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Sarah Palin stood firm against wasteful government spending today, rejecting $28.6 million dollars in stimulus funds. “Alaskans and our communities have a long history of independence and opposing many mandates from Washington, D.C, ” she proclaimed. Well, Alaska has already accepted about $930 million in other stimulus money, so what was the program that Palin found so pernicious? It turns out that this money would have gone to energy efficiency—weatherizing homes against the bitter cold, that kind of thing.

Alaska, of course, is quite a chilly place, and its inhabitants pay the highest energy costs in the nation. The money will now probably flow to other states instead— Palin was the only governor in the country to reject energy efficiency funds. But as shivering Alaskans worry about their electricity bills this winter, they can at least take comfort in the fact that Palin is keeping her relationship with the GOP base toasty warm.