I'm not a Palin fan, but I have to tell myself that if I want this kind of thing to stop, I can't pick and choose which sexist comments I will be offended by based on whether I like or dislike, support or don't support, the people involved.

As for Paris Hilton, there is a perfect example of why it should not have mattered that Bristol Palin is over 18 - because so is Paris.  Why was there no outcry over Conan's "joke?"  All I can figure is that Paris ignored it, so everyone else did, too.

Women need to stand up for themselves.  Crassly insulting one of us insults all of us.  Going after someone's daughters, I don't care if they're 14 or 18, is wrong.

All politicians "parade" their children.  Unfortunately only some of the children face the harassment.  Children should be off-limits -- period.  18 isn't even drinking age.  Bristol is just a kid.  Bristol had a baby.  That baby was made public.  Had the baby been kept secret, Palin would have been criticized for keeping her secret.

I don't like Palin's policies, but I'm glad she did what she did...and I'm glad that Letterman -- facing the Tuesday protest -- apologized.

"In an interview with Fox News, Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter, 18-year-old Bristol Palin -- remember Bristol Palin, who had the baby? Well, she talked in the interview. She said, 'A year ago, I never would have thought I would become a mom or that my mom was going to be chosen to be a vice presidential candidate.' Oddly enough, both things happened because some guy failed to take the proper precautions." --Jay Leno

"It's true, John McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has revealed that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. Palin said, 'We should never have introduced her to John Edwards.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box." --Conan O'Brien

President Obama swept to office on the promise of a new kind of politics, but then how do you explain last week's dismissal of federal Inspector General Gerald Walpin for the crime of trying to protect taxpayer dollars? This is a case that smells of political favoritism and Chicago rules.

A George W. Bush appointee, Mr. Walpin has since 2007 been the inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that oversees such subsidized volunteer programs as AmeriCorps. In April 2008 the Corporation asked Mr. Walpin to investigate reports of irregularities at St. HOPE, a California nonprofit run by former NBA star and Obama supporter Kevin Johnson. St. HOPE had received an $850,000 AmeriCorps grant, which was supposed to go for three purposes: tutoring for Sacramento-area students; the redevelopment of several buildings; and theater and art programs.

Mr. Walpin's investigators discovered that the money had been used instead to pad staff salaries, meddle politically in a school-board election, and have AmeriCorps members perform personal services for Mr. Johnson, including washing his car.

SNIP

We've long disliked the position of inspectors general, on grounds that they are creatures of Congress designed to torment the executive. Yet this case appears to be one in which an IG was fired because he criticized a favorite Congressional and executive project (AmeriCorps), and refused to bend to political pressure to let the Sacramento mayor have his stimulus dollars.

There's also the question of how Mr. Walpin was terminated. He says the phone call came from Norman Eisen, the Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, who said the President felt it was time for Mr. Walpin to "move on," and that it was "pure coincidence" he was asked to leave during the St. HOPE controversy. Yet the Administration has already had to walk back that claim.

That's because last year Congress passed the Inspectors General Reform Act, which requires the President to give Congress 30 days notice, plus a reason, before firing an inspector general. A co-sponsor of that bill was none other than Senator Obama. Having failed to pressure Mr. Walpin into resigning (which in itself might violate the law), the Administration was forced to say he'd be terminated in 30 days, and to tell Congress its reasons

SNIP

Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley, a co-sponsor of the IG Reform Act, is now demanding that the Corporation hand over its communications on this mess. He also wants to see any contact with the office of First Lady Michelle Obama, who has taken a particular interest in AmeriCorps, and whose former chief of staff, Jackie Norris, recently arrived at the Corporation as a "senior adviser."

The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

Now having said all that, both jokes are out of bounds.

One of my cats became desperately ill over the last couple of days and is now in the hospital with a very tentative diagnosis of toxoplasmosis until the test results come in sometime tomorrow.

She was increasingly uncomfortable and out of sorts for a couple of days, then this morning was unable to walk and in very great distress.  She hasn't deteriorated further today so far in the hospital, has eaten well and is showing a bit of spunk, but can't stand on her legs and is still one very sick kitty. She doesn't have the full range of classic symptoms, which usually include loss of appetite, but TP is still the best fit of the things my vet can come up with for what's wrong.

She says if it is TP, it's definitely treatable, but that she may not completely recover from the neurologic problems.