Ok, sad thing first: a good Samaritan reset the password and tried to alert Sarah. But he also posted the new password, causing multiple people to try to log in at once, freezing the account for 24 hours. And now, the account has been deleted! Which is, as we said, maybe destruction of evidence? So for now this is, we think, all we'll get to see from this email account (if anyone finds evidence of saved emails, let us know.)

The full timeline of events, with corroborating evidence of the legitimacy of these screengrabs, is here. Here's why it all looks convincing:

• The emails to Ivy Frye, a Palin aide who's mentioned in the earlier email stories specifically wondering how best to hide her correspondence with the governor.
• The attached contact list (below) features an email address for husband Todd Palin that is legit. As well as an apparently genuine phone number for Bristol Palin and an address for Beth Leschper, Palin's deputy communications director.
• The email from Amy McCorkell, a known associate of Palin's from Wasilla who might have the governor's personal email address.
• Emails to and from Lt Governor Sean Parnell about a local radio talk host.
• Calls to the phone number listed for Bristol Palin apparently go to her voicemail.
• The public profile for the gov.palin address dates its last update to April of this year—well before she became McCain's running mate. So if it's a hoax, it's a hoax that began long before anyone outside of Alaska cared about Palin.
• We haven't seen these family photos before. Have we?
• The previously accessible public profiles for gov.sarah@yahoo and gov.palin@yahoo were both deleted at the same time.

Here are the screenshots of the emails saved before the account went dark, along with the contact list. It's newsworthy and we will not be taking it down!

CONTACT LIST

Beth Leschper (Beth Leschper SOA) [Edit]
beth.leschper@alaska.gov
Blanche Kallstrom (Blanche) [Edit]
mbkrdk@starband.net
Bristol Palin (Bristol) [Edit]
bristol_palin@hotmail.com
Chuck Heath (Chuck) [Edit]
chckheath@yahoo.com
fek9wnr@yahoo.com (Todd) [Edit]
fek9wnr@yahoo.com
ftb907@yahoo.com (Frank) [Edit]
ftb907@yahoo.com
Heather Bruce (Heather) [Edit]
khbruce@gci.net
ivy.frye@alaska.gov (Ivy SOA) [Edit]
ivy.frye@alaska.gov
ivyfrye@yahoo.com (Ivy Personal) [Edit]
ivyfrye@yahoo.com
Judy Patrick (Judy Patrick) [Edit]
jpphoto@mtaonline.net
kris.perry@alaska.gov (Kris Perry SOA) [Edit]
kris.perry@alaska.gov
krisandclark@yahoo.com (Kris Personal) [Edit]
krisandclark@yahoo.com
paymckhea@yahoo.com (Molly) [Edit]
paymckhea@yahoo.com
Roseanne Hughes (Roseanne Hughes SOA) [Edit]
roseanne.hughes@alaska.gov
Sally Heath (Mom) [Edit]
salheath@mtaonline.net
Sean Parnell (Sean Personal) [Edit]
sparnell@alaska.com
Sharon Leighow (Sharon SOA) [Edit]
sharon.leighow@alaska.gov
Sleighow@aol.com (Sharon Leighow Personal) [Edit]
Sleighow@aol.com
Track Palin (Track) [Edit]
track_44@hotmail.com

UPDATE:

ARLINGTON, VA — Today, McCain-Palin 2008 Campaign Manager Rick Davis issued the following statement concerning reports about Governor Palin's email and an invasion of privacy:
"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."

Point one: legitimacy confirmed! Point two: I guess we'll have to blow up the internet now?

Just another reason the Anonymous vs. Scientology battle is the best show online right now.

• Message to Scientology. This is the first Anonymous video to declare war on Scientology. I keep waiting for a computer voice to say "fitter, happier, more productive."

• Anonymous Press Release: Anonymous explains its main objective: To revoke Scientology's status as a religion with the IRS. But I like this video for the swelling sound track and the creepy computer voice.
  

• London Protests: Anonymous and LOLcats come from the same place, the message board 4chan. So naturally, London protestors grew loudest when they began to chant "Do Not Want. Do Not Want."
  

• Seattle Protests: Protesters sing '80s hit "Never Gonna Give You Up" in front of a Scientology building, an allusion to the process of "rickrolling," or redirecting unsuspecting viewers to a Rick Astley video. For the Church of Scientology's official response, click here.
  

• Detroit Protests.Perhaps you were not aware that the Internet is a series of tubes, as Senator Ted Stevens famously suggested? Protestors in Detroit made this clear to Scientology.
  

• Atlanta Protests. Police in London, New York and L.A. largely ignored Anonymous protestors. Authorities in Atlanta sent out-of-shape riot cops to march against Anonymous.
  

• Vancouver Protests. Anonymous protesters are supposed to wear masks. And their mask of choice is the Guy Fawkes mask made popular in V for Vendetta. The masks are popular in England, where people get the reference, and in Canada, where they pretend to. Skip to 25 seconds in to get a close look at the lot.
  

• Toronto Protests:Skip to 1:40 where an ex-Scientologist tells the camera,

  It took me a year to fully recover and get out of there. They have everything in your files. You confess everything to them that you've ever done in your whole life. They have those files and they will use them against you.

• Clearwater ProtestsClearwater, Florida is the world capital of Scientology. Fast-forward to 1:11 for the organization's official response.

• Washington, D.C. Protests: A testimony from a Scientologist's family member:

  He looks like a walking corpse. He spent six months on a Path Six Cycle, which is taking walks and vitamins, when really, he needed psychiatric care. But because their beliefs were so strong, he chose to hang himself in the hopes that he could come back and recieve more Scientology auditing.