Should journalists have to pass an exam equivalent to the legal bar, and be held to ethical standards? If they breach their code of professional conduct, should they be dis-barred? This strikes me as a wonderful way to return some level of honesty to the profession, as consumers would merely have to look for a short professional acronym appended to the name on a column's byline. How's Journalist With Integrity, or JWI feel?

Try it on for size:

Glenn Greenwald, JWI

Aside from speculation about a particular baby, none of the whirlwind of research I saw over Labor Day weekend has turned out to be untrue. I know it must be overwhelming to consider, but the laundry list against Palin, on a purely functional level, goes something like this:

1) hiring a lobbyist for the first time to represent a town of 6000 in Washington to bring home the pork

2) firing all existing high level city employees because they might be loyal to the previous mayor, experience or job performance be-damned.

3) cutting progressive taxes (parcel, etc.)

4) raising regressive taxes (sales tax), and overall increasing taxation

5) starting infrastructure projects for her $20 million vanity hockey rink before securing the land for it, leading to a developer snapping up the land and suing the city when he forced them to use eminent domain. The legal fight continues, with nearly $400,000 in legal fees to Wasilla last year alone

6) leaving her city tens of millions of dollars in debt

7) generally being such a fuck up that she was forced to hire a city administrator, to help run the gigantic metropolis of perhaps 7000 souls by that time (most other cities of a similar size have a part-time mayor and no city administrator)

8) serving in corrupt senator Stevens' incubator for young female politicians when her first statewide race failed

As governor:

9) requested the most pork per capita of any state

10) campaigning in support of the "bridge to nowhere" which in fact was a bridge to the airport of the metropolis of Ketchikan, population 7600. Not exactly nowhere, but not by any stretch an efficient application of development funding

11) "firing" the chef assigned to the governor's mansion, while really just playing musical chairs and reassigning him or her to a position with a new name but potentially the same function

12) abusing travel per diems and charging the state for travel food and housing for 312 days when she was actually at home in Wasilla

13) abusing her power and intimidating state employees who refused to perform venal firings

14) lying about selling the jet on Ebay (it didn't sell, then they hired a plane broker who sold it at a loss)

15) lying about the bridge to nowhere--she supported it, she kept the federal funds for other transportation projects, and the road to the bridge to nowhere is under construction as I type

16) ... I'm tired of this list. Most of this appeared on liberal blogs over Labor Day Weekend.

Oh, and about those technical difficulties during her speech--they were reported first on Fox News. Other journalists with more integrity and better attention to their surroundings actually watched the teleprompter during the speech and didn't notice any problems. I think you fell pray to an effort by the McCain campaign to first lower the expectations for the speech and then pump up the delivery to be something greater than it was.

Really...this screed is not worth reading. Paglia, have you no intellectual honesty? You say you're curious about the birth certificate and Ayers, and say there's been doubt raised in your head, but you provide no shred of reality-based evidence to explain why your brain is swimming in a right-wing-induced coma.

Hopefully Salon.com's traffic tracking statistics will notice I didn't bother to click through to the second page or your ridiculous article. No self-aware conclusion could justify the first half's idiotic unfounded assertions. Next time I won't even click through to the first page.

As someone who saw you (Paglia) speak in person a few years back at the public library in the Haight-Ashbury, I was electrified by your speech about reaching out to the persuadable Americans of faith who legitimately want to do right by the world; I'm gratified to see that Obama managed to get the votes of some well-intentioned Evangelicals, and I give you credit for seeing the opportunity before most of the rest of our country's taste-makers. But as prescient as you were then, I'm convinced you're now horrifically mis-calibrated and out to lunch. Wet panties for Palin indeed.

I recently heard an interview with Cherie Blair on the radio about balancing her career with her obligations as a first lady. Her recent book might provide a useful counterpoint for the author of this article; Mrs. Blair managed to continue part-time legal work even as she raised their children and fulfilled obligations to the State as a first lady. It didn't always go smoothly, but she managed to make it work.

Make no mistake: there are obligations Michelle Obama is expected to fulfill as a ceremonial complement to her husband. A full time career on the side is not an option. She could, however, probably manage part-time work outside the White House. As to whether there should be equal division of child-rearing labor, I'm of the opinion that being president of the USA is a job that requires more than 40 hours a week of flex-time. For all intents and purposes, he works for the American people, and we expect him to work his butt off night and day. Thankfully, Michelle seems like a very capable mother and we can put those demands on her husband without worrying that their children will be neglected.