"George Zimmerman in police custody after 'threatening his estranged wife and her father with a gun.'"

"Shellie Zimmerman called police in Lake Mary at 2pm on Monday, claiming he was brandishing the weapon at a home belonging to her parents, David and Machelle Dean."

She's just filed for divorce:

"I have supported him for so long and neglected myself for too long and I feel like I'm finally starting to feel empowered again."

She is now wanting custody of their dogs - a Rottweiller named Oso and a mixed breed named Leroy - and a share of the money he gets from a lawsuit against NBC....

It was also revealed this week that she is reaping more than $4,000-a-month from his defense fund despite splitting from him weeks after he was cleared.

And here she is last week on TV:

Bristol Palin's ex-paramour Levi Johnston is having a second child, by a girlfriend named Sunny, and he's naming the baby girl after a gun.

A gun and a light wind. The little girl will go forth into life with the name Breeze Beretta, and good luck to the girl who might blow us all away — gently.

The mother's name is Sunny. Sunny Oglesby. So Sunny and Breeze. It makes sense. The "Breeze" is for Sunny, and the gun, one imagines, is for Levi, who, it seems, can't keep his gun in his Levis.

[Oglesby] talked about the accidental nature of the pregnancy.

"We were out at the cabin for like, four days, and forgot the birth control," she said.

A cabin! Man, Bristol got impregnated in a tent. Sunny got a cabin. It's so unfair!

Johnston told Inside Edition that he plans on doing things differently with Oglesby than he did with Bristol Palin, the mother of their son, Tripp.

Well, he's starting out right. Cabin instead of tent.

"I'm actually in love...not doing it just because we had a kid together," he said.

Enough of this doing-something-for-the-child business. Moving on to love. Actual love.

"I've never understood the assumption that if a woman was drunk and doesn't remember giving consent that it must be rape."

Says a commenter named Hamp at the blog JoeMyGod, at a post about Bristol Palin (and what she wrote in her memoir about losing her virginity):

It takes two to tango as it takes two to have sex. And if they're both drunk, if they both made the decision to drink to the point of blackout, then why is only the man at fault? Unless the woman was drugged or forced to drink then both parties are equally responsible. And how does one force another person to drink wine coolers to the point of no return? Did he tie her down and force the drinks down her throat? I doubt it. She's just another person refusing to take responsibility for her own actions. She wasn't raped she just got drunk and made what she now thinks was a bad decision.

JoeMyGod is a prominent blog that has won awards in the politics/LGBT category. I noticed this post because I was getting blog traffic from it after it linked to my post "Did Levi Johnston rape Bristol Palin?" I'm not sure the people over there discussing Bristol's book realize that she did not apply the word "rape" to what happened to her. I did. I looked at her facts, and I introduced the legal concept. Bristol (and her family) did not bring in the police. It seems to me that she took responsibility for her own actions and expressed her sadness over what happened. She did not call it rape. She may have described the facts with the intent that the reader would think what I thought. I only read a short excerpt from her book, so I don't know what her overall intent is. Perhaps she's trying to say: Girls, don't drink yourself into a stupor when you're out in a tent with a boy.

There are comments in that thread like "I just...well....I....Skankity-skank-skank" and "The apple didn't fall far from THAT twisted tree"/".... and the semen doesn't fall far from the oft offered ova." But after Hamp's disquisition on on the mutuality of sexual intercourse, FreudianNips says:

That's just lovely Hamp. Just lovely. I take it you are not a woman? I am, and while I did not consider it rape since I was in a relationship... I can tell you there are not much worse feelings than waking up knowing you've been pounded and not remembering it....

I think most of us are all familiar with the mechanics of both male and female genitalia. Is it a stretch to say that it is maybe more of the man's fault when "blackout sex" occurs, in certain situations (specifically this one if its true)? I mean, he's the one who has to get hard and stick it in her. And let's be real, all a woman ever really has to do is lie there, conscious or not, for sex or rape (BIG DIFFERENCE BTW) to occur....

I don't want to judge anybody or make assumptions, but in my opinion, a lot of men here seem to forget, or perhaps have never realized, the way men can control, manipulate, intimidate and yes, coerce women into doing things they do not want to do or wouldn't normally do. Maybe its because most of you are gay and mostly interact with each other, and maybe its because none of you are scumbags like that, but it is real. It may not be tangible or empircally provable, but many, many women know this. I mean, why do women stay in abusive marriages? ...

