• A new study claims that eating extra amounts of choline, a chemical found in eggs, while pregnant can lead to an increased risk of developing breast cancer in offspring. • Nielsen Online says that the number of employees visiting porn sites while working has increased 23% over the past year. • A new study reports that young gymnasts are suffering new types of injuries to their hands, wrists and arms .• Women who have undergone breast augmentation and are being treated for early-stage breast cancer may have more treatment success with brachytherapy, a partial-breast radiation treatment.• Inducing labor before the 40 week gestational age has become more common in the U.S. • The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is taking the estate of Beverly Rogers to court over the estate's planned auctioning of Mary Pickford's 1930 Oscar for best actress. • Honor killings have increased by 70% in the southern Iraqi city of Basra where women can be murdered for "honor killings" by hired hitmen for as little as $100. • Amnesty International is asking the Haitian government to do more to stop the widespread rape of girls in the country's slums.• A BBC reporter's 12-year-old daughter gets the Somali pirates on the Sirius Star to talk. • Canadian researchers say that gay men who feel undesirable are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior and develop psychological problems. • A recent survey claims that British men and women beat out the people of Italy, Germany, France and the US as the most sexually liberal. • We may have just missed the beginning of Advent, but surely this condom Advent Calendar will keep us up-to-date. • An Italian book that reveals unpublished excerpts of Amanda Knox's diary says that sex was a "predominant aspect of her life" and influenced her relationships with men and women. • A new study claims that individuals who wash their hands before making judgments tend to make less strict rulings. • More and more men are beginning to take primary care of their elderly and ill parents. • Meanwhile, the Gender-Based Violence Forum estimates that 60% of Sri Lankan women have experienced domestic violence.• An art critic for the BBC's Antiques Roadshow received criticism when he referred to a woman in a portrait as having "Shropshire ankle" (or fat ankles). • Are you ready for a relationship boot camp? • A Texan man claims that God told him to ram into a woman's vehicle on a highway while going 100 mph on Friday because she "wasn't driving right" and needed to be "taken off the road." The two only suffered minor injuries. •

• About 414 women waited in the cold outside the Apollo Theater in New York on Saturday in hopes of getting the role of Effie White for the upcoming national tour of the musical Dreamgirls. • Vivid, a student magazine at Cambridge University has sparked a controversy after printing a picture of a topless female undergrad in a recent issue. • A new study reveals that neurotic people are bothered more by uncertainty than bad news. • Campaigners of a pro-Cesarean and pain relief childbirth group in England had a meeting today with the chair of the Commons Health Select Committee to warn against ignoring "women's choice" while pandering to natural childbirth lobbyists. • A Los Angeles judge put off a decision on dismissing the case against Lori Drew today and asked for Drew's defense team to open its case. • Jump Start, a shelter for teenage mothers in Tacoma, Washington will be closing in mid-December due to lack of funds. • A 106-year-old woman discovered that she had been celebrating her birthday on the wrong day for years but still decided to celebrate on that wrong date. • A new federal investigative report into Michael Vick's dogfighting operation reveals that the athlete was directly involved in the hanging and drowning of "underperforming" pit bulls. • The Brazilian police are currently investigating 1,000 women suspected of having abortions, which are illegal in Brazil. 150 women have already been charged. • More than 400,000 women in England have had their handbags stolen from cars in the past 12 months. • Amazon.com is offering 19 best-selling products that won't require tools to open in order to deal with frustrating packaging on holiday gifts. • A cafeteria and playground aide at an elementary school in New Jersey is causing an uproar after the community learned that she used to be a porn star. • The Medina Collective in Toronto offers university-level courses to women of color about sexuality, gender, the media and hip hop culture. • Menopause isn't just for women anymore; now men can get in on the fun.•

• Good Morning, you have new president. His name is Barack Obama. No, he cannot start today. But soon. And he says: "If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy… tonight is your answer." [People]
• Oprah on Barack Obama's win: "It's one of the greatest moments I could ever even imagine. That's how great it is." [ET]
• Courteney Cox and David Arquette hosted a Barack Obama victory party at their house in Beverly Hills. Jennifer Aniston, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher were in attendance; champagne was had. Meanwhile, in Chicago, Brad Pitt and Oprah Winfrey watched Obama's speech live. Also psyched: George Clooney and Usher. [E!]
• George Clooney: "I congratulate President-elect Obama on his historic victory, and now it's time to begin unifying the country so we can take on the extraordinary challenges that this generation faces." [ET]
• Oprah again: "This is democracy at its finest." [ET]
• In other news, Jennifer Aniston is pregnant with twins. Supposedly. More in Midweek Madness. [Star]

• Britney Spears is on the cover of Australian Cosmopolitan, and they used a photograph tat is five years old. She looks good, though. [TMZ]
• Nikki Blonsky will guest star on Ugly Betty as an assistant from a rival magazine. Will there be an airport-style kerfluffle? [E!]
• Perez Hilton got served! With legal papers: Liz Silver, who runs the Web site PerezRevenge.com, is accusing him of plagiarism and copyright infringement. She had a friend crash his Halloween party and hand him papers. [Page Six]
• Blind items! 1. "Which aggressive TV, stage and movie actor has a shady past? Rumor is he sexually assaulted a girl while in high school and his family had the situation 'swept under the rug.' 2. "Which screen god isn't as happy as he and his paramour would like the world to think? Whenever the couple and their children are in LA, he 'goes to a bar in a Beverly Hills hotel and drinks for hours before going home." 3. "Which oft-photographed socialite/designer is losing her grip on the fashion world? Luxury brands no longer send her clothing and accessories and don't want her in their ad campaigns." [Page Six]
• Holly Madison is "depressed" about calling it quits with Hugh Hefner, but basically, she claims, "I got too old for Hef." Yeah, that's right: She's 28 and too old for the original Playboy. She now sleeps in a guest room. "I still work for him. We're still best friends. I still call and check in on him almost everyday." [Newser via Extra]
• More from Holly: "It might be refreshing to date someone who is not high maintenance. Sorry, Hef, you know you're high maintenance. I love you but you know you're high maintenance." [Perez Hilton]
• The rest of Janet Jackson's tour: Officially canceled. They say scheduling conflicts. Could it also be vertigo? Or crappy ticket sales? [Perez Hilton]
• Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty are both off of NME's "Cool List" this year. Drugs and jail are bad for your career, kids! [The Sun]
• CNN's Christiane Amanpour may finally get her own show. It's about time! [Page Six]
• A top Hollywood agent — who repped Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Aniston and Matthew McConaughey — insulted his clients, stole gifts sent to them, and discussed their private parts, a lawsuit alleges. [Page Six]
• Angelina Jolie explains War and Peace in her household: "We don't take war and violence lightly, but we don't hide it from anybody. Listen, my kids play video games. I let them play with toy soldiers. We say, 'Mommy and Daddy have movies where we play these characters, but there's real death and real violence in the world. There's a real responsibility there to create in their minds the difference between the two." Also, when Mommy visits Afghanistan, she wears a flak jacket. [People]
• Anne Hathaway's new man is an actor named Adam Shulman. He's cute. [Perez Hilton]
• The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is not happy about when Nelson's use of "that's so gay" in a scene with Milhouse on The Simpsons. [TMZ, E!]
• 50 Cent's new TV show, 50 Cent: The Money and the Power, airs tomorrow on MTV. Fourteen "wannabe moguls" compete to earn a $100,000 investment from the rapper by doing challenges like walking through Brooklyn chained together. No, really. There's a clip. [People]
• Christina Aguilera's new TV commercial for Target has a comic-book feel, meaning she wears a red jumpsuit and a cape. At least she seems to know who Roy Lichtenstein is. (There's video of her talking about the spot.) [People]
• Don't tell anyone, but Keanu Reeves is a secret genius. He reads Proust and stuff. Shh! [Newser via Details]
• Cammy Diaz: Seen smoking like a fiend and being rude at Drew Barrymore's Halloween party. [Page Six]
• Charlie Sheen left his pregnant wife at home to go party at get lap dances in Las Vegas because he is Charlie Sheen. [Star]
• Guy Ritchie has hired a top family lawyer to handle his custody battle with Madonna. She's already got a top divorce lawyer. Ever heard the joke about he little girl at the cemetery? She asked, "Mommy, do they ever bury two people in the same grave?" Her mom said, "Of course not, Why would you think that?" And the girl answered: "The tombstone back there said 'Here lies a lawyer and an honest man.'" [Daily Mail]
• Guy Ritchie went out for drinks and now the Brit tabs are calling him "Tipsy Ritchie." [The Sun]
• Tina Fey's Emmys and SNL appearances may be translating into more 30 Rock viewers. She deserves it! [AP]
• Hindu leaders are not amused by Heidi Klum's Kali Halloween costume. [Best Week Ever]
• Katie Holmes and Rebecca Gayheart were friends 16 years ago, way before Katie met Tom Cruise. According to Roger Friedman, after Katie met Tom, "Gayheart, like most of Holmes’s friends, never saw her or heard from her again." But now Gayheart's in a Broadway play right around the corner from All My Sons. Will they reunite? [Fox 411]
• Have mercy: Janice Dickinson was on some afternoon court TV show, being sued by one of her former models. Judge Christina (???) listened to her crazy-ass defense are ruled in her favor. [ONTD]
• Sharon Osbourne on Simon Cowell's break-up: "He deserves it. He's a t****r, that's the truth." Hmm, what's that word there? Tosser? Anyone? [Mirror]
• Simon Cowell gave Terri Seymour $5 million cash and another $4.6 to buy a Beverly Hills home as a parting gift. Simon, break up with me next! [MSNBC]
• Oh, and Simon says: "Don't worry about me - I don't need a lonely hearts ad. I'm off women now." [Mirror]
• Daniel Craig in a Bollywood film? "I am open to offers from India… Till now I haven't been fortunate enough to get hold of an Indian movie. But yes, I will be very honoured and excited to work with an Indian actor or actress on any given chance. I also feel very obliged for the immense popularity which I enjoy in this part of the world." [ONTD]
• Katie "Jordan" Price was named Britain's Best-Loved Celebrity Mum because "she's not perfect." [Mirror]
• Liz Hurley's husband likes it when she dresses like a tart. "Like the vast majority of men, Arun likes short, tight, sexy dresses." Here's the good news: So does Liz. [The Sun]
• Expect to see a lot of Jennifer Hudson headlines like this (this isn't the first one): "Hudson Begged Mother To Move Out Of Neighborhood." [Daily Express]
• Denis Leary is the voice of Ford Trucks. Don't worry, he makes no mention of autism in the commercials. [Business Week]
• Singer Duffy accidentally set her hair on fire in her dressing room in Cleveland. Candles are soothing yet dangerous! [ONTD]
• Matthew Broderick quotes Ferris Bueller in this prObama video. [Newser via HuffPo]
• Carrie Underwood won't tell you who she voted for, so stop asking. [People]
• Cindy McCain "has this evil queen beauty about her," quoth Project Runway's Austin Scarlett, whilst seen voting in New York. [NY Observer]
• Apropos of nothing: "Mariah Carey's Top 10 Maddest Moments." [Mirror]
• Audrina of The Hills moved out but LC was cool with it blahblahblah JustinBobby blahblahblah. [People]
• Corrie Loftin of Paris Hilton's My New BFF was once ins a Girls Gone Wild video. And hanging out with Paris is different… how? [E!]
• "Sporty Spice," Mel C says: "I know there’s been a lot of things written recently saying I’m getting married and they’ve said the date and the church and that Victoria’s organizing it, but, no, we’ve got no plans." Seems she wants to have the baby first. [The Sun]
• Did Ivana Trump's young Italian husband cheat on her with a hot Italian model? "Nothing sexual happened. That I know for sure," she writes in Page Six Magazine. "I'm not going to make any other comment until I speak to him." Good idea! [Page Six]
• Selena Gomez, 16-year-old budding Disney star, was asked if she reads tabloids: "Recently, I have not. I'm actually very, very proud of myself. Honestly, the blog sites and everything — I'd be on them nonstop. I've gone four weeks total without looking at them and I'm very proud and very happy. I was addicted. It was bad." [LA Times]
• Courtenay Semel's dad, former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel, has cut her off. What's a girl to do? A reality show, obvs. [Page Six]
• For the last time: Joe The Plumber did not hook up with any SNL cast member. [Politico]
• Simply Red's Mick Hucknall, yes, that's right, Mick Hucknall, paid £29,000 for a pair of David Beckham's football cleats in 2002 and they seem to have lost about £25,000 in value since then. Surely he's wishing he really could be holding back the years. [Mirror]
• Reading about Bianca Jagger being in an argument over a €200,000 ring she lost in Salzburg earlier this year is like reading about a goblin surfing on Mars: Sounds interesting, but I just can't relate. [Yahoo News]
• Very cool, worth-your-while profile of Diahann Carroll. She says: "Dynasty was rather marvellous, you know. It was all about the clothes. The most important thing about the day was wardrobe, and of course I explained to Aaron [Spelling] I didn't want to be on the show unless I could be bitchy." She also says: "I lost two children [to miscarriage]. That's why when we talk about racism it will always take third, fourth, fifth place to some of the other things that have happened to me that are much more meaningful than being in a room with an idiot who is going to judge the color of my skin." [Guardian]
• "Having a love is a gigantic bonus in life, but I wasn't unhappy when I was single, either. (John)'s just fun, so much fun. I'm very happy now." Bo Derek, who's living with John Corbett, aka Aidan from Sex And The City. [The Sun]
• "I enjoyed being Mayor of Carmel, but you do see that it is very difficult to get things done. You just have to lose your soul. You have to bullshit people. You have to deal with people you don't care for and will never be friends with, so you kind of sell yourself out to be a politician. You have to kiss it up with the world. That ain't my style." — Clint Eastwood. [Daily Express]
• "I'd always fall for guys I wanted to save. For the first time, I fell in love with someone who saved me." — Jessica Simpson on Tony Romo. [People]
• "I would rather be sexy like Simone Signoret or Anna Magnani than like - oy, vey - Paris Hilton" - Erica Jong to More. [Page Six]
• "Barack Obama's treated like the Messiah in England. We don't have particularly inspirational politicians, certainly no one who can draw crowds in the thousands." — Daniel Radcliffe. [Page Six]
• "I think every black kid will tomorrow will be one inch taller when he goes to school. And I think everyone will be energized. And a lot of people who had given up hope in the last seven eight years are hopeful." — Richard Belzer. [Observer]

[Image via AP.]

