In this outtake from Sarah Palin's Alaska, Episode Six "Rafting and Dog Mushing," Governor Palin and daughter Piper make rhubarb pies, and Piper's creation is delicious. Gov. Palin and Piper frequently bake together.

The Palins Make Pies retrieved from PalinTV

Friends,

As many of you may already know, recently a network of Wikileaks-sympathizing hackers orchestrated crippling, albeit temporary, cyber-attacks on the websites of patriotic, law-abiding organizations around the country, including SarahPAC.com. It is widely believed that the same ad-hoc group of international cyber-criminals took down the websites of many organizations that terminated their business relationships with Wikileaks after their latest dump of compromising and classified US government information. These organizations include iconic American companies such as Visa and MasterCard as well as dotcom giants such as Amazon and Ebay's [online payment service using email].

The actions taken by Wikileaks' supporters against these respected American companies show that their true intent is far from noble, and exposes their utter disregard for the collateral damage and financial fallout that resulted from their denial of service attacks. These reckless attacks on major transaction processors during the Christmas season added uncertainty to an already fragile economy and cost them money and resources that could have otherwise been used to grow their businesses and create new jobs.

These malicious hackers targeted major American companies simply for their refusal to participate in the degradation of America's ability to engage in diplomacy and the direct endangerment of our troops through the release of thousands of battlefield reports. Gov. Palin quickly and unapologetically spoke out against the illegal and irresponsible acts that Wikileaks explicitly exists to perpetrate. After her comments, SarahPAC.com immediately became another target for cyber-attack by Wikileaks' unofficial hacker-accomplices. In the name of defending free speech, the hackers, alleged to operate under the collective branding of 'Anonymous', decided to punish Gov. Palin for hers by flooding SarahPAC.com with a torrent of web traffic in order to make the website inaccessible to supporters.

The twisted logic of these self-styled advocates for free speech doesn't seem to differentiate between releasing millions of sensitive US government documents with the intent of degrading our nation's security and standing, and criticizing those who do so. Few times in our history have we, as a nation, faced so many security threats from such a varied and unpredictable array of rogue nations, terrorist organizations, and depraved individuals, and yet these self-styled 'hacktivists' are so committed to the continued release of our state secrets that they have decided to use their considerable 'talents' to punish those who dare speak out against the reckless endangerment of our republic through espionage.

SarahPAC was forced to spend some of our resources restoring functionality to our website and defending against future attacks, but we won't allow our commonsense conservative message to be silenced by a few malcontents. Please help us continue to support solid conservative candidates around the country by donating $50, $75, or $100 to SarahPAC.

The illegally obtained information contained within the State Department cable leaks is already damaging our diplomats' ability to advance American interests abroad and the Afghanistan and Iraq war document leaks represent a goldmine of intelligence for our most dangerous enemies to use against our troops on the battlefield. Please stand with SarahPAC against the reprehensible and downright dangerous acts of the Wikileaks organization and the cyber-intimidation of its misguided hacker allies.

Sincerely,

Tim Crawford
Treasurer
SarahPAC

Paid for by SarahPAC Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee www.SarahPAC.com P.O. Box 7711 Arlington, VA 22207

Please refer to US 4 Palin's coverage of this story. Town Hall's language filter does not accept the proper company name of a legitimate entity targeted by a WikiLeaks DDOS attack. I'm not going to spend time re-working a story to accommodate Town Hall's improperly implemented language filter.

Tammy Bruce shot down Juan Williams' meme that Gov. Palin is "not on the same intellectual stage" as Obama, and an Alinksy-esque meme being circulated that Gov Palin is less than authentic. Williams had been fired from NPR for a "politically incorrect" statement he made about Muslims. Gov. Palin defended his right to free speech. Fox News subsequently hired him.

Tammy Bruce Answers Juan Williams – Palin Not on the Same Intellectual Stage as Obama retrieved from PalinTV.

Joe Miller said in a press release sent overnight that his legal team believes that the Elections Clause and precedent support their legal claims and they are considering their next legal steps. The next most likely legal step for the Tea Party conservative would be an appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is the most liberal Appeals Court Circuit in the nation. There, his team would have to argue before three judges that Judge Beistline committed an error of law or made judicial errors in his ruling. Because only .01% of cases brought before the US Supreme Court are granted Certiorari, odds are 99.99% that the ruling from a Circuit Court appeal would be the final one.

