The listing/delisting saga of the purported Sara Palin-autographed Xbox 360 continues as the scribed console has reappeared on eBay once again after another brief disappearance.
As noted previously, following about a month-long hiatus, the 360 was relisted on the auction site after the seller, David Morrill, made a few concessions in the listing and altered the payment method. According to the item’s listing history, eBay delisted the console again on October 5 because “listings with the apparent, primary purpose of expressing the seller's personal views are not permitted.” Morrill took down the story of how he acquired the ex-VP candidate’s autograph in order to comply with eBay’s policy.
eBay also told the seller that a second reason for the recent delisting was a miscategorization of the item. Morrill had the item listed under Collectibles > Pinbacks, Bobbles, Lunchboxes > Pinbacks > Campaigns, Elections, Politics, but eBay stated that the 360 was not actually any of the previously listed items. Morrill moved the item to Collectibles > Autographs > Political > Other. Morrill now feels that “all listing requirements have been met.”
The price remains the same—$1.1 million U.S.
Thanks to GP reader Phillip for the heads up.
The perfect holiday present for the Republican in your life is only a few clicks and $1.1 million dollars away as an Xbox 360 signed by former Vice-Presidential candidate Sara Palin has made its way back on to Ebay.
The marked console first appeared on Ebay in early August, and was delisted soon after for (then) unknown reasons, though there was speculation that Palin’s first name was misspelled in her signature, lending an air of illegitimacy to the auction.
Reappearing at the original price of $1.1 million, the 360’s seller, David Morrill, stated in the auction listing that the original auction was pulled due to “Insufficient description of the item or no photos of the item,” and because “Pay Pal is unable to process a payment of this size.” He remedied the first issue by uploading additional pictures and information and tackled the second problem by using another payment processor.
Thanks to the multiple GP readers who sent this in.
As we've found out recently, animal rights group PETA has increasingly taken to spreading its message though the use of video game parodies.
Last month, for example, PETA garnered major attention with Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals, a Flash offering parodying Majesco's light-hearted kitchen game series.
More recently, PETA launched Holiday Snowball Fight. The online game begins by having players target fur-wearers like Madonna and designer Donna Karan, and ends with Sarah Palin as the focus of PETA's ire. Palin, of course, is an avid hunter. The 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee has been criticized by some for taking part in the practice of shooting wolves from airplanes.
While we've yet to hear of any connection between Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin and video games, the New York Times reports that she explored a book banning campaign as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska in the late 1990's:
Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through...
Ann Kilkenny, a Democrat who said she attended every City Council meeting in Ms. Palin’s first year in office, said Ms. Palin brought up the idea of banning some books at one meeting. “They were somehow morally or socially objectionable to her,” Ms. Kilkenny said.
The librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, pledged to “resist all efforts at censorship,” Ms. Kilkenny recalled. Ms. Palin fired Ms. Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course after residents made a strong show of support...
Politico offers this on Palin's book banning attempt:
According to the Frontiersman newspaper, Wasilla’s library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said that Palin asked her outright if she "could live with censorship of library books.” Palin later dismissed the conversation as a “rhetorical” exercise.
Time has more:
Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.
GP: If Sarah Palin would ban books, would she also ban video games? It's certainly a valid question.
CNN is now reporting that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be John McCain's running mate.
Palin, 44, who has been governor for only two years, appears to have little track record with video games - or much of anything else.
She was a city council person in Wasilla, Alaska from 1992-1996 and was later mayor of that town. She failed in an attempt to become Alaska's Lt. Gov. in 2002, and won the top seat in 2006.
Palin has two sons and three daughters. Her oldest son, age 18, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq later this yer.