August 29, 2008

Palin's husband: 1/8th "Inuit" or "Eskimo"?

McCain's choice for Veep of the young lady governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, seems, initially, like a good way out of the box of Romney (who would make a decent President but a poor VP candidate) vs. Lieberman. As I always say, there are 300,000,000 million people in this country, more than a few of whom would do better than the usual suspects. Of course, I'm just trying to wave my hands around here without looking too idiotic, because I have only the dimmest idea who Sara Palin is.

Having now read her Wikipedia article, she certainly sounds energetic. Although, with five kids, she may have a little too much on her plate, even for somebody who appears to be a force of nature. She's definitely the anti-Cheney, the complete opposite of the Washington insider. Symbolically, she seems like an excellent choice -- a sterling representative of a young, healthy, energetic, honest grassroots conservative America, the living embodiment of the fact that Affordable Family Formation is the bulwark of the GOP.

The McCain strategy here appears to be to play to Us vs. Them feelings, with Republicans portrayed as the core of America -- the married couples, people with a life -- while portraying the Democrats as the marginals -- singles, elites, gays, underclass, etc -- with the Democrats as the Party of Dying Alone.

Whether Palin will actually turn out to be a good campaigner, much less a good President, is totally beyond me.

One thing I am competent to comment on is that I hear her husband, who works for the oil industry in the winter and is a fisherman in the summer (Alaska fishermen are staples on all those "America's Toughest Jobs" reality shows, so that will make killer visuals), is 1/8th Yu'pik , which offers you the chance to one-up the Stuff White People Like crowd in terms of minority sensitivity. They will want to correct your gaffe of calling him part-Eskimo and explain that nobody is allowed to say "Eskimo" anymore. Everybody who is anybody must say "Inuit."

Sorry, but that's just the majority imposing their cultural hegemony on the minority.

As I wrote in 2002, you can tell those Canadian-symps:

The official handbook of the 3-year-old Canadian Territory of Nunavut says, "A word of advice, please don't call Inuit here "Eskimos." They've always called themselves Inuit, or 'the people' in Inuktitut, their native tongue."

The confusion over "Eskimo" vs. "Inuit" illustrates the paradoxes that accompany the many attempts these days to change the names of ethnic groups.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, "Many Americans today either avoid this term (Eskimo) or feel uneasy using it." For example, a Web site of the University of Wisconsin School of Education advises teachers, "There are no 'Eskimo' people."

That would come as a surprise, however, to thousands of Yup'ik-speaking Eskimos in Western Alaska who much prefer to be called "Eskimo" instead of "Inuit."

Why? They aren't Inuit.

Steven A. Jacobson, a professor at the Alaska Native Language Center (of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks), told United Press International, "Yup'ik speakers say, 'We're Yup'ik Eskimos; our relatives in northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland are Inuit Eskimos; they aren't Yup'ik, and we aren't Inuit, but we're all Eskimos.' Yup'ik speakers prefer to be called 'Yup'iks' ... and -- in contrast to Inuit in Canada -- don't mind the word 'Eskimo,' but they do not like to be called 'Inuit.'"

"Eskimo" remains the only word that describes all the physically and culturally quite homogenous groups that extend from the Siberian side of the Bering Strait to Greenland. The American Heritage Dictionary sums up, "While use of these terms ('Inuit' and 'Yup'ik') is often preferable when speaking of the appropriate linguistic group, none of them can be used of the Eskimoan peoples as a whole; the only inclusive term remains Eskimo."

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

69 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, I was forbidden to post Nastia Liuken pics [even though she's 18], but dadgummit, Sarah Palin is 44 and SHE IS A TOTAL BABE.

Plus she has made five babies [and counting] with her husband.

All I can think of at this point are the immortal words of Mr. Richard Lewis Springthorpe: WHERE CAN I FIND ME A WOMAN LIKE THAT?

PS: Her husband should totally wrap up the Survivorman/Deadliest Catch vote - I wonder if the McAmnesty people realize just how large that crowd is?

Anonymous said...

I couldn't find out what Todd Palin's other parts are. His last name sounds Russian. Anyone knows?

Anonymous said...

Palin sounds Russian?

Anonymous said...

Per t99 on the previous thread, a good pick. Palin is the anti-Democrat, which may as well call itself the Old People Rich Yuppie Sexual Deviant Negro Government Employee Party.

But, a weird dynamic. McCain looks mighty unenthused beside her, but maybe that's just because he wants to lie down and take a nap. I expect she will be the point gal for domestic issues and locked in the closet when McCain meets with the generals to plot World War III.

