x

And here are some pics from KWHL’s website:
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I ran across an email that reminded me of a story that happened during the Wayne Anthony Ross fight. (For any non-Palin obsessed person reading this, Palin nominated some guy for AG and her opponents went ape-s***.)

From the Juneau Empire. April 21, 2009:

At her first news conference after the Legislature voted 35-23 to reject Wayne Anthony Ross as attorney general, Palin said the defeat was due to “deliberate misrepresentation” of Ross’ statements.

“A great problem was public lies were told about Mr. Ross,” she said.

Palin declined to say whose lies undermined Ross, citing the blogosphere and e-mails from members of the public.

[...]

The one example she cited was “he being engaged in a machine gun shoot on somebody’s property down in Seward, and there were witnesses to such a thing, and he’d never been there,” she said. “That’s just one example.”

Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, is a former assistant attorney general who led the fight against Ross on the floor of the Legislature. He questioned whether anyone had heard the Seward machine gun allegation at the time.

“I don’t believe I knew anything about that, and it certainly never came up in floor debate,” French said.

A Google search of news and blogs turned up no relevant mentions of Wayne Anthony Ross, Seward and machine guns prior to the vote.

Well, Shannyn Moore jumped all over it:

“A great problem was public lies were told about Mr. Ross,” Palin told the Juneau Empire.

The one example she cited was “he being engaged in a machine gun shoot on somebody’s property down in Seward, and there were witnesses to such a thing, and he’d never been there,” she said. “That’s just one example.”

It is true the Alaska blogosphere was rabid about the nomination of Wayne Anthony Ross. The example she cited DOES NOT EXIST.

Palin was referring to a fundraiser held by Congressman Don Young last August in Seward, Alaska. It was the second such fundraiser that included machine guns, targets, dry bombs, turkey, potato salad and s’mores. A Seward resident mentioned the swans in the swamp not being quite the same. Wayne Anthony Ross’s name was not mentioned. This allegation was never brought up during the judiciary process.

And then she goes orgasmic over just how wonderful her little group of “hate Palin” buddies are.

Well, in the email dump this surfaced. It’s an email from a Russ Maddox to [LEGISLATORS] (which I assume means he had a list of legislators he was sending it to). It accuses Wayne Anthony Ross (WAR) of taking part in this machine gun turkey shoot incident. It’s quite long, so I’ll just post part of it:

In September 2006 there was an event in Seward that featured WAR and his machine-gun club on private property in a residential area in Seward. There were machine guns aimed on exploding targets with shipyard toxic waste as a backstop very close to families and pets with no forewarning. There were many neighbors enraged by the risks of machine guns and explosives posed in our neighborhood for hours and hours. They were asked to stop by neighbors, but did not. They cited their second amendment rights. However by Alaska statute it became an illegal nuisance as soon as they were asked and declined to stop.

In 2008 the neighbor again hosted a machine gun turkey shoot but this time instead of featuring Wayne Ross, Don Young was the guest of honor. WAR (and DY) exhibited a severe lack of judgement and by claiming their rights usurped ours certainly does not offer any confidence that he would properly interpret the law as AG. Please deny his confirmation. http://dorenelorenz.blogspot.com/2005/09/remember-that-right-to-bear-arms-thing.html Dorene Lorenz removed WAR’s photos from her website, but the public comments are still there and there are witnesses that WAR was indeed present and the guest of honor.

Well, there you go. An email with the aforementioned accusation sent to “Legislators,” whoever they were, and a link to a blog post. The blog by the way is an Alaskan blog, but really has nothing to do with this case. This dude was just using it. The author of the post actually shows up in the email chain and says it’s a lie.

Wayne Anthony Ross replied to Mike Hawker:

Mr. Maddox is mistaken. I have never attended any machine gun shoot in Seward in September 2006 or at any other time. The only machine gun shoot I ever attended in which there were pyrotechnics was in Anderson about ten years ago. To my knowledge, no complaints arose during that shoot.

I have seen the Alaska Machinegun Association shoot their firearms on one occasion at the Birchwood shooting park when we had the NRA Board here in September 2005. No explosives were used and no 2nd Amendment issues were raised by anyone.

The only other time I can recall seeing AMA members shoot their firearms is during the demonstxations they put on at Birchwood during Youth Shooting Appreciation Day in June of each year. No explosives are used during such demonstrations. That shooting program emphasizes firearms safety and introduces Alaskan youths to the shooting sports.

