The Ledes

Tuesday, June 18, 2013.

Rolling Stone: "Michael Hastings, the fearless journalist whose reporting brought down the career of General Stanley McChrystal, has died in a car accident in Los Angeles, Rolling Stone has learned. He was 33."

AP: " Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced at a ceremony on Tuesday that his country's armed forces are taking over the lead for security nationwide from the U.S.-led NATO coalition. The handover of responsibility is a significant milestone in the nearly 12-year war and marks a turning point for American and NATO military forces, which will now move entirely into a supporting role. It also opens the way for their full withdrawal in 18 months." ...

... Reuters: "Afghanistan will send a team to Qatar for peace talks with the Taliban, President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday, as the U.S.-led NATO coalition launched the final phase of the 12-year war with the last round of security transfers to Afghan forces."

... Related New York Times story here.

     ... New York Times Update: "The Taliban signaled a breakthrough in efforts to start Afghan peace negotiations on Tuesday, announcing the opening of a political office in Qatar and new readiness to talk with American and Afghan officials, who said in turn that they would travel to meet insurgent negotiators there within days. If the talks begin, they would be a significant step in peace efforts that have been locked in an impasse for nearly 18 months...."

AP: "In some of the biggest protests since the end of Brazil's 1964-85 dictatorship, demonstrations have spread across this continent-sized country and united people from all walks of life behind frustrations over poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden. More than 100,000 people were in the streets Monday for largely peaceful protests in at least eight big cities."

Washington Post: "Several U.S. Naval Academy football players will soon face charges in connection with the alleged rape of a female midshipman at an off-campus party more than a year ago, officials at the elite service academy in Annapolis said Monday. The rape allegations, along with accusations that Navy investigators and academy brass had dragged their feet, exploded into public view just as Congress was debating changes to the way the military handles sexual assault cases."

Desperately Seeking Jimmy. AP: "The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain's tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago. Tony Zerilli told his lawyer that Hoffa was buried beneath a concrete slab in a barn in a field in suburban Detroit in 1975. The barn no longer exists, and a full day of digging Monday turned up no sign of Hoffa. Federal agents were to resume the search Tuesday."

The Ledes

Monday, June 17, 2013.

New York Times: "Pharmaceutical companies that pay rivals to keep less-expensive generic versions of best-selling drugs off the market can expect greater federal scrutiny after a Supreme Court ruling on Monday. In a 5-to-3 vote, the justices effectively said that the Federal Trade Commission can sue pharmaceutical companies for potential antitrust violations, a decision that is likely to increase the number of generic drugs in the marketplace and benefit consumers.... Justice [Stephen] Breyer’s decision, which was joined by Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, reversed a decision of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which had thrown out the F.T.C.’s case.... Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. recused himself from the case."

AP: "The United States and Cuba will resume talks this week on restarting direct mail service despite a deadlock between Washington and Havana over detainees that has largely stalled most rapprochement efforts, a U.S. official said Monday. U.S. and Cuban diplomats and postal representatives will meet in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday for technical talks aimed at ending a 50-year suspension in direct mail between the United States and the communist island."

New York Times: " Turkish authorities widened their crackdown on the antigovernment protest movement on Sunday, taking aim not just at the demonstrators themselves, but also at the medics who treat their injuries, the business owners who shelter them and the foreign news media flocking here to cover a growing political crisis threatening to paralyze the government of Prıme Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan." ...

... AP: "Turkish trade unions urged their members to walk out of work Monday and join demonstrations in response to a widespread police crackdown against activists following weeks of street protests." ...

     ... Reuters Update: "Turkish riot police backed by water cannon faced off with around 1,000 trade union workers in the capital Ankara on Monday, after a weekend of some of the worst clashes since anti-government protests erupted late last month." ...

... Reuters: " German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she was shocked at Turkey's tough response to anti-government protests but she stopped short of demanding that the European Union call off accession talks with the candidate country. 'I'm appalled, like many others,' Merkel said of Turkey's handling of two weeks of unrest that began over a redevelopment project in an Istanbul park but has grown into broader protest against Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government."

AP: "Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng, who was allowed to travel to the U.S. after escaping from house arrest, said Monday that New York University is forcing him and his family to leave at the end of this month because of pressure from the Chinese government. The university denied Chen's allegations."

