D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

According to Alaska Report, Todd and Sarah Palin are getting divorced. Of course, no reputable news source has picked up this story, so it may be bullshit.

A treat for the eyes and ears...

Eminem has a new video out, and, of course, he mocks nearly all of the recent tabloid stars. I think Oxy will enjoy Em's take on Bret Michaels. My favorite bit may be at approx. 2:17, when "Sarah Palin" dances in a bustier with a polar bear and an eskimo. But that's just me.

Edited to add: I don't know how to make this little video box smaller!

Eminem - New Music - More Music Videos

I think I might like Bristol Palin a little bit.

Fuck teen abstinence as a realistic plan to prevent teen pregnancy.

HA HA!

Check this out.

For the Quasi-Malicious Delight of All: Celebrating the Phone Call in which Governor Palin got 'Pranked'

Here is the phone call in which a comic radio duo from Canada recently, and quite famously, "pranked" Sarah Palin. Directly, very publicly, inescapably, sublimely: Governor Palin has been humiliated on a baseline level only days before the election.

It's funny. But as one pundit asked on Friday night, is it "Funny-ha-ha"?, or is it 'frighteningly funny'"? Harrogate reports. You decide.



ha ha

Tip of the Hat to Kathleen Parker; or, an Update on Harrogate's Father, a Nader Sympathizer and Ohio Voter

Harrogate has long resisted the urge to proffer a Tip of the Hat to Kathleen Parker, whose ideological leanings diverge so dramatically from Harrogate's own.

But really, you've got to hand it to her. She took an awful lot of flap for simply pointing out Palin's vacuousness. But she did not back down. Like George Will and Andrew Sullivan and "Christo" Buckley, Parker doesn't like it that the GOP as currently configured represents an almost total capitulation to the most vicious anti-intellectual impulses in this country. And so they are complaining about it. They want their Party back. And there is nothing wrong with this, indeed, this revolt might well lead to a more moderate, reasonable GOP in the future, should Obama win.

Parker's recent column, wonderfully entitled "Maverick's Tragic Flaw" and linked herein, is a doozy, a must-read for those following the GOP implosion.

Explaining McCain's choice of Palin, Parker actually writes this:

As Draper tells it, McCain took Palin to his favorite coffee-drinking spot down by a creek and a sycamore tree. They talked for more than an hour, and, as Napoleon whispered to Josephine, "Voila."

One does not have to be a psychoanalyst to reckon that McCain was smitten. By no means am I suggesting anything untoward between McCain and his running mate. Palin is a governor, after all. She does have an executive resume, if a thin one. And she's a natural politician who connects with people.

But there can be no denying that McCain's selection of her over others far more qualified -- and his mind-boggling lack of attention to details that matter -- suggests other factors at work. His judgment may have been clouded by ... what?

Science provides clues. A study in Canada, published in New Scientist in 2003, found that pretty women foil men's ability to assess the future. "Discounting the future," as the condition is called, means preferring immediate, lesser rewards to greater rewards in the future. (Harrogate's emphasis)

UPDATE: Parker's article is so awesome Harrogate now adds another snippet from it:

The Canadian psychologists showed pictures of attractive and not-so attractive men and women to students of the opposite sex. The students were offered a prize -- either a small check for the next day or a larger check at some later date.

The men made perfectly rational decisions, opting for the delayed larger amount after viewing the average-looking women. You know where this is going. (Women, by the way, were rational no matter what.)

That men are at a disadvantage when attractive women are present is a fact upon which women have banked for centuries. Ignoring it now profits only fools. McCain spokesmen have said that he was attracted to Palin's maverickness, that she reminded him of himself.

Recognizing oneself in a member of the opposite sex (or the same sex, as the case may be) is a powerful invitation to bonding. Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in the river, imagining it to be his deceased and beloved sister's. In McCain's case, it doesn't hurt that his reflection is spiked with feminine approval.

