Sarah Palin's "The Unattended" movie poster - PLUS: Rupert Murdoch, Rebekah Brooks Live Broadcast of Testimony on BBC and CNN

By Kathleen

"THE UNATTENDED" - Graphic by AzureGhost

It is a fact that we here at Politicalgates are frequently a jump ahead of current trends. I know, for instance, that many of the readers here are actively involved in tweeting out information and stories before the mainstream begins even considering whether or not to report them. Readers also often retweet each others twitters ensuring that such information is spread as widely as possible. Yesterday many of us retweeted the link to AzureGhost's "The Unattended" poster.

Azure's latest graphic is most likely her best yet. It was accompanied by the text "Sometimes Sarah Palin just doesn't know when to quit." A sentiment that many of us here can identify with.

I am presently compiling a list of politicalgates readers who are on twitter. Please contact me if you wish to add your twitter name to the list.

Earlier this evening on Countdown Keith Olbermann introduced us to"whatshername......... Palin...the film about her. The Undefeated. The Unattended." It is not difficult to believe that he saw Azure's tweet and clever poster. Olbermann goes on to say "It opened to tiny audiences and tepid reviews, and an average crowd of 31 viewers per showing over the weekend at a huge cineplex outside Dallas."

In the clip Olbermann also examines the rather quaint suggestion by some GOP politicians, Rick Perry, Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain and Sarah Palin, that they are sure that they have personally been called by God to serve the USA as President. He points out that Palin at least has "her faith on camera." Marcus Moulitas thinks that it is all a big joke and if not it is all too sad to even contemplate.

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It's a big day today in the UK as several witnesses are due to appear in Parliament before not only one, but two committees in order to testify about the scandals surrounding Rupert Murdoch's crumbling empire. The list of witnesses includes Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch. Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of International News who resigned last Friday and was arrested on Sunday will also testify , so it should be a highly intriguing event, unless they decide to resort to the "I cannot recall" defense. We will see.

The complete line-up, according to Huffington Post UK:

• 12pm: Sir Paul Stephenson (Home Affairs committee)
• 12.45pm: Dick Fedorcio, public affairs director at the Met (Home Affairs committee)
• 1.15pm: John Yates (Home Affairs committee)
• 2.30pm: Rupert Murdoch and James Murdoch (Culture, Media and Sport Committee)
• 3.30pm: Rebekah Brooks (Culture, Media and Sport Committee)
• 5.30pm: Lord Macdonald, former director of public prosecutions (Home Affairs committee)
• 6pm: Keir Starmer, director of public prosecutions (Home Affairs committee)
• 6.20pm: Mark Lewis, lawyer for the Dowler family (Home Affairs committee)

The Guardian and Huffington Post will provide live updates. Hopefully there will also be live video feeds which we then can link to.

In order to get in the mood, here is the trailer to "Hackgate - The Movie":

The New York Times reports that Billy Bragg, a British protest singer, pointed out the dangers of Murdoch's empire way back in 1984. Billy has reworked his song in light of current events.

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LIVE LINKS TO BBC MURDOCH/BROOKS TESTIMONY:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14193124

http://live.cnn.com/

Sarah Palin -- One of Keith Olbermann's Worst Persons in the World on Current TV's New Countdown. Michael Moore is Olbermann's First Guest

By Kathleen

Keith Olbermann returned to the broadcasting world last night with his usual vigour and dry wit. Responding to a clip in which John McCain asks "What would Ronald Reagan say?" Olbermann dryly responds "Nothing, he's dead. He was a lousy President." It is quite clear that Olbermann isn't dead and his first programme promises more of the Olbermann that we all came to depend on to keep us reasonably sane. A trusted source that many of us have missed over the past six or so months since MSNBC abruptly shut him down.

Olbermann asks the questions that we all want answers to such as "Why isn't Thomas Clarence out of a job when his wife has taken political contributions from a Texas real estate tycoon?" Olbermann also provides us with comic moments when he wryly states that Rush Limbaugh has admitted that "his opinions are available to the highest bidder." All that and more, including The Worst Person in the World's segment which features Sarah Palin's new trademark name and image in third place (right where she belongs as she will never be a winner) informing us that the idea of Sarah Palin educating anyone is, of course, idiotic.

President Obama did not escape Olbermann's attention when he zeroed in on the legitimacy of the present conflict in Libya and whether or not the War Powers Act needs to be applied in relation to the present situation that the USA is involved in. Olbermann drew parallels between the Bush administration "cherrypicking of legal positions to support the enhanced interrogation regime. AKA torture" and the fact that President Obama

"rejected the views of both the Pentagon's general counsel and the acting head of the justice departments department of legal counsel when the insisted that the US was in legal hostilities that would require the War Powers Act be applied. Instead the President sought legal advice from his White House Counsel and the State Departments legal advisor both of whom said hostilities were not at issue and neither was the War Powers Act."

He went on to quote a poll sponsored by The Hill which supports the view that most American people are tired of wars and are not concerned about whether or not they are legal. Olbermann stressing that he wants to "set aside the rightness or wrongness of getting involved in Libya" brought on Michael Moore as his first guest to discuss "why President Obama is doing it this way rather than through Congress?" Moore believes that it is the easiest way of doing it and that most modern day presidents believe that they have a right as the Commander in Chief to send in planes to bomb countries as they so wish so there is no need to go to Congress.

Recognising the fact that President Obama, if he had argued his case before Congress, would have likely had its support Olbermann and Moore seem confused as to why he had not done so. I think that President Obama wanted to avoid the suggestion that he has involved the USA in another actual war when his campaign promises were about ending wars, not starting them. Regardless, this is a fascinating discourse and I encourage you to listen to the entire interview which concludes that President Obama's motivations for being involved in Libya were good ones whilst Bush's motivations for the war on terror were essentially bad ones.

During the broadcast Olbermann outlines in a Special Comment what the purpose of the new programme is. Olbermann states

"This is to be a newscast of contextualisation that is to be presented with a viewpoint that the weakest citizen of this country is more important than the strongest corporation. That the nation is losing its independence through the malfeasance of one political party and the timidity of another, and that even though you and I should not have to be the last line of defense apparently we are so we damm well better start being it."

I can't think of a better way to end this post, so I will simply echo Michael Moore's sentiments. It's good to have you back Keith.