Yukon Sadie a chump?

I have my issues with Matt Taibbi, but continue to read him because he is often right. A recent bit of trenchant analysis:

[Sarah Palin] is the country’s first WWE politician — a cartoon combatant who inspires stadiums full of frustrated middle American followers who will cheer for her against whichever villain they trot out, be it Newsweek, Barack Obama, Katie Couric, Steve Schmidt, the Mad Russian, Randy Orton or whoever. Her followers will not know that she is the perfect patsy for our system, designed as it is to channel popular anger in any direction but a useful one, and to keep the public tied up endlessly in pointless media melees over meaningless nonsense (melees of the sort that develop organically around Palin everywhere she goes). Like George W. Bush, even Palin herself doesn’t know this, another reason she’s such a perfect political tool.

Sarah Palin, WWE Star - True/Slant

[Via Andrew Sullivan.]

Meet Jim Simpson, knitting POW

A WWII pilot in the Australian Air Force, Simpson was held in a German prison camp for 19 months. He had grown up in the bush country, where his mother taught her young son to knit. In prison, between interrogations, he used needles made from pot handles and recycled wool from deloused sweaters to knit this blanket. He did it in six weeks.

Balls of yarn go well with those balls of iron, sez I. Well done, Jim.

[Via Craftivism.]

PR salutes the Polaris Project

In connection with the horrific Shaniya Davis case, CNN.com has posted a report on children sold into prostitution. The reporter gets much of his information via the Polaris Project, an organization that combats human trafficking of all kinds. It's headed up by Dr. Mark Lagon, whom I have been proud to call my friend for more than two decades now.

Lagon, formerly the State Department's director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said it's a tough fight because there is a dearth of "good statistics" on human trafficking and it's not a crime in which victims readily come forward.

But the news is replete with reports on major rings being busted. The FBI did not return messages to discuss human trafficking, but news releases from the agency's Innocence Lost initiative show that in the past 18 months, four stings -- dubbed Operations Cross Country I, II, III and IV -- have yielded about 2,300 arrests and the recovery of about 170 children.

"We may not be able to return their innocence, but we can remove them from this cycle of abuse and violence," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a statement after a February bust.

You're a good man, Mark, and a shining example. Thank you.

Expert: Child traffickers target runaways, "throwaways" — CNN.com

Speaking of truth-telling...

An interesting exchange from the Political Animal blog:

One person posits Al Franken's comedy experience will make him a particularly good senator.

Someone else responds with a thought-provoking observation about trust.

Department of Awkward Juxtapositions