Sarah Palin on The Huffington Post

Billy Hallowell: Media Coverage of Pro-Rationality Sarah Palin Is Abhorrent

2009-12-22T12:18:27Z

The media’s treatment of Sarah Palin and her family has been abhorrent. Like various hard news outlets' biased and unjust brethren, entertainment outlets have gone out of their way to tarnish Palin's image.

Tabloids and semi-legitimate entertainment programs generate incessant praise for President Obama and his leftist policies, while Sarah Palin is showered with insults and unwarranted slurs. Let's not forget the ongoing coverage and insensitive questioning of the birth of her special needs son, Trig.

Since the end of the 2008 presidential campaign, some of the most glaring examples of the entertainment media’s obsession with featuring anti-Palin coverage have centered on Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol Palin’s baby. Levi, a guy who would be better suited to appear on Tool Academy than on any legitimate hard or entertainment news program, has been reaping the benefits from his connection to Palin.

In addition to his highly-publicized Playgirl shoot, Johnston has been making the round on entertainment shows in an attempt to pass off his melba-esque persona as something less than bland.

And, surprise! Since breaking up with Bristol, he has received a more-than-warm welcome from entertainment media outlets anxious to find dirt on the former Alaska governor.

While there is no shortage in contenders vying for the characterization of "Most Idiotic Entertainment News Outlet," in my view, CBS' The Insider takes the cake. The show is described as a program that "...reports on the dynamic world of breaking celebrity news and offers viewers opposing views on everything... Hollywood!" In reality, The Insider touts coverage that is a half-step above highlighting a covert meeting between President Obama and friendly extraterrestrials.

This begs the question: Since when is Sarah Palin considered to be "Hollywood?"

One could argue that this notion began with the antics of Kathy Griffin’s. In what appeared to be yet another plea for attention, Griffin brought Levi to The 2009 Teen Choice Awards. Clearly, this was little more than a publicity stunt for Griffin, who would probably sell her left kidney if it yielded a decent photo-op. In the grander scheme though, this projected a clear statement to young people: Go ahead and laugh at Sarah Palin. Hollywood’s doing it, so you should too!

For what other purposes would it be appropriate to elevate and promote Levi for all of young America to see if not to embarrass the Republican politician? Of course, Griffin garnered the attention she wanted and Levi was portrayed as a bizarro teen heart throb of sorts. You know you’re in Hollywood when…[insert moment of inhumanity and/or insanity]. The Huffington Post penned the play-by-play back in August:

Dressed in a pinstripe suit and pink striped tie, the Alaskan teen and father of Sarah Palin’s grandson Tripp arrived hand-in-hand with Griffin, planted a kiss on her cheek for the cameras and did some solo posing as well.

Gag me.

Anyway, let's move back to 2009 champion of idiocy: The Insider. This fall, the show decided to reunite Levi and Griffin. During what host Lara Spencer probably mistook as a very riveting and thought-provoking interview, she asked Levi fair-minded questions in the vein of, "Is Sarah Palin really Trig’s mother?" and "Why do you think Sarah Palin is afraid of you?" Following the liberally-driven wingnuttery that ensued during the 2008 presidential campaign, the question about Trig’s birth is breathtakingly cruel and sense-retardant. Spencer's questioning screamed ratings desperation and showed just how far entertainment media will go to make Palin look idiotic while turning a profit.

Now, let's jump to Andrew Sullivan's recent appearance on the Joy Behar Show on HLN. Sullivan said,

I don`t think [Palin] has much relationship with reality... And I think at some point, if journalists do their job and if brave people stand up and tell the truth, we will find out who Sarah Palin really is. And we currently don`t know.

Sullivan and similar journalists are the same figures who conduct significant research on the man who currently leads the free world. Insane. And here, again, the story about Trig's birth is brought into question.

Detached from reality?

Maybe Sullivan should explore the mental capacity of his interviewer. After all, who can ignore Behar's detached-from-reality commentary about people who favor Sarah Palin:

Well her people are evil and nasty. They are not nice people. They send me nasty mail and everybody else who talks about it. Anything negative about Sarah Palin, they get hit with this stuff. You know.

Ironic that Behar wouldn't consider her own nastiness as a potential catalyst for negative feedback. Behar has openly called Palin stupid, among other nasally-delivered complements. And the list goes on and on. The entertainment media (which, by my calculation, includes the now theoretically deficient Andrew Sullivan) are intent on making Palin out to be: stupid, evil, incompetent, a mere "Barbie" and insolent, in no particular order.

Get over it, Hollywood. Sarah Palin doesn't share your values. She's pro-life, pro-capitalism and pro-rationality. Rather than wasting all of your time lambasting her, promoting Levi Johnston and attempting to debunk her GOP politician's existence, why not divert even a portion of your energy towards examining the man you've placed America's very existence in the hands of. We've all got personal dirt. Since you'll never let up, why not shovel a little less of Palin's and a little more of Obama's?

A little fair-mindedness is all we're asking for: Can you deliver?

Frank Schaeffer: The Republicans' Death Obsession

2009-12-22T09:37:44Z

During the Sunday (Nov 20, 2009) Senate debate on health care, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) called on the American people to pray that a Democratic Senator would be unable to vote on the health care bill, in order to defeat Democrats.

"What the American people oughtta pray is that somebody can't make the vote tonight," Coburn said. "That's what they oughtta pray..."

Where have we heard that before? On a bestselling far right T-shirt also telling us to pray ... for the death of President Obama!

The T-shirt vendors selling the Psalm 109:8 logo as in prayer that the President dies, crossed a line into a place that is nothing more than "trolling for assassins" as I put it on Rachel Maddow's show recently.

Here's what is in the Psalm they quote: "May his days be few; may another take his office!" In case you didn't "get" verse 8, here's verse 9. "May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!"

What is it with Republicans and anti-Obama T-baggers, Sarah Palin et al re: death and talk of death?

Palin accused the President of wanting to institute "death panels" as her "reason" for her opposition to health care reform contribution. Now a US senator calls not-so-subtly for the accidental death and/or some other debilitating harm to another senator, no doubt with the ailing 90-year old Senator Byrd in mind. (Maybe according to this Republican "theology" God will strike Byrd down since Republicans believe that God is on the side of the insurance lobby too).

Then there were the armed men carrying those signs outside public meetings that the President attended this past summer saying that; "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." This was the slogan that Timothy McVeigh wore on the day he carried out the Oklahoma bombing.

In 1993 McVeigh drove to Waco, Texas during the Waco Siege to show his support for the Branch Davidians. He handed out pro-gun rights literature and bumper stickers, such as "When guns are outlawed, I will become an outlaw." He told a student reporter:

"The government is afraid of the guns people have because they have to have control of the people at all times. Once you take away the guns, you can do anything to the people. You give them an inch and they take a mile. I believe we are slowly turning into a socialist government. The government is continually growing bigger and more powerful and the people need to prepare to defend themselves against government control."

Soon after Obama was elected a gunman "lying in wait" opened fire on officers responding to a fake domestic disturbance call killing three of them. Police Chief Nate Harper said the motive for the shooting was that the gunman feared that the Obama administration was poised to ban guns.

Do you see a theme here? I do. Violence, talk of violence, fantasizing about death and lying about death. But death is the theme.

I see an out of control far right armed and dangerous fringe led by Republican "responsible leaders" such as Sarah Palin and Senator Coburn -- who aren't going to be shooting down anyone themselves, but who are bandying talk about death panels and bandying threats to enlist God in an effort to stop -- by whatever means, including (by inference) death -- Democrats from winning any political battles ... from health care reform to you name it.