Quite frankly, what's not to like about her from a paleo perspective? And she stands a damn good chance of being sworn in as president before 2012.

--Senor Doug

Markku said...

I read somewhere that Todd Palin had partly Norwegian ancestry. Palin is also a Swedish familyname.

Anonymous said...

A good lookin', conservative, gun-totin', oil-drillin', baby-makin' white gal.

I mean, just damn.

--Senor Doug

Stopped Clock said...

http://www.ancestry.com/facts/palin-family-history.ashx says it can be Welsh, English, or French. I'm gonna go with Welsh based on the pronunciation (pay-lin, not pall-in). But it could be any of those or none of those.

And most Alaskans haven't lived there long anyway, so although there are lot of Russians there there aren't too many half-Russians in the older generations at least.

Can we turn this into a post about Sarah Palin generally? I think that she's a great pick. Originally, I thought "oh no, he chose a woman, that means he's going to look weak", but I think that she actually looks like she would make a better president than most of the other possible picks, and has less skeletons in the closet than the few good ones.

I would rather have her running the country than McCain, in fact. Or just about any of the serious GOP candidates other than possibly Romney.

I still think Obama's going to win. He's got all the advantages. And if Obama does win, it might cause a small but not insignificant movement of women towards the GOP, as they realize that race trumps gender in the Democratic Party.

This is Sleep, by the way. I changed my display name.

Anonymous said...

Very smart move.

McCain will be successful playing the gender card to disaffected Hillarites and the undecided woman voters.

Obama will be a total failure playing the white race card trying to win over hard-working, middle american whites with Biden.

The VP picks may have tipped the election to McCain. This decision is the most impressive thing I've seen out of the McCain camp.

Anonymous said...

Given her stance on abortion, it was utterly irresponsible of her to have a fifth child at the age of 44. The fifth child has Down syndrome.

How could she do such a terrible thing? And conservatives on sites like "View from the Right" are applauding her *courage* for keeping the baby! She is stupid, stupid, stupid.

Anonymous said...

to rex:

Palin sounds as Russian as Putin.

Why is 1/8th of his ancestry is important and the rest of it is not mentioned. Is there is no point of pride in being a Welsh, French, or Russian?

Anonymous said...

Palin doesn't sound Russian. It sounds Python.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

I spoke with a young Inuit woman just last week - she is transferring to a college in Chicago. I asked if she was a basketball fan, as I understand HS ball is pretty popular in Alaska. She replied, quite cheerily "No, I'm an unusual Eskimo about that."

So it can't be that much of a slur.

anonymous - I think you should take that "irresponsible child-bearing" theme on the campaign trail. Make it a centerpoint, that "bad" sexual judgment means you're stupid. Start among the urban poor on that.

Anonymous said...

"Given her stance on abortion, it was utterly irresponsible of her to have a fifth child at the age of 44."

Gee whiz, anonymous, not everyone who believes in abortion rights believes those rights should be used to eliminate pregnancies based on the genetic health of the fetus. Usually people see abortion as a way of allowing women/couples to end unwanted pregnancies, not to avoid giving birth to unwanted individuals. I think her stance on abortion is quite irrelevant, although if she had asked my opinion (strange thought) I would have advised against the fifth baby. (We don't even know if she uses contraception, do we?)

Anonymous said...

I know some readers of this blog would have preferred the selection of Joe Lieberman instead of Palin, a white woman and mother of 5 children, just so they could have said "I told you so."

Anonymous said...

I doubt Sarah Palin intentionally intended to have a 5th child. Given that her other children are 19, 18, 14, and 7 years old I suspect the youngest is an "oops" or change of life baby.

Contrary to what the media and pudits would have you believe, once you have grown a child inside you and experienced the myriad wonderful ways kids change your life, terminating your pregnancy, even of an imperfect baby, is a gut wrenching decision to do. Good for her that she lives her beliefs.

BTW, what is so irresponsible about birthing and raising a child with Down's syndrome? She isn't on welfare. She hasn't made raising her child the state's responsibility like so many others that have [perfect?] children they can't afford and push the cost off on us tax payers.

Anonymous said...

The pundits are going to characterize this move as desperate, which it is; and as cynical, which it also is. But a few less PC commentators may characterize it as brilliant, which it is as well. It's often been commented upon that good-looking men have a big advantage going into politics, because people will vote for them for that reason. Well....no reason it can't work for the other sex. There have been precious few babes in positions of power, but when you think about it, why not? My first reaction on seeing her was, hey, I'd do her. (And on second glance, hey, I'd really like to do her.) And even though I pride myself on being cold-bloodedly analytical, I have to admit that that does make me more inclined to vote for her. It's the stupidest reason imaginable to vote for someone as possible leader of the free world, but....it's there. Anyway, my point is that I don't think my reaction is all that unique. This could just make the difference in the election.

