Don't Yell at Obama and a 3D Printer

So Obama is a very fragile little bird.  Whatever you do, don't yell questions at him.  He might shut you out.

No yelling at Obama today


A long-running tiff between the White House press corps and the West Wing over presidential access flared anew today when press secretary Jay Carney faced off with reporters over the right to shout questions at the president during debt talks.

Obama chafes at the time-honored practice of answering questions shouted at him during pooled, non-press conference events — and his staff has often opted for “stills sprays,” excluding print reporters or TV cameras who might capture Obama in the less than flattering non-act of snubbing a query.

When asked today why TV crews and print reporters were barred from the pool covering the White House meeting with congressional leaders on the deficit, Carney responded by pointing out that the administration has held two press conferences in the past two weeks and allowed TV cameras into the spray earlier this week.

"People shouted questions at him," Carney said. He then added, "The purpose of the meeting is not to create a circus, but to negotiate, so today we're doing stills only."

The White House Correspondents’ Association has protested exclusion of print and TV from pools — and several reporters in the briefing room took Carney’s comment as an annoyed expression of presidential displeasure with shouted questions.

“It's an absurd reason to say that because we asked questions you're not going to allow cameras in there. He's capable of ignoring our questions. He does it all the time,” said Chip Reid of CBS.
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So this might be the coolest thing I've seen in a while.  This company has created a 3D printer.  The Bernank will be printing gold bars in no time.  Well he would if he thought gold was money.

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If you like MillerCoors products, don't move to Minnesota.  Typical government operations...

Shutdown forcing MillerCoors to pull beer from shelves

Miller Time in Minnesota is over -- until lawmakers reach a budget deal.
The state's government shutdown, now in its 13th day, will soon force MillerCoors to pull its beer from Minnesota liquor stores, bars and restaurants. A state official says the law requires the company to stop selling products like Coors Light, Miller Lite and Blue Moon imminently because their brand licenses expired.
"I would suspect within days to see that product leave the shelves," said Doug Neville, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety.
A MillerCoors spokesman said they are fighting the decision, which would decimate one of its largest markets in the country.
“Right now we are exploring all options that are available to us," said spokesman Julian Green. "We are currently in discussions and hoping that we can get a resolution with the state, with the agency that enforces the sale ... of alcohol.”
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So Obama threw a tantrum yesterday during the debt talks.  He got and left the room because things weren't going his way.  Now Moody's is talking about lowering our rating.  I think the ratings agencies are a joke, but it won't be funny when our rates start to skyrocket.

Moody's adds pressure to stalled debt talks

The announcement by Moody's, the first among the major rating agencies to place the United States' AAA rating on review for a possible downgrade, came minutes after President Barack Obama and congressional leaders began negotiating for the fourth straight day of deficit talks.

The president and lawmakers, who met for nearly two hours on Wednesday, are trying to agree on a deal to reduce the deficit. Republicans demand steep spending cuts in return for supporting an increase in the $14.3 trillion borrowing limit.

Obama abruptly ended a tense budget meeting with Republican leaders by walking out of the room, a Republican aide familiar with the talks said.

The aide said the session was the most tense of the week as House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, dismissed spending cuts offered by the White House as "gimmicks and accounting tricks."

The Treasury says it will run out of money to pay its bills on August 2. Moody's said it saw a "rising possibility that the statutory debt limit will not be raised on a timely basis, leading to a default on U.S. Treasury debt obligations."
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I thought this was just funny.  I mean a strainer, really?

Austrian driver's religious headgear strains credulity

An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as "religious headgear".

Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons.

Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.

Later a police spokesman explained that the licence was issued because Mr Alm's face was fully visible in the photo.

"The photo was not approved on religious grounds. The only criterion for photos in driving licence applications is that the whole face must be visible," said Manfred Reinthaler, a police spokesman in Vienna.
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