It doesn't have to be obvious, or threatening, or even dangerous, but men do this to women, whether they are aware of it or not. Do you know how prevalent, how pandemic, how swept under the rug abuse is, especially sexual abuse? Its fucking everywhere. And I am sick of these circular, apologetic, excuse filled articles and comments, when every damn day another high profile man is accused of, and USUALLY guilty of, crimes involving his fucking dick and putting it where it shouldn't be. And every damn time it happens, women are knocked 10 steps backward and have to try harder, prove harder and defend themselves harder just to stay on track of having a chance one day of being taken seriously. 

God damn I hate the Palins and the energy they have put into this world. 

After that, guess where the conversation goes? To banter about the mechanics of sexual intercourse given the length of Levi's penis and the girth of Bristol's torso.

Did Levi Johnston rape Bristol Palin?

The NY Post reports:

Bristol Palin was so drunk on wine coolers the night she first slept with boyfriend Levi Johnston that she couldn’t recall losing her virginity at the tender age of 15 — and he was nowhere to be found the hazy morning after to refresh her memory.

"Levi wasn’t even there to help me process — or even confirm my greatly feared suspicions," she writes in a new revenge tome disguised as a memoir. "Instead of waking up in his arms, I awakened in a cold tent alone."

I'm reading that as an accusation of rape. She was too drunk to consent or perhaps even passed out?

(The age of consent in Alaska, by the way, is 16, but I am not referring simply to statutory rape.)

From her new book "America by Heart," Sarah Palin denounces the powerful media folk who exploit young people.

Young people who go on "American Idol":

“On American Idol, of course, these self-esteem-enhanced but talent deprived performers eventually learn the truth. After they've embarrassed themselves for the benefit of the producers, they are told in no uncertain terms that they, in fact, can't sing, regardless of what they have been told by others.”

She goes on to argue that someone should tell those without musical talent who audition for “Idol” that they need to work on their ear-piercingly bad voices before trying out for the show. “Instead, a growing chorus of voices is trying to convince our kids that hard work isn't necessary anymore,” Palin writes.

And flawed, naive Levi Johnston:

"Of course, we all had to bite our tongues - more than once - as Tripp's father went on a media tour through Hollywood and New York, spreading untruths and exaggerated rhetoric. It was disgusting to watch as his fifteen minutes of fame were exploited by supposed adults taking advantage of a lost kid. But we knew him well enough to see how confused he was during that time, and our hearts broke for him and the price he would pay."

***

If you're going to buy Sarah's new book, please use this link (and make a cost-free contribution to this blog).

"Alan Simpson Didn't Need to Apologize."

Says Professor Bainbridge, via Instapundit ... and, as you know, I agree.

Well, you know, now, there is a solution for your apology mistakes. Levi Johnston is leading the way. Take back your apology.

IN THE COMMENTS: Meade writes:

Un-apology for Non-apology Tips for Teens of All Ages:

1. Take responsibility for having non-apologized.
2. Acknowledge that, no, you really did mean to insult, hurt, damage the other person.
3. Determine the frivolousness of the offense for which you mistakenly non-apologized.
4. Decide the best time to un-apologize for your non-apology.
5. Choose a method of un-apology.
6. Equivocate with sincere insincerity.
7. Remember this un-apology is about you and your charming dysfunctional non-apology, not the other person.
8. Go beyond "I'm sorry if my non-apology failed to fully offend you," to make the un-apology as personal and humiliating as possible.

Bristol and Levi...

... the reality show.

Levi and Bristol, together at last.

"When he left that night, we didn't hug or kiss, but I was thinking how different it was. He texted me: 'I miss you. I love you. I want to be with you again' ... I was in shock."

What do you think of the reunion of Levi and Bristol?
	Beautiful! Love prevails!
	There's some love, some need to protect each other, and real concern for their child.
	Probably Levi has been paid and promised an easy out after 2012.
	Palin's ravenous ambition has appropriated the lives of the mindless youngsters.
	Decent people turn away and express no opinion on matters of this sort.
pollcode.com free polls

"So is the question of how Palin finally put the screws on Levi."

