• Though "sources" recently claimed Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal had broken up, an insider now says, "Jake is planning to pop the question over the holidays and couldn't be more excited."

The source continues, "Her children love him, his family loves her and now it's time to make it official... Reese is a traditional sort of lady, which is one of the many things Jake adores about her, and Christmas is her favorite holiday." [Popeater]

• Break out the champagne: A Maryland Judge granted TLC's request for a preliminary injunction against Jon Gosselin this afternoon, so Jon must stop making media appearances that violate his contract with the network. Jon skipped the hearing and his lawyers didn't present any evidence. A trial is scheduled for April 19. [AP]
• Here's what Jon missed: TLC's lawyer said by the end of Jon and Kate Plus 8, the network was paying the family $22,500 per episode, not $75,000 as Jon has claimed. The network's reps also offered a run down of every embarrassing thing Jon did in the past few months that "made the show look bad," explaining, "photos of Jon Gosselin with scores of bikini-clad women was inconsistent with our image brand of our show." [Radar Online]
• In other news, sources say the Gosselin kids no longer believe in Santa. [Us]
• Rachel Uchitel's friend Ashley Sampson was the first person to give an on-the-record interview about Tiger Woods cheating. Rachel tried to cover up their affair by saying she barely knew Ashley and calling her a drug abuser, and now she may sue Rachel for defamation. "Ashley told the truth and Rachel trashed her and lied," said a source. "That made Ashley furious." [Radar Online]
• It appears Rachel Uchitel is moving. She was spotted lugging suitcases and picking up a ton of dog food. [TMZ]
• Jamie Jungers, another woman linked to Tiger Woods, will tell her story on Today, then sell it to a magazine. There's a rumor going around that Tiger paid for her liposuction, but her rep denies it. [Radar Online]
• In an interview with Extra, Jaimee Grubbs said she's "deeply sorry" for having an affair with Tiger Woods. "I couldn't describe how remorseful that I am to have hurt her family and her emotionally... [but] if it wasn't me, it was going to be other girls. I did care about him. I didn't do it for superficial reasons. I didn't do it to purposely hurt [Elin]," said Grubbs. [Radar Online]
• Tiger Woods' mom Kultida Woods flew from L.A. to Atlanta today. [Radar Online]
• Poor Tiger: The scandal has forced him to cover up the name on his yacht. [Radar Online]
• If you're keeping track, the following stars still support Tiger Woods: Donald Trump, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, and Wylef Jean. Diddy says: "Ye without sin cast the 1st stone!!!! Put down your rocks sinners!!!!! Tiger keep your head up! God bless your fam Black man!" [Us]
• You can start holding your breath: Kourtney Kardashian's baby is expected "any minute," according to Khloe Kardashian. [Radar Online]
• The mother of Lamar Odom's two children ripped apart a recent story from Life & Style about Khloe Kardashian bonding with the kids. "My daughter met Khloe for about 10-15 minutes... I don't think a 15 minute meet and greet with a child can be defined as a bonding experience for anyone," said Liza Morales. Though the article claimed Khloe hadn't met Lamar Jr. because he was "too young to travel," Morales says, "The truth is my 8-year-old son told me he didn't want to meet her at that time." [Radar Online]
• Gisele Bunchen's mom and aunt visited her and Tom Brady in Boston for the birth of their child. Her aunt says: "He's a beautiful, healthy boy." Gisele's dad, who stayed in Brazil, says, "We don't know the name yet. I don't have all the details. But obviously when someone is born into the family, it makes us all happy." [People]
• At a press conference today Tom Brady called his son's birth "a wonderful experience in my life," and said they still haven't picked out a name. [Us]
• Shawne Merriman is suing Tila Tequila because he says she lied about claims that he "choked and attacked" her. But rather than suing her for defamation, he's going after her for intentional interference with contract and unfair competition because he says she was trying to ruin his career. [TMZ]
• Courtenay Semel thinks Tila Tequila's engagement to Casey Johnson is a stunt. "We're talking about the biggest fame whore in LA, and the other one — I think she's just lost her mind!" said Semel. [Radar Online]
• BREAKING: Taylor Swift straightened her hair. [People]
• Richard Heene, Mark Sanford, Jon Gosselin and Glenn Beck made FAIL Blog's list of 2009's biggest losers, and Imma let them finish, but KANYE WEST WAS VOTED THE TOP FAIL PERSON OF THE YEAR! [People]
• Alicia Keys says of Beyonce, who recorded a duet with Keys for her new album, "Her and I together was like reunited sisters - most people get in the studio and don't get a chance to really collaborate, be in one room, we were in one room having a ball." [The Mirror]
• Several bouncers at Jay-Z's 40/40 Club in Atlantic City have been fired after video surfaced of them beating two men in the club's parking lot last month. [TMZ]
• A source says of Jessica Simpson and Billy Corgan, "They are getting to know each other... He's a nice guy." [Extra]
• Chris Brown called in to a Seattle radio station to promote his new album, but when the DJ asked about Rihanna, Chris said, "I'm really done talking about the whole situation ... I'm just moving forward." The DJ replied: "Fuck that, did Rihanna throw you under the bus or what?" And Chris' handlers hung up. [TMZ]
• Though there is no official Susan Boyle merchandise, there is an estimated £5 million a year market for Boyle-themed merchandise. [Blackbook Magazine]
• Pamela Anderson is doing a two week stint as the Genie of the Lamp in a London performance of Aladdin, but she cancelled her two premiere performances due to unspecified "issues." [Daily Express]
• Pamela Bach has been charged with DUI for failing a breathalyzer test on November 28. Since she has a prior DUI from earlier this year, she'll do a minimum of five days in jail if convicted. [TMZ]
• Axl Rose missed a soundcheck last night in Taiwan for an upcoming Guns n' Roses concert. It may be because he got into a fight with a paparazzo at LAX that "ended up with a few bloodied participants." [Rolling Stone]
• James Caan's wife Linda Cann is requesting full custody of their two minor children in their divorce. [TMZ]
• In Barbara Walters' "10 Most Fascinating People" special last night, Lady Gaga was shown kissing a woman, but Adam Lambert kissing a dude at the AMAs was edited out. An ABC rep says: "It was an editorial decision to show very little from the performance and focus on the fresh, new interview with Adam Lambert," though much of the interview was about the kiss. He continued: "The Lady Gaga kiss was used quickly in context of things that upset her father." [TMZ]
• The Lilith Fair is coming back this summer and the lineup includes Mary J. Blige, Sarah McLachlan, and Sheryl Crow. Check out the full list here: [Perez Hilton]
• Amanda Peet announced she and her husband David Benioff are expecting their second child. [Perez Hilton]
• James Van Der Beek is dating model Kimberly Brook. [People]
• Miley Cyrus' song "The Climb," which was featured in Hannah Montana: The Movie was replaced in the Grammy nominations for best song written for a soundtrack by "All Is Love," which Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs wrote for Where The Wild Things Are. Miley's people say the song was submitted in that category by mistake, but the Grammy organization didn't offer any explanation. [People]
• Spike Jonze says he and Dave Eggers didn't speak to any children before writing the screenplay for Where The Wild Things Are. "I think it's interesting because not having children - Dave and I didn't have children at the time - we wrote it from our memories of childhood as opposed to our experiences as a parent observing a kid," he said. [The Independent]
• Jenifer Lewis didn't exactly crash President Obama's inauguration, but she did manage to trick security. Her seat was far from center stage, "So I went over to a Marine, and I told a fib and said that I left my credentials on the plane. And he was standing there at attention with that beautiful uniform on. His head tilted just a little. He didn't want to break formation. And he said, 'Aunt Helen?' He happened to be a 'Fresh Prince' fanatic. And he proceeded to escort me 30 feet from the podium." [CBS News]
• "I've lived with people speculating about my health for decades, and I don't say this with sarcasm, but sadly, I've outlived so many who have prematurely buried me," says Elizabeth Taylor. "There are so many things in the world that are more important than my health watch." [USA Today]
• "I always felt like a very ordinary looking girl, and I found that dressing in a unique way made me feel less ordinary and more glamorous," says Dita Von Teese, adding, "I also used clothes as a way to counteract my extreme shyness when I was younger. I wore a lot of extravagant vintage hats, which can make people somewhat intimidated. I think people will only approach if they have something very, very interesting to say to the girl in the outrageous hat!" [People]
• Meryl Streep drank a martini at a party after a New York screening of It's Complicated "I had to," she said, "to get through this." Also, when someone yelled "It's hard to be Queen," at Meryl, she shot back, "I wouldn't want her problems, believe me!" [Showbiz 411]
• When he was in college, Eli Roth of Inglourious Basterds worked as a sex chat room operator, posing as a woman. "They hired guys because guys know what other guys want to hear," Roth said. "The creepy thing was, because this was in 1991, we only got doctors and scientists because they were the ones using the Internet." [BBC]
• Here are some words of wisdom by 50 Cent from Esquire's "What I've Learned" column: "Always have bail money," "Money is freedom. Money is a private plane. Money is no metal detection," and "Being shot defines how strong I am. It prepares you for the confusion of being an artist." [Esquire]

