Piper the Diaper gets a promotion from child care to security staff.

Raw Video: Sarah Palin In Philly: MyFoxPHILLY.com

I have to say that if this were MY child body checking an adult she would find herself on that RV so fast it would make her little head spin, and she would be getting a lecture on showing respect to her elders and basic good manners.

Of course I would NEVER have subjected my family to this three ring circus in the first place, since I am a REAL family values progressive, and not a pathetic phony like the Grizzled Mama.

Now for all of you who came over the other day to give me a hard time about reporting that Piper has been described as a "diva" at her school, what do you have to say now?

(If the video will not play you can try visiting here.)

Sarah Palin to visit Donald Trump for pointers on how to run a fake campaign,

Courtesy of First Read:

Just in case you thought that Sarah Palin's press-goosechase bus tour of the I-95 corridor couldn't get any more surreal...

Michael Cohen, special counsel to Donald Trump, confirms to NBC News that the real estate mogul and his wife will meet and dine with Palin and her husband Tuesday night in New York City.

Cohen tells NBC News that Palin and Trump had previously discussed meeting up the next time Palin visited the city.

I wonder if Palin is asking for ideas on which excuse to use when she quits this fake non-campaign of hers?

Remember when Trump quit he made it sound like it was a victory for him, essentially saying "I made the President show his long form birth certificate, I am going to quit while I'm ahead!."

The challenge for Sarah Palin is quitting before anybody can shame her into a debate, but not before she has soaked up as much attention and Palin-bot loose change as possible.

Ken Morris, co-author of "Blind Allegiance," provides a little more insight into Sarah Palin's bizarre religious convictions.

Author Ken Morris

Courtesy of Truthout:

From the very beginning, Sarah had a plan that God would answer her Jabez-like prayers. And while none of us (Frank, me, and third co-author Jeanne Devon) believe God played any part, amazingly her dream for riches came true; the three of us decided that she’d have been wiser to pray for happiness.

Well documented in Blind Allegiance, Sarah came to relate to yet another Biblical figure, Queen Esther, going so far as to borrow the one-time savior of the Jewish people’s most famous line on several occasions: “If I die, I die.” In our book, we document several emails where the governor (who said repeatedly, “I hate this damn job”) marveled at how God chose her, above all others, for divine purpose. And while Frank was blindly allegiant to a woman he once truly believed was Ronald Reagan in a dress, Sarah was no less blind in her own faith in herself. She became convinced that she had Reagan’s so-called steely spine. She swore publicly that her skin was rhino thick, even to the point of lecturing Hilary Clinton to buck up and adopt Sarah’s ability to take the heat in the political kitchen. Frank and the others who knew the backbone filleted, thin-skinned truth, choked at the words despite continuing to believe in her mission. Not everyone in this world, they rationalized, is self-aware. If this were her only fault, they could live with that.

Unfortunately, this was the least of the character flaws that made her, in Frank’s words, “…not only ill-suited to head a political party or occupy national office, but would lead to a disaster of, well, biblical proportions.”

Sarah was, at best, an Old Testament Christian (an oxymoron since Christianity began with the birth of Christ and the creation of the New Testament). And she was a revisionist at that. An eye for an eye became two eyes for an eye. Eventually she translated that into the belief that any perceived slight deserved nothing less than personal destruction. Even in the case of a man of God, who championed what Sarah claimed was her most cherished principal - the preservation of unborn life - when causing her public embarrassment suffered her wrath. After one of her famous last-minute charity event cancellations (so that she could finish her lacquered biography in time for Christmas sales) even he became a target. She ordered Frank Bailey to do opposition research on this man, searching through sex offender and criminal files, telling Frank, “Find something. He must have something on him that we can use.”

After returning to Alaska from the McCain/Palin defeat, as Blind Allegiance so shockingly documents, Sarah did virtually nothing but attack enemies and work the national media for attention. She pledged to go only on Fox News because they were the only fair and balanced network. Even this week, when Frank Bailey courageously went on Sean Hannity’s show, Fox demonstrated how "fair and balanced" they were when Hannity, in a pique of his own defensiveness, asked Frank, "Okay, what would you ask Sarah if you were me?" Frank said, "Ask her why she broke campaign finance law and illegally coordinated with the Republican Governors Association during the campaign," an event painstakingly documented in our book. Not only did she illegally coordinate we prove, but she blatantly misrepresented that truth in her public statements. What did Sean Hannity do with this little exchange? He edited it out of the interview, and did not tell his viewers they were watching an edited tape he advertised on his website as “Sean battles Frank Bailey over his controversial book about Sarah Palin.” Yeah, Sean Hannity cut it clean out, but left his otherwise nonstop attacks, not allowing Frank to complete his sentences. Is this what journalism has become? Is that what Fox means when they claim to be fair and balanced? For what it is worth, Frank reported to me this morning that he may still be a Fox News conservative, but he is no longer a Sean Hannity conservative. That's progress.

I have long known that Palin's "religious conviction" was only truly felt when she was looking to God for some heavenly support, but at other times used simply to manipulate true believers into supporting her cause. She used her Wasilla congregation to trash opponent John Stein while running for the Mayor of Wasilla, manipulated the religious pro-life proponents to help her shoehorn her way onto the McCain ticket, and often calls on "prayer warriors" to seek divine protection on her behalf from media blow back that results from her ridiculous public statements.

However from everything I have heard about Frank Bailey, he truly IS a very religious person, and it was that shortcut into his heart that Palin used to seduce him into her camp. (Yes, her looks definitely played a part in that seduction as well. But I am not sure that Bailey was aware how much it did until much later on.)

And now poor Bailey is seeing first hand the kind of duplicitous behavior embraced by yet ANOTHER idol of his, Sean Hannity.  I have a feeling that due to these media experiences Frank is undergoing quite the "coming to Jesus moment" right before our eyes.

Which brings me to some good news.

I received confirmation yesterday that Frank IS willing to do an interview with me, and I hope to do that interview sometime next week.

Now before you all get your hopes up, let me tell you that I will NOT be asking if Bailey's opinion on babygate has changed.  As you all know if he were to suggest that his mind had been changed, and that Sarah did not give birth to Trig, it could very well damage his credibility and negatively impact his book sales.

However there are a number of questions about some of his observations that might give us a few more clues.  And there are also some behind the scenes stories that both Frank and I know that will lead to some very interesting new facts being revealed which might make this interview quite juicy indeed.

Anyhow that is currently planned for sometime next week.  If plans change, or for some reason Frank decides to bail, I will let you know.  But I have to say, after the brutal attack he suffered at the hands of Sean Hannity, he cannot be too worried about what I will do.

After all, I'm a nice guy. Right?

When it comes to overcoming the odds and letting nothing stand in our way, this little dog could teach ALL of us a lesson.