 

Public Service Announcement

New York Times: "Now, about 70 percent of all throat cancers are caused by HPV, up from roughly 15 percent three decades ago. Patients are now more frequently middle-aged husbands and fathers who are economically well off, nonsmokers and not particularly heavy drinkers. Men are three times more likely to be diagnosed than women with HPV-related throat cancer."

White House Live Video
June 18

1:00 pm ET: Vice President Biden speaks on gun safety

If you don't see the livefeed here, go to WhiteHouse.gov/live.

***********************************************

Splitsville x 2. Reuters: " News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch on Thursday filed for divorce from his wife of 14 years, Wendi, seeking to end a marriage that had been irretrievably broken for more than six months, according to his spokesman. Murdoch, 82, married the former Wendi Deng, 44, in 1999 in his third and her second marriage. They have two young daughters. The divorce filing, which was sealed, comes just days before News Corp is to split into two companies, one containing its entertainment assets and the other holding its publishing business. Murdoch, who Forbes says is worth $9.4 billion, is to be chairman of both publicly traded companies."

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times: John Oliver takes over hosting "The Daily Show" while Jon Stewart is on a three-month hiatus.

Swedish Princess Madeleine marries New York financier Christopher O'Neill:

What an Annoyance. Washington Post: "The Washington Post will phase in a paid online subscription model for Web content starting June 12, charging some readers $9.99 a month for access to more than 20 articles a month on desktop and mobile devices."

New York Times: "A nearly complete skeleton of a tiny, ancient primate — one that weighed no more than an ounce, had a tail longer than its body and would fit in the palm of your hand — is the earliest well-preserved fossil primate ever found, dating back some 55 million years and dialing back the fossil record for primates by an impressive eight million years, a research team declared on Wednesday. The finding adds weight to the evidence that primates originated in Asia — not Africa — and that they emerged relatively soon after the extinction of the dinosaurs, which happened about 66 million years ago in an event known as the Cretaceous mass extinction." CW: 55 million years ago? Must be a hoax!

New York City, 1939, in rare color video. Supersize it!

AP: "When high school student Zach Sobiech learned he didn't have much longer to live, his mother suggested he write letters to tell his loved ones goodbye. Instead, the Minnesota teenager turned to writing music — and his farewell song, 'Clouds,' became a YouTube sensation that has attracted more than 4 million views. Other musicians have covered the tune, and it inspired a celebrity video on YouTube. 'Clouds' was even listed No. 1 on the iTunes Top 10 list on Wednesday — two days after Sobiech died after battling bone cancer.... 'You don't have to find out you're dying to start living,' Sobiech said in a short video about him titled, 'My Last Days: Meet Zach Sobiech,' which also has been viewed more than 4 million times since it was posted to YouTube two weeks ago.

 

Politico's Late Nite Jokes:

New York Times: "On the program she invented, on the network where she worked for the past 37 years, on the medium where she broke barriers and rules for more than 50 years, Barbara Walters will announce on Monday morning, definitively and with no regrets, that she is calling it a career." ...

... ** UPDATE. Alex Pareene of Salon: Walters "is a national icon and a pioneer, and probably as responsible as any other living person for the ridiculous and sorry state of American television journalism. She has announced her retirement a year in advance, so that a series of aggrandizing specials can be produced celebrating her long and storied career. So let’s get things started off right, by reminding everyone how her entire public life has been an extended exercise in sycophancy and unalloyed power worship."

Margalit Fox if the New York Times on "Alice Kober, an overworked, underpaid classics professor at Brooklyn College," who "working quietly and methodically at her dining table in Flatbush, helped solve one of the most tantalizing mysteries of the modern age."

Paper Trail

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Palintology

Art work by Gawker & Gainsborough (or somesuch).

You're on an auxiliary page. Click Constant Comments-Home on the bar above to go to the main page.

If you think I haven't been linking to all of La Palin's shenanigans, you'e right. I think it's a mistake to give her too much attention. -- Constant Weader

     ... Update: There's quite a bit about Palin in the blogposts related to the Tucson shootings, beginning January 8, 2011. I do not plan to repost them here. -- CW

David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network (Pat Robertson's outfit) interviews Sarah Palin, February 5: "In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Sarah Palin criticized President Obama for his handling of the situation in Egypt saying that this was his, '3am White House phone call' and, 'that call went right to the answering machine.' Her answers about Egypt are the first time she’s talked publicly about the situation." Includes a partial transcript of the interview, which you know is authentic because it's in classic Palin-speak -- an incoherent, syntactically-challenged, non-specific criticism that in the end says nothing more than "Obama, Muslims bad." ...