Witness – just for example – Michael Savage, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh, who have recently come under fire for their use of the R-word. Here, according to Media Matters, are a few of the people or things they have recently compared to rapists: healthcare reform; the government of the state of New York; the Democratic party; the media; Nancy Pelosi; President Obama (frequently); and "the homosexual mafia".

Here is a partial list of the people or things these entities are said to be raping: America; American values; the American war in Iraq; the American private sector; Americans in general; the American residents of New York state specifically; and "children's minds". One assumes they are American children. Also, yes, since you asked, the "children's minds" are in fact what is being targeted for rape by the "homosexual mafia", at least according to Michael Savage, because there's really no point, apparently, in defending the age-old stereotype of gay men as child molesters – that might get you in trouble, seeing as how it is blatantly hateful and untrue, when you can just slip it in subliminally with a quick metaphor. (This isn't exactly new ground for Savage: in 2004 he quipped: "When you hear 'human rights,' think gays. When you hear 'human rights,' think only one thing: someone who wants to rape your son.")

Charming. Doyle explains that while Savage, Beck, and Limbaugh generally are not motivated to discuss the prevalence of violence against women, overuse of the rape metaphor ensures that their target audience continues to feed on fear and feel constantly under attack. However, Doyle warns against writing off the commentator's understanding of the seriousness of using rape to describe events outside of a sexually violent context:

It's customary to say that people who misuse "rape" as a metaphor for general unpleasantness don't take rape seriously. But I think Limbaugh, Beck, and Savage take it very seriously. They may not have educated themselves on how rape actually happens; they may not engage in anti-rape activism, and they may not make a point of raising audience members' awareness of actual rapes in the world; they may have less than no time to spare for discussing actual sexual assaults, in their catalogue of imaginary figurative rapes. Still, they trade on the public's terror of rape, and apparently respect the word's power to shock and horrify, if nothing else. Which is why these three leaders of men are working, as hard as possible, to create a mental link between that kind of gut-level fear and any or all progressive initiatives and figures.

In essence - they are very, very aware about how their words can be used to incite fear and revulsion by using a rape metaphor.

