Good evening everyone. I wanted to let you know that I've finally figured out how to marshal TypePad's insubordinate HTML gnomes and get them to do my bidding. And that means we've finally added some must-read blogs to our Blogroll (<--- on that side) and updated the About the Authors page (over there --->).
On a personal note, I've taken a fair bit of flack this week, both in my e-mail box as well as in posts and comments at a couple of blogs I'd previously assumed to be more interested in holding politicians accountable than protecting themselves from criticism. I refer to my recent posts about the strange circumstances surrounding the birth of Sarah Palin's fifth child--the story of which I firmly believe was, and is still, an incredible, outrageous, and largely unchallenged hoax--and the ongoing media and blog blackout pertaining thereto.
Mostly, though, I've had tremendous encouragement for "going there", because so few people seem to want to, citing such reasons as "it's not important"--as you know, I've argued it most certainly is--to "it's wrong to pry into such personal matters", which I will continue to argue were no longer personal or private when ex-governor Palin, on Day One and repeatedly thereafter, invoked the whole matter of her pregnancy and childbirth experiences in the course of building her pro-life/fundie bona fides, which, as it turned out, would pretty much be the extent of her political bona fides, period. (If you doubt this, Google Palin policy accomplishments, Palin legislative achievements, or even Palin educational background.)
I think Sir C. said it best in an e-mail to me this afternoon, responding to one of mine in which I lamented the aforementioned piling-on of nastiness:
Obviously this is perilous territory and you're sticking your neck out on a subject that is very uncomfortable for a lot of people on the left.
He's right--I am sticking my neck out. Well, now I am. Because while I have followed the story since the day of Palin's selection, until last week, I had not addressed the headache-inducing mess of a story known as "Babygate", mostly because I kept thinking that surely a reporter with a far greater platform than mine---this blog, and litbrit--would do it for me. (And to date, only Andrew Sullivan has done so, and done so alone, and received enormous amounts of criticism for it, too.) I kept thinking someone at the New York TImes or MSNBC would finally expose this dishonest woman and farce of a politician who, to my disgust, has been allowed to pull off one hell of a deception with regard to her fifth baby, a special needs child who had no say in any of this, and do it seemingly without reproach from any major source. Palin continues to parade her children and grandchildren on stages actual and electronic, as she has from the start, alternately using them as human shields, props, sales tools, and publicity magnets. And raking in the millions all the while.
But while I believe this is a story worth following as closely as I can, and reporting on as well as I can, given the resources I have to work with--and with this strange story as with any other, I am, and will always be, careful to indicate when it's something I suspect, something I know, or something I can prove--I am nonetheless extremely sensitive to the fact that my co-bloggers here might not want to share in the delightful heaps of scorn, conspiracy-theory-nut accusations, and ridicule that I have been served of late.
Even so, many readers clearly find the dualing subjects at hand--that of the media's obeisance to right-wing power and the disturbing, tentacular nature of the fraud itself--as fascinating and important as I do.
A compromise, then. One that comes from me and me alone, by the way--there were no mean, threatening, or disparaging e-mails from my fellow Cogblog writers, quite the opposite--and one that I think will keep everyone happy while sparing those who are made so terribly uncomfortable by it all. I will continue to write my bits and pieces about the Palin fraud (and related matters) over at litbrit, and I'll put the links to any new posts in a brief link-dump post here. That way, those who remain interested, and who wish to read or contribute to the discussions, can click through (and no, this isn't a ploy to direct traffic to my personal blog--as is the policy here at Cogitamus, I have no advertisers and I accept no donations, so there.)
If you're so inclined, you may now follow me Down the rabbit hole.
I wish you all a lovely, restorative evening.
XXX
DNT