Unknown said...

To the anonymous poster who attacked Palin for not aborting her son with Down's syndrome: Do you also advocate killing people with Down's syndrome after they are born? If not, why not? And if so, who else do you advocate killing?

Anonymous said...

PS -- Her husband being a commercial fisherman is impressive in that America's Deadliest Jobs sort of way, but even more important is that she worked on that boat with him at times, giving her the same set of macho credentials. The Republican ticket certainly has the machismo contest sewed up (Biden looks -- and has always looked -- like the enternal wimp.)

Anonymous said...

I think this Palin pick reflects more of the outstanding, anticipatory, art-of-war campaign management McCain is getting. Obama erred in the Biden pick, probably duped into hubris by the (unwitting) media and republicans manipulating the intrade markets and believing that his chances of winning were 65% and not 35%.

The working class Palins will go down very well with white voters in Ohio, PA, MI, and CO and Sarah, with a reasonable chance of succeeding McCain to the presidency in four years, will pull the "glass ceiling vote". It is an outstanding pick in pulling in currently democratic leaning demographics of white union households and white women that republicans can conceivably win. Palin is not a narrowcast, Pawlenty type pick, but is more of an Al Gore type of pick with national impact, only with none of the baggage of being a political brand. The pick simultaneously characterizes McCain as a reformist Centrist and lays the groundwork for rebranding the republicans as many of the good things they actually are.

There is an alternative to the SWPL lifestyle, which is the white working class motorsports lifestyle. SWPL-White People don't interact or have a lot of exposure to the Motorsports-White People except through NASCAR, which probably pulls in the lower end of the motorsports group. The Motorsports lifestyle is more exhuberant, less pretentious and more oriented to "Russelian zest" than the SWPL lifestyle. The better motorsports Whites will be into powerboating, golfcart dune-buggying, or, in the case of the Palins, snowmobiling, and will be part of families that tend to do actual things, i.e. activities other than shopping and fiddling with electronic devices. Being a bit lower in IQ, they reflect an approach to life characteristic of pre-self conscious America. I don't know that having a hockey mom VP is an entirely sober choice, yet there are bigger risks, so why not?

In Phoenix, as a sidenote, the SWPL crowd is concentrated in Scottsdale in the east, the Motorsports population is about 12-15 miles west down the 101 freeway. There is a clash of civilizations about midway in between, where the vehicle of choice for the "tweener" is a pompous SUV, rather than a BMW or a motorcycle.

Anonymous said...

What a refresher after Hillary, Michelle and the other babes Merkel, Thatcher and Rice. Of course Thatcher and Merkel were/are doing good jobs and I cannot tell what this Palin chick is up to, but at least she does not hurt the eyes.

I guess the non-gay MSM crowd are going to have a hard time now. From what Steve says those guys are very superficial so I assume that the sexual drive is just 0.5 mm under their intellectual skin. So I assume they are going to be consumed with this chick and wonder why they cannot have a babe like this. In all that they still have to listen to their network boss telling them to keep the Obama propaganda flowing. Oh well.

Anonymous said...

"How could she do such a terrible thing? And conservatives on sites like "View from the Right" are applauding her *courage* for keeping the baby! She is stupid, stupid, stupid."

You've obviously never interacted with a child who has Downs. If she were a single mother in her late 30s or 40s with no one else to assume guardianship maybe it would be irresponsible just b/c you were risking leaving a child to the mercy of the state.

"All I can think of at this point are the immortal words of Mr. Richard Lewis Springthorpe: WHERE CAN I FIND ME A WOMAN LIKE THAT?"

I thought that line was from a Rick Springfield song, LV. How are the orientalists, btw?

I like Palin but more for her personality than for anything I know about her. I don't see how she can hurt McCain. She's also establishing herself with the potential to be the first conservative female president. So watch closely.

Interesting as well, both McCain and Obama seem to be avoiding the co-presidency of president/vice president although Obama is flirting with the president/wife joint leadership policy of the Clintons. An unelected person influencing policy is always a bonus.

Anonymous said...

To Tom Piatak and others:

Given her stance on abortion, she should not have let herself get pregnant at the age of 43! She should have used contraception very carefully.

