John Edwards got his hand stuck in somebody's cookie jar and the result may mean no VP slot for Obama. The L.A. Times, of all places, picked up the story that no one would touch because it originated at, yikes!, the National Enquirer. But then in true tabloid fashion, the paper couldn't produce any quotes, photos or eyewitness accounts.

Still, ripe material for bloggers like us.

As for the L.A. Times, which refused to do the story, but did the story about the Enquirer doing the story, the paper only wrote that "Barack Obama's VP shortlist may have gotten a little shorter."

Them's good eats for a hungry beast like the L.A. Times.

A certain blogger that we mentioned yesterday might be the new Geraldo because of his/her sweeping sensational proclamations and irrational simile, sent us this email:

I'm not sure Tina read the Lizza New Yorker piece - it was great and really thorough, but I'm not sure anyone has really called "flattering," except maybe those who value skill with backroom politicking.

The Fleischer comment is widely regarded as a heavy-handed attempt to chill speech, and I used it by way of example. But maybe I should watch what I say!

Thanks either way for the link.

I did read your piece and you implied it [Ryan Lizza's being denied access to Obama's overseas trip] was because of the New Yorker cover - not of Lizza's piece.

The Fleischer swipe is like calling everyone you don't like a Nazi. It trivializes the actual event.

You're welcome.

TD

Way more after the jump.

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"I hate the bloggers..." Says John McCain.

"I hate the smoke signalers too and all other new media."

Because he's old...get it?

We are feeling nice and independent from the weekend. A little hung over - but independent.

We're now playing catch up from the long weekend. If you haven't seen Lizz Winstead's post about the Jezebel chicks Tracie Egan and Moe Tkacik slow drunken train wreck of an interview - it's worth a look.

Manson prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi is disgusted with - wait for it - George Bush. He wrote a book about it. Apparently it's doing pretty well yet he's done very little media...blogs and stuff but according to the NY Times story about it - very little media. A hundred radio interviews but other than that - nothing really. Cough.

And Senator Jessie Helms died on July 4th. The same day our second president John Adams, our third president Thomas Jefferson and a whole bunch of over zealous pyros died. He is being remembered fondly by one of our anonymous readers "for his tireless work at building a bridge to the 17th century".

The NY Times reports:

The A.P.'s effort to impose some guidelines on the free-wheeling blogosphere, where extensive quoting and even copying of entire news articles is common, may offer a prominent definition of the important but vague doctrine of "fair use," which holds that copyright owners cannot ban others from using small bits of their works under some circumstances. For example, a book reviewer is allowed to quote passages from the work without permission from the publisher.

Fair use has become an essential concept to many bloggers, who often quote portions of articles before discussing them. The A.P., a cooperative owned by 1,500 daily newspapers, including The New York Times, provides written articles and broadcast material to thousands of news organizations and Web sites that pay to use them.

This embodies the conundrum of the internet since its advent: How do you allow fair use but stay profitable? And the AP is about to try and answer the question,"What if you ask nice and they still don't listen?" Because suing bloggers reads like kicking puppies. Not good for PR, AP.

Brian Williams is in the crosshairs of NewsBusters.

Welcome to NewsBusters, a project of the Media Research Center (MRC), the leader in documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.

Williams' commencement address Sunday at Ohio State University mentioned that the grads are inheriting some problems.

News buster, Brent Baker had to put the smack down:

It may well be that polls show many Americans think the nation is heading in the wrong direction, but does that mean it is appropriate for a journalist -- in a national election year -- to declare that America needs to be "fixed," clearly suggesting the country is broken?

Really? That's all you got? Five dollar gas in a recession and that's what you come up with?! Come on - no 'terrorist fist-jab'? Conservatives have gotten soft.

We're impressed by Bloggasm's Simon Owens. In response to Chez Pazienza being sacked by CNN earlier this year for blogging, Owens wondered if there were other news outlets that would be as equally outraged. From his blog:

To complete the survey, I sent emails to editors and publishers of 250 newspapers - five for each state - containing this question:

Question: Would you allow your staff writers, without prior approval, to blog during their free time after work as long as they don't write about the beats they cover for your newspaper?

To provide clarity, I added this example:

EXAMPLE: A staff writer for your newspaper covers the local courts and cops beat and then goes home and writes in his personal blog about the national presidential election. He does this without asking for your permission. Would you be fine with this?

We ask: Are there five newspapers in North Dakota?

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Wanna be a tween or just blog for some?

From MTV's current blog:

WHO CAN ENTER:
Now, I'm not looking for just anybody. I want someone who worships flicks, loves to blog about them, and isn't afraid to tell me how they feel (in a thoughtful and entertaining way, not in a red-faced scary way please). If you're the kind of fan who can make an impassioned case for why Harry Potter could defeat Spider-Man in a fight AND explain to me definitively that Michael Bay is or is not the anti-Christ, well then this might be the thing for you.

Beyond you being you, you'll just have to look to be between 18-30 years old, a legal resident of the 50 United States or District of Columbia, and available to come to L.A. on or around the dates of May 29-June 2. The deadline for your entry 12 noon EST on May 14th.

They have since posted one submission by a girl named Laura. She writes:

I'm terribly funny, personable, and not easily star struck. When the Backstreet Boys came to visit my junior high, I didn't even flinch!

All we have to say is that we wish not flinching helped in this job. It doesn't. That and the Backstreet Boys were visiting jr. highs?!

As we mentioned, we went to Arianna Huffington's house for a party last week. And there we met self-confessed sweaty palmed Pandora Young of LA Weekly. She wrote about her experience at the party and it made us laugh. So we must share:

I have loved Arianna Huffington since she was the voice of the right wing on KCRW's Left, Right & Center. I loved her before I knew she was a gorgeous red-headed Amazon with some serious junk in the truck.

Read the whole post here.

We found this blog dedicated to CNN's headlines stating it's a,"Weekdaily drawings inspired by cnn.com's efforts to inform."

Our favorite for no reason is "Pit Bull Kills Cancer Boy's Miniature Horse."

Then there's, along the same line WTFCNN? Which posts gems like,"Minced onions force emergency landing." and "Cattle vs. Cops Battle Ends in Gunfire."

Which all proves that if you can't laugh at yourself - someone else is going to.