Author: Andrew Sullivan

That's how the producer of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," Mark Burnett, emphatically described the reality/nature show last month. This is how Palin herself describes it:

"Oh, you are going to see all this subtleties all throughout the next eight episodes. Yeah, I am sending some messages out there. Yeah, what I see in a bear, in any other species in their natural habitat, they are self-sufficient. They are not sitting around waiting for something else to catch that salmon for them and feed them. The Mama Grizzly's are taking care of their cubs in order to make sure that their species can continue, but no, everybody is expected to help themselves in order to perpetuate the species and the success of."

Willow calls an old classmate of hers a "faggot". Guess why:

During the premiere of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" Sunday night — a boy named Tre who went to school with the Palin kids wrote a status update that read, "Sarah Palin's Alaska, is failing so hard right now." The comment sparked an intense response from Willow — who replied on the boy's wall, "Haha your so gay. I have no idea who you are, But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting … My sister had a kid and is still hot."

Willow followed up that comment with another that read, "Tre stfu. Your such a faggot."

Bristol Palin also got in on the smacktalk — writing a message to Tre saying, "You're running your mouth just to talk shit."

Tracie Egan Morrissey investigates the rigging of DWTS's voting system:

While Bristol Palin denies any Tea Party conspiracy theories, there's no denying that conservatives have been pushing for votes for Bristol, using blogs and Twitter to start a movement. But what isn't widely known is the evidence—via message board comments on some conservative sites—that this mobilization involves fixing this (albeit meaningless) election through a technical snafu on ABC's website, which allows Palin's supporters to cast an infinite number of email votes

Money quote from a commenter:

Lord have mercy, I voted for 3 hours online! I got 300 in.

Why does this story even matter? Just look at all of the free ad time her mother's presidential campaign is getting on America's top-rated program – 20 million viewers just last week.

(Video via Palingates. Nice touch to include April Morlock, sister of sadistic war criminal Jeremy Morlock.)

Noah Shachtman says that the new scanners aren't keeping us safe. He follows up at his blog:

New TSA chief John Pistole says the agency has to shift from a threat-driven outfit into an “intelligence-driven” organization. There are some signs that such a move may be afoot.

On the night in late October that Saudi intelligence tipped the American government off to a late plot to blow up planes using explosives packed in printer cartridges, Pistole got a call from White House counterrrorism czar John Brennan. The TSA was then able to give new marching orders to everyone from air marshals to cargo inspectors. An agency team was even dispatched to Yemen, where the bombs originated. It all seemed shockingly logical for an agency that’s generally appears to be anything but. The quick response to intelligence and targeted security measures could provide a partial template for future action. The next step would be questioning passengers and employing high-sensors when travelers’ behavior or specific threats warrant — instead of making us all get digitally nude.

Hitchens gives a long interview to Andrew Anthony. A taste:

His only major regret, as far as remaining silent goes, is what he didn't say about Robert Mugabe. "That makes me wince. More than wince. I'd met him a couple of times and I knew that he had in him a terrible capacity for fanaticism, absolutism, and I didn't say as much about that as I could have done. If I asked myself about why I didn't, I'm sure the answer is because I didn't want to give ammunition to the other side."

A reader writes:

I realize this article is mostly tongue-in-cheek, but as a fellow advocate for sensible drug policies, I feel obligated to respond to the attack on qat/khat.  Qat, like marijuana, is a totally natural drug. 

The plant is cut in the mornings and rushed into town in order to be sold after lunch.  You simply chew the leaves.  I spent a summer in Yemen several years ago, a place where more than 75% of the adult male population chews qat daily.  I spent 5-8 hours daily chewing qat, every day of the week, for about 10 weeks.  I did not suffer any negative withdrawal symptoms.  I also did not get "stoned." The effect of qat is much closer to an intense consumption of caffeine than anything else, with a little bit of narcotic to take off the edge. It really is a wonderful drug, and ranks slightly above marijuana for me, with the added bonus that qat actually enhances my ability to perform certain tasks (like learning and speaking Arabic). 