Perhaps you and Mr. Maddox would please distribute this to the same people as Mr. Maddox’s original comments were distributed. Thanks.

Wayne Anthony Ross

The President of the Alaska Machine Gun Association (which sounds like an awesome association) weighs in:

To begin with, this “Turkey Shoot” event was NOT sponsored by the AMGA, (nor Mr. Ross), in any way! A few members were invited to attend by the homeowner, and they attended on their own. I didn’t even know it had happened until months later. This event was put on my the Homeowner, the Lorenz family. WAR had no control over the event, and to my knowledge does not even know the Lorenz family, According to the AMGA members who attended, WAR was not even THERE.

[...]

Want to hear something funny?, WAR had been invited to join the AMGA previously, he wasn’t a member at the time. He didn’t become a member of the AMGA until 2008! He is President of the Alaska Gun Collectors Association, (AGCA), NOT AMGA!

The press conference in which Palin cited this as an example of the lies told about Mr. Ross took place on April 19, 2009. The Juneau Empire article was published April 21st. The comments by Mr. French claiming that he had heard nothing of this example are either a lie on his part, or he doesn’t check his email. Because Mike Hawker sent the following to a whole bunch of legislators, including Mr. French, on April 15th:

Fellow Legislators, I seldom engage in broadcast e-mail politics, nor do I invest myself in confirmation battles. These are personal decisions to be made by each of us. However, the e-mail I recently received from a Russ Maddox alleging Wayne Ross was involved in unsafe firearms activity in Seward was known by me to be so totally untrue that I am compelled to set the record straight by proving you testimony from the parties alleged to be involved in the activity.

Wayne A. Ross is the governor’s Attorney General designate, awaiting confirmation. Dave Arieno is the current president of the Alaska Machine Gun (Collectors) Association, an organization that I co-founded quite a number of years ago to put a good face on this esoteric corner of firearms collecting and sport shooting. Dorene M. Lorenz is the Seward resident who was alleged by Mr. Maddox to have sponsored the event in question.

The following e-mail thread reads in time-sequence from the bottom up and contains communications I received yesterday. The original e-mail from Mr. Maddox was unsolicited. The e-mails from Mr. Ross, Mr. Arieno and Ms. Lorenz were provided in response to my direct questions. This e-mail thread totally debunks the irresponsible and untrue allegations proffered by Mr. Maddox. I hope you will seek and consider the truth and only the truth in your evaluation of Mr. Ross. The actions of Mr. Maddox and others in this process have been despicable.

Thank you,

Mike Hawker

Palin’s remarks on the 19th. She mentions lies told on blogs or in emails. She uses the machine gun example as it was probably on the top of her head. She assumed it was in public as it was circulating in private:

I remember this because at the time, I went looking for the machine gun thing and couldn’t find anything on it. I wondered where it had come from. Now I know.

April 3, 2009

Sharon Leighow:

I got nowhere I talked with the assistant news director at KTVA. Told him the headline was inflammatory- implicated the governor. He said he stands by the story and said “no offense, but she’s not the only Palin around.” He said the headline may or may not run again – he doesn’t know.

Mike Ross refuses to change Rhonda’s stimulus story until he sees the transcript of the initial press conference. I am sending him the audio of the presser and ALL of the press releases we have done on this.

Palin:

My sisters should sue their tabloid ass.

Heather called them because she’s getting calls- they stand by their “story” and lectured her about “if you’d have LISTENED you’d hear we didn’t mention the governor”. Then ktva did a story tonight reporting “Levi Johnston said he and Bristol practice safe sex, most of the time”.

When has a teen’s sex life EVER been reported on in the news? Never have I heard a celebrity, a criminal, anyone’s sex life reported as a hard news story. This is insane.

February 6, 2009.

Kris Perry:

Gregory Charles Royal filing suit in the amount of $1,000 for costs incurred for Sept 1008 National Press Club fees & other related costs as a citizen informer and press conf facilitator for Alaskan citizen informers/quasi whistleblowers uncovering and reporting the illegal failure of you to issue a 2007 Juneteenth Proclamation and failure to disclose the act to the American public as a vice pres candidate. I don’t get it.

Palin:

Weird. what’d I do wrong?

Kris Perry:

I hate Fridays. Every flippin- Friday something happens.

Palin:

Seems more like every flippin day…

February 23, 2009.