... Jeremy Meyer of the Denver Post, February 5, 2011: "Saying it received an 'onslaught of personal attacks,' a Colorado nonprofit announced in a news release today that it was canceling a scheduled May appearance ... by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin."

Politico, December 10: "Websites supportive of former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin came under cyberattack Thursday, a day after Palin’s own site was briefly taken down by hackers.

She Can't Shoot. The Anchorage Daily News gathers some Palin headlines & opinions. A hunting expert says Miss NRA isn't a real hunter. ...

... Aaron Sorkin & others criticize Palin for making "snuff films."

Robert Draper writes a feature piece on Sarah Palin & her inner circle for the New York Times Magazine.

Michael Scherer of Time: once again "humble housewife" Sarah Palin doubles down on one of her frequent misstatements of fact, proving -- even as she was insisting she could read -- that she can't read, lives in fact-free world, & looks down her nose at the "fancy" people who cite actual facts.

New Yorker artwork.In case you accidentally miss "Sarah Palin's Alaska," airing sometime on The Leering Channel, as Nancy Franklin of The New Yorker calls TLC, Franklin's review will tell you everything you need to know.

CNN: "A tweet by Sarah Palin attacking the U.S. State Department for a tweet to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his birthday distorted the State Department's original intent, a spokesman for the department said Friday."

Jonathan Martin of Politico: GOPers say "Princess Palin"'s frequent last-minute schedule changes are wreaking havoc on campaigns & even on Fox "News" schedulers.

CW: since I have declined to link to many of Sarah Palin's comments that other media have breathlessly reported, here's a Jacob Weisberg column that will catch you up. It's hard to pick a favorite, but this comes close:

I did, I did! I'm so proud of myself. I have caribou blood under my fingernails still. -- Sarah Palin, when asked whether she'd killed a caribou recently, at a Sept. 11 memorial event in Wasilla, Alaska

One problem with Palin's endorsement: Raese is running in West Virginia. It's not surprising Palin made the error -- Raese hired Pennslyvania actors to play West Virginians. And Raese's wife doesn't live in West Virginia, either. Hey, mistakes happen

Greg Sargent, September 27: if quitting her governor's gig & nattering on Fox "News" was part of Sarah Palin's strategy to become President, it isn't working.

Washington Post, September 18: "... Sarah Palin came to Iowa on Friday night and left few of her opponents unscathed, sharply attacking President Obama and the Democrats, denouncing the news media and pointedly calling on establishment Republicans to get over their losses in the primaries and unite for the November elections."

Fox "News", September 17: "Sarah Palin may be edging closer to a 2012 presidential run, telling Fox News 'I would give it a shot' if the American people think she's 'The One.'":

AP: "Sarah Palin can take down the fence. Palin's neighbor of three months on Wasilla's Lake Lucille, author Joe McGinniss, is packing his bags and notebooks and leaving Sunday for his home in Massachusetts to write the book he has been researching on the former governor and GOP vice presidential candidate."

Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post, September 3: Sarah Palin caterwauls at every hint of sexist comments about her, but she doesn't mind making overtly sexual & emasculating comments about men, as when she recently described a gay writer as "limp" & "impotent." CW: Marcus doesn't mention it, but Palin used similar language when she accused President Obama of "not having the cojones" to take on illegal immigration. (Weirdly, she said Jan Brewer did have cojones. Really?)

John Dickerson seems to be very interested in La Palin. Here, on August 25, he writes about "Palin's Magic Touch": "She backed five candidates in Arizona, Florida, and Alaska — and they all won."

John Dickerson of Slate writes about how rigorously Sarah Palin trolls scrub her Facebook page of even fairly innocuous comments that might displease La Palin. Here's one that got the ax:

Hey all Sarah fans! Come and 'like' Mike Huckabee on Facebook. Like Sarah, he is a common sense conservative. Sarah and Mike have ideas that will save this great nation.