If her children are 19, 18, 14, and 7 years of age, she was probably using contraception to space them out like that.

I don't think she's *brave* to have that baby, but careless and stupid in the extreme.

And yes, I would definitely have aborted the child with Down syndrome, as would most people.

Anonymous said...

halfbreed: Well....no reason it can't work for the other sex. There have been precious few babes in positions of power, but when you think about it, why not?

Okay, this is really, really funny.

But you have to time yourself to see how long it takes you to get the joke.

Are you ready?

Then click on this link.

Anonymous said...

here's a new one. "palin's husband: white" i mean look at the picture. he's whiter than tony blair.

also, i'd have to agree w/ the aborter supporter. she was playing russian roulette w/ her offspring to conceive at that age. and to not abort when she found her fetus had downs shows allegiance to ideology over pragmatism.

having said that... she's quite attractive. i agree w/ the commenter saying he wished she was running instead of mccain. the contrast of mccain standing next to her was too much. she causes attention to be focused on her like heath ledger achieved in tdk. mccain needs to be in a clown suit to hold similar attention.

Anonymous said...

This contrasts well with Hillary who was fired from her job at a fish cannery in Alaska. Also, two of Palin's children (Willow and Piper) are named after witches.

Anonymous said...

This looks like a move of desperation to me. Putting a woman in the VP slot isn't going to win over the Hillary voters--in truth, hardly any dedicated partisan Democrats were ever going to go over to McCain. I'm not too clear what else she brings--and while I like a nice-looking lady as much as anyone else, I might like a bit more from someone who is reasonably likely to end up as president.

McCain is 72 years old, and has fought several bouts with cancer. His VP needs to be able to step in and take the job at any time, ideally with a minimum of fumbling about. Does anyone think Palin will be able to manage that? She has even less relevant experience than Obama's, which is something of an accomplishment.

Anonymous said...

Palin is the Lara Croft candidate, a brave, tough-as-nails, gun-toting, beautiful babe designed to appeal to all of those white GOP nerds out there.

Unknown said...

To the anonymous poster who favors aborting Down's syndrome children:

You still haven't answered my questions. If Down's syndrome is such that women who do not abort their Down's syndrome children should be censured, do you also advocate killing Down's syndrom children after they are born? If not, why not? And if so, who else do you advocate killing?

Anonymous said...

You folks advocating aborting a child with Down syndrome really have no idea how able they are. Down syndrome’s adverse affect on intellectual capability is generally mild to moderate in most cases. In the past 20 years or so educators have discovered that what is primarily delayed are gross-motor and speech skills. These delays led people to believe that these children were incapable of accomplishing very much and so they were hidden away. This new generation of young people with Down syndrome, who have had appropriate early intervention, are actually quite capable. A shift manager at our local Round Table Pizza is a twenty-something with Down syndrome. I’ve seen him deal with teen age underlings and angry customers as well as any other shift manager. Additionally the first driver’s license was recently given to a young woman here in CA with Down syndrome.
Those advocating aborting these kids are either ignorant or just down right selfish and cold-blooded.

Anonymous said...

Have to give GOP their credit. They finally found the right prop to put next to McCain so he doesn't look quite so decrepit. Apparently before this pick she had already been labeled as a "GILF" by Wonkette.

Darayvus said...

If I am reading this right, "Eskimo" is a geographical term for "natives of this region" while "Inuit" might be more narrowly ethnic.

I suspect an Ossetian would hate it if you called him an "Iranian" even though it's ethnically close to the truth; but would be pleased to hear you call him a "Caucasian" because those mountains are his home.

I do know that Scots hate being called "English" but quite like being called "British" despite that their origins are in Ulster...

Anonymous said...

Lucius -- VPILF, very funny.

It took me about two seconds, but I was looking hard after your challenge.

Anonymous said...

This is an absurd pick. To say she is underqualified, would be an understatement. Those of you who are obsessed with intelligence (particularly the Obamas' intelligence), what do you have to say now? I would say she is no were near as smart as Obama.

After this reckless pick, clearly McCain does not have the judgment to be president. Someone should stop him before his declining lucidity becomes even more obvious.

KlaosOldanburg said...

According to wikipedia she's in the same church as John Ashcroft, the Assemblies of God. Granted, there are lots of pentecostal denominations with very similar names, so it might be a mistake. Does anyone know?

If McCain wins, you can count on her being a "trophy" VP (like Qualye, opposite of Cheney). The rest of the administration will most certainly be the usual suspects, and if she doesn't want to play along, they'll just exclude or contain her, and use her as a fall-gal, if it's convenient. McCain has clearly made a commitment to play along. And she's probably already made that commitment as well.