Palin:

When the critics talk about “the children’s travel”, for the most part they mean only Piper. (I don’t know what critics will think of Trig’s future travels, but I can’t imagine making it a practice of leaving him who needs me for a long stretch of time) We’ve never taken kids’ per diem even tho legally we could and I had to tell the state not to write them checks because we weren’t cashing them.

The Mansion was off-limits for two seasons due to renovations so instead of having state rent us rooms, we stayed in Wasilla and I commuted in. I drive (myself) to as many events as roads will take me so the FF can participate without it costing the state anything, etc. I’m just beat down on this one. I am tired. The opponents have succeeded on the drive towards our personal bankruptcy, and have divided my family.

Murkowski brought Nancy everywhere. Whereas Todd has been excluded as a helpmate because of opponents lying about his role – so he has been to Juneau three times or less in the past 10 months, and obviously we don’t all see each other as much as we should any more because of the double standards applied. Knowles sent his kids off to Outside private schools – (I’ve chosen to keep an eye on AK’s public school system via having my kids there) and he and Murk had slush funds to pay for travels so he can brag his kids “didn’t cost the state anything”, as he’s given those recent interviews to claim.

The double standard, and recent constantly changing rules, and subjective interpretations prove a mom (or dad who wants to keep his family together) can not serve as Gov of Alaska. One has to be single, wealthy, or corrupt to function in this political system.

Email from Tom van Flein to reporter on this topic here.

March 5, 2009.

Palin to Parnell, Nizich, Perry:

Do any of you pay taxes on your per diem when you travel for the state, as I am required now to retroactively do? Or taxed for the vehicles you drive that are rented or paid for by the state? I ask because we’re trying to go through days and hours of state events/functions/travels to figure out the thousands of dollars we’re asked to now retroactively pay re: per diem, vehicle use and family travel.., before we meet with our tax people at H & R we want to make sure we know all the consistencies in state rules.

BTW- we’re asked to pay full price for tickets the state purchased for some of the First Family events (like NGA’s annual mtg for families in Philly), but we would never have purchased these expensive tickets- we would have used miles, shopped around for cheap tickets, used companion coupons, or just not gone – had we known the state would later say these trips weren’t acceptable as FF events (and the NGA trip is being charged to us at nearly $3000).

My understanding is in the past, the person who would reimburse the state for “personal travel” does so at the price they would have paid for the cheapest travel… Linda, please check into that aspect of this retroactive problem we’ve been handed.

Also, I was explaining to Bristol that Petemenous is charging us for things like her trip to Anchorage “so Bristol could attend Valley Performing Arts ‘Beauty and the Beast’ performance” (is how the PB explained that trip’s need for reimbursement).., but Bristol just reminded me she’s never been to VPA, certainly didn’t travel from Juneau to Anchorage to do so!

So… if Petemenous got that one wrong on his publicized list of trips I owe the state for, how many others did he get wrong? (Obviously the FF traveled to Anchorage that weekend to attend the AFN Elders’ Honoring the new FF event at the Native Heritage Center… it wasn’t so Bristol could attend a play that she never attended.)

March 24, 2009.

Lisa Demer of the ADN:

Any word on interview opportunity related to judicial appointments? – Could I get comment on the new ethics complaint being filed by Linda Kellen, who blogs as Celtic Diva? Her complaint alleges a conflict of interest when Gov. Palin wore specially designed Arctic Cat snowmachine gear during this year’s Iron Dog events.

The complaint says the governor “improperly used her position and state resources to serve her personal financial interests by being a walking billboard for Arctic Cat, a private for-profit company and family business sponsor.”

The new complaint also notes that the governor’s new financial disclosure doesn’t specific the value of the sponsorship for 2008, but says there was a “discount on snow machines.” How much was the discount? How many new machines in 2008? How many dollars was the sponsorship worth? –

Also, one other clarification request on the 2009 disclosure. A few people asked me about Todd’s BP 401K. The disclosure has a long number next to the first mention of the 401K. My guess was that it was just the account number, but some seem to think it could be a very large dollar figure. The number is 12031008. What does that number represent? Thanks in advance.

Sharon Leighow forwards it to Palin who replies:

Oh GOD help us. Are you flippin kidding??? Todd doesn’t have $12million obviously that’s something else, I don’t know what it stands for yet. Put this is a statement, others have asked about my opinion on this latest: (but I hadn’t seen it so didn’t know it was this asinine!!!)

