Women Making Today's News

Maureen Dowd
Kathleen Parker
Tina Brown
Camille Paglia

Today Sonia Sotomayor was welcomed in a reception at the White House in her honor. It's still pretty amazing that she has made it to the Supreme Court...

The trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is over, the judge gave her a three year sentence in prison, then paused dramatically before commuting it to 18 months of house arrest, pretty much the way she has lived for the past 20 years. It was a sham trial, about the same as what is taking place in Iran,patently obvious that it was rigged to keep her tucked away until after the fake elections that will be held later on. International reaction shows how pissed everyone is, as reported in the Christian Science Monitor: "The outcome of this trial has never been in doubt. The real question is how the international community will react," said Jared Genser, a US lawyer and counsel to Suu Kyi, in a statement issued in Washington.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was "saddened and angered" by the verdict, the BBC reported. The Obama administration has previously dismissed the trial as a sham. French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the sentence "brutal and unjust."

Sweden, in a statement issued on behalf of the European Union, of which it is president, stated that the EU would consider "additional targeted measures against those responsible for the verdict" and was ready to tighten existing measures, including financial sanctions." We need to find someone that can act upon the burmese generals like Bill Clinton did with North Korea. If it will just be a futile effort, let's send John Bolton or Karl Rove, someone who's dispensable and we won't mind if they end up spending seven years in a foreign prison like John Yettaw, who dreamed that Ms Kyi was in danger and swam across a friggin' lake to pay her a visit...

While the Fed is proclaiming that the economy is stabilizing, the most honest woman in America, Elizabeth Warren issued a warning about the toxic assets that are still on the bank's books, from the Huffington Post: "Warren, who's been leading the call of late to

reconcile the shoddy assets weighing down the bank sector, warned of a looming commercial mortgage crisis. And even though Wall Street has steadied itself in recent weeks, smaller banks will likely need more aid, Warren said. Roughly half of the $700 billion bailout, Warren added, was "don't ask, don't tell money. We didn't ask how they were going to spend it, and they didn't tell how they were going to spend it."

She also took a passing shot at Tim Geithner - at one point, comparing Geithner's handling of the bailout money to a certain style of casino gambling. Geithner, she said, was throwing smaller portions of bailout money at several economic pressure points.

"He's doing the sort of $2 bets all over the table in Vegas," Warren joked." This is another warning over the impending collapse of the commercial real estate market I mentioned yesterday. Unfortunately, this will have global ramifications, especially in Britain and Europe, ouch...

Sarah Palin may have left office in Alaska, but she also left many unresolved problems behind, mostly ethics complaints against her: "A host of ethics issues tied to her term as go

vernor remain unresolved. They range from proposed changes to the state’s ethics laws to gifts to Ms. Palin piling up in her garage, still unreported to the Alaska Public Office Commission...Most Alaska politicians are not likely to face so many complaints because they lack Palin’s penchant for blurring personal and official business, says Don Mitchell, an attorney representing local activist Andree Mcleod, a one-time Palin fan who has filed a pair of lawsuits against her for discussing state business on a private e-mail account.

Citing the ex-governor’s past actions such as making the state pay for her children’s travel and appointing high-school friends to high government posts, he says, “That kind of stuff, particularly when you look at it collectively, I think it’s idiosyncratic to Sarah’s sort of clueless narcissism.” She also has a garage full of gifts that came in the mail and remain piled up and unopened. They need to be sifted through and reported to the state, who is giving her extra time to do so. The current attorney general, appointed by Palin, is hoping to amend the ethics law that will allow him to toss most of the charges against her. In the meantime, she will be spending a lot of time in court because she kept making stuff up and people hope to bust her. Instead of creating a national figure out of herself, she might end up spending some time in the slammer. Her husband might, too, so it may be left to Bristol to raise the kids for awhile...

Michelle Bachmann once described such groups created by the Obama administration, such as Teach for America, as re-education camps. So, of course, her son has up and joined Teach for America. No news if it has taught her a lesson or not...

Ben Smith reported in his column for Politico on Orly Taitz, who is much crazier than Sarah and Michelle combined. She is the nominal head of the birther movement, and has many other dire warnings about Obama and his cronies that she recently tried to get the state of Kentucky to investigate: "Goldman Sachs runs the treasury...Obama is a puppet... There's a cemetery somewhere in Arizona where they just dug 30,000 fresh graves, which wait now for the revolution... Baxter International — a major Obama contributor — developed a vaccine for bird flu that actually kills people... Google Congressman Alcee Hastings and House Bill 684 and you'll see that they're planning at least six civilian labor camps... Google an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about train cars with shackles... The communist dictator Hugo Chavez way back in 2004 purchased the Sequoia software that runs our voting machines and the mainstream media won't report any of it — not even Fox because Saudi Arabia bought a percentage of Fox in 2007." I think the last charge might have a ring of truth to it, let's check to see who else besides Rupert has a stake in Fox News...

late night jokes:

"President Obama met with the leaders of Mexico and Canada. Obama said he'd work with Mexico to solve the immigration problem, and he'd work with Canada to solve the Celine Dion problem." --Conan O'Brien

"No, earlier today, President Obama met with the Mexican president, Felipe Calderon, and they discussed the immigration problem. They met at the Mexican president's home, which, by the way, is now in Los Angeles." --Conan O'Brien

"Former President Clinton, of course, in the news a lot lately. Yesterday, former President Clinton gave a speech to a group from Haiti, and he urged them not to give up hope. Clinton said, 'Things can start to look bleak, and then, all of the sudden, you're on an airplane with two hot Asian chicks.'" --Conan O'Brien

"Now that Sonia Sotomayor has joined the Supreme Court, one third of the justices are now from New York City. This explains why the customary opening of a court session has changed from 'All rise' to 'Hey, I'm judging over here!'" --Conan O'Brien

"A lot of news this weekend. Sonia Sotomayor was sworn in as the 111th Supreme Court justice and only the third female in history. This is great. Now, Ruth Bader Ginsburg will finally have a yoga buddy." --Jimmy Fallon

"President Obama is in Guadalajara, Mexico, for his first North American Leaders Summit. Very exciting. After that, he's expected to hold his first Imodium AD Summit." --Jimmy Fallon

"During his weekly radio address, Obama said we've finally begun to put the brakes on this recession, which is good news. Unfortunately, the brakes were built by General Motors." --Jimmy Fallon

"And here's some optimistic news. Kim Jong-Il now says he wants to hold face-to-face talks with the United States. Now all North Korea needs is a big enough stepladder." --Jimmy Fallon

"Regis Philbin's back in primetime, hosting 11 new episodes of 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.' But because of Obama's tax plan, it's been re-titled 'Who Wants To Win Just Under $250,000.'" --Jimmy Fallon

"These are troubled times, and we need a hero, someone unencumbered by politics as usual. Someone who could kill a moose with one hand and skin a bear with the other. Someone without a job. ... Yes! Like a ship slowly appearing over the horizon to an island of castaways, Sarah Palin has arrived with fresh food, clothing and that little box she keeps next to her bed filled with crazy." --Jon Stewart, on Palin accusing Obama of trying to create "death panels" that will kill her baby

"Sarah Palin exposed the shocking truth about Obama's health care plan, saying that the America she knows is not one where her loved ones will 'have to stand in front of Obama's death panel so his bureaucrats can decide ... whether they are worthy of health care.' Bravo, Ms. Palin! That is the most powerful message you've written by throwing a handful of magnetic poetry against the fridge." --Stephen Colbert