CW: A genuine Sarah Palin tweet, which Little Green Footballs captured:

... Obviously, Palin thinks "refudiate" is a real word. Via Urban Dictionary:

The President and his wife ... they can refudiate what this group [the NAACP] is saying. - Sarah Palin, on Fox "News"

     ... Urban Dictionary: "Refudiate definition: a term used to indicate the underlying racism of the speaker. If you as a racist need another group to give up their culture you ask that group to refudiate their beliefs and culture. Users of this term reject the English language, facts, rationalism and black people." CW: def. should be expanded to include non-Christian religions, e.g., Muslims. ...

     ... Little Green Footballs has the video of Palin on Fox "News." She urges the First Couple to refudiate the NAACP at about 2:35 min. in. ...

     ... AND Geoffrey Dunn elaborates in the Huffington Post. Really, Palin goes from bad to worse as she likens herself to Shakespeare.

Ari Melber of The Nation, July 14: "Sarah Palin’s new 'Mama Grizzlies' video drew strong reactions from many reporters, politicos and critics. An analysis of viewer data, however, shows that Palin’s video actually failed to reach or excite her base."

AP: "The administrators of a new legal defense fund set up for Sarah Palin have sent out e-mails to supporters and others that downplay the outcome of ethics complaints against the former Alaska governor and accuses her political enemies of waging a 'vicious campaign' to ruin her." ...

... Alan Bisbort of the Hartford Advocate is "awed by ... one of the great con artists of [his] lifetime."

Reuters, June 24: "A legal defense fund for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was illegal and must repay nearly $400,000 to donors, according to a settlement with a state-appointed lawyer announced on Thursday."

Upcoming Newsweek cover...OR...One Example of Why Newsweek Is No Longer a Profit-Making Magazine....

     ... Update: here's the Newsweek story... CW:... which I am so not reading.

First, Kill All the Biographers. ... Those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him (if he doesn't already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property. -- Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, via Jason Linkins, whose post is worth a read. ...

     ... Alaska Dispatch Update, June 21: publisher Kari Sleight fired Tom Mitchell, the managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, apparently over the editorial above.

CW: sorry about posting another Sarah Palin story, but Dave Weigel, now of the Washington Post, has a good one on writer Joe McGinness' reaction to Palin & Palin's accusing him of being a Peeping Tom. McGinness is working on a biography of Palin, & she hasn't helped turn it in her favor....

Politico, May 7: Palin is losing tea party support over her endorsement of Carly Fiorina in California's U.S. Senate race.

Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine, April 25: "The Revolution Will Be Commercialized. Sarah Palin is already president of right-wing America—and it’s a position with a very big salary."

Reid Wilson of Hot Line, April 14: "Ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) spent more money to de-ice her private jets than she did donating money to candidates during the first 3 months of the year, according to new filings made with the FEC."

A Woman of the People. AP: resourceful students searched a trashcan & found 5 pages of a contract between Sarah Palin & Cal State Stanislaus, prompting California AG Jerry Brown, who is running for governor, to look into the finances of the university's foundation, "as well as allegations that the nonprofit organization violated public disclosure laws by keeping" secret the terms of the contract. Palin's requirements that do appear on the 5 pages:

first-class flights from Anchorage to California — if she flies commercial. If not, the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger...; a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel near the campus.... During her speech, her lectern must be stocked with two water bottles and bendable straws.

     ... Ben Smith thinks it's even more remarkable that Palin's contract requires strict control of the questions she's asked; says one veteran, "prescreening of questions is virtually unheard of."

ABC News, April 13: "Since leaving office at the end of July 2009..., [Palin] has brought in at least 100 times her old salary – a haul now estimated at more than $12 million -- through television and book deals and a heavy schedule of speaking appearances worth five and six figures."

Las Vegas Sun, March 27: an estimated 8,000 showed up in Harry Reid's tiny hometown of Searchlight, Nevada, to hear Sarah Palin say stuff like, "It's time to reload," [this comment via Time] & "Someone needs to tell him [Reid] this is not a crapshoot."...

Justin Elliott of Talking Points Memo, Feb. 12: Sarah Palin promised, in writing, to give her $100K Tea Party convention honorarium "right back to the cause." But she hasn't.

After mocking President Obama for using a teleprompter, it turns out Sarah Palin used crib notes penned on her hand to answer an audience question. 

Sarah Palin speaking at the Tea Party convention. Her marked-up hand is visible in this AP photo.Are you ready for the closeup?

Now watch her look at her hand after she answers the first part of the question on "Energy." A few moments later, she rubs her leg to erase the notes from her hand. Oliver Willis video:

     Update: "...a Palin spokesperson said the former VP candidate had not seen the questions ahead of time." CW: Right. She psychic.

