[Guest post by DRJ]

Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is currently flying to Honduras from Washington DC, accompanied by other planes carrying South American leaders who joined to support Zelaya. Meanwhile, in Honduras, protesters, military guards, and police helicopters are waiting at the Tegucigalpa airport and the Honduran military has orders to prevent Zelaya’s plane from landing.

It’s interesting that the Zelaya caravan originated in DC.

Stay tuned.

– DRJ

Yesterday Ed Morrissey wrote that Palin’s resignation

destroyed her own credibiity in a single day.

I liked Sarah Palin and supported her inclusion on the GOP ticket last fall. I thought she had more toughness than this. It’s a big disappointment, and it’s the end of any hope of Palin getting taken seriously as a politician on the national level in the future.

That post currently has 3267 comments and counting. I haven’t read through them all, but based on something Ed wrote today, many of the commenters apparently suggested that Ed is a “Palin-hater”:

My caveat in the opening paragraph wasn’t about getting “beat up”; I’m a big boy, and I can take honest criticism. It’s correcting the falsehood in the comment strings that I’ve been a Palin-hater. If people actually read what I’ve written about Palin over the past year, nothing could be further from the truth. I’m going to give people my honest opinion, no matter what.

Wow. People are actually calling Ed Morrissey a “Palin-hater”?

Meanwhile, staunch conservative Ace of Spades also posted a line that I quoted on Friday: “It’s over. You can’t resign from a governorship and then run for higher office.” Now, apparently Ace is also getting the business from his commenters, and has begun to respond in his comments section:

[I]f you do not believe that Sarah Palin has some double-secret probation plan for the presidency, you must hate her too, and you’re rooting against her, and cheering for the other side.

This is fucking insane and it must stop. I will not be bullied by this ludicrous magical thinking brigade who insists that only Nice and Positive Words must be uttered or else one is contributing one’s Evil Energy to the Wrong Side.

It’s insane.

I disagree with you. I have tried to do so pleasantly but I am tired of the imputation of bad motive simply because I am more realistic and less prone to flights of hopeful fancy than you.

Is Sarah Palin, like Rush Limbaugh, an icon that cannot be criticized on a conservative blog without having the readership turning en masse against the blogger? It sure looks that way. Somehow, I’m thinking Allahpundit is happy to be on vacation this week — so he can sit back and watch other conservatives be subjected to this abuse.

Me, I have no idea what Palin’s doing, and I’m content to watch it all unfold without expressing much of an opinion. I rather doubt there’s some major scandal in the works. And I understand and share the anger that comes from watching cretins like Tom Boggioni take cheap shots at Palin’s children.

Still, if conservative stalwarts like Ed Morrissey and Ace do have an honest opinion concerning Palin’s amnnouncement, and they express it — are they now blackballed?

That’s absurd.

As conservatives, we need to have room to express honest opinions and disagree. If we can’t do that without writing off people who have supported conservative principles for years, then this party will never reform and regain power.

And to the Palin critics, I would say this: we don’t really know what’s going on here. So why not sit back and let events unfold without criticizing her so harshly right out of the gate?

You know Maureen Dowd’s friend? The one who sends Dowd e-mails, which Dowd then plagiarizes word for word? Yeah, she sent Dowd some pretty idiotic lines today:

Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy.

. . . .

And so it was, Todd Purdum learned, as he traveled Alaska reporting on Palin for Vanity Fair, that the governor’s erratic and egoistic behavior has been a source of concern for people there.

“Several told me, independently of one another,” Purdum writes, “that they had consulted the definition of ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ — and thought it fit her perfectly.”

That sounds like a diagosis right there! Of course, those people aren’t psychologists, or they wouldn’t have to look up the definition. They’re just catty people who don’t like Palin. Sort of like the person who e-mailed Dowd this column. But if enough catty Palin-haters say the same thing, that’s good enough for a few paragraphs in a MoDo column!

The White House can drive its inhabitants loopy. So at least Sarah Palin is ahead of the curve on that one.

As Alaskans settled in to enjoy holiday salmon bakes and the post-solstice thaw, their governor had a solipsistic meltdown so strange it made Sparky Sanford look like a model of stability.

Who wrote that line, Maureen? We need their e-mail address so we can write them and tell them how clever it is!

UPDATE: I think I figured out who MoDo’s friend is: Liz Trotta, who calls Palin “inarticulate,” “undereducated,” “flaky,” and “wacky” — someone who “used her good looks and her gender to really get ahead in the political world”:

The giveaway: she thinks MoDo’s column was a “well-written, funny piece.”

[Guest post by DRJ]

The Anchorage Daily News reports the Palin’s personal attorney has issued a statement “denouncing rumors that Palin resigned because she is under criminal investigation and threatening legal action for publishing ‘defamatory’ material about the governor.”

The statement addresses and denies claims that Palin “steered contracts for the 2003 construction of the Wasilla Sports Complex before leaving office as Wasilla mayor.” In addition, Politico has published what purports to be a copy of the statement, and it includes this final paragraph directed at liberal bloggers and media [emphasis supplied]:

“To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as “fact” that Governor Palin resigned because she is “under federal investigation” for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation. This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law. The Alaska Constitution protects the right of free speech, while simultaneously holding those “responsible for the abuse of that right.” Alaska Constitution Art. I, Sec. 5. http://ltgov.state.ak.us/constitution.php?section=1. These falsehoods abuse the right to free speech; continuing to publish these falsehoods of criminal activity is reckless, done without any regard for the truth, and is actionable.”

