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Any bets if he will do any jail time?

 

He won't do one second of jail time. When a Republican accesses private documents, it's horrible, horrible, horrible! "Privacy rights!" "Police state!" "Lack of respect for the Constitution!"

When a little Democrat dork does it, it's "just a prank" and "boys will be boys" and "what does she have to hide? She uses that account to circumnavate the Constitution!"

My ex-wife had one of her <rhymes with gas pole> friends hack my e-mail account during our divorce. It's not funny or cute. In an ideal world this little bastard would have the living snot beaten out of him, because you can't tell me he didn't know what he was doing was wrong and illegal. Certainly if Palin's team had hacked HIS account he'd be whining at the ACLU doorstep in under 2 nanoseconds.

But hey, she's an evil Republican, right? She deserves what she gets, right?

 

No.

He should of course be fined for this. But what did he do? He didn't "hack" anything. He didn't break through encryption or security systems. He guessed her password. That's it. This needs to be put into perspective, and remove it from the politics.

An elected state executive chose to conduct official state business on a FREE personal email account that has extremely light security protocols (which aside from being unethical, is irresponsible). And, as we've been warned NOT to do since the dawn of e-mail, Palin chose a very easy-to-guess password (the hometown of her husband). This is tantamount to leaving the keys in your front door.

Kernell should be fined for invasion of privacy and any personal information of hers he shared with others, and I wouldn't mind him serving a little jail time. But if Sarah Palin had been serious about keeping her information safe, she'd have had the state set up a secure email server for her (which is incredibly easy and inexpensive to do). Whether or not he serves any jail time will depend at least partially on his record. If this is his first offense, he likely won't serve a day.

 

Apparently, we democrats don't need to express our opinions, since we have LKD to express them for us. LKD, do you honestly believe that democrats are perfectly OK with invasions of privacy like this as long as the victim is a republican?

It is true that this probably was some kid's (and, yes, I know who the kid's father is) idea of a prank and, yes, I think that Palin shouldn't be using a yahoo address to conduct government business (and, as a public figure, she sure as hell should have a better password), but that doesn't mean that I think that this kid's foolish prank would somehow be justified if Palin is indeed circumventing government oversight by using a private e-mail address to conduct government business.

I think that this kid should be should face the exact same charges - and, if convicted, the exact same penalty - as any other fool that commits this sort of crime. No more, and no less. The fact that the victim just happens to be Governor Palin should have no effect - be it positive or negative - on the severity of the charges or the severity of his punishment. The extent of the damages done to Sarah Palin, however, should play a part in both the charges faced and the penalty paid. I'm a democrat, LKD, not a moron.

 

Umm, that "kid" is 20 years old. A 14 year old can pull a stupid prank like this and get a slap on the wrist. When an adult does this it is no longer a "prank" but instead a criminal act.

Of course his father is going to make it a "childish prank" and downplay it -- that's called protecting your offspring. He should try to downplay it, just as the police should ignore the father and treat it like a crime.

 

Not all, but some Democrats, yes. They see this sort of thing as the next incarnation of Robin Hood. "Stickin' it to the Man", as it were (though it is not quite so applicable in this case ) In any event, such Democrats and small "L" liberals will defend this kid to the hilt, whereas if the tables were turned, they'd make exactly the same kind of hue and cry I described earlier.

Note that I feel similar derision for the conservative line of "we broke all sorts of privacy laws for the sake of National Security". If privacy is important, it should be safeguarded for all.

The kid should, no question, be treated the same as any other person who invades privacy. I just think that a) that treatment is often too lenient and b) there's a horrible double standard when it comes to such things.

 

Drew, you've obviously never looked at 4chan. It's mostly liberals (no criticism on that, just an observation of political statements I've seen on it) and they actually do say things like that.

On another issue, I've heard a lot of people claim she was conducting state business on her personal account, but I've never heard any corroboration of that statement. What state business was she doing on her personal account?

 

Firing anybody who would not go along with her, or Todd (the first "dude" ).

Just what exactly do you mean by "defending" him? I've not heard any of my "liberal" counterparts defending him, LKD.

Are talking about this?

http://www.4chan.org/

It's some Japanese forum.

