President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Americans to show patience over the economy and argued that his just-concluded Asia trip was critical for U.S. exports, countering criticism he had returned empty-handed.

The term "idiocracy" means a nation run by idiots - and the term idiot is defined as "an utterly foolish or senseless person" and/or a "person of the lowest order in a former classification of mental retardation, having a mental age of less than three years old." There are many reasons to conclude that America has become a full-fledged Idiocracy - bad decisions after bad decisions after bad decisions really have suggested that the last decade has seen the ascension of utterly foolish, senseless people of the lowest order in a former classification of mental retardation. And yet, as I show in my newspaper column out today, if there was still any shred of doubt that we had avoided becoming an Idiocracy, it was only fully snuffed out in the last week by David Broder and Jackson Diehl - two of the alleged "deans" of the Washington media intelligentsia. Here is Broder attacking President Obama for taking the time to carefully consider whether to send an additional 40,000 American troops into an increasingly Vietnam-like Afghanistan quagmire:

Hey, remember Seinfeld? Remember how it billed itself as a "show about nothing", and how, in fact, that's what it was? I think we're at the point now where it's become inescapable that the Obama presidency is also a show about nothing. It's the same as Seinfeld. Except for two things. First, unlike Seinfeld, it bills itself as a show about something, if not everything (remember Mr. Bigtime Change from just last year?). And, second, the nothingness of the Obama administration is not very goddam funny, thanks just the same. Consider the following crop of headlines, all from the New York Times, and all published in just the last week alone: "49 Million Americans Report a Lack of Food" "N.A.A.C.P. Prods Obama on Job Losses" "The Drug Industry Cashes In" "3 Democrats Could Block Health Bill In Senate" "Another Standoff May Be Looming On Abortion Issue" "Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Climate Change" "Leaders Will Delay Agreement On Climate" "Obama Backers Fear Opportunities to Reshape Judiciary Are Slipping Away" "Guantanamo Won't Close by January, Obama Says"---

While Sarah Palin and other right-wing opportunists create a cottage industry in drumming up public hysteria about Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the "new and improved" Military Commissions designated to try five other detainees. And some are particularly incensed that Omar Khadr, Guantanamo's "child soldier" - a Canadian captured in Afghanistan seven years ago when he was only 15 and imprisoned there ever since - is slated to be one of the "five others" to be tried before military commissions. The "new and improved" military commissions were part of the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Obama signed last month. It included some changes in the rules governing military commission proceedings and is intended to replace - and improve upon - the Bush-era Military Commissions Act of 2006, which the Supreme Court found unconstitutional last year.

US President Barack Obama's job approval rating has dipped below the 50 percent mark, the first time after he was sworn in January this year.

On the eve of a vote to move the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to the floor in the Senate, the Obama Administration has released a statement on the bill. Shockingly enough, they support it! The one interesting bit is that the statement of Administration policy specifically cites the public option as an important piece of the bill: "The Administration is pleased that the bill includes a public health insurance option offered in an Exchange. As the President has said throughout this process, a public option that competes with private insurers is one of the best ways to provide the choice and competition that are so badly needed in today’s market."

Lady Obama is definitely in-tune with her sense of fashion . Michelle Obama dresses are made popular for they are classy, chic, and elegant.

In a highly publicized appearance in China earlier this week, President Obama lectures the Chinese against political censorship. He goes so far as to invite criticism of him personally, saying such debate makes "our democracy stronger." But by the end of the week back home, the Army bans media coverage of once — and perhaps future — Obama rival Sarah Palin because the service fears political statements against the president among troops who may come out to see the Republican former Alaska governor. Anyone across the political spectrum easily sees here a disturbing double standard emerging.

President Obama finally responded to the public outcry of concerned citizens everywhere by officially declaring that VP Biden’s motorcade poses a threat to national security. So does any other vehicle, motorcycle, or Rascal Scooter even remotely associated with Biden. Obama stated that all of Biden’s upcoming engagements for the next eight days have been canceled or rescheduled, and that the VP will be prohibited from using any official motorcades until further notice.