With the history of political violence we have in this country, to put it mildly, the Republicans have crossed a line and are, as Coburn just demonstrated, ready to cross it again and again.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer and author of PATIENCE WITH GOD: Faith for People Who Don't Like Religion (or Atheism)

Read more: Health Care Reform, Politics, "Death Panels" Prayer, Obama, Tom Coburn, Sarah Palin, Politics News

PolitiFact's 'Lie Of The Year': Death Panels

2009-12-20T12:32:06Z
Of all the falsehoods and distortions in the political discourse this year, one stood out from the rest.

"Death panels."

The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August, raising issues from the role of government in health care to the bounds of acceptable political discussion. In a nod to the way technology has transformed politics, the statement wasn't made in an interview or a television ad. Sarah Palin posted it on her Facebook page.
Read more: Lie of the Year, Politifact, Death Panels, Sarah Palin, Death Panel Lie, Death Panel Fact Check, Politics News

McCain: Palin Visor Black-Out Makes Sense To Me

2009-12-20T12:15:26Z
WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain says he understands why Sarah Palin blacked out his name on a McCain campaign visor so she could avoid recognition while on vacation in Hawaii.

The Arizona Republican made the comments about his 2008 running mate on "Fox News Sunday."
Read more: Plain Blacked Out Visor, Palin Mccain Blacked Out Visor, Sarah Palin Mccain Visor, Palin Visor, Sarah Palin Visor, Sarah Palin, Palin Visor Blackout, Palin, Mccain Palin Visor, Politics News

Sunil Adam: Cartoon: Sarah Palin's Book

2009-12-19T15:49:35Z

Read more: Conservatives, Going Rogue, Sarah Palin, Politics News

Best Sarah Palin Spoof Yet: Ru Paul In "Going Vogue"

2009-12-18T18:08:00Z
Amidst all of the spoofs of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue", RuPaul comes out and tops them all. The new promo for RuPaul's show "RuPaul's Drag Race" features a parody of Palin's book cover, this one called "Going Vogue", with RuPaul dressed up as Sarah Palin, creating an awesome and utterly bizarre image.

Read more: RuPaul Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Book, Bestsellers, RuPaul Sarah Palin Spoof, Books, RuPaul Going Vogue, Sarah Palin, Going Vogue, Going Rogue, Palin, Rupaul, Books News

Jim Kennedy: Senator Lieberman: The Joe I Know

2009-12-18T13:35:27Z
As someone who worked for Joe Lieberman for more than 17 years, I'm often asked these days, "What's wrong with your old boss?" Even some fellow former "Lieberstaffers" have been privately critical of his recent actions on health care reform and worried about the effect on his legacy.

I understand the concerns and to some extent I agree with the critique of his position on the topic (at my age, a Medicare buy-in sounds pretty darn appealing). But in hearing pundits question Senator Lieberman's motivations, often suggesting it arises out of a "bitterness" over what happened in his 2004 presidential and 2006 senatorial campaigns, I feel compelled to talk about the Joe I know.

The Joe I know is not a bitter man, driven by pique over political slights. He can be a stubborn man, yes, prone to charting his own course (his favorite song is Frank Sinatra's "My Way"). But to paraphrase an old political quote, stubbornness in the defense of principle is no vice.

The Joe I know stubbornly refused to proceed with a vote on Clarence Thomas until a woman named Anita Hill had a chance to testify before Congress. His principled stance, so frustrating to conservatives at the time, gave Prof. Hill the opportunity to make her serious concerns about the Supreme Court nominee known.

The Joe I know stubbornly refused to go along with the majority of his party and conventional political wisdom and instead supported the first Gulf War, which was not only the right thing to do for America, it helped keep the door open for Democrats to recapture the White House in 1992.

The Joe I know stubbornly refused to accept compromise over the issue of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, drawing a "line in the tundra" and threatening a filibuster to preserve a great national heritage. His fervent support for the wilderness area was loudly denounced by then-Governor Sarah Palin.

The Joe I know always puts his faith and his family above politics, often to the annoyance of a media advisor like me. In a political neighborhood where the most dangerous place to stand is between a Senator and a camera, more times than I can remember I had to turn down major media invites because my boss wanted to be home with his wife and daughter, or it was the Sabbath.

I do not always agree with Senator Lieberman. I believe he was wrong in criticizing Barack Obama at the Republican Convention, and at other times in recent years. I've felt he chose the wrong words or the wrong venue to express his point of view, causing unnecessary headaches for him and problems for the Democratic Party. He's made mistakes in how he has talked about health care too. Though at the end of the day, a decent bill will pass (politics is about not letting the perfect be the enemy of the not-too-shabby) and Republicans will have precious little to campaign against next year (as former Senator Bob Kerrey argues here). A decent policy and political foundation will be in place upon which further improvements can be built.

My view of Senator Lieberman is admittedly clouded by personal friendship and gratitude (in the school of political loyalty I'm a little closer to the teachings of Prof. Rosemary Woods than, say, Prof. Scott McClellan). But here's a prediction: there will come a time in the next year or two when Joe Lieberman will take a stubborn and principled stand in defense of a great progressive cause.

Then it will be the right wing's turn to call him bitter, or worse. But to me, he'll just be the Joe I know.

Jim Kennedy served as a spokesman and speechwriter for Joe Lieberman between 1980 and 1997.
Read more: Joe Lieberman, Scott Mcclellan, Health Care, Barack Obama, Rosemary Woods, Sarah Palin, Gulf War, Anita Hill, Bob Kerrey, Right Wing, Medicare, Frank Sinatra, Democratic Party, Clarence Thomas, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Politics News

Huff TV: Roy Sekoff Discusses Palin's Hawaiian Vacation On "The Joy Behar Show" (VIDEO)

2009-12-17T20:27:15Z
Huffington Post Editor Roy Sekoff appeared on HLN's The Joy Behar Show Thursday night. Talk Stoop's Cat Greenleaf and comedian Jessica Kirson joined Roy on Joy Behar's panel.

Among the topics up for discussion were Tiger Woods's continued drama, MTV's Jersey Shore and its cast of self-described "guidos," as well as Sarah Palin's McCain campaign visor, and Sen. Chuck Schumer's outburst at a flight attendant.

On vacation in Hawaii, Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was spotted wearing a blue visor from the McCain-Palin presidential campaign. But Palin had made one important change to the hat--the letters were blacked out with permanent marker.

Palin said she blacked out the letters to fly under the radar and be "incognito," but Roy isn't buying it. "...I don't [believe her], because her t-shirt said 'this is America and if you don't love it, get the hell out'... so that's always a good way to be incognito."

"Here's the beautiful thing, Joy. Remember, she's in Hawaii. Last week, her father said that she went to school in Hawaii for only one semester then left because she wasn't comfortable with all the Asians and Pacific Islanders... but now, she's back in Hawaii. Maybe she feels more comfortable when they're serving her at a luxury hotel."

WATCH: Part 1: Palin and Schumer

WATCH: Part 2: Tiger/Jessica and Jersey Shore

Read more: Roy Sekoff, Jersey Shore, Mtv, Joy Behar, Leno, Sarah Palin, Joy Behar Show, Schumer, Tiger Woods, Media News

Elayne Boosler: Costco Protects Palin From Tomatoes by Taking Them Off Shelves

2009-12-17T15:59:04Z
LOVE IT!! She and the NRA insist guns be sold, though they're murderous, even when the president is visiting. But they're fine with tomato disarmament for a book signing. Tomatoes don't kill people, smart readers kill people. Well you can pull my ripe juicy produce out of my cold dead dishpan hands. You'll never get my tomatoes. I'm forming the National Tomato Association. And if tomatoes are sold as unregulated as guns are, soon they'll be killing more people than guns. Coward. If we have to walk the world knowing she and her kind have insured that we can be shot at any moment, then this hypocrite can face tomatoes.