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., arrives at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday, Oct. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong). — AP

[Image via AP.]

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks at a rally at the Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Va., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008. His wife, Cindy, is at right. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) — AP

• Cloris Leachman was booted off of Dancing With The Stars. "I'm not leaving," she said. "I'm going to get a pretty costume and be here next week. I'm going to sit over there. I can't go home. Are you serious? This is a joke." [UPI]
• Despite at first being told she was too old, Cloris might be Frau Blucher in Young Frankenstein on Broadway! Producer Mel Brooks originally told her she didn't have the "stamina" and said "We're afraid the show could kill [Leachman]. We don't want her to die onstage." [Page Six]
• Dina Lohan on Dancing With The Stars? Just the kind of trainwreckery this country needs. [New York Mag]
• Speaking of Lohans, Lindsay's former bodyguard has settled a lawsuit he filed against her. [TMZ]
• This report claims that Lindsay has lost 14 pounds and is "thinner than ever." Really? She doesn't look the way she did when she was hanging with Nic Rich back in the day. [Boston.com]
• By the by, Dina Lohan calls the reports of a Lindsay/America Ferrera feud on the set of Ugly Betty "just silly." She says: "America's a doll. And they said [Lindsay] brought a posse. It was my mother and myself, and [sister] Ali. It was not a posse. We had sushi and no one trashed the room." Dina does admit: "It was long hours and when you're on a movie set it's a lot different. She's not used to television, but it was fun." [People]
• Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan in a sitcom together??? Sign, apocalypse. [News.com.au]

• BREAKING: Joaquin Phoenix is retiring from show biz. He will be working on his music now. [Extra]
• Here is a photograph of David Beckham ogling cheerleaders. (Again.) [The Sun]
• Is Angelina Jolie "burning up with jealousy" over Brad Pitt's Inglourious Basterds costar, Diane Kruger? She did star with him in Troy. [Star]
• Keanu Reeves and the paparazzo who's suing him took turns on the witness stand yesterday. Reeves told jurors he moved his car forward very slowly to try and get the photog to move out of the way, but never hit him; the photog testified the opposite, saying the car hit his knee. [AP]
• Did Madonna and Guy Ritchie have a marriage contract? In which he promised not to shout at his wife and to devote time to sex? [Daily Mail]
• Madonna has allegedly offered Guy £20million. Of her £300million fortune. Pennies! [Daily Express]
• Hey, look, Guy Ritchie's flick RocknRolla got a good review! [Yahoo News]
• When Angelina Jolie showed up at Monday night's Hollywood Film Festival Awards Gala — where she payed tribute to director Clint Eastwood — it was a total surprise. The A-list crowd reportedly "gasped audibly" when she was introduced. [People]
• At Mary-Kate and Ashley's book signing, there were incredibly elaborate rules one had to abide by, or else! [Racked]
• Here's a liveblog of the book signing. "The paparazzi are shouting 'Mary-Kate!' and 'Ashley!' and people are freaking out." [Racked]
• Oh, and there were PETA protesters outside the book signing, with signs calling the twins "fur hags from hell." [Page Six]
• Watch Britney Spears work out! Warning: Incredibly dull video of Brit repeatedly lifting weights. [MollyGood]
• Amy Poehler will not be replaced on the SNL "Weekend Update" segments; Seth Meyers will go it alone for a while. Because Amy cannot be replaced! [ET]
• First we heard that Julianne Hough from Dancing With The Stars went to the hospital for unknown reasons. Then we heard it was her appendix. Now she reveals it was something more personal, but her managers wanted her to lie. "It turned out I ruptured a cyst that was on my ovary. My management and the other people around me were trying to think of something else I could say that was wrong with me, but I was like, don't worry. I want to be a good role model." [TMZ]
• Julianne says: "I didn’t know but I have endometriosis. I’ve apparently had it for a long time because I’ve had this pain for about the last five years. I’m just glad I’m taking care of it now because I want to have babies some day." [People]
• Check out Bjork's well-written column about Iceland's financial meltdown. [Times of London]
• Daniel Craig jokes that if the economy's bad, glamorous locations could be dropped from Bond films. "There are plenty of places we could shoot in the British Isles," he says. "If the credit crunch hits the movie business, who knows? Bond in the Lake District, Liverpool… or Birmingham." [Telegraph]
• The case against William Balfour, the primary suspect in the murder of Jennifer Hudson's family, is building quickly. His alibi is falling apart and he was seen carrying a bottle of liquor Friday. [TMZ]
• William Balfour is a felon; he was busted in June for a "rock of cocaine" and served time for a 1999 attempted murder and vehicular hijacking conviction. [AP]
• Jennifer Hudson and her mom were "very close, very tight." Jennifer's mom hosted a block party for the whole neighborhood a few months ago. Jennifer wanted her to move, but, a neighbor says: "She didn't need a bigger house. She didn't need anyone to buy her a new car. She didn't desire or want those things. She was just supportive and stood by her daughter." [People]
• Jennifer Hudson's sister Julia writes on her MySpace: Thank you for your prayers, thank you for posting his picture on your pages as your default picture, thank you… But his lil soul is at ease, I take comfort in knowing that Julian is with my mother and my brother and most of all The Lord and now he's my angel he's protecting me…" [Perez Hilton]
• Rosie O'Donnell on Jennifer Hudson's awful ordeal: "The family tragedy of Jennifer Hudson — no words will do — a grief too hard to comprehend. Guns and domestic violence are a lethal combination — injuring and killing women every day in the United States. A gun is the weapon most commonly used in domestic homicides. In fact, more than three times as many women are murdered by guns used by their husbands or intimate acquaintances than are killed by strangers' guns, knives or other weapons combined. Contrary to many public perceptions, many women who are murdered are killed not by strangers but by men they know." [UPI]
• Coldplay dedicated a song to Jennifer Hudson at a concert in NJ on Monday night. [Perez Hilton]
• Elisabeth Hasselbeck gets more death threats than anyone else on The View, says Whoopi Goldberg. Well, no one wants to see anything happen to Joy! [Page Six]
• Jerry "Turtle" Ferrera and Jamie Lynn Sigler — Meadow from The Sopranos: It's on. [Perez Hilton]
• Peter Andre, husband of Kate "Jordan" Price, is in L.A. Alone. Don't know what it means. [The Sun]
• Poor Paris Hilton. She used to get paid to show up at clubs, sometimes $100,000 "appearance fee." The recession has dropped the sum she can get to $40K or less. Tragic! [Daily Mail]
• An Austrian woman allegedly sent more than 100 letters to CSI: Miami star David Caruso, stalked him, asked him for an autograph, and then sent death threats when he refused to give her one. Authorities are looking for her; they've got an international arrest warrant, and officials said she could be hiding in Mexico. Very Special Episode? [Yahoo News]
• Hmm, Hairspray 2? John Waters is in; John Travolta's not. [Perez Hilton]
• Lauryn Hill was spotted taking her kids to see Martha Stewart at a Williams Sonoma store in New Jersey. [Perez Hilton]
• This article states, "A Canadian mathematics professor says he's used his science to solve mysteries about how the Beatles created two unique musical sounds." Someone has a lot of time on his hands! [UPI]
• Headline of the day: "AC/DC blamed for dark economic times in Britain." [News.com.au]
• On the heels of 90210, next comes Melrose Place. Would Heather Locklear come back? [LA Times]
• Half nekkid pix Naomi Campbell at an art show. [Page Six]
• "The thing that gets me the most about this country is that it’s called a “free country” but everyone is a slave to their car. From my place I can walk to my loft, but nobody walks here, everyone has a car. If I walked down there in the evening, I’d be stopped three or four times by someone who thinks I’m a prostitute, inviting me to get in their car. This is why I left the States when I was 22. I saw that I was going to be trapped into buying a car so I could get to work so I could pay for my car, and I thought, that’s not for me. " — Chrissie Hynde. [BlackBook]
• "I didn't come across too well either in the majority of reviews and even with the audiences — people did not respond to it. It was a film that was made to be seen by many people. Not many people saw it and they weren't particularly fond of it, and that was shitty, it was really shitty." — Colin Farrell, on Alexander. [Reuters]
• "Bernie and I were pals. We've known each other for a long time and we had a great relationship… If you had to pick a perfect way to be remembered for an artist, especially a guy like Bernie — the joy that this film has in it, and the kind of love and adoration that people had for him, and the kind of joy he brought people is evident in this film. [The audience] will discover that he can do things that they didn't know he could do, like sing, dance and carry this dramatic arc. I'm always finishing films and looking forward to seeing them, and I know Bernie didn't see this movie. It's kind of like 'wow.' " — Samuel L. Jackson, on Soul Men, Bernie Mac's last film. CNN]
• "I watched kids of differing physical abilities and different backgrounds from around the world lose themselves in imagination and make believe. And I was moved to tears. All I can tell you is that I cried like a baby. I couldn't stop crying." — Mike Myers, on performing at Rusk Institute in The Bronx with Only Make Believe, a theater charity group that puts on plays for young children in hospitals and care facilities. [People]
• "I like to wear formfitting things because I work very hard to keep my gorgeous figure. I’m very happy to show it off and I honestly go to the women’s department often because I know I’ll find very interesting patterns and formfitting clothes. It’s an old rock ’n’ roll trick for guys to shop in the girl’s section. I’ve recently gotten some great things at Miss Sixty, Betsey Johnson and G-Star. In the women’s department, I go for size large and in men’s, I go for small." — Perry Farrell. [BlackBook]
• "For Halloween, I'm going to look like a normal girl, put some bronzer on, some spray tan on and wear some jeans. People will ask me where my costume is! I would never do this in normal life, that's why I'll do it at Halloween. It's a bit funny and people think I'm not wearing a costume but I really am." — Dita Von Teese. [ONTD]
• "How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you’re a dead man? You go to work." — Patrick Swayze. [NY Times]
• "I feel like I’m a pretty normal 22-year-old. An actor friend told me the best way to deal with attention is to exist in the 3 feet around you when you’re out with friends — you can’t be worried about people watching you." — Lauren Conrad [Cosmopolitan]

• Jennifer Aniston had dinner with Gerard Butler at L.A.'s Tower Bar — days after eating there with John Mayer. Don't hate the player, hate the game. [Page Six]
• Amy Winehouse was in the hospital last night, being checked out for a chest infection. Is it related to the emphysema she was diagnosed with in June? [Mirror]
• Amy missed an appointment to talk to cops about punching a fan; it will be rescheduled. [TMZ]
• Although this report says Amy could get arrested, and that she's doing so many drugs she's totally out of it. [The Sun]
• Jennifer Hudson's sister, Julia Balfour, is begging for her son to be returned safely. He disappeared after a shooting which killed her mother and brother. At a news conference on Saturday night, she said: "All I ask, I don't care who you are, just let my baby go, please. I just want my son." [CNN]

