The death of Michael Jackson; Mackenzie Phillips‘ incest accusation; Kanye West‘s uber-interruption; Meghan McCain‘s PG-rated (at best) Twitpic: One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong. On The Huffington Post’s list of Shocking 2009 Celebrity Scandals, the story of Meghan McCain’s Twitpic-inspired firestorm seems to stick out like a…sore thumb. What’s the real scandal here?

Unless you live in a lead-encased cave, you’ve heard all about the punch that decked Snooki, the tiniest cast member of MTV’s controversial new reality show, Jersey Shore. After showing the punch in previews for episode 3, MTV high-mindedly redacted the blow from the actual episode, and ran a PSA-style disclaimer at the end of the show.

“Violence against women in any form is a crime,” the message began, followed by information about getting help for domestic abuse. Scenes from the next episode followed, including this example of MTV’s new commitment to preventing violence against women:

There were several disappointments at Thursday’s Crasher-gate hearing, but chief among them were Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan‘s continued insistence that the now-famous security breach posed no threat to the President, and the committee’s focus on Social Secretary Desiree Rogers‘ role in said breach. This is absurd on two counts.

During House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Crashergate, the Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan spent the morning on the hot seat for his agency’s failure to repel uninvited guests Michaele and Tareq Salahi from last Tuesday’s White House state dinner. Among the revelations this morning is the embarrassing fact that, according to Sullivan, the Secret Service learned of the breach on Facebook.

As a Congressional hearing gets underway to drill down on how the uninvited Salahi couple managed to breach White House security, the White House has removed any and all doubt as to whether the Secret Service might have had a legitimate excuse for letting the couple past the first checkpoint.

The saga of would-be reality stars and accused White House Party Crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi continues to unroll slowly, as NBC fortuitously scores scoop after scoop. The latest: The Salahis’ attorney provided The Today Show with copies of their emails with Defense Department White House Liaison Michele Jones. If this is the bombshell evidence they promised to bring Matt Lauer in their meager Today interview Monday, they’re in trouble. These emails are all smoke, no gun

At the heart of the story of Michaele and Tareq Salahi’s big adventure at last week’s state dinner is a security breach so unbelievable, I actually don’t believe it. However, the President would do well to heed the alarm being sounded by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and “In the President’s Secret Service” author Ronald Kessler in this clip from yesterday’s “Today Show.” King calls Obama our “most threatened President ever,” and Kessler says “it’s only a matter of time before there’s an assassination.”

The latest development in the saga of the polo-playing, dove-throwing socialites who crashed the first state dinner of the Obama administration is something that we suggested yesterday: Michaele and Tareq Salahi may have had help from the inside.

How does a pair of socialite reality-show wannabes crash their way into the most exclusive event in the nation — in the same room as senators, celebrities, and the President? Tareq and Michaele Salahi somehow managed to brazen their way past the Secret Service and into the White House without a hitch, leaving the news to break on their Facebook page. How did they do it?

Last night on Countdown, Keith Olbermann did another in a long series of segments castigating former Miss California Carrie Prejean, but he added a little something extra at the end. He signs off the segment, in which he discusses the sex tape that features Prejean “by herself,” with a two, then three, fingered “Girl Scout” salute. Where to begin?

This is the kind of viral marketing that executives dare not even dream about. In fact, while outlets like Gawker have come under fire for their use of sponsored content like Bloodcopy, the folks behind AMC’s “Mad Men” are reaping huge PR dividends for free. Their personalized icons have swept over Twitter like a nuclear daisy.