Mike Moore: I didn't think her set was that bad.

Elayne Boosler: You were drunk. The constitution gives the people the right to have a well- regulated vegetable garden.

Ken Volok: Freedom of Vegetation.

Mike Moore: I'm warming up in the bullpen.

Ken Volok: In lieu of tomatoes, shoppers would have to throw heavier items.

Beth Ferris: And yet they left the mousse completely unprotected.

Craig Noorlun: What about the coconuts?

Beth Ferris: They should throw Baked Alaska.

Alan McClintock: HEY! It's liberal commies like you who want to take away our tomatoes! Sure, now it's no big deal, you just walk into a supermarket & by some. Next, there will be restrictions on buying tomatoes. Over 18...Then over 21...Then they'll be doing background checks! Just because I pie-d Anita Bryant in the '70's, THAT little incident is back to haunt me? Is that what you're saying? Huh? Then what? Kumquats? Endive? Macaroni salad? I'm going to need a commie passport just to pink up some bolonga? Baloney! I don't think so, fascist socialist Marxist freedom taking democrat gay married college boy!

You'll only take my Teabag when it's dried on a saucer, next to a spoon! These colors don't run! God bless America! Fuck the rest!

Victor Del Mar: 3 words...Hines Ketchup Balloons!

Paul Seaburn: No raw tomatoes? I've got three words: Yes we "can"!

James Tall Who knew hiding the tomotoes would produce such an outcry?

Elayne Boosler: She's more averse to hiding the pickle. Well, not hiding it. Just knowing how it works.

Suze Allen Brown: Tomato, tomahto. Let's call the whole thing off.

Sherman Alpert: Ironic. They protected her from being in a red state.

Jan Fouroneone: Most people sign their books in a BOOK store, not a grocery store... read much?

Elayne Boosler: Next they'll be demanding tomato marriage.

Hue Ha: Throw baby throw. Costco stocked the tomato shelves with cartons of eggs

Mike Sims: Tomatoes kill people I saw it an old movie.

Elayne Boosler: If Charlton Heston were alive today we'd be marching down Pennsylvania Avenue behind the great man himself, produce held proudly above our heads, yelling "Slippery slope!!! Slippery slope!!" "Happiness is a Warm Tomato!!" And what about trying to regulate unlicensed tomato shows? Leave the Farmer's Markets alone!!

You yuppie yankee posers think tomatoes are a dangerous vegetable. Well I've got news for you. It's a FRUIT. THAT'S how little you know about the Military Industrial Complex. And when the throwing starts, who do you think is going to ride up and protect you? The Burpee Seed Men, that's who! Drive-by tomato splats are a small price to pay for keeping America free.
Read more: Sarah Palin Tomatoes, Sarah Palin, Comedy News

eBook Sales Skyrocket, Book Sales Up In General

2009-12-17T13:45:57Z
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced today in a press release that overall book sales were up in October. The increase is small -- 10.2% for the month and 4.1% for the year -- but mark an overall positive trend. Sales were also up in September, the AAP noted last month. The end of the year has been full of blockbusters, from Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" to Sarah Palin's memoir, and the hype over these books may have contributed to the rising sales.

The most significant area of gains, however, has been in eBooks. The AAP announced that year-to-date eBook sales for October were over $130 million -- a 180.7% increase from 2008. eBook sales now account for 3% of total trade sales, up from 1.13% last year. With the Kindle's rise in popularity and the increasing variety of options for eReaders, it's no surprise that the numbers have jumped so dramatically this year. And as we head into 2010, when eBook sales are sure to continue to rise exponentially, publishers will have to work out exactly how eBooks will fit into their current model.

Publishers have already started to take eBooks more seriously -- over the past week, a battle has been raging over whether publishers or authors should own eBook rights. There has also been much disagreement recently about when eBooks should be released (at the same time as hardcover or between the hardcover and paperback releases), as publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster announced late last month that they were planning on delaying eBook editions of new books.

How should publishers respond to the increase in eBook sales? Are they taking the right steps, or are they making some big mistakes? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Read more: Ereaders, Book Publishing, Publishing, Aap, The Lost Symbol, Sarah Palin Going Rogue, Kindle, Books, Dan Brown the Lost Symbol, Sarah Palin, Book Sales, Dan Brown, Ebooks, Books News

The Palin Pop-Up Book: Wanda Sykes Unveils "Going Rogue" Follow Up (VIDEO)

2009-12-17T11:48:10Z
Wanda Sykes appeared on "The Tonight Show" and unveiled her advance copy of Sarah Palin's new book, titled "Pop-Up Palin." Despite the fact that it was likely authored by Sykes, it's the perfect follow up to "Going Rogue," complete with cardboard pop-ups of Palin hunting everything from a moose to Katie Couric. While proudly displaying the latter, Sykes narrated, "It's open season on smart chicks."

WATCH:

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Read more: Pop Up Palin, Wanda Sykes, Sarah Palin Pop Up Book, The Tonight Show, Wanka Sykes Pop Up Book, Sarah Palin, Palin, Palin's Pop Up Book, Comedy News

Dr. Cara Barker: What Palin, Shatner, And Miss Jasmine Have To Teach Us This Season

2009-12-16T17:21:00Z
"I'm bogged down," 60-year-old Sam said with a sigh, as he sank into the easy chair, beside the hearth. A psychiatrist of some renown, Sam admits the events of this year are "getting" to him. "You know, as a 'shrink,' people don't think much about the fact that there are days people's stories are just too heavy. They're worse than the news! I didn't realize how much it's getting to me until I started your 21 day Challenge. ("What Would Jesus and the Dalai Lama Say to Tiger Woods and Mike Huckabee") It doesn't help that my wife's been pretty low, lately. Our daughter's giving her the silent treatment for Christmas, which doesn't help. Tiger's not the only one with problems. Maybe we should pipe Prozac into our water supply." With this, Sam cracks a little smile.

New Forms, Old Process. Despite the news avalanche surrounding Tiger Woods, he's not the only one standing on shaky ground. It is, however, the unexpected places that lead us to the real.

"The only time we ever know what's really going on is when the rug is pulled out and we can't find anywhere to land."
Pema Chodron

Our evolution toward authenticity takes leaps of faith. The challenge, like Sam's, is that we don't magically pop from darkness to the Light, the reconnected, without 'due process.' Perhaps this is what fascinates the public about debacles like Tiger's. Public fascination with the later is akin to our fascination with road-kill. On bad days, it seems 'we' cannot help ourselves but stare. Ed and Deb Shapiro put it this way in their recent best-seller, Be the Change: "...the mind is not always so ready to be still, it craves entertainment..." (p. 271).

We are drawn to the shadow-lands. Whenever there's a well-manicured persona getting confronted with a less-than-stellar secret life, the tension of opposites becomes grist for the storytelling mill. We pay prices for splitting. The downfall of heroes returns us to archetypal roots. Think Job, and before him, Osiris. Dismemberment precedes new growth. In the Osiris myth, the dismemberment was literal, whereas Job's came as plagues, disappointments. Whatever form it takes, be it, a child/mate/in-law/family member/friend giving us the 'silent treatment,' it is easy to lose sight that even this is part of the unavoidable process of both expanding our awareness and rewriting our connections and contributions as authentic creatures.