Thankfully, these pundits are starting to come under fire for their overuse of the term. Media Matters' video compilation from late last month was damningly to the point, illustrating how rape metaphors are trotted out for their verbal impact. Note all the carefully considered pauses and word stresses:

And, as Doyle points out, they've figured out a loophole:

It only becomes ineffective, really, if you use the word "rape" so often that it loses all meaning or power to shock. Which should be easy for Limbaugh, Beck, and Savage to avoid, given that they rarely speak with as much fervour about actual rapes that happen every day.

Trading On Our Fear Of Rape [The Guardian]

Earlier: Figure Of Speech
Why Do Republicans' Fantasies Involve Sex They Supposedly Abhor?

In the newNew Yorker, Sam Tanenhaus writes,

Polls taken last November showed that [Palin] had alienated centrists, and a majority of people still eye her with mistrust. But this is beside the point. Populists, from William Jennings Bryan and Huey Long through Joseph McCarthy and George Wallace, have always been divisive and polarizing. Their job is not to win national elections but to carry the torch and inspire the faithful, and this Palin seems poised to do. That she is the first woman to generate populist fervor on such a scale enhances her appeal-and makes her, potentially, a figure of historic consequence.

That chilling last statement aside, Tanenhaus offers a smart analysis of Palin's inexperience and the political hay she's made of it — "her insistent ordinariness," he writes, "is an expression not of humility but of egotism, the certitude that simply being herself, in whatever unfinished condition, will always be good enough." Tanenhaus isn't the first to point out that Palin has elevated her lack of qualifications into a qualification — and indeed, she isn't the first to do this. But Tanenhaus does hint that when Palin positions herself as a woman of the people, she really only means certain people. He calls into question her claim "that Todd, whom she met in high school, is 'part Yupik Eskimo' and opened her to the 'social diversity' of Alaska" with the aside, "Wasilla is more than eighty per cent white." And of her year spent in college in Hawaii, he says,

'Hawaii was a little too perfect,' Palin writes. 'Perpetual sunshine isn't necessarily conducive to serious academics for eighteen-year-old Alaska girls.' Perhaps not. But Palin's father, Chuck Heath, gave a different account to Conroy and Walshe. According to him, the presence of so many Asians and Pacific Islanders made her uncomfortable: 'They were a minority type thing and it wasn't glamorous, so she came home.'

Tanenhaus also points out that Palin's tour has visited mainly small cities in the Midwest, where "minority type things" are rare. And, he says, "race is often the subtext of populist campaigns; their most potent appeal is to whites who are feeling under siege by changing economic and cultural conditions." Palin's not exactly under any economic siege — though her Going Rogue junket has been billed as a bus tour, she's actually traveling by $4,000/hr private jet, a fact she occasionally slips up and Tweets about. But Tanenhaus isn't the only one to see in Sarah Palin a new and disturbing brand of populism.

In Newsweek, Jonathan Alter links Palin with Lou Dobbs — that famed anti-immigration crusader who "is dropping hints about running for the White House in 2012, presumably without the benefit of the Hispanic vote" — and Fox News fearmonger Glenn Beck. Alter's main quibble against the axis of Palin-Dobbs-Beck is that it's substance-free — he writes, "They say nothing loudly, colorfully, and sometimes even charmingly, but it still doesn't amount to a new vision for the country." But while Palin may not have much to say about real policy matters, her entire self-concept is disturbingly exclusionary. In the LA Times, Neal Gabler compares Palin to Richard Nixon, who "understood that anti-elitism trumps everything — in his case, even his own unlikability." Gabler writes,

Palin is playing that same card on the gamble that anti-elitism will trump her own inexperience, incompetence and lack of knowledge. She knows that the more pundits harp on these so-called deficiencies, and the more the media cover it, the more she can claim that they are really just engaging in an old sport: expressing contempt for ordinary Americans, of which she is the self-proclaimed political exemplar. Her self-promotion is designed to elicit their contempt for her and express her's for them, including the very title of her book. At one point she describes inviting NBC's Andrea Mitchell to Alaska, ostensibly so Palin could be interviewed but really, she says, so that Mitchell and her fancy-pants East Coast crew could be "slimed" with fish guts.

The scariest thing about Palin's populism isn't that she uses it to camouflage her lack of knowledge or qualifications. It's that by claiming she stands for "real America," she promulgates an extremely narrow conception of what real America is. She supports men like Harold B. Estes, whose letter calling President Obama "son" she just posted on Facebook. She stands for women — but not those who want reproductive choice — and for moms — but not if they're on welfare. And while she purports to stand for working-class Americans, she seems to care most about a particular slice of them — white conservatives who live in small cities and towns a decent distance from any coast. These are Sarah Palin's elite.

It's not surprising that Palin's anti-liberal-media rhetoric has resonated with this demographic. While journalists come from all over, middle America — especially rural middle America — has a dearth of major media outlets, and it's not stupid that people in Grand Rapids sometimes feel ignored. But this is more the result of the decline of the American newspaper — and the decline of manufacturing in what is now the Rust Belt — than any vast left-wing conspiracy. And it's been a long time since white, Christian voters in Midwestern states have been overlooked by political candidates (oh hai, Iowa). The genius of Palin and other conservatives of her ilk (Dobbs and Beck, but also Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh) has been to present a certain subset of white America as both majority — making up the true bedrock of the country — and minority — cruelly marginalized by its ruling elites. In so doing, they can ignore groups more seriously and systematically marginalized — gays, immigrants, actual racial minorities — and still claim to represent the American people. As a strategy, it's been extremely effective at dividing the country against itself. Whether it will put Sarah Palin in the White House, only time will tell.