Use this quote: “Are Alaskans outraged, or at least tired of this yet? Another frivolous ethics charge by a political blogger? This would be hilarious if it wasn’t so expensive for the state to process these accusations and for me to defend against the bogus harassments. Yes, I wore Arctic Cat snowgear at a snowmachine event, because it was cold outside, and by the way today I am wearing Alaska’s own Paige Adams’ jeans and Alaska’s Romney Dodd-Ortland hand-painted clogs. When will I see the ethics charge for wearing these? Now how much will this blogger’s asinine political grandstanding cost all of us in time and money today?”

And then again, Palin to Sharon:

The number next to his 401 (k) is the DATE. 12/31/08, sent in the official form from BP folks. Dear God.

Palin then forwards the conversation to Sean Parnell saying:

Lisa demer asking why it looks like Todd has millions in his 401 k accnt.

Later adds:

These are the things that waste my time and money, and the state’s time and money.

Palin to Sharon Leighow:

Please let Demer give these issues the justice they deserve: total foolishness that she needs to point out.

Remind Lisa that it’s obvious these adversaries are just trying to waste public (and my) money, and illegally grabbing headlines by going to the press with these ridiculous false charges in the form of ethics complaints – doesn’t the law say they’re confidential?

March 24, 2009. They issue a press release on the Arctic Cat complaint. Parnell comments on it:

Priceless and true. We’re clapping at our end of the hall!!!!!!!!!! If people don’t see this for what it is, God help us all.

Palin:

It’s God’s perfect timing that such a silly one is filed today! May this help people see the absurdity of it all, and help put these things to rest.

Lisa Demer asks questions about whether Palin had an agreement with Arctic Cat and other things. Palin to Sharon Leighow:

Ask Todd these questions. This is all bs Sharon. NO I had no flippin agreement with arctic cat, never have. I don’t even remember what outdoor gear I wore at the last race – tell her that! Arctic Cat’s been the Davis/Palin Race Team sponsor since before I was elected gov. Todd can give you other quick answers, but still blast my general statement on false ethics charges, ok? And I knew as much about what media was covering the event as you or anyone else knew. Why’s she asking about SI? Who cares?

SI is Sports Illustrated.

March 25, 2009. Palin:

You guys travel a lot for the state- are you required to pay taxes on your per diem?

Tom Irwin:

I understand this is being looked at by DOA. I have been asked to put together a list of travel and where. I know that in the business world when I traveled it was not taxed. It was not taxed when I worked for the previous administration. Also the Feds do not pay taxes on per diem. I will support what is legal. We just need to evaluate this correctly.

Palin replies:

Fyi- You won’t believe the recent bills I’ve been handed for per diem, use of a state vehicle, travel, First Family travel, etc.., all retro’d back to my first days in office – all after having followed all the state rules and procedures in fulfilling my duties as Governor. It would make your head swim. This, on top of an attorney bill that’s grown outrageously and rapidly through all the lawsuits, foia’s, and alleged ethics violation complaints.., when you guys hear the number you’ll not believe it.

April 22, 2009. Complaint about Palin’s trip to Indiana. The complaint was thrown out.

Sharon Leighow:

Governor- just a follow up. Both Lisa Demer and Mark Thiessan were asking about what state business was conducted on the Indiana trip. We let them know that you met with 3 TC officials for an hour and a half and the topic was the gasline. Both seemed fine with that and didn’t ask for further details about the meeting.

Palin replies:

Very true. Thank you. And the trip cost the state zero funds.

Apparently on the same day another ethics complaint was set to be filed by Sondra Thompkins.

Palin to Ivy Frye:

Unflippinbelievable… I’m sending this because you can relate to the bullcrap continuation of the hell these people put the family through.

Ivy:

Complete bs. Saw this early this morning. Have been on the phone about it.

Palin to Kris, Meg, and Todd:

I can’t take it any more.

Meg:

This should be tossed out immediately. It is inaccurate from top to bottom. And the liberal blog fabrication and coordination? Perhaps the media will start telling that story. Pardon my emailing your state account.

Todd:

The Arctic cat coat complaint should be dismissed as well.

April 22, 2009.

Palin:

Let folks know I’m on airplane, then in dentist chair, then commuting, so will be out of BB range for awhile. Email me when you need me tho. And my dad just said there are two fake Palin legal defense funds up ad running, screwing people out of $.

April 27, 2009.

Complaint about the legal defense fund by Kim Chatman. Mark Thiessen of the AP sends the complaint to Leighow and Bill McAllister. Leighow replies:

How can setting up a legal defense fund be an ethics violation?