Andrew Sullivan reacts to Levi Johnston's apology:

In Palinland, no one knows what's really going on. But I wonder if this is a somewhat panicked response to the recent blip upwards in web interest in the Trig question. 

No link on that assertion of blip. I know he's interested in "the Trig question," but really... it's trending upwards?

With all these family members able to speak to the public and McGinniss digging deeper, Todd and Sarah may have felt the need to crack down and use Levi's access to Tripp and Bristol as their latest weapon. [Levi's sister] Mercede has this to say about Levi's latest statement, which reads like a man who has a metaphorical gun to his head....

Sullivan links to Mercede's blog and quotes it at length. If that's too much crazy psychodrama for you, let's watch Levi Johnston with Kathy Griffin on "My Life on the D List":

"I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding."

"I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it. ... I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin's instinct to attack and allow the real parties in this litigation, Bristol and I, to work things out a lot more peacefully than we could if there is any more meddling from Sarah Palin."

And the Alaskan judges agreed with Levi Johnston and opened the proceedings and denied the use of pseudonyms in the custody battle for Tripp Johnston-Palin.

"We sort of have well-placed objects in front of the frontal...There's like hockey sticks, shirts..."

No, those are badly placed objects, Levi. People wanted to see what that thing you call your "frontal" looks like.

I'm worried about Levi Johnston.

He's just a naive kid who got caught up in a whirlwind. He's a teenager who got his girlfriend pregnant, which is hard enough to deal with. Now, he's estranged from his own child; he is massaged, paid, and goaded by clever people who've seen ways they can use him. But now he's cut off from the access to information that made him useful. And the material he's coming up with has become increasingly desperate-sounding, like the fake confessions of a tortured man. What does the boy have left? Yes, there's his genitalia. He's still got that to reveal. There will be the Playgirl spread, but then what? Is there anyone in his life who loves him, who is available to help him? He's surrounded by false friends who will soon have used up everything he had to give. What resources does he have to draw on as his fame spike plummets? We are talking about a boy who is still only 19 years old. God help him.

ADDED: When a publishing company offers me a big advance, I'm going to write a roman à clef about Tripp Johnston. It is a revealing memoir of growing up in his mother's family, where, despite the intense environment surrounding his grandmother Sarah Palin, he felt drawn into the unknown world of his long-lost father, Levi Johnston. (I'll have to change those names.) What became of that wandering soul after he was exiled from the powerful family by the woman who had a chance to become the first female President? "Tripp's Journey" is the gradual discovery of what happened to Levi Johnston after Palin's enemies sucked him dry and left him to his grotesquely inadequate devices. Tripp himself becomes a lost soul, a shell of a man, who must struggle to rebuild his identity. But he is only able to burnish that empty shell into a superficially winning personality. But in that shining surface, America could see itself, much as it had seen itself in Barack Obama, almost half a century earlier. We're reading the new edition of the memoir people found so inspiring. It has a new postscript, in which President Johnston jokes that he should have titled it "Dreams From My Father."

Irving Penn has died, age 92.

A slide-show of his work.

***

In other photography news, finally, we'll get to see Levi Johnston naked. And oh, the humiliation for Sarah Palin!

ADDED: Deafening Silence spotted a fascinating homage to Penn.

Kathy Griffin interviews Levi Johnston.

I'm presenting this here because I love great conversation.

"It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skill."

What the Sarah Palin spokeswoman said in response to Levi Johnston's speculation that Palin quit the governorship because of money.

Snark, indeed. I'm just trying to decide how subtle that snark is.

"Levi Johnston, the kid who knocked up Bristol Palin and will now be forced to marry her, will attend the RNC tonight."

That's how Gawker puts it.

I just had a nightmare vision -- this election season has me continually scribbling a fictionalized screenplay in my head -- of a plot to woo that handsome guy away from Bristol Palin.

Here's the picture of the young man who suddenly has the whole world looking at him:



How is an 18-year-old guy supposed to handle all of this? He could be the main character in one of the ten romans à clef that could be written about this vividly populated election season.

New York Magazine has a piece titled "We’re Sorry, But Palin Baby Daddy Levi Johnston Is Sex on Skates." Doesn't that sound like an open call to female Obama supporters?

Note the caption at that last link.

Funny. But shameless. But he's 18. So... "fair game," right?