North Star [The New Yorker]
Enter The Foxulists [Newsweek]
Palin's Bus Hoax [The Daily Beast]
Hate Sarah Palin? She Loves That [LA Times]
Palin Posts Letter Calling Obama ‘Son' [Daily Beast]

A poll released by Vanity Fair and 60 Minutes reveals that Rush Limbaugh is considered the most influential conservative voice, by a wide margin:

The radio host was picked by 26 percent of those who responded, followed by Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck at 11 percent. Actual politicians - former Vice President Dick Cheney and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin - were the choice of 10 percent each.

However, that influence that Limbaugh and Beck enjoy can be transferred to possible candidates in the form of positive coverage and endorsements. The Washington Post sums up the media power dynamics, explaining:

In a new Washington Post poll, Palin beats other GOP leaders on two questions: who best represents the party's core values, and who Republicans would vote for if the presidential nomination battle were held today. But she has particular appeal to the loyal followers of Limbaugh and Beck, two of the most popular conservative talk show hosts in the country.

Overall, 18 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents cited her as the person most representative of the party's core values, the highest percentage among prominent Republican figures. Among those who regularly listen to Limbaugh, however, Palin was cited by 48 percent, and among Beck's viewers, it was 35 percent, far surpassing others.

Interestingly enough, some party members are still lukewarm on Palin, so conservative activists have launched a new campaign - Tricky Dick 2.0 in 2012!

The organization - "Draft Dick Cheney 2012" - launched on Friday, and unveiled their new Web site. Their aim: To convince the former vice president to seek the Republican presidential nomination in the next race for the White House. But there may be a major roadblock to the group's pitch - Cheney himself.

"The 2012 race for the Republican nomination for President will be about much more then who will be the party's standard bearer against Barack Obama, the race is about the heart and soul of the GOP," said Christopher Barron, one of the organizers of the Draft Cheney movement. "There is only one person in our party with the experience, political courage and unwavering commitment to the values that made our party strong – and that person is Dick Cheney."

Sigh.

Matthew Yglesias shares my sentiments:

I know some liberals who are excited about the prospect of a joke candidate like Sarah Palin or Dick Cheney getting the GOP nomination in 2012. Not me. The basic fact of the matter is that power tends to alternate between the two political parties. Ultimately, the nation's interests require both parties to nominate the best people possible. So I hope the Republicans find someone who's very smart and compelling and does an excellent job of identifying and explaining the flaws in Barack Obama's approach. Cheney couldn't possibly win a presidential election . . . unless somehow he could, in which case the country would be set for a world of pain.

Poll: Limbaugh is most influential conservative [AP]
Palin particularly popular among fans of Limbaugh and Beck [Washington Post]
New group tries to convince Cheney to run in 2012 [CNN]
Cheney for President? [Think Progress]

Earlier: Purity Balls: Republican Party Proposes Test For Politicians

The only good I can see coming from Sarah Palin's media march is that any possibility of her running for President in 2012 will, most likely, be shot to smithereens.

First, she's on Newsmax, calling Fox News comedian Glenn Beck "effective":

Glenn Beck I have great respect for. He's a hoot. He gets his message across in such a clever way. And he's so bold – I have to respect that. He calls it like he sees it, and he's very, very, very effective."

Of course you think he's a hoot - what he does is comedy! Well, unless it's a disgusting metaphor that he used incorrectly. Melissa over at Shakesville bravely decided to wade into Beck's world and create a transcript:

America has spoken clearly, consistently-we don't want [government-paid healthcare]. And for the first time in history, we don't think it's the government's place to give it to us. We're kind of reading this [holds up unidentified piece of paper] from time to time now. We are-excuse this analogy, but I feel like it's true-we're the young girl saying [puts on scared voice and crying face] "No, no-help me!" [back to regular voice] and the government is Roman Polanski. In the end, I think we're all gonna be cowering in France. [A few more moments of babbling about "unfunded liabilities" before the video cuts out.]

Melissa says: "Universal healthcare = rape. Awesome."

I say: Can this asshole even get a goddamn joke right? If the government is Roman Polanski, then they would be cowering in France, not us. And doesn't France have womb-to-tomb care, which is what we're apparently protesting against? Fail! Fail! Fail! If Jon Stewart kept botching jokes like this, Comedy Central would have fired his ass.

Palin's love of Beck's inane sputtering seems even more strange when you consider he just won the Anti-Defamation League's title of "Fearmonger-in-chief:"

The Influence of the Mainstream Media

Though much of the impetus for anti-government sentiment has come from a variety of grass-roots and extremist groups, segments of the mainstream media have played a surprisingly active role in generating such segment. Though a number of media figures and commentators have taken part, the media personality who has played the most active role has been radio and television host Glenn Beck, who along with many of his guests have made a habit of demonizing the Obama administration and promoting conspiracy theories about it. Beck has acted as a "fearmonger-in-chief," raising anxiety about and distrust towards the government.

Please note the headline the ADL gave Glenn Beck: Mainstream Media.

But back to Sarah.

The tragedy at Fort Hood on November 5, which resulted in the deaths of thirteen people and injuries to dozens of others, has been co-opted by those who would seek to further their own agendas. The Republicans are already on the move:

House and Senate Republicans, emerging from the most detailed briefings given to Congress since the Nov. 5 attack killed 13 at the central Texas Army post, said delaying investigations would put off legislative efforts to give military officials the tools to prevent similar tragedies in the future. They said such an effort would not interfere with the criminal investigation of shooting suspect Nidal M. Hasan, an Army major who was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan.

"Congress also needs to move forward to make sure we do our work to get to the right conclusions," said Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House intelligence committee.