• Jennifer Hudson showed up to officially identify the bodies of her mother and brother yesterday. [TMZ]
• Cops say there was "trouble in the marriage" between the suspect, William Balfour, and his wife, Julia. William is in police custody. [TMZ]
• Barack Obama, who also calls Chicago his hometown, says he and Michelle are "heartbroken" to hear of Jennifer Hudson's tragedy and offer "thoughts and prayers." [People]
• America's Most Wanted plans to help in the search for Jennifer Hudson's nephew. [ET]
• Jennifer Hudson has offered a $100,000 reward for her nephew's safe return. [AP]
• Baby-wipes enthusiast Terrence Howard allegedly punched composed Tex Allen during a rehearsal for Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in January. Allen is suing for $5 million. [UPI]
• A source says Lindsay Lohan is not planning on coming out of the closet, because she's not a lesbian: She still loves men. "She has been telling everyone over and over that she’s still into guys," a "friend" says. "She keeps saying if anything went wrong with Sam she would date a guy next. She even flirts with guys when they go out." [NY Daily News]
• Kate Hudson had a Halloween party! Courteney Cox came as a witch. David Arquette was a wizard. Cindy Crawford was Amy Winehouse. Isla Fisher was a princess; Sacha Baron Cohen was a cow. Click for pictures! [Daily Mail]
• Miley Cyrus is living with her boyfriend Justin Gaston, don't you know? A source says: "Billy Ray wasn't born yesterday. He figures the safest path to take is to keep Miley and Justin on a short leash — and under the same roof." Just imagine all the sneaking around going on. [UPI]
• Mama mia: Victoria Beckham's been offered millions to host a documentary about husband David moving to AC Milan. Remember the one she did about moving to L.A.? It would be similar, but "more polished." [Mirror]
• David Beckham was speeding around Hollywood in his Porsche and got stopped by the cops. He flashed a smile and got a talking to instead of a ticket. [The Sun]
• David Beckham says even though he's being loaned to AC Milan, he will stay with his L.A. team. "At the end of the day, my commitment is still to the Galaxy and that's not changed," he explains. "But I've been given a chance to join up with one of the biggest clubs in the world, so I'm going to do that." [AP]
• Madonna: In "full meltdown mode"? [MSNBC]
• Madonna plans to gather all of the items she received from Guy Ritchie: photos, gifts and letters — and scan them before burying them. Yeah, she's gong to bury them. In the ground. "It will be a little bit like a funeral as she lays that part of her life to rest," a source spills. [NY Post]
• The latest is that Madonna and Guy are fighting over the household staff, with each demanding that the employees testify against the other. [Daily Mail]
• Guy will visit the kids next month but there's "no way" Madonna will be there when they see each other. [Mirror]
• Did Guy try to turn Madonna into an English housewife? [Mirror]
• Did Guy And Madonna's marriage end when she started scheduling sex around her gym workouts? [Daily Mail]
• Madonna and the kids were seen leaving the Kabbalah center in New York over the weekend. Lourdes was wearing a Barack Obama T-shirt. [The Sun]
• Yay, Amy Poehler had a baby boy named Archie Arnett! Boo, Amy won't be on SNL ever again. [AP]
• Slash: Working on a "star-studded" solo album! [Reuters]
• Jerry Lewis was on Australian TV when a reporter asked him about cricket. "Oh, cricket? It's a fag game. What are you, nuts?" Lewis replied. It's been a year since he used the same gay slur on his telethon. What's his problem? [AP]
• Check out this picture of Beyoncé as Sasha Fierce: Flexible! [Concrete Loop]
• Zack And Miri Make A Porno: Not playing in Salt Lake City, Utah. Too "raunchy." But! You can totally see Saw V there. [Page Six]
• Thieves hit the set of Prison Break! Cash, credit cards, documents and a computer were stolen from trailers. The robbers cleaned out $25,000 from Jodi Lyn O’Keefe's checking account and charged $14,000 on her credit cards, right on the heels of her finding out she's being written out of the show. The thieves hit Dom Purcell's credit cards as well. [The Sun]
• Celebs who live in Greenwich Village, New York, are being targeted by "trash-trollers." Someone's going through the garbage and discovering secrets in the trashcans of people like Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, Liv Tyler, Charlie Rose and Graydon Carter. It's mostly prescription receipts. [Page Six]
• Elle Macpherson's new man is a convicted drug trafficker. He's reformed, though. [Daily Mail]
• OMG: Sienna MIller and Jude Law almost ran into each other in London. [Mirror]
• A new book alleges that Heath Ledger was bipolar. [Mirror]
• Look for Michelle Obama to be hanging out with Jay Leno on The Tonight Show this evening! [USA Today]
• John Malkovich, who has lived in France for 10 years, is in the midst of a tax dispute. He's refusing to hand over the cash and there will be a trial. [Daily Express]
• Even though she was seen cuddling up with a hot hot model, Kylie Minogue says she does not have a man. She's free and single! [The Sun]
• Prince Harry wants to start the full Army Air Corps program and be a helicopter pilot. The failure rate is high, but Harry has passed an initial aptitude test. Fly, Harry, fly. [BBC News]
• Katie "Jordan" Price and husband Peter Andre are holding crisis talks about the future of their marriage. Stay tuned. [Mirror]
• Mariah Carey will appear on UK show The X Factor. [The Sun]
• Alvin and the Chipmunks: releasing an album of covers for theur 50th anniversary. Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll," Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer," Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds." Migraine meds not included. [Reuters]
• Phil Spector talks shit about the Beatles. [Mirror]
• A blonde teenager who was "wooed and bedded" by James Blunt — and then caught the singer in bed with another woman — says: "I just want people to know exactly what type of person he is. Everything he says in his songs is bullshit." [News.com.au]
• Peter Cook is not giving teen mistress Diana Bianchi any cash, because her lawyers badmouthed him? [TMZ]
• Dave Grohl and wife: Expecting baby #2. [People]
• Former Grateful Dead keyboardist, Mel Saunders, has died. Harold "Hal" Kant, the lawyer who represented the Grateful Dead for more than 30 years, has also died. [AP, UPI]
• No man has won more Emmys for performance than actor and social activist Ed Asner, but there has never been a biography of his life — and there probably never will be. [Yahoo News]
• The title track from Axl Rose's Chinese Democracy was actually released to radio last week. The album will be released on November 24. It's been 17 years since a Guns N'Roses album came out. [Guardian]
• These celebrity trading cards, PopCardz, sound lame. [AP]
• "I just like sitting and watching people. I love seeing people having fun. Everyone over in L.A. is too cool for it. That’s the problem." — from "A Night Out With Lukas Haas." [NY Times]
• "I had the fat removed from under my chin. That's why I wear the goatee because it covers the scar. If I went for laser treatment, I could get rid of it, but I thought, fuck it, I'll wear a goatee. My nose, that was straightened. Then, with the eyes, they took the heaviness out of the lids." — Tom Jones, detailing his plastic surgery. [Mirror]
• "I hadn't heard that Joe the Plumber dropped my name. I'm honored to be in the little passion play, to be an extra." — Matt Damon. [USA Today]
• "A legend is someone who has died… I used to drag people up on stage, whip them and pretend to fuck them in the rear. You can’t get more intimidating than that. But I’m honest about it, so the men who go out with me know I’m going to be more macho than them. My husband used to shout at my mother, 'What is wrong with your daughter? I'm married to a man.' I'm not like a normal woman, that’s for sure." — Grace Jones. [Times of London]
• "Oh, there's no squabble [between me and Tina Turner]. The people at USA Today just grossly exaggerated that I was fuming. That's ludicrous. I've always appreciated Ms. Turner and she just kind of overstepped herself and chose to speak on my ego when I really thought she was being more descriptive of herself. Mmm-hmm. Particularly in view of the fact that she doesn't even know me." — Aretha Franklin. [Washington Post]
• "I definitely regret all the things I said about Samantha [Ronson]. I’m a Christian. I should not pass judgment on anyone. In the past, I felt that the best way to get to [Lindsay] was to speak out publicly, and it was the wrong choice. Family matters should be kept private. I’ve learned that now." — Michael Lohan. [NY Magazine]
• "I put on a significant amount for Body Of Lies and I really enjoyed that. When I got that phone call it was just one of those wonderful moments where you turn to your wife and say, 'Baby I'm really sorry but I gotta eat.' I loved it." — Russell Crowe. [Daily Express]
• "It's not all about singing. Being the Queen is not all about singing and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well. I contribute to the food banks in Detroit, and the churches. And that kind of thing." — Aretha Franklin. [Washington Post]

In fact, when compared to other vaccines, those receiving Gardasil shots reported fewer "serious adverse events." The Journal reports that 6% of Gardasil complaints were "serious," while "most vaccines have reported serious adverse events rates between 10% and 15%."

Even with these findings, immigrant advocates are still not happy that immigrant women between the ages of 11-26 are required to get the Gardasil shot before receiving their green cards. As we reported earlier, the expense of this shot is a serious barrier, and the L.A. Times reported yesterday that some experts think the shot could be fairly ineffective. "Many women will very likely get this only for the purpose of the visa," according to Kate Bourne of the International Women's Health Coalition. "Quite likely they will be at the upper end of the age range, which means they are more likely to already be sexually active, and this vaccine is useless to them." The only group of women and girls required to get the Gardasil vaccine beyond immigrants is residents of the state of Virginia, because as we all know, Virginia IS for lovers, despite what Nancy Pfotenhauer says.

Side Effects Not Linked To Gardasil [WSJ]
Immigrants' Advocates Decry Cervical Cancer Vaccine Order [LAT]

Earlier: Experts Question The Cost Effectiveness Of HPV Vaccine
Experts Appalled At Gardasil Requirement For Immigrant Women

So what's the big deal, you may think, this pharmacy is in the D.C. area, competing against thousands of pharmacies that do dispense birth control. But, as former Planned Parenthood lawyer Roberta Riley points out, "in parts of Montana, women must drive 80 miles to find a pharmacy willing to sell contraception," because so many pharmacists are practicing their "consciences."

What's more, as Tarina Keene, executive director of the Virginia chapter of NARAL notes, "If this emboldens other pharmacies in other parts of the state, it could really affect low-income and rural women in terms of access." But isn't denying women their prescriptions illegal? Well, it depends on where you live.

According to the AP, a Wisconsin state appeals court upheld sanctions against a pharmacist who wouldn't give a woman her birth control and wouldn't transfer the woman's prescriptions elsewhere (yay Wisconsin!). But according to Riley, who writes forWomen's E-news, a "ruling, issued in late 2007 by a lower court and now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, allows people who run pharmacies to refuse to dispense birth control based on their belief it kills the unborn." The Ninth Circuit Court covers California and the Pacific Northwest, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Arizona, but it's headquartered in San Francisco, so fingers crossed that the pinko liberals will not allow pharmacists to continue refusing women their prescriptions.

What's most troubling about the Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy is that according to NARAL Virginia, the Birth Control Protection Act has failed to pass in the state for six years running, so refusing women their valid prescriptions is currently legal. To download the NARAL petition click here, or if you happen to live near Chantilly, drive by and give the Divine Mercy Care folks your divine middle finger.

Va. Pharmacy Follows Faith, No Birth Control Sales [AP via Yahoo News]
McCain Is Party to Secret War on Contraception [Women's E-News]

• Jennifer Aniston is "said to be" expecting John Mayer's baby. [Mirror]
• Jen may have asked John to marry her. This is according to the cover of Star magazine. More later in Midweek Madness. [Star]
• The three guys who say Lindsay Lohan held them hostage during an alleged alcohol-fueled drive have sued over the incident. Remember back in July 2007, when she hijacked a car and sped through Malibu? Her lawyer says the suit is absurd: "These guys had the night of their lives, playing with the radio and leaving the vehicle at one point and getting back in." [TMZ]
• Speaking of Lindsay, she and Samantha Ronson, Eve, Kevin Connolly and Stacy Keibler went swimming at the Roosevelt Hotel in L.A. a week after there was a dead body found in the pool. Apparently the staff never drained the pool after the body was removed and celebs and guests "were swimming in the unchanged water." As the kids say: Vom. [Page Six]

