Open thread - Saturday

I found a couple of old cards that were given to me over thirty years ago. They're still very fresh in their gentle humour.

*****

Recent bits and pieces about Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin is still doing her job of bashing president Obama on Fox News. Now her broadcasts have moved to the great outdoors and the chosen location has a landscaped garden, complete with a pretty artificial lake in the background. She's always animated when she mentions the president and in the new setting her hair is animated as well.



In her latest appearance there was a lot of blinking and lip licking.



Jason Easley commented on this recent round of Obama bashing on politicususa:

What Palin was insinuating with her little free and fair elections remark was that 2008 was not a fair election. Sarah Palin believes that the election was stolen from her by Barack Obama and his foreign money.


Inevitably, the other topic of interest is Babygate. David Wegel claimed that he contacted Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and obtained confirmation that Sarah Palin gave birth there, proving that all Trig Truthers are deranged and obsessed with with their theories about the pregnancy hoax. Does Weigel actually believe that all the bloggers who have been writing about this didn't think of phoning the hospital in the course of their investigations? After nearly three years he was the first person to get an answer out of them? How odd...

Of course Andrew Sullivan didn't fall for it and Phil Munger offered some local information that makes Weigel's claims look ridiculous.

Some bloggers are still intent in proving that Sarah Palin didn't give birth to Trig. It appears to be quite a difficult task and gives Sarah Palin an advantage: Until they actually prove something by producing cast iron evidence, she can chose to ignore their challenges urging her to prove otherwise.

Others have chosen to focus on the Wild Ride and use Sarah Palin's own statements about her labour and delivery of Trig to question her judgement.

Laura Novak interviewed a neonatal specialist and his answers were very interesting.

Delivering in small hospital without NICU:
For a full term baby with no known problems, this is fine because most babies and mothers do well. The equipment and personnel to resuscitate a baby would be there and the baby could be stabilized and transported to hospital with a higher level of care. However, when there are known problems with the baby, it makes no sense to take unnecessary risks that the baby will need immediate intervention that cannot be provided in community hospital.

Sally and Chuck Heath pose with Trig in one of the rooms
of a delivery suite at the local community hospital
a few hours after his premature arrival

Despite the happy outcome, the wild ride puts Sarah Palin on more dangerous ground than challenging the whole pregnancy. She has mentioned "Trig Truthers" in some of her speeches, but has never addressed the "Wild Ride Skeptics."

Sarah Palin is going to make a speech on May 3, addressing a crowd connected to special needs. I doubt that she will refer to her brave and selfless journey from Dallas to the Valley, when she took all necessary steps to ensure Trig's safe arrival...

Open thread - Friday

OK, this is the third and last royal post. Some people missed the earlier festivities, so here's a recap, with an emphasis on hats.

The dress

The kiss


ROYAL HATS

The Queen

Princess Anne

Camilla

Zarah Phillips, princess Anne's daughter, with Mike Tindall

Beatrice, Fergie's daughter

Eugenie and sister Beatrice

Sophie, prince Edward's wife


FRIENDLY HATS

Chelsy Davy, prince Harry's girlfriend

Tara Palmer-Tompkinson, an old friend of prince Charles

Prince Albert of Monaco with fiancee

Spanish royals


GOVERNMENT HATS

Wife of Speaker of the House of Commons,
Twitterer extraordinaire

The Camerons

The Cleggs

The Millibands


FAMOUS HATS

Joss Stone

Elton John (no hat, just a rug) with David Furnish

The Beckhams

Victoria Beckham's shoes
(Looks painful!)


ASSORTED HATS

THE CROWD WORE HATS TOO

Finally, I'll leave you a taste of the wedding reception:

The Queen is giving a lunchtime Reception at Buckingham Palace for around 650 guests drawn from the Wedding Service congregation, representing the Couple’s official and private lives.

Guests will be served a selection of canapés, including:

Savoury

- Cornish Crab Salad on Lemon Blini
- Pressed Duck Terrine with Fruit Chutney
- Roulade of Goats Cheese with Caramelised Walnuts
- Assortment of Palmiers and Cheese Straws
- Scottish Smoked Salmon Rose on Beetroot Blini
- Miniature Watercress and Asparagus Tart
- Poached Asparagus spears with Hollandaise Sauce for Dipping
- Quails Eggs with Celery Salt
- Scottish Langoustines with Lemon Mayonnaise
- Pressed Confit of Pork Belly with Crayfish and Crackling
- Wild Mushroom and Celeriac Chausson
- Bubble and Squeak with Confit Shoulder of Lamb
- Grain Mustard and honey-glazed Chipolatas
- Smoked Haddock Fishcake with Pea Guacamole
- Miniature Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Fillet of Beef and Horseradish Mousse

The sweet stuff

- Gateau Opera
- Blood Orange Pate de Fruit
- Raspberry Financier
- Rhubarb Crème Brulee Tartlet
- Passion Fruit Praline
- White Chocolate Ganache Truffle
- Milk Chocolate Praline with Nuts
- Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffle

So, bubble & squeak was on the menu after all, but no spotted dick...

We have a little game going: How your invitation to the wedding would have been addressed. To find out your royal name, follow these steps:

Lady - name of one of your grandmothers - name of your first pet - name of the first street where you lived. [Of course, the guys should use male equivalents and add it to Lord]

I'm Lady Josephine Fox of Brussels and Peter is Lord Rupert Lucy of Larkhall.

Pomp and Ceremony

Even though I'm not a monarchist (far from it), it's been impossible to escape the royal wedding. Well, in the past couple of weeks American politics has descended into a circus, without the bread...

At least the Brits put on a jolly good show. It's good old bread and circus, with all the bells and whistles, but very dignified and well rehearsed.

I've been trying to imagine what the Palins would look like if they had been invited to the wedding.



**Shudder**

Treat this as an open thread, I'll try to resume normal business tomorrow.

Open thread - Thursday

I'm already suffering from Royal Wedding fatigue... We can't switch on the television without being bombarded with silly programs about the latest royal romance.

But hey, let's have a look at past royal weddings and compare the images. Here's a historical trip down memory lane:

Victoria & Albert

George VI & Elizabeth, Queen Mother

Elizabeth & Philip

Tony Armstrong-Jones & Margaret

Mark Phillips & Anne

Diana & Charles

Sarah & Andrew

Edward & Sophie

Our invitation has arrived and we're looking forward to this grand occasion, aren't we?

OK, so we won't be able to attend, but we'll watch it on the television, along with another couple of billion people or so.