Palin, 15 min 59 seconds of fame & counting, on Bristol & Levi's BUTTS: "Working Their Butts Off"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Bristol and Levi 'Working Their Butts Off,' says Palin



http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/12/31/peoplecom-bristol-and-levi-working-their-butts-off-says-palin/

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin hasn't yet said anything publicly about her 4-day-old grandson, Tripp, but she does want people to know that Tripp's parents – her eldest daughter Bristol and her fiancé Levi Johnston – are hard at work and keeping up with school.

"You need to know that both Levi and Bristol are working their butts off to parent and going to school and working at the same time," Palin told PEOPLE in a phone message Wednesday. "They are certainly not high school dropouts."

The former vice presidential candidate said she wanted to be clear about their continuing work toward high school degrees because any suggestion otherwise "harms Bristol's reputation and Levi's reputation and their chances for good work opportunities."

[Bucky]

1. Good for them. They've got a tough year ahead of them. I wish those kids well.

Hopefully in a couple of years Tripp'll have a grandma available for full time babysitting.

[CountAllVotes]

13. I hope that happens

before Tripp is a new father! :D

:dem: :kick:

[emilyg]

20. I wish them joy with that new baby.

[rch35]

43. i wouldnt wish sarah palin on any child nt

[Bluebear]

2. You gave her an extra minute :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. Spin = more lies

They were ashamed enough of their daughter's pregnancy to keep her home. How's that for enlightenment? So she's taking correspondence courses to get her diploma. (It's a high school "diploma" - you get a "degree" in college and beyond.)

The boy has dropped out of school and is working on the North Slope as an apprentice electrician. Yeah, he's really working hard on his studies. I can imagine.

More Palin bullshit.

Those kids are as equipped to raise a child as my dead granny. They're not even together, and she's living at home, right? What a fuck-up of epic proportions. Good thing Granny Sarah's gonna make lots of money on the lecture/book circuit; she can keep the kid in Pampers.

[ogneopasno]

8. He better be getting his GED. Most, if not all, apprentice programs don't accept you unless

you have a GED or high school diploma. So if he's a member of the apprentice program and he DOESN'T get his diploma...well, that would be something for an enterprising young Alaskan journalist to check on in some spare time...

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. Really?

I wonder how he got that job?

Do you think he had some kind of connection or something?

Naw, he's probably just really smart and .... wait.... you said his girlfriend's mother was ......... what?

I think this bears an email to some sort of Alaskan newspaper, don't you?

Happy New Year!

:toast:

[ogneopasno]

11. Amazing, isn't it? Pisses me off, though...

[rainbow4321]

14. From what I have read, you have to actually HAVE your HS diploma or a GED

To be **accepted into** an apprenticeship program up there. So if he has yet to get that or is still supposedly working on getting it, how has he been already accepted and doing the training?

http://www.jobs.state.ak.us/apprentice/electrical-brochure.pdf

[ogneopasno]

16. God, that makes me SO ANGRY.

[TlalocW]

4. Interesting that they're working their butts off in high school

Apparently they weren't paying attention during the abstinence-only sex education that their mom/mom-in-law favors so much.

TlalocW

[emilyg]

21. And we all know the "abstinence-only" kids get pregnant.

[pinto]

5. Just an aside. Please don't insert photoshops into an article. It's misleading for readers.

The article and your comment(s) can stand on their own. Thanks.

[NNN0LHI]

19. Have to admit its a very good photoshop job though

:rofl:

[Roon]

6. My sister got pregnant at 17..married at 18

had her baby before her high school graduation. My sister, BIL, and baby shipped off to college where my sister had three more kids. Four in all.

Now my BIL is a bigwig for some communications company and my sister is a principal for an elemementry school.

Three of her kids are now in college and they have one that is a senior in high school.

They bought a second house to house the college kids so they wouldn't have to pay room and board to a dorm.

My Mother was very upset at the time,but my sister and BIL pulled it off and now my Mother is very proud of them. As am I..

