Sarah Palin sneers at 'conservationists who write me nasty letters': A 'Sarah Palin's Alaska' review

Sarah Palin visited a logging camp, picked up a chainsaw, and helped cut down a tree during this week’s Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Later, after playing a spirited game of “Eskimo bingo” with some loggers’ families, Palin sneered at “conservationists [who] write me nasty letters because I support [logging], usin’ their pretty little pencils and their pretty little stationery, not realizin,’ where do you think your pencil and your stationery comes from? It came from a tree that was harvested!”

As usual, Palin’s pluckiness was impressive. She held the chainsaw steady and cut where she was told by the experts, then climbed atop the fallen tree to help measure its length. Said one logger, “Beats the hell out of pilates.” Palin agreed.

The week’s recurring theme was the teenage behavior of 16 year-old Willow. Like most kids her age, Willow isn’t too interested in spending a lot of time with her parents, let alone be filmed talking with Mom about her goals in life, preferring the comfort of her smart phone and her friends. Palin offered some tough-love philosophy regarding teens to the camera: “We don’t have to pal around; I want them to obey.” After a particularly sullen response, Palin said to Willow, perhaps only half-joking, “I’m throwin’ away your cell phone.”

Speaking of communication, we witnessed the birth of last summer’s kerfuffle over “refudiate”: While on the logging trip, Palin checked messages on her Blackberry and told husband Todd that just because she’d mis-typed a letter or two in a tweet, her neologism “refudiate” was now a top Google search item.

Wearing a sweatshirt embazoned with the slogan, “Fight like a girl,” Palin proceeded to lead Todd and Willow to a stock-car track. Todd and Willow enjoyed racing the cars around the muddy circle, while Palin told us, with pride and determination regarding her daughter, “I want her to have a competitive bone in her body.” Sure enough, Willow bested Todd’s time in one race.

For the show’s final segment, the clan visited “bear country,” an area where they spotted a Kodiak bear family. This naturally put Mama Grizzly in a contemplative frame of mind: “When I saw Mama Bear and her two cubs, I get it — I knew exactly what she was thinkin.'”

You didn’t think a holiday weekend was going to keep me from reviewing Sarah Palin’s Alaska for you, did you?

Next week: the one you’ve been waiting for — the two-hour season finale of Sarah Palin’s Alaska!

Twitter: @kentucker