Additional photo commentary

I have been rather shocked at the number of people who have written to me today to counter the photo analysis... stating that the photos posted yesterday are not in the kitchen of the Palin home in Wasilla. (Just as an aside, another question that has come up is why does the kitchen look so different from the kitchen in the Elan Frank videos. The answer is THAT kitchen is at the governor's mansion in Juneau. They look so different because they are different.) First, I have numerous other screen shots that I did not post... I thought the one I did post was conclusive. But in some of the other shots you can clearly see the upholstery and the arms on the chairs... it matches the chair that Mercedes is sitting in. You can also see that the family uses the wall to the left of the refrigerator to post papers, etc. I am 100% sure of this identification.

Another thing that has been mentioned numerous time is this photo.


I have had several people insist that wherever the Mercedes Johnston photos were taken, this one of the Heaths was taken in the same place. Several people have agreed with MY identification of the Palin kitchen, but then said that since this was taken the same day as the birth, with Gov. Palin's parents, this proves there was a home birth! They seem to be basing this on the similar tone of the wood.

This is not true. The photo of the Heaths was taken at Mat-Su Hospital. KTUU TV in Anchorage sent a film crew; according to the website, the interview was filmed at some point during the afternoon of April 18th, which was the day Trig was born.

Here is another picture of another family with a baby, from the hospital's website. While I am not 100% sure it's the same room (there seems to be a nook of some sort visible in the room below behind the mother which is not visible behind Mr. Heath, though it could just be a quirk of the camera angle) there's no question that the drapes are the same, as is the cabinetry. Also note the match on the top of the sofa visible behind the dad in the picture below.


I want to be very accurate about photos. Why? Because a picture IS worth a thousand words. When this story "broke" on August 30th, the two "top" pieces of evidence cited over and over were two photos of Bristol allegedly showing a "baby-bump." I am not going to repost them here, but they are at this link on my website if people want to look at them again. (Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.) One picture, it turned out had been taken in the summer of 2007. I still don't know for sure when the other was taken but it was probably fall of 2006. Neither photo showed Bristol Palin during the time period that "someone" was pregnant with Trig. When these two photos, on which so many had based so much, were disproved, panicked, a lot of people who had started questioning dropped the story... when they should not have. There were still many valid questions about the birth story itself. Many legitimate paths for investigation. And the opportunity was lost because many jumped to what might have been a true conclusion, based on false (and disprovable!) evidence.

So if it seems that I am a bit of a stickler for accuracy in photo identification, that's why.