[Muttocracy]

22. wow - they sound like amazing people! nt

[Roon]

30. They made the papers.

:-)

[Sultana]

35. Your sister and her husband are hard workers

Great story :)

[Roon]

36. Thanks

My Sister's family are very special people.

[Sultana]

38. You're welcome

I need to adopt their work ethic :D

[Roon]

42. Oh, I know

My Sister and BIL donated plasma all through college on top of their jobs. They went to food banks and got food stamps. Of course the family helped a lot too.

[Vickers]

7. "They are certainly not high school dropouts."

Huh? Later in the article she says:

'Gov. Palin told PEOPLE at the time that she hoped Levi would eventually earn a GED, adding, "I respect that Levi is out there working hard."'

(emphasis mine)

:wtf:

Can't repukes just tell the simple truth about ANYTHING?

[Ocracoker16]

12. Definitely Drop-outs-read more from People

"You need to know that both Levi and Bristol are working their butts off to parent and going to school and working at the same time," Palin told PEOPLE in a phone message Wednesday. "They are certainly not high school dropouts."

PEOPLE reported this week that Bristol, 18, who gave birth on Saturday, intends to finish her high school degree through correspondence courses. Levi, also 18, told the AP in October that he had left high school to enroll in an apprenticeship program training him as an electrician.


How does correspondence courses and earning a GED later constitute "going to school"?

[rainbow4321]

15. Palin missed a small detail..apprenticeships require a GED or diploma

See post #14

One doesn't just drop out of high school one week and then go to the nearest apprenticeship school and sign up the following week.

Perhaps she is willing to tell us what apprenticeship school he attends so the acceptance requirements can be looked at??

http://www.jobs.state.ak.us/apprenticejobs/flyers/anchorage-elec-1008.pdf

GETTING the GED is not done concurrently with the apprentice program, as much as Palin would like everyone to believe.

[Muttocracy]

24. I wonder if he's really in an apprenticeship, or just doing unskilled labor

but is sounds better to call him an apprentice?

[rainbow4321]

28. Guess we will find out if her future comments downgrade him

to "planning on entering an apprenticeship program".

[rainbow4321]

10. Shouldn't be that hard to undo the "harm" if they have the right schooling documentation

And where exactly was Bristol "working hard" at??
Tell that to the pregnant women who work up til their due date and get maybe 12 weeks off (paid IF they are lucky)--those same moms who don't have a $300,000 photo/article deal to fall back on----nor have they gotten "more gifts from around the world than they know what to do with" (per Palin's OWN FATHER in a grandparents.com online article a few weeks ago).

[Obamanaut]

17. Does being "...hard at work,,," include selling the baby pictures

for a tidy sum?

Bristol Palin Sells First Photos of Baby Son for $300,000

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/8385

[emilyg]

25. I hope this gives the baby much security.

[southernyankeebelle]

18. Don't worry

Those kids won't want for anything. Momma Moose snaps her finger and winks that eyes and wam they have jobs.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

23. My son dropped out of school this month. He was in his Senior year, with no chance of

graduating this year. He hates school. He is very bright and very bored in the classes. It has been sheer hell the past 3 years to get him to go to school, much screaming and gnashing of teeth to just get him to go. He plans on getting a GED, but he has to be out of school one year before he is allowed to take the test. His Dad wants him to get a job or get out of the house. Job? in this economy?
It's not been a very nice Holiday here. I can emphasize with Sarah on this subject.
great, i thought i was done crying about this allready.

[mnhtnbb]

26. I'm sorry to hear of the conflict regarding your son's decision.

My oldest did graduate HS, but I expected a call from the principal right up until graduation day
that he wouldn't.

We made it clear to him that if he chose not to go to college, he was expected to get a job and either
contribute to the household income or find an apartment (room with someone else).

He did get a job, move out (2004)and has been laid off twice in three years and quit a third job before being fired (car sales)for not keeping up with productivity goals.

