Our bored president playing with an American flag

Hitting it against his knee, to be precise. Imagine had Obama done this. (H/t Jed)

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Job Killing John

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ABC's Cokie Roberts: Hawaii is "some sort of foreign exotic place"

Like so many of her colleagues at ABC, Cokie Roberts is going out of her way to vilify Barack Obama -- and becoming more idiotic along the way. Today, she mocked Obama's choice of vacation spot, calling Hawaii "some sort of foreign exotic place." Um, it's one of the 50 American states. Is she stupid or just trying to be one of the Obama-bashing gang at ABC? Probably a bit of both.

Jed caught the video. Roberts looks like a buffoon.

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US oil firms drill, then ship it abroad anyway

Kind of kills the argument for more offshore drilling to increase US supply if they ship it abroad anyway. But hey, no one would have ever guessed that the oil companies are lying to us. Not to mention, I'm increasingly disturbed that Obama was right about the tire gauge thing. If we could get as much energy from simply filling our tires correctly, and offshore drilling could take a decade to realize its full potential (which isn't much), then why not just go to the tire-gauge route? The fact that McCain mocked it is increasingly disturbing since we now know that it works. Read More......

Obama links US energy prices and weak dollar policy, and he's right

This is one of the things I asked Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz about a few weeks ago, the linkage between the weak dollar and oil prices. Stiglitz says that the greatest impact is that we Americans buy oil on the international market, and we use dollars - weak dollars - to do it. That means that if our dollar only buys half as much as it did before, then we have to pay a lot more to get the same amount of oil at the same price. So the weak dollar isn't just forcing me to avoid $8 pints of Ben & Jerry's in Paris, it's raising the price you pay for gas at the pump. It's also raising the price you pay for almost everything you buy at Target and in everything other store that has goods made in China, or anywhere else abroad. Check out how many things are made in China, the next time you go the store. Once you realize that probably 90% of the things you check are in fact from China, then think about the fact the store had to buy those things with dollars that were only worth half their normal value, thanks to George Bush, John McCain and the Republicans. Yes, John McCain will tell you that a weak dollar helps American exporters. Well last time I checked, nobody I knew was an American exporter. For the rest of us, for most of us, we're getting creamed by the Republican party's weak-dollar tax on practically everything we buy. (Oh, and the high price of oil is also increasing the price of every good or service you buy that in any way is dependent on gasoline to transport that good or service - that'd be pretty much everything from your plumber to the tomatoes in the store.) Read More......

Corporate journalist Danny Glover's big adventure

From Danny's Facebook page:


Corporate journalist Danny Glover, who used to write for National Journal, had a rather big stick in his craw a while back about bloggers going on trips sponsored and paid for by anyone other than themselves. Danny felt that this was a serious conflict of interest. That was before Danny got to put on a really cool helmet and goggles and fly "somewhere in the Atlantic" with the US Navy. Now, Danny is all for journalists going on "luxurious junkets." Especially when they get to fly in Navy "helos," as Danny now calls them.

Now, I have no problem with Danny going on a taxpayer funded junket to the mid-Atlantic. I'm sure it was in fact "really cool." And I even don't have a problem with Danny donning that cute little Michael Dukakis helmet and goggles. I do have a problem, however, with corporate journalists who criticize bloggers for doing the exact same things that they do.

Here's what Danny had to say two years ago about bloggers going on government-funded trips:

What's more, transparency is not sufficient justification for media outlets -- and that's what blogs want the U.S. government to call them -- to accept favors from an agency with an agenda. Bloggers rightly maligned columnists Armstrong Williams and Doug Bandow for taking money from the Bush administration and Abramoff. Now some of the them are guilty of similar arrangements with the government of Netherlands, and they deserve the same scorn.

No one who makes the trip is compelled to write one word, good or bad, about Amsterdam, and maybe some bloggers will return home and say nasty things about the place. But somehow I doubt they will.

Pretty unequivocal. Accept travel from governments and you deserve scorn because it will be impossible for you to ever write anything negative about the people sponsoring the trip, per per Danny Glover.

Now, it's possible that Danny paid for this entire trip out of his own pocket. Uh huh. But if he didn't, then we can only assume that Danny will no longer be writing anything, anywhere, about the US military, or any topics involving Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East, or anything else dealing with US security policy. After all, how many times did I write about Amsterdam and Edinburgh after I visited there on my junkets? Zero, Danny, zero. Here's hoping for the same level of professionalism from a "real" journalist.

And PS, Danny. First rule of junkets. Never let them sucker you into putting on funny outfits. The pictures always get out. Read More......

US Marine on McCain: “John just isn’t the same as he used to be. He’s not his own man.”

Las Vegas Sun:

The veterans, at Bally’s for their national convention, gave [McCain] a tepid reception... Duke Hendershot, a double amputee retired Marine who served in Vietnam, supported McCain’s run for president in 2000 but is undecided this year. “John just isn’t the same as he used to be. He’s not his own man,” said Hendershot, who lives in San Antonio, Texas. “A lot of that has to do with how he’s wanted this job so bad for so long that he’s tied himself to President Bush…” Hendershot also criticized McCain for taking swipes at Obama in his speech. “He should have been talking about veterans issues, not his opponent,” he said. By contrast, he praised Obama for keeping his remarks tightly focused on veterans.

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Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Karl Rove, who is ignoring a subpoena to testify before Congress, is managing to get himself onto CBS. The guy should be, and probably will be, in jail. Bob Scheiffer has been a GOP toady lately so don't expect any tough questions for Rove.

Couple v.p. prospects show up today. On the Dem. side, there's Richardson and Kaine. For Repubs., you're getting Jindal and Crist. (Did Crist get married yet?)

Also, McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis, who is caught up in the DHL controversy in Ohio, should have to answer some tough questions about that his role in that issue. But, he's on Fox.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Govs. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.

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CBS' "Face the Nation" — Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff to President Bush.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

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CNN's "Late Edition" — T. Boone Pickens, chairman of the energy investment fund BP Capital and creator of an alternative energy plan; Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Carl Levin, D-Mich.; Govs. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., and Charlie Crist, R-Fla.; New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Amy Zantzinger, White House social secretary.

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