A Welcome Relief. Enter William Shatner and Sarah Palin. In the airing of Shatner's reading of Sarah's Going Rogue, ala Robert Bly style, and Ms. Palin's unexpected response, we are reminded that humor lives. And, why not? Both Shatner and Palin have traveled the frontier, the former, as Captain Kirk in "Star Trek", and Sarah, well, from the back porch of her home in Alaska. More recently, they are on a new trek that works through humor. Although their perspective differs, they performance connects us with something in short supply these days: a lightness of being. Taking ourselves too seriously, too much, is highly over-rated. In his interview with Ed and Deb Shapiro's Be the Change, Jack Kornfield puts it this way:

...we mistreat one another because we think of ourselves as separate beings; feeling separated from others gives rise to fear, confusion, self-protection, grasping, anger and aggression. These are all born out of ignorance and ...forgetting our interdependence in the Web of life." (p. 185)

A Search for the Lighter Side

Yes, Virginia, it is possible to restore some Lightness to the equation. Throughout the world, people of all cultures celebrate their gravitational struggle through the darkness, as they reconnect with the imperative of light, hope, community. To name but four: Hanukkah celebrates the restoration of Light, from a period of struggle. Christianity rejoices in the star's pronouncement of the eternal return of birthing Christ consciousness. Those into Winter Solstice, rejoice in the Eternal Return of Light in the darkness. And Kwanzaa celebrates deep connection through family and communal celebration of love. It doesn't get much better than this. Unless, that is, we find it in the everyday, which is the point.

Using the Everyday to Recover Your Connection with the Beauty of the Season. Examples of loving, touching connection abound. What uplifts our Spirit, and nourishes our Soul, can be found every single day. Witness the Circle of Love around one Miss Jasmine Snow. Each week since her birth nearly three months ago, a community gathers around Jasmine to 'love her up.' Although I did not know this sprite-like sweetie pie by name until two weeks ago, I could not resist what's been happening around her. Here, on new frontier, Miss Jasmine has been steadily evolving into quite the beauty. She does so in the arms of her mother, Rebecca, her grandma Michelle, and grandmother figure, Gwen. When mama is pooped, one of the elders slips into place, cradles little Jasmine, stroking her head, and showering baby with non-stop, heart-warming stroking, cooing, smiling, holding, bonding and attachment at their best within this Web of Life. Here, it's the easiest thing in the world to remember we're all one: Jasmine allows us to slip down into her eyes without pretence: dark blue watery pools of pure beauty and light that would restore a heart made of brick. No small wonder she neither cries nor fusses. Through this new life, we can't help but remember 'all's well.' Now, just imagine, what might the world be like if each of us not only gave this experience, but received love like this, as well? What if we chose to end the cold war with those who are at odds with us, and 'give it a rest?' It's the season, after all.

Four Fail-proof Measures You Can Take to Restore Your Spirit.

1. Invite a buddy to watch a few comedies with you this week. Humor has a healing effect on our physiology. Norman Cousin's classic, An Anatomy of an Illness, points out, in poignant ways, the imperative of restoring humor as a healing adjunct.

2. Find and Study the Ways of Baby Love, applying them to the 'you' that feels
bogged down. Visit with someone that 'holds' you in positive reflection. If
your inventory of such people is too low, start by reflecting a positive
glance to everyone you see today, known to you, or not. What goes around,
comes around.

3. Identify someone that nourishes your Spirit. Let them know. Consider tithing some form of 'payment' to them, as a means of acknowledging, in concrete terms, that they are an invaluable source of treasure for you. If you are willing, send them a check, with the message that you are gifting them the funds as recognition of their importance in your life. A heartfelt letter would be great.

4. Write down the part of your own story that's been bogging you down, and give it a new twist. Think back to the Shatner/Palin renditions. Read yours aloud in a way that gets your humor going. Kick it up a notch: perhaps a recording of
jazz or drumming in the background? If you're stuck, play with 'singing' your
story, as if you were an opera star...anything that gets your funny-bone into gear again.

Let us hear from you. What helps you reconnect? What scenes have you noted that nourish you? Who would you like to acknowledge as a treasure in your life? What are you noticing/learning? I'm listening. Meanwhile, if you've not become a fan, and want to simplify, just press the 'fan' icon, and forward to your circle. Happy new trails! Love, Cara
Read more: Jack Kornfield, Ed and Deb Shapiro, Job, Pema Chodron, William Shatner, Author, Featured Contributor, Tiger Woods, Be the Change, 4 Fail-Proof Measures to Restore Your Spirit, Jungian Analyst, 21 Day Challenge, Sarah Palin, Osiris, The Inner Life, Living News

Rick Horowitz: Holiday Songfest: It's Another Ho-Ho-Horowitz Christmas!

2009-12-16T17:12:12Z
You know Tweeter and Hacker,
Tea-Bagger and Birther,
Sanford and Ensign and Rangel and Murtha,
But do you recall....
The year's biggest players of all?

. . . . .

Jingle Bells,
Sarah sells,
Now she's got a book,
Truth? Or lies? While she tries and tries
To be worth a second look.

Jingle Bells,
Sarah tells,
Time for settling scores,
Wants to lead, but she'd have to read,
So she's better off outdoors!

* * *

It's beginning to look a lot like health care,
Time for quid pro quo,
There isn't a lot of zeal,
There's only the wheel-and-deal,
Just to put the 60 in a row...

* * *

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
And the GOP is spiteful,
Till there's only one vote to go:
Mrs. Snowe, Mrs. Snowe, Mrs. Snowe!

Watch McConnell team up with Boehner,
And they can't be any plainer,
That however the winds may blow,
They say "No!" They say "No!" They say "No!!"

* * *

O Lieberman,
Joe Lieberman,
You stuck the knife in "Buy-In,"
A Dem defeat --
Revenge is sweet! --
While tens of thousands die-in.

* * *

Just hear those fat cats bankering,
Hank-hank-hankering, too,
We saved their butts so totally,
Gloat-gloat-gloatery's due.

But they won't stop their moaning
Or start their loaning --
Boo-hoo!
They still insist they own us,
So there won't be a bonus for you.

* * *

How pesky Nobel is,
Win the prize too early,
What drama! Obama's a
Celeh-eh-brity!

Come and admire him,
Only months in power,
So much anticipating,
Such Greatness can be grating,
But what's the point of waiting?
Cli-imb aboard!

* * *

Said the host to the viewers ev'rywhere,
"Do you see what I see?
Balloon Boy is flying ev'rywhere...
Do you see what I see?"

A fraud! A fake!
There's not a thing at stake,
What a wacko method to use,
Just to get your face on the news.

* * *

You'd better watch out,
You'd better tune in,
You'd better not doubt
There's millions to win,
Instant Glory's coming to town.

With hours to fill,
And channels galore,
Cameraman might just knock on your door,
Instant Glory's coming to town.

We watch them when they're healthy,
We worry when they cough,
We stare at Levi Johnston
When he takes his Levis off...

* * *

I saw Mommy kissing Tiger Woods,
In the cocktail lounge the other night,
They shared a glass of wine,
He treated her real fine,
He told her, "Take a number,
And then take your place in line..."

* * *

Labels sing,
"We're designer!"
When you buy,
Nothing's finer!
Your ticket to fame,
Just go for the name,
Walking in a Warhol Wonderland.

