Today, I am pleased to present another guest post by Imogen.

Please check out Shailey Tripp’s redesigned website where Boys Can Be Boys is available for purchase as an e-book in formats compatible with most e-readers. You will also find links there to purchase the book in printed format.

Also, please keep in mind that graduation and wedding season are just around the corner. A handcrafted ink pen would make a great gift for a high school graduate leaving for college this fall or for a college graduate embarking on a career. Handmade ink pens would also make nice gifts for about to be married couples or as groomsmen or bridesmaids appreciation gifts. Customizing is available upon request. Hubby’s depends on word of mouth advertising and would like to thank everyone for their past support and would love the opportunity to be of service in the future.

http://shaileytripp.yolasite.com/

http://www.hubbyshandcraftedinkpens.yolasite.com/

bladecatz@mail.com

Blade

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Mama Grizzly’s Gruesome Façade

What exactly is Sarah Palin good at? Could someone tell me? She’s certainly a first class bully, but in terms of the skills she purports to have  - USA leading abilities, Vice Presidential potential, Super Mom, compassionate Christian, a backwoodsman – she fails dismally. And they’re quite important skills if you want to get to where Palin wants to get to. Leave aside the dismal interview technique, the woeful lack of foreign policy knowledge for a moment. Let’s look at those field craft skills. Because the Palin brand really is founded on the image of the Hockey Mom, and the Amazonian huntress.

Brand Palin

As the foundation of a branding exercise, these notions are not bad in fact. The US likes its politicians to be folksy but tough, and as a woman Palin chose well in focusing on her motherly/grizzly side. Unfortunately, for Palin, that façade is not credible on closer inspection. She’s not maternal, as most women understand the term. The Wild Ride horrified most decent minded women, whilst Palin saw it as a badge of honour and proof that she wasn’t giving in to her biological destiny. Her vulnerable pre-term baby could damn well wait until she was ready for it to be born. If indeed the story is true, which is much in doubt. The photo of this ‘pre-term’ baby at seven weeks is enough to perturb most observers. That baby is six months if he’s a day. It is surprising that Palin allowed photos of the baby to be taken at all, so much at odds his physical appearance is with the suggested facts. But back to the fieldcraft.

Palin the Huntress

The huntress. What a symbol. In Roman mythology we had Diana, the divine huntress, preserver of dynasties and protector of childbirth. Mistress of the woods she lived in mountainous realms and her aim was always true. So little of this applies to Palin. She is, we now know, a lousy shot. Far from being lithe limbed and ethereal like Diana, fleet of foot and yet strong and sure, Palin got her 72-year-old dad to carry her weapon into the wilderness, whilst she – the star, let’s face it – strode on, talking to camera. Her series showed up yet another level of fakery. Like the fake pregnancy, she showed us that she was not a ‘lifelong hunter’. She failed in the basics of shooting when put on the spot, like she failed in the basics of foreign policy when put on the spot, and the acts of a responsible mother when put on the spot. She fails, keeps on failing, and gets away with it. Over and over. Why?

Ouch…

When faced with the gentle Caribou, and a clear line of fire, Palin took five shots to kill it. She had failed to adjust her sights or take practice shots, as any lifelong hunter would have done without thinking. So she failed, and the creature suffered. She shot into the animal as it was still twitching, which is another no-no in the hunting world. She could not discharge the shells from her weapon and got her father to do it for her. She asked ‘Does it kick?’ of the gun she was using. A lifelong hunter would have known that this was a relatively small gun, and that regardless of whether it kicked back, you still shoot. That’s what hunters do. She betrayed herself with this comment as an amateur, and blogs all over the States were abuzz with comment after the episode was aired. Someone remarked that it appeared as if she was using a gun for the first time. So another scam perpetrated on the American people? Quite probably, yes. Palin would have been too busy pushing ahead with her own journey to greatness to bother much with huntin’ and fishin’ is my guess. Only when it became politically expedient to be proficient in these skills did they become of importance to her. And that is really too late if you want to fake it in front of a nation who are at ease with guns. They can spot a fake a mile off. She should have known this. She should have practiced ahead of her filming schedule. Fail.

The Lies Go On

She wasn’t much better with the fishin’ she showed off, failing to catch a single salmon from a river bursting with them. Palin cannot win at the lying game because she lacks attention to detail. She really should have done her homework here, as in other cases. She should have seen that her brand demanded proficiency in these skills long ago. Years ago. She should have become proficient. She should have known that running for VP would have required her to know some High School geography. A post-room junior in an international parcel service firm knows more geography than Mrs. Palin. She should have practiced. She didn’t.  She thought she could wing it, and get away with it. She couldn’t. And she should have known that some eagle-eyed mothers would have raised eyebrows at the Wild Ride story, been repelled by it, and started to question the veracity of her pregnancy claims. She should have known that these real Super Moms would study photos and join the dots and that the truth would begin to leak out. Or does she think we are all stupid? Probably.

Palin’s downfall will be her hubris. She has got away with so much, for so long, and responsible, patriotic Americans will not allow themselves to become twitching Caribou – suffering victims of Palin’s incompetence.

By Imogen