Fifty-three percent of Republicans believe this stupid, stupid woman is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama, who stood up to hostile Republican Congressional questions for an hour, & by everyone's estimation -- including Republicans' -- beat them back.

Media Matters headline: "Palin latest to walk back criticism of GOP leader Limbaugh." CW: Palin Rule: When Rush calls people "retard" in public it's funny. When a Democrat calls people "retard" in private, he should be fired.

Palin on Fox News' Sunday show, Feb. 7, as articulate as ever. As for running for President in 2012, “I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country.”

Mark Leibovich of the New York Times, Feb. 7, writes some stuff about Palin, including the fact that Fox News is giving her her own in-home TV studio....

... AND Kate Zernike of the New York Times: in a paid speech to crazy people, Palin makes fun of the President of the United States. Washington Post story here. The Tennessean story here. C-SPAN has video of the speech here.

CW: the AP has the whole Palin-Emanuel-Limbaugh-Shriver "retarded" story here, which I'll admit I've declined to follow.

Bill Dedman of NBC News: Todd Palin, more than the "First Dude," was enmeshed  in the governance of Alaska, though he held no official position.

AP, Feb. 4: Sarah Palin hasn't paid property taxes on large cabins & other structures that have been built on two backcountry plots which she partially owns.

New York Post: Palin gets $100K for magazine cover photo; daughter Bristol has become a born-again virgin.

As the Handler Turns. Jeanne Cummings of Politico: Steve Schmidt settles some scores with Sarah Palin....

... Nicolle Wallace isn't exactly supportive of Palin, either....

... The Huffington Post has video of former Half-Gov. Sarah Palin's debut as a "news analyst" on Fox. CW: I'm not posting it, but I can tell you her "analysis" involved using the terms "b.s." & "crap." ...

Salon picks the Top Bogus "News" Stories of the Year, starting with Sarah Palin's "death panels."

"Death Panels." Politifact, the nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize winning fact checker, credits Sarah Palin with the "Lie of the Year." Congratulations, Guv.

Why Sarah Palin Will Never Be President Anything of Consequence. Justin Elliott of Talking Points Memo: she & the Dude ban reporter-bloggers from public events.

"Death Panels." Politifact, the nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact checker, credits Sarah Palin with the "Lie of the Year." Congratulations, Guv.

Paul Rolly of the Salt Lake Tribune: when Sarah Palin showed up for a book signing, Costco prudently removed all the tomatoes from the shelves. Also, she stiffed her hairdresser.

CW: I've been trying to ignore Sarah Palin, but this really is too much. DailyKos has the transcript:

... Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent: on her Facebook page, Palin tries to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but her fans are disappointed.

Slate posts the results of its "Write Like Sarah Palin" contest. CW:...which probably should have been called "Write Like Lynn Vincent," the right-wing scribbler who actually penned all that crap.

In The Nation, Katha Pollitt writes her "Last Column about Sarah Palin -- Ever"; CW: and it's a good one.

 A funny from Canada's This Hour Has 22 Minutes news-comedy show, via the Huff Post:

Charlotte Observer, Nov. 23: Palin visits Billy Graham.

Thanks to Ben Smith of Politico for finding this riveting story & the snapshot that follows, also taken at the Noblesville event:

From Palin's Facebook page (really). CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.RumpRoast has a funny take on the doppelgänger snap.

Steve Rubenstein in the San Francisco Chronicle: they ain't Going Rogue here.

Sorry, one more Going Rogue review, & this is the best ever: Thomas Frank of the Wall Street Journal captures the tone of a book that ought to be called The Persecution of Sarah Palin.

Steve Holland of Reuters, Nov. 18: Sen. John McCain defends 2008 campaign staffers Steve Schmidt & Nicolle Wallace against Palin's attacks.

Thomas Rogers in Salon: Going Rogue -- the short version. CW: really, as much as you need to know.

Click to read cover story.

CW: okay, this really is too much. What was it Palin said about Levi's selling his body?: "...those who would sell their body... reflect a desperate need for attention." (Palin said this was a shot for Runner's World & she criticized Newsweek for using it; maybe she should have thought of that before doing the photoshoot.) For Evan Thomas' vacuous GirlieWeek Newsweek cover story, click the cover.