 

Has this been proven, or are you just speculating?

I don't think so. I'm talking about the forums that the Palin email screenshots were first posted on.

 

Just "speculating" about what the legislature in Alaska has been investigating. But no fear on Palin's part - She has already "cleared herself."

Enjoy:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27105917/

 

Personally, I've had little doubt as to her guilt in this matter since becoming aware of who this woman is (granted, I see her through nunsbane colored glasses.)

Honestly, after watching her speak and learning of her character, how could anyone doubt she would have employed whatever means were available to her to lash out at those who hurt her and her's? She is a strong willed person who will 'take you out' if she finds it necessary to do so.

Keep in mind, that in principle, I approve of what she did...it is what I (or most of you, I think) would do for my own, except that I would certainly favor a more direct approach when dealing with such matters.

She is guilty but I don't think poorly of her for it.

 

The 'principle' most of us keep in mind is the Rule of Law. Most couldn't care less about how "strong willed" she is. There are already enough petty, "strong willed" dictators running around the world abusing their power. Some of us are concerned that people in power pick-and-choose which laws apply to them. Everyone deserves equality under the Rule of Law - in principle.

 

Don't you just love how them wonderful dems cut & paste?
Here is the full sentence:
On October 10, 2008, the Alaska Legislative Council unanimously voted to release the Branchflower investigative report which found that Sarah Palin "abused her power" as governor and violated Alaska's Ethics Act in pressuring Monegan to fire Wooten, and that terminating Monegan was "a proper and lawful exercise" of her authority as governor

Now this was a person(wooten)who was found guilty of making a death threat against someone but only given 5 days suspension for it. Only a police officer could get away with that, you or i would be sitting in a cell waiting on a court date.
I'm pretty sure that just about anyone would do all they could to get this dangerous character as far away from a position of authority.

 

Martaug - If anyone should "love" cut-and-paste, it's you. You certainly do enough of it yourself....

THAT is the entire sentence that I posted. I'm not sure where you got yours from that you are attempting to pass of as mine, but your little ploy is quite blatant. Try reading the link that someone posted for a change before you slam him or her for it. I'll repost the link for you:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27105917/

It wasn't just the end of the sentence, but the end of the paragraph as well.

 

Thats what i was talking about, sorry if you thought it was directed at you

 

Ah, apologies here as well. I thought you were directing that at me.

 

Thats a saturday for you, i guess i wasn't clear enough as i'm still getting over a few too many vodka lemon drops last night.

 

Then say that. Don't go off making half-cocked assertions about what THE DEMOCRATS think when you are only really talking about some democrats. That said, LKD, you seem to be a real expert on these "other" democrats that you were really talking about, knowing not only what their position is, but exactly what they think, why they think it, and how they will respond when the shoe is on the other foot. Not only do they think that Palin had it coming, but that this punk is the next (or, rather, the first) incarnation of Robin Hood - and you know absolutely that these exact same people would have the opposite reaction if the shoe was on the other foot. How do you know all of that?

Is 4chan representative of the entire democratic party? Didn't think so. My problem isn't that negative statements were made about some democrats. My problem was that these viewpoints were being attributed to ALL democrats. Big difference.

 

Here we go again. My whole point was that people like this do exist and that they are members of the Democratic party (if they've bothered to register, that is), and you're point is that not all Democrats are like that.

I would apoligize for misunderstanding, but it isn't Saturday and I guess we aren't allowed to apologize to each other or agree unless it is.

 

And Drew's whole point is, even bringing it up is dismissive of Democrats as a whole. There are certainly KKK members who are registered Republicans, but not all Republicans are like that, right? Merely stating that this tiny subset "are members" gives them far more importance than their numbers, support and esteem within the party would afford them, while simultaneously slamming the party as a whole for having such yahoos among their number. This kid didn't get a kick out of "hacking" Sarah Palin's email because he was a Democrat any more than some people are racists because they are Republicans. They all almost certainly have reasons exclusive from their political affiliation for doing what they do.

In other words, it's just a dumb and unnecessary thing to say about anybody, and creates a "my team is better than your team" back and forth that renders the topic at hand meaningless. As demonstrated above.

So let's not and say we did, boys.