As my husband observed early on, McCain the mortal couldn't mind having an attractive woman all but singing arias to his greatness. Cameras frequently capture McCain beaming like a gold-starred schoolboy while Palin tells crowds that he is "exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief." This, notes Draper, "seemed to confer not only valor but virility on a 72-year-old politician who only weeks ago barely registered with the party faithful." (Harrogate's emphasis)

Heh. But anyway. Last night Harrogate had a long talk with his father, who had called to announce his decision to vote for Barack Obama in the upcoming election.

"What finally swung it," asked Harrogate. "Was it the incontrovertible nature of my arguments, the beauty of my speech, the sheer magnetism of my political thought?"

"Pish! 'Twas none of that," stated old Dad from his residence in Ohio. "I just watched the McCain/Palin interveiw with Brian Williams. And it is important that Palin go back to the utter mediocrity from which she came, and to which she belongs. I just couldn't believe the words coming out of her mouth. No wonder even Colin Powell has endorsed Obama."

No wonder, indeed.

Why women shouldn't vote for John McCain

I, unfortunately, didn't write the well-crafted post I'm linking to, but in it, the author of "Suburban Bliss" clearly articulates why I will will be voting for Barack Obama.

"You Betcha": The Many Faces of Sarah Palin

Round about a week ago, there was flap over Newsweek's close-up cover shot of Governor Palin. FOX News Personae apparently have been squawking about this "unflattering" shot of Palin all week.

Critics have said the current affairs weekly was cruel to use the picture, which shows blemishes on the face of Mrs Palin, the Republican vice-presidential candidate, in sharp detail, with some accusing it of acting maliciously.

Interestingly, if ye go just a little further back to Newsweek Online, ye encounter this horizontal collage of Palins.

The New Nader Ad Part Deux (Harrogate and Oxymoron Got A's in a Graduate Level French Course)

Jeralyn at TalkLeft continues to build on her her heroic creds. Unhappy with both Clinton and Obama in the Primary, she sided with Clinton, not as a feminist statement but because she believed Clinton was to Obama's left on criminal justice issues.

Then when Obama won she found her way strongly into his camp, despite her strong difficulties with his criminal justice record. And even with the selection of Biden for VP, who Jeralyn has been skewering for years as a Drug Warrior and a Draconian advocate for all things Prosecution. Even then, Jeralyn did what Democrats ask us to do: understand that the dangers the GOP poses are so much more severe than the Dem Standard Bearers, that the first order of business has got to be to get the GOP out of Power.

All of which brings us to the beauty of this post, which responds to the Nader Ad that no less prestigious a personality than Harrogate celebrated only moments ago. Here is a piece of blog-writing from that post that is fit to bring a smile to the face:

I would like to see Nader's VP candidate, former public defender Matt Gonzales, in the Biden/Palin debate, just so the public could get a sense of what a progressive agenda is about on criminal justice issues. Between Biden, who's never met a crime bill he didn't like and Palin, who probably can't even understand one, it would be refreshing and enlightening in the way Dennis Kucinich, whose position on issues most closely match mine, was during the debates he participated in.

Exactly.

Palin PBS Poll

Here's something else of interest that my students have led me to. PBS is sponsoring an on-line poll about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the job of VP. So far, 54% of those responding thinks she is, in fact, qualified. Check it out, Situationers.

Apparently . . .

there are multiple versions of the "Bush Doctrine," which means that Sarah Palin isn't such an idiot after all.

Wait, I'm sorry. In fact, it does mean she is an idiot, just as this article in the Washington Post signals that many of Bush's employees are also idiots. Ok, Bush may have more than one policy in place. But every single person watching Palin's interview with Charles Gibson (can I say as an aside that I found it incredibly patronizing that she kept calling him "Charlie?") knew what doctrine Gibson was referring too--yes, that would be the doctrine to unilaterally spread democracy to "undemocratic" countries.

