Weekly Roundup, October 17-23, 2011

by BlueberryT

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Dusty's Corner

I can see we are going to have lots of fun in "Dusty's Corner"! Her first post as a PoliticalGates regular is a wonderful mix of delicious snark, level-headed "advice" and astute political commentary. She roasts Michele Bachmann, Herman "Herb" Cain, the GOP debtors Huntsman and Gingrich, and, last but not least, Sarah Palin aka shifty-butt. The GOP obsession with anti-woman and anti-abortion legislation is happily balanced with kudos to the "Occupy" movement sweeping the globe. Great post, Dusty -- you have a nice way of showing that the GOP is all absurdity, all the time.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Themes from Joe McGinniss' Work

Joe McGinniss wasn't born yesterday, nor did his career as a writer begin with the publication of The Rogue, nor is Sarah Palin the first pathological narcissist that he has portrayed. I revisited his earlier work and found threads, themes and topics from his earlier works, seen through the lens of the "search for the real Sarah Palin." He again brings astute observations together with wit and wonderful storytelling skills. He again explores politics as a con game, Alaska and its fascinating characters, and salt of the earth people and those who are corrupt or dysfunctional. Most surprising to me is that none of the reviewers of The Rogue have shown the least bit of interest in viewing this book within the context of his earlier work; this seems like "book review skills 101." But I guess if you get paid to review a book, the current mode is to do so without even reading it, let alone reading the author's earlier work.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Bristol's baby bump revealed (which, when?)

Thanks to a tip from a trusted source, Kathleen discovered photos revealing Bristol in a “semi-Demi” pose, showing some baby-bump skin. The research team compared Bristol’s appearance to what she looked like during various timeframes, and concluded that these photos were taken during the fall, after the RNC; we don’t know exactly when, but possibly October. Is she 32 weeks? Hard to say for sure, but it’s plausible. Were they retouched? Most likely, but the baby bump seems pretty realistic and believable. The bigger message here is to try to get back to basics, focusing on what we know and facts that we can establish with a high degree of certainty. It doesn’t mean don’t think outside the box, but we do need to separate facts from opinions or theories.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Professor Brad Scharlott’s Ear Analysis

Brad Scharlott applied his skills in digital photography to analyze the ear photos of “Ruffles” and Trig, providing a convincing case that the interior “architecture” of the outer ear is the same and thus they are the same baby. Several readers provided additional photos and analytical approaches with similar conclusions, but some disagreed. Keeping an open mind, many of us also appreciated the informed comments of mrsgunka, Kali and several others who provided additional information, photos, analysis or insights.

Here’s my vote that if we can all stay calm and rational, we can deal with ideas that may differ from our own conclusions in some ways. (This happens within the research team occasionally, and we all still respect each other and don’t take it personally when we disagree; in fact, this has happened to me recently regarding a theory that I recognize might be a rabbit hole!) We are all gradually fitting together the pieces of a very complex puzzle (with some deliberately false leads thrown in for good measure). Eventually we’ll see the finished product of our collective work. Maybe we should all stand up, stretch, take a deep breath, and smile at what we’ve accomplished. ;-)

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Nomad’s Father, the American Dream and its Unraveling

Here is another wonderful post by Nomad, whose father lived the American Dream, growing up in poverty and building a modest and secure middle class life through hard work and a cooperative symbiosis between his employer, union and himself. Unions were instrumental in creating a path from poverty to productivity and a comfortable life for many Americans. Nomad also points out that, although revisionist historians bestow Ronald Reagan with the credit for the fall of the Berlin Wall and later the USSR, the Polish union Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, was the real catalyst. Ironically, at the same time, Reagan struck a major blow against unions in this country, firing the air traffic controllers and opening the door to hiring “replacement workers” for those on strike. This spurred “right to work” laws and other actions, such as we have seen running rampant this year, to weaken unions. As a bonus, here is a link to an excellent video Nomad made on the “fall of ’29.”

Some comments and links:

Cheeriogirl: Why is it so hard for people to consider that Sarah Palin faked a pregnancy by wearing some sort of empathy belly, when she regularly dons a fake rear end and fake breasts? [To which mmboucher added] And..... Fake hair! [Ooopsie, Sarah -- your wig is slipping! Later the wig was proven by the screenshots that Annes_123 posted.]