Courtesy of Time Magazine:

Three weeks after a series of tornadoes blew through Alabama, leveling everything in their path, a family in North Smithfield returned to their damaged home to sift through debris. Miraculously, they found their missing dog Mason waiting for them on the porch.

With both of his front legs broken and his fur matted and dirty, Mason had obviously been through a terrible ordeal. According to MyFox Alabama, the terrier mix was hiding in his garage when the storm picked him up and blew him away. For weeks, his family searched but found no sign of their scrappy pup.

"This is probably the most dramatic we've seen as far as an injury in an animal that's survived this long," Phil Doster of the Birmingham-Jefferson County Animal Control Shelter told MyFox Alabama. "For an animal just to show up on someone's porch after this time was pretty remarkable, especially with the condition he's in."

We have seen a lot of amazing stories emerge after these devastating tornadoes, but for some reason I simply could NOT stop thinking about this one.

I don't have anything terribly witty or enlightening to add to this story, in fact I choke up so bad when I read it that I can barely type.

But I just thought it was a story worth sharing.  Hopefully you agree.

This is just rude.

 

From Reuters:

Palin was a no-show for supporters, celebrity-watchers and media waiting hours for her at the Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg on Monday, but her tour bus reportedly was spotted at a nearby hotel, making it likely she would appear in public Tuesday.

Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, is on a tour of historic sites on the East Coast -- fueling speculation she might be testing the waters for a run at the presidency in 2012.

But the former Alaska governor isn't advising the media of her itinerary, leaving supporters as well as reporters guessing where she will appear next.

Several hundred people gathered on a hot, sunny day for a glimpse of the woman who supporters are hoping will inject some life into a slow-moving race for the Republican nomination to take on President Barack Obama next year.

Some of those gathered at Gettysburg were puzzled by the goal of her tour, which seemed designed to attract public attention despite a lack of information.

"In a way it's cool. In a way it's, 'Whaa?'" said John Hower, a baker who drove for three hours from Berwick, Pennsylvania, with two friends to see Palin. "She's trying to avoid the media. But I'd like to see the bus. We're, like, where's this bus?"

"I'm disappointed. Yeah, I would have liked to have seen her," said Sharon Danielski, who left after a nine-hour vigil.

It is one thing to play the prick tease with the media, but these people are innocent victims who might actually be uninformed and low functioning enough to support her candidacy. (Yeah I tried to be nice, but seriously people buy a clue!)

However if she keeps this kind of thing up, she might start chipping away at her base of support, one disappointed paint eater at a time.

Of course if she HAD shown up, like she did earlier at Gettysburg, all they would get to see is one badly sunburned, poorly dressed grandmother, with a bored little girl in tow, and a mouthful of lies and word salad to dispense.



You know if she REALLY did not want to "disrupt people on their trips and on their vacations, and make it chaotic for these good folks" perhaps she might consider leaving the ostentatious bus in a parking lot someplace and visiting the historic landmarks like every other American tourist.  Or can't SarahPAC justify paying for it that way?

Klondike Kardashian shakes her money maker for Greta Van Susteren.

Lady the media is not going crazy trying to figure out what you are doing.  The know what you are doing.

Yep that about sums it up!

They are just following you on a relatively slow news day, just like they did Donald Trump, and Newt Gingrich, right before they ended up self destructing.  And when your shelf life expires, they will step over your still twitching carcass and move on to the next political flavor of the month.

Count on it!

About those Palin books...

I just returned from visiting my local Barnes & Noble store where I was picking up a hard copy of Frank Bailey's book (There are a couple of intriguing pictures which did not show up on my Nook).

I became a little discouraged when it took me a long time to locate one, and when I did it was tucked almost completely out of sight in the political book section.

When I went to make my purchase I complained about how hard it was to find and asked why there was only the one. 

The nice lady behind the counter said, 'Oh we can't keep that one on the shelves."  She further told me that just as soon as they put them out on the display, they are bought up and they have to order more.

"To be honest," she said. "I am surprised you found that one."

I then decided to ask about Geoffrey's book and was told virtually the same information, however she did point to a display table that had about seven of his books still available for purchase.

I came away feeling very gratified that Alaskans were so interested in finally learning the unvarnished truth about the woman who had redefined our state in a fairly horrific manner to millions of people across the country.

Currently Bailey's book, Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin is ranked number one in Amazon's  Bestsellers in State & Local Government, number five in the category of  Politics, and number twenty five in Memoirs.

Geoffrey Dunn's book, The Lies of Sarah Palin,  has suffered from a much less energetic publicity campaign than Frank Bailey's.  However it is, as of this post, number thirteen on Amazon's  Bestsellers in Political Leader Biographies category, and in the category of Bestsellers in Womens' Biographies it is currently ranked thirty one.

So as you can see despite the desperate attempts by the Palin media trolls to discredit them, these books are really doing pretty well.  Not only that, as Geoffrey Dunn recently pointed out in a phone conversation, these books are really ALL describing "the same person."  Whether it be Baily's book, Dunn's book, or even the book being written by Joe McGinniss, the main character will be easily recognizable from one book to another. (And the same can be said for the upcoming babygate book as well.)

That is the simple truth when revealing the actual facts about somebody.  No matter where those facts are laid out, whether in a book, a movie, a documentary, or even on a blog, that person will always be the same no matter from which angle they are being viewed.  Fake tan, fake glasses, herpes sores, and all.

It is only in the mythological realm where Palin WANTS people to learn about her, such as her book "Going Rogue," her ill fated reality television show, or this ridiculous movie, "The Undefeated," that facts become constantly mutating bits of protozoa, which tend to expand, stretch, or evolve depending through which medium they are observed.

And my friends that is exactly why Sarah Palin does not want to you to read these books, visit this blog, or see her interviewed by a real reporter.  The magic trick only works if you cannot see up the magicians sleeve or what is really happening behind the curtain, because once the smoke and mirrors are removed the magic is all but gone.

In other words Palin-bots, once you finally see Sister Sarah for who she really is, "Poof!" She will be no more.

Greta Van Susteren on Sarah Palin: " She is not obliged to tell me or my crew where she is going."

Apparently Snowdrift Snooki is refusing to tell even BFF Greta what her plans are for the future, but Greta did make an interesting point about why Palin simply does not give interviews to anybody other than Fox News.

On her blog Gretawire Van Susteren interviews herself on all things Palin:

Is she giving a press conference today? or giving another interview?

I don’t think so. She can’t. She works for Fox, and just as with any employee or someone on contract with another network, she is contractually obliged NOT to speak to others. For instance, when I was in Haiti, I could not interview CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta or when I want to talk politics, I can’t interview CNN’s Donna Brazile. They work for another network. As far as I know, her contract is like every other media contract and that means it would be a breach of contract to speak to other media outlets. ** She is in an unusual situation in that we in the media have made her into a media topic by virtue of us always talking about her. She, of course, contributes to that intense interest by painting a bus and taking a tour and taking a tour to historic sites.