As they say on South Park, it’s on.

UPDATE: Conservatives4Palin and GatewayPundit discuss this story, too.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Former NFL quarterback Steve McNair has been found dead in a Tennessee condominium, the victim of several gunshot wounds. A female victim, Sahel Kazemi, 20, was also found dead with a gunshot wound to the head.

Nicknamed Air McNair, he began his NFL career with the Houston Oilers and then played for the Titans when owner Bud Adams moved the team to Tennessee. McNair ended his career with 2 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens and retired in 2008.

My condolences to McNair’s wife, 4 sons, and extended family.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

The New York Times delves into the story of 40-year-old Lieutenant Ben Vargas, the lone Hispanic firefighter plaintiff in Ricci vs DeStefano, and why he did what he did:

“Gesturing toward his three young sons, Lieutenant Vargas explained why he had no regrets. “I want them to have a fair shake, to get a job on their merits and not because they’re Hispanic or they fill a quota,” he said. “What a lousy way to live.”

Vargas is of Puerto Rican heritage like Sonia Sotomayor. His parents are from Puerto Rico and his sister lives there now. Here’s how Vargas explains the difference between Sotomayor’s perspective and his:

“She’s from Puerto Rico, and I’m from Puerto Rico,” he said. “She obviously feels differently than I do.”
***
“I consider myself an American — I was born and raised here,” he said in an interview on the porch of his home in the wooded suburb of Wallingford. “I love my people. I love my culture. I love our rice and beans, our salsa music, our language — everything my parents raised us with. But I am so grateful for the opportunity only the United States can give.”

Vargas’ mentor Deputy Chief John Marquez puts it this way:

“It seems that if you’re not the right type of minority, you get hammered.”

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Remember the soldier in Afghanistan who made the cover of the New York Times as he fought the Taliban in his pink “I Love NY” boxers? The soldier is home now and his boxers “will be displayed in the 1st Infantry Division museum at Fort Riley, Kansas.”

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

The Miami Herald reports Honduras will withdraw from the Organization of American States, claiming the OAS is taking action that threatens Honduras’ sovereignty:

“[A]cting President Roberto Micheletti and vice chancellor Martha Lorena de Casco announced Honduras planned to withdraw from the region’s key diplomatic organization. The move preempts an OAS General Assembly meeting scheduled for Saturday, where Honduras was widely expected to be suspended from the group for overthrowing a democratically elected leader.

The OAS “tried to impose unilateral solutions. The government of Honduras repudiates such attempts to impose unilateral solutions and reaffirms its sovereignty,” de Casco said in a nationwide address. “The OAS is a political organizatioon, not a court of law. … There is no institutional crisis here.”

The BBC reports the Honduran government will arrest Zelaya if he returns and notes that the government has the full support of the Honduran Congress, courts, and “a substantial proportion of the population.” However, the government may agree to move the next elections forward from the scheduled date of November 29, 2009.

– DRJ

[Guest post by DRJ]

Click here to make your own Statue of Liberty fireworks.

– DRJ

[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

Courtesy of KFI radio’s Eric Leonard comes a report on this bit of cloying hyperbole from the mouth of LAPD Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, who, while discussing plans for Michael Jackson’s pending memorial, addressed reporters at the Staples Center on Friday: “On behalf of the Chief of Police William Bratton, and the entire Los Angeles Police Department, I would like to express my sincere and deep condolences for the Jackson family for the loss of such a great man.” (Audio clip available at the link.)

Leonard goes on to point out that Paysinger’s characterization of Jackson “may not be shared by the LAPD detectives who were assigned to the Sexually Exploited Child Unit in the 1990s, when they built a multi-victim felony child rape case against Jackson, only to be thwarted by Jackson’s checkbook and since-convicted private eye, Anthony Pellicano.”

Enough said.

– Jack Dunphy

[Guest post by DRJ]

(more…)

Tom Boggioni aka TBogg, “one-time darling of the mail-order panties set and current czar of positioning cash registers to maximize retail commerce and flow,” photoshops a picture of the Palin family to make all its members — including the children — look devilish.

It’s funny because Boggioni uses Palin’s children to make a political point. Get it?

He is — literally — demonizing Palin’s children.

In the sort of humorous touch for which the “former bulk purchaser of women’s undergarments” has become famous, he includes Trig Palin in the picture. Because what’s a Photoshopped picture of Palin’s children without the Down’s Syndrome child? Original picture here:

Can such a performance be topped? Yes and no. HuffPo had a post up titled Palin Will Run in ‘12 on More Retardation Platform.

At least HuffPo was ashamed enough to take this down. Boggioni is proud of what he did.

My usual call for civility in the comments will be relaxed for this thread.

UPDATE: Tim McGarry, a left-leaning occasional commenter here, goes to Boggioni’s site and lets him have it, saying (among other things): “If there were any justice, however, your vicious photoshop attack on her children would be the end of you as a blogger.” Tim is no conservative, and he gets in his shots at Palin as well. But I applaud his willingness to take on Boggioni’s nastiness.

Unfortunately, this sort of crap isn’t going to end Boggioni’s blogging career; it’s precisely what his readers want from Boggioni.