The  98-page divorce file shows that the Palins are only mentioned in Richter's motion to seal the records.  (See a copy of the motion after the jump.)

According to the motion, Richter wanted the documents deemed confidential to keep reporters/media/press from obtaining details about his address, workplace, and phone numbers because "reporters and news agencies" were using that information to contact him. 

Richter, a 39-year-old contractor, noted that he is "friends and land owners in a remote cabin" with the Palins and, as a result, journalists were intruding on the "cabin life and private life" of him and his 11-year-old son. The petition to dissolve the marriage was filed jointly last July by Richter and his ex-wife, who were not represented by lawyers. A judge granted the dissolution less than two months after the couple filed to end their marriage.

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Debbie Richter says that it wasn't her ex that had an affair with VP Barbie, Sarah Palin. The ex-wife of a man some have suggested may have had an affair with Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin says it's "absolutely, completely false" that her ex had an affair with Ms. Sarah.

"I can tell you this with 1,000 percent certainty, Sarah Palin never had an affair," said Debbie Richter when reached on Friday afternoon.

The rumor that her now ex-husband, Scott Richter, had an affair with Sarah Palin gained momentum after the National Enquirer reported she had been romantically involved with one of Todd Palin's former business associates.

The John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign threatened to sue over the story.

The National Enquirer has at least hinted that Palin had an affair with a former business associate of Todd Palin.

It would be easy to dismiss as pure tabloid trash, but this next piece of information makes the latest Palin scandal at least a little intriguing.As we posted yesterday, Debbie's ex filed an emergency motion on Wed. to have their divorce records sealed. 

"As soon as he realized that there was going to be a barrage of media inquiries, he went to the court house in his little town and requested that our divorce information be sealed," she told Us.

"The reason he did that is he just doesn't want his financial information hanging around out there in the wind," she said. "It caused some speculation that he had something to hide and he doesn't really have anything to hide except that he's just a private person."

When asked how she would describe Palin, Debbie responded by saying she is "driven, committed to public service, determined and not easily swayed from her goal."

"If she wants something her way and she has an opinion about it, that's the way it's going to be for her," Debbie added.

The Palins and Richters own property on Safari Lake together, according to Matanuska-Susitna Borough property records that we linked to in earlier posts.

Meanwhile, other sources are saying that Palmer High School Hockey Coach and Hockey Mom Lover Brad Hanson is the man who the National Enquirer is going to break as Sarah's "secret affair" partner.   You can see his photo and infor in our posts from late yesterday evening.

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We snagged this ditty with thanks from "Vantwerp Calling."

The www.washingtonindependent.com posted a verified reader letter/comment from Anne Kilkenny, a Wasilla, Alaska, woman who has known the honorable governor personally since 1992.

Quote from http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate#comment-1994895:

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP  (PS - Yes, that's Tina Faye but what's the difference?)

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans.Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once. These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state. In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys“. Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated” her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party) engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit, exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a fiscal conservative. Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.

They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state initiative that would have either a) protected salmon streams from pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President. There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she. However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.”

"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and outstanding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, and empires only. They founded, if any at all, no more than material power which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man merged not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples and dynasties but millions of men in one third of the inhabited world, and more than that, moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and the souls on the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become law. He created a spiritual nationality of every tongue and of every race.” 

This is what Lamartine a French historian wrote in his book, History of Turkey Vol. 2, page 76-77)

“Head of the state as well as the Church, he was Caesar and Pope in one, but he was Pope without the Pope's pretensions, and Caesar without the legions of Caesar, without a standing army, without a body guard, without a palace, without a fixed revenue. If ever a man had the right to rule by a right divine, it was Muhammad for he had all the power without the instruments and without its supports."

This is what Rev. Boswell Smith wrote in Muhammad and Muhammadanism.

"If the object of religion be the inculcation of morals, the diminution of evil, the promotion of human happiness, the expansion of the human intellect, if the performance of good works will avail in the great day when mankind shall be summoned to its final reckoning it is neither irreverent nor unreasonable to admit that Muhammad was indeed an Apostle of God." 

This is what S. P. Scott wrote in, History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, p. 126.

(For more information on the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the Eyes of Non-Muslims visit 

http://www.alislam.org/library/links/eyes.html) 

Humor is not real.  Most people have the good ability of pointing out what is funny, and they know when its appropriate to laugh.  The phrase "good sense of humor" refers to humor as a sense.  Maybe it is.  Maybe it is as simple to us as the sense of touch or taste.  What if it is, but only for a select cast.  The unchosen would have their ability to interpret that sense restricted more than others.  If this is true, then how many other "intuitions" are just suppressed senses.  The reason we cannot understand some things around us is not that they just "can't be explained",  our ability to explain them has just been missing.  Humans contain much more potential than some will ever know.  Those with elite senses would command all rivals.  Train the mind.  For the children of Earth are future warriors of the times to come.  United by species when living no longer divided by color.  No longer fighting for a country or continent.  Soon my children, with advances in the human mind, we will join as what we truly are.  We shall walk side by side, fight by a common name, and die with a pride greater than any other.