Where is her bus tour going ?

You got me. My producer who talked to someone who works with her in order to set up the interview told me last night that he would not tell her. We were told to check their website for any information they are releasing. He said they don’t want the media following them and that includes us. Well…with the intense interest in her by everyone (almost everyone) in the media, that is, I suspect, going to happen. The media will probably be in hot pursuit. I do know where she is this morning since I am meeting up with the bus with our crew. She is not obliged to tell me or my crew where she is going. I guess that is like my contract – I am not obliged to tell Fox where I vacation.

Van Sustern's point about Palin NOT being able to give interviews to any other news organization besides Fox is an interesting one, in that it is essentially the perfect excuse for her not to give access to CNN, or ABC, or NBC, while simply using her Fox contract as a shield against accusations of inaccessibility or unpreparedness.

In fact that might be another reason why she has not yet quit that job. If she were no longer working for Fox, and still wanted to tease the low hanging fruit that she might start a campaign, she would have a much harder time avoiding media demands that she make a decision about that one way or the other.

As it is by only giving Fox access to her, she can, in some ways, control the questions and keep herself from being embarrassed. Well, any more than usual that is.

It is still my firm belief that she will NOT actually run a true campaign, but she is definitely going to play the tease, and get as much attention and money as possible using what I now call the "Strip Club" approach to politics.

You see Palin will gladly work that pole, while undulating for the masses to keep their eyes glued on her for the possibility she might actually reveal something to satisfy their lust.

Yet all she will provide is some partisan tongue action which will thrill her pasty white, never been touched by a woman base, while disgusting the majority of America.

And when that fails to sufficiently titillate her audience she will attempt to draw attention to her few remaining assets, in the hopes they will be distracted from her less than satisfying performance.

Often she may need to use extraordinary means to accentuate these asssets, in order to give them the appearance of being far more impressive than what nature provided.

And when her bag of tricks has been depleted she will then have to drag up onto the stage another surgically enhanced performer to draw the attention away from her own withered attributes while still presenting her metaphoric g-string for those last few wrinkled dollar bills.

I think it should be obvious that Palin wants to keep this tease going as long as humanly possible, because when the last song is played, and her supporters shuffle out of the darkened club and back to their real lives, Sarah Palin will be nothing but a middle aged grandmother, dreaming of the glory days when she was the political fantasy of thousands of Republicans across the country.

And THAT does not paint a pretty picture for the future of this most divisive of political personalities.  Not a pretty picture at all.

Perhaps the best thing for any of those promoting Sarah Palin's possible candidacy to keep in mind, is the disappointing lesson that many men learn while sitting in a darkened room watching the glistening form of an exotic creature they have convinced themselves is dancing just for them, no matter what is promised, "There is NO sex in the champagne room!"

And there is NO chance that Sarah Palin will ever be President of the United States.

(Thank God!)

Ram gets the Taiwan animation treatment.

By the way it has now been ten days since Sarah Palin's biggest fan last tweeted.

Has anybody thought to start dredging Lake Lucille yet?

While others made fools of themselves this Memorial Day weekend, our President was quietly comforting those in despair.

Courtesy of Obama Diary

:

Sarah Palin's appearance at the Rolling Thunder event was just as disruptive and disrespectful as was predicted. Updated!

Courtesy of Talking Points Memo:

"I'm very not appreciative of the way she came in here," Ted Shpak, Rolling Thunder's national legislative director, told Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post. "If she wanted to come on the ride, she should have come in the back." (Palin, instead, came in the front of the Pentagon's north parking lot, where event staff and press had gathered.)

Palin, along with her husband Todd and daughters Bristol and Piper, proceeded into D.C. on bikes from the Pentagon parking lot to the Vietnam Memorial and later to the National Mall. Palin reportedly planned to visit the National Archive to view the Constitution later in the day.

This was supposed to be a solemn event to honor our missing service and fallen warrirs, and instead Palin turned into a three ring circus.

Shameful.

Update: Oh my God!  Why in the hell did she need to write on her hand to ride a freaking motorcycle?

(H/T to Oliver Willis.)

Palin straps on her S&M gear and disrespectfully attempts to hijack event out from under veteran's group.

From Political Ticker:

She delivered her message on the National Mall as part of the "Rolling Thunder" rally in honor of Memorial Day. "Rolling Thunder" is a non-profit organization dedicated to the search for American military personnel who are prisoners of war or missing in action.

The former Alaska governor and potential 2012 presidential candidate thanked "Rolling Thunder" for making sure Americans "don't forget it's our vets whom we owe a debt of gratitude."

"I'm an American. I have no title. I have no office," Palin told CNN's Sandra Endo. "To be an American citizen with the freedom to come out here and assemble to thank you veterans, I can't tell you how honored I am to be invited to participate."

After driving on a motorcycle and walking on the Mall with her husband Todd and daughters Bristol and Piper, Palin met with veterans and families associated with the "Rolling Thunder" organization.

Shameless, self promoting bimbo! Every time I think she cannot go any lower she proves me wrong!

As if to prove what an absolute phony she is, Palin apparently wore HIGH HEELS while riding on the back of that motorcycle:

Palin also has taken no evident steps toward the on-the-ground organizing that's central to a real campaign. Yet as she walked through the steamy Pentagon parking lot in her heels and short-sleeved black T-shirt, it was obvious she still has her fans eager to snap pictures and get her signature.

Oh for God's sake! I am still amazed that people in this country are stupid enough to take this pathetic fraud seriously.

Oh by the way for those people who have been asking me where Willow has been all of this time, and WHY she is not accompanying Palin on these publicity jaunts, I have some new information for you.

I had a long conversation with a good friend in Wasilla, who informed me that Willow was essentially kicked out of Palmer's Colony High for disciplinary reasons.  My friend said that the Colony High principle is a dyed in the wool Palin-bot but that he simply could not keep her enrolled because she flatly refused to follow the disciplinary procedures required to be reinstated back into the school after she was suspended. (Sorry I don't know what the initial reason was for the suspension.)

However the drama does not end there, as the decision was then made to home school Willow.  Sally Heath was recruited to find retired teachers among her friends, willing to help Willow complete her assignments.

Apparently Willow has developed quite the attitude, and the potty mouth to go long with it, and has, as of this posting, gone through FOUR of Sally's friends and acquaintances.  My understanding is that Willow is so COMPLETELY disrespectful that these veteran teachers simply refuse to put up with her, regardless of the compensation provided.