McCain's choice, as well as the congratulatory message he put out last night, are shrewd maneuvers (I guess time will tell on his VP choice, but it seems smart right now). But my gut is telling me that Obama is going to win.

Anonymous said...

What do you think the sex ratio of voters was in the 2006 Alaska Republican primary? Alaska already is the most male state with 1.03 males for every female. Republican voters tend to be male also. I think she received *some* electoral boost from being a female in a sex starved state and party.

albertosaurus said...

My I suggest that the correct term for artic natives is skraelings.

Anonymous said...

Palin's state borders Russia. She's at least had to do a bit more thinking that way than Obama has.

Japan, China, Canada and the Koreas also have to be taken into account when you are in charge of Alaska.

Anonymous said...

Tom Piatak: Good effort, but the old advice "Don't feed the trolls" probably appears here. Surely this guy knows that expressing such noxious views at a conservative website will get people riled up, so why give him the satisfaction?

I will nonetheless disobey my own advice by saying that I don't get Mr. Anonymous's "given her position on abortion" phrase. He is making the odd (to say the least) argument that pro-lifers have a greater duty to abort than pro-choicers? (His statement was so strange that he apparently confused a later poster into thinking Palin was pro-choice.)

On a lighter note, I think Michael Palin once claimed on one of his travel documentaries that his ultimate family roots were in Ireland. (Perhaps there is an etymological connection with "the Pale?" Or maybe it was his mother's side anyway; my memory is fuzzy.) Governor Palin's maiden name is Heath, by the way.

Anonymous said...

James Kabala is exactly right. The anonymous troll is sure a moby troll, insinuating that he is upset from a conservative view (otherwise, why bring up VFR?)

I was listening to R. Limbaugh in town today while driving around and he had a bet with Snerdley that someone would utter what anonymous has just uttered.

I guess we can be grateful that he realizes that such a view is so noxious, he tried to lay that nasty egg in the Steveosphere!

Truth said...

"Those of you who are obsessed with intelligence (particularly the Obamas' intelligence), what do you have to say now? I would say she is no were near as smart as Obama."

Yup, a beauty queen with a journalism degree from the University of Idaho, and a guy who graduated 894th in his class, there's some think tank material there! Of course all of you 'IQ is destiny' people will still vote for them in November.

I think you guys should call a moratorium on the 'how dumb are the black Obamas' posts. Otherwise you will look like complete noobs.

Assistant Village Idiot said...

truth, those aren't good ways to make IQ estimates - you are relying on social signifiers instead of actual data. Obama's academic record indicates that he might be smart in that sense, but there is no guarantee of it. As an affirmative-action entrant to Ivy-League schools, he could run as low as just over 100, though his ceiling is high. Biden probably has above-average intelligence, but not greatly so; McCain and Palin are likely in the same range.

Appearances deceive. Rhodes Scholar Bill Bradley had a 485 V on his SAT's for example. If Obama's SAT's or LSAT's were any good, we would have heard about it. They're being kept out for a reason.

Ron Guhname said...

"Yup, a beauty queen with a journalism degree from the University of Idaho, and a guy who graduated 894th in his class, there's some think tank material there!"

Yeah, those Idahoans are morons compared to black folks.

Anonymous said...

"All I can think of at this point are the immortal words of Mr. Richard Lewis Springthorpe: WHERE CAN I FIND ME A WOMAN LIKE THAT?"

I thought that line was from a Rick Springfield song, LV. How are the orientalists, btw?

Yes - Richard Lewis Springthorpe.

Given her stance on abortion, she should not have let herself get pregnant at the age of 43! She should have used contraception very carefully.

Troll.

Perhaps she doesn't think it a crime to bring a child with Down's Syndrome into the world?


I do know that Scots hate being called "English" but quite like being called "British" despite that their origins are in Ulster.

Since when do the Scots originate in Ulster? The Scots-Irish left Britain to settle Ulster, then many moved on to the US and elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Takahata Joe, I can't speak for Steve Sailer, but yes, using "natives" to mean indigenous Americans is offensive to me. "Native" means someone born here, not "someone whose ancestors were here before Leif Ericson". I am a native, with zero Amerindian blood. If you don't like "Indian", find something accurate. Indigenous, aboriginal, tribal, they will all do, and I'm sure the PC left will find clever objections to all of them.

("First nation" won't do either. There is no evidence that any of the first people on this continent still exist.)

Anonymous said...

