The Southern Strategy

Several recent events have led me to the composition of this post. As I am sure all my regular readers know that the infamous Southern Strategy has long been at the top of my soapbox, so it should not be necessary to go over the history and details of the concept again. The Southern Strategy and its enablers in the CNP are of course discussed in detail in Paradigm Shift. However, several particularly poignant events have occurred in recent days that shed additional light on the subject. First of all, Alexandra Pelosi swatted the hornets' nest, as I like to call it, on Bill Maher's Real Time a week ago. She showed a brief film clip she shot in Somewhere, Mississippi, of potential voters briefly stating their opinions of President Obama, God, guns, and certain well established welfare programs. On last night's show, she returned with a film clip of mostly African Americans in New York City mouthing off their support of food stamps and welfare checks. One potential voter was ready for a career, but not a job. The working doorman interviewed nearby was not pleased.

Sandwiched between the airing of these two documentary film clips were a few key Republican Primaries last Tuesday. The Huffington Post did its usual outstanding job of tracking these primaries in real time for us Internet junkies and here are the final results. Since I was born in Mississippi, lived there until well into adulthood, and still have family living in the state, I feel qualified to discuss the voting results of that state in detail. Although the results in Alabama probably mirror these just like the geographical shapes of the states themselves, we are going to use Mississippi as our special Southern Strategy guinea pig. I followed the results as they came in, clicking on specific counties, and the lessons to be learned are pretty much as I expected.

You have a map of the counties to follow along geographically if you wish. Let's start with the Urban, Suburban, and Educated counties. Hinds County, the central county of the largest city in the state (Jackson, with a population of 173,000) voted 41% for Romney and 27% each for Gingrich and Santorum. (All these figures are rounded for simplicity here.) Rankin County (still mostly Jackson) voted 34% for Romney, 32% Geingrich, and 29% Santorum. In Madison County, mostly a wealthy suburb of Jackson, Romney got 43%, Gingrich 27%, and Santorum 26%. Now let's travel down to the Gulf Coast, a well-developed area containing the pseudo-resort towns of Gulfport and Biloxi. I refer to this as a pseudo-resort area because it is so effectively overwhelmed by the white beaches of Santa Rosa Island and other nearby Florida areas. Romney carried both Jackson and Harrison Counties with Santorum coming in second. There are three sizable universities in the state. Do you see that lonesome little Romney-tinted rectangle in the upper-middle of the state? That is Oktibbeha County containing Mississippi State University. Romney carried 35%, Santorum 31%, and Gingrich 27% in the college town. Romney kicked some Rebel butt at Ole Miss with 37% in Lafayette County. Gingrich and Santorum came in with 29% and 26% respectively. Gingrich scored a win in Forrest County, home of The University of Southern Mississippi, obviously a party school famous for being located not far from New Orleans. Yes, I guess you could consider Newt more of a party animal than his two opponents.

Now let's venture out into the deep piney woods of Redneck Central. Ronald Reagan made a point of announcing his 1980 candidacy in Neshoba County, also famous for civil rights murders and the movies made about them. Neshoba brought in 41% for Santorum, 32% for Gingrich, and 23% for Mittens. Ron Paul barely beat out Other at 3% to 1.4%! As you can easily see, guns and war are still quite popular in this infamous county. Clay County, the very place in which I discovered precisely the potential for the political nightmare that would become known as Sarah Palin decades later surprisingly voted 33% for Gingrich, 31% for Rick, and 30% for Mitt. I would have thought Mittens would have taken a dive there, showing this analysis is not perfectly scientific, but if Karl Rove can scribble figures on a board, I can write this article! Itawamba County brought home 44& for Santorum, 29% for Newt, and only 22% for Mittens. This is just one of many counties located out in the middle of nowhere in MS Sant0rum Country. In case you are wondering, most of the difficult to spell names originated with the Indians who were there before the rednecks moved in. Leflore County surrounds Greenwood, one of the richest Delta towns. Both are named after an Indian named Greenwood Leflore and money still supports money. Mittens took 49% in the county, Gingrich got 29%, and Santorum crawled in third with 16%. Gingrich easily took neighboring Carroll County where I lived when I was Opie Taylor's age and everything still looks like Mayberry. One thing that puzzles me is there is a band of Gingrich Country across the southern portion of the state, exactly three counties above the coastline. I haven't personally spent enough time in that area to define it.

That's enough numbers to paint you an accurate picture. The short version is that The Southern Strategy is most effective where: (a) the residents are most isolated from urban areas; (b) the voting districts are small in size, where everyone knows everyone else's business; (c) education levels are low; (d) income levels are low; (e) diversity of demographics is minimal; (f) job opportunities are minimal; and/or (g) the economic strength of the city, county, or region is low and not well diversified. I think these influences pretty much fall in this decreasing order, too. The most important indicator of whether or not a district will be heavily populated with voters who do not vote in their own best economic interests is geographic and demographic isolation. If you look at a map of the Southern states as a region, what do you see? MS and AR have far the least number and size of metropolitan areas, and these are the two states that usually battle it out for the title of poorest, depending on the criteria being studied. Alabama may at first glance look like a mirror image of Mississippi, but the state is populated by many urbanites in Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, and the high-tech Huntsville. The University of Alabama and its host city Tuscaloosa are far larger than any equivalent in MS. Mittens carried only five Alabama counties, including Birmingham, Mobile, and Montgomery, while Santorum took both Huntsville and Tuscaloosa! That surprises me probably as much as it does you.

