. Governor Sean Parnell to take over the role of Governor of the State of Alaska – to “hunker down and go with the flow”… what exactly is she implying is her opinion of Lt Govorner Parnell???

The words of Lt. Governor Parnell are found in a transcript of his speech on the Lt. Governor’s website.

I don’t know what to say other than I hope that she drops out of politics comepletely.  I for one do not want her as my President in 2012 if I have to wonder if she is going to whine that she is being picked on so is going to quit and let the Vice President take over.

As for the timing… I find it strange that she would say it has been in the works for some time, then wait for July 3rd to make the ammouncement.  A point where many Alaskans are out in the wilderness enjoying the beauty of this great State and not worrying about listening to the news for a few days.  Timed to the day before North Korea is suspected to possibly be going to make a strike toward Hawaii.  Seems to me that the timing is timed to assure it is burried under everything else in the news and she can just quietly announce her resignation and not get as much flack as she might otherwise get for such a move.

I knew that she is not to be trusted back when she renegged her campaign promise to the WWII era senoir citizens of Alaska who had been recieving the Aaska Longevity bonus from the State.  She promised that if elected she would reinstate the program for those who had been getting the check.  Allow them to recieve it, as promised, for the remainder of their lives in Alaska.  Then she broke that promise.  If she is going to lie to the men and women that helped save the world, then why should anyone belive anything she says – especially when she lied to the entire state of Alaska when she promised it she would lead it for 4 years?????

Wish me luck, and you all have a great weekend and get out there and enjoy the Alaska State fair if you are able to.

Oh, and congrats to Governor Palin on being picked as McCain’s running mate, even if I don’t appreciate the broken promise of the return of the Longevity Bonus to qualifying older Alaskan’s, it is still fairly kewl – as an Alaskan – that he picked Alaska’s governor to be his running mate.  Make sure you learned from the Longevity Bonus screw up and don’t make any promises on that campaign that you’re not going to uphold though.

Back to work for me.