Nothing deep,
Better skim it,
Fifteen clicks
Is the limit,
A moment's renown --
The next stop is "Down" --
Walking in a Warhol Wonderland.
Walking...in a Warhol...Wonderland!!!

Rick Horowitz is a syndicated columnist. You can write to him at rickhoro@execpc.com.

Read more: Parody Songs, Mitch McConnell, Christmas Parodies, John Boehner, Investment Bankers, Balloon Boy, Olympia Snowe, Bankers, Congress, Holiday Songs, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Andy Warhol, Fame, Nobel Prize, Wall Street, Holiday Parodies, Bank Bailouts, Christmas Songs, Satire, Tiger Woods, Levi Johnston, Harry Reid, Joe Lieberman, Celebrity, Health Care, Holiday Season, Politics News

Rep. Joe Sestak: Pennsylvania's Joe Lieberman

2009-12-16T17:04:07Z
This is what happens when we play politics instead of standing up for our principles.

After the House passed health care reform with a strong public option to provide real choice and savings for Americans, Joe Lieberman has killed the public option in the Senate and threatened reform as a whole. He's even refused excessive compromises, including a public option "trigger" and allowing Americans to buy into Medicare at age 55 -- a position he advocated only months ago.

It's a shame that the most important piece of the Democratic agenda has been hijacked by a member of the Democratic Caucus representing a solidly Democratic state, but it's not surprising.

Senator Lieberman's commitment to Democratic principles has been an open question for years. After serving as Al Gore's running mate, Lieberman became an ally of George W. Bush and a cheerleader for the War in Iraq. The party stood by him during a losing primary campaign in 2006, but held on to his seat by running as an "Independent Democrat."

Despite campaign assurances that he believed in Democratic principles, Joe went on to endorse John McCain and Sarah Palin and delivered a featured address at the Republican National Convention.

At the convention, another McCain/Palin stumper, Republican Senator Arlen Specter, had this to say about his good friend:

"I would like to see him vote with Republicans in September. He's practically there. That would have the consequence of giving us a Republican Senate."

Looks like Arlen has gotten his wish.

This should be a cautionary tale for Pennsylvania Democrats. Lieberman and Specter share the same politics and have had long careers defined by "independence" -- from their parties, their constituents, and their own positions.

Joe says he now feels "liberated" from his party -- and the positions he campaigned on. What happens if Arlen is liberated by never again having to face the voters?

Arlen Specter is our Joe Lieberman, and if Pennsylvania progressives elect him they will regret it for the next six years.

There were clear signs in Lieberman's record that he did not really believe in progressive principles, and they were overlooked to Democrats' regret. Arlen Specter's entire record is a nearly 50-year legacy of opposition to Democratic values that's impossible to excuse.

Arlen admitted that the only reason he made the "painful decision" to leave the GOP was that the polls showed he couldn't beat his Republican challenger. Democrats should have higher standards than a jilted Republican on the rebound.

Specter also boasted that he would not be a reliable supporter of President Obama. When asked on what issues he disagreed with the President, he joked that he didn't have enough time to go through them all. It's a joke Pennsylvania Democrats should take very seriously.

Since I entered the race, Arlen has systematically flip-flopped on positions he staked out even after switching parties. Remember that before I stated my intention to challenge Arlen, he was dead set against any health care public option. He has since reversed course on the Employee Free Choice Act, Don't Ask Don't Tell, and the Defense of Marriage Act, with surely more to come. He may be voicing support for Democratic principles during the campaign, but we cannot afford to ignore the "Lieberman Lesson": It is what Senators do in the six years after elections, not what they say in the run up to them, that counts.

If President Obama is to be successful, if we're serious about fixing this country, then we need Democrats in the Senate who actually believe in what the President is trying to accomplish. After all, the biggest problem for the President isn't Republicans or tea parties, it's a lack of accountable leadership. Democrats have enough votes to pass legislation through both the House and Senate, but there are Democratic politicians who are standing in the way of the right bill.

The name of the game in Congress is how to get President Obama's agenda past the Joe Lieberman's of the Senate. The question for Pennsylvania is, do we need another one?

We should remember the old saying: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

As a former 3-star Navy admiral, Joe Sestak is the highest-ranking veteran elected to Congress and is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. He faces long-time Republican Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic Primary in May 2010.
Read more: Arlen Specter, John McCain, Lieberman, Senate, President Obama, Sarah Palin, Health Care Reform, Obstructionism, Joe Lieberman, Health Insurance, Health Care, Joe Sestak, Republicans, Politics News

Joe Favorito: Has President Obama Stopped Being a Sports Guy? Nah, He's Just Too Busy These Days...

2009-12-16T16:50:00Z
One of the smarter moves President Barack Obama used during his campaign to lure the interest of the casual voter was to introduce his athletic side and interests into his platform discussions. It started with shooting baskets with Sports Illustrated's Scott Price, while discussing his background in and affinity for basketball. He threw out a first pitch and donned his beloved White Sox cap; he played more hoops with the University of North Carolina on another primary stop, analyzed NCAA brackets, talked BCS and hit some golf balls for fun. Meanwhile Senator Hillary Clinton looked uncomfortable talking baseball, Senator McCain, despite being an avid outdoorsman, stopped in at a NASCAR event but took his private time hunting away from the cameras, and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin regaled us as a hockey mom. None were as effective with the casual male sports fan as President Obama, and that feeling resonated with a male audience who may not have followed his campaign closely before. It made him much more "one of the guys." He shoots hoops and likes baseball and talks about it all very comfortably. Did it lure some votes? Probably. Did it detract at any point? No way.

So the election comes and goes and the President continues his sports interests ... he attends a Wizards game in a turtleneck and sits court-side, and talk of bringing a basketball court to the White House to replace the bowling alley runs rampant. Staff members are frequently seen being part of pickup games on the road. Athletes and teams make a trip to the White House a must stop during their D.C. swings, whether the President is in residence or not. Hall of Famers show up in record numbers, a new office to assist in growing Olympic sport and youth issues is announced. Talk of Opening Day for baseball and Final four predictions abound, despite all the challenges that are ongoing in the real world for the new President.

Yes there are the traditional champion's visits, but the sense of sport for this President (even with his predecessor being a former MLB owner) has never been higher. Even on the international scene, the optimism around the coming vote for the 2016 Olympics, right in the President's backyard, gives the Chicago bid a welcomed boost.

Time then moves ahead, and alas, our sporting President has moved on to bigger issues than pickup ball. Healthcare reform, the repayment of bank loans, and the war in Afghanistan rightfully dominate the agenda these days, and his most forward link to sports lately, August's trip to Copenhagen to support Chicago's Olympic bid, ended badly.

Has the President abandoned using sports as a social unifier to reach the young male who loved watching him mix it up on the court and play catch? Probably not. Using that sports platform to address the growing issue of childhood obesity in this country, will be a welcomed statement at the right time, perhaps as a part of another step in healthcare.

One prominent former athlete, (now NBC broadcaster) Tiki Barber, has made a trip or two to the White House to show his plans to use playgrounds ... the plan is called "Play Proud"... as a spot where children in inner cities can resolve conflicts and build a base for healthy play, and that could certainly factor into the administrations' plans for the future. The Office of Olympic, Paralympic and Youth Sport, announced in June, is also finding its place amongst those in DC, and could be rolled out on a larger platform as we move toward the Vancouver Olympics in February. All will find its place in time.

So has the President stopped being the "sports guy"? Nope. Will we see him dropping in on a Georgetown hoops game, or the NHL Winter Classic or the Super Bowl? Probably not soon.

