Posts by Jolisa
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This is worth a look. CNN's Campbell Brown pressing one of McCain's aides on Palin's foreign policy experience.
"Can you just tell me one decision she made as Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard?"
"Tell me, give me an example of just one of those decisions."
"I just want one example."
(Spoiler: he can't come up with one)
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Sigh. No, I'm not kidding, I wouldn't kid about anything as serious as calendars and their quirks. Srsly.
Look at any pregnancy book: the "first month" is sometimes defined as 4, sometimes six weeks. And every "month" thereafter is 4 weeks long. The "fifth month of pregnancy" is not necessarily the same as "five months pregnant," and nor does either of those necessarily mean "five months by the calendar."
I'm not an idiot. It's jargon.
And it is for this (very confusing) reason that pregnancies are conventionally delineated in weeks. Anything else makes conspiracy theorists get all excited about things that are unlikely but just plausible enough to get them hot under the collar. That's all. No need for the strong language - I'm a delicate creature.
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Not Orwellian, just Gregorian vs Lunar. 10 lunar months. 9 calendar months + a week. Whatever, it's fungible enough for the purposes of the conspiracy theory.
Which I would like to see derailed asap by a detailed (and easily supplied) rebuttal from Palin and co. In the meantime, I remain curious. As our Dear Leader so eloquently put it, "Fool me once, uh [shrug] shame on you... uh... Fool me ...You can't get fooled again."
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she'll deliver at ten, or even ten and a half months, and nobody will find that odd
Um, but 40 weeks does = 10 months, and "about five months" is not a particularly precise number. I'll happily wait for Palin's medical records to clear everything up. And then I'll look forward to her statement about the unwiseness of flying while in pre-term labour.
Meanwhile, there are plenty of other things to talk about. Carry on.
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If Bristol is five months pregnant,
Well, yes, "if." It might be the truth, but we only have their word for it, which is worth the paper it's written on at this point. And the 16 weeks thing was in reference to the incredbly muddy dating of pregnancies, whereby the "fifth month" can be said to start at 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Look, I don't want the conspiracy version to be true - if for no other reason than it would be a miserable thing for Bristol to live through. But I wouldn't mind some straight -- and quick -- answers on the oddities of Palin's own birth story, her approaches to the Alaskan media to deny rumours about her daughter's pregnancy, and the current mad scramble to disappear all official pictures of Bristol and her mother from last winter. If this woman is going to be in charge of the Ministry of Truth, it would be nice to see her qualifications.
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So why splash it as appalling innuendo over the web? When it's SUCH a personal smear that extends beyond the candidate to her teenage daughter and handicapped son, you should be treading a hell of a lot more carefully.
But what is the smear here? That Gov Palin covered up her teen daughter's pregnancy until oblige to discuss it? That's not a smear, it's true, and by some lights entirely understandable. Or is the smear that Gov Palin (and this is the conspiracy version) went through an elaborate charade to cover up an earlier pregnancy of the same daughter earlier this year? Nobody knows -- it's wild speculation -- but it's not a smear on Bristol or Trig, rather, on Palin herself.
Of course, given that Palin's medical records will be released in due course as part of the disclosure that goes along with running for high office, sooner or later all will become clear. And she could choose to hurry up this process if she wanted to clear things up and make life easier for Bristol, who was dragged into her current conspicuous position by her mother and no other.
I understand your feeling of distaste. But I honestly don't think it's a (thought)crime to observe the passing parade and wonder whether this particular empress might not be wearing clothes, and may also have neglected to dress her children, who should thus be removed from the float forthwith for their own sake.
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A guy I know named all his kids after his favourite Arsenal team - even the girls!
Oh dear, that reminds me of the old joke that ends "And the Arsenal fan said "I'm not hungry.""
But seriously, he named them after the team or after the players? I mean, there are only so many variations. Arsenella. Arsenio. Arsette. Arsole...
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My mother-in-law named two of her children Bristol and, erm, Summit.
It wasn't Summat, was it? As in "So what'll I put on the birth certificate then, chook?" "Oof, just write summat and we'll fix it later..."
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Haha!
I'm pretty sure* she's planning to run again, although her perceived age may be a problem
Or then again, after this weekend's palaver, the electorate might be inclined to prefer a post-menopausal woman. Sadly. But good news for older women. (Searching mental file cabinet for whomever it was that said the world really should be run by grannies -- Gerda Lerner? Ursula K. Le Guin? -- Shall we give it a try once young Barack has had his turn?)
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What are the others called?
Willow, Piper, and Track. I feel bad now, given Bristol's moment in the spotlight, that I joked about how her name wouldn't translate very well in the UK (they might as well have called her Hooter).
I still think they're pretty groovy names, actually. There are so many great nouns that should be names. Hedge. Siphon. Lamp. Scoop. Collar. Lovely, euphonious monikers, all of them.