because this position is going to be pretty costly to her. If she had declined, she could have continued raising money like this and used her Senate campaign donations to pay off this debt while she funded Senate re-election campaigns out of what she raised for the POTUS general election. At least that's my understanding of the law.

Now what will she do? I presume she has to put her primary campaign into something like Chapter 7, maybe negotiate down some of the debt and then pay the rest out of pocket.

Africa (in which most people envision sub-Saharan Africa) suffers from this all the time. Just the other day on NPR I heard a guest say something to the effect of "companies will always seek out the cheapest labor whether that's China, Laos, Vietnam, or Africa."

Sadly, perhaps half the country thinks Africa is a country.

As for Palin, she had no need to know anything about Africa, so why should she?

If she answers who she votes for (presumably in the presidential race) the next question is "Did you vote for Ted Stevens?" and that is a question she doesn't want to answer.

Can someone explain this? My guess is there were 14 states in the confederacy, but 88?

There is hitting back hard and then there is being stupid and juvenile. Aside from being funny, I see no upside to this.

I presume you are talking about the Republican and church groups that make sure senior citizens without cars get a ride to the polls or an absentee ballot, right?

Right?

Oh, wait, those are people we want voting while we don't want just anyone voting.

I was disappointed in Ifill. She stumbled on questions and often would ask one a question and the "Senator?" or "Governor?" to get the other one to answer rather than re-asking the question. Palin, of course, never did.

Ifill also didn't ask clear questions. In one case, it was clear she meant to ask about first use of nuclear weapons or our nuclear posture, but the question was so vague that Palin just started spouting off about how we can't let Iran have nukes.

Ifill did the same thing asking about Cheney's theory that he's a fourth branch of government and Palin again either didn't know what was being asked or chose to ignore a poorly phrased question. Biden answered clearly both times after Palin recited her talking points.

I doubt most people watching at home knew what Gwen was asking in either case.

Point one: The immaculate conception is the belief that Mary was born without sin, not the virgin birth, as you seem to think. (I thought they were the same for many years too).

Point two: I'd call that belief extra-scientific rather than anti-scientific:. A one off event attributed to a miracle that can in no way be proved or disproved by science. "Intelligent design" is, in some sense, the same, but since the proponents are clearly "anti-science" I'd say ID itself is anti-science.

You are making the same mistake in all of your posts on this subject.

Not every congressman/woman who voted against this would vote against a bill with more support from the Republicans. No one wants to stick their neck out on this just to have it go down in flames.

It may be that they are really only a few votes short of passage, not the 10-15 the numbers would indicate.

Isn't she proposing the earmark reform that's already taken place? They have to do it in a timely fashion and attach their name? That won't stop earmarks, if the money is coming back to their home state/district, they are proud to have those earmarks.

Carriers don't compete on the cost of a single text message, just like they don't compete on the cost of single minute of airtime.

If you want to send or receive text messages, you get a plan with some # of text messages included. If 100 isn't enough, you get 1000 instead. Yes, your choice is limited, but I have never heard a of single person saying they choose carrier A over carrier B because of the marginal rates for a minute of airtime or text messages. They choose based on a package.

I haven't paid for more than 10 texts or minutes in years.

First, I wasn't aware that Lt. Gov. of Alaska was a national office.

Second, these beliefs (save creationism) on what is right and wrong are not really any different than the Catholic church, which Biden claims to believe in himself. Certainly his recent statement on when life begins was basically the same. The difference is he's avowed not to enforce his beliefs on the rest of the country.

And praying (i.e., hoping) that the troops are on a moral mission is very different than what you seem to making of it: saying they are and turning it into some holy war.

For all I know, Palin may believe that the way GW seems to, but that's not what she said in that church.

So fine, hope she gets asked these questions, but don't make the mistake that everything a pol believes personally is also policy.

What you describe the other governors as doing may or may not have cost the state more money than it should have, but they were not enriching themselves personally at the expense of the tax payers. (Renting out your house when you're not living there doesn't count, in my book.)

Palin seems to have been supplementing her income at the expense of tax payers.

There is a difference, in my opinion. But hey, it's not like I was ever considering voting for her.

So you're saying she was in Wasila on business for half of her tenure as Governor? No, she was home to spend time with her family. And gets a bonus for not working?

Not illegal. Clearly hypocritical and probably unethical.