I'm Going to Try to Do This Dispassionately....

There are a few topics running around right now that do nothing less than boil my Viking-blood. But I will try, try to remain calm.

Oh, who am I fooling?

The first has to do with this matter of "banned" bloggers from the Wasilla book-signing event. Have I mentioned lately that I hate the media?

This article in Gawker (I know, I know, it's Gawker) is soul-stirring to say the least. By the article, you would think that Gryphen and Zaki were merely critical of Governor Palin. That they merely disagreed with her on a few issues. What an injustice and an overreaction that they were banned!

There is no mention that Dennis Zaki has been trashing Palin relentlessly in the most ridiculous and flat-out false way for the past year, including his assertion that Governor Palin plagiarized Newt Gingrich after she cited Newt twice in a speech.

The worst part though is that Zaki put links on the front page of his website to gutter-trash places like Gryphen's Immoral Minority. Gryphen has spewed the most outlandish assertions, including (but certainly not limited to) the idea that Trig is not Sarah Palin's son, that Track only joined the army to stay out of jail, that Levi is the salt of the earth and everything that has happened to him is solely Sarah Palin's fault, and Gryphen was the guy who "broke" the story that Todd and Sarah were "Splitsville," a story he pledged was not a rumor, but fact.

That Splitsville story made the headlines on Zaki's website. From there it could spread into the mass media, and it would have if the Palins hadn't adamantly denied the story right away.

But you will hear none of that from the media. The fact that Gryphen is 100% certain that Trig did not come from Sarah Palin's loins (and who knows where Tripp came from) will never enter the conversation.

It would be like President Obama meeting Glenn Beck, if Glenn Beck also spent 75% of his time saying that Barack and Michelle were on the brink of divorce, that Michelle secretly hated her children, and that one (if not both!) of the girls were not actually Barack's.

I certainly wouldn't begrudge the President having a problem with shaking Glenn Beck's hand, even as Glenn Beck currently stands.

It's just disgusting. The more I live in this world, the more I loathe it. It's like that one guy in Psalms who said, "Why do the wicked prosper?"

I guess in this case the question is, "Why do the wicked always seem to get away with it and the good guys can't catch a break?"

Anyway....next topic.

I really am going to try and not be agitated on this one. The one and (hopefully) the only, Levi Johnston.

As you know, Bristol is suing Levi for full legal custody of Tripp, but she also wants Levi to have access to her son via a visitation schedule. She argues that Levi has been largely absent from Tripp's life, that he hadn't paid a dime in child support until this last October, and that Levi is in no position to share custody of Tripp at this time.

She also wants it in writing that Levi's mother can only watch Tripp with supervision. Levi essentially agreed that his mother wouldn't be with Tripp alone, but I doubt he'll go for anything in writing.

I'm going to be honest, Bristol's got an uphill battle ahead of her. It's not easy to convince a judge to grant sole legal custody, and Alaska law is tricky on this. If I were you, I would pray hard.

My personal belief (and this is as far away from my personal feelings as I can get) is that Levi needs to get his GED and get a real job with a real source of income before he should be granted joint custody. I would be in favor of giving Bristol custody for now with the stipulation that the case must be revisited in maybe three years. If at that time Levi can produce evidence that a high school equivalency has been aquired and that he has a job and a stable life, then go ahead and grant joint custody.

I could go into a rant about how I think Levi's a Douchebag, but that's not relevant. I honestly, honestly don't think he's ready yet. Give him another couple years, and then he might be.

My heart bleeds for what Bristol must have had to sit through this last year, having to remain a class act while her ex-boyfriend goes out and trashes the family, the very family that is looking after his son. She doesn't have the forum to say what she thinks about the situation like he does. It kills me to think of Levi essentially being rewarded for his scumbaggery, but sometimes that's the way life is. We'll just have to wait and see.

I really, really do pray with all of my soul that Levi wakes up one day and realizes what he has done and the pain he has caused.