• The rumors about Katherine Heigl adopting a baby from Korea seem to be true. [Perez Hilton]
• Is George Clooney back with old flame Krista Allen? [Rush & Molloy]
• Rocco Ritchie: Seen wearing a New York Yankees T-shirt. Ouch! What will daddy say when he finds out you're celebrating the team of Mommy's new love interest? [Daily Mail]
• This report says Madonna and A-Rod will be together by Christmas. [The Sun]
• Madonna wants the kids to be with her at Christmastime because there's no Christmas in Kabbalah and she doesn't want them to have the traditional English Christmas that Guy wants to give them. [Mirror]
• Team Madonna is saying that Guy Ritchie "lived like a king" off of Madonna's money and never spent a dime of his own cash. [Daily Mail]
• Does Guy Ritchie have a new ladyfriend? Us Weekly says he's hooking up with British actress Kelly Reilly, who's in Sherlock Holmes, which Guy is directing. [Page Six]
• Julianne Hough from Dancing With The Stars was rushed to the hospital after having severe stomach pains backstage. [TMZ]
• Toni Braxton was eliminated from DWTS, by the by. [CNN]
• Take a minute to LOL at this picture of Justin Timberlake trying so very hard not to stare at Rihanna's ass. [Daily Mail]
• Mariah Carey calls married life "amazing" and hints she might have kids. [ET]
• Michael Vick will plead guilty to state dogfighting charges in hopes of securing an early release from federal prison and possibly returning to American football next year. [Yahoo News]
• Brad Pitt, who's staying in a mansion in Germany while filming that Tarantino movie, has changed the beer taps in his house from lager to Guinness. I want a spigot that issues forth margaritas! [The Sun]
• Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham talks about photo shoots with her husband: "I'm hands on. I will take every shoot and pick it to pieces whereas David is a lot more easy-going — and he's the good looking one." Plus! "I know I'm not overtly sexy to most men. I'm just not one of those women." [The Sun]
• David Beckham is being "loaned" to futbol team AC Milan. [BBC Sport]
• Holly Madison and Criss Angel: Seen "super touchy feely" at the CatHouse Lounge at the Luxor Hotel in Vegas, where the illusionist has show. An unnamed source says: "They were completely enamored by each other as they kissed and held hands." There's a joke here about a magician and a bunny, right? [Perez Hilton]
• Kim Kardashian spent her 28th birthday in an Alabama medical center, where boyfriend Reggie Bush was recovering from surgery after injuring his knee. There's a snap of her dressed in a hospital gown. [People]
• The memorabilia dealer who led O.J. Simpson to a hotel room where an infamous robbery occurred filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Dr. Phil show claiming his remarks in an interview were spliced to change their meaning. [AP]
• Ooh, here's an interview with Vincent Kartheiser, also known as Pete Campbell from Mad Men. A snippet: "Pete is an annoying guy, but you feel sorry for him in the way you feel sorry for Steve Carell in The Office. Pete's life made him who he is and I think he wonders why people aren't more sympathetic. 'Why doesn't everyone like me? Can't they see what I've been through to get here? Why can't they just give me what I deserve?'" [ONTD, via London Free Press]
• According to a statement by AMC, "the future of Mad Men on AMC is not in question." [LA Times]
• Actress Kate Walsh is heading to a swing state: "I think we're all sort of holding our breath a little bit, counting the hours down. We're still working arduously toward the goal of Obama being president—or at least I am. [Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice creator] Shonda Rhimes and I are going to Ohio to campaign this coming weekend, so we're doing everything we can." [E!]
• Eminem is backing Obama. [Mother Jones]
• Tina Fey's going to be shot by Annie Leibovitz for the cover of Vanity Fair; this posting's author muses, "I wonder if her back will be exposed." That does seem to be a Leibovitz fave! [ONTD, via Radar]
• Did you know that Tina Fey glues her ears down in order to play Sarah Palin? [Reuters]
• William Shatner says that George Takei has a "sickness" and a "psychosis" and doesn't know why he wasn't invited to Takei's wedding in September. [Perez Hilton]
• Blind item! "Which reality star has-been should tone down the drug use? The dethroned tabloid subject brought two eight balls of coke (7 grams) to a weekend getaway. She was last seen at 7 a.m., trying to find someone to play charades with her." [Rush & Molloy]
• Ashton Kutcher's been coaching football and he loves it. "I'm pleased to report that my Harvard Westlake football team is 4-2. I am blessed to step on the gridiron every week with a great group of individuals that understand that the collective force is greater that any individual can ever be," he says. "Though coaching a football team is no great step for mankind I'm finding that it's a great step for me. I'm not there to teach them, they are there to teach me." [People]
• Kate Moss wants to buy a house in Puerto Rico, a "special place where she can escape from the limelight." Don't we all??? [The Sun]
• Britney will appear on The X Factor with a "raunchy" routine. [Mirror]
• Is Britney going as Shaved-Head Britney for Halloween??? [ONTD]
• Here are some new promo shots of Christina Aguilera: Big hair, striped tights, lollipop, rocket, "sexy secretary answering the phone." [The.Life Files]
• Here's a picture of Jude Law looking like a "1970s German porn star." [The Sun]
• News that David Duchovny will sue the Mail newspaper for alleging that he was having an affair with a tennis coach has reached the UK. [Guardian]
• In this "10 Things He Doesn't Want You To Know" story, we learn that Simon Cowell likes to watch Desperate Housewives and read Jackie Collins novels. Plus 9 other things similarly mundane. [Mirror]
• Daniel Craig has turned down the chance to play Thor on the big screen. [Daily Express]
• Intel on upcoming TV shows! What to expect on Lost, NCIS, Brothers & Sisters and more! (If you like Desmond from Lost, you ought to watch.) [EW]
• Milla Jovovich's daughter, Ever, is turning one; Milla recalls the kid's birth last year: "I was in labor for 72 hours," she says. "I was up for 48 hours, for two nights. I started Halloween night. By the time I went into the hospital, it was the night of November 2. I finally went into the hospital and had the epidural." [People]
• Charlie Sheen's new bride is knocked up and word is: Twins. [Perez Hilton]
• Oh, Jesus: Mel Gibson has given his church, the Holy Family Catholic Church in Malibu, $10 million. Mel now has a church with tax free assets of $42 million; Holy Family is not recognized by the Catholic Church. Gibson is the single contributor to the church every year. [Fox 411]
• Bridget Moynahan will costar with Donnie Wahlberg in a new series from über-producer Jerry Bruckheimer for TNT. It's a cop drama set in Boston called Bunker Hill. [E!]
• Katie Price, aka Glamour Model Jordan, is no longer friends with most of her bridesmaids from her 2005 wedding, yawn. [The Sun]
• Yikes: Enrique Iglesias' plane made an emergency landing on Monday after the pilot had to shut down one of the engines while crossing the Atlantic. [Mirror]
• Brad Paisley was "arrested" at the Nashville airport in a prank orchestrated by Jewel. [People]
• A 114-year-old Illinois house where much of the action in the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day took place may soon become a bed and breakfast. [UPI]
• Headline of the day: "Paul McCartney's Wax Head Left Behind On Train." [NPR]
• "[My career] has become kind of large and it really began for me very, very small. Like me alone in my bedroom with my four-track and a pair of headphones. I just need to go back there for a while to get my bearings again and then know what to do next. I just need to let it rest for a minute." — Feist, on taking a break after touring. [Perez Hilton]
• "I gained almost 15 pounds to play the role. It was way easier – and tastier – than having to lose so much weight for Dreamgirls." — Beyoncé, on playing Etta James in Cadillac Records. [People]
• "I don't feel the need to get married. But Ashley wants children. I'll be a great aunt or godmother." — Mary-Kate Olsen. [Star Magazine]
• "Paris Hilton is still bugging me about "Stupid Girls." She came up to me in a nightclub a couple of months back and she said, 'I hope you realize that the person I seem to be in the press is really just an act and the real me is really smart'. I said, 'Just get over it. The song was like years ago. Quit bugging me.' I still take a pop at Jessica Simpson in my new video. That girl hates me. But it's just that her name happens to be a good rhyme fit for lots of lyrics. Those girls are something else. There's part of me that thinks they're such losers, but there's also a part of me that admires how they actually play the game. I'm so bad at playing the Hollywood game. I just hate all that fake stuff." — Pink. [ONTD]
• "Jamie Lynn is NOT pregnant and I wish everyone would stop being so judgemental because if you weren’t having sex at 16 it probabaly means you were very unattractive. She just happened to get pregnant and then did the right thing by not having an abortion." — Diane, a "friend" of Jamie Lynn Spears. [CelebSlam]
• "To be honest, there's nothing I want to talk about less than politics. I'd rather vomit and lick it up. I like Obama, but he's not gonna win. Trust me, I know my people." — Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders in Blender. [Page Six]

But that's not the only coded language these Conservative queen-makers use in relation to Palin. Kristol referred to her as "my heartthrob" on Fox News in July; Barnes noted that she is “exceptionally pretty"; Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor at the National Review , wrote in a column that Palin is “a former beauty-pageant contestant, and a real honey, too. Am I allowed to say that? Probably not, but too bad.”

As many of her most ardent fans have noticed, Palin is a very attractive woman. And noticing this wouldn't be bad — it would just be human — if it didn't seem that this is her main qualification in the eyes of even her most serious-minded supporters. Kristol, Barnes and Gerson, in discussing why they were so initially enamored with the Governor of Alaska, mentioned her star power, her hockey mom biography, her charisma, and almost as an afterthought, her record as a "reformer," which at this point has been pretty thoroughly debunked (see her troopergate abuse of power and her bridge to nowhere fibs).

It is undeniable that conventional attractiveness, regardless of gender, is a large part of political success; to deny this would be naive. Do you think Barack Obama would have had his meteoric rise to power had he been fifty pounds overweight? Why do you think Mike Huckabee got his lap band, or Biden his hair plugs or Hillary Clinton or McCain their alleged Botox? However, while Obama's looks, oratorial skills and biography, while certainly part of his packaging, are not the sole basis of his rise to prominence.

I spent the better part of yesterday thinking about Sarah Palin and what she means to women. After my initial rage over the choice of a severely anti-choice, anti-intellectual, theocratic woman subsided, I have tried to think about the ways the choice of Palin could be construed as a positive. She is a self-proclaimed feminist, and even though many people may think she doesn't qualify as one, the mere fact that she embraces a term that so many young women shun is important. I also decided that Palin's prominence could be a boon for little girls. Perhaps the next generation will be more inclined to join the political fray after seeing a woman so easily glide onto the Presidential ticket.

Then, last night, I read that John McCain announced on Fox News that he picked Palin, in part, as a counter to the "liberal feminist agenda," and I found my first claim deflating. McCain is trying to take a place of common ground that women might have with Palin — that we all call ourselves feminists — and make the word into something even more divisive than it already is. I suppose in the Republican party there is only one proper way to be a feminist, and that's to be pretty and pro-life.

This morning, I watched a few videos on Newsweek from the magazine's Women In Leadership conference, and was struck by the comments of former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers. "As long as human beings are sexual, and as long as attraction remains one of the dynamics that define life, you're never going to totally eliminate that. What you can do, is, one, women have to be conscious of it, because if you don't take it off the table, it becomes a distraction." Myers went on to talk about how Hillary Clinton purposely looked almost exactly the same every day — the same hairdo and pantsuits — so that people would not comment on her looks, they'd talk about what she had to say. When Palin winks and flirts with the audience during a debate and wears black, high-heeled patent leather boots to political rallies, it's impossible not to notice these things, and it's also impossible to argue that these actions don't become part of the conversation.

And this is what worries me about Palin's legacy to young girls. I don't think we should ever require female politicians to be asexual or unfeminine. The point of feminism is that you should be able to present yourself in whatever way you please along the spectrum. However, if a male politician were winking and mugging at the camera the way that Palin does, I would find it equally unprofessional. And I worry that when young women see Sarah Palin, they think, "I too can have a meteoric rise to power... as long as I'm also a beauty queen."

"Women are judged more harshly if they're not pretty," Myers says in her Newsweek video. "That's something we've all had to live with since junior high." Which is not to say that Palin does not possess other gifts. I think she is incredibly ambitious and savvy, though these things are not part of her public persona. She has always masked her ambition, something often seen as unfeminine, behind folksy talk and faux humility, like when she said, "I never really set out to be in public affairs, much less to run for this office."

But Myers also notes that people are given genetic gifts unequally, and while Palin's looks are an advantage for her, so were Bill Clinton's charisma and Barack Obama's intellect. Again, this would not be a problem if Palin had the political knowledge to back up her very carefully constructed and gilded image. Myers did say something heartening, though. "One woman can't change a culture, but if there are more women there can be a critical mass. If there's only one woman, the culture changes the woman." I think Palin alone will not be able to personally change a generation of women. But hopefully the combined impact of Clinton, Palin, Pelosi will inspire a critical mass.

The Insiders [The New Yorker]
Among Rock-Ribbed Fans of Palin, Dudes Rule [NYT]
McCain: Palin Is A Counter To The "Liberal Feminist Agenda" [Feministing]
"Palin's Looks Do Help Her" [Newsweek]

Earlier: Palin Dudes: "Proud To Be Voting For The Hot Chick"

Lawyers for Knox's side say that this is a mere "presumed scenario" with no real evidence to back it up. Many media reports, including a thorough Radar feature, note that prosecutor Mignini has had it out for Amanda Knox since the murder occurred.

As discussed last week, Radar's Sarah Horne reported that, "Lisa Pasko, a criminology professor at the University of Denver who specializes in young women who commit violent crimes, has been following the case and does not believe that Knox participated in Kercher's murder…She likens Mignini's behavior to that of the very vocal prosecutor in the Duke rape case, former Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, who improperly leaked information to the media in order to beef up his case against the accused lacrosse players."