On Bill Maher's show last night, Dylan Ratigan made two wonderfully accurate and poignant statements. He said that American citizens on both the left and right really want pretty much the same things. We want decent jobs paying decent wages in a country that we feel offers opportunity and a bright future for our children, and we want our government to represent us all equally. He also said in a comment to Alexandra Pelosi's first film, the one shot at some undisclosed location in Mississippi, that the voters living in poverty long ago gave up hope that our economic system is on their side, so they may as well vote on the God issues. Growing up surrounded by so many like them, I could not agree more. We on the left often confuse stupidity with ignorance. Voters who vote against their own best economic interests may be ignorant, but they are not necessarily stupid. One key thing they are is surrounded by reinforcement of their beliefs and voting influences. They are isolated into many tiny subcultural groups. Many of them associate little or none at all with the enormous African-American populations that closely surround them. Many cannot afford to run off to the nearest city to play or shop at every whim. They live their lives in a bubble, as Bill Maher would say, controlled by the reinforcement of church activities and the great isolated outdoors. The men shoot defenseless animals in packs and the women gossip about Muslim Presidents at the church socials. Their lives are limited by a lot more than their meager imaginations.

Ms Pelosi said something quite exquisite on the show, too. She said that liberals on the left do practically nothing to keep voters from continually sliding over to The Dark Side. She was referring to those who would sneer at the smart-mouths in the second film, those who said they had not worked in years, but who were walking on their own two feet like the rest of us. The doorman may have had a job, but as Bill asked, how many black people get doormen jobs? One young black man in the film was asked why he did not work and his reply was that he had been in prison and ex-cons have great difficulty finding a job. Amen to that! For starters, let's end The Drug War right now! How many lives do we have to ruin for their duration over such trivial matters as holding or possession? If every redneck in the USA wants to carry a .38 Special, a 9mm, or Dirty Harry's .45 stuck inside his pants, why cannot an adult with dark skin carry around a bag of weed? He's only going to blow his mind, not a hole in your head!

After reading through these details, even if you have never driven through the state of Mississippi, you can guess that Ms. Pelosi did not stop and whip out her cameras in Greenwood, Jackson, Starkville, or Oxford. Of course she could have gone anywhere not far from these bastions of money and education and found the toothless people on food stamps. In a poor, rural state like Mississippi, they are indeed just about everywhere, even in the urban ghettos. Of course all Southerners should not be painted with the same brush. If someone does this on the radio to women, the country explodes in an uproar. We have to find common ground. Dylan Ratigan, Alexandra Pelosi, and Bill Maher contributed equally to the discussion. Even Amy Holmes and the Mayor of Oklahoma City behaved themselves. We should all learn from their discussion. Conquer the issues. Don't divide the country. You know who really wins when we do not follow this mantra? The winners are the one-percenters and the media who are selling tickets to the game.

Secrets Before Your Eyes

This has never been a simple story. It has been complicated by many factors since the very beginning. Those who seek easy, simple answers will never be rewarded with the truth. The massive pile of victims, lies, con artists, and shills is more enormous than anything we have experienced in modern America. Quite likely this is the only blog you read on the subject written by a lifelong Democrat. I am the only one who has never voted for a Republican, even for local dog catcher. There are of course a few other Democratic bloggers mining the same vein, but if you look closely you will see that these were all late to the party. They are hangers on, who have come and gone with the prevailing winds. Examine the bloggers with any real power in numbers and you will discover that none were voting Democrats when Reagan, Bush, or even Clinton were elected. Most of them were Republicans all the way up until Bush and Cheney made them all mad by starting a war with Iraq. Oh, I see. These are the people you really trust. You are pleased with the progress we have made over the past four years. Then you don't need to read any further. Just sit back and watch the movie Saturday, content in your notion that Sarah Palin will be declared a historical monument to madness in American politics on the Sunday morning talk shows and you will never have to hear her screech and growl at our President ever again.

Arianna Huffington is a shill for the CNP and her many other Republican pals. So is Markos Moulitsas. Geoffrey Dunn is a shill for Arianna Huffington. Jesse Griffin is a shill for Queen Audrey and Geoffrey Dunn. They are all con artists of a strange and unusual sort, and you are their marks. Patrick, Kathleen, and Litman are in on it, too. They have all been consistently keeping the truth from you. Kathleen, in paticular, is scared silly that I will blab everything I know. Hi, Kathleen! Yes, I know that it is never coincidence that you seem to suddenly pop up whenever you fear that I am exposing a truth you so desperately want to keep quiet. Just keep on worrying. I have amassed enough data on all you con artists to fill a book. You claim you are just an innocent victim? Prove it. Tell your readers the whole truth of what you know, and while you're at it, explain to them why you hide behind anonymity way over there in Germany. Tell them why you have been using your henchwomen as shills to control the message. And don't forget to mention exactly how long you have been aware of the details of the con.

Hide and watch, kids! The best movie of 2012 is about to come and go. Yes, it will be an outstanding show to watch, and absolutely nothing will change after it is over. That's why Dunn has been sent in to set up the storyline. Let's see now, the first HP article in eleven months, check; a follow-up article six days later, check; a copycat article of the first one at IM, check; copycat article of the first one at PoliticalGates, check; copycat article of the second one at IM, check; and finally, a copycat article by Kathleen of the second one, check. Gryphen so aptly ponders why Dunn is reinforcing the impression that Steve Schmidt was solely responsible for the spur of the moment VP selection. Could it be that that message is the whole intent of Dunn's resurrection at The Huffington Post? All together now, kids, recite after me: "Sarah Palin is an incompetent moron who was thrown into the deep end of the pool. The end."