Catch that? We need to get to the right conclusions. Wonder what those would be?

Sarah Palin knows. Here's an assessment that she shared with the Weekly Standard yesterday:

She commented on the trail of evidence linking the alleged Ft. Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan, to militant Islam. "There were such clear, obvious, massive warning signs that were missed," she said. "This terrorist, even having business cards" that identified him as an "SoA" or soldier of Allah. Palin blamed a culture of political correctness and other decisions that "prevented — I'm going to say it — profiling" of someone with Hasan's extremist ideology. "I say, profile away," Palin said. Such political correctness, she continued, "could be our downfall."

Interesting. Because obviously, racial profiling worked so well before. In fact, due to the government's racist actions in World War Two, many Japanese Americans lost their homes, their lives, everything they had - and for what? Mike Shinoda (of Linkin Park fame) cut a track for his solo project that explored his family's history in the internment camps. A student on YouTube spliced the song with images and facts from the era:

The U.S. government ultimately paid close to $1.6 billion dollars in reparations for their insistence on profiling.

Now Palin and company want to repeat history, as those who don't learn from it so often do.

Palin-Beck 2012 [Politico]
Glenn Beck: Asshole [Shakesville]
Rage Grows in America: Anti‑Government Conspiracies [ADL]
Republicans criticize Obama's Call To Delay Hill Inquiries On Fort Hood [Washington Post]
Palin On Nidal Hasan: "Profile Away" [Weekly Standard]
Exploring Japanese American Internment [Asian American Media]
Official Site [Densho]

Related: Casting Out: Exploring the Racialization of Muslims [Racialicious]
The Greatest Cliché: The Unexamined Propaganda of "Political Correctness" [Zuky]

Sarah Palin's cover is very simple, almost deceptively simple. We've got blue sky, red fleece, and not much else. However, Palin's book jacket clearly comes from a long history of portraiture. It is possible to compare this image to anything from Velasquez's grandiose portraits of Philip IV to August Sander's humble photographs of German citizens. Every great leader has, at one point or another, had a photograph or painting done of them almost exactly like this one, but despite the relatively restrained design, there are a few notable things about Palin's choice. This book shows us exactly how Palin wants to be viewed by the public, so let's see what subliminal messages are hiding in plain sight on the glossy jacket.

The composition of Going Rogue immediately brings to mind photographs of another famous maverick: Amelia Earhart. Earhart is frequently shown framed against a vast expanse of blue sky, hair tousled by the wind. Palin, too, stands against a background of nothing but clouds and sky, staring gamely at something far away, something above the viewer, that only she can see (Russia, perhaps?). Palin is the entire foreground-we see nothing but her brave figure silhouetted against the open Alaska sky. The aviation symbolism is clear: Palin is ready to take flight. Tired of being hemmed in by lame-duck governorship and the twistings and turnings of the liberal media, Palin is ready to fly off on her own, forge her own path into the future.

Palin would no doubt like her audience to think of her as the continuation of a long line of fierce female warriors. Perhaps it is merely a coincidence that her book cover is so reminiscent of WWII recruiting posters. Many of these posters feature a single woman from the waist up, standing against a background of either blue sky or Old Glory. Like Going Rogue, for the most part, these women are not shown straight on, but rather from a slightly lower angle. The viewer is placed below the figure, which adds height and stature to their slight feminine frames. Unlike the images of Amelia Earhart, these women are all dolled-up, lipstick-on and ready for battle. While Palin is not dressed quite as sharply as her predecessors, her hair is flawless (as is, naturally, her lipstick). Luckily, she managed to pose for this photograph on the most windless day in Alaskan history, because nothing short of Photoshop could explain such perfection, and since we all know how much Palin appreciates truth, it is doubtful that she stooped to such low measures to manipulate her image.

In a similar vein, the color scheme of the cover brings to mind another set of propaganda posters. In the 1960s, Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong commissioned a series of posters and "large doses of didactic politicized art" in an attempt to "inoculate" the peasantry. These images show Mao looming large against a red and blue sky. Like Palin, he does not deign to make eye contact with the viewer, but looks out at something in the far distance. However, the most striking similarity between these images appears in the colors. Palin is surrounded by a white and blue, with her jacket as the sole bright spot of red. But notice that this is not one of her fancy, several-thousand dollar jackets: Instead, Palin wears a humble fleece. (Maybe she wants to remind us of her "Real America" roots. Certainly she doesn't want her customer base thinking of her as Designer Barbie Palin. Especially since, as Amazon shows, her biggest fans are currently too busy preparing for the end of the world to worry about fashion. Customers who bought this item also bought: How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It, Catastrophe, and, because everyone needs a little light reading, Glenn Beck's Common Sense.)

And, finally, one of the most important features of any book cover is the font. As typophiles know, the font sends an important message about the quality and type of publication. While we might have expected Palin to choose a bold and unadorned font like Impact (or perhaps Comic Sans), Palin's team went instead with Linotype Didot. According to Typedia, the Didot family of fonts comes from the Didot family, who lived and worked in Paris in the 19th Century. While Pierre Didot published books and prints, Firmin Didot designed the typefaces. Linotype Didot was added much later, drawn by Adrian Frutiger in 1991. Typedia informs us that this font, with its vertical emphasis and bold strokes, is the "right choice for elegant book and magazine designs, as well as advertising with a classic touch." However, as Anna notes, for all its elegance, Didot is only one "i" away from idiot. And you'd think that is one association she'd rather avoid.