American journalism on qat is a sad joke to anyone who has actually spent time in Yemen.  NYT travel writers can't help opining about a nation of stoned terrorists getting "high" on qat.  On the other hand, I can't really take issue with the article's advice to keep a safe distance from qat deprived pirates.  I don't doubt that habitual users suffer serious withdrawal effects (probably much closer to caffeine withdrawal than nicotine withdrawal).  Yemenis are notoriously grouchy in the mornings, but could not be more gregarious and friendly once the chewing starts after lunch.

(Photo: A Yemeni boy takes a whiff of his father's newly-purchased qat, a popular narcotic drug, at a market in Sanaa 20 September 1999. More than 80 percent of Yemenis spend some 30 percent of their salaries on qat. By Rabih Moghrabi/AFP/Getty Images)

Dick Morris shows how it's done:

Fox turned out to be a perfect fit for Morris. He could make the sort of wildly off-base claims he was famous for as a consultant, only no one would remember if, say, he predicted, on the eve of the 2000 election, that Hillary Clinton would lose her Senate race (she did not) or claimed that Arkansas was “leaning Obama” in 2008 (the state went for McCain by 20 points). A few months into Obama’s presidency, however, Morris branched out from wrongheaded prognostications and into the outlandish conspiracy theories that were then fueling the nascent Tea Party movement. On Fox, he declared that “those crazies in Montana who say, ‘We’re going to kill ATF agents because the U.N.’s going to take over’—well, they’re beginning to have a case.” He pushed the rumor that House Democrat Eric Massa, who was under investigation for sexual harassment, was being targeted as retaliation for voting against health care reform.

Before long, Morris had mastered the art of being a Tea Party celebrity. 

Weigel piles on.

The Feds are closing in on the alcoholic energy drink Four Loko:

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer, who has pushed the Obama administration to ban the beverages, said Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration is expected to find that caffeine is an unsafe food additive to alcoholic drinks, essentially banning them.

Jacob Sullum has been tracking the trend nationwide:

[On Sunday] New York joined the Four Loko Four, the states (Michigan, Oklahoma, Washington, and Utah) that have banned caffeinated malt beverages. Sort of.

Under pressure from Gov. David Paterson and the New York State Liquor Authority, Four Loko's Chicago-based manufacturer, Phusion Products, has "agreed" to stop shipping the drink to New York. Meanwhile, the New York State Beer Wholesalers Association is urging its members to stop distributing Four Loko and similar products. "We have an obligation to keep products that are potentially hazardous off the shelves," said Dennis Rosen, the liquor authority's chairman, "and there is simply not enough research to show that these products are safe."

Every alcoholic beverage is "potentially hazardous," and none will ever be proven "safe," if by that Rosen means risk-free. But there's no question that a can of Four Loko, which has less alcohol than a bottle of wine and about as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, can be consumed without serious adverse effects. If every alcoholic beverage had to pass the reckless college student test, they all would be banned.

Bainbridge notes the bans' absurdity:

Get a hold of a beer. Get a hold of an energy drink. Mix in your preferred ratio. Voila.

Jason Kuznicki is on the same page:

Four Loko’s got nothing much on rum & Coke. That drink brings another risk factor, because you never know quite how much alcohol you’re getting if someone else mixes it for you. Why don’t we ban that, too?

Erik Maza rounds up a series of local news reports reminiscent of Reefer Madness. Dan Okrent discusses the history of banned drinks.

(Photo via Buzzfeed)

"We know that Obama wasn’t vetted through the campaign, and now, you know, some things are coming home to roost, if you will, which is inexperience, his associations, and that ultimately harms our republic when a candidate isn’t — isn’t vetted by the media, that cornerstone of our democracy," – Sarah Palin, who then tweeted the quote.

The Star-Ledger argues that insurance companies should be mandated to cover birth control:

Publicly funded contraception saves taxpayers about $4 for every $1 spent, by preventing nearly 2 million pregnancies and more than 800,000 abortions every year, according to the institute’s 2009 report. The cost of the pill — maybe $10 to $50 a month — is middling when compared with the many thousands of dollars spent on prenatal and pediatric care for an unintended pregnancy.

Lisa Hymas rallies environmentalists:

It should be obvious why climate hawks need to care about making birth control widely accessible: fewer unwanted pregnancies will mean fewer unwanted births (not to mention fewer abortions), and, ultimately, fewer greenhouse gases.