MadamDeal: Lord have mercy. Taken together the padded bosom, padded derriere and lip gloss, it's a picture of Midlife Crisis.

Indy_girl: OT--last night I was in our video store and there was ONE lonely copy of "The Undefeated" on the new release wall (?). It didn't seem to be in the right place, so I put it in the horror section instead. ;-D

Jolly Roger (Plutocrap): I've been enjoying Herb the last few days. Every new thing he says has psychiatrists all over the world looking through their diagnostic manuals.

JCos (hard to pick just one!): Palin looks like a boa constrictor that's just eaten a small farm animal. [OK, couldn’t pick just one!] I always say it isn't a great debate until the candidate who wants to secede from the country accuses his opponent of being a hypocrite for employing illegal immigrants.

Older_Wiser: So, that 9-9-9 tax plan is code for "The 9.99% at the top will get a huge tax savings."

Ann K.: Bristol looks so fresh and pretty in those pictures. It is a shame what she has done to her face. It makes me rather sad, even though I know there is a lot of ugliness inside of this young woman.

Linda1961: The biblical Sarah laughed when she heard that she would get pregnant, because she was 90 years old and barren. When Isaac was born, she named him "Laughter" - a nice name. If Quitter laughed, it was because she was going to perpetrate fraud on the American people to further her political career, and named Trig for the scientific name for Down's Syndrome - despicable.

Kilob has a (previously) secret talent:

It was three years ago today,
Sarah Palin urged her bots to pay
They've been mesmerized by her lack of style
But they've guaranteed to raise a pile
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years
Sarah Palin’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
They’re Sarah Palin’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
We hope you really enjoyed her show
Sarah Palin's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sit back and let your money go
Sarah Palin's lonely, Sarah Palin’s lonely
Sarah Palin’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
It's wonderful to be here
She certainly was shrill
You're such a ignorant audience
She'd like to take away your home
She'd love to take away your home
I don't really want to stop the show
But I thought that you might like to know
That she is going to sing a song
And she wants you all to sing along
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Becky Mansour
And Sarah Palin's Lonely Hearts Club Band

A special shout-out to Leadfoot, KatieAnnieOakley, BfromC, Maddies_Mom, LizH and inmylife, who had a great meet-up in Chicago this week. Sounds like a great time was had by all!!

Cheeriogirl linked to David Frum: Palin: Already Almost Forgotten.

Thanks to HonestyinGov for these photos of Occupy Sacramento!

Annes_123 is channeling Sarah again—brilliant!

Game of Life linked to this on Sarah’s latest utter hypocrisy.

Juicyfruityy, lee and others linked to Joe McGinniss about the ADN enabling Palin and otherwise doing a piss-poor job.

Older_Wiser linked to Phil Munger on this topic as well.

Juicyfruityy also pointed out this excellent Dylan Ratigan program on the economic con game where the banks control our monetary policy and have no risk, Alan Greenspan/the Federal Reserve is “the Godfather” and the people are the losers.

Hope for America linked to this (see “Ears” on page 4) in support of Brad Scharlott’s post about babies’ ears. EARSA newborn's ears, as well as other features, may be distorted by the position they were in while inside the uterus. Because the baby hasn't yet developed the thick cartilage that gives firm shape to an older child's ears, it isn't unusual for newborns to come out with temporarily folded or otherwise misshapen ears. Small tags of skin or pits (shallow holes) in the skin on the side of the face just in front of the ear are also common.

The Last Word – Helen NPN: Hey everyone, I just want to take a moment to pat EVERYONE on the back who comments here. Aside from the well researched and written posts that we've come to expect here, I've got to say, the links that we all provide to each other are FABULOUS and half the reason I'm here too.

Thanks for bringing your important and interesting links, theories and stories here one and all, and your funny ones too. Politicalgates is a unique clearinghouse for the smartest topical info around and I really value this community for that fact. Keep em coming!

UPDATE: Photos from OccupyBoston.