Yes, Gryphen did ask the right question in this case, but he has not told you more than a portion of the truth over these past four years. Maybe you forgot to read the part about his voting record in the past, or the fact that he posted over a hundred times (and that's a conservative figure) before ever acquiring more than a tiny handful of commenters. Maybe you didn't notice that he officially endorsed Palin for Governor. Maybe you didn't read the post about the birth of Trig. (He congratulated Sarah and did not question the birth in any way.) The first time, after several years of blogging, that Gryphen received any degree of attention was after August 2008, when all of us were seeking more information concerning this farce. He quickly discovered that posts concerning Babygate brought boatloads of attention to his blog.

Since by all rights this should be Shailey Tripp's week, let's focus on someone you think is a heroine for her efforts to aid Shailey in exposing whatever truths she knows. You would never know this by looking at all the Limbaugh rants at Malia Litman's blog this week, would you? She has time to copy and paste horseshit from all over the net, as usual, but suddenly she has no time to even mention Shailey's book, Boys Will Be Boys, in a blog post? Give me a break! Do you remember when she said she could not afford to visit Alaska for more than 24 hours? She followed the exact same path as The Wild Ride, met with Gryphen, and signed her two pamphlets at Border's, but she did not even go look at Wasilla? Give me a break on that one, too! Do you even have a clue how rich this woman is? Let's just say that she easily fits into the 1%, but she does not want you to know this because if you did, you might question a few of her motives. Oops!

Let's bring up Me Again. Like many of the aforementioned, she had an opportunity to make the right decision, but she chickened out. She gave her pertinent information to Gryphen, and as one of the smart ones of you out there so aptly stated, he buried it in his backyard! Me Again, the offer is always open. Come on over to the light from the dark side. Step away from the cons. I am always here to listen to whatever you have to tell me. Unlike all the rest, I am right here, out in the open. Anyone can read my books or blogs. I never write anything except under my own real name.

Maybe a few of you will finally wake up this time. Although I know that the story told by Shailey Tripp probably contains many technical and artistic flaws, most likely there is at least some fire under all that smoke. Yes, she is misguided in trying to focus on Todd because no one cares. They want to know if that twit was pregnant when she got a massage! Whether or not you can honestly answer that question, Shailey, is clearly up to you, and I seriously doubt that your books reflect the detailed professionalism or educational level that mine do. However, these con artists have done you wrong, and I do not mean Sarah or Todd. I mean Gryphen, Kathleen, and Litman. All three of them should have stampeded to see who could be the first one to publish a review of your book, and I don't mean those fawning sycophants at Amazon, either. I mean real reviews. Whatever information is contained in your book should have been discussed on the major blogs the day it was released! I am not saying this because all your secrets should be exposed for free. I am saying it because this is the way book promotion works. If these buttheads don't promote the book's existence, and its qualities both pro and con, just who do you think will?

As of this moment, Boys Will Be Boys has sold twenty copies since its second day at Amazon. Whatever sales occurred on the first day could not be tracked until the ranking numbers kicked in. If you add the direct CreateSpace sales and those of the first day with the twenty, you might be able to double that figure for total sales. Congratulations! You have tied the sales of Bristol's book over the same time period, and Going Rogue has sold the same amount in the same period, and that refers to the original hardback version only! First of all, Shailey, you can wise up and get that book out on Kindle as promptly as possible. Secondly, get it up at Smashwords. That will send it to B&N and other online e-book sources. Be sure to price the Kindle version within the right range to get a 70% royalty. Don't expect any big-name media sources to give it a moment's notice, even with Todd Palin's name on it. They won't. Do you wonder where all the used copies of a book on Amazon come from? Now you know. Your best chances, quite unfortunately, are with the very bloggers who are currently ignoring you and your book. Don't kid yourself; they know exactly what they are doing and why they are doing it. Remember, you had a chance to work with me from the beginning, Shailey, and you chose not to do so. I know more about publishing than you can imagine. I am on your side. I hope your story explodes all over the cable news, but I am not holding my breath.

I never dreamed four years ago what subject matter I would be writing about today. Even as I approached 2009 did I have a clue what tales of mystery and imagination I would be facing today. I love using these little hints of pleasant nostalgia. Of course that's the title of the first Alan Parsons album. This has been far more a tale of con artistry, backstabbing, and deceit. Although it is certainly a mystery, little imagination is involved. As I said, I have tons of material at my disposal. I would like to make one thing clear to all of you. The key is that there is so much information that has no paper trail, and this has been a deliberate conceit from the beginning. The concept applies to both Babygate and the Blog Wars. In some way or another, you have to make contacts with insiders to put the story together. There is no absolutely complete paper trail for either scam. That's the truth and that's the way it has all been designed from the very, very beginning.

Some people have questioned why I dare to attack my fellow bloggers. Unlike the subject we chase every day, the answer is very simple. The truth will set you free.

