"Despite what CNN reported, decisions about not allowing cameras at the event were the prerogative of the sponsors of the event, and I, of course, respected their decision. I am about to set out on my book tour, where media will no doubt join us at many spots," – Sarah Palin, via Twitter.
Let's see if she has an open press conference for the first time since she was nominated to be vice-president, shall we?
"As great a tragedy as this was, it would be a shame if our diversity became a casualty as well," – General George Casey, Army chief of staff, on the Hasan massacre.
Don’t mess with this player in women’s college soccer:
How to sell a dollar for more than a dollar.
It’s good – if sobering – to see the specifics in the NYT:
Witnesses said that the floor became drenched with blood and that soldiers, apparently dead, were draped over chairs in the waiting area or lying on the floor.
Specialist Matthew Cooke, 30, who was expecting orders to leave for Afghanistan in January, was waiting in line to be processed in the medical building when Major Hasan opened fire. A soldier standing near him was hit and crumpled to the ground, and Specialist Cooke dropped to his knees and leaned over the soldier to shield him from being struck again, Specialist Cooke’s father, Carl, said in an interview.
Major Hasan walked up to Specialist Cooke, who had previously done a tour in Iraq, pointed his gun down at his back and shot him several times, Mr. Cooke said. “The rounds nicked his colon and several places in his intestines, bladder and spleen,” he said, but the specialist survived.
These human beings – citizens who risked their lives for the rest of us – were gunned down defenseless as they sought medical help. Because of religious fanaticism.
A reader writes:
Cao punted too. Please don't forget that his predecessor was Dollar Bill Jefferson. This is a safe Democratic seat unless the Democrat on the ticket is so pathetically corrupt it is over the top for even SE Louisiana residents. He was. Cao was the first Republican I had voted for in years. With his vote yesterday, he just radically improved his chances or re-election.
Another writes:
What lovely sentiments expressed by Rep. Cao! Only one problem: he voted against the bill before he voted for it. I followed the voting last night, and Rep. Cao changed his vote in the last seconds when the 218 majority had been reached and before the vote period was closed. But why quibble. The health care bill was passed; who cares about collapsing scruples.
A little clarification of why Cao changed his vote:
Rep. Joseph Cao (R-La), appearing on CNN, said that he cast his vote in favor of reform only after an amendment greatly restricting the coverage of abortions was allowed to come to a vote. Once that hurdle was clear, Cao said, "I called the White House and said I could possibly support the bill."
Another country prepares to legalize marriage equality, making the entire Iberian peninsula a vanguard for civil rights. It's especially encouraging to see another Catholic country bucking the reactionary Vatican.
In advance of the historic healthcare vote on Saturday, the GOP made a spectacle on the House floor. In the aftermath, we observed the only Republican to vote for the bill and the many Democrats who opposed it. Regarding the other major story of the week, Fort Hood, Hasan indeed appeared to have been driven by religious fundamentalism. Goldblog called out much of the media over its double standard toward Islamic-based violence and Christian-based violence. A reader dissented.
In Palin news, we got a glimpse of her Wisconsin pro-life speech from an undercover Jonathan Martin and a Mudflats informant. The leaked details triggered Andrew to revisit the Trig pregnancy. A reader sounded off on Palin's need for secrecy.
Elie Wiesel condemned the anti-Semitism displayed at the recent Tea Party, which in turn sparked more anti-Semitism in the blogosphere. A reader was aghast. Meanwhile, the details surrounding Sparkman's death got murkier.
Digging through the Dish archives, Andrew pulled out some posts showing his consistency in criticizing the anti-war left on Iraq (as he does now with the Tea-Party right), consistency in scrutinizing the spending of the Bush administration (which most of the right did not), and consistency with which he judged the parameters of the Iraq invasion and occupation.
In Catholic coverage, a reader put forth a unique interpretation of Benedict on gays, Church officials got schooled by Hitch and Fry in a televised debate, K-Lo offered a similarly weak defense, and readers questioned why Andrew still remains a Catholic.
Readers continued the conversation on children and gay couples here and here, and the conversation on children and soldiers here and here.
— C.B.
Tom Ricks is getting antsy:
No matter what the president decides, I'll come away worried by his handling of the process. What can you do in 10 weeks than you can't do in four? I don't think he and the people around him understand the costs of the Big Dither of 2009 — in the trust of Afghans, in the support of Americans, in the confidence of other nations…I am still an Obama fan, though less than I was 90 days ago. I am still glad he is president, and I'll take him over Bush any day. Biden may be a wanker, but he isn't Cheney. I just hope Obama gives a great speech explaining his approach and brings along the American people with him.
A reader writes:
In your post on Sarah Palin and amniocentesis, you wonder why she would risk having the results confirmed by amnio when she already had a diagnosis. The nuchal translucency test, where they measure neck thickness via ultrasound, is only a screening test. One cannot conclusively diagnose Down syndrome via ultrasound. So if one wants a diagnosis, one would follow up a suggestive ultrasound with an amnio or CVS (chorionic villius smpling).
The nuchal translucency test is given at 11-13 weeks. She said the diagnosis was confirmed a few days later. But amnios are given at 16 weeks – not a few days after the nuchal translucency test. Presumably she had a CVS, which can confirm the diagnosis, and can be done earlier than an amnio. However, it is much riskier to the fetus than an amnio (miscarriages occur in around 1 in 100 to 1 in 200 cases with CVS, versus around 1 in 1,600 with amniocentesis). Perhaps she did not want to admit that she had a CVS, since it is riskier.
Also, if she did wait until after an amnio to tell her husband, that means she must have been over 16 weeks pregnant. That's pretty far along in the pregnancy not to share with anyone.
She didn't tell her staff until she was seven months pregnant. The first reference to an amnio was in People magazine. Maybe it was shorthand for CVS.
The Dish 