I have also heard that Sarah is virtually NEVER in Wasilla, and Todd is only there sporadically, so there is really no structure provided and Willow has suffered, probably more than any of the others, from the neglect.

As for Piper she was attending Cottonwood Elementary where some had referred to as a "diva," and where she apparently missed almost as many classes as she was present for. I have no idea how much longer they will be able to keep her enrolled as I do believe there is minimal attendance requirement.

Concerning Trig I have heard nary a peep recently.  The last thing I heard of any interest was that he was turning into quite a handful and that Sarah had a family helping with his care when she was unable to be home.  Which lately has been almost constant.

And of course we all know what's up with Bristol.

So much for family values. I guess nobody ever explained to Sarah that these are thinking, feeling human beings, and NOT just handy political props.

Update:  Here is a picture of Palin doing that weird tongue she does, which makes everybody wonder if she is on medication.

BTW my source in Wasilla is a real Christian conservative who finds Palin's constant lies about her faith, family, and intelligence to be especially frustrating because it reflects so poorly on her own gender, her true Christian faith, and her long held political point of view.

"I don't snuff my own seed!" Extremely racially insulting radio ad voiced by Herman Cain in 2006 in attempt to persuade African Americans to vote Republican.

Yes I know that you are thinking this MUST be a parody.  But nope!



And no your ears are not deceiving you, one of the voices in that ad indeed belongs to ex-Godfather's Pizza CEO, radio host, and now candidate for the GOP Presidential ticket, Herman Cain. Which raises the question, "Is it possible for a black man to be a racist against his own people?"

The ad was put out in 2006 by a group calling themselves America's PAC. And they were trying to..to..hell what were they trying to do?

Well here let Herman Cain himself explain it to from an interview he gave to the New York Sun:

"The main thing that America's Pac is up to is it basically is challenging the thesis or the belief on the part of the Republican Party that they cannot attract the black vote," Mr. Cain said. He said similar advertisements run in 2004 helped boost President Bush's share of the black vote in Ohio to 16%, from 9% in 2000.

"We don't believe that was an accident," Mr. Cain said. The IRS filing indicates that the ads are running this year in 10 battleground states, including Ohio, New Mexico, and Nevada.

Mr. Cain, who once managed the Godfather's Pizza chain and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate from Georgia in 2004, said he was not troubled that Mr. Rooney, who is white, is funding ads using black voices who claim to speak on behalf of the black community."You don't have a lot of black billionaires who would want to fund something like this," he said.

Gee, ya think?

You know I have to imagine that the NAACP feels toward Herman Cain about the same way that women's organizations feel toward Sarah Palin. They just want them to go far, far away.

Will the recent tornadoes damage the GOP's anti-government argument?

From the Kansas City Star:

A pernicious story line, recited on talk radio, in state legislatures and in some quarters of Washington, says that government can’t do anything right. Government is the problem, Ronald Reagan famously said. And a vast political and business alliance works furiously to make his declaration a self-fulfilling prophecy by underfunding vital programs and disparaging public employees.

But when disaster strikes, we expect government to work. We need it to work. Last week, it did.
Police, firefighters and medics made their way through the dark and the rain Sunday night to rescue the trapped and aid the wounded. Kansas City had 50 firefighters en route within hours. Its police department sent communications specialists, tactical teams, a search-and-rescue dog and a traffic enforcement squad.

Other cities sent first-responder teams. They worked in the rain that first day, searching the rubble for survivors and for bodies. In a cruel sign that nature hadn’t quite finished its mayhem, two police officers from Riverside were felled by a lightning strike. Officer Jeff Taylor was gravely injured.
Like the city he was helping, he will have a long road to recovery.

Throughout the week, personnel from the state of Missouri poured into Joplin. The National Guard and the Highway Patrol got there quickly. Officials with expertise in emergency management, insurance, mental health, care of senior citizens, land use and power grids followed.

The often-maligned Federal Emergency Management Agency got a team to Joplin within hours of the tornado to set up telecommunications and help with logistics and support.

This in no way diminishes the vital role of the Red Cross and other nonprofit agencies, and of businesses, in responding to the disaster. But public employees and government agencies make up the underpinning of the recovery effort.

The need for government help in Joplin will continue for years. Streets must be replaced. Schools and a hospital must be rebuilt. Families will need temporary housing.

It is easy to wax poetic about trimming government spending, and cutting costs to taxpayers, but when disaster strikes, or our elderly loved ones suffer a health crisis, aren't we ALL suddenly fans of government programs like FEMA, Medicare, and even the National Guard?

That is why the Republican rhetoric is simply blown away in the wind when  you look out the window and see this bearing down on you.



I don't know about the rest of you, but after seeing the images of the devastation left in the wake of these massive tornadoes, I am one hundred percent on support of having my taxes raised to pay for the programs that help my fellow Americans.

But hey if we are going to get serious about cutting government costs, I know a couple of wars I would gladly see come to an end.  Just a thought.

The ADN weighs in on the impact that the mythology of "The Undefeated" will have VS the reality of the state released Palin e-mails.

Courtesy of Paul Jenkins of the ADN:

The emails are going to be -- if released in readable form after passing through lawyers' hands and being scrubbed by the governor's office -- delicious. There likely will be little good news in them for her. Having read only snippets of emails in Palin staffer Frank Bailey's book, "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," or "Hey, I Got Emails Nobody Else Can Get and I Can Make Some Dough," the venom, bullying, intimidation, absolute paranoia and craziness of the Palin administration spins off the pages.

One can only imagine what nastiness the state's boxcar-loads of emails will show. Her penchant for payback, retribution and vilification aimed at the news media, government officials, talk shows, even regular folks and business people will cause a stir. Nobody will be immune. That is, of course, if any of the emails make sense after the redacting process.

Compare all that to Conroy's depiction of the film: "Bannon dramatizes the theme of Palin's persecution at the hands of her enemies in the media and both political parties, a notion the former governor has long embraced. Images of lions killing a zebra and a dead medieval soldier with an arrow sticking in his back dramatize the ethics complaints filed by obscure Alaskan citizens, which Palin has cited as the primary reason for her sudden resignation in July of 2009."

Persecution? Lions killing a zebra? A medieval soldier with an arrow in his back? Really? That is the lovely Sarah P. we know. A paranoid, bitter, unrepentant nut job with followers who really should know better.

The movie, it should be noted, shies away from Troopergate or anything else messy in her abbreviated term. It is to be released in two versions: one, a PG-13 film and the other, unrated, containing obscenities and invective from Palin critics.

The movie likely will cause a huge stir as the media pick it apart. It may affect her political future. It likely will change few minds. Thinking people will see it for what it is.

But the emails -- the emails may prove devastating. No filters. No trick camera shots. No editing. Just Sarah -- the real Sarah.

Not a pretty picture.

