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Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, is pregnant and will keep the baby and marry the father, a senior aide to Sen. John McCain confirmed to CNN Tuesday.

Republican presidential candidate McCain was aware of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he chose her mother for his running mate, the aide said.

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The aide said it was decided the campaign would reveal this information now because of rampant Internet rumors that Sarah Palin’s 4-month-old baby, who has Down syndrome, was actually Bristol’s.

“In the course of correcting that, we needed to get the truth out,” said the McCain aide.

Sarah and Todd Palin issued a statement saying they are “proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents.”

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A Critical Appraisal of Madness’s Videos

The Prince, One Step Beyond, My Girl, Night Boat To Cairo, Bed And Breakfast Man, Baggy Trousers, Embarrassment, Return Of The Los Palmas 7,Grey Day, Shut Up, It Must Be Love, Cardiac Arrest, House of Fun, Driving In My Car, Our House, Tomorrow’s Just Another Day, Wings Of A Dove, The Sun and The Rain, Michael Caine, One Better Day, Yesterday’s Men, Uncle Sam, Sweetest Girl (Not the official video), (Waiting for the) Ghost Train, Lovestruck, Johnny The Horse, Drip Fed Fred, Shame & Scandal, Sorry, NW5

An Illustrated Guide To… Madness , The Madness Story 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, Official site, Wiki

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As Hurricane Gustav barrels toward the Gulf Coast and residents are fleeing in droves, I am reminded of this “humorous” piece put out by Dobson’s Focus on the Family organization last week:

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Are you listening Stuart Shepard? Hurricanes qualify as “rain of biblical proportions”, don’t they? Perhaps God is trying to tell you something.

To all people in the storm path; I hope you all pull through. I wish you all the good luck and strength you need…

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Sen. McCain, of all the candidates you considered, what drew you to her?
JOHN: Obviously, I found her to be very intelligent and very well-versed on the issues. But I think the important thing was that she’s a reformer. She’s taken on special interests since she ran for the PTA and the city council and mayor. The courage, I guess, is what most impressed me.

That’s what most impressed John McCain?

My goodness, Putin must be shaking in his boots - there’s a real chance the USA get a VP with Wasilla PTA experience! I guess the though alone will make him withdraw from Georgia.

And thin must your resume really be as a politician if they start quoting your PTA work?

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“ Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

– Steve Jobs

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11. Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

Sarah Palin: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I’ll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance.

She would probably fail the exam all immigrants have to take to gain US citizenship.

In case you didn’t know:

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), a Baptist minister, a Christian Socialist, and the cousin of Socialist Utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850-1898).

Bellamy’s original “Pledge of Allegiance” was published in the September 8th issue of the popular children’s magazine The Youth’s Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America, conceived by James B. Upham.

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In New York City on April 22, 1951, the Board of Directors of the Knights of Columbus adopted a resolution to amend their recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at the opening of each of the meetings of the 800 Fourth Degree Assemblies of the Knights of Columbus by addition of the words “under God” after the words “one nation.” In the following two years, the idea spread throughout Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. On August 21, 1952, the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus at its annual meeting adopted a resolution urging that the change be made universal and copies of this resolution were sent to the President, the Vice President (as Presiding Officer of the Senate) and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The National Fraternal Congress meeting in Boston on September 24, 1952, adopted a similar resolution upon the recommendation of its President, Supreme Knight Luke E. Hart. Several State Fraternal Congresses acted likewise almost immediately thereafter. This campaign led to several official attempts to prompt Congress to adopt the Knights of Columbus’ policy for the entire nation. These attempts failed.

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After the service concluded, Docherty had opportunity to converse with Eisenhower about the substance of the sermon. The President expressed his enthusiastic concurrence with Docherty’s view, and the very next day, Eisenhower had the wheels turning in Congress to incorporate Docherty’s suggestion into law. On February 8, 1954, Rep. Charles Oakman (R-Mich.), introduced a bill to that effect.

Bellamy’s original Pledge read, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”