ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.

The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.

In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters’ 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls. Alaska law does not specifically address expenses for a governor’s children. The law allows for payment of expenses for anyone conducting official state business.

As governor, Palin justified having the state pay for the travel of her daughters — Bristol, 17; Willow, 14; and Piper, 7 — by noting on travel forms that the girls had been invited to attend or participate in events on the governor’s schedule. But some organizers of these events said they were surprised when the Palin children showed up uninvited, or said they agreed to a request by the governor to allow the children to attend.

Several other organizers said the children merely accompanied their mother and did not participate. The trips enabled Palin, whose main state office is in the capital of Juneau, to spend more time with her children. “She said any event she can take her kids to is an event she tries to attend,” said Jennifer McCarthy, who helped organize the June 2007 Family Day Celebration picnic in Ketchikan that Piper attended with her parents.

State Finance Director Kim Garnero told The Associated Press she has not reviewed the Palins’ travel expense forms, so she could not say whether the daughters’ travel with their mother would meet the definition of official business. After Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain chose Palin his running mate and reporters asked for the records, Palin ordered changes to previously filed expense reports for her daughters’ travel.

In the amended reports, Palin added phrases such as “First Family attending” and “First Family invited” to explain the girls’ attendance.”The governor said, ‘I want the purpose and the reason for this travel to be clear,’” said Linda Perez, state director of administrative services.

When Palin released her family’s tax records as part of her vice presidential campaign, some tax experts questioned why she did not report the children’s state travel reimbursements as income. The Palins released a review by a Washington attorney who said state law allows the children’s travel expenses to be reimbursed and not taxed when they conduct official state business.

AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids’ travel – Yahoo! News.

WASHINGTON — In 1996, the political world was buzzing about the intentions of a possible presidential contender — one who could make history. In the end, Colin L. Powell, four-star American icon, proclaimed that he would not run after all, disappointing millions of supporters but generating sighs of relief at the Clinton White House.

Powell showed over the weekend that he could still affect presidential politics, declaring his support for Democrat Barack Obama. The prospect of Obama becoming the first African American president, Powell said, would “electrify the world,” and the endorsement is already reverberating. Given his decades as a professional soldier and high-ranking official in three Republican administrations, Powell carries weight with the military and moderate voters. Now, more of them could swing to Obama.

Even before Obama was first elected to public office as a state senator in Illinois, Powell was considered the odds-on favorite to become the first African American to head a major-party presidential ticket. He looked to be a formidable candidate in the 1996 race: a black centrist, long an independent, who had led the victorious U.S. military during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. But he declined to run, citing concerns about his privacy and a lack of passion for political combat. There were also reports that his wife, Alma, feared for his safety.

Instead, Powell said, he would join the Republican Party, hoping that his involvement would broaden the GOP’s appeal and humanize its attempts to reform social welfare programs. “I believe I can help the party of Lincoln move once again close to the spirit of Lincoln,” he said. With his embrace of Obama, Powell, 71, has broken ranks.

The decision led to debate over his motives. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh suggested Powell’s endorsement was rooted in race and the hope that Obama would become the first black president. “I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed,” Limbaugh said in an e-mail. “I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

Powell, in his appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” denied that race was the motivating factor. He said he had pondered a decision for months, and that he had told Obama, “I’ll give you all the advice I can, but I’m not going to vote for you just because you’re black.” Powell’s decision to cross party lines, former associates said, is far more complicated than black and white. “It was a painful thing for him to do, for sure,” Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who was Powell’s chief of staff at the State Department, said in an interview Sunday. “One of the principal parts of his character is defined by loyalty.”

The Republican Party and Republican presidents “have done a lot for his career,” Wilkerson said. Powell was President Reagan’s national security advisor, then served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush before he became President George W. Bush’s first secretary of State.

Wilkerson said that Powell ultimately was distressed over what he saw as growing divisiveness in the country and a return to “the vitriol and bigotry and prejudice” of the 1960s. Adm. Henry Ulrich, the former commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, said he thought Powell’s decision was not easy.

“Colin Powell is a very, very, very bright, thoughtful person, and I can assure you that he did not enter into this endorsement without giving it lots and lots of thought and give it all the due process it deserved,” Ulrich said. “I think it is remarkable that he has endorsed a Democrat, and so I am sure he didn’t do it lightly.

“Sen. Obama is quite lucky and fortunate,” he added. “It should have made his Sunday.”

Colin Powell endorses Obama, breaks ranks with the GOP – Los Angeles Times.

I listened to Anderson Cooper and other analysts debate the reason why the McCain camp, previously planning to release the name at that time immediately after Obama’s speech, decided to wait the day after. It makes sense; it would have been too obvious. The “Oh yeah? Ya’ll think you’re historic and breaking barriers. Take that!” sort of touché would have been all too transparent.

That is not to say that Governor Palin is not a credible VP nominee nor is it to say that her service to her state of Alaska and this country is not without commendation. I actually know nothing about the Governor, and will spend the rest of the day googling the hell out of her. I would just like to point out the obvious. The Republicans may justify their “non-racist, non-sexist, non-discriminatory” image is a thing of the past with examples like Colonel Powell and Govenor Schwarzenerggar (sp?). But who would ever think that they would actually place a woman in the second most powerful position in the “world”, and NOT wrinkle their brow or suck their teeth thinking “sure. . .”.. A woman? And from Alaska?!! Call me skeptical, but there are secondary intentions.

I am glad to see that the Republicans are scared. It may not be a trembling urinary incontinent fear, more like a cocky visage with a single bead of sweat running down the side of the face, but fear nonetheless. Question: Would they have picked a woman if Clinton was the VP nominee? It seems as ‘dem Republicans were dusting off their cans of haterade stored 8 years ago and adding new fuel to the fire, ready to blast Clinton into obscurity. “Clinton hate” is still palpable in this country. Maybe not obvious to you, but just take a good look at your neighbor across the street, or the guy standing next to you in line for coffee, or your boss. Had she been the VP candidate, less drastic measures would have been needed, I think.

But is this a drastic measure? Maybe we are approaching the threshold of that “dream” MLK slumbered upon. We are no longer on that long journey, maybe we have arrived as a nation and what remains left are renovations and touch-ups to the house finally built on a strong foundation. Or maybe it is all an illusion? Just as tropical storms this week approach the Gulf Coast once again, the strength of this supposed American foundation will be tested by nature’s unrelenting force. What stands after this week along the Gulf Coast and what stands after November remains questionable.

Figure out who Governor Palin is. Figure out where you stand on the issues. Watch the debates. Educate yourself and others.

Just looking at him, listening too him speak, invokes strong feelings and emotions of hope and the need for change. This man could have changed the world had Florida (and the rest of America) not royally hopped on the boat of failure for the lose. So standing next to the “agent of change” himself, and endorsing him was a powerful moment for America as a whole. Democratic. Republican. Independent. We all need that hope in our lives, cuz this shit has to stop. Here’s to you Ozone Man.
The Scion of Balance.