I like this article because it really expresses the weariness that Alaskans feel at the subject of Sarah Palin, and her constant attempts to portray her self as some paragon of virtue, and political Joan of Arc.

As Jenkins points out, IF these e-mails are not reduced to some giant black smear by the Parnell administration's Sharpie wielding redaction elves, they will definitely paint a much harsher image of a petty, thin skinned, political neophyte who spent far more time worrying about her image than she did getting things done for the people of Alaska.

And when you add those to the numerous tell all books coming out about Snowdrift Snooki this summer, and into the fall, even Cecil B Demille would have no hope of effectively remaking her image.

Of course it must be mentioned that if the Alaska media had been doing their jobs in the first place, Palin would never have been able to fool so many people for so long. But hey, better late than never!

I would like to welcome the author, who is going to blow the lid off babygate, to The Immoral Minority.

As many of you know I VERY rarely allow guest posts here on IM.  However the author of the upcoming book on babygate, and how the media allowed Sarah Palin to get away with it, asked if I would allow him to post here today.

And so I have. I think you will be very pleased with what he has to share with you.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me present Fred (Last name withheld to keep the flying monkeys at bay for the time being.).

I'd like to thank everyone who responded to Gryphen's post about titles. For everyone who is curious about the progress of the project, I can tell you this: the deadline for having the book to the publisher's legal department is July 1, and I'm hoping it will be available within 6 weeks after that. Yes, it will be available in hardback, paperback, and on all the various eBook services (such as Kindle.) The publisher has already hired a professional publicist and the legwork is being done for the media blitz.

Overall, reading your responses carefully, I see that "The Wild Ride" or some variation of it is the clear winner. Believe it or not, that had not been seriously considered before now, simply because I felt that the reference to the book "The Wind in the Willows" (and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride) was obscure and many people wouldn't get it. People who have followed Babygate for years are cognizant of the reference (I'm fairly sure this was originally one of Audrey of Palin Deception's themes), but this book's title has to be clear and catchy to the general public who have never heard of either Babygate or Mr. Toad. Still, at this point, it's clear that that phrase (or some variation of it) will need to get a much closer look. Rest assured, however, if "The Wild Ride" is not in the actual title, that phrase will be used prominently in the book and will probably be the title of a whole subsection.

The starting point of the book is the pregnancy (of course) but I am delving deeply into the media's handling of the controversy, particularly in the critical early days and weeks after she was tapped for the McCain ticket. A title that refers to the media is important. I agree wholeheartedly also that somehow Palin's name needs to be brought into it. The person who commented contrasting the titles "Blind Allegiance" with "The Lies of Sarah Palin" was spot-on.

Trig's name will not be in the title, nor will there be any reference to "daughter's shame" or anything of that nature. This is Sarah Palin's scam, her lie, her deception, in which she was aided and abetted by both an American media system that failed to do its job and a broken political machine. As much as humanly possible, her children will be left out of the story.

The title is very important and there is a lot to accomplish in ten words or less!

As much as we might all enjoy the inside jokes of some of the snarky titles, we can't go there. Still here are some of my very favorites that unfortunately will not be used (though for some of them you don't know how much I wish!):

"Thanks But No Thanks: The Fallopian Tube to Nowhere" (I truly love this.)
"The Lion, The Witch, and the Fake Pregnancy Wardrobe."
"Instatot: How To Have a Six Pound Baby in Six Easy Weeks"
"Spongetrig Squarepillow"
... and too many more to list.

Thanks again for the all the thoughtful replies.

Fred


This can't be flippin' happening! I'm trying to start a fake political campaign here!



Just another example of how Sarah Palin's ridiculous birth story hurts working mothers. Even those working for Fox News.

Currently Megyn Kelly, another of Fox's blond bimbo-ish talk show hosts, is on maternity leave.

You would imagine that those who espouse the "conservative family values" point of view would find that admirable.  But apparently you would be wrong.

Here is Fox News contributor Mike Gallagher and Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace acting like neanderthals on the subject.



Yeah, how proud am I of MY gender right about now?

Thankfully I am a REAL pro-family progressive, and not one of these knuckle draggers who only give lip service to the idea of sacrificing for their families.

However leave it up to the brilliant Sarah Jones, of Politicususa, to quickly recognize just who it is that reinforces this type of antiquated thinking from conservative males:

A side note while I point out just one more reason women have problems with women like “conservative” Sarah Palin; Palin told the media that she gave a speech after going into labor (or breaking water) and then flew home ten hours before driving another two to her preferred hospital. Three days later, she arrived at work with her new baby and men all over the country said, “Atta gal!”

They praise her now as the “ideal wife”, as if she had no help with her child, as if taking a 3 day old infant with health problems to work is a viable idea, as if motherhood weren’t really, actually, very time consuming and physically draining. All of this leaves women like Megyn Kelly even more vulnerable to criticism for taking some time off before and after giving birth. This is “Mama Grizzly” feminism: Selling the unrealistic notion that women can and should do it all at the same time, no less, and look great while they’re doing it.

So you see it is not JUST that the pregnancy hoax gave Sarah Palin pro-life credibility that she did not deserve, and put her on the short list of possible John McCain VP candidates, it ALSO reinforces a negative stereotype that working women use their children as an excuse to get out of work whereas men do not.

(And we all know that if MEN had to give birth, they would demand SIX months off from work, as well as a trophy for their accomplishment, and probably a holiday named after them just to top it off.)

In truth Sarah Palin has done more to set back the Women's Movement in this country, than Hooters, Baywatch, and Hustler magazine combined.

And I would also like to point out that is REAL women like Sarah Jones and Laura Novak, female journalists who are willing to address the Palin faked pregnancy head on, that should make feminists and working women proud of their gender.  NOT the phony, hypocrisy ridden, Sarah Palin.

Kyle Massey and Bristol Palin are NOT dating. Gee, really?

Courtesy of Rumor Fix:

RumorFix can confirm that the two did become friends while on Dancing, and they are shooting a reality show together, but anything beyond that is completely fictitious.

RumorFix, unlike some people, decided to check up on this rumor by reaching out to Kyle's mother, Angel. She tells us the Enquirer report is bologna.

"They are not dating," she reveals while laughing. "They're good friends. I understand the media wants to push sales or whatever, but no, they're not dating."

Angel goes on to say, "Both of our families gelled during Dancing with the Stars. Sarah would be in the audience cheering for Kyle, and we'd be in the audience rooting for Bristol. We all became close."

Mama Massey adds, "The Palins are really funny, nice and genuinely warm to us."

Like I said the other day there is no way that Bristol and her mother are fighting right now, Sarah needs her family to rally around her as she launches her fake Presidential campaign, and there is NO way that such a nice young man as Kyle Massey would ever lower himself to date a Palin.