2012

Today is not only the first day of 2012 and two days prior to the Iowa Caucus. It is also the anniversary of the release of my most serious book of predictions, Paradigm Shift: The Palin Matrix. My statement still stands that this is the only book that tells the whole truth of Babygate with all its background information, suppositions, and possible scenarios. If you want to read about Babygate, Paradigm Shift is still your best and only choice. This article by Robert Freeman posted at Common Dreams today exquisitely spells out America's current economic disaster and how we got here. Aside from the Babygate issue, most of the content of Paradigm Shift describes the same story, only in a more circuitous, in-depth manner. I have spent the past several months planning my next book of lighter nostalgia hopefully to be released by Halloween of this year. This brief post concerns my political predictions of this election year. You can look back at this and laugh at my arrogance at some point in the future when some or all of these have proven to be incorrect.

In spite of whatever happens in Iowa over the next four days, I expect Mittens to ultimately be the Republican nominee. Just look at today's Intrade report. Mitt is currently holding at 77%. Of course I realize that these are Wall Street Republicans, as opposed to Evangelical Republicans, supporting these Intrade figures, but which matters more in the final result, the big money on Wall Street or the hayseeds of a small state with a deeply homogeneous population? The pundits expect the clown car to lose a few occupants within the next 100 hours, and that prediction will probably come true, although I hope not. The longer the clowns continue to clutter up the choices for the Evangelical voters, the better for America!

I am not going to attempt to predict the 2012 Presidential winner. Surely it will be either Mr. Flipflops or the current White House resident. My biggest concern is that the evil Eye of Newt will not be kicked out of the clown car at some point during the next three months.

Robert Reich has stated his opinion that Hillary will replace Biden as the VP on the 2012 ticket. As much as I like this idea, I am afraid I cannot give it more than a 30% probability.

The biggest negative consideration of the Hillary-as-VP concept is her age. I have a very difficult time imagining Hillary running for President in 2016. The person we need for that position is Elizabeth Warren. I have less than zero hope that Warren will be asked to join the 2012 ticket, but the smartest thing the DNC could do at this point would be to offer her precisely the same opportunity they gave future Senator Barry in 2004. Unfortunately I don't think these wimps have the guts. Maybe if enough women make the plea to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz....

Of course I plan to push the button for all-Democrats later this year, but if I had a choice of outcome of Obama with a Republican Congress or Mittens with a Democratic Congress, I much prefer the latter combination. I like and respect Obama, but I am certainly not an Obamabot. The predictions at Intrade on this issue look scary!

My best guess for the premiere of the HBO movie Game Change is 8 p.m. Central Time on Sunday March 4, 2012. Here are the reasons. HBO usually premieres its own movie productions on a Sunday night at this hour. Voters go to the polls in Alaska, Idaho (Sarah's birth state), Georgia (Newt's state), and Massachusetts (Mitt's state) the day before. Voters hit the significant states of Ohio, Virginia, and others two days later. The movie will be on the subject matter of only the last few chapters of the book. Take a look at the complete cast of the movie. There is neither a Barack nor a Hillary on the list! When I first heard HBO was making a movie of Game Change, I predicted that it would be released at some point between Thanksgiving 2011 and April Fool's Day 2012. I do not fully understand the network's reason for waiting until nearly the last minute, but since this is apparently the case, I predict that the key dates listed above will play a part. Did I mention that this date will be approximately the Fourth Anniversary of the birth of Babygate?

With each passing day, I am less certain that we shall ever see a book entitled The Wild Ride. I check Fred's listings at Amazon practically every day to no avail. Of course this is one of my predictions that I most hope proves to be incorrect. I want to read that book as much as you do, and even more, I want it to be widely successful. Will its release coincide in some manner with the release of Game Change? I certainly hope so because at this late date, that piggyback ride may be the only thing that can bring it national attention. I would love it if SP would enter the Presidential race in any official capacity, but that hope wanes with every passing day, too. There is little doubt that she could wreak havoc with my least favorite voting bloc, the Evangelicals, if she climbed into the crowded clown car, but I am not holding my breath. Raise your glass and make a New Year's toast to one more clown climbing into the car!

Weekend Update: The official premiere date for the HBO Movie Game Change was released last night just before the return of Bill Maher's Real Time. The movie will premiere on Saturday March 10, 2012. I missed it by six days. Here are my two excuses: (1) I thought HBO would want to premiere the movie just prior to, instead of just after, Super Tuesday, at which point Mitt Romney will be extremely like to have cinched the nomination; and (2) I thought HBO usually premiered their own productions on Sunday instead of Saturday, and I am quite surprised that the network chose a time directly opposite a 2012 caucus, in this case, what's the matter with Kansas? I was wrong! Can you say those words, Sarah, or will you disintegrate into a poof of smoke like a wicked witch, if you do? I recommend that anyone who has HBO should throw a Game Change Party, inviting all your friends who do not have access to HBO to join you at the premiere!

On another front, Brad Scharlott has thrown down the gauntlet to Fred, his associates, and his followers. Who do you think actually knows the whole story, him or me? Stay tuned to this Bat Channel.

Elizabeth Warren 2016

There is one thing the Democratic Party could do right now that would actually persuade me that they are something other than a bunch of Wall Street butt-kissing cowards. That one thing is to set in motion the process that will offer Elizabeth Warren exactly the same opportunity they presented to Barack Obama in 2004. Her political status as a yet to be elected Senator is the same as his was then, making this an excellent opportunity for lightning to strike twice. The time to wrench national power away from The Backward Party (and keep it that way for a while) is long overdue. Future Senator Warren should be chosen to give the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention this summer, and that should be followed by an organized process intended to make her the Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2016. Just as it was then, the time to set this plan in motion is now. If this choice was open at this time from the other side of reality, the Republican Wolf Pack would do nothing less.