Amanda herself took the stand during a closed-door hearing today in Perugia, and proclaimed her innocence. An obviously emotional Knox told the court "Meredith was my friend… I had no reason to kill her." As for the other two men allegedly involved, Rudy Hermann Guede has requested a "fast-track" trial and has admitted to being in the room when Kercher died. Though Knox and Sollecito have no prior records, the Radar article pointed out that Guede is a "petty criminal who had a history of home invasions with a knife," and according to the Guardian, a pillow with Guede's bloody hand print was found beneath Kercher's body. The case against Sollecito seems to be based mostly on the fact that he liked violent Japanese Manga comics that depicted murder scenarios.

Kercher's parents are lodging a claim for financial compensation in the aftermath of Meredith's death, and according to the Daily Mail, their lawyers will argue that "'this was a particularly violent crime and that all three [Knox, Sollecito and Guede] were present and responsible for her death."

U.S. Student Accused Of "Satanic" Slaying [AP via CBS News]
The Accused [Radar]
Knox Accused Of Stabbing Meredith [Guardian]
Meredith's Parents Lodge Claim For Murder Damages After Court Is Told She Was Attacked For Refusing To Take part In Drug-Fuelled Orgy [Daily Mail]

Earlier: True Crime

• Did Madonna get "bored" playing dress-up on the English countryside? Andrew Morton writes that when friends found out the formerly skanky downtown vegetarian was out shooting birds, they gave the relationship 5 years. He adds: "The one thing Madonna hates more than chaos in her life is failure." Ritchie's movies "opened to less than rapturous reviews," but Madonna's new movie received high praise. "She has proved that she can live with fake. But not with failure." [The Daily Beast]
• Guy Ritchie spent the day his divorce was announced filming interior scenes for Sherlock Holmes. [People]
• Oh, snap: Guy Ritchie reportedly wants "not one penny" of Madonna's estimated £300 million fortune. Plus, he hates Kabbalah. [The Sun]
• Madonna hired divorce attorney Fiona Shackleton, who repped Prince Motherfucking Charles, as well as Sir Paul McCartney. And yeah, there's no pre-nup. [Perez Hilton]
• Madonna in concert: "This song is for the emotionally retarded. Maybe you know some people who fall into that category. I know I do." [Mirror]
• A source says Gwyneth Paltrow "begged" Madonna all summer "not to be an idiot" and let her marriage fall apart. Gwynnie wanted them to keep it together for the kids. [Digital Spy]

• Guy Ritchie is moving out of the London house. Madonna might move to New York, though. Lourdes maybe wants to move to NYC to be near her bio-dad, Carlos Leon. What will happen to Rocco and David? What about the children? [Perez Hilton]
• Madonna's been "closer" to Carlos Leon lately. [The Sun]
• Guy Ritchie allegedly tells a friend: "I'm afraid the laughs in our life together were long gone. She's obsessed with her own public image, obsessed with being seen as some kind of global soothsayer. It's silly, she's a pop star. There was a time when she used to have a sense of humour about herself. In the last few years, she just got angry." [Mirror]
• Guy calls the marriage a "three ring circus" that had to end. [Mirror]
• Guess who is waiting in the wings, learning Kabbalah? Alex Rodriguez. [E!]
• DJ AM made his first big public appearance at a benefit concert Tuesday night in Hollywood. The 5-hour show was a "Welcome Home" celebration and Mark Ronson, Mix Master Mike, Steve Aoki, and That 70s Show's Danny Masterson spun tunes on stage while AM watched and sang along. [People]
• DJ AM says that after Travis Barker wrenched open the emergency exit after the plane crash, "I tried to cover my face as I jumped through a fireball. As soon as I hit the ground, I remembered, 'Stop, drop and roll.' So I started rolling." [ET]
• Amy Winehouse "lost it" in a recording studio, blamed "Satan" for her drug problems and then smashed up a £3,000 guitar. [The Sun]
• Amy will DJ tonight at London pub The Monarch! Maybe she'll spin the records backwards! [Mirror]
• Quentin Tarantino has changed the name of his film Inglorious Bastards to InglOURious BastERds, which is much, much better. [Perez Hilton]
• Aniston & Mayer: Late dinner at the Sunset Tower Hotel in L.A. [People]
• Denis Leary is defending his statements about autism: He says critics obviously haven't read his book. "They missed the sections I thought made my feelings about autism very clear: that I not only support the current rational approaches to the diagnoses and treatment of real autism but have witnessed it firsthand while watching very dear old friends raise a functioning autistic child." [E!]
• Stevie Wonder's house: Burned! In the L.A. wildfires! A source says: "Everything was destroyed - all of Stevie's memorabilia, photos, musical instruments, history, clothing, furniture, everything. It's all gone. It was his main residence and he is utterly devastated. Stevie's had to put his tour and appearances on hold while he deals with this." [Page Six]
• A statement has been issued that reads: "In light of continuous speculation over the lives and marriage of Tea Leoni and David Duchovny, the couple has confirmed that they have in fact been separated for several months. the statement says. The couple had hoped to keep this separation private for the sake of their children." [People]
• Reese Witherspoon gave Jake Gyllenhaal a "sexy lingerie show" while shopping in London. She beckoned him into the changing room and Jake watched as she "wiggled into various bra and panty sets, including an itsy-bitsy pair of purple panties and a matching push-up bra." [Star]
• Lauren Conrad might go to colleges to talk to students about dating abuse and violence. She works with Mark Cosmetics' M-Powerment campaign for young women. [E!]
• LC and Heidi reconciled!!! Lauren was at a restaurant celebrating her runway show at LA Fashion Week with family and friends. Spencer and Heidi were at the bar eating dinner. Heidi spotted LC and the two ended up hugging. [ONTD, Us]
• Angelina Jolie found out that she was pregnant right before she started filming "harrowing" scenes set in a mental institution for Changeling. [NY Times]
• When will Tina Fey be back on SNL? "I don't know," Fey says. [CNN]
• The first day in Britney's driving without a license trial ended without a juror being seated. One man labeled the idea of a trial "ridiculous." [USA Today]
• Britney didn't show up, btw. [LA Times]
• Um, Lynne Spears is in talks to turn her book, Through The Storm, into a movie. What's that saying? Oh yes: *Headdesk*. [Perez Hilton]
• Janet Jackson's mystery illness: migraine-associated vertigo. She's feeling better and has resumed touring. [USA Today]
• Peter Cook/teenage assistant sex tape: It exists. [Page Six]
• Christina Aguilera showed some kind of X-rated video clip during her This Day Africa Rising charity concert at London's Royal Albert Hall. Classy! [Mirror]
• Last week the More magazine's Women In Hollywood luncheon had a "stellar panel," including: Cybill Shepherd (as moderator), S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order), Polly Draper (Thirtysomething and the creator of the Naked Brothers Band), Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek Voyager) and Talia Balsam (Mad Men). The ladies talked about how hard it is for women and minorities to find quality parts. Balsam said, "We live in a celebrity focused world and that is harder to fight than age. They want me in my 40s to play the part of the grandmother." There's more if you click. [Women & Hollywood]
• Queen Latifah talks about beekeeping, The Secret Life Of Bees, confidence and Barack Obama: "I've been voting since I was 18 years old," she says: "I think it's such a powerful thing; I like it, it's fun to me, it's exciting, you feel like you're part of the process, and you feel like you have say-so." [Premiere]
• Ryan O'Neal and son Redmond: Both charged with possession of methamphetamine, a felony. [AP]
• Khloe Kardashian had to go to the morgue yesterday, as part of her DUI penance. [E!]
• Jade Jagger was trying to build an eco-home in Cotswold Water Park, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. But a rare orchid caused developers to move the location. [Telegraph]
• Kelly Osbourne has started a "band" with two Radio 1 DJs. The "band" is called OMG. It's just a silly video. [Mirror]
• Ringo Starr says his ban on fan mail was "in direct response to an inordinate amount of items which have recently appeared for sale on eBay" and that all the mail is "a waste of paper and we all should be mindful of our carbon footprint" and that fans can still email him. He also said, "Please read this in a mellow way. Peace and love." [Rolling Stone]
• A new Muppet movie? For adults? The Happytime Murders would take place in a world where humans co-exist with puppets. [Perez Hilton]
• Kevin Costner's wife is pregnant with her second child. [Star]
• Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams are expecting a second child. [People]
• Lisa Bonet: Expecting her third child. Daddy is hot hottie Jason Momoa. [People]
• Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes: Posthumous album. [Perez Hilton]
• Molly Ringwald has come out… Against Proposition 8. Cute video! [E!]
• Despite what you may have heard, Holly Madison is not looking for a new sugar daddy. "Where do these stories come from?" she asks. "I'm adjusting to the single life, and looking forward
  to the adventures ahead!" [ONTD]
• ABBA's Bjorn found innocent in Swedish tax evasion case. Winner takes it all… [UPI]
• Jay Leno: Being sued by the estate of a Macy's department store heir over a rare vintage car. [Reuters]
• Headline of the day: "They said it wouldn't last. But months later, Ronnie Wood's still with his Russian floozy, downing two bottles of vodka a day . . . and heading for a £70m divorce" [Daily Mail]
• OMG a remake of The Monkees. "Producers are already on the hunt for four hunky surfer dude types to play an updated version of the original boyband." I'm not your stepping stone! [The Sun]
• "ID LOVE IF THE INDUSTRY COULD ONE DAY UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OBESITY AND FAT AND THICK AND THIN AND SICK. I AM A THICK GIRL, I HAVE NEVER BEEN OVER A SIZE 12, I CAN RUN, AND I TRY MY BEST TO EAT RIGHT ALL THE TIME. I AM NOT THE TEXT BOOK WEIGHT THAT THEY SAY I SHOULD BE, BUT EVERYDAY I HAVE MY OWN PERSONAL STRUGGLES, AND I THINK THAT PEOPLE NEED TO RESPECT THAT." — just a mere snippet of a long MySpace blog written by Raven Symone. [ONTD]
• "I mean, I know we seem crazy, just bringing them in one after the other, but we do plan. We make sure one is absorbed completely into the family before we add another. There are moments when we look at everyone around the dinner table, and it’s just crazy, but our family is the greatest thing we’ve done in our lives." — Angelina Jolie, on having more kids. [NY Times]
• "I blocked out second grade completely. I have no recollection of it. I always talk to my mom and my grandma about it. It was because I cried every day. I didn't understand the culture. I didn't understand the people. I didn't understand the language. My first sentence of my essay to get into college was like, 'Imagine being blind and deaf at age seven.' And that's kind of what it felt like moving to the States. But I got over it pretty fast." — Mila Kunis, who arrived in L.A. from the Ukraine at age 7. [LA Times]
• "I did hear there was a rumour going around and my agent actually got a couple of calls about it so he checked it out. Apparently I’m on a list but I’m not sure what list exactly! I hope it’s not a sex offenders register!" — Ricky Gervais, on whether he'll host The Oscars. [Daily Express]
• "I don't believe you have to be monogamous, but you have to be respectful. Don't come home and say: 'Oh, I've just had sex with someone else.'" — Boy George, to the Times of London. [Page Six]
• "Right now, we’re not cool Mom and Dad. Even video games, you know, it’s: 'Mom, you can’t play this. You won’t know how.' Oh, they all think I can’t do anything, that I’m just there to snuggle with. But the other day Madd said, 'Can you do a cartwheel?' And I said, 'Yeah, I can.' And he was like, 'Wow, Mom.' And I thought: 'Oh, yeah. I can do some things. You wait. You’ll find out. I’m capable.'" — Angelina Jolie. [NY Times]

For those unfamiliar with this chilling case, here's a recap: Caylee has been missing since early June, but her disappearance was not reported to police until July 15, and even then the call to authorities was made by Casey's mother. In addition, Casey's mother told police that it smelled like "a dead body in the damn car" that Casey was driving, and Casey borrowed a shovel from a neighbor in mid-June.

Another young woman who is facing murder charges, Amanda "Foxy Knoxy" Knox, the American studying abroad in Perugia who was accused of stabbing her roommate Meredith Kercher to death, is looking more and more like the victim of an overzealous Italian prosecutor than a murderess.

According to an extensive article in the November issue of Radar, when Amanda originally "confessed," it was after 14 hours of police intimidation in Italian, which she did not fully understand. In addition, the police have subsequently found the DNA of Rudy Guede, a "petty criminal who had a history of home invasions with a knife," all over the apartment.

Knox has been excoriated in the Italian press, in no small part because prosecutor Giuliano Mignini has had it out for her from day one. "Lisa Pasko, a criminology professor at the University of Denver who specializes in young women who commit violent crimes, has been following the case and does not believe that Knox participated in Kercher's murder," Radar reports. "She likens Mignini's behavior to that of the very vocal prosecutor in the Duke rape case, former Durham County district attorney Mike Nifong, who improperly leaked information to the media in order to beef up his case against the accused lacrosse players."

