What the Fargo Forum looks like to the rest of the world

No one takes these people in the libeal media seriously any more. They see defeat on the horizon and it torments them. I watched Ed Schultz on Larry King. I have never seen such a wild eyed crazy in my life.

Jane Ahlin who writes a column for the Fago Forum wrote a smear piece on Sarah Palin. It was loaded with lies half truths and just plain made up stuff.

These people, all Fargo Folks are so sold out to the liberal cause the potential that conservatives are about to prevail is driving them nuts.

Look out, the tin hats are out. The liberals are on the loose and they will become nuttier and nuttier.

Here is a review of the Jane Ahlin article from Say Anything:

Here are Ahlin’s claims (you can view the entire column here):

Building pipeline in Alaska is “god’s will”

Ahlin is trying to paint Palin as some sort of religious wacko whit this. The truth is that while giving a speech in front of a church congregation Palin mentioned that she was trying to get the pipeline built, asked the congregants to pray for it, and then suggested that “god’s will” should be done. Here’s a video of her comments. I think this is pretty normal for the sorts of thing that goes on in churches. It’s certainly not a very controversial comment.

The next claim from Ahlin:

she supports teaching creationism in public schools

That’s not true at all. Palin supports and believes in creationism but doesn’t want to force her views on schools at all. In fact, as Governor of Alaska, she promised exactly that. From an Anchorage Daily News article from October of 2006:

In an interview Thursday, Palin said she meant only to say that discussion of alternative views should be allowed to arise in Alaska classrooms:
“I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class. It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”

She added that, if elected, she would not push the state Board of Education to add such creation-based alternatives to the state’s required curriculum.

Members of the state school board, which sets minimum requirements, are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature.
“I won’t have religion as a litmus test, or anybody’s personal opinion on evolution or creationism,” Palin said.

For Ahlin to claim that Palin wants to teach creationism in school is an out-and-out lie. She doesn’t. She thinks it should be discussed and debated if brought up in class (like, say, in a debate class) but she doesn’t want it to be part of the curriculum.

The next claim from Ahlin:

she tried to fire a librarian who refused to ban books

No, she didn’t. She once asked city of Wasilla librarian what the process was for banning books, and that was the end of the matter. The “list” of books she allegedly wanted banned contained books that weren’t even in publication at the time. And according to documents obtained from the City of Wasilla not one single book in the library has been banned from 1986 to the present.

As for Palin trying to fire a librarian who refused to ban a book, the only thing Palin did in that regard was request updated resumes from several city officials, including the city librarian, upon starting her first term as Mayor. Which, frankly, is a pretty routine thing for a new executive administrator to do.

The final claim from Ahlin:

used her line-item veto to cut funds for a shelter specifically aimed at helping teenage mothers get on their feet;

No, she didn’t. She tripled funding for the shelter (called Covenant House) from $1.3 million to $3.9 million. The originally proposed increase was to over $5 million, but Palin only cut the amount of the increase. She still trippled the funding.

Only a liberal could call a reduction in the increase of funding for a program a “cut.”

Now, these are several distortions and deceptions from Jane Ahlin. Ahlin claims that Palin is a book banner, and that’s not true. She claims Palin wants to impose her religious views on the public schools, and that’s not true. She tries to paint Palin as a religious wacko when really Palin is just a run-of-the-mill Christian.

I think the Fargo Forum needs to correct the record, but it’s been eight days since Ahlin colmn’s ran and we’ve yet to hear anything from the Forum’s editors despite many of these claims having been debunked in high-profile ways by the national media.

When will the Fargo Forum do the right thing? Here’s the contact information for the Forum Staff. Give ‘em a call, or write an email, and ask.

As for Jane Ahlin, her email address (as published at the bottom of her columns) is janeahlin@yahoo.com.

I like Jane, we have a great deal of shared history, but when she goes as far out on a limb as she did to support Obama and whoever it is that is his running mate this week, she must be called on it. I just did. If you are a blogger and you believe in truth, you too need to call her on this untruth.