I have set up a new blog site to carry forward this project:

Elizabeth Warren for President 2016

If I can muster any hope that the DNC is composed of anything other than total cowards, I shall continue to develop this site. Does anyone have an opinion as to whether or not there is hope beyond the despair of a potential Newtonian Presidency? Would Elizabeth not stand with the OWSers in a manner more fitting of a progressive leader? Who's with me in the support of this long-term plan?

Motivational Babygate Questions

As many of you know, I generally try to stay out of most of the discussions of photo analysis. The analysis of psychological and political motives is much more my area of interest and expertise. Although I have often questioned Gryphen's modes of operation of his blog, particularly with respect to his relationship with certain other Alaskan bloggers, I have rarely questioned the authenticity of his hypotheses or other material, and this is still the case today. If anything, I would prefer to see him lay to waste some of the offenders like Alan Grayson going after Republicans. Alas for me, that does not seem to be Gryphen's style. He seemingly prefers to play nice in spite of the circumstances. I think more aggressive action is called for, but as you know, that seems to usually represent my style.

Yes, this is going to be another post full of more questions than answers, but this is what I do. I want everybody to think before firmly making up your mind about anything. Certain bloggers deliberately and secretly design their sites to control the message, but this isn't one of them. I don't know nothin' about birthin' no babies and neither do you. Until a true insider kicks over the bean pot, spilling truth and scandal all over the Internet, none of us definitively knows the whole truth. The following questions are presented roughly in chronological order, at least as best as I can ascertain, and they all address the motives for the whole stinking mess. Slip on your hip boots and start wading.

1. Why did Chuck Heath move his family from Sandpoint ID to Alaska?

2. Why did Sally Heath shift her religion away from traditional Catholicism soon after the move?

3. How much influence politically did Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll really have over Sarah?

4. Who was the next significant person Sarah told she wanted to be President someday after she mentioned this to her campaign manager in late 1996?

5. How could SP claim to be a simple hockey mom once she had hired a Washington lobbyist to bring funds to the City of Wasilla in 2000?

6. Did Sarah leave her evangelical church in 2002 so that her religious extremism would stay out of the spotlight when she ran for offices outside the limited realm of Wasilla?

7. Did her religious views change or mellow prior to or after this change of church?

8. Is there any doubt that Sarah knew she was being considered for national office by March 2007, after the launch of the Draft Palin blog?

9. Why did Sarah take Bristol with her on the New York City excursion in October 2007?

10. Why did Bristol transfer to West High School in Anchorage in December 2007?

11. Did CBJ tell Sarah that Trig would be born with Down syndrome on 12/4/07?

12. Upon what basis did Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson know this information?

13. Was Sarah's signing of the Safe Haven Bill on February 11, 2008, a coincidence?

14. Why did Sarah specifically in February 2008 tell reporters to squelch the rumor that Bristol was pregnant?

15. If Sarah was pregnant on 2/13/08, why did she prance around Juneau in high-heeled boots on icy sidewalks in Juneau, allowing the whole event to be videotaped?

16. Maybe Sarah had no idea that she was pregnant on 2/13/08, even though she had already been told that someone was carrying a Downs child on 12/4/07?

17. Maybe the fact that she did not know she was pregnant also explains all the airline trips she took in early 2008?

18. If Sarah was still only a hockey mom with no national political ambitions, why was she sitting only five seats over from President Shrub on 2/25/08?

19. Why was she giving a speech to a large audience in Washington the next day?

20. Why did Todd fly back to Alaska during this week of meetings and speeches in Washington days before his six-months-pregnant wife?

21. Why did the Palin organization need a special strategy for any public discussion of Palin's pregnancy, as mentioned in an inter-office e-mail message of 3/4/07?

22. Why did Sarah announce her pregnancy the day after she received a phone call from McCain that he had secured the nomination?

23. Why was Sarah's staff so shocked at her pregnancy announcement?

24. Why did Bristol stop accompanying Sarah and Piper on many flights after this point?

25. Why was the Alaska state security detail released from the responsibility of accompanying Sarah and Todd to Grapevine TX?

26. Why did Todd not mention the soon inevitable birth in his message back to Alaska when Todd and Sarah began their return trip?

27. Why did Sarah and Todd bypass better-equipped hospitals on the way to Wasilla/Palmer?

28. Why did Sarah take her premature newborn to work with her repeatedly?

29. Why did she take a premature newborn to two official Governor events in Anchorage on 5/3/08?

30. Was that traveling baby really born on 4/18/08?

31. Could the photos of a baby in the Palin kitchen from Levi's birthday on 5/3/08 actually have been taken on Sarah's birthday on 2/11/08?

32. Could these photos have actually been taken a year earlier, on 2/11/07 or 5/3/07?

33. How can anyone be certain that these photos are of a premature baby, a Downs baby, an FAS baby, or a normal, healthy baby if you were not actually present when the photos were taken?

34. How do you know exactly when the B&W photo of the baby on the invitation was taken?

35. How do you know for certain the identity of the baby at the baby shower?

36. How do you know the date of the 5/4/08 baby shower is correct?

37. When did Sarah decide to send photos taken at the baby shower to magazines?

38. Did Sarah intentionally see that the magazines received no photos showing the baby's ears?

39. Do you know for certain that the baby photographed with a ruffled ear and published in Blind Allegiance is the same baby as the one at the baby shower?