Especially one that would so dramatically change her appearance in an attempt to hide her low self esteem.

Have you ever wondered WHY Sarah Palin relies so heavily on ghostwriters? Well the answer is in Frank Bailey's book.

In Bailey's book he reveals an attempt that Palin made to write a 675 word op-ed to the Anchorage Daily News entitled "Nonsensical Gas Agreement."

As it turned out "nonsensical" was the key word here.

The ADN editor, Larry Persily, must have thought that Palin had one of her daughters write it for her.

Larry Persily’s reply, after reading her draft, was blunt in its dismissal, despite Sarah’s insistence that she was good at writing in plain English:

Sarah,

Thanks for the op-ed column, but it will need some changes before we can publish it. As I have told all the candidates, we are not going to let anyone (incumbents or challengers) get by with easy political speeches on the page, especially on oil and gas issues.

The public deserves specifics, not just promises. So -- and nothing personal in any of this -- I've added my comments where appropriate to give you an idea of what would need to be added or explained before we could publish the piece...

Picking up with Persily's comments in an emasl exchange on Sarah's fourth point we read:

Sarah wrote: Fourth, the contract doesn’t ensure gas for in-state use.

Persily commented: (How do you propose to ensure in-state gas? Everyone is quick to promise in-state gas, and to attack the draft contract for being deficient in this area, but I'm not going to allow anyone to get by with more of the same promises. If you're going to raise the pledge of in-state gas, you will need to explain how you plan to fulfill that pledge.).

Further down, Sarah then wrote: As Cook Inlet supplies diminish, the concept of importing natural gas while ours goes to Canada is abhorrent.

Persily replied: (through Canada, not to Canada).

Sarah: Fifth, under this contract, if gas prices dropped to certain levels, we’d actually pay oil companies for the privilege of producing our gas while they reaped profits.

Persily: (Please explain. Yes, the state would have to pay the processing costs for its share of the gas, and the cost of removing and disposing of impurities, but we're talking around 50 cents per mcf. Do you expect gas prices to drop that low? And if gas prices were that low, and we lost money, how would the companies "reap profits"?)

Sarah: We assume more cost and risk than the oil companies do, including contributing our land and 7/8 of our gas to make the project happen. All told, our concessions could nearly equal the cost of the entire project, yet we’d only own 20% of it.

Persily: (How is any of this true? We would take 20% of the cost risk under the contract vs. 80% for the companies. How does that translate into the state taking on more cost and risk than the companies? And we didn't "contribute" our land, we leased it to the companies for a substantial upfront payment and royalty terms. And, if the project is $20 billion, what state "concessions" would nearly equal $20 billion?)

Sarah: Seventh, Administrators refuse to disclose details of negotiations with viable alternatives like TransCanada , MidAmerican, and the Alaska Gasline Port Authority.

Persily: (Not entirely true. The state eventually released most of the negotiation documents from its talks with MidAmerican. And there were no negotiations under the Stranded Gas Development Act with the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, just informal talks outside the Stranded Gas Act. This could easily be fixed by changing the allegation to a statement about the state has been less than fully honest about our projects, or something like that.)

Sarah: Eighth, the deal was the Administration was forced to propose sweeping legislation to amend the Stranded Gas Act to retroactively legalize their deal.

Persily: (Not quite "retroactively legalize their deal," since the Legislature has not approved the deal. It would be more accurate to say "to allow the deal to proceed under the law," or "to make the law match the deal.")

Sarah: Ironically, other viable alternatives projects were hypocritically rejected as ‘illegal under the Act.’

Persily: (What alternatives were called "illegal?" I'm not aware of any. The state did determine that the Alaska Gasline Port Authority does not qualify under the Stranded Gas Development Act, but not qualifying for a negotiated fiscal contract is not the same as "illegal.")

Sarah: Like other Alaskans, I crave a profitable gas line agreement. But it must pass Constitutional muster and be derived through a competitive process where all viable proposals are fairly and openly considered. My preferred alternative will first provide gas for energizing Alaska’s homes and businesses, employing Alaskans, and reducing rural energy costs.

Persily: (Again, how do you propose to ensure gas for Alaskans and how do you propose to guarantee Alaska hire? Local-hire requirements are unconstitutional, so if you're going to imply you have a way around that, you need to say how. And, as for ensuring gas for Alaskans, do you propose reserving a portion of the state's royalty gas and selling it to Alaskans at below-market prices? Whatever the answer is, you need to say what you have in mind.)

Sarah did not take rejection well. That her editorial didn’t accurately address the issues, misstated facts, and was devoid of proposals, was unimportant. The blame went to Persily and the Anchorage Daily News. She wrote back:

To: Persily, Larry

See?! Your piddly little 675-word limit forced me to lower my own standards.

OK - back to the drawing board. Thanks for the challenge Larry.

Sarah

This basically marked the beginning and end of Sarah’s extensive writing career.

And THAT my friends is why Palin might be very, very reluctant to dump RAM despite her embarrassing tweets.

And that is only ONE of the amazing, and highly embarrassing revelations to be found in Frank Bailey's book.

Lawrence O'Donnell interviews 10th grade student who challenged Michele Bachmann to a debate.

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Wow, that is one sharp kid!

I think she could easily take on Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck without even breaking a sweat.

I have said it before, but it bears repeating, with this group of young people soon to take over the reins of responsibility in this country, I am filled with confidence that America's best days are still to come.

What has the President done for the LGBT community lately? Funny you should ask.

Courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign:

From signature achievements like passage of the law to end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" to administrative changes throughout government, President Obama has done more to improve the lives of LGBT people than any President in history. The following is a compilation of many of the actions taken by the Administration on LGBT issues.

