In the wake of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' tragic shooting.

As the cable news media speculate and rush to premature judging and declare Gabrielle Giffords prematurely dead before saying, oops sorry, she's alive and in critical condition etc....as they struggle to fill airtime, here are a couple of links worth reading:
Gary Hart on the gun metaphors used by some on the right--
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/words-have-consequences_b_806250.html
Dan Gillmor's article "Take A Slow News Approach" from Salon.com--
http://www.salon.com/news/media_criticism/index.html?story=/tech/dan_gillmor/2011/01/08/arizona_shootings_slow_news

Time to rebrand TLC as The Unlearning Channel.

Assuming there will be a lot of who-cares passivity regarding this press release about the Republican operative teaming up with the woman who will do just about anything to stay on television:
http://www.popeater.com/2010/07/22/sarah-palin-to-take-kate-gosselin-and-kids-camping-on-kate-plus/?icid=main

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Rand Paul: Tea Party poster child for unregulated corporate anarchy?

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/pauls-honeymoon-seems-over/?ref=politics

It can now be said: Rand Paul is Ken to Sarah Palin's Barbie.

NEWSWEEK, Sarah Palin and the tendency of magazines to go for the "gotcha" photo.

Here's a link to Evan Thomas' NEWSWEEK article about Sarah Palin; Thomas pines for a legislative environment where "moderate" Republicanism rules over the visceral, primeval don't-think-it's-bad-for-you ethos of Ms. Palin and her acolytes: http://www.newsweek.com/id/222786
And Thomas also engages in more dumb revisionism where Ronald Reagan is now considered a "great" President.

But, Thomas (plus the more intelligent Christopher Hitchens article undone when Hitchens lurches for his trademark bellicose atheism at the close) gets undone by Jon Meacham and NEWSWEEK's choice for a cover photo.

As for the controversial cover (which was from a photo shoot for a fitness magazine), it shouldn't be surprising that magazines still desire the "gotcha" cover--a practice that hasn't really changed since TIME's infamous darkening of O.J. Simpson's photo a decade and a half ago.

And here's NEWSWEEK justifying the choice:
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/11/18/newsweek-explains-thinking-behind-palin-cover.aspx

To me, the really offensive photo is in the print edition of the magazine--and it's more due to the context which the magazine intended.

There's a shot of Ms. Palin giving a campaign-trail speech in October of 2008--but all you see are the back of her legs and her high-heeled shoes and two young male volunteers gazing up at her.

And NEWSWEEK, given the Palin-as-substance-free-beauty nudge-nudge of the cover photo, seems to want readers to think of the two male supporters as staring at a woman onstage in a strip club.

Sarah Palin--she'll be back.

Given the deep desire some Americans have for simple-minded, "I feel it in my gut so it's true" demagogues, it's safe to say that Sarah Palin stepping down as governor of Alaska will lead to a Richard Nixon-in-1968 or Ronald Reagan-in-1980 comeback:
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2009/08/sarah-palin200908
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31726640/ns/politics-more_politics/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/07/03/palin_resigns/?source=newsletter
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-03/did-a-scandal-sink-the-uss-palin/?cid=hp:mainpromo2
http://www.slate.com/id/2222221/
http://www.slate.com/id/2222230/

Except that Palin--a dimbulb compared to Nixon or even Reagan--will have to rely almost 100% on divisiveness to make that comeback possible.

Lots of overreaction from the left and right about David Letterman's TOP TEN Palin jokes.

An article from an occasional contributor to SLATE:
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/11/david-letterman-owes-sarah-palin-flight-attendants-and-women-in/

Letterman's semi-apologetic clarification--plus the original Top Ten list (links from HOLLYWOOD ELSEWHERE):
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/06/greatest_non-ap.php
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/06/why_the_kid_glo.php

James Wolcott's take on Letterman's remarks:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2009/06/here-it-is-friday-and.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/wolcott/2009/06/like-clint-eastwood-in-a.html

And the Palins getting their demagogue on to rack up cheap political points from their base:http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/06/palin-vs-letterman.html

Another Letterman apology: http://defamer.gawker.com/5291870/

Regarding President Obama: it may be time for lowered expectations.

I don't remember exactly where I read it during the 1980s; a quote that's returned to my mind today may have been in ADVERTISING WEEKLY or BARRON'S or THE WALL STREET JOURNAL or perhaps THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS.

Here's the quote: "You cannot penalize successful people."

And, regarding President Barack Obama's approach to people in danger of losing their homes, he seems to not want to penalize lenders all that much. Here's two articles from NPR.org: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100834725
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100843174

Here's how I view the first month of the Obama Administration: Obama is being "business-friendly" and bending over backwards in the name of bipartisanship for the Republican Party, which, in turn, is still unrepentantly clanging away in Karl Rove/Rush Limbaugh scorch-the-earth propaganda mode--willing to dole out propaganda to the unthinking, preparing the party faithful for the Presidential clash-of-titans of Jeb Bush and Sarah Palin in the 2012 primaries.

The little people are having to wait their turn until the big people get their big money--and it's safe to say that Obama isn't emulating FDR (who wasn't shy about angering and challenging plutocrats during the Great Depression) all that much.

But there has been a fair amount of no-more-doing-it-George-Bush's-way symbolism to calm the public.

Regarding the War on Terror, however, Obama may maintain certain Bush policies--but (my guess) turn the volume down in hopes that the majority of Americans, worried about the horrible economy, won't pay much attention. Joan Walsh (someone I don't always agree with) of Salon.com articulates this fear: http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/02/19/obama_detention/

Go vote today.

And so the long national nightmare ends (unless someone calls for a recount) as Barack Obama, a game-changing President, is likely to be elected today.

Which gives us the time to wave goodbye to negative campaigning, cartoon punditry on the left and the right and the pitiful sight of John "I'm owed this" McCain and Sarah "I don't have to do anything but give good Image" Palin spending their final days on the trail screeching tired old GOP bromides about not "penalizing" successful people.

For those who live in California, I heartily recommend voting No on Proposition 8--the ugly effort of a lot of unChristian Christians (which include Mormon, Catholic and James Dobson-esque fundamentalists) to end gay marriage.

In closing, I offer two modest proposals:
1. Abolish the Electoral College. Direct popular vote by 2012.
2. Amend the Constitution so Presidents can only serve one six-year term.
This would be an effective way of ending some of the partisan games, megacorporate influences and too-constant fundraising which have hobbled this great nation of ours.

John McCain: When all else fails, channel the ghost of Joseph McCarthy.

Desperate to hang onto "the base", John McCain smears both Barack Obama and THE LOS ANGELES TIMES: http://news.aol.com/elections/article/los-angeles-times-obama-khalidi-tape/230765?icid=200100397x1212447352x1200793185