Given her stance on abortion, she should not have let herself get pregnant at the age of 43! She should have used contraception very carefully.

Troll.


Well, to be fair - if Palin was a liberal careerist feminist who got pregnant at 43, we'd probably all be making snide comments about how she had brought this on herself by giving birth later in life than nature intended.

Truth said...

"truth, those aren't good ways to make IQ estimates."

One's academic record is not a good way to make an IQ estimate? Is LSD back in?

"As an affirmative-action entrant to Ivy-League schools, he could run as low as just over 100"

Yeah, I'm sure the honors list at Harvard Law School is perenially chock-full of people with 100 IQ's. As a matter of fact, I've heard that many of them only attended after being turned down by the University of Idaho.

I'm equally convinced of the world altering brainpower contained in the remedial math classes at the Naval Academy.

Let me let you good folks in on a little secret:

John McCain was an affirmative action entrant. His father was an Admiral, and if internet stories are to be believed, set a legacy of buffoonery that even Boy George would have a hard time following.

And the possible VP, well, we'll never know how intelligent she is by looking at her academic record because she attended a large state school in a state with a barely positive growth rate. A lower primate would probably be accepeted if he could put the round peg in the octagonal hole seven times out of ten.

"Palin's state borders Russia. She's at least had to do a bit more thinking that way than Obama has."

Well, when I went to Cape Cod last year, I bordered on the Atlantic and I thought about fish, maybe I should be appointed World Maritime Ambassador.

Oh, but she is cute (for a weathered 44 year old mother of 5)

Anonymous said...

Well, to be fair - if Palin was a liberal careerist feminist who got pregnant at 43, we'd probably all be making snide comments about how she had brought this on herself by giving birth later in life than nature intended.

Maybe, possibly, perhaps - if she had given birth to her first child at 43. But such women don't give birth to Down Syndrome babies anyway - they weed them out prior to birth.

Anonymous said...

i'm surprised that this site has so many ppl who couldn't care less that palin decided to conceive a kid w/ a genetic defect that affects cognitive function.

i mean, seriously, isn't that why most of u pay attention to steve... b/c he's a modern eugenicist? i don't mean that in a pejorative manner either.

at least be consistent. if many of u are concerned with demographic trend in this nation towards lower iq b/c of hispanic immigration, how can u simply overlook her decision to get pregnant at 43 when the risks are so well known?

i say this as a person who is more likely to vote for mccain b/c of this choice. i like pretty much everything else about her except this. i just think it's stupid she came to term w/ this kid.

Truth said...

"i just think it's stupid she came to term w/ this kid."

Are you saying you would prefer a 'do as I say not as I do' politician? I guess I'm in the majority, I feel that standing for something is a good thing.

Overall, I like Miss Palin from what I know of her, She's not even nearly qualified to be the president of the US, but she seems likeable.

Anonymous said...

She's a governor, she's honest, she booted out the corrupt GOP old boy network - so GOP insiders don't like her much. She's very conservative, and does not appear to be a loony neocon, though we can't know that for sure. She looks great so far. My left-wing Hillary Clinton supporting wife is ecstatic about this and has talked about voting Republican for the first time ever. I think this could be the sign that McCain is going to bury Obama.

Now, whether that's a good thing depends on:

1. Would Obama end the Iraq War? We know McCain won't. Obama's lazy, and it looks increasingly likely that Obama would let it drag on.

2. Will McCain start WW3? We can be fairly sure Obama won't, at least not deliberately. This VP pick certainly makes it less likely, compared to picking eg Lieberman or another neocon.

Obviously, no way are we out of the woods, we still have two terrible candidates for President. But it does seem like the first good news I've heard for a long time.

Anonymous said...

anon:
"Given her stance on abortion, it was utterly irresponsible of her to have a fifth child at the age of 44. The fifth child has Down syndrome.

How could she do such a terrible thing? And conservatives on sites like "View from the Right" are applauding her *courage* for keeping the baby! She is stupid, stupid, stupid."

The last one may have been unintended. Anyway she has 4 good ones and I'm sure she has the resources (including her older children) to ensure the 5th one is adequately looked after. Wealthy people with 4 kids having a disabled one isn't the end of the world. I say cut her some slack on that.

Anonymous said...

The Scots - in the sense of the Gaelic-speaking West Highland Scots - did originate in Ulster. Why did they colonise Argyll in the Dark Ages? My guess is that they had eaten all the British tribes of Ireland - the "Cruithne" - and sought some more good food.