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Not really sure when HBO's new series "True Blood" will go on the air, but until then here are the opening credits. Kinda' long for my taste. Still, the song's really cool, it fits the theme well. Oh, and is it me or are opening cretis becoming extinct? Me - I'm excited to see Anna Paquin.

I've got to admit the premise for the series sounds somewhat weird and interesting, in a "dead like me kind of way", so I hope it'll live up to my expectations, though vampires seem to be very popular these days (Twilight...) Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Dr Jesus was bored of his job. He was a Doctor. All day long he had to sit and listen to whinging old women talk about their piles or how they think they might have Cancer. "What a boring job" said Jesus, his face slumped in his hands "I want to have an adventure. That'll cheer me right up".

Dr Jesus left his office and headed straight home. He didn't want to be found skiving so he teleported home using his Christ powers, and left a mirror image of himself at his desk. "Ho ho ho" he muttered to himself "They'll never find out" he smirked.

Once home, he packed up a few adventure necessities; a couple of Orange Kit Kats and a length of rope, followed by a sleeping bag and a change of socks. "I reckon that's all I'll need for my adventure" said Jesus to a passing Swan "I can't imagine I'll be gone for long".

So off he went on his adventure. He ventured through the Mysterious Forest of Large Sleeves, he climbed over the Terrible Moutain of Crazy Sand and walked the length of the Boris Yeltzin Desert, until finally he arrived at the Ocean.

"However am I to venture across this Ocean?" Jesus wept "Could this be the end to my fantastic adventure? I really don't want to go back to looking at old people all day". Jesus sat on the sandy shores in solemn solidarity, silently seeking some soft soul to advise him. Suddenly, a flutter of magic wings surrounded him.

"God almighty!" shouted Dr Jesus "What the flying buggery is this?!" he exclaimed as feathers fell about his person.
"It is I" boomed a terrible voice from another dimension "Senor Magpie!" - Jesus was dead shocked.
"Who are you!?" he shouted.
"I am your spirit guide, here to advise you as you so wished within your heart" boomed the mighty bird.
"Zoinks!" said Jesus "That's wicked!"
"Your journey cannot end here" said the mighty Bird "There are things across that Ocean that you could only dream of" he nodded.
Jesus sat and listened to the bird's advice. He was to walk on water, as explained by the bird.
"How can I walk on water?" said Jesus "It's physically impossible, and only someone with immense fictional powers could pull it off".
"You are the Son of God" said the majestic creature "You can do owt you want" he winked.

Jesus believed in the bird. He set a foot upon the water and realised, with much realisation, that he could do it. He began to walk at first, the run, his feet treading the surface like small cakes in a bath of cooking oil.

"This is super!" shouted Jesus back to the bird, who was now flapping it's wings and flying above and behind him "Thanks for all your help Senor Magpie. You're my saviour!"
"Not a problem!" boomed Senor Magpie "Good luck on your adventures!" he cried, and with that, he was gone, a poof of black feathers floated merrily toward the Ocean.

After hours of walking, Jesus finally reached his destination, a small Island that, at first, seemed completely ordinary. As Jesus adventured some more, he found that the Island was covered with Pear trees, the fruit of which tasted so delicious, Jesus cried with astonishing vigour.
"I love Pears!" he screamed as loud as he could "And these are the most amazing Pears I've ever had, and I've had loads" he finished.

Dr Jesus decided that he would denounce his Doctorism and live on the Island forever more, feasting on the Amazing Pears for the rest of his life, and it was all thanks to the amazing Senor Magpie and his wonderful advice. Jesus ate amazing Pears every single day up until his crucifixion, and eventual resurrection, and even now, in Heaven, he still eats amazing Pears, and never once wishes to be a Doctor once more. Not once.

Well Im not sure. I have taken the personality assessment several times, and at first I was not sure if I was an INFJ or INFP, and often I still wonder, but perhaps its the characteristics of myself that I simply do not want to admit. But my DH took it three times, and got different results each time. The one thing that was consistent was the fact that he is in the middle of each area, a pretty balanced person.

"How much weight do you put in these things," he asked

A lot, I enjoy learning about myself, and this personality thing was just the beginning. Ive learned so much about myself, it has really allowed me to except myself for who I am, and in fact, express myself more about who I am, instead of trying to fit in. I never will, and thats ok. Thats what makes me, me !

I mean ok, INFJ's are 1% of the population, especially women. I think that is pretty cool. Ive always been the type of person that likes to feel unique and different from others. This really takes the cake. Not that I will go around saying, there is only 1% out there like me. But it truly explains a lot.

But there are things that are negative characteristics in us all. For me, one of those is also a good characteristic, I just need to learn when not to let it get the best of me.