40. How can you be sure that the baby held by Sarah's parents in the hospital is or is not the same baby as Ruffles?

41. How can you be certain of the date of any photos showing Levi holding a baby?

42. Why is Levi really mixed up in Babygate in the first place?

43. How do you know that Levi's involvement is not just an orchestrated smokescreen for the whole scam?

44. Why are so (relatively) few pictures of Levi, Bristol, Willow, Sarah, Todd, and Trig during the summer of 2008 publicly available?

45. Why was the Babygate story released to the Daily Kos at the end of August 2008 and removed from the site so quickly?

46. Why does the Trig displayed at the 2008 RNC seem so much smaller than the Trig displayed only a month later?

47. Why are this Trig's ears so perfectly round and those of the later Trig are not?

48. Why does everyone on stage at the RNC seem to care about Trig while Sarah does not?

49. Why does the Trig shown at the October debate seem so elevated in size and age?

50. If these two publicly displayed Trigs are different babies, why would the Palin organization take such a risk of exposure of the hoax?

51. If Ruffles is a different Trig from one or both of these, where is he?

52. If there has never been but one Trig, why has Sarah not taken one of the many public and political opportunities to confess that she has simply been protecting her daughter's reputation?

53. What would Sarah have to lose by making such a sympathetic announcement?

54. If Bristol is the mother of the sole Trig, were Sadie Johnston's computer and web pages scrubbed just to delete photos of the Palinbrats' drug and alcohol use?

55. If this was the case, does this not red flag the possibility of FAS?

56. Why were many photos of Sarah in early 2008 removed from the State of Alaska's website, or at least removed from convenient online access?

57. Why were none of these computers or websites scrubbed until after the VP selection?

58. Why was Sherry Johnston arrested at the precise time that she was?

59. Did Bristol's cell phone have any relevance to Sherry's arrest?

60. Why was Levi shut out of The Palin Family soon after Sarah lost the VP election?

61. Why was the official statement of Tripp's birth so difficult to confirm when it occurred?

62. Why did Bristol try to rid herself of Levi's involvement as soon as the baby was born?

63. Why have there been so many questions about the apparent age of Tripp practically since he was born?

64. If the fires in Wasilla had nothing to do with Palin, why were the investigations of them so obviously obfuscated in various ways?

65. If the evangelicals do not care if Sarah publicly sticks her tongue out as if she is practicing for a blow job, why would they care if her daughter got pregnant out of wedlock?

66. If Sarah has probably smoked dope and snorted cocaine, and so most likely has Bristol, why would the evangelicals care very much if Bristol birthed a baby as a teenager?

67. If Sarah has most likely had an affair outside her marriage, and so has Todd, why would the evangelicals care if Bristol had found herself pregnant before marriage, just like her mother and grandmother?

68. If Sarah confessed that she was just being a good parent and protecting her daughter from scandal, why would she not be forgiven as a good Christian mom?

69. Why would the entire mainstream media in all its many formats and ramifications protect such an inconsequential political secret so relentlessly?

70. If by some chance the little girl shown in the photo above had been molested in some manner, would a common result not be for the same person as an adult to view sex as a perpetual weapon to be exploited, rather than as a communication of love?

Two Trigs Ready for Prime Time

Okay, let's see if at least most of us can agree on something. The Trig being held by Willow at the 2008 VP Debate on October 2 in the left photo is not the same baby as Willow is holding in this shot taken only twenty-nine days earlier at the Minneapolis airport on September 3, 2008. Do we agree that the baby on the left is larger and older than the baby on the right? The Trig on the left has been nicknamed either Batwing or Elfie, depending purely upon personal taste in names, and the baby on the right is usually referred to as Round Ear. Let's take this concept a step further and say that if the baby known as Airplane Baby happens to actually be the same as either of these, he is the same as the baby on the right, Round Ear. If you subscribe to the theory that Airplane Baby is actually Tripp, then he cannot also be Round Ear, too. Round Ear is also the Trig who is shown in the blue outfit in the many photos from the 2008 RNC. Are we in agreement so far?

Let us leave the other theories involving Tripp for just a moment. If this is the big secret, that there were two Trigs publicly displayed slightly over a month apart, the next question is whether or not they both have Down syndrome. I have always felt that the larger Trig on the left absolutely does, but I am not so certain of the younger Trig on the right. Where this issue gets complicated is that I have seen many photos of Trig with both DS and round ears. Now ask yourself again: does Airplane Baby have Downs? I have a problem answering that question, but let's assume that both Airplane and Round Ear are the same, and they both have Downs. How did the hillbillies secure TWO DS babies of about the same age to use as political props at the RNC and the VP Debate? The next question concerns how they managed to control the entire backstage area and all the many people who could have inadvertently seen the two babies together or noticed the differences between the babies at the two events? Why was such a risk worth taking and why has this been the biggest political secret in America since JFK did The Funky Monkey with Marilyn Monroe?

If there were two Downs babies at the RNC and the VP Debate, how many were birthed by Bristol? There are only two ways in which it could have been both: either there is at least most of a year's difference in the ages of the two Trigs or they are twins. For the life of me, I have never been able to think of a motive for the hiding of the secret of twins! In addition to this, my research has shown that DS twins are very rare. Watch out ladies, here comes Tripp! What if the larger Trig on the left was the first Tripp, and he really is old enough to be the baby on the right's older brother? I am not saying I believe this. I am just throwing it out there. Remember, this is what I do. Psychology and economics are my specialties, not photo analysis. From a probability standpoint, I would say the probability of Bristol giving birth to sequential DS boys is next to zero. That takes us back to DS twins (also very rare) or Round Ear does not have Downs. As I said earlier, I do not think this is a likely variable; HOWEVER, I want to postulate something new here (at least to me). Maybe most or all of the photos I have been staring at that I have labeled as Round Ear in which the pictured baby clearly has Downs are actually mislabeled, mostly due to the angle of the baby's head in the photos in question? When I browse through my photo collection with this concept in mind, it makes me go, Hmmmm. Maybe some of you who are more adept with photo analysis could take this ball and run with it. What if the political team actually had the gall to publicly display a baby at the RNC who was not only younger and smaller, but did not even have Down syndrome? In other words, maybe Round Ear has never been a Downs baby.

Now I know many of you are frustrated when I do this, but I have to speak the truth as I see it. What if all that last paragraph is nothing but a mistaken distraction? What if Round Ear does indeed have Downs. Where does that theory take us? First of all, we circle back to the great unlikelihood that Bristol birthed either sequential DS boys or DS twins. Then we are back to my old favorite theory, that of an acquired baby. I still think this is the most likely scenario overall, and I still think that the part of PARADIGM SHIFT that keeps Sarah awake at night is the concept of Ruffles and FAS. Let's return to the motive. Why would Mercede's hard drive be wiped of all photos? Would they not want the public seeing those shots of teenage Palinbrats drinking alcohol and partaking of illegal, recreational drugs? Would they not want us to see photos of Ruffles? Why would they remove photos from the State of Alaska's website? My best guess would be to remove revealing shots of the non-pregnancy, and possibly additional pictures of Ruffles. I am not positively convinced that Ruffles has or had Downs or FAS, but I think either is a distinct possibility. Now we are back to the motive. FAS would be one hell of a reason to hide photos of Ruffles. Why would that be true of a Downs Ruffles? I am not saying that Ruffles positively did not have Downs, but I am saying there would have to be another motivational variable present. FAS offers its own motive.

I am not swayed in the least by any official paperwork that states the birth date of Tripp as December 2008. If that was the date selected as a public statement of his birth by The Palins, why would they later offer up any proof, or even a clue, that the originally stated date was incorrect? Hell, no! Never mind whenever Tripp's publicly stated birth date was, the original release of that particular bit of information was so screwy it would give a corkscrew a heart attack. Where is that grain of salt when we need it? Tripp may be exactly the age as stated, he may have been born a little earlier or later than stated, or he may even be exactly one year older than stated. Let's wrap up the Trigonometry.

I have not kept many of the photos from the Going Rogue book tour. If any of you have them, I suggest you go through them again and try to ascertain if BOTH Trigs shown clearly have Downs. We did not regularly refer to a Trig as Batwing or Elfie prior to that time period. It was on the book tour, when one of the Trigs was particularly gregarious in a video clip that we began to pay attention to this new concept. From what I remember, the friendly Trig definitely had DS. He was also walking about and he was the one to whom we applied the new name. In other words, that Trig was clearly the one on the left above. However, one element that may have been throwing us a bit is that the walkabout Trig seemed to be the one with darker hair. In some of the photo comparisons we have seen, such as the RNC and debate photos, this does not necessarily seem to be true. The more I look, the more I am convinced that maybe there is an older Trig who definitely has Downs and a younger Trig with rounder ears who may not. Regardless of who birthed these two babies, one big neon flash blinds my mental vision of that momentous event near Labor Day weekend of 2008: there are a number of political operatives, and maybe even a few backstage or hotel or airport workers who happened onto a revealing scene, who KNOW this political hoax is real!

The Babygate Answer Book

Thank you to Bandit Basheert, whom I have consistently held in high regard, for unlocking a puzzle by dating this photo of Willow and Trig, Tripp, or whomever as originating from sometime in the Fall of 2008. I have been sure of the identities of the two individuals in this picture for some time, although I have apparently and erroneously assumed the photo to have been taken at some point several months into 2009. Let's just say this explains the hemorrhoids both Sarah and Bristol had over the e-mail hacking case in which this shot was supposedly exposed to public view.

I have been wondering exactly why Paradigm Shift has never even once been mentioned by Gryphen at The Immoral Minority, since it was clearly the first honest attempt at exposing Babygate to an audience outside the blogosphere. It would seem that when someone has secretly spent $3500 to gather evidence, that person would insist on eventually becoming the first to profit from the exposure of that evidence. Furthermore, this explains his consistent protection, mostly from us, and we know who we are, the dedicated Trig Truthers, of his anti-Truth pals in Alaska. You know the ones, at least one of whom is the most likely suspect to have leaked the infamous e-mail. If the source of the leak was not actually someone who lives in Alaska, it most likely was a close associate of one of those same Alaskans. It is a relief to finally know the score: at least this scenario makes a bit of logical sense.

My best guess at this point would be that Levi would not cooperate, so now we have the upcoming release from Fred. Maybe that one will prove more successful and/or profitable for Gryphen, at least in some less direct manner than what he might have had in mind for Levi's project. It all makes sense now. He promoted everyone's book but mine because mine is the one that tells the complete story of Babygate, at least as far as I could surmise without the benefit of secret sources, close proximity, and the services of a private investigator. Was the P. I. a double agent? Only The Shadow knows....

Alas, Mr. Broomfield does not seem to be quite in the Michael Moore league when it comes to the marketing of documentary movies. So far he has grossed only a tiny fraction of the amount he took in for his Kurt & Courtney. According to IMDB, the take has been about $7000 versus approximately $441,000. That's quite a drop for the most truthful video yet about the Queen of Nasty. I hope it is more a reflection on her than on his storytelling ability, but from what I have read so far, the reviews are nothing for him to write back to England about. This comes in spite of all of Gryphen's glowing praise from his pre-release vantage point.

Do I think Tank Jones saw a big boy? Yes, I do. I think he probably saw the same little blue-eyed blond we have all known as Tripp. He just got a candid view of him at a time when his actual age was still an effectively kept secret. I hope Gryphen got his money's worth because I am still unsure how much I trust the word of Tank or his employer. So there really has been a big secret concerning Tripp all along, eh?

As for Ruffles, I still think he is Ruffles, just as Gryphen discovered long ago. He is or was a baby without the affliction of Down syndrome and Sarah did take him to work a time or two and Frank Bailey took his picture. He also went to a baby shower and a birthday party for someone who may or may not be his dad. As described in detail in my book, I think he also took a little ride into Anchorage prior to the birthday party. That ride included two public events, one at a VFW post and the second at the Anchorage airport. It is possible that Round Ear took that ride for him, but my money has always been on Ruffles. As I have explained before, the person who you know as Bree Palin and I worked on that particular research extensively to verify if it was indeed Ruffles, but our research was inconclusive. Do I think Ruffles could be the same baby as Tripp? I also discussed this theory in detail in the book, but my best guess is that this is not possible. Gryphen has repeatedly insisted that ear surgery was not done on a very young Ruffles in time for him to appear as Tripp and I take Gryphen at his word on this issue. This has been discussed to death on the blogs, but I steadfastly remain with Gryphen's assessment.

I have also steadfastly said that Ruffles has never been a borrowed baby and I am sticking to that story. One of the reasons is that the likelihood of The Traveling Baby, as I like to call him, being Ruffles is very high, and I cannot imagine a mother letting someone, anyone, else take her newborn on such a trip fraught with germs and other dangers. On the other hand, Gryphen's latest revelation opens the door for the possibility, and even likelihood, that the infant first carried onto Greta van Twisted Mouth's show by Bristol was a borrowed baby. He could have been borrowed for a whole hour, or the baby's real mom could have been standing right there, just out of camera range. If the latter is true, then even GvTM is aware of this little secret! It has never been that I would not think The Mean Lady would borrow or rent a baby. It has always been that I cannot imagine a real mother, not Sarah Palin, would let her precious newborn go off with strangers to be attended by Piper!

Round Ear the RNC Lion King is an acquired baby of some sort and I am sticking to that story until it is proven to be otherwise. From the first night the hillbillies walked on stage at the RNC, I took note of who seemed to care for that baby and who didn't. I have never claimed to know who birthed Round Ear and I still don't. Like many of you, I am certain that the last baby Sarah Palin birthed was Piper. I was adopted and so were my sister and my wife, so I know adoption. Round Ear may have been legally adopted by The Palins or he may have been unofficially adopted by them. Either way, he is their child. Whenever one of them says that, he or she is not technically lying. Is the question we all want answered being answered completely and truthfully? Of course not. I have little doubt that Jeanne Devon and Shannyn Moore have known this at least as long as I have, too. I wrote a book about it with my real name on it. Has anyone else?

As Joe McGinniss has been saying, if you are going to trash his book in a review, at least read it first. In the same manner, if you are going to assume that my book is poorly written or of no use to readers, just because other bloggers have blatantly ignored its existence, you are missing out. Of course I know that Joe and I each may seem to be horribly egotistical and arrogant at times, but I read The Rogue and I thought it was considerably better than The Lies of Sarah Palin or Blind Allegiance. I recommend that all of you read all of these books. When you completely ignore a book that you or others may find entertaining or informative, you are passively doing yourself and everyone else a disservice. Trashing a book you have not actually read with a bad review may be as tacky as the actions of some Palinbots, but failing to fully inform yourself of a subject upon which you revel in expounding upon is not exactly a brilliant move, either. Deer in the Headlights is the one I have not read. Like many of you, I long ago lost most of the faith I once had in Levi telling the real story we all think he might have available to write.

How many babies are there? I honestly do not know. When I sent my book to press at the end of last year, I thought there were three and I still do. The only thing that might have changed today is my opinion as to the order of their births. Some people think there are additional babies involved. Some think Ruffles may actually be a girl. Some think there are twins or triplets. All of these theories are described in Paradigm Shift, but my best bets have changed little since Gryphen's famous Two Babies post of 2/22/10.

The commenter we know as Me Again made the following remark on 9/24/11:

FLOYD ORR, the man himself...you know if it weren't for Gryphen, I think Sarah would talk about you more than any other blogger or writer! Someone sent her a passage of your book and she took to her bed for the weekend. So I'm guessing you did a pretty good job!

My guess is that it is the Babygate material in the book that has upset The Queen. If nothing else, the one thing that Gryphen and I have agreed upon for a long time is that Babygate is the key to her undoing. In spite of any impression he may have, the purpose of my book was never to compete with Gryphen. You could even rightly say that he is hailed as the chief in the book. My purpose was, and always has been, to wake up the American voter to the root cause of the disease that ails our nation, not just a symptom from Wasilla. Thank you for your support.