Anyway, Sandusky gave an interview with Bob Costas in which he denied the most serious charges against him, though he did admit to showering with boys and touching their legs in a non-sexual way. Uh huh.

The whole interview was disgusting, but the worst part to me was when Costas asked if Sandusky was sexually attracted to underage boys. Not only did Sandusky repeat the question (classic stall tactic), but he then paused discernibly before saying he enjoys their company but is not attracted to them. Are you kidding me??? How many normal people would have to repeat that kind of question and then hem and haw before finally getting a “no” out there? Utterly disgusting. And his lawyer comes across as a smug effing prick, too. What a pair.

ESPN clip of interview

I am fully against the notion of taxing the rich more heavily, even though I am in no way, shape, or form rich myself. I just think it is utterly stupid to PUNISH success like that. Why should someone be forced to give up almost 50% of their wealth just because they were smart enough or lucky enough to amass a fortune? That makes zero sense to me.

I would, however, be fully supportive of a flat tax rate that eliminates loopholes, deductions, and the inexplicably complicated tax code. Charge everyone 10% of their income and leave it at that.

Obviously I don’t know what really happened the night Caylee died, but I think Casey left her home alone while she went out partying. The girl must have died somehow, and then Casey, either drunk or on drugs or something, panicked and tried to dispose of the body. Then she concocted the abduction story. So even if she didn’t physically murder her daughter, Casey was at the very least indirectly responsible for her death.

But I guess the prosecution simply didn’t have enough solid evidence for a conviction. Sure, common sense tells us that Casey was involved somehow, but you can’t convict on common sense. Just from scanning newspaper accounts of testimony at the trial, I had a feeling this would be the outcome.

In fact, the emails are so innocuous that the press has taken to writing about them somewhat misleadingly. For example, the Telegraph (UK) wrote, “Some embarrassing requests for favours have also been revealed.” The “embarrassing request” subsequently cited (they only listed one, not several as the plural form implied) is as follows:

On April 15, 2008, Todd Palin emailed an official at the Republican Governors Association, with a request: “Christi, any chance we can hook up with Dallas Mavericks’ bball tickets for their game here tomorrow night? Just checking… Thanks! Todd Palin, Alaska.”

Really?????? Asking for Dallas Mavericks basketball tickets was an “embarrassing request” for favors?????? OMG, that’s quite a stretch.

Here’s a snippet the New York Times chose to quote.

She sought to be an encouraging leader one moment, lauding her team for a breakthrough on oil production: “You guys are doing awesome.” She could be distrustful and accusatory the next: “I can’t handle staffer leaks.”

Saying, “I can’t handle staffer leaks” is being “accusatory”????? Huh?! If she had said, “I think Joe Blow is leaking information to the press. Keep an eye on him,” then that would be accusatory. Merely saying that she can’t handle staff leaks is not accusing anyone of anything.

Other desperate attempts to make Palin look bad include citing an email where she liked a speech Obama gave on energy policy (so she’s supposed to hate everything he says just because he’s a Democrat???) and another email where she asked to meet with someone from McCain’s team in January of ’08, a full 8 months before she was tabbed to be the VP nominee. Oh, well, god forbid that anyone have aspirations to higher office.

Sheesh.

And of course, now that there’s no “bombshell”, as the AP put it, the perpetrators of the witch hunt are grumbling that the dirt must have been in the few thousand pages that were excluded from release because of executive privilege, confidentiality, and other laws. Sure. Palin’s some political powerhouse who can control the Alaska state government even though she’s not in office anymore and even though her approval ratings in Alaska are at an all-time low. She’s just that shrewd and calculating. Oh no, wait — I forgot, she’s supposed to be a bumbling redneck idiot with no political savvy at all. Well now, we can’t have it both ways, can we?

You know whose emails might prove to be a bit more illuminating? Anthony Weiner’s. Or Senator Barack Obama’s. Or Harry Reid’s. Or Nancy Pelosi’s. Or… well, you get the idea. Think that’ll ever happen in a million years? Yeah, right.

Anyway, I have been reading some international news sites, and outside the U.S. it seems that a majority of people (non-scientific; just judging by the amount and content of comments I’ve read) believe that Strauss-Kahn has been set up by political enemies. Last summer, the man apparently made some comments about how his enemies would somehow use his “love” of women against him, and his supporters point to this incident as proof that the prediction has come to fruition. Plus, the French media in particular appear to be up in arms about how DKS has been treated in the U.S. They want to know why he was subjected to a perp walk, why he must stay in jail while the charges are being sorted out, etc. I somewhat agree with that. Yes, DKS is a flight risk, but couldn’t they just put an ankle monitor on him and let him at least get out of jail? The presumption of innocence really seems to have flown out the window here.

I don’t have any more answers about this case than you do, but something doesn’t seem right. Maybe there’s more to the setup angle than initially suspected???

I usually don’t “celebrate” deaths, but there can hardly be an objection in this case. Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda terrorist leader and mastermind behind the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, has been killed by a team of Navy SEALs. The event occurred in the early morning hours on Monday (local time) in Pakistan, where bin Laden had been hiding out, not in a cave, but in a million-dollar compound. There reportedly was a firefight during which bin Laden was shot in the head. The U.S. then took “measures” to ID the body, and quickly buried it at sea–supposedly because no country was willing to accept the remains (but more likely because they wouldn’t want his tomb to become a pilgrimage spot for terrorists-in-training).

Anyway, this is a great day for America. Killing bin Laden doesn’t bring back the thousands of lives that were lost on 9/11, but provides some measure of closure, however small, for a nation that hasn’t been the same in the 10 years since.

You don’t have to be interested in politics to appreciate what a pioneer Geraldine Ferraro was, and regardless of whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, Independent, or other, you should take a moment to reflect on what the Mondale/Ferraro ticket did for women in public service. Yes, they lost by a landslide, but that’s not the point. Just by being on the ticket, Ferraro opened doors for others, and for that we should all be grateful.

RIP.