"The statement McKalip and his cohort were making is thus a political pastiche as well: Obama is foreign, strange, not "natural born"; half-naked, he is a figure of danger, seductive perhaps for his exoticism, his magic--the promise of cures--but ultimately loathsome, at once clownish, somehow thrilling to confront but also frightening, certainly not someone a white man would want to leave alone with his daughter... and a communist to boot."

Congressman DeFazio said yesterday: We think it is time, maybe, that we turn our focus to Main Street ... Unfortunately, the President has an adviser from Wall Street, Larry Summers, and a Treasury Secretary from Wall Street, Timmy Geithner, who don't like that idea. They want to keep the TARP money either to continue to bail out Wall Street...or to pay down the deficit. That's absurd... "[Obama] is being failed by his economic team ... We may have to sacrifice just two more jobs to get millions back for Americans.

Barack Obama has nominated the former President George Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, for a spot on the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). The BBG oversees the US government-sponsored international broadcasting. "I'm honored by the president's announcement and I'm looking forward to serving on the bipartisan board, if I'm confirmed," Perino said after she was tapped for the key job late on Wednesday by the US president, reported AFP. Established in 1994, the BBG oversees all of the US government's non-military international broadcasting outlets, including Voice of America, Alhurra television, Radio Sawa, TV Marti, Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe. Politically conservative Perino is presently a Fox News contributor and holds a job, as a counselor, for the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. Perino and other nominees need the Senate approval to be formally appointed to the top job. [Note: I am having deja vu.]

Across the nation many Progressives have been disillusioned with the leadership shown by President Obama on Healthcare. As a former single-payer proponent himself we simply hoped that he would fight harder for a better bill. Instead, he allowed the Congress to mostly write the healthcare bill and far from gave a ringing endorsement to a more Progressive direction. Many of us also feel this timidness also lost the momentum in a critical time for the debate.

Two new public opinion polls show the faltering U.S. economy seems to be taking its toll on President Barack Obama's approval rating.

It would take someone asking questions so outrageous and unreasonable that the furiously conservative beliefs espoused by Lou Dobbs would come across as sensible. Fortunately for Dobbs, FOX News has no paucity of such extreme characters, and this time, Bill O'Reilly, the BuzzFlash Media Putz of the Week, took the lead to help make Dobbs look better.

"...he's looking for an alternative. It took Obama this long to figure it out, Walt told me, because "I don't think this was an issue he had mastered before he became president. I think that early in the administration, most of the advice he was getting was from one side. It was mostly coming from people who were sort of invested in the mission."

Bigger than the budget deficit, America has a leadership gap. The economic recovery is not creating jobs, unemployment is rising, and the president and Congress offer little more than nostrums and platitudes. Republicans push tax cuts that experience teaches have doubtful prospects for success.

I put together a little visual aid for you to use in conversations with random wingnuts on the oh-so-serious topic of how Obama is "dithering" on deciding on a strategy to address the flaming paper bag of dog excrement (i.e., the war in Afghanistan) that Bush laid on Obama's doorstep. Enjoy!

The solicitor general of the Obama Administration is arguing against former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman's appeal of his controversial bribery conviction to the Supreme Court. The Friday development, first reported by the Birmingham News, hinges on the argument by Siegelman and co-defendant Richard Scrushy, former CEO of HealthSouth Corp., that their case throws into doubt standards for determining whether bribery has occurred. The News reports on the Obama Adminstration's counterargument that prosecutors in the case did prove "corrupt intent."

"But are you soliciting advise from stateside civic groups of experience and repute that represent many Americans? Or from genuine experts on that country such as Ashraf Ghani—a former American professor and later respected member of the Karzai government before his departure to other positions in that country?"