One big problem with the way this was handled is that it was the McCain campaign that outed Palin's daughter. The rumors of Governor Palin's non-pregnancy could have been easily dispelled with a birth certificate, a 5-minute interview with her doctor, a forceful statement from her husband, and the statements of individuals who saw her pregnant and saw the delivery.

Instead, McCain and Palin chose to make Bristol Palin's personal issue a public one when they didn't have to. Even if they did feel they "had to" for the sake of the campaign, it's still a personal issue and they shouldn't have exposed it to the national media.

A cynical take on this is that McCain, and Bristol's own mother, used the "liberal bloggers" as scapegoats so they could get this personal news out now, as there would have been much more risk that the news would get out in October when Bristol is around seven months pregnant (and maybe married).

We're used to seeing political hypocrisy, but the eagerness of McCain, and Bristol's own mother, to throw her to the the national media while blaming others takes the breath away.

McCain/Palin could have used a dozen method of showing that Gov. Palin was the baby's mother (DNA test, birth certificate, statements from doctors and friends, pictures taken of Bristol when she was supposed to have been pregnant, etc). Instead, they choose to throw Bristol Palin into the spotlight as a way to protect Gov. Palin's street cred with the pro-life crowd.

The point was not that the child wasn't Gov. Palin's. The point was that she took a real-life, pro-life stand, putting her money where her mouth was. They couldn't risk that credibility being undermined by the possibility that it was her daughter who made the decision.

This ugly, sanctimonious, and expedient choice by McCain and Bristol's mother places a greater burden on Bristol than would keeping it quiet as long as possible. But they couldn't afford to risk an October Surprise, when Bristol will be 7 or 8 months pregnant and perhaps married under suspicious circumstances. Instead, they use the opportunity to blame the "liberal bloggers" for exposing Bristol's pregnancy.

It was their own cynicism, or perhaps their own incompetence in selecting a different way of proving the maternity of Gov. Palin's child, that violated Bristol's privacy. The fawning media should be pointing that out instead of talking about how brave the McCain/Palin campaign is.

My wife and I did the fast-forward DVR cringe through most of the awful stage acts. Even the Best Original Song was muddled and confusing, and the Beyonce/Jackman number was unintelligible.

I almost wept hearing those previous Oscar winners honor the current nominees. It was hard to watch those great performers mouth hyperbole about performances that weren't even shown. An odd sophomoric gravitas. Why not spend those precious minutes showing us some of the actual performances that were being honored?

Why no special honor for Paul Newman? Why wasn't Heath Ledger shown on the list of people who died in the last year? Very odd.

Most of the short comedy routines worked, at least. Jackman can't be blamed for having a good agent - he did as good a job as one could expect from good performer who isn't a comic. But as a whole it was odd, uncomfortable, and even more self-absorbed than usual.

The fire has also been a serious threat to the 100 year old Mt. Wilson Observatory. Current blog postings have the latest at http://joy.chara.gsu.edu/CHARA/fire.php (a secondary site as it appears Mt. Wilson's servers aren't working).

You can also see dramatic webcam images at http://www.mtwilson.edu/fire.php, or more likely at the mirror site at http://avtanski.com/towercam/. It looks bad.