from The Mudflats:

A press conference was held, prefaced by a mysterious Facebook announcement from Thomas Van Flein that the governor was about to “take one for the team.” The team? What team? Is this like when she quit her job for the good of the state of Alaksa so she could best use her talents and gifts to help our state from the outside? We’re still waiting on that one. And why was this conference being given by Tim Petumenos (the independent investigator who found Palin innocent of abusing her power in the Troopergate investigation the day before the 2008 election, and right after a legislative investigation had found her guilty)? What happened to Tom Daniel, the original investigator? So many questions.

For the sturdy of heart, the "Findings of Independent Counsel, Consent Decree and Settlement Agreement" are HERE.

But here are the highlights:

The independent counsel found two grounds for finding that the Alaska Fund Trust (Palin's Legal Defense Fund) does not comply with the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.

1. The language of the website for the fund consituted using public office to obtain a private benefit.
2. The Trustee of the trust was herself a public official (Kristan Cole, Agriculture Board) and therefore her role as Trustee was “improper” because she, as a public official, would be conferring substantial benefits on another public official, the governor. Ethical issues came into play through her service as trustee, in raising funds, and that she had substantial discretion in naming others to the trust who might also be public officials.

If Sarah Palin is her party's nominee for president in 2012 it will be a "catastrophic election" for the GOP, Sen. John McCain's 2008 campaign manager predicted. "In fact, were she to be the nominee we could have a catastrophic election."

John Weaver (of the McCain campaign) telling the "Washington Post" he is almost sure Palin would never win his party's nomination. And that if she did, quote, "it would surely mean a political apocalypse is upon us."