When I am very passionate about something, it is very difficult to sway me, and my opinion else where. I feel like my intuition serves a great purpose in my life. I just listen to it, and follow it; and Im usually right.

So when some one comes along with a different opinion, especially about something like homeschooling, or God. I honestly think, one day they will see the light.

That is a problem, and I know I can be stubborn. I need to see things from other perspectives, and I try I really do, and sometimes I am open, just not with things I really feel I know what Im talking about, like homeshcooling, and God.

So thats #1- Dont be so stubborn, you dont know everything !

I started with the display refrigerators.  I knew that the Arneg brand from Italy was gorgeous but they break a lot.  At Bedford, ours leaked water repeatedly, the coils froze, the supports collapsed, and they didn't keep the temperature very even.  I found the Federal brand's market series to be in line with my aesthetic and I asked the fish guy at Grand Central how his have held up for him.  He said that he has had no trouble in ten years.  Sounds great but I knew that they were not the best.  Our architect recommended that I check out the Southern Fixtures brand from Alabama.  They make custom "store fixtures" which was a new term to me.  Hugh told me that the Grand Central Murray's uses that brand.  Here it is:

The front glass is flat and it seems sturdy.  We're going to go for them.  We are getting one 8 ft. case and one corner case.  

The other refrigeration units we need:

A single unit glass door refrigerator (for drinks and butters),

A matching single unit glass door freezer (for frozen sauces, pastas and gelati),

A single unit under counter glass door refrigerator (for meats and cheese storage in the front of the house),

A 27" wide sandwich prep unit (where you keep your toppings for sandwiches),

A two unit solid door refrigerator, back of house,

A single unit solid door freezer, back of house (backstock frozen food plus par-baked breads).

       All of this equipment we are getting from the TR series made by True.  I looked at the Hoshizaki refrigerators for the sales area because they are more beautiful than the True models.  But the TR series is the top line from True and they are one of the biggest producers in the business.  Read: repairmen should know how to fix them.  I liked the Hoshizaki equipment but they don't make freezers with glass doors so I didn't end up ordering them.  Apparently they are really durable and very reliable, I was told that Burger King uses them.  When I was at a Cinnabon on the New Jersey Turnpike the other day, I noticed that they had Hoshizaki equipment in the back!  Maybe it's good that we picked something different...

The other equipment we need:

Two scales with calculators and printers,

Two heavy-duty slicers (Univex was recommended to me as a machine powerful enough for slicing cheese),

A half size convection oven for finishing par-baked bread (there aren't many European style bakers around here!),

One panini press with two pressing grills,

Two hand sinks,

One three basin sink,

One mop sink,

One food processor (for making our own spreads out of olives or pre-roasted vegetables).

Yesterday I called Sandy from Restaurant Equipment in Cambridge, MD to let her know that we need to order the Southern Fixtures ASAP.  The Southern cases take about 8-10 weeks to be built which is about how long our construction is going to take.  The True stuff should take about 4-6 weeks to arrive and the sinks and scales can be ready in one or two weeks.

This is the final installment of a nine-part series of articles offering sound reasons to believe the Bible is the Word of God.

In Systematic Theology (Vol. I), Dr. Norman Geisler presents many lines of evidence supporting claims for the Bible as the Word of God. In unique fashion, he labels each line of evidence with a word beginning with the letter "S," making his arguments relatively easy to follow and remember. This article borrows his headings and then incorporates some of Geisler's research with numerous other sources, which are cited.

Reason 9: The testimony of the saved

• The Bible's life-changing power is widely known through the testimony of those who have come to know Christ. The apostle Paul, once known as a Christ-hating persecutor, declared, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek" (Rom. 1:16).
• The writer of Hebrews declares: "For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as to divide soul, spirit, joints, and marrow; it is a judge of the ideas and thoughts of the heart" (Heb. 4:12).
• Peter added, "... you have been born again - not of perishable seed but of imperishable - through the living and enduring word of God" (1 Peter 1:23).
• The celebrated British archaeologist Sir William Ramsay, who began his studies as a skeptic, became a Christian after exploring the sites of Paul's journeys firsthand and comparing them with the testimony of Acts ("The Historical Reliability of the New Testament," Craig L. Blomberg, Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics,  p. 220).
• Testimonies throughout the centuries and in this day speak emphatically and gloriously of the power of God's Word to bring about a conviction of sin and forgiveness of that sin by faith in Jesus Christ.

Summary

Geisler concludes, "The Bible is the only known book in the world that both claims to be and proves to be the Word of God.... The testimony of science that demonstrates it, of the scrolls that transmit it, the scribes who wrote it, the supernatural that confirms it, the structure that manifests it, the stones that support it, the Savior who verified it, the Spirit that witnesses to it, and the saved who have been transformed by it. These combined testimonies confirm that the Bible is what it claims to be - the divinely inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God" (Systematic Theology, Vol. I, p. 561).