US Election Diary

* In an outburst toxic enough to pollute all of Alaska's Inside Passage, the former actress Brigitte Bardot has called Sarah Palin "a disgrace to women" and "dangerous". It seemed it was Mrs Palin calling herself a pit bull with lipstick that got up the screen legend's snozzle. "I know dogs well and I can assure you that no pit bull, no dog, nor any other animal is as dangerous as you are," Bardot wrote. "I hope you lose because that would be a victory for the world."

* Madonna is with Bardot. Fans at a concert she gave in New Jersey three nights ago cheered when she suggested to the governor that she stay away from her Sticky and Sweet Tour. "Sarah Palin can't come to my party," she said. There is no word if Mrs Palin would have wanted to anyway.

* David Kernell has been indicted by a federal grand jury for weaseling his way into the governor's emails. Mr Kernell, 20, allegedly "obtained unauthorised access" to her account last month. He didn't just read what he saw but made copies of the screens – so-called screen-shots – and posted them on a public website. His hack-attack, achieved by resetting Mrs Palin's personal email password, has caused embarrassment to his father, Mike Kernell, a Democrat in the Tennessee state legislature.

* Nasa might want to consider sticking the Obama logo on the Shuttle when it next heads for the International Space Station. Mr Obama, you see, wrote to Congress last month urging it to exclude all things Nasa from a new law that bans federal spending in Russia. Congress obliged and now Nasa is free to continue pouring dollars into Russia in return for continued help in keeping the space station afloat. We know how relieved Nasa is because of a leaked letter written to Mr Obama by Michael Griffin, the Nasa administrator and Bush-appointed Republican. In it, Mr Griffin tells Mr Obama he is "deeply grateful, personally" to him.