Going Rogue [Amazon]
Linotype Didot [Typedia]

• A state panel has found that there is probable cause to believe that a suburban Philadelphia swim club, which asked a group of mostly black and Hispanic kids to leave, was guilty of discrimination. One of the girls who was asked to leave reports overhearing a club member asking, "What are all these black kids doing here? I am scared they might do something to my child." • For the low price of $39.95, you can be the proud owner of a Joe Wilson action figure, because nothing says I'm well-versed in politics! quite like a plastic figurine. •  Girls are fast catching up to boys in violent crime, according to new data. Although the increase first began to appear in the 1980s, it was only in the past decade that we saw a true rise in violence among young women. Professor Kerry Carrington will publish her findings in her book, Offending Youth. • The man accused of beating a female soldier outside an Atlanta Cracker Barrel has been indicted on charges of aggravated assault, cruelty to children, and false imprisonment. Federal officials are currently investigating whether he should also be charged with committing a hate crime. • A South African man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of the "corrective" rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, one of the country's leading female soccer players. Two other men were acquitted due to lack of evidence. • Police have been unable to link Philip and Nancy Garrido to the disappearance of two young girls. Last week, it was reported that police found what could possibly be human remains on the Garrido's land, but it has since been determined that the bones are "far too old to be relevant to our case." • Max Baucus has backed down on his proposed tax on the medical devices industry. The so-called "Q-tip tax" has been amended, so that items under $100 (including tampons, sanitary pads, and Q-tips) would no longer be taxed. •  Researchers have found that providing Mexican women with new, pollution-reducing stoves can dramatically improve their respiratory health. Many Mexican women cook over indoor, wood-burning stoves, which causes them the same damage as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. • Bad news for breeders: Scientists have linked childbearing to an increased risk for developing metabolic syndrome. • High school science teacher Susan Vincent was disappointed to realize that inner-city girls don't get to spend a lot of time outside, so she introduced a program at her school that brings kids to the Hudson River estuary. She hopes that they will eventually be able to fund a field-trip to the Mississippi River delta. • According to a recent poll, women are twice as likely to ask someone else to park for them than men. Women are also more likely to admit to being flustered while parallel parking, and to becoming self-conscious when watched. This leads the Daily Fail to deduce that "parking is a masculine strength." • Though Justine Henin retired from tennis last year at 25, when she was ranked number one and held two Grand Slam singles titles, she announced yesterday that she's returning to competition, and may even be back for the Australian Open. • A study of 2,000 British children ages 7 to 11 found left-handed kids are more likely to enjoy school and get along with their teachers. • According to another study of 2,000 adult Britons, many people are in denial about their weight problems. Though only 7 percent of those polled thought they were obese, the actual figure was 27 percent. • The FDA has banned the sale of candy, fruit and clove-flavored cigarettes, effective immediately. However, the ban does not apply to flavored cigars, smokeless tobacco products, or most notably, menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes are preferred by 80% of black smokers and 25% of white smokers, and are increasingly popular with teens according to Jonathan Foulds, director of the Tobacco Dependence Program University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health, but he says banning them too would result in a "pretty major revolt from industry." • Experts say the murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is increasing around the world, and may number in the millions. U.N. investigators say the persecution and killing of accused witches, who are often elderly women, is becoming common in South Africa, Nepal, Papua Ne Guinea, India, and other countries. In other areas children accused of witchcraft are abandoned or killed by their families. • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backed off his denial of the Holocaust in an interview with the AP yesterday. He said he isn't interested in debating the past anymore, but that the Holocaust shouldn't be used as a pretext to repress Palestinians today. • Some of the 42 African-American members of Congress who attended the Congressional Black Caucus conference this week said that "tea parties" and the people protesting against Obama's healthcare reform show that racism is on the rise. Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, said Joe Wilson shouting "You lie!" could signal the return of "folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again, riding through the countryside." • In the late '80s, when Glenn Beck hosted a Phoenix, Arizona radio show he used to do a version of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" every Halloween. A rival radio host, Bruce Kelly, told a newspaper reported the bit was a stupid rip-off of an old joke. As revenge, Beck called Kelly's wife, Terry, live on the air a few days after she had a miscarriage. According to Brad Miller, one of Beck's former co-workers, he said," We hear you had a miscarriage... When Terry said, 'Yes,' Beck proceeded to joke about how Bruce [Kelly] apparently can't do anything right — about he can't even have a baby." •

Though Couric hasn't been able to pull her newscast out of third place, the reports of her upcoming departure from CBS may have been, as she jokes, "greatly exaggerated." Back in April 2007, The Philadelphia Inquirer's Gail Shister wrote, "CBS executives deny it, but there's a growing feeling within the network that Katie Couric is an expensive, unfixable mistake." She also said Couric would probably leave her anchor chair early, perhaps after the 2008 elections. But Couric's still around, and although ratings are disappointing, she says she's staying until her contract runs out in 2011.

Brian Stelter of the Times says Couric is pulling down "some of the lowest ratings in the newscast's history" — 5-6 million viewers a night, compared to NBC's 8 million. But rather than a "mistake," CBS may now view Couric as a star who has hit her stride. Her election coverage, including her famous interviews of Sarah Palin, helped make up for a rocky start, and journalism professor Paul Janensch says, "The program seems settled and Couric seems confident. As a result, the questions have subsided, and reviews of her performance are far more positive." Her executive producer Rick Kaplan concurs, saying, "There's a growing admiration for our anchor and respect for our broadcast, and that is worth a lot. Until the ratings catch up with our expectations, that really goes a long way toward making it O.K."