Regulatory and Policy Changes

• The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) adopted a regulation ending the ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants.
• The State Department reversed a Bush Administration policy that refused to use a same-sex marriage license as evidence of a name change for passports.
• The Census Bureau overturned the Bush Administration's overbroad interpretation of the Defense of Marriage Act and agreed to release data on married same-sex couples along with other demographic information from the 2010 Census.
• President Obama issued two Presidential Memoranda (in June 2009 and June 2010) directing federal agencies to extend whatever benefits they could, under existing authority, to the same-sex partners of federal employees. These include sick and funeral leave, long-term care insurance, travel and relocation assistance, child care subsidies, and certain retirement benefits. The State Department extended numerous benefits to the partners of Foreign Service officers, including diplomatic passports, access to overseas medical and training facilities, inclusion in housing allocations, and access to emergency evacuation.
• The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) added gender identity to the equal employment opportunity policy governing all federal jobs.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed regulations recognizing LGBT families for federal housing programs, prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in accessing federally-insured mortgage loans, and requiring HUD grantees to abide by LGBT-inclusive state and local antidiscrimination laws. HUD also announced it would conduct the first-ever nationwide study of LGBT housing discrimination.
• President Obama issued Presidential Memorandum in April 2010 directing HHS to issue regulations requiring all hospitals receiving Medicaid and Medicare to prohibit discrimination in visitation against LGBT people. HHS issued regulations that went into effect in 2011.
• HHS rescinded provisions of a Bush-era rule which allowed health care providers to refuse to provide any health care service or information for a religious or moral reason.
• The federal Prison Rape Elimination Commission proposed national standards to reduce sexual abuse in correctional facilities, including standards regarding LGBT and intersex inmates. In early 2011, the Justice Department proposed regulations to implement those standards.
• HHS's Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability reviewed the lifetime ban on blood donation by gay and bisexual men, concluded that it is a "suboptimal" policy that screens out low risk donors and called on HHS to conduct research to support a move to a policy based on risk behavior, regardless of sexual orientation.
• The Department of Justice issued an opinion clarifying that the criminal provisions of the Violence Against Women Act related to stalking and abuse apply equally to same-sex partners.
• The Department of State revised the standards for changing a gender marker on a passport, making the process less burdensome for transgender people.
• The Department of Labor issued guidance clarifying that an employee can take time off under the Family and Medical Leave Act to care for a same-sex partner's child, even where the partner does not have a legal or biological relationship to that child.
• HHS revised its funding guidance around abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education programs, requiring that recipient programs are inclusive of and non-stigmatizing toward LGBT youth, and mandating that they include only medically-accurate information.
• HHS awarded a $900,000 grant for the creation of a national resource center on LGBT aging issues to Services & Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Elders (SAGE). HHS also awarded a $13.3 million grant to the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center to create a model program supporting LGBT and questioning youth in the foster care system.
• At the request of HHS, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) issued a lengthy report in March 2011 detailing the range of areas in which more research is needed on LGBT health needs.
• In March 2011, HHS sent a number of recommendations to the White House for policy and regulatory changes that HHS could undertake to improve the health of LGBT people, including: collection of LGBT health data, guidance for states on including LGBT families in federal welfare programs, and guidance for states on protecting the financial resources of a same-sex partner when his or her partner enters long-term care under Medicaid.

 Support of Pro-LGBT Legislation

• The President signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law.
• The President signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 into law, after including DADT repeal in the 2010 State of the Union address and brokering a compromise with the Pentagon that honored both the legislative calendar and the Pentagon process.
• Administration officials testified in support of ENDA in House and Senate in the 111th Congress.
• Administration officials testified in support of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act, which would extend spousal benefits to the partners of federal workers, including health insurance and insurance benefits.
• The Department of Justice announced that it would stop defending lawsuits brought against Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), because the President and Attorney General believe that provision is unconstitutional.

Damn, That IS impressive!

Now EVERYBODY has their pet causes.  I have already identified the repeal of NCLB as one of mine, but so is making sure that everybody is protected from discrimination in this country. And this includes the LGBT community.

Actually it especially includes the LGBT community!

Now I have always, even since my days back in high school, supported gay rights. But now I have a very personal reason for wanting to see this particular group of people protected.

It just so happens that one of them is my daughter.

This President is the first President that my daughter was old enough to help vote into office.  It is nice to see that he is repaying that support by looking out for her.

Thank you Mr. President.

OH..MY..GOD!

"These enduring truths have been passed down from Washington, to Lincoln, to Reagan, and now to you."

Didn't she just leave out about forty one Presidents there? 

What about Martin Van Buren, or James Buchanan, or William McKinley?  Didn't THEY believe in "enduring truths." whatever the hell that is?

Does anybody else ever get the feeling that Palin stopped paying attention to history after about the second grade, and so can only name the initial President's that American children first learn about during their early elementary school years?

Perhaps if she had paid attention better she would realize how unfit she is to attempt to join their ranks.

(H/T to Andrew Sullivan.)

"Rolling Thunder" spokesman concerning Sarah Palin's hijacking of their event: "She is not invited to speak. We are not endorsing her. But we can't stop her from coming to ride, if she wants to ride."

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I don't think that this time Sarah Palin is going to be able to steal THIS particular group's thunder.

I do not think it could be ANY clearer that these people simply do not want her around.

But does anybody think she will get the hint?

The authors of "Babygate" book need your help.

One of the questions that I have been asked more times than any other is "Gryphen, WHY don't you just tell everything that you know and finish this woman?"

I often wonder just who would ask such a thing?

Do they REALLY believe that if I were to write some long drawn out post on this blog laying out all of the rumors, gossip, and first hand accounts I had heard, with NOBODY willing to come forward and confirm them, that it would have any real affect?

Because it wouldn't. And I have always secretly believed that many of the people who ask me to do that, are actually Palin-bots who are attempting to trick me into divulging some source so that they can then scare them away or buy them off, thereby protecting their Queen from a potentially devastating scandal.

So instead I have been working quietly behind the scenes to move that information, and those sources, into the hands of authors and journalists with larger audiences and, let's face it, more credibility.

You have started to see the result of all of that hard work already.  But there is still much, much more to come.

And one of those projects is an actual book on the topic of Babygate itself. I hinted at this back at the beginning of this month. (Sometime after that hint there was talk of another book on babygate being written, but there is NO connection to this project and I know nothing about that book. And neither do any of my author friends or journalistic sources.)

Up until today I was keeping the project under my hat until it had moved to a place that we felt it was safe to discuss openly.  So right now I can tell you that it is nearing completion and will be ready for publication in the near future.

The book is being painstakingly researched and they have ALREADY uncovered some heretofore unknown bits of information that will, hopefully, make this the definitive book on the subject, and force the mainstream media to finally give this story the attention it has so long deserved.

I can tell you that some of our favorite babygate bloggers, and researchers from the past, have been contacted and will contribute to this book, as well as some sources with important information who have refused to come forward up until this point.

You should also know that the main writer on this book is an established best selling author with a reputation to protect, so this will NOT be some clumsily thrown together paperback, with scandalous accusations and no facts to back it up.  This will be a well researched, and well documented, journalistic endeavor that should be VERY convincing even to the most stubborn faked pregnancy denier.

So this is where YOU come in.

As it turns out the book is coming along just fine, but for some reason the sticking point has been coming up with the title.  So the authors have asked me to start a little contest here on IM to help come up with the BEST possible title for this book.

So if you would be so kind, I would appreciate it if you could put on your thinking caps and come up with a title that will be provocative enough to draw attention to the book, but not so silly as to make it seem unserious.

I will then take the best choices and put them up in a poll in the next few days and we can then vote on them.

I CANNOT actually promise that the one which receives the most votes will end up as the title, but you never know. And besides how much fun would it be if you were able to walk into your local bookstore and see the book with the title YOU came up with sitting on the New Arrivals shelf?