Palin to her staff:

You are flippin kidding me.

Palin to Parnell:

I think this is #12 ethics charge? Ironically, this is against me – though it’s a group of supporters that set up a legal fees fund. This is torture.

And did you know this filer is the same one who joined the ridiculous “Juneteenth” suit.

Parnell:

It’s sick is what it is! I think they have you calendared for at least one per week.

Palin:

I know. And I just told someone: we’re not paranoid, they really are after us!

April 27, 2009.

Palin:

I just got asked: how can this be filed against ME when I have nothing to do with setting up fund that supporters set up? These folks aren’t my employees, they don’t fall under ex ethics act.

April 28, 2009. Some complaint, most likely the aforementioned, but unclear. Palin:

This was on blogs and in the press before I was even made aware of this and before Law was made aware.

May 6, 2009. A ray of sanity from the ADN? They write a column headlined – Abuse of ethics complaints turns good law into bad politics.” Palin responds in email to Parnell:

Wow- good- I so wish they’d have realized this before the legal fees grew so fast, but am thankful for this editorial. (They still got it wrong about the family travel, oh well!)

May 12, 2009. Zane Henning complaint thrown out.

Palin:

Another thrown out – the Henning complaint re: talking to reporters.., but my attorney was never told this was thrown out in late March. Good God- it really is a zoo the way they’re working this process. We need to announce that we won another one- that makes 10 dismissed. Don’t know how much time and money has been spent on that one after it was thrown out but none of us were notified. Can we do a quick presser on it.

Unflippinbelievable that time, money, blood, sweat and tears has been spent on this complaint – for who knows how long since the dismissed, but failed to notify. I’m speechless.

Sharon Leighow:

Governor two complaints were dismissed. The Henning one and the one filed by Anthony Martin about your trip to Georgia.

Palin:

Wonder what the heck anyone’s intention is in keeping this info from us, my attorney, the public. This is unbelievably expensive and resource consuming to not be given dismissal status.

Mike Nizich:

If one was given I am drawing a blank, I would have notified you asap to take another burden off you.

Randy Ruaro:

Mike: In normal civil practice, the attorney gets notice from the court or the administrative body and then has the responsibility to contact the client, review the terms of the dismissal, and discuss whether any further steps remain to be taken, etc. I am not sure if Mr. Van Flein received a notice.

Palin:

He didn’t.., he wasn’t notified. And those in Law who’ve cost me thousands, and cost the state thousands, and caused me to spend untold amts of political capital, need to be held accountable or the problem just goes on and on. Accountability involves letting their employers (the Alaskan public) know.

Palin later:

It sounds like it was Personnel Board and/or Law that didn’t notify. Very odd.

May 12, 2009:

A little humor from Katryn Morgan:

Once a tweet is posted, no changes can be made. We can delete it, or repost a correction, but I don’t know that we even have that luxury.., it may result in an ethics complaint.

June 23, 2009.

Tom Irwin:

15th ethics complaint dismissed. Yes!!!! This is great news for you and the state.

As a Commissioner who appreciates the demands on your time and wants you to have more time; and as an Alaskan who can’t stand this abuse under the pretense of ethics that costs you and Alaskans hugh amounts of money; and the impact on Kris and her family.

Marty, Pat and I are in day long committee hearings. After hearing the same presentation several times, I get time to also focus on other things. If you don’t mind me respectfully adding to the email below ” as a friend I also really care and God has a great plan”

After Palin has announced she’s resigning.

July 6, 2009. The Zane Henning complaint about per diem. Joe Becker of the NY Times sends the press release from Zenning and Kris Perry says to the group:

Another ethics complaint we learn about first from the press.

July 11, 2009.

A long exchange featuring questions and answers. I won’t post the whole thing.

Palin:

Call me sharon- every one of his questions are leading and set ups. For instance, I was on biden’s teleconf., and we don’t put everything on scheds anymore – ever – be we have crazy people who do not need to know my sched, our tiny security detail isn’t equipped to handle the people who would love to know my every movement.

July 14, 2009. New ethics complaint from Andree McLeod. From Julia Bockman, I assume in the Law department:

This morning we received another ethics complaint from Andree McLeod. Attached is a courtesy copy for your information. We are forwarding the complaint to the State Personnel Board for action as required by the Act. The Personnel Board and/or its independent counsel handles initial screening regarding acceptance of the complaint.