"I am disappointed with the federal court's ruling today. The U.S. Constitution's Elections Clause presented the most significant constitutional issue. Specifically, should the courts be required to follow the legislature's standard for the selection of U.S. Senators or create their own? My legal team believes that the clear language of the Election Clause as well as precedent support our claims. Thus, we are evaluating the ruling and determining what our next step should be."

Complete Transcript: US District Court, District of Alaska: Miller v. Lieut. Gov. Mead Treadwell, in his Official Capacity, and State of Alaska, Division of Elections

Ed. Note: This Money Bomb is a grassroots effort to help SarahPAC recover the costs associated with repairing the SarahPAC site and securing it against future attacks. SarahPAC has neither reviewed nor authorized this Money Bomb. Sites referenced other than SarahPAC are not operated or authorized by Gov. Palin, her staff, SarahPAC or any other campaign or committee. Urgent Fund-Raising Request SarahPAC mailed supporters an urgent fund-raising request which documented how Governor Palin, her family, and SarahPAC, were attacked earlier this month by cyber-terrorists. SarahPAC had to use funds intended for 2011 campaigning to repair its website and secure it against further attacks. Conservatives4Palin, Organize4Palin, PalinTV, and Tammy Bruce were subsequently attacked and the administrators of these respective privately owned and operated sites had to pay significant costs to get them back up and running. Supporters of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks conducted Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks against the aforementioned websites and hacked into the personal credit card accounts of Governor Palin and her husband Todd. The attacks were made in a retaliation campaign called "Operation Payback" for her posting of Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco. In that Facebook Note, Gov. Palin asked, "Why was Julian Assange not pursued with the same urgency we pursue Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders?" Sick Un-American Espionage Efforts Indeed, Gov. Palin spoke out against "Assange's sick un-American espionage efforts" and brought to light an issue the Obama administration has remained remarkably silent on. Since the past summer, Assange and his WikiLeaks band of cyber-terrorists among other things: "Posted Classified US Documents on the Internet - which has put our national security and US soldiers at risk.""In addition to other dangerous leaks, Assange's postings revealed the identity of more than 100 Afghan informants to enemies in the Taliban. Now their lives are at risk - and the US has lost valuable sources of information." Governor Palin rightly wrote in the WikiLeaks Fiasco Note that Assange is "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands." The Obama administration never even labeled Assange what he is: a serious threat to national security. Governor Palin had the courage to address this issue. The Palin family, SarahPAC, and our treasured colleagues took the heat. SarahPAC needs our help to be made whole and recover costs incurred from this attack. Help Elect Common-Sense Conservatives who Will Root Out Terrorists SarahPAC can then resume its mission: "electing common-sense conservatives to Congress and crucial state seats... ...conservatives who will make it a priority to root out terrorists and the nations that harbor them." Please click the SarahPAC graphic to donate as generously as you can afford.

US Senate Candidate Joe Miller's federal court case alleging violations of the Election and Equal Protection clauses of the US Constitution was dismissed today, according to an Anchorage Daily News report. Judge Beistline dismissed Millers' case entirely before the State of Alaska even responded. The state's response was due tomorrow, December 29. In dismissing the case, the judge lifted the injunction he had placed on the state against certifying Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the incumbent as the winner.

In the federal court system, a case may only be appealed a Circuit Court of Appeals on the grounds of judicial error committed by the trial court (US District Courts) judge. Both sides in a appeal have three minutes to present oral arguments. Appeals are generally heard by a panel of three judges; however, in rare cases they may be heard en banc - that is all active judges for whichever one of the 13 Circuit Courts of Appeals has jurisdiction over a case. The final stop in the appeals process is the US Supreme Court which hears cases only after granting a Writ of Certiorari. The US Supreme Court grants Certiorari only to a fraction of the cases brought before it - roughly 100 out of 10,000 or .01%, making the Circuit Court of Appeals the final arbiter in 99.9% of the cases.

Joe Miller, therefore, must be able to argue an error of law on Judge Beistline's part to have basis for an appeal. Should he be able to argue this, The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which has jurisdiction over Alaska would hear the case. If Miller has no legal basis for an appeal, his entire electoral journey likely has reached its conclusion today.

