Obama is now the recipient of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, just 9 months into his term as president.  According to the committee the award is for the president’s:

Extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

I’m trying really hard not to focus on the fact that the award was given for “effort”.  I guess managing to take Hillary Clinton out of the Senate and placate her is worth something to the Norwegian committee.  But I digress.

Twenty years ago the award was given to the Dalai Lama for good reason:

In recognition of his nonviolent campaign over nearly 40 years to end China’s domination of his homeland.

There are plenty of reasons why it’s utterly ridiculous that the President was awarded a peace prize, but I have a different story to focus on.  This prize comes less than a week after President Obama REFUSED to meet with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his  visit to Washington.  The reason:

In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao…The U.S. decision to postpone the meeting appears to be part of a strategy to improve ties with China .

This makes President Obama the first not to welcome the peace prize winner to the White House since the Dalai Lama first began visiting our nation’s capital in 1991.

But wait! What’s that? Obama wanted Bush to boycott the Olympics in China?  Back on the campaign trail Obama and his homegirl Mrs. Clinton called on President Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony in protest to the repression in Tibet.  They said:

If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security, and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the President should boycott the opening ceremonies.

Apparently trying to piss off China with a boycott then appeasing China by refusing to meet with arguably one of the world’s most peaceful people, all while winning the Nobel prize is all just part of the job.  I think we owe our diplomatic leaders a big round of applause.

Earlier this week, Piven was spotted in Chicago enjoying a nice piece of whitefish at Gibsons Steakhouse.  (Aside: Why the heck would you order Planked Whitefish when there are three Filet Mignon options on the menu?)

Back in June of course Piven made a big hoopla about being fish free after his bout with “mercury poisoning.”  He told People:

I changed all of those habits.  All of these things happen to make us better. So, you’ve got to embrace that.

Apparently 10 months is long enough to embrace a fish-free lifestyle.  He is now cured of an ailment that wasn’t real in the first place and can officially un-change his fish-eating habits.

Welcome back to fish Mr. Piven!

Reality TV’s poster child for teen rebellion, Kelly Osbourne, apparently has a problem with short skirts.  Page Six reports that at Friday’s Teen Vogue Young Hollywood party, the Dancing with the Stars contestant told a pal:

She was “shocked” at how short the skirts of female partygoers were since they were all so young.

Note: Kelly is only 24.  All this is a little funny since Ms. Osbourne’s fashion history shows a fondness for short skirts (not to mention her other strange clothing choices).  She even had a “Britney moment” of her own.

We’ll have to see what kind of “dresses” DWTS costumers have in store this season for the hater of short skirts.  Maybe she can dance in a muumuu.

But if you’re the POTUS and the FLOTUS, exploiting your own children to promote the healthcare agenda is no big deal.

In a Friday speech to women’s groups, the First Lady told a story about Sasha’s meningitis scare (that means she didn’t actually have it).  The NYT reported:

In her speech, Mrs. Obama also told the story of how her daughter Sasha would not stop crying when she was 4 months old. A doctor’s visit revealed she might have meningitis; she ultimately did not, but the illness produced a scare.

But according to the President, Sasha did in fact have meningitis when she was 3 (not 4) months old.  Watch the video here:

When our youngest daughter Sasha was diagnosed with meningitis at three months old…

It was one of the scariest moment’s of the POTUS’ life.  You’d think him and his wife would have the same story.

So we have a number of issues here.  1.  Who is right- the FLOTUS or the POTUS?  2. Did she or didn’t she have meningitis?  3.  Was she 3 months old or 4 months old? 4.  Can the media exploit Sasha if it’s for the good of healthcare reform?

h/t: JWF

You might be a little worried that the federal debt is in the trillions (that’s this many zeroooooooooooos), and since that number is growing rapidly the Senate must consider legislation to raise the federal debt limit beyond $12.1 trillion by mid-October.  This is due to the President’s fat budget of more than $3.5 trillion, the largest in history, making this year’s $1.6 trillion deficit another record.

Sorry for all the big numbers.  Basically, we need to raise the debt ceiling so that we don’t default on our debt.  Obviously President Obama and his team are being vocal about the necessity of this so that the President can keep spending like a maniac.  The administration and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner are pushing for the debt ceiling to be increased ASAP.

But what happened back when we had a Republican president and President Obama was Senator Obama?  The Senate had to consider raising the debt ceiling in 2006 and Senator Obama took the opportunity to make a floor speech:

Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.  America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.

He obviously voted against raising the debt level.

But now that I’m President, I’m spending your money really quickly and I need you to raise the ceiling for me!  I’m the President so this is not a failure of leadership.  Pretty pretty please with hope, change, and a cherry on top!

tough loss…..bounce back tom…tired, bangd up, grabbin inn n out den goin to bed!
1:54 AM Sep 2nd from mobile web

I’m trying really hard to ignore her inability to spell In-N-Out correctly (pretty basic, no?).  Instead let’s focus on the fact that one of the premier athletes in the WNBA (it still exists, I checked) was chowing down on fast food- albeit delicious fast food- after her loss.