     Update: here's editor Jon Meacham's almost hilarious excuse for the cover.

     ... AND Joan Walsh lambastes Jon Meacham....

     ... AND Julie Millican of Media Matters documents Newsweek's history of sexist treatment of Palin. CW: in fairness, I have to say that Newsweek editors have been sexists for decades, long before Sarah Palin became an object of their editorial "thrusts." It's what they do. If I remember correctly, Susan Faludi called them out in 1991 in her award-winning book Backlash.

CBS News: Miss Sarah can't keep her lies straight.

Uh, Obama made me quit my day job:

No Schmidt, Red Ryder. CNN: Steve Schmidt, John McCain's 2008 campaign manager, calls Palin claims "total fiction."...

... Christopher Hitchens reads Sarah Palin.

... The AP, Nov. 13, fact-checks Going Rogue. Gosh, it's full of lies & half-truths! ...

... Andy Barr of Politico: McCain staffer calls Going Rogue "petty & pathetic."...

... Greg Sargent: a McCain advisor says Palin's claims about the Couric interview are LOL untruthful.

Media Matters reports a few of the inflammatory, stupid opinions of Palin's co-author (a/k/a the actual writer) Lynn Vincent. Pretty disgusting.

Lying Rogue. CNN, Nov. 13: a former senior McCain campaign adviser says Palin’s claim that she was billed for the costs of vetting her before she was selected as the veep nominee "is one hundred percent untrue."

Richard Pienciak of the AP summarizes Going Rogue.

Here's a surprise -- Fox News fact-checks Sarah Palin who, as usual, has no idea what she's talking about (thanks to TPM for producing the video):

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 7: Palin begins her book tour at an anti-abortion fundraiser. CW: where else?

AP: another out-of-work Palin: Todd quits his oil-field job.

More Proof of the Palin Is Nuts Premise: her speech in China, excerpted here and here.

     Update 1: Krugman compares Palin's speech to Qaddafi's.

     Update 2: Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "China reacts to Palin," & it isn't very pretty.

     Update 3: Brit Robert Fisk of the Independent reviews Palin's speech & performance. Downright ugly.

Jonathan Cheng & Alex Frangos of the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 23: "former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first public-speaking engagement outside North America, blamed the world financial crisis on government excesses...."

AP: initial estimates put the cost to Alaska taxpayers for Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation at a minimum of $40,000, not including the costs of calling a special legislative session partly linked to her departure.

Vanity Fair: Levi Johnston on the Plan to Hide Bristol's Pregnancy:

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him.... Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up....

Anchorage Daily News, Aug. 13: an Alaska Superior Court judge ruled that "the Alaska governor's office can use private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, as former Gov. Sarah Palin did."

Apparently without intended irony, Sarah Palin seems to call for restraint in the healthcare debate: "Let’s not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us." Here's a CBS News story titled, "After Health Care Distortion, Palin Calls for Restraint."

CW: I tend to feel sorry for Sarah Palin because I think she's mentally unbalanced & should be getting help rather than scorn. Then she pulls crap like writing this:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

...and robs me of all sympathy.

Anchorage Daily News, Aug. 5: Palin is gone but some of her ethical issues live on, unresolved.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post on the "almost unprecedented" rapid rise & fall of Sarah Palin.

Here's Gov. Sarah Palin's last hurrah:

New York Times: in "a fiery campaign-style speech," Gov. Sarah Palin resigned her position as Governor of Alaska today to write a book and build a political coalition, but she was not specific about her plans beyond that.

     Related: Anchorage Daily News: Palin resigns, Parnell is sworn in.

AP: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "leaves office today with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity.... [She] faces queries about why she is quitting more than a year before her term ends and what she plans to do after she steps down."

...BUT Anchorage Daily News: "Thousands of people turned out for Gov. Sarah Palin's Anchorage farewell picnic on Saturday, many to seek autographs and to show their love for her, others just because it was a chance for free food."

Anchorage Daily News: an independent investigator found probable cause that Sarah Palin had violated state ethics laws by asking people to donate to her legal defense fund, but was sympathetic to her having to defend herself with personal funds for charges arising out of her public duties....

...AND Politico reports that, oddly enough,

Palin immediately called the AP report [of the investigator's findings] an 'inaccurate story' on her Twitter feed, and several of the governor’s top confidants sharply criticized it, pointing out that under Alaska law the contents of the document should have remained confidential because the matter is still under review.