Complete Transcript: US District Court, District of Alaska: Miller v. Lieut. Gov. Mead Treadwell, in his Official Capacity, and State of Alaska, Division of Elections

Happy Second Birthday, Tripp.

A lot has happened in Tripp's two years, but most especially the last six months. He's seen his mother Dance with the Stars and starred along with his mother and grandmother in Sarah Palin's Alaska. The staff at US for Palin wish Tripp a life filled with happiness, love, and prosperity.

The Anchorage Daily News and the Miller campaign both reported overnight that US Senate Candidate Joe Miller will continue his case in federal court arguing on the US Constitution's Election and Equal Protection clauses. Miller, however, is withdrawing his motion, which led to the federal injunction on the State of Alaska certifying the election. The withdrawal, or the judge's lifting of the injunction irrespective of Miller's actions means that Sen. Murkowski will be seated in the next Congress and retain her seniority on committees.

Judge Beistline will rule from the filing of both Joe Miller and the State of Alaska, so there will not be any oral arguments made by either side. Miller first filed his suit in federal court, but Judge Beistline directed him to file in the state court system. Miller lost his case at the Superior (trial) court and the state Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Superior Court's ruling.

From the US District Court, where Miller's federal case resides, the next stop is a Circuit Court of Appeals proceeding, and the final stop is the US Supreme Court which may or may not grant Certiorari to hear the case, assuming Miller pursues the case beyond the federal trial level.

Constitutional Arguments

In its court filings, the Miller legal team pointed out several issues that require further review including: whether the U.S. Constitution’s Election Clause was violated by ignoring the legislature’s mandatory provisions for write-in candidates; whether the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause was violated by the different vote counting standards that were applied, dependent on the candidate in question; and other issues such as at least hundreds of felons voting and at least hundreds of ballots being filled out by a handful of people.

News that Bristol Palin bought a house for $172,000 cash in Maricopa, Arizona broke Friday and spread like wildfire throughout the day, continuing well into yesterday. US for Palin did not carry the story at first, because we were not satisfied that it was true. So much of what is "reported" on Bristol is outright lies. But this one was different. I first saw it in the Maricopa Monitor. The managing editor, Brett Fera, cited county records. Two local Fox affiliates picked it up. Fox News picked it up. Yesterday, the story flashed by on the ticker just outside Rockefeller Center as my wife and I walked the area partaking in Christmas festivities. These factors, plus a phone call I made to a source familiar with the Palins satisfied me that the story is true.

Size

Five Bedrooms and nearly 4,000 square feet is a lot of house for a single mom and her baby. It's the perfect size for said single mom, her baby, parents, siblings, grandparents, and other members of the extended family to visit. It's the perfect size to be used for a Lower 48 base of operations.

Family Connections

The Palins have family connections to Arizona (and Washington State and Texas) that date back over 40 years.

Political Connections

The McCains are not too far away. Congressman Gosar is very close too....Gov. Palin endorsed him for the 2010 election, but the significance of Rep. Gosar goes way beyond the endorsement win.

A Key Member of Gov. Palin's Kitchen Cabinet Moved to Arizona's First Congressional District

Political reported earlier in the week that Thomas Van Flein accepted the position of legislative director and deputy chief of staff for incoming Republican Rep. Paul Gosar. Congressman Gosar represents Arizona's massive First Congressional District located north and east of Phoenix and Maricopa.

Click map to open full-size in separate tab or window. Maricopa is annotated with a red oval. The First Congressional District is indicated in purple highlight.

Time Magazine ran a list of Gov. Palin's Inner Circle, Kitchen Cabinet, Outer Circle, and the second concentric ring out. Thomas Van Flein is squarely in Gov. Palin's Kitchen Cabinet. He is her lawyer and political adviser and nothing has changed in that regard. Most of the people associated with Gov. Palin from Inner Circle to second outer ring worked for either President Bush or Senator McCain.

From the foregoing we see that Van Flein's move to Representative Gosar's district and Bristol Palin's move to Maricopa are not coincidences, accidents or facts of happenstance. Instead, we see a well-planned sequence of chess moves executed by a certain woman who has nearly 20 years of political experience.