As you know, under the Ethics Act, the existence of the ethics complaint and all related investigation materials are confidential unless you waive confidentiality or the Personnel Board’s independent counsel issues a public accusation. All persons contacted in the course of an investigation are required to maintain that confidentiality. Only you may waive confidentiality and confidentiality may not be partially waived.

Palin:

Confidential I can’t open on bb. What’s this about, and I’ll need to tell my attorney so I can decide whether to hire him or defend myself. I’ll be out of cell range, so my assistant Kris Perry should be cc’d in on these, ok Mike?

Kris Perry:

Sharon Leighow just informed me that Sean Cockerham is inquiring about it. So, apparently Andree did go to media.

Palin:

I assume this will be forwarded to van flein as I’ll be in Homer for two days and won’t be able to see and answer it.

And a blurb on the cost of the complaints from June 29, 2009.

Palin:

I really need the amount Law (and others) spent on FOIAs, lawsuits, ethics charges. Please let me know today. This has been requested for weeks, I know Law has been crunching numbers, but I need at least ballpark figure today. It’s assumed to be $1.5-2 million by now, plus my own $500,000 legal bill. Thanks

Kris Perry:

We have a figure that we worked on Friday. Litigation, public records, and ethics complaints (all depts): $1,963,840.

For reference, if you want to follow the race these links will come in handy:

Iron Dog FB page.

GPS tracking.

Pro stats.

KTUU coverage.

From this point forward I’ll add the news of the day in descending order. Latest news near the top:

* * * * *

Day Six:

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1:05am ET – Davis/Palin awarded 5th place in the 2012 Iron Dog:

So I guess those disqualification rumors were bunk. Video of the team towing into Fairbanks here.
x

11:55pm ET -

KTUU:

Well, I think that about wraps it up. At least for tonight.
x

10:03pm ET - More pics:

Davis:

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9:53pm ET – Pics of Team 11 and family at the end of the race:

Davis:

x
There’s a rumor that Team 11 was disqualified. There was a lot of confusion over whether they’d be allowed to tow in or whether they towed through a checkpoint, or something. If they were it’s likely because they decided to tow in and finish when they legally couldn’t. And if that was the case they probably would have scratched anyway. But the rumor could be false. There’s no indication on the stats page that they were disqualified. More rumor.

(ht/ Sue)

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7:28pm ET – Team 11 crossed the finish line in Fairbanks under tow, from the sound of it. Not sure who was towing who or what went wrong. The stats page had them in 6th. Now it has them in 5th. I think they’re adjusting the page for times, but for now, they came in 5th place.

Congrats to the winners, #17 – McKenna/VanMeter!

Bristol’s FB page:

x
——-

Okay, so basically how this works is that once the racers get to Tanana (where they are now), the Iron Dog officials hold them there until they can time it right so that the racers will cross the finish line in daylight for the fans and the cameras. Info here:

The top three teams will be released on their actual time separations. Teams in fourth, fifth and sixth place will be release every 10 minutes. Positions seven and beyond are released every five minutes.

Many factors come into play when determining this restart interval including time separations, number of competitors and getting the winners to the finish line in time for TV broadcast.

Davis/Palin will be the fifth team released. They’ll take off at 9:14am AKST. That’s 1:14pm ET. They’ll be about an hour and 14 minutes behind the leaders. Team 3 will be on 11′s tail.

Team 17 will have a nice healthy lead on everybody, about 47 minutes worth. Barring unforeseen issues (which could happen, this is the Iron Dog), it’s their race to lose.

Top 5 release times:

17 – 8:00
06 – 8:47:03
02 – 8:54:04
10 – 9:04
11 – 9:14

Davis/Palin would have to make up about 20 minutes for a third place finish and 27 minutes for a 2nd. Three checkpoints left before the finish in Fairbanks – Manley, Nanana, and North Pole.

I may or may not be back in time for the actual race finish tomorrow, so use the handy links up top.

In the meantime, check out this video:

x

Day Five:

x

11:20pm ET - Reports of an injury in Team 9:

Team 9′s Derrick Johnson wrecked between Kaltag and Galena and was medevaced to Anchorage. At the clinic in Nulato, he was diagnosed with five broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and a damaged kidney. He is reportedly in stable condition.

9:25pm ET – Team 11 arrived in Tanana about an hour ago. The stats page now has them in fourth place.

Via FB:

x

6:48pm ET – Team 11 has made it to Ruby, at least. Todd’s GPS is pinging from there. Next stop, Tanana. It’s really hard to tell what place people are in since a lot of the GPS’s appear to not be working. But Team 17 seems to be in the lead.

