The local Two Political Junkies reminds us that "while soon-to-be-ex-Gov. Sarah 'Quitter' Palin is now threatening to sue anyone in the media ... who dare to criticize her, she hasn't always had much empathy towards those who were on the receiving end of hits from the MSM."

The Junkies then post a video of Ms. Palin calling Hillary Clinton a whiner and saying that women in public life must learn to shrug off criticism.

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America notes the controversy among conservatives over who's to blame for the firestorm of criticism over Ms. Palin's resignation. Is it the usual suspect -- the liberal media -- or Ms. Palin herself?

Mr. Boehlert: "Frothing right-wing bloggers cheered the legal threats and robotically stoked the anti-media fires. 'The Palin-haters at MSNBC better watch it,' warned Gateway Pundit."

On the other hand, conservative stalwarts such as Ross Douthat, Charles Krauthammer and the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal found Ms. Palin's announcement ... well ... "bizarre" and "rambling" (Mr. Douthat), "erratic" and "delusional" (Mr. Krauthammer), etc. As for the Journal: "Some Alaskans, including many of her admirers, can be forgiven if they conclude she bugged out when the going got rough."

In the New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg urges President Barack Obama to look into recent proposals by nongovernmental groups to "order an immediate halt to involuntary discharges of gay servicemen and servicewomen under the same 'stop-loss' law that his predecessor used, less admirably, to force soldiers to extend their enlistments."

Robert Farley in Foreign Policy magazine tells U.S. policymakers to calm down about Iran's likely plans to build a nuclear weapon. There's probably not much we can do to stop it, he said, plus there's no reason to think that Iran would be any less deterred from using the bomb by other nuclear powers than other unfriendly states have been.

Mr. Farley notes that when China got the bomb back in the Cold War, "even its own allies believed China's communist leaders to be reckless and dangerously casual about the threat of nuclear war. The regime's ideology precluded the notion of an afterlife (and thus of eternal damnation), and its leaders had demonstrated a willingness to kill millions upon millions of their fellow citizens in the service of utopian goals. ... Nevertheless, China has acted as a responsible steward of nuclear weapons, even in situations of existential danger."

Dean Baker at Alternet.org takes issue with opponents of a public health-insurance option to compete with private plans:

"[They tell us that a government-run plan will be like having the post office manage our health care. While the post office actually does a pretty good job where I live, if the point is that a government-run plan is going to be bureaucratic and inefficient, then why are opponents of a public plan so worried about giving people the choice to buy into it? If the public plan is bad, then people will just stay with the options currently available in the private sector. As those of us who believe in the free markets like to say: 'What's wrong with giving people a choice?' "

In an essay in the New York Review of Books, author Michael Chabon reminisces about the "thin two-acre remnant of a once-mighty wilderness" where he and his boyhood friends pretended to be "braves, crusaders, commandos, blues and grays." He laments the fact that today's coddled children are not given the same freedom to explore their surroundings unattended. "If children are not permitted -- not taught -- to be adventurers and explorers as children, what will become of the world of adventure, of stories, of literature itself?"

This from PGH IS A CITY: "Attempting to be more 'customer friendly,' the hated Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is unveiling more ways to waste taxpayer money. (As if giving away lucrative customer service contracts based on nepotism wasn't enough.)"

These would be proposals to introduce wine kiosks and wine "boutiques." As for the kiosks, PIAC says, "For decades college students have found ways around underage drinking laws. Now, the state wants to hand them the biggest loophole ever." As for the boutiques, PIAC asks, "How about letting normal stores sell wine?"