... Damsel in Distress. CW: what's bizarre about Palin's Twitter push-back is that the AP story was entirely accurate. Here's the pdf of the inspector's report. So this is yet another case (among many) in which Palin seems to think that denying facts will make them go away. Sadly, Palin defines the term "pathological liar."

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Senator Mark Begich is trying to get state and federal officials, including Gov. Palin & her successor, to cooperate in providing health services to Alaska's needy after the federal HHS cut off new applicants for the mismanaged state Medicaid program.

     Anchorage Daily News: Alaska's home healthcare program is so poorly-run the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new clients. Alaska, where 227 patients have died waiting for a health professional to assess them, is the only state the feds have so sanctioned.

The Washington Post (July 14) carries this op-ed piece on cap-&-trade purportedly written by Sarah Palin.

Ezra Klein says the Palin (or whoever) opinion is "a bit like an op-ed that attacks firefighters for pointing pressurized water cannons at everything but never mentions fires."

Ben Armbruster of Think Progress flashes back to the days way last fall in the vice presidential debate when Palin was an enthusiastic supporter of cap-&-trade (assuming she knew what it was).

Jim Rutenberg & Serge Kovelaski of the New York Times, July 13, write an interesting, in-depth piece on the events that led to Palin's resignation. CW: the Times' writers' reporting is a lot more credible than all of the pundificating on the "real" reason Palin quit.

Conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin: "out of her depth in a shallow pool." A very good, comprehensive list of "what it is about Sarah."

Levi Johnston, who lived in the Palin household for a while, states the obvious: a desire to take advantage of lucrative financial offers is what really motivated Palin to resign.

Greg Sargent, July 8: But Palin's multi-million-dollar excuse for quitting doesn't pan out.

Update: the Alaska Daily News looks into Palin's claim that the state government has had to pay out millions in defense of "frivolous lawsuits" & ethics complaints against Palin doesn't pan out.

Palin on a Salmon Reporter Run:

"It's all for Alaska." Time's Jay Newton-Small interviews Gov. Sarah Palin.

Sean Cockerham of the Alaska Daily News: Gov. Palin says she's resigning because frivolous ethics inquiries paralyzed her administration....

...BUT Palin critics say they have followed the letter of the state ethics & freedom of information laws.

Jonathan Alter of Newsweek does an intratextual reading of the ramblin'-on speech & sees it as the opening salvo in Palin's campaign for the presidency -- and she had professional help!

It's Wrong unless I Do It. Gee, less than a year ago (August 2008) Gov. Palin said "women in politics" have "gotta plow through" public criticism, "fair or unfair"; Palin said "it bothers me a little" to hear Hillary Clinton "with any kinda perceived whine about that excess criticism":

July 5. In Her Own Words. Maureen Dowd demonstrates Gov. Palin is "one nutty puppy" by doing little more than quoting her.

July 4. Uh, on her Facebook page, Gov. Palin says she's "sacrificing" her title as governor to go on to "a higher calling." CW: Nun? Pope?? Saint??? And the media are picking on her.

The Editorial Board of the Alaska Daily News says Gov. Sarah Palin's explanation for resigning the governorship "simply doesn't make sense."

New: Ezra Klein of the Washington Post: one thing is clear; Palin wrote that incoherent speech herself. Some of Klein's commenters are quite sharp, too.

Here's the whole, 18-minute I-Quit, in two parts, including a really long preamble, from Talking Points Memo:

Transcript of full remarks from Alaska Daily News. Also from ADN, a list of know ethics complaints, & the status of each, against Gov. Palin.

Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post on the Palin resignation: "the picture of a politician who is...arrogant, unstable & unwise."

Not the Governor We Thought Might Resign This Week. Sarah Palin says she will step down from Governor's position at the end of the month, won't seek re-election, gives no explanation. Alaska Daily News story here. The pdf of the governor's press release is here. AP story here. The pdf of Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell's prepared remarks. New York Times story here. Washington Post story here.

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The Todd Purdum Vanity Fair article that got insiders talking about Palin is a good read.

AND THIS... “Hey Sarah … the job’s in Juneau.” Yereth Rosen in the Christian Science Monitor: Alaskans are dissatisfied with Gov. Sarah Palin's job perforamance. CW: this article was published the day before Palin quit her gig.

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