He was last laid off right after New Year's 08, along with 2/3 of his department, tech support for an international software company. They were moving tech support to India.

He is now working full-time (permanent employee status)for a local city government doing tech support.


We have helped him financially with furniture and a down payment on his first home, a condo. We figure
it's money we would have spent on college, if he'd gone.

Although we told him--and made him--get a job if he was through with formal education, we have done everything we could to support him along the way. It hasn't been easy, but he's doing very well
for his age. He's always wanted to do things his way, and he still refuses to enroll in night school
or junior college to add credentials to his background. He's a very bright kid, self-taught on computer, and determined to live his own life. All we can do as parents is help him. Sometimes,
that means making tough decisions.

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

27. Thank you for responding, I'm glad your boy is doing okay.

Sounds alot like my son with the computer knowledge, he once hacked into my SO bosses home computer at age 12. Ouh Vey!
Looking at your post again, Your son is doing well, Full time and maybe benefits? Good, very good.
My kid at this point wants to earn a GED and to go to a Tech Collage for Computers. He is 17 and bullheaded, but does have a heart of gold. Makes me nuts, but that's par for the course.

[mnhtnbb]

31. My son is full time, permanent, with great benefits. Hopefully, working for

local government will get him through this recession without another layoff.

It's tough, but I've helped my son with his job search each time he was laid off. Both hubby
and I have advanced degrees--typical overachievers--so it's been hard dealing with a son
who wants to live his life completely differently.

I don't know how he's managed to land on his feet, each time he was laid off he got a better job
with better pay. He's very personable, so I imagine he interviews well. It doesn't hurt that he's also
6'2" thin and good looking. We have our fingers crossed that his luck will hold through the recession.

If I were in your shoes, I'd encourage your son to go out and get a job--anything--waiting tables
or bagging groceries or whatever he can find so that he'll get a taste of how tough it is to work
for a living. Our high school had a service learning hours requirement for graduation, and our son
fulfilled his hours by volunteering at jobs that used his computer skills. He was able to parlay
those hours and his self-taught knowledge into his first job fixing computers at a local computer store.
If your son can't find anything (and I suspect there are some part-time, low paying jobs out there)
then he might try to find a way to volunteer using his computer skills.

Good luck.

[Cleita]

39. I've got to agree with dad, even if it's mopping floors somewhere.

It might be the move that matures him and in a year's time he might think differently about finishing high school. It's too bad we are mixed up in those heinous wars. It used to be a tour in the military straightened out kids like him, but I wouldn't recommend it now.

[susu369]

29. So, Sarah is concerned about "reputations"

"she wanted to be clear about their continuing work toward high school degrees because any suggestion otherwise "harms Bristol's reputation and Levi's reputation and their chances for good work opportunities."

It's all about maintaining "images." Let's see how long this lasts.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. If Sarah had been concerned about reputations,

she wouldn't have drug these kids all around the campaign trail with her. She can't have it both ways. NOW she wants us to respect their privacy?? I don't think so.

[rainbow4321]

34. Oooh, here we go..she has officially commented on her own state website

Too bad for her that she directly contradicts the state requirements for being accepted INTO the electrical apprenticeship program.
I think this contradiction is officially a state matter now, Sarah, given that if he is enrolled, he and the program are not going by state laws.

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=1593


Bristol begins her final semester of high school next week where she’ll get her last credit needed to graduate. She looks forward to continuing her record of good grades and high achievement. Levi is continuing his online high school work in addition to working as an electrical apprentice on the North Slope.

[susu369]

37. Good catch!

:thumbsup:

[Blue_In_AK]

41. In Palin speak

"electrical apprentice" means "unskilled laborer." For the kids' sake, I hope it's true that they're finishing their educations, but it's difficult to keep up with Sarah's lies.

[rvablue]

33. Oh Sarah, did the primaries teach you nothing? Just because you insist on repeating something

it doesn't make it the truth.

[SammyWinstonJack]

40. I don't 'need to know' anything about Levi or Bristol or her grifter parents.

:wtf: