I saw the teleprompter with rolling text before they quickly switched angles. No lie. Now, regarding Todd Palin, For 18 years, he worked for BP Oil in the North Slope oil fields of Alaska. He is also a commercial salmon fisherman at Bristol Bay on the Nushugak River. Maybe that won't have anything to do with anything, maybe it will, but what gets me most is the pot calling the kettle black.

"Christian-right leaders and conservative stalwarts have praised the decision of Bristol Palin, the daughter of Governor Sarah Palin, to carry her child to term. She is 17 and conceived this child out of wedlock. Now imagine she wasn't the daughter of a prominent Republican politician but an average person. Now imagine she was black.

What do you think conservatives would have to say about her? "Typical, urban youth with no sense of responsibility raised with loose morals who plans to depend on the state to take care of her child." You know it. It's not within dispute. That's exactly what they would say.

Cindy McCain was addicted to drugs and stole from her own charity to feed her addiction. Now what do you think the Republicans would have done if Michelle Obama had done that? How do you think the press would have covered it? You think they would have called it a simple mistake and moved on?

When presented with these examples, no matter who you are, you know in your heart that this double standard exists. All of this is not said to condemn Bristol Palin or Cindy McCain. This is to get you to think twice about your own assumptions about the next time you hear a story of a young African-American woman who got pregnant in the inner city or a minority who got addicted to drugs and committed a crime to feed that addiction.

There but for the grace of God go Bristol Palin and Cindy McCain."
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Propping up an obsolete fishing industry at the expense of sound fisheries management is irresponsible. -Sg