If you have not yet found the time to catch all of Sarah Palin’s now-legendary press conference, the helpful folks at HuffPo have provided an abridged version which captures all of her rhetorical flourishes (and dead-fish references) in just a minute and a half.

The breathless recitation of right-wing talking points and multiple excuses for skipping out on her job, recited as if her inner tape-recorder were stuck on high speed, could be viewed as a slightly unhinged monologue in the Mark Sanford vein.

Then again, a breathless recitation of right-wing talking points could be just the thing her base wants to hear, and you can already imagine the scenario that’s being shaped for future campaigns: “She couldn’t stand to take part anymore in big-government Obamanomics because she’s a maverick! She’s declaring her independence!”

Never mind that Alaska has been lapping up government welfare for years; suddenly when her erstwhile Democratic opponent was doing the doling out, the money was tainted. And no matter that she’s declaring her independence from a job the voters expected her to complete; she doesn’t play by those conventional rules, people!

See video of the conference after the break. Be sure to hang on for the basketball metaphors.

The sailor, August Provost, kept his private life quiet for the most part, but trusted that his friends knew, according to an interview with his partner in the San Diego Union-Tribune. His family had encouraged him to report the harassment to a supervisor. It’s not clear whether he did, or whether he even could have; admitting that he’d been harassed could have led to admission that he was gay, which is grounds for dismissal from the Navy. In an online article for San Diego’s Gay and Lesbian Times, the chair of the San Diego Human Relations Commission, openly gay City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez (pictured right), refers to sources on the base that say the harassment was in fact gay-related and that Provost had been facing a possible discharge based on his sexual orientation.

Murray-Ramirez says there was a long delay between the murder and public release of information, noting that U.S. Congressman Bob Filner was on the base Tuesday and was not informed of the murder. The Human Relations Commission is calling for an investigation into whether this was a hate crime. Meanwhile, a “person of interest” is being held in custody. Read the full text of the Union-Tribune story after the break.

By Kristina Davis

Union-Tribune Staff Writer

Originally published 11:59 p.m. July 1, 2009, updated 8:30 a.m., July 2, 2009

CAMP PENDLETON — A person was being held in connection with the suspected homicide of a 29-year-old sailor who was found in a Camp Pendleton guard shack, Navy officials said yesterday.

The body of Seaman August Provost of Houston was discovered about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday on the western edge of the base, said Doug Sayers, a spokesman for Navy Region Southwest.

An autopsy was completed yesterday, but authorities were waiting for results of toxicology tests to determine the cause of death.

A “person of interest” was being held in the brig at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. No charges have been filed.

The death has local gay activists calling for an investigation into whether Provost was slain because of his sexual orientation. “We’re definitely monitoring this, and trust and hope the military will investigate this in the professional way it should,” said Nicole Murray-Ramirez, chairman of San Diego’s Human Rights Commission.

Murray-Ramirez said he had asked two San Diego members of Congress, Reps. Susan Davis and Bob Filner, to make official inquiries with the military.

Provost’s partner, Kaether Cordero, said Provost was openly gay but kept his private life quiet for the most part.

“People who he was friends with, I knew that they knew,” Cordero said from Houston. “He didn’t care that they knew. He trusted them.”

Provost had recently complained to family members about a person who was harassing him, so they advised him to tell his supervisor, said his sister, Akalia Provost of Houston.

“He’s the type that if someone comes at him, he walks away. He never stands and argues,” she said. “He didn’t deserve anything but a good life.”

Provost was assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5 at Camp Pendleton. He had completed three years of college before joining the Navy in March 2008 to help finance his education, and was studying to become an architectural engineer.

Florida, of course!

But not Disney World — he’s been living in Fantasyland for too long already. No, the Palm Beach Post reports that he will be joining his wife tomorrow, no doubt with tail between legs, at her family’s place in a gated community called Loblolly Bay in Hobe Sound.

And you were dreading your family’s July 4th get-together. Who needs fireworks?

If you’re Brian Blair (mug shot at right), nothin’ much but some bad publicity, apparently. Check out these reports from Fox NewsRadio, and after the break, TBO.com, in which an assistant state attorney characterizes the incident as “discipline.” UPDATE: The St. Petersburg Times goes into further detail on the case and the reasons for the charges being dropped, referring to a memo from Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters that indicates Blair “took more punches than he gave.” (That would explain his condition in the mug shot).

TAMPA, Fla., (970 WFLA) – The Hillsborough State Attorneys office said it will not file child abuse charges against former Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair.

The State Attorneys Office won’t comment, but said prosecutors will not pursue the case against Blair.

Blair was arrested on Father’s Day.  He was charged with hitting his two teenaged sons.  There were no serious injuries.

After the break, the story from TBO.com:

TAMPA — The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office won’t prosecute Brian Blair on child abuse charges.

Blair was arrested on Father’s Day after a confrontation involving his two sons.

In a memorandum, Assistant State Attorney Rita Peters characterized the scuffle between Blair and his 17-year-old son Brett as “discipline,” given the history between the two.

When Bradley Blair, the younger son, called 911, he told dispatchers that his brother had “gone crazy,” the memo said.

Peters wrote that Brett Blair was more aggressive and hit his father more than his father hit him. Brian Blair’s injuries appeared to be defensive, she wrote.

There were inconsistencies in witness statements about who punched whom, she wrote.

Deputies initially arrested Blair on felony child abuse charges, after Brett Blair told deputies his father grabbed him, punched him in the face and put him in a choke hold, the Sheriff’s Office report said. He then grabbed younger son Bradley by the throat and punched him, the report said.