Though Knox has been in jail since Meredith Kercher was killed last year, it is still unclear whether or not she will have to stand trial for Kercher's death. Hearings began on the case last month, but according to Radar, the snail's pace of the Italian justice system means that Knox's fate will hang in the balance until the end of the month at the earliest.

Mom Of Missing Girl Weeps After Murder Indictment [AP]
The Accused [Radar]

Earlier: Creepy Mom Casey Anthony Tried To Give Missing Caylee Up For Adoption
True Crime

The CDC says they were unaware of this consequence, and Dr. Jon Abramson, head of the CDC's Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, tells the Journal, "If we had known about it, we would have said it's not a good idea…We don't want someone coming into the U.S. who hasn't been vaccinated against measles or chickenpox, [but] HPV can only be communicated by sexual contact…This is not something that endangers kids in a school setting or puts your population at risk."

Even Merck, the company that manufactures Gardasil and has been accused of overly aggressive lobbying tactics, isn't particularly fond of the requirement. A spokesperson for Merck tells the Journal, "We were not aware of the policy and we did not lobby for this provision in any way." In addition, Gardasil has encountered its fair share of controversy over its efficacy and potential side-effects since becoming widely recommended. The National Association of Pacific American Women's Forum's Priscilla Huang likened the Gardasil requirement to using immigrants as "test subjects" because the research on the vaccine is thought to be incomplete by some. (And with rumored disturbing side-effects.)

Requiring the vaccine — one of the priciest on the market — could cost immigrants as much as $360, and in addition to the $500 or more new United States residents must spend on application fees, the cost is pretty prohibitive. Immigration advocate Tuyet Duong says the requirement "is outrageous; it's creating an economic barrier." The Journal was hard-pressed to find anyone who resoundingly supported forcing immigrants to get the vaccine, and it notes that 'a government official said the cervical vaccine's inclusion on the list might be reviewed." Your bureaucracy at work!

UPDATE: A tipster who works in immigration law writes in: "To make your story even a little worse, the fee for a green card application is $1010. It more than doubled in the summer of 2007. (It is $600 if you are under age 14.) This is not counting the costs of the medical exam, including the vaccines, which must be paid to the doctor in cash."

U.S. Requiring Controversial Vaccine [The Street]
Gardasil Requirement for Immigrants Stirs Backlash [WSJ]

Earlier: Experts Question The Cost Effectiveness Of HPV Vaccine

A farm worker holds a piglet and two of the three tiger cubs abandoned by their mother last week at a zoo in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008. A pig at a farm in eastern Ukraine agreed to nurse the three little tigers together with a dozen of its own piglets. — AP

[Image via AP.]

For instance: Do you prefer a bath or a shower? Do you tend to have chapped lips or use Chapstick? Do you drink lager or gin and tonic? But! Does being a man who likes to bathe really mean he's in touch with his feminine side? Does being a woman who likes to shop and spend a day at the spa really mean she's a "typical" female?

According to the scoring of this questionnaire, (put together by Phillip Hodson, of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy), even if you're a woman who watches football and hates to shop, you're not necessarily a tomboy, "just a girl who dares to be different." Dares? And! If you're a man who moisturizes and can't find his keys, you're "in touch with your femininity," which could help you "empathize with the opposite sex."

The question is: If we're living in an age when women box and race cars and men wax their hair and shop, is there such a thing as "typical" behavior for your gender anymore? (And! What kind of score did you get? I'm a 9, which is in the "middle ground" but closer to the manly side, heh.)

Questionnaire: Are you gender typical?, Scoring [The Independent]

(Click on any image to begin gallery)

"Like Los Angeles and San Francisco, Manhattan and Washington occupy their own mental zones — nice to visit but not a place to stay if you value independent thought these days," Camille blathers on in her praise of Palin. And it sounded very much like what Sarah Palin recited in her RNC acceptance speech: "A writer observed, 'We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity,' Palin said. "And I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman. I grew up with those people. They're the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food and run our factories and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad — and they're always proud of America. "

The implication with both Paglia and Palin is that people who live in cities are intrinsically less patriotic than those who are from Mayberry. We must be one hell of an unpatriotic country, then, because according to a 2005 U.N. survey, 80.8% of the American population lives in cities and suburbs. What's more, during this election cycle it's not only urbanites who have been made out to be unpatriotic. It's anyone who's not Christian.

First there's the whole Obama is a Muslim meme, and people jumping on Obama saying, "my Muslim faith." That's just flat out anti-Islam prejudice. But then there's Palin's Evangelism. Much has been made of Palin's Pentecostal church, and while some of what has been said about the Alaska governor's religiosity is overreaction, she has said several things that are deeply disturbing for anyone who believes strongly in separation of church and state.

Beliefnet.com editor-in-chief Steven Waldman writes in the Wall Street Journal: "What should be of concern to religious minorities is that Palin signed a resolution establishing a Christian Heritage Week. It didn’t actually declare the U.S. to be an officially Christian nation but it plucked Founding Fathers quotes way out of context to misleadingly imply they were devout Christians." In addition, Palin "told a group of young church leaders to pray for a gas pipeline because it was God’s will. 'God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built. So pray for that.' This is well beyond what President Bush customarily said. Asserting that God endorses a particular energy strategy or public works project is exactly the sort of mindset the Founders feared. The vote-for-this-because-God-says-so approach means that those who oppose a particular policy are violating God’s will — and good Christians should view them that way."

Though Paglia would certainly accuse me of being trapped in the allegedly closed-minded "mental zone" of New York City, I am deeply disturbed by these cultural assumptions. It serves precisely no one to play into the I'm-more-patriotic-than-you-are pissing contest. By Paglia and Palin's implied parameters, as a Jewish urban dweller I might as well be an Iraqi insurgent for my suspected level of innate patriotism. And as much as I believe in questioning authority and looking at our country critically, I wholeheartedly love America. "I have spent time debating with myself the notion of love of country," My mother wrote me in an email this week. "After all, this country took my parents, and they prospered and so in turn have we and you. Jews don't fit in a lot of places...we have to remember that." Trust me, mom, I haven't forgotten.

Fresh Blood For The Vampire [Salon]
Is Sarah Palin Bad For The Jews? [Radar]
The Passion of Palin: Separating Real Concerns From the Hysteria [WSJ]

Earlier: Pig Lips, Crazy Eyes, Camille Paglia And The Dear Leader

According to the Times of London, Elisabeth told Austrian judge Andrea Humer in an interview, "He was very brutal against me…And when I did not agree to have sex, then the kids would suffer. We knew he would kick us or be bad to us." The Times also notes, "Elisabeth said that her father threatened to leave them to rot in the cellar, which had no windows and was sealed by an electronically-locked door."

Unlike Elisabeth's children by her father — three of whom were kept underground with Elisabeth and three of whom were raised in the Fritzl's house proper — Alicja's two children were given up for adoption, and now authorities are trying to track down the two boys, ages 3 and 18 months, to see if Krzysztof is really the boys' father. The potential incest was discovered by Alicja's mother, Teresa, who said she learned about the abuse when she read Alicja's diary. However, the Times of London also reports that, Krzysztof "used to order [Teresa] to watch television whenever he went into the girl's room, closed it and took out the door handle." And when Teresa confronted Krzysztof about the abuse, "He intimidated us; he threatened that my daughter will be dead, that he will destroy us all, if anyone learned about it.”

There are no words. Actually, that's not entirely true: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the crime a "tragedy" and is now pushing for a chemical castration law for pedophiles. Jeez. Fritzl is currently in jail awaiting a trial which is slated for next year. According to the Daily Mail, Frizl "is expected to face up to 3,000 rape charges plus charges of child cruelty and false imprisonment." Krzysztof is also in jail, and police are currently in the midst of his investigation.

Man Dubbed 'Polish Josef Fritzl' Arrested [Times of London]
Elisabeth Fritzl Tells Of Father's Cruelty [Times of London]
'My ordeal at the hands of my all-powerful father': Elisabeth Fritzl Tells Of The Nightmare In The Cellar [Daily Mail]

Then there is Post scribe Rachel Beckman, who writes about the desperation she felt when awaiting a proposal from her longtime boyfriend. We received more than one dismissively worded tip about this article. One reader wrote, "Feminism means bullying your boyfriend into proposing on your timetable? Hm. Who knew?" Even though some of the longer descriptions of Beckman's prissiness and obsession with the "perfect" proposal were annoying, I didn't find the article anti-feminist at all. What's wrong with knowing that you're ready to get married and being assertive about telling your boyfriend that? It's not like Beckman's fiance was some poor captive with no will of his own.

Finally, there's a live chat with Erin Torneo, Valerie Cabrera Krause who wrote The Bridal Wave: Surviving the 'Everyone-I-Know-Is-Getting-Married-Years. Torneo writes in the introduction, "I wrote this book because I was tired of seeing my engaged friends become "lobridemized" by the wedding industry, tired of the contradictory cultural messages (women, be anything you want, but if you aren't altar-bound by 27, egads! spinsterhood for you), tired of seeing people get married just because they thought they were supposed to without giving any thought to what marriage is (but an awful lot to the wedding)." Kudos to Torneo for a) coming up with the term "lobridemized" and b) emphasizing how difficult it can be when society is giving women such an incredibly ambivalent message about their lives. If you take anything away from the WaPo's Bridal Week, it should be an awareness of the societal pressures most women are facing when it comes to marriage and the desire to go easy on people who embrace the wedding industry, even with all its faults.

Wedding Week [WaPo]
The Anti-Wedding [WaPo]
One-Ring Circus [WaPo]
Wedding Week: The Bridal Wave [WaPo]
The Bridal Wave [Official Website]

Yes, She's A Feminist:

"So have evangelicals accepted the sexual revolution? Yes and no. While they generally agree that women should have careers, evangelical women and men still have some traditional social views — that sex should be reserved for marriage, that marriage is between a man and a woman, and that the possibility of abortion on demand, far from being a key to women's happiness, is simply wrong. In other words, like most Americans, they have rejected the more radical elements of feminism."

— Naomi Schaefer Riley, in the Wall Street Journal.

"Palin grew up in an age when many of her female counterparts chose to reject marriage and husbands. She grew up in an era when many women decided to send their children to day-care or not to have children at all. She grew up in an era when women could pursue the most masculine of careers and make a good living doing so. […] If feminism is about giving women choices, she should be cheered as an example of the success of feminism."

— Karin Agness, on Townhall.com.

"Sarah Palin represents a new feminism. . . . And there is no bigger threat to the elites in this country than a woman who lives her conservative convictions."

— talk show host Laura Ingraham. From a story by Robin Abcarian, in the Los Angeles Times.

"On the one hand, her political views (she's anti-abortion and pro-gun and an evangelical creationist) seem directly counter to the until-now traditionally liberal tenets of feminism. Yet at the same time, she's a powerful governor and mother of five, a combination that seems the very definition of what the women's movement was fighting for. […] Palin is a classic third-wave feminist, benefiting from all that came before her in terms of the women's movement, while remaining the embodiment of patriotic, religious, small-town values. […] Certainly, she's the change agent they might need: a right-wing politico in the body of an attractive modern "executive", wife and mother."

— Barbara Lippert, in Adweek.

"On that stage last night, Sarah Palin represented everything the feminist movement claims to strive for: a successful working woman with a happy family life and a husband who helps raise the children. Yet, rather than hailing her accomplishment, the feminist establishment has sat by silently as she's savaged for being a working mother. Turns out old feminism is really just a bunch of good 'ole girls telling you what to think. […] Where is the condemnation for the sickening misogyny, such as the DailyKOS's mock Playboy cover with Palin? The Huffington Post's photo montage of Palin, headlined "Former Beauty Queen, Future VP?" The Washington Post's Sally Quinn criticizing Palin for being a working mother? Well, I suppose she could've stayed home and baked cookies."

— A column by Kirsten Powers for the New York Post, via FrontPageMag.com.

"Palin's candidacy brings both figurative and literal feminist change. The simple act of thinking outside the liberal box, which has insisted for generations that only liberals and Democrats can be trusted on issues of import to women, is the political equivalent of a nuclear explosion. The idea of feminists willing to look to the right changes not only electoral politics, but will put more women in power at lightning speed as we move from being taken for granted to being pursued, nominated and appointed and ultimately, sworn in."

— Tammy Bruce, in a column for the San Francisco Chronicle.

No, She's Not

"Really, most of the 'feminism' talk is coming from conservatives appropriating the language of the movement to push a ridiculously anti-feminist candidate. But what I find even more upsetting is the Palin/feminist talk coming from mainstream outlets who are demonstrating absolutely no knowledge of feminism. Take the Adweek article, for example, which says 'Palin is a classic third-wave feminist, benefiting from all that came before her in terms of the women's movement...' So by this definition, any woman who has benefited from feminism is a feminist. So, all women are feminists? Uh, yeah."