It isn’t the fast food that’s the problem here.  Conveniently, Candace Parker has a deal with Adidas – so there is a whole lovely page of her lifestyle habits on the web.  On the page titled “Candace’s Summer Favorites” she details her summer diet.  Here is an excerpt:

I’m definitely conscious of what I eat, especially during the season, so I like to stay close to the produce and deli sections at the grocery store.

I’m pretty sure In-N-Out doesn’t qualify as conscious eating, but a tweet about eating grilled zucchini after a loss probably wouldn’t be as interesting.

Because everyone needs overpriced heavy-metal water bottles, SIGG prided itself in creating BPA-free, environmentally-friendly water carriers often seen carried by hippie/hipster tree-hugging folk.

People freaked out about the BPA chemical contained in plastic water bottles and created these ugly things. (Turns out the FDA never even recommended discontinuing use of products containing BPA.) Awesome, we’re all ok to keep drinking out of our Nalgene and Gatorade bottles.

But if you bought one of the environmentally friendly (assumed chemical-free) SIGG bottles prior to August 2008, it wasn’t as chemical-free as you might have hoped.  The CEO of SIGG posted a letter on the company’s website letting consumers know that if you bought your better bottle more than a year ago, it actually contains the BPA chemical you were probably trying to avoid by purchasing it.

In the future, maybe just reuse a bottle you already have before going out and purchasing one of these $20 (or more) water bottles.

h/t: Gawker

Click here to view the embedded video.

Remember in June when ABC ran that awesome (read: extremely boring) health care special while being hosted by the Obama White House?  Well now ABC news has said they will not run the ad that pokes holes in Obamacare because it is “partisan.”  ABC spokeswoman Susan Sewell said in her written statement,

The ABC Television Network has a long-standing policy that we do not sell time for advertising that presents a partisan position on a controversial public issue.   Just to be clear, this is a policy for the entire network, not just ABC News.

I love when our lovely unbiased news networks refuse to run paid advertisements like this one from the League of American Voters (a non-profit group that advocates individual liberty and government accountability).  CBS has approved the ad for national distribution while NBC is still considering the ad pending a few revisions.  Just ABC won’t sell time for partisan positions on controversial public issues, but they’re happy to include them in regularly scheduled news programming.

ABC in all their “non-partisan” glory deserves to be questioned for selling out to Obama’s healthcare propaganda while refusing to run an ad that presents the other side.

Back in 2004, Senator Ted Kennedy encouraged the Massachusetts state legislature to amend the rules for replacing an outgoing U.S. Senator.  At the time, fellow Massachusetts Senator John “Flip-Flop” Kerry was running for president while the governor was GOP-man Mitt Romney.

Obviously the prospect of Romney appointing a Republican to Kerry’s potentially vacant seat was too much for Kennedy to handle. So with Kennedy’s encouragement, the law for replacement changed: a special election has to be held within 5 months of the seat becoming vacant.

That was then. This is now.

Sensing his own mortality, Senator Kennedy is seeking to change the law AGAIN. He sent a letter to Massachusetts state leaders and Democratic Governor Deval Patrick asking that the governor be allowed to appoint an interim-Senator until a special election can be held. Kennedy says:

It is vital for this commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election.

In 2004 that five months was critical to avoid the horrific possibility of having a Republican senator from Massachusetts. Now, any vacancy leaves the Democrats with one less vote in the Senate, and with Kennedy’s lifelong goal of health-care reform on the line it’s imperative that Massachusetts have two voting senators at all times. You know, because he said so.

It’s nice to know that if you’re a Kennedy you can just ask for the law to be changed in your favor and it will probably happen.

We’ve been through this before: PETA attacks fur wearers at every opportunity but prefers to neglect the leather wearers, presumably for personal safety reasons.

Angelina Jolie is no exception. She showed up to the premiere of her pseudo-hubby’s new flick Inglourious Basterds wearing an incredibly fabulous Michael Kors strapless leather dress.

PETA has long held the belief that Angie could do no wrong. But don’t be fooled: This is no faux-animal.

The dress (which retails at $3,295) is now sold out at Nordstrom. All the same, PETA’s blog let her off the hook:

Don’t worry, Ange, we knew a big-hearted U.N. Goodwill Ambassador like yourself would never wear the skins of achingly adorable little animals…we just knew it.

Actually, I think that U.N. Goodwill Ambassador just did.  (Maybe she considers wearing them adopting?) But I guess I wouldn’t want to mess with Angelina Jolie either. I’m pretty sure the woman has fangs.