I have long said that getting the truth out about Sarah Palin would be a community effort, and so it feels right to involve all of you as much as possible as we put those final nails into her political coffin.

I know I speak for ALL of the people who have worked so hard to bring the truth to the public about this dangerous lunatic, that we could NOT have done it without your contributions and energetic support.

So thank you my friends, and as you start your long Memorial Day weekend know this.....Sarah Palin hates you!

Namaste, you Trig Truthers you, namaste.

I am not sure how intelligent it is to decorate your bus with a picture of something you have never actually read.

I mean what if somebody decided to quiz her on what the document says?  That would be  AWKWARD!

("Who wrote the Constitution Ms. Palin?" "Uh, Abraham Lincoln? No wait, I know, Paul Revere!")

It would be like me driving around Anchorage with "America By Heart" stapled to my front bumper.

I wonder how much actual drive time Palin will put in during this bus tour?  As you remember last time she essentially flew from destination to destination, and only PRETENDED to be allowing her precious self to be driven on those dirty American highways on a bus.

Of course last time the only people she was trying to fool were the people stupid enough to buy her book, and then stand in long lines in anticipation of getting her autograph.  THIS time she would be trying to fool a much larger, and hopefully somewhat less ignorant group of Americans.

In other words, THIS time she may actually have to keep her skinny botoxed butt on the damn bus!

If the model for No Child Left behind were used to fight cancer.

Courtesy of the Holland Sentinel:

Imagine Congress, in an effort to fight cancer, legislates the following:

Each year, all oncologists must report the status of their patients. Patients in remission are successes. Patients with active cancers are not. The percentage of patients in remission determines the doctor’s success rate.

Each year, an oncologist must bring into remission a higher percentage of patients than the year before. If he does, all is well and he may continue his practice. If he doesn’t, the government warns him. After three years of warnings, the state may take over his practice or place it under new management.

The goal, of course, is to eventually cure every patient. No patient will be left behind. If a doctor cannot meet this goal, he will lose his practice. It doesn’t matter that the doctor has done everything he could for the patient. It doesn’t matter that the doctor has followed every medical protocol. The only thing that matters is the patients’ remission rate.

Now mind you, a patient’s behavior cannot be considered by the government. A doctor is accountable to cure a patient with lung cancer even if the patient smoked for decades and smokes during treatment. If the patient doesn’t follow the doctor’s prescribed treatment, the doctor is still responsible.

Likewise, a patient’s condition at the onset of treatment is not considered. The doctor must cure a patient with an aggressive stage four cancer as readily as a patient whose cancer is in stage one. They all count the same.

Furthermore, the government is not concerned with the improvement of any one patient or group of patients. Instead, it tracks the remission rates by calendar year. Remission rates in 2010 define a period. An entirely new set of individuals in 2011 makes up another period. Although all the patients are different, the remission rate must increase.

As stated, a doctor must continually increase his remission rate. Increase is the measure of effectiveness. If Dr. Jones cures 30 percent of her patients one year and 33 percent the next, the government is satisfied. If Dr. Smith cures 90 percent one year but only 89 percent the next, a warning is issued.

This constant improvement is called adequate yearly progress, or AYP. Four years without improvement means government takeover of the failing practice, even if the doctor cures 98 percent of her patients every year.

Are you puzzled? If you’re a doctor, you’d be incensed, and rightfully so!

Now, substitute “schools” for “doctors,” “satisfactory achievement scores” for “remission,” and “students” for “patients.” Congratulations. You now understand America’s No Child Left Behind Act.

Not really much more to add to that, now is there?

Swimming against the tide Lawrence O'Donnell is absolutely certain that Sarah Palin will NOT run for President.

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I have to admit he makes some very pertinent points.

And the statements from Fox News, also make it seem that she has told them that she is not running:
Fox News is not taking contributor Sarah Palin off its payroll despite moves that suggest she may be gearing up for a presidential run.

"We are not changing Sarah Palin's status," Bill Shine, Executive Vice President of programming for Fox News Channel, told CBS News in a statement. Palin earns $1 million per year as a commentator on Fox News.

Of course she is a well known liar.  But would she actually DARE lie to Fox News?  Yeah, probably.

Now I don't like to disagree with Lawrence O'Donnell, because is far more experienced and connected to reliable sources than I am, but I have to say I DO believe that she is, at the very least, willing to start a very temporary campaign.

Like O'Donnell, I also do not think she will run for President, nor do I think she will push her candidacy far enough to risk being ridiculed for a poor showing in a GOP debate, but I do think she will start a faux candidacy in order to not disappoint her supporters, and to guarantee that she can continue to grift from them for many more years into the future.

So yes she will launch a "campaign." But if you blink you just might miss it, because I can guarantee the Quitter Queen, will live up to that nickname just as soon as she is sure she has been in the primary long enough to hook the most gullible members of the Republican party. As soon as she is convinced these poor pathetic paint eaters will continue to send her money as she pretends to consider a run in 2016, she will come up with some trumped up family crisis and quit.

Because you see she has no desire to EVER work again, and being the President of the United States is very, very hard work. How anybody could possibly imagine that she would seriously consider  taking that job is beyond me.

Psst, Republicans are you SURE any of you want to run against this guy?

President Obama at G8 Summit. Courtesy of The Only Adult in the Room.

According to Gallup President Obama's approval ratings are at a 16 month high:

President Obama’s current job approval rating for May 22-24 is 53%. That’s his highest since Feb. 12-14, 2010 -- more than 16 months ago. His previous high this year was 52%, reached at several points earlier this month after the May 1 announcement of the successful raid in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden.

Not only that but according to The Hill Obama's health care reform is really starting to take hold:

Some 600,000 young adults have taken advantage of a healthcare reform provision allowing them to stay on their parents’ insurance policies, according to a new report from the Commonwealth Fund.

The liberal think tank said young adults are increasingly delaying care because they can’t afford it and praised the healthcare law’s coverage expansion.

Close to half of all currently uninsured people between 19 and 29 will gain coverage under Medicaid once it expands in 2014, the report says. About one-third will be eligible for subsidies to buy private insurance through a newly created health exchange.

But hey it's not ALL bad news for the Republicans.  I mean Tim Pawlenty has those totally-not-a-joke Jerry Bruckheimer inspired political ads, Mitt Romney is currently taking credit for Obama's auto industry bailout, and I understand that, just like Jesus, Sarah Palin is having a mythological movie made about her.

Okay, well maybe it IS all bad news for the Republicans.

Seriously?  That is what the GOP has to offer in 2012? A two legged remedy for insomnia. a department store mannequin, and habitual lying grifter from Wasilla?

And you wonder why the President is always smiling.