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Hey, it's Friday, it's August. You probably want to get to the beach or fill up the kiddie pool or go off to sell your blood to pay for gas and groceries. Either way, today's question is simple:

The Olympics start tonight with the Opening Ceremony. The Democratic National Convention is August 25. Somewhere in between, Barack Obama will choose a running mate.

So today's question gets right to the point: tell us which day Obama should tell us who he picked for his running mate.
Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel 2008 race Barack Obama vice president Olympics Beijing Opening Ceremony Closing Ceremony

Who's next? I'd imagine whoever apprenticed
To be Osama's gardener, florist, or oral hygienist.

VERSE CASE SCENARIO

Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at tonypeyser@yahoo.com.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Tony Peyser Salim Hamdan Osama Bin Laden chauffeur Guantanamo Geneva Convention

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Martha Rosenberg

The 90s had Cheers style bars where everyone knew your name; the 00s had Starbucks where everyone knew your Venti No Foam No Whip Double Mocha Skim Frappuccino.

How Bucks convinced millions of Americans they had a Macchiato deficiency that required $5 and 500 calories a day to treat is pure marketing genius.

Car designers molded "Grande grottos" into dashboards, "meals; other" became budget busters and caffeine residues in the waterways from coffee vendors -- and even coffee drinkers an hour after they drank -- made headlines in Portland.

Now as Starbucks closes 600 locations and the national Javathon peaks, what about these Starbucks' traditions?

Technorati Tags: Guest Contribution Martha Rosenberg Starbucks baristas

This has been the longest presidential campaign ever with the longest primary (Democratic) in the history of primaries. And on top of that, the MSM has been obsessing over Barack Obama.

So it can't be too much of a shock that in a poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, 48 percent said they're hearing too much about Obama versus 26 percent for John McCain.

When McCain's camp has complained that the press gives more coverage to Obama, the campaign people should probably shut their traps, since it could hurt Obama.

And just because Obama is being talked about doesn't mean it's all good. Sure there has been some fawning here and there from the MSM, but in a way, that has hurt Obama as well. The coverage has been very shallow about his actual policies, and then turning around and criticizing the candidate for not articulating his positions. As well, there is a pattern of obsessing about Obama, and trying to find flaws even when they aren't there.
Technorati Tags: Be-Elected Chad Rubel 2008 race Barack Obama John McCain press coverage MSM negative coverage

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

Philip Giraldi wrote on the blog for The American Conservative yesterday that he has an unnamed source who says that Ron Suskind's assertion about the forged WMD document came from Pentagon official Doug Feith and not the CIA. It sort of makes sense when you consider the logic Giraldi uses to back his anonymous source up:

Technorati Tags: Analysis ron suskind WMD forgery CIA Pentagon douglas feith

BE ELECTED
by Meg White

McCain's propensity for using the line of address, "My friends..." is well-documented. It seems to really bug a lot of people, but no one can quite put a finger on why. 

I can't speak for the rest of you, but I know why McCain's oft repeated salutation gets under my skin.

Technorati Tags: Be-Elected mccain my friends

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
by Amy Weiss

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) requested answers from the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA) Thursday regarding Mary Lou Sapone, an alleged mole for the gun lobby who infiltrated several gun control organizations.

Technorati Tags: Alerts Mary McFate Mary Lou Sapone Sen. Frank Lautenberg NRA

BARBARA'S DAILY BUZZFLASH MINUTE

YEAH SURE! You don't really expect us to believe this -- "SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE... I understand who I work for. I don't work for a party. I don't work for a president. I don't work for special interest. And I don't work for myself." do you!  After such a bizarre display of pandering affection WE know who YOU, John McCain McBush, work for!

Technorati Tags: Barbara's Daily Buzz

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship

ABC News' political blog, "The Note," points out this week that Paris Hilton is issuing policy statements while John McCain nominates his wife for a topless beauty contest. The world's turned upside down. Who could blame a person for thinking that chronicling such oddness is beyond the skills of simple journalists? This is a job for the novelists.

Here, for example, is something straight out of Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. Are you ready for this? The Wall Street Journal reports that, "At a time when scores of companies are freezing pensions for their workers, some are quietly converting those pension plans into resources to finance their executives' retirement benefit and pay. In recent years, companies from Intel Corp to CenturyTel Inc. collectively have moved hundreds of millions of dollars of obligations for executive benefits into rank-and-file pension plans. This lets companies capture tax breaks intended for pensions of regular workers and use them to pay for executives' supplemental benefits and compensation."

Technorati Tags: Guest Contribution Bill Moyers Michael Winship oil drilling Iraq budget Bush McCain Obama