It does us all good to remember that our ancestors were cannibal slave-owners. Or slaves. Now, back to the walrus-eaters.

Stopped Clock said...

Can anyone seriously imagine a woman aborting a child with Down's and not erupting a scandal that would end her political career, much less prevent her from running for VP? It has nothing to do with her views. Even a leftist Democrat in Massachusetts wouldn't be able to get away with that.

It's important that the would-be abortion was [i]because[/i] the baby had Down's. To people with Down's Syndrome and those who know them, that's as great an insult as can ever be made: it's basically saying "Hey, I don't know [i]anything[/i] about you, but if you had been my kid, I would have killed you before you were born!" No, believe me, no public figure would ever be able to get away with that even if they truly did want to abort the child for the child's own benefit. However, I believe that Palin was speaking the truth when she said she loved her baby too much to kill it, and was not just making a PR move.

Also, Down's people don't reproduce, with extremely rare exceptions, so no, it's not really dysgenic. It does cost the government money to take care of Down's people, yes, so you could make an economic argument that Down's babies should be aborted to save money, but I think that at least 95% of people would be willing to pay out of their own pockets at least a few bucks to keep the DS people alive and in good shape.

Anonymous said...

Truth,

>>>>Yeah, I'm sure the honors list at Harvard Law School is perenially chock-full of people with 100 IQ's.

It just seems that way.

>>>>A lower primate would probably be accepeted if he could...

Many are accepted, but *a lot* don't graduate. The wash out rate is high. Those who graduate deserve some credit.

Anonymous said...

The Scots - in the sense of the Gaelic-speaking West Highland Scots - did originate in Ulster. Why did they colonise Argyll in the Dark Ages?

So because some of their ancestors came from Ireland 1500+ years ago, you wonder why they don't mind being called British?

Jeez, I can't even be sure where my ancestors lived 500 years ago.

By your definition you wonder why I don't want to be called a Vermonter but think it's fine to call me an American.

Anonymous said...

Many of you are still missing the point. Most people with Down syndrome work! The food service and janitorial at our JUVENILE HALL is staffed with people with “special needs” many of whom have Down syndrome. Many restaurants and supermarkets employ people with Down syndrome who work without social-service supervision.
My 85 year old neighbor down the street has TWO able-bodied, unemployed adult sons living with her, living off of her SS checks and dealing weed. And some of you trolls think you’re wise enough to know whom to abort?

Anonymous said...

In American English it's Down syndrome not Down's syndrome.

Anonymous said...

Man, I just can't get over the number [and the aggressiveness] of the child murderers on this thread.

Well, like I always said: Scratch an Ayn-Randian, get a Stalinist.

Anonymous said...

The Scots - in the sense of the Gaelic-speaking West Highland Scots - did originate in Ulster. Why did they colonise Argyll in the Dark Ages? My guess is that they had eaten all the British tribes of Ireland - the "Cruithne" - and sought some more good food.

They're Whiter People, and they were running out of oceanfront property on the west side of the Irish Sea. And besides, the Sunday morning Londonium Times was a bitch to get that far from England.

Anonymous said...

mark: Since when do the Scots originate in Ulster? The Scots-Irish left Britain to settle Ulster, then many moved on to the US and elsewhere.

Google "Dál Riata":

Wikipedia: Dál Riata

Dalriada.png

The Romans built the various walls [Hadrian's, Antonine, etc - see also Limes Romanus] to keep out the Pictish peoples - in the Roman era, and the early dark ages, Scotland was known as Pictland.

Gradually, over the years, the "Irish" people of Dál Riata [seem to have] bred with the Picts to become the modern-day Scots, although the exact fate of the Pictish line is not entirely certain [the Viking Danes may have had a thing or two to say about the bloodlines, as well].

In Latin, the Picts were Caledonii, and the Dál Riatans were Scoti.

As the Dál Riatans [Scots] came to be more prominent in Pictish society, gradually Pictland came to be known less as "Caledonia" and more as "Alba" [modern day Scotland].

Anonymous said...

"I think you guys should call a moratorium on the 'how dumb are the black Obamas' posts. Otherwise you will look like complete noobs."

I think you should look carefully at how many extracurriculars SP had during high school and college then she went on to run a business, lead the national guard and become active in politics.

No, she's not a rocket scientist, but neither is Obama & this woman has done a lot before age 45 including having 5 children. She also has the organizational and leadership experience crucial to running a state if not a country.

Besides, SP compares more than favorably to Obama & she's only running for the VP slot not president. What's crucial is that you are jealously comparing her to Obama rather than Biden.

