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 Pelicano.”

Enough said.

– Jack Dunphy

The commercial:

And the safety message:

– DRJ

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 12:27 p.m.: Word now is that she will resign within weeks. What’s going on here?

UPDATE x2 12:29 p.m.: Word now is she will resign at the end of the month.

UPDATE x3: The announcement has occurred. From Twitter, Breaking News says:

She did not take questions or give indications as to her future plans. Palin is expected to announce a run for the presidency at some point.

Meanwhile, Howard Kurtz says:

No way Palin can run for president now. But give her this: the governor has, at least briefly, knocked Michael Jackson off the air.

Fox News has a vague quote from Todd Palin about her wanting to do things “for the country.”

Odd.

UPDATE x4: Ace agrees with Kurtz: “It’s over. You can’t resign from a governorship and then run for higher office.”

UPDATE x5: Palin says on Twitter:

We’ll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election… this is in Alaska’s best interest, my family’s happy… it is good, stay tuned

And this previously published image from Slublog, published at Hot Air’s Green Room:

By the way, the clip containing this shameless theft is pretty funny. Jon Stewart is often quite good when he remembers to leave the clown nose on:

Via Hot Air, where the clip has generated a lively discussion.

Today’s edition of The Obama Show has Barack Obama talking about his daughter Malia’s birthday party this weekend at Camp David:

“The president talked about his family’s plans for the July Fourth holiday during an AP interview Thursday, and revealed that Camp David had been invaded by about 20 girls there to celebrate daughter Malia’s 11th birthday on Saturday.

“There are 24 double-X chromosomes up in Camp David as we speak,” Obama said. “It’s a little intimidating.”

Of course, talking about a politician’s children is “especially off-limits” …

… unless you’re Barack Obama and your Daily Presidential Approval Index has been in negative numbers for 3 straight days.

– DRJ

The Obama Administration has named William Stanton as the new director of the Taipei office of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto ambassador to Taiwan. Taiwan is a sensitive diplomatic post for U.S. interests, especially as the Taiwanese government has moved to align its economic interests with China in recent years:

“One of Stanton’s main challenges will be to maintain a robust U.S. profile in Taiwan, as President Ma Ying-jeou presses forward in his ambitious program to improve relations with China.

Since taking power last May, Ma has jettisoned the more China-wary policies of his predecessors and moved the economies closer together.

That has raised questions of whether the U.S. is being left behind in a region where it had a vital stake during the Cold War.”

Blogging at One Free Korea, Joshua Stanton (no relation to William Stanton) has questioned William Stanton’s diplomatic skills and claims Stanton is “known for his strong support for Chinese policies” and accused of having “impeded internal reports critical of the Chinese regime.” Similarly, USC’s US-China Institute translates a 4/9/2009 VOA article that states some view Stanton as “pro-Beijing.”

Is the Obama Administration headed for an anti-democracy trifecta? Iran-Honduras-Taiwan.

UPDATE: Steve points out a Taiwan blogger who thinks everyone should keep an open mind about Stanton’s views.

– DRJ

Today’s economic news shows unemployment continues to rise, reaching 9.5% and a greater-than-expected 467,000 jobs lost in June:

“June’s payroll reductions were deeper than the 363,000 that economists expected and average weekly earnings dropped to the lowest level in nearly a year.

However, the rise in the unemployment rate from 9.4 percent in May wasn’t as sharp as the expected 9.6 percent. Still, many economists predict the jobless rate will hit 10 percent this year, and keep rising into next year, before falling back.

All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June.

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.”

In addition, the “average work week in June fell to 33 hours, the lowest on records dating to 1964.” One silver lining is that newly laid-off workers filing applications for unemployment benefits “fell last week to 614,000, in line with economists’ predictions.” But employment experts also say some job-seekers take the summer off and return to the job market in the fall.

As always, Innocent Bystanders has much more, including the updated chart.

Barack Obama issued his standard response for every problem: He is “deeply concerned.”

– DRJ