— From a post by Jessica Valenti, of Feministing.com.

"The Palin pick is disheartening on so many levels. For starters, even what little we know about the Alaska governor's policy views is enough to make a traditional feminist weep. The staunchly conservative Palin not only opposes abortion rights (even in cases of rape or incest), she also supports abstinence-only sex education and takes a strict free-market approach toward health care. Of course, these days, the feminist mantle is claimed by pro-life conservatives and pro-choice progressives alike. Palin herself is a proud member of Feminists for Life. Feminism seems no longer to denote a particular set of values or ideological agenda; it is merely a label appropriated to proclaim that one is committed to the best interests of women—whatever one believes those to be."

— Michelle Cottle, in an article for The New Republic, September . (Here's a reaction piece by Emily Bazelon on Slate.)

"Conservatives have probably used the word 'sexist' more in the past week than they have in the past 50 years. This would all have been entertaining if it were not such rank hypocrisy. These are people who have inveighed against affirmative action, a version of which undoubtedly played a part in this selection. […] The governor has talked about the choice she and her pregnant teenage daughter have made, but would deny other women the right to make their own choices. She talks about fighting the old boys' network and corrupt politicians, but would turn over the private reproductive decisions of American women to both. […] But she could certainly help move the inevitable tide of women's rights, the tide that has floated her own boat, by demanding that she be honored with the same tough scrutiny the guys in this race get. Which was, in case these improbable born-again friends of feminism missed it, the entire point of the exercise in the first place."

— Anna Quindlen in Newsweek.

Note To Mainstream Media: Sarah Palin Is NOT A Feminist [Feministing]

• Britney showed up at the MTV awards. And talked. And somehow won a few. Then Russell Brand made jokes about promise rings and George Bush. [E!]
• Jordin Sparks defended purity rings and some people in the crowd cheered. MTV used to be edgy and subversive, right? [People]
• Schlocky tabloid paper News Of The World is reporting that Lindsay Lohan wants to have a baby and raise the kid with Sam Ronson. LL apparently wants one of her ex-boyfriends to be the baby daddy. [News.com.au]
• No money for old men? Tommy Lee Jones is suing Paramount Pictures, claiming he was promised "significant box-office bonuses" from No Country for Old Men, which made more than $160 million. [USA Today]

• Cancer survivors Christina Applegate, Patrick Swayze, Sheryl Crowe and Lance Armstrong were part of the one-hour Stand Up To Cancer special on TV Friday night. [Reuters]
• "It’s hard to talk about work without talking about things that are personal. Work is personal. I don’t want to talk about my personal life, but it’s on my mind, and it’s in my work." — Michelle Williams, in a rare interview. She also says: "I’m going to take a year off. I think I stopped feeling creative a while ago, and I’m just realizing it now." And: "I’ve always identified with loners and outcasts, I don’t know why. I guess this is why I found a home in independent film. I wanted to work outside the system, which is why all this fame is a real brain teaser. What am I supposed to do with it? Can you work the system without it working you?" [NY Times]
• Madonna's Sticky & Sweet tour hit Rome and Her Madgesty said: "I dedicate this song to the pope, because I'm a child of God. All of you are also children of God." Then she sang "Like A Virgin." [Reuters]
• Ellen talks about her wedding! Newsweek asks, "What's the difference between a gay wedding and a straight one?" Ellen says: "Well, the food is gay. The water is gay. There's a gay vibe." And: "I cried when I saw her, because we didn't want to see our outfits beforehand. Actually, I could cry right now thinking about it. I never thought I would have that experience of getting married. I didn't think I was missing anything. I just didn't think about it. But to see her for the first time and to cut a wedding cake, that was surreal for me and I got to experience that with our families around us. I didn't realize how special it was until I did it." [Newsweek]
• Beyoncé: Seen wearing a gigantic, 18 carat flawless diamond valued at more than $5 million dollars. It's apparently a wedding ring from her "secret" marriage to Jay-Z. But yeah, it's huge, look at the picture. [People]
• Gary Coleman hit a man with his truck outside a Utah bowling alley. Was the guy harassing Gary and his wife? Or was Gary drunk? More info to come! [E!]
• David Beckham is well-endowed. In the pants. [The Sun]
• People are loving Daniel Radcliffe in Equus, including that infamous nude scene. [People]
• This Angelina Jolie doll, created by artist Noel Cruz, looks so much like Angie it's scary. Someone paid £2,000 for it on eBay and has the option of having tattoos added for an additional fee. Brad Pitt not included. [The Sun]
• Poor Brad never gets any sleep, but his kids make him laugh. [People]
• Is Pamela Anderson secretly seeing a member of the Royal Family of Dubai? [Global Voices]
• Remember Sam Lufti? Apparently in Lynne Spears' new book, she writes that he threatened Britney's life. Sam allegedly said to Lynne: "If you try to get rid of me, she'll be dead and I'll (expletive) on her grave." [UPI]
• Chris Brown has written a couple of songs for Britney. Whether she'll sing them is another story. [AP]
• The Florida Federation of Republican Women says they are boycotting Oprah's show and magazine because she's not having Sarah Palin as a guest on her program. Should Oprah feel like she has to give equal time? She's an Obama supporter and says: "At the beginning of this presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a (platform) for any of the candidates." [UPI]
• In 1998, Tom Cruise's wife was in a Broadway play. It's 2008 and Tom Cruise's wife is in a Broadway play! But Katie Holmes' part is not like Nicole Kidman's was. For starters, Katie isn't naked. [NY Times]
• Get your motors running: Prince William and Prince Harry will go on a motorcycle ride through Africa to raise money for orphans and AIDS victims. The 1,000 mile ride across South Africa and Lesotho is almost entirely off-road and the temperature will be around 104°. Hardcore! [Telegraph]
• Are Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson expecting twins? [Yahoo News]
• Amy Winehouse performed on the Isle of Wight on Saturday and her show was "patchy," with some fans walking away before it was over. Maybe she needs a long vacation? [The Sun]
• Noel Gallagher was tackled to the ground by a fan on stage in Canada, and yes, there is video. [BBC News]
• Brooke Shields is mildly funny in the commercial for the new VW minivan. [USA Today]
• Posh dining? Victoria Beckham and TV chef Gordon Ramsay are opening a traditional English restaurant in L.A. [Mirror]
• Headline of the day: "'Heather Mills Is A Bitch Who Tricked Me Into Spreading Lies About Paul McCartney,' Claims Her Ex-Hollywood PR." [Daily Mail]
• Also: Seems like Heather Mills promised a bunch of cash to the Adopt-A-Minefield charity — which helps clear mines from former war zones — and hasn't delivered. [The Sun]
• Emma Watson has bought a £1 million ski chalet in France. Now that she is 18, she can spend that Harry Potter and Chanel money! [The Sun]
• Jennifer Aniston says working on 30 Rock was "awesome — really, really fun." [ET]
• Coco Sumner, daughter of Sting and Trudie Styler, showed up at a movie premiere with her hair half shaved and part of an eyebrow missing. "Me and my mates were really stoned and thought it would be fun to shave our heads," she says. "My mum flipped when she saw me." [Mirror]
• Jessica Simpson debuted at the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. One viewer said: "I think she should have put some clothes on." There's video if you want to see her boobalicious outfit. [People]
• There's lots of Spider-Man 4 buzz, but Tobey Maguire is not a lock. Yet. [Yahoo News]
• Lily Allen's friend who was kidnapped was rescued just minutes before he was going to be executed. [Mirror]
• Thandie Newton prepared to play Condi Rice in Oliver Stone's new movie W by reading as much as she could. "I had two things going on: reading about this young woman, and the incredible story of the Bush administration. This gigantic beast, this machine and how it was cranking toward war. I wanted to become drunk with knowledge." [Times Of London]
• Kirsten Dunst may play the late singer Eva Cassidy in a movie by Robert Redford's daughter Amy. [The Sun]
• Singer Estelle thinks it's okay that Kanye West is a little egotistical. "I think more people should follow him, and be more cocky and more proud of their work." Kanye probably replied: YES!!!!!!!!! [E!]
• Sadie Frost and her friends drank £50k of champagne in one evening. How much Advil did they need the next day? [Mirror]
• The buzz, heh, on The Secret Life Of Bees, starring Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo and Jennifer Hudson, is "very, very good." Roger Friedman says: "It’s a beautifully balanced, extremely nuanced drama that never gets overly sentimental." [Fox 411]
• Even though Joe Francis has a tax-dodging trial pending, a federal judge says he's allowed to be on the new season of Celebrity Apprentice. But! He won't be on Celebrity Apprentice because he's doing some other Donald Trump project instead. [E!]
• Janet Jackson got emotional while picking up a BMI Urban Award with her brothers (but not Michael) on Thursday night. [People]
• Shelley Malil, who played a dude named Haziz in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, was charged Friday with burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. He's been in jail since August 11 on attempted murder charges for stabbing his ex-girlfriend with two knives (while chasing her around her home as her two kids slept). [CNN]
• Spike Lee is working on a sequel to the Clive Owen/Denzel Washington crime drama Inside Man. [UPI]
• Tiger Woods has this estate in Florida and the average water usage is 10,000 gallons a month. He's almost in the top 25 water guzzlers in Orange County, Florida. But doesn't he like, travel a lot? Where is all the water going? Hopefully not sprinklers for grassy putting greens. [TMZ]
• Olivia Newton-John celebrated her third wedding anniversary with a third wedding ceremony. [Sydney Morning Herald]
• Mickey Rourke is in a low-budget picture called The Wrestler and he won the coveted Golden Lion award for best movie at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday. [Reuters]
• RIP silent film star Anita Page, who worked with Buster Keaton, Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford. [BBC News]
• "When my wife's working and I've got time off, I'm just Mr. Mom during the day, taking care of the little girl." — Keith Urban. [UPI]
• "My apologies to the cast and crews of My Name Is Earl and Scrubs. In my frustration with NBC's reprehensible promotion of 30 Rock, I took an unfortunate swipe at both of those shows and that was not cool. But, for Earl's creator, Greg Garcia, who referred to me as a 'psychotic,' I have only one question. Why are you Scientologists always rendering these medical opinions you aren't qualified to give?" — Alec Baldwin. [Perez Hilton]
• "I fly economy. I do often fly first class, but I don't travel with a posse, or bodyguard, or an assistant. I use other people's infrastructure. For instance, I am going to address the AARP convention in Washington, D.C. I will fly first class to New York on AARP's dime, get into a town car, stay not in a grand suite, but a nice hotel room. I don't pretend to be poor, but somewhere in the middle is O.K." — Gene Simmons. [BusinessWeek]
• "I could never be as successful as the Spice Girls – there were five of us in that group, and alone you can only do so much. But it’s nice to be able to have a go. I’ll have a new album out by January. I don’t get nervous about how it will do or feel pressure to have massive success. I believe in what I do and if people like it, great, and if they don’t then, whatever. The highlight of my career was the girls coming back together and deciding to do a goodbye tour… My jaw was aching for weeks when we first got back on stage, I couldn’t stop smiling." —Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown. [Mirror]
• "I'm single and crush-less… Like Hugh Hefner in his blonde phase, I’m in my European passport-holding era; American men need not apply." — Dita Von Teese. [Daily Express]

[Image via AP.]

A harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) appears waving with its flipper to an animal of the same species a at the harbor seal station in Friedrichskoog at the North Sea, northern Germany. — AP

In her speech last night, Palin said, "I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education even better." Her focus on public education in Wasilla really paid off when she was mayor: during her tenure researchers at Johns Hopkins deemed Wasilla High School "a dropout factory." Apparently 60% or fewer freshman who start off at Wasilla High go on to graduate.

But that's not the only contradiction Palin made last night. The AP has a rundown of the outright lies Palin told last night. Here's my favorite: Palin said, "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate." The AP notes that Obama "has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year…In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation."

Gloria Steinem says that even though Palin is the wrong woman with the wrong message, she herself is drunk on "hope-o-hol" and believes people will see through the smokescreen of feminism and the already-tired "hockey mom" rhetoric. And so far, Steinem is right. According to random polling of 800 women on Sunday and Monday, "50 percent of women voters felt McCain picked Palin out of political expediency and not because he believes she has the experience to do the job," the Daily Kos reports. Hope-o-hol for all!!!

Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message [LAT]
Sarah Palin GOP Convention Speech. Transcript. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Study Gives Wasilla High School Failing Grade [KTUU]
Experience Argument Hurting Palin And The Other Dude [Daily Kos]
Hockey Mom [Matt Yglesias]

Earlier: Why Bristol Palin's Pregnancy Should Be Fair Game To Pundits (If Not Democrats)

• Oprah! In final talks! To be on 30 Rock! She'll play herself in scenes with Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon. Will Arnett and Jennifer Aniston are also making appearances on the show this fall. The bad news? The season premiere doesn't air until October 30. [E!]
• Paris Hilton has "manipulated" the Toronto Film Festival to get more publicity for a documentary about herself. There were three screenings of the film Paris, Not France; now there is only one, because that will "create more buzz." Hasn't her moment in the spotlight come and gone? [Page Six]
• The trailer for Lindsay Lohan's new movie, Labor Pains, is online. LL plays a publishing assistant who avoids getting fired by pretending to be pregnant. It looks almost barely funny. [People]

• Jon Voight is one of the few openly Republican celebrities at the RNC. He thinks John McCain is "an amazing guy." He says Sarah Palin was a "beautiful choice." He claims John McCain's 95-year-old mom is "tough as nails." [LA Times]
• Jennifer Lopez commissioned a book of nude photos of herself two weeks before she gave birth and gave it to hubby Mark Anthony. "I was like, how am I going to rock this moment of my life? I felt very womanly. Marc was in a dream. He loved it." [Star]
• This headline reads: "Sex Addict David Duchovny 'Cheated On Wife Tea Leoni For Years." Oh, dear. [Daily Mail]
• This report claims that Tea Leoni has been visiting Duchovny in rehab. [ONTD]
• More on Duchovny's "indiscretions" and Leoni's ultimatum: "Get treatment or our marriage is over." [Rush & Molloy]
• Paula Abdul loves her new American Idol cohost Kara DioGuardi, whom she met years before. Apparently the two have been hanging out in hotel rooms, going to dinner and sharing laughs about the old days in the music biz. Paula says: "The American Idol cast was such a boys club, now I have a true sister to share the fun with. It's been amazing." [Page Six]
• Star Jones has a new gentlemanfriend! They were seen kissing in the stands of the US Open. He's a chef! [People]
• Here's video of drunk Lily Allen on stage with Elton John at the GQ Awards. You can see her say, "Fuck off Elton," as previously discussed. [Perez Hilton]
• Entourage is coming back September 7, with special guest stars Leighton Meester and Tony Bennett. [Fox News]
• David Spade's a father: Playboy Playmate Jillian Grace gave birth to Spade's daughter Aug. 26 in Missouri. Back in January, Spade said: "I had a brief relationship with Jillian Grace. If it is true that I am the father of her child, then I will accept responsibility." Guess the test came back positive. [UPI]
• Yesterday, a judge dismissed most of a lawsuit filed by a woman who accused a paparazzi agency of secretly filming Heath Ledger doing drugs in her hotel room. She needs to amend her claims if she wants to get anywhere. [Yahoo News]
• Britney was busted for driving with an invalid license last year, and she might have to go to trial in October. [E!]
• Lynne Spears' new book says Britney started drinking at 13, lost her virginity at 14 and did drugs at 15. Gimme more! [News.com.au]
• Christina Aguilera's greatest hits CD — which features two new songs and rerecorded versions of two other hits — will be released only at Target. Can you believe it's been ten years since her first album? [USA Today]
• An in-depth look at Bono's do-gooding. [Wired]
• Blender magazine has named 2Pac the most overrated artist. Are they not afraid of getting shot? [Reuters]
• Headline of the day: "How Did Glamour Model Jordan Become A Bestselling Author When She Doesn't Even Write?" [Daily Mail]
• Earlier this year, 90210's Jennie Garth had a terrible family crisis: "I had this six months of hell," she says. "I had a sick daughter and then my father passed away, so there was a six month period in my life when I didn't think about my looks or my weight or my body or anything." Turns out her kid had a form of Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis but it's in remission now. [People]
• Mackenzie Philips was charged with cocaine and heroin possession yesterday after being arrested last week while going through airport security. Oh, she's also charged with unauthorized possession of a hypodermic needle. [Yahoo News]
• If you've got half a million dollars, check out the Jimi Hendrix, Beatles and Elvis memorabilia up for auction today. $900,000 will get you a scorched guitar that Jimi set on fire in London in March 1967! [AP]
• RIP Bill Melendez, the animator for Snoopy, Charlie Brown and other Peanuts characters. He met Peanuts creator Charles Schulz in 1959. The two became friends and Melendez was the only one authorized to animate his characters. [AP]
• "When I was 3, my dad thought it would be hilarious to teach me swear words, then have me say them to his friends. They would laugh and laugh. I realize now the laugh was pure shock value, but it felt really good, and I've been chasing it ever since." — Sarah Silverman in Rolling Stone. [Page Six]
• "My father saved my life. I probably wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him." — Britney Spears. [MSNBC]
• "You were the love of my life. I’ll always love you. You know that, baby." — Anne Hathaway's supposed parting words to Rafaello Follieri. [MSNBC]
• "I'm over being a pop star. I don't wanna be a hot girl. I wanna be iconic. And I feel like I've accomplished a lot. I feel like I'm highly respected, which is more important than any award or any amount of records. And I feel like there comes a point when being a pop star is not enough." — Beyoncé. [ET]
• "In Scotland I'm just like a lot of other guys. But in America I'm seen as a very strong, masculine guy. In Glasgow, you probably grow up faster. You have to deal with more shit, more realism. In LA, it's a superficial, perfect world. In Glasgow, you're expected to be a man - but it doesn't make you the perfect man. It makes you a man who's not able to talk about his feelings." — Hot Scot Gerard Butler. [Guardian]

The WaPo is reporting that, as Governor of Alaska, Palin slashed funding for a program that benefited teen moms.According to the WaPo, "Palin reduced funding for Covenant House Alaska by more than 20 percent, cutting funds from $5 million to $3.9 million. Covenant House is a mix of programs and shelters for troubled youths, including Passage House, which is a transitional home for teenage mothers…[where, according to Passage House's website] 'young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives.'"

And since we're all on board with not prying into the circumstance of Bristol as an individual, let's take a look at the fate that lies ahead for most other teen mothers, shall we? Linda Hirshman, writing on Slate's XX Factor blog, runs through what the average American teen mom experiences, and honestly, it's bleak. "Even controlling for social and economic backgrounds, only 40 percent of teenage girls who bear children before age 18 go on to graduate from high school, compared with the 75 percent of teens who do not give birth until ages 20 or 21" Hirshman notes. "Overall, teenage mothers—and their children—are also far more likely to live in poverty than females who don't give birth until after age 20. Two-thirds of the families begun by a young unmarried mother are poor. These families are more likely to be on welfare and to require publicly provided health care." And we know what Palin thinks about publicly provided health care: She thinks it shouldn't exist!

Even Seventeen editor Ann Shoket has something to say about Bristol's pregnancy and what it means for the American teen. "No matter how you feel about her politics, Sarah Palin is a shining example of the potential and power of women," Shoket notes in the Huffington Post today. "And in one hot moment with her boyfriend, her daughter gave away her power to make the decisions about how she wanted her future to play out."

Pretty harsh words coming from the editor of a usually soft and fluffy teen mag. And here's the thing. Individually, Bristol Palin will be fine. But despite what her mother's campaign would have you believe, the Palins are not regular folk. They are a gubernatorial family with the resources and the connections to help support a teen pregnancy. Obviously, a teen pregnancy is not the end of the world, nor is it anything to be ashamed of. However, it is something that should be prevented as much as possible, and considering Palin's stance on abortion, it seems she's only concerned about the individual pregnancy of her daughter and not the pregnancies of our nation's daughters. Linda Hirshman says it better than I can: "For the millions of women each year who do not want to make that choice, and for the parents who do not want that fate for their daughters, the cruelty of the Republican position on abortion rights is now graphically laid bare."

UPDATE: Despite some Republicans' request for privacy with regards to Bristol, the Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates points out that many conservatives are already using this unborn child like "a political football." Coates quotes the following passage from the WSJ to illustrate his point: "Gov. Palin and her husband 'have embraced the grandchild about to be born,' Gary Bauer, a social conservative activist and onetime presidential candidate, told the Texas delegation. 'They already are teaching America a lesson about the sanctity of life,' he added, as the delegates jumped to their feet in applause.'"

The Candidate's Daughter Could Use Our Sympathy And A Lot More Privacy [Washington Post]
Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms [Washington Post]
Do As We Do [Slate]
What Was Bristol's Plan A? [Huffington Post]
And Now Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Program [The Atlantic]

Related: The Numbers on Teen Pregnancy [Freakonomcs/NYT]

Of course, I agree that Bristol should not be shamed for having sex, nor should she be judged for her choice to keep her baby. However, how can any pundit worth his or her salt not mention this pregnancy when talking about John McCain's abysmal record with sex education? As CBS News notes, "In 2006, McCain joined fellow Republicans in voting against a Senate Democratic proposal to send $100 million to communities for teen-pregnancy prevention programs that would have included sex education about contraceptives."

One of the few things we know Palin's stance on is abortion, and as has been noted before, Palin wants to eliminate reproductive choice in this country. Which makes it curious, then, that as Rebecca Traister over on Salon notices, the language of choice still pervades the party's public statements about Bristol. "According to the New York Times story, 'Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.' That's just peachy in its presumption that Bristol had a choice about whether or not to continue her pregnancy," Traister writes. "It's true that in 2008, she certainly does have a legal choice. But she wouldn't under the proposed administration of her mother and John McCain, both of whom oppose abortion rights and tell us they would work to overturn Roe."

Like it or not, especially in this election, the personal is political: the fact that Palin had a baby with Down syndrome is already being used as a Republican talking point. Timothy Shriver notes in Newsweek, "Trig could be a high-profile example of how wonderful it can be to choose life, even in adversity, even when the conditions aren't perfect. After all, the conditions are never perfect, but the promise of a newborn baby is that God's love is. Somehow, despite everything, love is triumphant. The message: Love life. Choose life." And you can be sure as hell that Palin and the Republicans would be happy to use Trig's existence to push their anti-choice message. How does the logic work then, that while 17-year-old Bristol should be protected, a four-month-old baby boy is fair game?

Also. There is evidence that McCain did not thoroughly vet Palin before offering her the VP spot, and that "top aides were vague on Monday about how and when [McCain] had learned of the pregnancy, and from whom." If Palin was trying to hide Bristol's pregnancy, who knows what other shady business she has hiding in the bushes. In addition, McCain's mere cursory vetting of Palin shows that his decision-making on important things is incredibly rash. Do we really want a man in charge of our military who is prone to making such knee jerk choices?

It seems that Obama has already started using this pregnancy to his advantage without explicitly naming Bristol. According to Politico, Obama is already running radio ads hitting McCain on abortion rights. But! At the end of the day, I think Democrats should not use Bristol Palin directly in any way, shape or form, and not because they should be above it, but because it detracts from the real issue at hand: the fact that Palin is entirely inexperienced and has barely any defined stances on any issue. Bristol and baby Trig are just smokescreens. At the end of the day, it will be far more satisfying and fruitful to attack Palin on her entirely wobbly platform than the productiveness of her womb.

America: Meet Sarah Palin [YouTube]
McCain Opposed Funds For Teen Moms-To-Be [CBS News]
Palin, Pregnancy And The Presidency [Salon]
Palin's Choice: Pro Trig [Newsweek/WaPo]
Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions On Vetting Process [NYT]
Raising Abortion [Politico]

Earlier: Bristol Palin Is Pregnant, Let The Opprobrium Begin
Sarah Palin: When Choosing A Woman Might Not Be Choosing For Women

"Notice in both stories, the focus is on what the senator said (or didn’t say)," MMW notes. "The horrific murders of these women happened in July, over a month ago…There was nothing in major Western news outlets about this. But as soon as a senator says something horrible about the incident, there are three stories within a week. As if what the senator said in defense of the murders is more newsworthy than the murders themselves."

The bloggers at MMW also point out that the western media's coverage of these women ignores the strength of these women who defied cultural norms to seek happiness. "The women were not meek or timid…they were starting a revolution of their own and gave their lives for the cause. In order for their deaths to not be in vain, news outlets must recognize their bravery and their defiance instead of making them look like weak and submissive little girls," blogger Fatima writes.

The BBC is now reporting that two bodies have been exhumed, and that those women were shot and buried without a shroud. Despite the UPI's news that they were buried alive, these women appeared to have been dead before they were put in the ground. Police have arrested six people in connection with the murders so far, and these people are said to be related to the dead women. Sadly, two older women who tried to help the would-be brides were also kidnapped, according to the BBC. Despite the unfortunate comments of Sardar Israrullah Zehri, the Leader of the House, Mian Raza Rabbani said, "We condemn the heinous act and assure the House that a complete report on the incident would be submitted."

Burying Girls Alive Draws Pakistan Rebukes [UPI]
Pakistan Opens Investigation Into 'Honor Killings' Of 5 Women Who Tried To Choose Own Husbands [AP]
Mouth to Mouth: How Pakistani Senator’s Comments Overshadow the Real Story [Muslimah Media Watch]
Pakistan Women's Bodies Exhumed [BBC]