8:36am ET – Palin/Davis have declared a 10 hour layover in Galena. The stats page has them in fifth place.

FB:

x
7:04am ET – Well, since Team 11′s GPS seems to be permanently not working and the fun of watching little green dots race each other (oddly enough it is fun) is spoiled, I’ll just take the stats page’s word for it that Davis/Palin are on their way to Kaltag.

Team 11 leaving Nome earlier:

x

Day Four:

x

6:36pm ET – Palin/Davis are on a 10 hour layover in Unalakleet. Still in 6th place. Via FB:

x

6:00pm ET – Through Shaktoolik and on to Unalakleet.

4:42pm ET – Through Koyuk and on their way to Shaktoolik.

3:51pm ET - Team 11 seems to be through Elim according to GPS. Next stop, Koyuk.

3:40pm ET – Davis/Palin leaving White Mountain:

x

3:30pm ET - Team 11 through White Mountain and on to Elim.

Davis/Palin in White Mountain:

2:06pm ET – Team 11 should be on their way. But their GPS’s don’t work, so… Team 11 left before Team 3, so you can get an idea that way. Beyond that we’ll have to rely on checkpoint updates.

3:33am ET - They spent 18:43 on their machines in Nome. Still in 6th place. You can see the restart stats here.

3:19am ET – And a couple pics while we’re waiting. From the start of the race via the ADN:

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2:48am ET – Day four in terms of days actually on the trail racing, that is. We’ve still got a good ten or so hours to go before the first teams restart out of Nome. In the meantime, here are a few short vids of the garage in Nome. I believe that’s Todd Palin with the clipboard:

x

x
Scott Davis:

x

Scott and Todd shows up at the very end:

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Day Three:

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Update: The teams now have a nice break and the race will restart out of Nome at 8am Thursday morning. That’s around noon ET. Team 11 is in 6th place as of this moment.

The first five teams will be released Thursday according to their times and then there will be a thirty minute break before the next five teams are allowed to go. So for Team 11 it’ll probably be after 12:30pm ET before they’re on the trail again.

Update: A very fuzzy Todd in the Nome garage:

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Update: Team 11 has arrived in Nome:

Team 11 into Nome at 17:19:27!

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Update: 8:36pm ET – Team 11 is through White Mountain and on their way to Nome.

Update: 7:53pm ET – It’s official. Team 17 is the first into Nome, followed by Team 10 (Morgan/Olds) and Team 16 (Minnick/Olstad).

Update: 7:25pm ET – Team 17 (McKenna/VanMeter) has reached Nome.

Update: 6:48pm ET – Team 11 is through Koyuk and on to White Mountain.

Update: 6:15pm ET – I think Team 11′s GPS devices are busted. The stats page (which isn’t as up to the minute) has them on the trail to Koyuk. From about an hour ago:

Davis-Palin swapped out their rear suspension part in record time as well, fueled up with a few gallons and rolled on toward Nome in good form.

Apparently teams 16 and 17 are battling it out on their way into Nome.

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Update: Team 11 has declared an 8 hour layover in Unalakleet. That layover should be done around 4:40pm ET.

Update: 7:27am ET – Through Kaltag and onto Unalakleet.

Update: 6:11am ET – Apparently the team had some sort of fuel consumption issue earlier. Not sure if this has been resolved. And here’s a blurb about the team from earlier in McGrath, just fyi.

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According to GPS, as of 5:45ET, Team 11 is in Galena.

Here are a few vids of their ride into Ruby:

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Someone snagged a picture of Chuck Heath and the Alaska Bushman:

Next stop, Kaltag. And I honestly have no idea how to tell who’s in what place. I think times are more important than who’s in the lead. If my murky understanding is correct, they’ll reset out of Nome according to their times, and after that whoever’s in front is actually winning.

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Day Two:

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Update III: Video of the race start:

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Update II: KTUU has a few pictures of Team #11 before the start of the race:

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Update: Davis/Palin have declared an 8-hour layover. The stats page now has them in 10th place. They should be heading out again around 12:45am AKST. That’s about 4:45am ET.

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Team #11 seems to have fallen behind. As of 5:15pm AKST they’re in 9th place. According to GPS tracking they’ve arrived in Ruby.