Like all of us he just doesn't have time right now for catch. That's also probably a good thing.
Read more: John McCain, Sports Illustrated, Valerie Jarrett, Presdient Obama, NHL Winter Classic, Olympics, Nba, Health Care Reform, Chicago Olympics, Hillary Clinton, Tiki Barber, Super Bowl, Sarah Palin, Sports News

Costco Protects Palin From Tomatoes By Taking Them Off Shelves

2009-12-16T15:03:12Z
A Costco in Utah took tomatoes off the shelves during a visit by Sarah Palin, after someone threw tomatoes at the Alaska Governor (and missed) on a stop at the Mall of America. Via Harpers, the Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Rappaport stopped at the Salt Lake City Costco to do some shopping, unaware that Palin was scheduled to be there for a book signing. [...]

The clerk told her they had no tomatoes that day.

No tomatoes? At Costco?

As she was leaving, she noticed a man with a store manager's name tag and asked him why they had no tomatoes. He informed her the store did have tomatoes, but they were taken off the shelves for a few hours.

It turns out that Palin had been pelted with a tomato at an earlier stop on her book tour and the management at the Costco was determined it wouldn't happen here.

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Read more: Costco Palin, Sarah Palin, Palin-Tomatoes, Palin Salt Lake City Costco, Sarah Palin Tomatoes, Palin Salt Lake City, Costco Sarah Palin, Politics News

2009 Quotes: The Most Memorable Of The Year

2009-12-16T12:48:54Z
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The fierce debate over health care hasn't led to a new law yet, but it's produced some of this year's top quotes, according to a Yale University librarian.

Fred Shapiro, associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at Yale Law School, is releasing his fourth annual list of The Yale Book of Quotations. His top quote: "Keep your government hands off my Medicare," by a speaker at a town hall meeting in South Carolina in July.
Read more: Quotations, Kanye West, Books, Sarah Palin Death Panel, Sully, Death Panel, Barack Obama, 2009 Quotes, Iphone, Quotes, Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare, Sarah Palin, Joe Wilson, Yale Book of Quotations, Falcon Heene, Jesse Ventura, Books News

Tom Gregory: Brokeback Mountain Reclaims the American West

2009-12-16T11:35:13Z
In July, at the Museum of the American West, The Autry National Center (The Autry) installed the iconic intertwined shirts from Brokeback Mountain (BBM).
The shirts are center-stage beside the costumes of John Wayne, Kate Hepburn, Steve McQueen, and Clint Eastwood. It's an easy fit -great goes with great, but if clothes could talk, their arrival was the biggest "guess who's coming to dinner" moment in Los Angeles schmatta history.

The Autry was never naïve to the role of LGBT people in the early frontier, but 'the love that dare not speak its name' remained virtually mute in the American West. Apart from the stereotypical cowboy with his cowhand silhouetted alone on the long trail, heretofore-rural America wasn't the geography for such talk. With the shirts holding fast on their walls, The Autry has opened up a line of progressive, informative, bigot-fumigatin' dialogue.

"Gene Autry's legacy, is showing ...what?" you ask. Yes, the shirts from Brokeback Mountain are proudly on display at the Autry --That's what a progressive, modern institution of learning (a museum) does. They propel conversation and incite questions while pushing society to learn, grow, and evolve. According to his wife, Jackie Autry, Gene Autry would have loved this bold step.

Gene Autry was an original singing cowboy. He yodeled his way into radio. From there came a record deal. A flood of others - including his original and iconic version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -followed his first hit, "That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine".

Children loved Gene Autry. In response to that admiration Gene wrote, "The Code of the Cowboy." Under the code he set up 10 rules all young bucks must follow. It's a code of peace and tolerance that his fans were instructed to embrace, even though the world was full of anger and hatred in the midst of WWII. Right in the middle is code number five:

A Cowboy must not advocate or possess racially or religiously intolerant views and ideas.

Following Gene's fearless lead, on Sunday, The Autry hosted the first of four programs on the LGBT contributions to the America West. Sunday's event was aptly entitled "What Ever Happened to Ennis del Mar". LA Times and NPR film critic Kenneth Turan was joined by sociologist Professor Peter Nardi, USC Associate Professor William Handley, and panel moderator, University of New Mexico history professor Virginia Scharoff.

The Museum's Wells Fargo Theater was full of western film fans, scholars, and people anxious for more of the story they can't get out of the soul. Like The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers, or High Noon, BBM has grown a patina of scholarly importance over the last few years. BBM rocked the paradigm of the Hollywood love story, and became a personal catharsis, then a call to action for fairness and equality among LGBT people.

On Sunday, I witnessed The Autry making history in the trail-blazing style of America's boldest pioneers. For too long we've written off the America's most beautiful landscapes as real estate lost to the right. But all of America has been claimed for all Americans. By their trailblazing move, The Autry has branded The United States free to everyone.

Consulting Producer Gregory Hinton, not only facilitated the installation of the shirts, but was the driving force behind the next in the series which he calls "HIDDEN HISTORIES.", It is slated for May 13th.

Sponsors of the program were HBO, The Gill Foundation, The Small Change Foundation, GLAAD, HRC, and The Courage Campaign.

Read more: The Autry, Jackie Autry, Katharine Hepburn, Gregory Hinton, John Wayne, The Seachers, Sarah Palin, Same-Sex Marriage, Hbo, Clint Eastwood, Gene Autry, Brokeback Mountain, Todd Palin, Jim Hormel, High Noon, The Grapes of Wrath, Entertainment News, Steve McQueen, Tim Gill, Entertainment News

Steven Solomon: Obama, Palin, Copenhagen: The End Of Drinkable Water?

2009-12-16T07:37:00Z
With America's national debate on global warming going bipolar between President Obama's grand entrance at Copenhagen and the surreality of Sarah from Alaska going rogue on world environmental science by championing the climate deniers, those committed to doing the planet's serious business should stay focused on one, often overlooked but trackable key factor of climate change--the pivotal role of water. It is through water that global warming destabilizes civilized societies. At Copenhagen last week, Bill McKibben of 350.org warned of a looming, water-related doomsday tipping point that could render future climate change efforts moot--if warming temperatures thaw the permanently frozen Arctic soils to release its methane greenhouse gasses.

Water's central role was colorfully highlighted in the run up to Copenhagen by cabinet members from the sea level Maldives islands and mountainous Nepal who separately held meetings underwater and at the base of Mount Everest's shrinking glaciers. They are desperate because they are on the front lines of the global warming battle. Along with the billions of other water-distressed people around the planet, climate change is exacerbating today's mounting crisis of freshwater scarcity by radically altering hydrologic patterns to produce overwhelming flooding, droughts, storms, rising coastal sea levels, as well as the unprecedented melting of Arctic icecaps and mountain glaciers visible in Sarah's own backyard. While the impacts are complex, they fall unevenly and are further dividing human society--with water rich regions generally getting wetter and arid ones drier.

With the growing scarcity of irreplaceable freshwater overtaking oil as a critical driver of world affairs, as narrated in my forthcoming "Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization" (HarperCollins January 5, 2010), no climate change policy can succeed without parallel policies that help water-stressed partner societies endure the destabilizing shocks to their existing water supplies, and infrastructures. Climate change thus makes global citizens of us all.