Anonymous said...

Truth has a point about the obsession with IQ on here and the attendant hypocrisy. From his writing ability and his performance at Harvard Law, Obama almost certainly has an IQ a couple standard deviations higher than 100. He probably has one of about ~130, which is more than high enough to be a competent politician. I'm sure he has a higher IQ than the knucklehead he chose as VP.

My issue with Obama isn't his intelligence but his ideology. The man has been carefully packaged as post-partisan, but he is well to the left of the mainstream. With him in the White House and Dems controlling both Houses of Congress, some really destructive policies could get enacted.

Whatever Palin's IQ is, it has been high enough for her to successfully run a city and a state, and rise up in her political career, seemingly without any connections to start with. That's good enough for me.

- Fred

albertosaurus said...

Wongba said:

i'm surprised that this site has so many ppl who couldn't care less that palin decided to conceive a kid w/ a genetic defect that affects cognitive function.

i mean, seriously, isn't that why most of u pay attention to steve... b/c he's a modern eugenicist?


I doubt if anyone "decides to conceive a kid w/a genetic defect". I think we can be sure that when they discovered that she was bearinfg a Down's child she was very unhappy. It may have been an accidental pregnancy or they may have been trying for a last child. They certainly weren't trying for a aneuploidy child.

I for one don't "pay attention to steve" because he's a modern eugenicist. There is little or no eugenics going on these days except perhaps in China with Olympic athletes. As I remember Steve did not advocate that we start breeding our own super tall basketball players.

Eugenics is in fact passe. It is nearly obsolete. For example if I wanted a faster, stronger athletes. I could selectively breed some with a eugenics program. Or I could just shoot them up with some Testosterone and/or growth hormone.

There are three types of muscle fibres in mammals: fast, slow, and mouse. Techniques currently exist to implant these fibers in an runners legs with appropriately modified stem cells.

Last decade Kenya won a lot of distance races. This decade other countries win races by importing Kenyans. Next decade advanced countries will build Kenya like runners.

The new sprinters and long distance runners will be created my manipulation of their phenotypes not their genotypes. In another decade or so there very well may be genome manipulation but there will almost certainly not be a eugenics program of selective breeding.

LuluAddict said...

Albertosaurus I think you are a bit naive about no eugenics going on these days - what do you think amniocentesis and other prenatal "screening" tests are all about?

Anonymous said...

Once again, you guys who think that Obambi has some stratospheric IQ well in excess of 130 are simply deluding yourselves: The poor guy can't think his way out of a paper bag.

And, while it's early yet to be making these kinds of prognostications [I certainly haven't studied her nearly as long & as hard as I've been studying Obambi], I think that a lot of you are seriously misunderestimating Mrs. Palin - I've got a nagging feeling that she might just be the real deal.

Anonymous said...

miss marple: I think you should look carefully at how many extracurriculars SP had during high school and college then she went on to run a business, lead the national guard and become active in politics.

Uh, you left out totally hot sportscaster babe with big, puffy 1980's hairdo & cute-as-hell Alaskan accent plus the strangest inflections of sarcasm in her voice.

Anonymous said...

Man, I just can't get over the number [and the aggressiveness] of the child murderers on this thread. Well, like I always said: Scratch an Ayn-Randian, get a Stalinist. - Lucius.

Bullshit: scratch a troll, get an angry troll.

So far as I can tell, none of the people suggesting Palin should've murdered her kid is a regular 'round these parts.

And thanks for the history lesson, Lucius. But that wasn't really the point. My point is that whatever their origins, the Scottish people are British, and have been British for at least the last 1500 years - and perhaps since the end of the Ice Age. Just because they last came to northern Britain 1500 years ago doesn't mean they hadn't been moving back and forth between the 2 islands for a long, long time.

You can call me "American," though the vast (98.4375%) majority of my ancestors have "only" been here 388 years or less.

EricFowler said...

I would not have kept that child, but I have nothing but respect for Sarah Palin for sticking to her convictions in the face of such adversity.

More power to her.

Anonymous said...

Uh, you left out totally hot sportscaster babe with big, puffy 1980's hairdo & cute-as-hell Alaskan accent plus the strangest inflections of sarcasm in her voice.

Didn't we have a president who was a sportscaster?

What I really love is that the first part of her report she's talking about...sled races. Name another state where that ever happens.

So this totally smoking hot governor babe from Alaska was a beauty pageant contestant, TV newscaster, and is a long-time NRA member with 5 kids (including 2 daughters well on their way to smoking hotness)? Damn! I mean just...damn!