But what Couric really wants to do is interview. She said she originally signed on for a more interview-focused newscast at CBS. When viewers didn't like the new format, she was forced to look for other avenues. One of these is apparently Glamour, where she'll be doing a monthly interview column starting in December. Her first subject is Michelle Obama. As fun as it is to hear more about Michelle, we're betting the Glamour column will be pretty soft. Couric has been affiliated with magazine's Women of the Year program, and it seems probable that her column will focus more on the achievements of prominent women than on particularly critical journalism.

Her new web series, @katiecouric, may be a different story. According to CBS, "The webcasts will feature Katie's candid and incisive one-on-one interviews with high-profile guests ranging from politicians and celebrities to business titans and other top newsmakers." Coming up Tuesday night: Glenn Beck. Maybe Couric will give him the Palin treatment.

Couric says she doesn't know what she'll do when her CBS Evening News contract expires, but these new ventures may offer a clue. The failure of her efforts to revamp her newscast (the Times mentions her unpopular "Hi everyone" greeting) may say less about her and more about evening news viewers — they like what they know. But the days when lots of people want, as Joshua Alston wrote, "to have the day's stories read to them in a grave voice," are probably numbered. The big get, a celebrity interviewer sparring with a celebrity interviewee, may be changing form — I'm sure I'm not the only one who first saw Couric's Palin interviews on YouTube. But Couric, in producing her new interview show for the Web, seems to understand this. She understands, too, that one of her greatest strengths is talking directly to people — and she'll likely continue to do this regardless of the medium.

Doubts Fade And Couric Is Energized [NYT]
Memo Pad: Duty Calls... Michelle Obama In Glamour... Across The Twitter-Verse [Women's Wear Daily]
Katie Couric Debuts New Web Show [CBS]

• Bono's wife Ali Hewson is suing Stella McCartney over the title of her unreleased perfume, "Nude." Hewson, who also has a sustainable fashion brand, oversees Nude Skincare, and feels that McCartney's brand is too close to her own. [Daily Mail]

• More than 100 garment workers protested two New York apparel companies in support of six workers who allege they are owed over $500,000 in back pay, and that they were wrongfully fired. Union organizer Jei Fong said, "Long Island City is a sweatshop zone; these conditions are rampant and have only gotten worse through the years. Today we really want to make a stand. People need to demand better conditions; it's the only way for the garment industry to improve." The six workers allege that they were paid minimum wage, but that their employers deducted 5% from their pay, and failed to pay any overtime despite the fact that they often worked 100 hour weeks. All the workers were fired shortly after complaining about the pay and conditions to the National Labor Relations Board. [Crain's]
• Harper's Bazaar decided to rush out a Michael Jackson-themed fashion shoot in time for the current issue — and the model they picked was Agyness Deyn? There is also a monkey. Who's bad, indeed. [ONTD]
• It took Nicole Richie less than half of the actual human gestational period to conceive of and birth her maternity wear line for A Pea In The Pod. [WWD]
• Pierre Cardin owns the Marquis de Sade's castle. [NYTimes]
• We doubt that anyone is copying P.C. from NYC Prep's style. A white t-shirt, scarf and a cardigan is something he has a copyright on? Give us a fucking break, Paper magazine. [Stylelist]
• Jason Wu has announced the location of his Spring 2010 show — the opulent St. Regis hotel. [WWD]
• Why is it that every time one or two designers cycle through to something different than previous prevailing tastes — long skirts after a few seasons of minis, or in this case, flats after a few seasons of skyscraper 7" heels — fashion writers have to act as though it's tabula rasa time and WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN? The heel is not "dead" just because Christopher Kane now things "boyish" flats are nice. Most women will continue wearing heels sometimes, and flats other times, depending on their mood, where they are going, and the rest of their outfit. [ToL]
• Leonardo DiCaprio is apparently smitten with model Anne Vyalitsyna. Meanwhile, recent ex Bar Refaeli has been spotted with polo player Ricardo Mansur, who happens to be an ex of Gisele Bundchen, who also dated Leo. And the circle is complete. [Sun]
• Because of a write-in campaign, Men's Wearhouse is canceling its advertising on the Glenn Beck program. [MediaMatters]
• Bloomingdale's is launching a major ad campaign highlighting its links to classic films. [NYTimes]
• Last month, Kelly Bensimon told the W magazine editors' blog, of her jewelry line, "I love Navajo and I love the idea of taking Pocahontas out of the kayak and putting her into the disco. Everyone knows that she's had enough in her little canoe and now she's out and having fun in the disco." Yesterday, Kelly Bensimon told StyleList "exclusively," of her jewelry line, "The bad thing about Pocahontas is that she's, like, in the kayaks. So I took her out of the kayak and into the disco so she could have a little fun." Conclusions: Nobody reads anymore, and the Internet will eventually eat itself. And Kelly Bensimon still does not apparently realize that Pocahontas lived her entire life without ever meeting any Navajo people, because they lived thousands upon thousands of miles apart. [StyleList]
• Molly Sims now has a jewelry line. (At this point, who doesn't?) [WWD]
• Point the first: We have not heard anything of Nia Long since her immortal turn as Lisa on Fresh Prince, so her inclusion in PETA's ancient "Rather Go Naked" campaign proves the animal rights organization is scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Point the second: We get that Nia Long doesn't much care for the fur, but she seems to have no problem with gasp-inducingly unrealistic media images of women. The Photoshop job on her ad is eye-popping. Point the third: This quote speaks for itself: "There's no difference, in my opinion, [between fur and] slavery or the Holocaust." [DListed]
• Twiggy is releasing an album of pop songs on September 14. [Modelinia]
• Amber Rose posed for a series of racy photos in Complex magazine. She also told the mag: "I always looked up to Slash from Guns N' Roses. I had every single poster of Slash in my room. It was crazy because I grew up in an all-black neighborhood and everybody I went to school with was black. I was the only biracial looking girl in my school, and Slash was biracial too, he was just a fucking rock star. I always wanted to play the guitar. I've tried, but other things came up." [ONTD]
• In yet another high-yield jewelry heist, two armed robbers hit up the Graff store on New Bond St. in London for $65 million worth of baubles. Forty-three items were stolen, and while the suited robbers fired two shots and briefly took a Graff worker hostage, nobody was injured. [NYTimes]
• For reasons unknown, Maybelline has made a calendar. [Fashionista]
• The "moderately priced" designer "bridge" category — home of labels like Tory Burch, Elie Tahari, and Eileen Fisher — is losing one of its biggest players, Ellen Tracy. Starting next spring, the brand is down-shifting to concentrate on lower-priced sportswear, where it'll roll with labels like Lauren by Ralph Lauren and Michael by Michael Kors. [WWD]
• Meanwhile, members-only online sample sale site Gilt today is launching a website where it will host sales of lower-priced lines, called Gilt Fuse. In running Gilt, chief executive Susan Lyne says, "What we discovered was that, one, even though we discount significantly on the brands we carry on Gilt [up to 70 percent], it's still expensive for [our customers]. A $200 or $150 dress is still a big purchase for them." So Gilt Fuse will exert similar discounts on merchandise that was a little cheaper to begin with. Revolutionary concept, really. [NYObs]
• Escada's proposed fund-raising bond exchange has failed because fewer than 80 percent of investors approved it within the given time frame. The company plans to file for bankruptcy this week. [WWD]
• Pakistan's textile industry is suffering because of the twin ills of political instability — even consistent electrical power is not assured — and the global credit crunch. An estimated 200,000 people have lost their jobs in the textiles sector during the past year. [Reuters]
• After cutting $70 million worth of costs from its balance sheet in the first quarter, Liz Claiborne's losses still increased during the second quarter of this year — so a second, $100 million, cost-cutting plan is to be put in place. [WSJ]
• Although the sale of bankrupt men's clothier Hartmarx to Emerisque Brands and SKNL North America has managed to save 2,400 jobs that otherwise might have been lost, three plants which were not part of the sale, finalized last week, are shuttered. About 525 employees at factories in Rock Island, Illinois, Anniston, Alabama, and Hamilton, Ontario have lost their jobs. Hartmarx owns the brands Hart Shaffner Marx and Hickey Freeman. [WWD]

