Palin Covers Up Threat to Polar Bears, Lies about Work of Alaska Scientists

For eight years the nation has endured an administration that has carried on a relentless assault on science, including climate science. Now comes evidence that as Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has covered up the truth about polar bears that scientists working for the state had asserted: due to global warming, the bears are in danger.

In an in-depth article running on the front page of the Sunday paper, the New York Times reports examines Palin's personal style of governing -- frighteningly reminiscent of the Bush-Cheney White House -- and reports on the cover up in three short paragraphs. Here they are.

Rick Steiner, a University of Alaska professor, sought the e-mail messages of state scientists who had examined the effect of global warming on polar bears. (Ms. Palin said the scientists had found no ill effects, and she has sued the federal government to block the listing of the bears as endangered.) An administration official told Mr. Steiner that his request would cost $468,784 to process.

When Mr. Steiner finally obtained the e-mail messages — through a federal records request — he discovered that state scientists had in fact agreed that the bears were in danger, records show.

“Their secrecy is off the charts,” Mr. Steiner said.

It's part of a larger pattern of danger that reporters have uncovered through dozens of interviews and research.

But an examination of her swift rise and record as mayor of Wasilla and then governor finds that her visceral style and penchant for attacking critics — she sometimes calls local opponents “haters” — contrasts with her carefully crafted public image.

Throughout her political career, she has pursued vendettas, fired officials who crossed her and sometimes blurred the line between government and personal grievance, according to a review of public records and interviews with 60 Republican and Democratic legislators and local officials.

Pit bull indeed.

There isn't much more that needs to be said here. Read the article for yourself and come to your own conclusions.

And as you're weighing the evidence, also consider the state of John McCain's health here.

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