1) FALSE: "Palin slashed the budget for special-needs children by 62%" - This rumor was apparently reported frequently among blogs and at least 1 major news source - CNN.
FACT: Palin signed a bill in March '08 that increased funding for public schools in Alaska significantly. Furthermore, it increased spending three-fold on students whom the state deemed "intensive need" students. According to an article in the Anchorage Daily News and one in Education Week magazine, special needs students received just $26,000/year prior to the Palin's new bill. Under Palin's governorship, the "intensive need" students now receive more than $73,000 per year per child. In fact, this increase is almost $1,000 less than Palin's initial proposal.
The "62% decrease" figure comes from a misinterpretation of the Alaska state budget - people assume that the "special schools budget" is the same as the "special needs budget." The special schools budget refers to money set aside for certain school projects and programs. However, this wasn't cut either. Instead, a project called the "Alaska Military Youth Academy's ChalleNGe Program" was moved out of the budget and placed onto its own line in the state budget. All other programs received the same funding.
2) FALSE: Palin banned books and fired a librarian who opposed book banning. (Initially rumored in an email by a resident of Wasilla (Anne Kilkenny), who has "hated Palin for years" and has since clarified her statements regarding the Wasilla town librarian)
FACT: According to Newsweek "Palin never asked that books be banned: no books were actually banned, and many of the books on the list that Palin supposedly wanted to censor weren't even in print at the time, proving that the list is a fabrication." According to both Palin and Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, Palin asked theoretical questions about the procedure of the library, including what would happen if the Mayor requested that certain books be banned. Emmons, the libarian, was fired at one point for one day because Palin "didn't feel that she had Emmons' support" (Newsweek). One version of the story recounts how all department heads were fired because they had openly supported Palin's opponent for mayor - Palin was ensuring that she had their loyalty. They were all, including the librarian, reinstated the following day. Here is the fake list of books from the supposed Palin book ban list (it is copied and pasted, apparently, from a list on the internet of books banned "at one time or another in the U.S.")
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth
3) FALSE: Sarah Palin advocated for Alaska to secede from the Union.
FACT: Palin was never a member of the AIP, although her husband, Todd Palin, was a member for a number of years but is not any longer. Palin did attend one meeting of the AIP because it was held in Wasilla, where she was mayor. She attended in her capacity (and obligation) as mayor of the town. AIP president Lynette Clark incorrectly stated Sarah was a member, but she has issued a retraction that was printed on the AIP's website (you can view the retraction at http://www.akip.org/) The state of Alaska confirms that Sarah was registered for the first time in 1982 (when she was 18) as a Republican and has not changed her party affiliation since then. Todd Palin was registered with the AIP from 1995-2002, and is now registered as undeclared. AIP Party officials support Palin's statements that Todd has never participated in any party functions, save for attending one party convention in Wasilla with his wife, who was mayor.
FACT: According to Newsweek "Palin never asked that books be banned: no books were actually banned, and many of the books on the list that Palin supposedly wanted to censor weren't even in print at the time, proving that the list is a fabrication." According to both Palin and Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, Palin asked theoretical questions about the procedure of the library, including what would happen if the Mayor requested that certain books be banned. Emmons, the libarian, was fired at one point for one day because Palin "didn't feel that she had Emmons' support" (Newsweek). One version of the story recounts how all department heads were fired because they had openly supported Palin's opponent for mayor - Palin was ensuring that she had their loyalty. They were all, including the librarian, reinstated the following day. Here is the fake list of books from the supposed Palin book ban list (it is copied and pasted, apparently, from a list on the internet of books banned "at one time or another in the U.S.")
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It's Okay if You Don't Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O'Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women's Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won't by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth
3) FALSE: Sarah Palin advocated for Alaska to secede from the Union.
FACT: Palin was never a member of the AIP, although her husband, Todd Palin, was a member for a number of years but is not any longer. Palin did attend one meeting of the AIP because it was held in Wasilla, where she was mayor. She attended in her capacity (and obligation) as mayor of the town. AIP president Lynette Clark incorrectly stated Sarah was a member, but she has issued a retraction that was printed on the AIP's website (you can view the retraction at http://www.akip.org/) The state of Alaska confirms that Sarah was registered for the first time in 1982 (when she was 18) as a Republican and has not changed her party affiliation since then. Todd Palin was registered with the AIP from 1995-2002, and is now registered as undeclared. AIP Party officials support Palin's statements that Todd has never participated in any party functions, save for attending one party convention in Wasilla with his wife, who was mayor.
4) FALSE: Sarah Palin endorsed Pat Buchanan.
FACT: Palin in fact worked for rival Republican Steve Forbes. This rumor started after Palin wore a Buchanan button to an event held in Wasilla (Palin was mayor at the time.) The AP reported that Palin was a supporter of Buchanan's. Palin responded by writing a letter to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News and set the record straight - she wore the button as courtesy to Buchanan, who was a visitor to Wasilla. Palin was appointed to the state leadership committee for Forbes less than 1 month after the Buchanan "incident."
5) FALSE: Sarah Palin thinks creationism should be taught in schools.
FACT: First of all, what's wrong with teaching creationism? It's a theory just like any other theory, right? Can't be proven wrong or right. If teachers can teach a theory that humans are evolved from bubbles, I think creationism should be taught, too. Back to the facts: Palin supports allowing students to debate creationism if it comes up in class. Her exact quote was "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" (October, 2006 Anchorage Daily News). Palin, a few days prior to that quote, did remark that creationism "should be taught along side evolution (and theories of evolution)" - she clarified her statement with the former quote. She has never pursued teaching creationism as governor.
See for yourself if the information in this email is true or not:
1) Sutton, Anne "Governor signs revamped education package into law." Anchorage Daily News, 28 March 2008
2) Www.akip.org (website for the Alaska Independence Party)
3) Http://www.newsweek.com/id/157986/output/print
4) Tapper, Jake. "Members of 'fringe' AK Independence Party incorrectly say Palin was a member in 90s." ABCNews.com, September 1, 2008
5) Stuart, Paul. "From the archive: Palin: Library Censorship Inquiries were "rhetorical'" December 18, 1996.
6) Paulson, Michael. "Sarah Palin on faith, life, and creation" The Boston Globe, August 29, 2008.
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