As he left jail last month, Blair called the arrest “a real, I guess, unfortunate situation. It’s a misunderstanding that could have been prevented.”

“I have over 7,000 hours mentoring children, and the last thing I’d ever do is hurt a kid,” Blair said at the time. “Sometimes, the hardest kids to mentor are your own.”

Republican pundit David Brooks’ article in today’s New York Times discusses the latest events in Iran, as turmoil from their recent fraudulent election has spilled into the streets of Tehran. In his comments, Brooks observes that “on the big issue, the administration has it exactly right.”
This agreement — which is far from the position voiced by most Republicans — gives added support to Peter Meinke’s “Dear David” letter in this week’s Poet’s Notebook. Meinke’s basic claim is that long-time, and famous, Republican Brooks is slowly morphing into a Democrat, and it’s time that he made the actual leap — not in a self-serving Senator Arlen Specter sort of way, but because Brooks’ views coincide more and more with Barack Obama’s.

And Wayne wasn’t alone in bringing back first-place honors for the Loaf. Food Editor Brian Ries won the top spot in Food/Beverage Writing for “Anywhere But Here,” his story on the lack of healthy food options for Florida families on public assistance. The Miami Herald and MIAMI Modern Luxury took second and third places.

Brian also took a third place in Criticism for his review of MJ’s tapas menu when it was under the direction of Domenica Macchia. And CL’s theater critic, Mark E. Leib, took second place in the same category for his review of the innovative American Stage production of Hamlet. The Naples Daily News‘ Harriet Howard Heithaus took the first-place spot.

Finally, the entire staff of Creative Loafing won kudos for our website, cltampa.com, placing third in the News Web Site category. I like the judges’ citation: This is not your typical news site. cltampa.com represents a new way of presenting news and information to its reader/user. Through a simple design, Creative Loafing offers a wide collection of headlines from just as many distinct sources. (Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers and the Orlando Sentinel took first and second in this category, respectively.)

More judges’ comments follow after the break.

Judges for this year’s Sunshine State Awards hailed from SPJ chapters in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Washington, as well as from Florida. Here’s what they had to say about “Political Whore”:

Comments: Don’t let the title fool you: Aside from local and national politics, this blog takes on a long list of hot-button topics ranging from the economy to “Octomom.” And with a quick-hit style that includes podcasts and embeded video, it’s never boring.

And on Brian Ries’ “Anywhere But Here”:

Comments: Addresses what may be the most critical socio-economic and health-care issue of our time. The piece leaves open the promise of further reporting – and editorializing- about the need for better nutrition among all Americans, mainly the poor.

Beth Fountain, a writer and former lawyer, questioned the dense language of the decision, in which the court essentially contradicted its position from a year before.

Like Fountain, musician Lisa Noe of the band Karmic Tattoo wondered why gay marriage could be “OK one minute, then it’s not OK the next.” And Rick Boylan, president of the Pinellas chapter of Stonewall Democrats and the secretary of the state Democratic party, pointed out that, even with the setback in California, the state is still years ahead of Florida in its recognition of gay rights: “We’re still dealing with issues that are left over from Anita Bryant days.”

More interviews after the break.

Not everyone at the protest was gay; Jack Crepeau, a volunteer with Equality Florida and Stonewall and a sociology professor, had just returned from his wife’s ultrasound; they’re having their first child. Crepeau’s sign: “Only divorce hurts marriage.” And Fountain’s sign — “Am I not a citizen?” — intentionally referenced the slogan of African-American protestors during the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike in 1968:  “I am a man.”

Ellen and Portia can stay married, says the court. The rest of you gays? Maybe not.

Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholds Proposition 8, the ballot measure that amended the state constitution to limit marriage to heterosexual couples. But the court let stand the marriages that took place between May 4, 2008, when the same judicial body said it could see no constitutional excuse for banning gay marriage, and Nov. 4, 2008, when 52 percent of voters replied, “OK, we’ll give you a constitutional reason, you activist judges you!”

That said, the thousands of gay men and lesbians who married successfully within the six-month span — among them Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi and Wanda Sykes — form a powerful bloc of interested parties who could play a huge role in getting a counter-initiative off the ground.

Protests against the court’s decision are already underway in California and several are planned locally.

Frank Gorshin in a 1969 "Star Trek" episode referenced by Dave Itzkoff.

In more proof that the blockbuster Star Trek movie has tapped into the zeitgeist, or at least the hype-geist, the Week in Review section in today’s New York Times includes three count ‘em three Trek-inspired stories. Surprisingly, only two out of three use the now-obligatory Obama-as-Spock trope.

• Columbia J-School prof and pop historian David Hajdu on Star Trek as “an early manifestation of our contemporary absorption with the pop culture of the past.”

• Dave Itzkoff’s “Ideas & Trends” piece on the socio/political climate of 1966 (when the TV series debuted) vs. that of 2009

• Maureen Dowd’s dream that Spock/Obama swoosh in and use the powers of logic to save newspapers. (I especially liked the  ‘red matter’/'read matter’ pun, though it may work better if you’ve seen the movie.)

Dowd’s piece neatly combines Trek-speak with journalists’ other favorite topic these days, the death of journalism. That theme gets its due elsewhere in the Sunday Times with Frank Rich’s “The American Press on Suicide Watch” and Clark Hoyt’s ombudsman column, The Public Editor, which faults the Times for missing the dying-newspaper story on its corporate doorstep: the labor dispute that threatens the extinction of the Times-owned Boston Globe. Guess the death-of-journalism coverage gets a little trickier when your own newspaper is dismembering another.