• Barack Obama, after his meeting with Angela Merkel, will visit the ruins of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He will likely not compare our re-purposing of Abu Ghraib to the Russian's post-war re-purposing of Buchenwald for political prisoners. [UPI, Huffington Post]

• Obama is heading to France after that, where he's meeting Michelle and the girls. [MSNBC]
• Perhaps he's going in order to help him forget about the crazy guy from Utah trying to assassinate him. [Huffington Post]
• Or the fact that his Attorney General is having to release a bunch more Alaska Republicans convicted of corruption because the prosecution by Bush's Justice Department was even more corrupt than the politicians. [NY Times]
• One of the other corrupt Republicans prosecuted by Alberto Gonzales' Justice Department, Bob Ney, now has a radio show and wants to see Alberto Gonzales waterboarded...to prove it's not really torture, of course. [ThinkProgress]
• During a week when corrupt former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has his wife eating spiders in Costa Rica with Speidi to pay the bills he once fulfilled through bribery, waterboarding Alberto Gonzales doesn't seem that extreme. [Politico]
• My definition of "extreme" may have been altered by reading this recap and review of Glenn Beck's "comedy" tour. [NY Times]
• Judge Sonia Sotomayor's supporting documentation has been delivered to the Senate early, which won't stop Republicans from claiming they don't have enough time to read it before their summer vacations. [MSNBC]
• Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, having locked up the support of most senior Democrats and killed most primary challenges, now says he doesn't know if he'll vote for Sotomayor. Seriously, dude's starting to seem a little crazy, right? [Politico]
• But, with unemployment in America at nearly 10 percent, the one thing Arlen Specter won't do is quit his job. [NY Times]

• The Justice Department is asking a judge to dismiss the stupid lawsuit trying to prevent Hillary Clinton from serving as Secretary of State because she served in Congress. Clinton is the only former elected official in the Cabinet facing such a lawsuit. [Huffington Post]

• President Obama has voiced his own animatronic robot in Disney's Hall of Presidents; he also gave Disney his real measurements. People are calling the thing, naturally, "Robobama," even though "Robama" is a clearly superior nickname. [NY Times]
• The lifelike animated corpse of the GOP, otherwise known as "Dick Cheney," gave a dick speech about how waterboarding isn't torture and the country is less safe now that we stopped torturing people we think are terrorists into confession. [Washington Post]
• Obama disagrees, thinks Dick Cheney is a dick and that a Supermax prison can probably manage to keep a terrorist from escaping and getting to Iraq to attack our soldiers. [Huffington Post]
• Bush says he likes cleaning up dog shit better than being President. [MSNBC]
• John Kerry doesn't mind Nancy Pelosi accusing the CIA of misleading her, since they did it to him. [Huffington Post]
• The House isn't going to create a bipartisan panel to give Republicans more time on TV to attack Pelosi investigate whether or not the CIA lied to her. [MSNBC]
• Republican Congressman Paul Broun wants to make 2010 the Year of the Bible because 2010 is an election year and he needs to get re-elected despite doing stupid stuff like spending time trying to make 2010 the Year of the Bible. [Politico]
• The RNC thinks that having slavery enshrined in the Constitution was a-okay. Man, they're all really pissed at Michael Steele! [Media Matters]