Here are a couple short videos of what appears to be Todd trying to switch out that busted belt earlier:

davis palin still on belt swap – that thing is shredded, pulling cords out of everything…they are fueling and ready to roll right now

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And the wife posted this on her FB page earlier today:

Intense race week begins for motorheads who love the cold and snow up North! Every racer in this 2000-mile epic journey across Alaska is tough. Period. Lots of self-discipline and determination and amazing mechanical skills are required. You can check standings here and GPS tracking here.

Here are some photos of Todd and Trig from the start of the race yesterday.

Go Dogs! Godspeed!

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Day One:

Here’s a picture of Todd and Trig at the starting line of this year’s race, via Bristol Palin’s FB page:

Via KTUU:

Palin/Davis seemed to be having issues with their GPS early on, but looks like it’s fixed now. Todd’s sled apparently blew a belt and they towed it into their last checkpoint:

Olds and Morgan in, about 10 minutes ahead of Davis-Palin…Davis was towing Palin – said it was just a blown belt just upriver, quicker to tow in than change the belt in the dark.

Doesn’t sound too serious.

They’ve made it into McGrath and have taken an 8 hour layover. According to the stats they got in at 8:35pm Alaska time, so they’ll be on the trail again somewhere around 4am AKST. They’re currently in 5th place. Minnick/Olstad are in 1st.

Update:

The race stats now read that Davis/Palin are in 6th place and have declared a 14 hour layover rather than an 8.

Thursday’s release includes 17,736 records, or 34,820 pages, generally spanning from October 2008 until Palin’s resignation, in July 2009. Of those, 13,791 records were released without redactions, according to the governor’s office. Another 965 documents were withheld.

The release also includes some records that the current governor’s deputy chief of staff said were inadvertently omitted from the earlier release.

Some of the emails are from earlier. The ADN is uploading them here. They appear to be a bit of a mess, but I’ve only just started perusing them.

Soldiers from B Co., 1st Bn. (ABN), 143rd Inf. Reg. get some free time to work in a quick football game prior to their last formation before they are scheduled to depart to Afghanistan sometime this week. (Photos by Staff Sgt. Karima Turner)

Sgt. Track Palin of Wasilla, and a member of B Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 143rd Infantry Regiment, Security Forces (SECFOR) for Kandihar Provincial Reconstruction Team (KPRT) dodges a tackle by one of his Air Force KPRT counterparts. (Photo by Staf Sgt. Karima Turner)

Governor Parnell visited the battalion:

Full set here.

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It appears that the battalion completed some final training at Camp Atterbury before deployment:

Pics of B company meeting up with the rest of its battalion here.

U.S Army National Guard Lt. Col MacGrath speaks to a gathering of the entire 1st Battalion Dec. 2, 2011 on Camp Atterbury, IN. PRT Kandahar is a joint team of U.S. Air Force, Army and Navy service members that will deploy to the Kandahar providence in Afghanistan to assist in the effort to rebuild and stabilize the local government and infrastructure.

This is the first time the entire battalion has gathered in one place since World War II . (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Tim Chacon/ not released)

And not sure if Track’s in here or not (not really brushed up on my military classifications), but the description reads:

B Company, 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry (Airborne) Regiment and 297th Long Range Surveillance (LRS) conducting airborne operations. The Soldiers parachuted from a C-130 onto Malemute Drop Zone in the beginning of November.

This was the final state-side jump for B Company who is deploying to Afghanistan to conduct Security Forces (SECFOR) operations in support of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) throughout Afghanistan.

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The docudrama Game Change has not been released, but the content and clips available and scenes as reported by the media make it clear that HBO studio heads decided they would generate more profit by inventing facts and scenes for the purpose of fictionalizing a history written by people with no personal knowledge of the situations they attempt to depict.

After viewing the Game Change trailers purporting to show actual events from the campaign, we sifted through over 2,000 behind-the-scenes photos of actual events, people and moments.

Below is an inside look at those moments which were captured from September to November 2008 and encompass over 95 rallies in 19 states, three major policy speeches, numerous town halls, four meetings with Blue Star Moms, two hockey games and as many unscheduled stops as we were able to fit in the schedule.

This is the Game Change you can believe in, because it actually happened.

Pictures by Shealah Craighead/SarahPAC. You can see descriptions here:

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And in these he’s a bit harder to pinpoint. Happy playing:

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Via Gliterazzi:

Via NY Blog:

Will add more if they become available.

Update:

Bristol book-signing:

Update II:

Update III:

Update IV:

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Update V:

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UPDATE VI:

Pics via Washington Post:

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