Not even remote Alaska will be spared the repercussions of failure. Temperatures are rising fastest in the high mountains, accelerating the melting of river-replenishing glaciers from the Himalayas to the Andes, and threatening the lives of the 2 billion people that depend upon them for food, industry, and drink. With global integration, there is symmetrical feedback between the vanishing glaciers and dry river beds and the blowing up of New York's Twin Towers. Consider what will happen in water-distressed Pakistan--nuclear-armed, terrorist-besieged, overpopulated, heavily irrigation-dependent, and already politically unstable--when its single water lifeline, the Indus River, loses a third of its flow from the disappearance of its glacier water source.

Water-rich, temperate southeastern America's recent episode of rare, prolonged drought followed by intense rainfall and deadly floods was but a mild taste of the pattern that is playing out on much more intense, larger, tragic scales in the freshwater distressed parts of the planet. In places like monsoonal India, Bangladesh, and in Darfur, the destruction of crop and grazing land by epic floods and droughts is spreading horrors like famine, sale of children, disease outbreaks, and a totally new, burgeoning phenomenon in history--climate refugees on a scale of multimillions.

Drill, Baby, Drill Sarah reminds me of those reckless Wall Street home loan bankers when she frets about sacrificing short term energy profits by reducing our carbon footprint instead of prudently worrying about the cumulative costs of systemic meltdown in view dead ahead. All Copenhagen climateers know that low carbon energy technologies are critical to controlling global warming. Yet few fully appreciate that ever since the invention of the waterwheel over 2,000 years ago our water and energy infrastructures have evolved into inseparable twins. Energy production is very thirsty--40% of all U.S. freshwater withdrawals from rivers and lakes is used by thermoelectric power plants--while water consumes lots of energy to perform its myriad economic functions. Thus the water footprint embedded in any unit of energy is another bedeviling factor the global warming solutions.

The carbon capture and underground storage (CCS) solutions that so many governments are depending on to meet their carbon reducing commitments, for example, require 45% to 90% more water to remove carbon dioxide. In 2008 China halted its big coal to liquids projects not because of environmental concerns but because its water demands--up to 5 times more than conventional oil production--were simply too great to satisfy in its arid northern coal fields. Fear of contaminating drinking water supplies has scotched projects for hydraulic fracturing of deep shale deposits to produce natural gases, and raised doubts whether scrubbing coal-fired chimneys of air pollutants may not simply be exchanging one form of pollution for another.
Water's central role as a planetary climate regulator has thus far saved the Earth from heating up much faster than suggested from the alarming one-third increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide to 387ppm (the highest level in 420,000 years) from the day James Watt's steam engine inaugurated the Industrial Era. But there is a limit to its molecular capacity to absorb vast amounts of heat in the oceans without heating up itself and to reflect solar rays off ice sheets back into space.

It is what President Obama decides to do when all the world's eyes are upon him at Copenhagen, of course, that matters for the long-term well-being of the planet. Sarah and the climate deniers can ignore the science of global warming if they want to, but hopefully a wiser Obama knows that the rich, temperate world can't isolate itself from the global feedback loops of disease, wars, terrorism, and environmental crises--and that the triggering agent is often related to water.

Within a decade there are likely to be 150 million restive climate migrants roaming the globe. They won't go quietly, wherever they go. Many of them might even immigrate to Sarah's Alaska, as the permafrost thaws.
Read more: Hydroelectric, Natural Resources, Copenhagen 2009, Books, Water Book, Water Copenhagen, Running Water, Maldives, Obama, Water Scarcity, Drill Baby Drill, Water Crisis, Fresh Water, Barack Obama, Water, Climate Science, Nepal, Sarah Palin, Environment, Row for Water, Climate Change, Water Policy, Alaska, Bill McKibben Copenhagen, Bill Mckibben, Water Politics, Copenhagen, Global Warming, Books News

Catie Lazarus: The Year of the Man-Child

2009-12-15T19:41:23Z
What Did You Learn in 2009? Test your knowledge by answering these objectively scientific questions about the celebrities, politicians and fifteen minute famers who made headlines.

You would describe 2009: "THE YEAR OF
A) Undermining Uninsured, Unemployed, and Underrepresented Minorities.
B) The Man-Child
C) Hope in a Bottle
(You can answer differently than the scorekeeper)

If a female celebrity accepts an award for her work, a male peer should:
A) Corner her with an unsolicited kiss, you'll never get the chance again and not just because she is married!
B) Interrupt her speech to say she didn't deserve to win.
C) Promote a political cause, even if he can't pronounce Ahmadinejad.

When exploiting children for commercial gain:
A) Buy them matching uniforms.
B) Never read them books, it sends subliminal message to viewers.
C) Keep copies of the footage for their future shrink appointments.

If a male physically abuses his girlfriend or female colleague, he might:
A) Ditch her in their shared office, McMansion, or rental car.
B) Blame the media.
C) Apologize via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or a YouTube video; someone else can forward her the link.

If a married politician or celebrity cheats, he ought to:
A) Engage in unprotected sex with as many people as possible, because if she takes you back, you may be stuck with her.
B) Do a prostitute or escort, she won't get how to sexually exploit someone for money.
C) Invent an original alibi, as coming out of the closet, hiking, and a fetish for S & M in trouser socks is already taken.
D) Hide any athletic gear or sharp objects from his spurned wife.

When gunning for your fifteen minutes of fame from infidelity:
A) Swipe toiletries from the hotel for proof of your lover's lust and hygiene practices.
B) Keep receipts of your rendezvous for taxes.
C) You want to hone your reality show pitch, like Skanks Doing Pranks or Males Are Hos Too.

After a failed Presidential campaign, politicians will:
A) Serve boxed wine in exchange for donors buying your memoir at full price.
B) Decry reform as socialism, while collecting government subsidized health care.
C) Consult on national security, when your international experience consists of finding a parking spot near the U.N.

If after skipping out on bail, you should:
A) Find a spokesperson whose own biological son is his brother-in-law, ex is his mother-in-law to stump on your behalf.
B) Describe his admitted drugging and raping a minor as not "rape rape."
C) Move to Europe where sexual assault is a poet's personal beeswax.

Say you carry a weapon, you want to:
A) Wear sweatpants without pockets.
B) Test it out on college campus, military bases, or crowded piazza, and then run!
C) Deploy to Afghanistan, apparently we need more armed bodies there.

For religious reasons, people will:
A) Veto gays and lesbian's liberal causes like marriage and the military.
B) Kill other humans, especially over holy land.
C) Practice polygamy, but only if the women dress in corduroy prairie dresses.

To win a US political election, a candidate should:
A) Spend $200 on behalf of voters in lieu of giving them cash during a recession.
B) Rant about immigrants, even if he's not Native-American.
C) Invest hundreds of dollars in hair care (true for tennis players too).

The Banking industry needs to:
A) Build sturdier pyramids.
B) Merge with the other conglomerates to form all we need: US Treasury-Google-Apple-Twitter-HBO-Netflix-H&M-CVS-Ikea-Trader Joe's-US Government.
C) Be paid more than less intelligent peers, like rocket scientists, doctors, teachers, professors, public servants, therapists, engineers, and nurses.