You Might Be a Nutbag If......; Or, Tip of the Hat to Fox News Online

One of the big questions right now for the Presidential campaign is, will Sarah Palin remain out of the Media's reach until her debate with Biden, or will the McCain campaign let her elaborate on her views for the General Public.

Kudos and Tips of the Hat to media of all political persuasions which are in the process of trying to 'smoke Palin out,' as it were, by discussing her views and posting them online. Certainly Harrogate didn't expect this AP piece to show up on the front page of Fox's Website yesterday. But, there you have it. A blind groundhog really will find an acorn now and then.

The AP Headline reads: "Palin’s Church Promoting Conversion of Gays to Heterosexuals."

It is tongue-talking level scary. Harrogate seems to remember there was a wee bit of discourse surrounding the church that Barack Obama attended. Perhaps stuff like this deserves a bit of attention, Yes?

“You’ll be encouraged by the power of God’s love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality,” according to the insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church, where Palin has prayed for about six years.

Palin’s conservative Christian views have energized that part of the GOP electorate, which was lukewarm to John McCain’s candidacy before he named her as his vice presidential choice. She is staunchly anti-abortion, opposing exceptions for rape and incest, and opposes gay marriage and spousal rights for gay couples.

Harrogate's favorite part though is the way the AP ends it. This is also why Harrogate was pretty stunned that Fox ran it. For the final paragraph, O Readers, is is one sentence long:

“People are looking at Sarah Palin as someone who might feasibly be in the White House,” he said.

McCain, utterly void of ideas, has decided to turn this election on the Culture Wars. But the Irony is, he and Palin hope to do it without Independents finding out until it is too late. Will it work? Not if Brave Media such as Fox News keep up such brilliant participation in the discourse.

For Southpaw, Especially: World of Warcraft Forum Bloggers Debate Palin Sex Scandal

As far as we have gathered from Andrew Sullivan's objective fact-hunting, "Todd Palin's former business partner, Scott Alan Richter, who is now divorced and was reportedly accused of an Affair with Sarah Palin," tried--and failed-- to get an emergency measure for his divorce papers to be sealed. See the Salon story here (hat tip to salon for the Palin image).

Well, if the effort to get the papers sealed has failed, then Harrogate guesses we'll know soon enough whether the Enquirer just nailed its second political hide to the wall in a month.

See the World of Warcraft bloggers doing journalistic work, here

"let me explain to them what the job involves": Making War and Banning Books

John McCain closed out his speech last night with rousing, Henry V-style calls for America to "Stand up" and to "Fight," words he used over and over again. The convention-goers went nuts. After all the ballons were dropped, at the top of the ticket what we were left with was, Fight, Fight, Fight; Did you know John McCain was a POW? He wasn't scared to fight! Now its our turn to Fight! Always Fight!

Speaking of fighting, in presenting us with Sarah Palin, a red-meat throwing politico who makes George W. Bush seem intellectually curious, John McCain started a big ole fight against our republican institutions as well.

Wednesday night both Rudy (noun, verb, 9/11) Giuliani and Palin made much of her mayoral record as part of her "executive experience." And then Palin, playing the victim, offered to "explain to them what the job" of Mayor involves. But she said nothing about her time as Mayor, opting instead for trashy, snarling, sarcastic derogations of Obama.

But, Harrogate will help Palin out. Her on-record urge to ban books as Mayor will nicely complement McCain's urge to stoke nationalistic fervor and start wars. What a team the McCain Administration promises to be, if we are ignorant enough as a people, to let them in the door.

Palin the book banner link. It also shows how she made abortion a central issue in a small-town MAYORAL race.

This bitch is a nutjob, people. The GOP's kind of nutjob.

But anyway, here's the book-banning blurb. Too bad this isn't a huge story already:

as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them.

A good time to summon up some of this feeling right here, the opening seconds of this clip from the third greatest sports movie ever made:



"Ray, I just halted the spread of neo-fascism in America."