Geography

Wasilla is as far from New York and Washington as Warsaw, Poland plus another 200 miles. Travel to and from Alaska is very expensive, time consuming and physically wearing. While Phoenix is not centrally located, it is the nearest major city to Maricopa and four hours flight time from the farthest points of the continental United States. From Phoenix, Gov. Palin could fly to Los Angeles San Francisco, or Seattle, which are gateways to Alaska and the Pacific Rim. A flight to Houston, Chicago, New York, Washington, or Miami is easy. These cities are gateways to points throughout the United States and the rest of the world. Maricopa is bracketed by Interstate 10 to the north and east, and Interstate 8 to the south. Interstate 17 continues north where 10 takes its westward turn toward California.

Governor Palin today demonstrated Presidential Leadership when she wished our troops a Merry Christmas and said our military "is a force for good" in a segment recorded on Fox and Friends.

Gov. Palin’s Christmas Message to Troops retrieved from: PalinTV.

H/T OP Ditch, Vets 4 Sarah for story lead.

Bristol Palin today posted on Facebook:

I want to wish all of you a blessed Christmas.  As we celebrate the birth of Jesus and his message to mankind, let us do so with our family and friends.  I hope everyone has an opportunity to reflect on what is truly important and to create a Christmas memory that will last a lifetime.  From me and Tripp and the rest of my family to you, thank you for a wonderful year and Merry Christmas!

Bristol Palin?

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=180142048680355.

Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

Christmas is a time of sharing with family and friends. For Todd and me, that means spending time with our children, parents, grandparents, and siblings, gratefully acknowledging God’s blessings and sharing them with the people we love.

Ronald Reagan said Christmas was a “state of mind, found throughout the year whenever faith overcomes doubt, hope conquers despair, and love triumphs over hate.” On this Christmas Eve, let’s be thankful that we live in a country known for striving to embody these values. And let’s be grateful for the brave men and women in uniform who have fought to defend our values and who may be spending this Christmas far from home.

On behalf of the entire Palin family, I wish you a very Merry Christmas; and may the new year let you realize the promise found in 2 Timothy 1:7! 

- Sarah Palin 

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=477756403434.

Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

Come along on another Alaskan adventure as we profile amazingly hard workers in the timber industry. Loggers are hearty and hardy, and the ones I know are true conservationists. I can’t wait for you to meet these lumberjacks! 

During this Christmas season, do you ever wonder where you get many of your Christmas trees, firewood, packing boxes… shoot, just look around at everything timber touches and ask yourself who begins the production of these wood products? You’ll meet them on an exciting trip to an Afognak Island logging camp where our daughter learns even more about our family’s #1 lesson: tough work ethic and character will fulfill and sustain you. 

Learn how the logging families live in such a remote part of God’s country and how they cherish the land that provides their livelihood. You’ll see how their reforestation efforts allow the forest regrowth rate to repeat a life cycle of new forest nearly every 20 years. These loggers actually care more about the sustainability of their forests than most anyone because they love their livelihood, they know America relies on our domestic timber industry for good jobs and economic security, they are inspired in the great outdoors, and many of them want their kids to get to grow up to be loggers. Basically, the good folks you’ll meet want to be allowed to do what they love to do and what anyone who lives among lumber and wood products rely on them to do for us. 

In addition, come see Willow’s eyes open to a new rugged and rustic lifestyle. Her driving skills improve (?) before she undertakes a family’s rite of passage with an upcoming driver’s license test. Any parent can relate. 

With only a couple more episodes to share, I promise you a fun and informative episode of “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” this Sunday night at 9pm ET/8c on TLC. Follow me there! 

You can watch a preview of the episode here.

- Sarah Palin

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=477646868434.

Greta Van Susteren's special show highlighting the devastation in Haiti brought about by an earthquake, hurricanes, and a cholera outbreak aired tonight. Governor Palin, her husband Todd and daughter Bristol recently visited the strife-torn island, with Rev. Franklin Graham, CEO Samaritan's Purse which is overseeing a massive humanitarian aid effort. Governor Palin and her family personally assisted with Samaritan's Purse' efforts in treating the cholera-stricken, and personally handed shoe boxes of gifts to children - most of whom never received a gift in their lives.

Palin on Haiti Visit: 'It Was Overwhelming' retrieved from Fox News

Bringing Christmas to Haiti retrieved from Fox News

Haiti's Ruin from a Bird's Eye Point of View retrieved from Fox News

Haiti Devastated by Earthquake, then Cholera retrieved from Fox News