To ring in 2010, US Citizens will:
A) Blog, text, drink red wine, call their congressman, exercise more, eat less, take a second job, sanitize their hands, vote for viral videos, all while driving.
B) Crash a political function, just remember C-Spanners tuck in before the ball drops.
C) Fist bump.
Read more: Google, Inauguration Day 2009, Oxford-Health, Ikea, Fist Bump, Morgan Stanley, Elliot Spitzer, Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Wall Street Bonuses, Jon and Kate Plus 8, Nbc, JP Morgan Chase, Chris Brown, Copenhagen 2009, Duane Reade, Trader Joes, Lou Dobbs, Basketball, Michelle Duggar, Barack Obama, Driving While Texting, Drunk Driving, Hilary Clinton, Aol, Rahm Emanuel, Banking Crisis, CVS Pharmacies, Us Treasury, Mark Sanford, Law, Msnbc, Driving, Mitch McConnell, Woody Allen, Nadya Suleman, Sarah Palin Vice President, Immigration, Iphone, Infidelity, Time Warner, Finance, Rupert Murdoch, Fidelity Investments, Hamid Karzai, Rihanna, John McCain, Proctor & Gamble, Twitter, Ge, Oprah, Macys, Hbo, Howie Mandel, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, C-Span, Murder, Tiger Woods Affair, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Apple, Wall Street Crisis, Wall Street, Jon Gosselin, Sarah Palin, Fox News, Joe Lieberman, Netflix, Andre Agassi, Comedy News

Stephen H. Dinan: Dissolving the Palin Prejudice

2009-12-15T13:10:27Z
Over Thanksgiving, I was hiking with my brother-in-law when he commented that he only knew two kinds of people: those who loved Sarah Palin and those who hated her. Nobody was in the gray zone. While I didn't consider myself a "hater," I also knew that she had triggered intense reactions in me when she joined the Republican ticket. After Obama's victory, the fear of her becoming President subsided along with the negative charge, but I had to confess to a lingering prejudice beneath the surface.

One week later, I bought her autobiography, Going Rogue. Why? To dissolve my own prejudice and to better understand how we as a culture can go beyond the extreme political polarizations that have so paralyzed our country. What I know from years of psychological and spiritual explorations is that whenever we judge or fight something in the world, there is an aspect of ourselves that we are battling against. In creating walls of separation in the world, we reinforce them within ourselves, which is ultimately to our detriment.

I truly believe that everyone has their divine role to play in the world, even those with very different politics, beliefs, and values. While I have held that truth, though, I still had a visceral reaction to Palin - a sure signal that some work remains.

So reading Going Rogue was something of a test for myself - could I find the place of appreciation, respect, and even love for Sarah Palin?

What I found is that it wasn't really that hard, actually, simply by taking the time to meet her on her own turf rather than through sounds bites, spin, and polarized media battles. Reading someone's personal memoir is an intimate journey into their inner sanctum, and I developed a real appreciation for Sarah in reading the book. Aspects of her that seemed coarse, simplistic, or combative during the campaign were revealed to be a product of frontier values and growing up in a culture that is faced with subzero temperatures and constant tests of survival.

Her journey from high school basketball captain to Governor revealed itself as an impressive triumph of hard work, resiliency, and willingness to challenge the status quo. Many of the most caricatured and vilified aspects of her history turned out to be lopsided depictions and sometimes gross misrepresentations.

For example, while her belief in God is deep and sincere, she wasn't fanatical about it or dismissive of others. I found a real appreciation for the spiritual depths she went to when first faced with having a Down's syndrome child. Her ultimate celebration of the beauty and perfection of that child, a child that 90% of people would have aborted according to statistics, was profoundly moving and it led hundreds of thousands of special needs children to feel championed through her campaign.

On other fronts, her pro-development views on energy and oil did not exclude a deep love for the environment and even an appreciation for alternative energy and reducing our carbon footprint. She wrote in moving terms about her husband's indigenous ancestry and connection with the natural world, as well as the devastation wrought by the Exxon Valdez spill. Despite being pro-business she was heroically willing to face down the oil industry when it was corrupting the government of Alaska, a kind of bravery we need more of on both sides of the aisle.

Perhaps the most moving aspect of the book is the way in which she never waivers in her family commitments throughout the political journey. She passes up an opportunity to contest a Senate seat in order to manage her son's hockey team. She breast feeds in front of a taken-aback lawmaker. Team Palin is a part of every campaign and a constant presence in her official roles. Her family is at the center of her life in a way that feels whole and balanced, which is both impressive and commendable as we all seek to balance competing demands on our time.

In reading the book, I started to see a lot more of myself and my upbringing in Sarah. I too had grown up in a frozen land - Northern Minnesota - a place of unpretentious, middle-class, hardworking people who believe in personal responsibility and straight-talking integrity. We, too, had our sled dog races, subzero temperatures and a spirit of camaraderie to make it through. I began to see her political values as a natural extension of those tough-minded virtues, enabling her to take on daunting tasks and succeed at each level of life.

My developing appreciation of her formative years in the book led to a different view of the pressure cooker of national, presidential politics - I felt far more compassion for the ugly way in which she was attacked by the press, dismissed by the opposition, and muzzled by patronizing campaign bosses. She faced strong prejudices from people like myself who were scared that her more black-or-white, provincial-seeming perspective would someday be in the Oval Office. We were also worried by her folksy appeal and ability to attack Obama aggressively while appearing quite charming. The result of that reaction was a barrage of distorted stories, inflated fears, and downright misrepresentations, some of which were quite damaging to her family. After reading in her own words what she went through, I felt more compassion for her and dismay about the meat grinder that we've created for political leaders - an occupation for which we truly need our best and brightest.

Reading Going Rogue makes me understand that Sarah is not the ruthlessly ambitious and cutthroat caricature we feared; she is a woman who has befriended Democrats personally and professionally, shown real leadership in fighting corruption, and taken a more nuanced position on several issues in which she seemed far more polarizing. She seems quite sincere in her desire to serve in whatever way the universe calls for that service.

All that said, I still bristled when she launches in the final part of the book into a diatribe about what our country needs, which is strongly colored with right-wing platitudes and a self-righteous air as well as the tendency to portray liberals as the enemy rather than fellow allies in evolving our country. I would love to see more thoughtful reflections on positions and values, a deeper understanding of history, and less of the combative edge, all of which would make her a more unifying leader (and likely lead to fewer arrows back at her and her family). But that may not be her role. She is more of a super-charged Mom of the great white North, flashing into action to fight for what she sees as right, inspiring the Everyman and Everywoman to take personal responsibility for their lives and their country. She has the same qualities as a mother bear, with a fierce love that is eager to protect her cubs (or her country). If she's on your side, that can be exhilarating. But it can also reinforce the kind of partisan warfare that the book ultimately demonstrates is so destructive. My prayer is that this admirable woman can more fully embrace the idea that we all are on the same team here on planet earth. It's an all hand-on-deck moment for humanity and both conservatives and progressive values and people are needed.

Most of all, I come way from the book seeing Sarah as a woman who loves her family deeply, seeks to live a life of integrity, and wants America to be strong, successful and vibrant. While I may disagree with some of her policies and perspectives, I can better respect both her sincere patriotic intent as well as her willingness to take on hard fights in the service of democracy, in addition to her championing of the everyday people who often feel marginalized in our political process. I still would not vote for her for President, but I do respect her more as a person and as a leader of an important base of Americans.

I come away from reading Going Rogue feeling that it would be a useful act of citizenship for all those who feel prejudice towards her to read her book and meet her on her own turf in order to heal the lingering prejudices. I feel more balanced for having done so. I would also urge conservatives who hate or fear Obama to read his autobiography to better understand the man behind the political leader and thus heal their own biases.

The way I see it, healing the rift between Democrats and Republicans helps to heal the rift in our own hearts. The truth is that each party tends to champion one side of America's core values and we need both to operate in complementary and respectful ways for us to address the challenges we face. As each of us heals that prejudice in ourselves, we truly become part of the solution.
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