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White House spokesman Robert Gibbs mimicked one of Sarah Palin’s many embarrassing moments on Saturday: He wrote his notes on his hand for his daily White House briefing to journalists.

During a speech on Saturday, Sarah Palin showed her Tennessee audience (and the rest of the world) that she hasn’t lost her touch when it comes to humiliating herself; a glimpse of her hand revealed that she had scrawled the reminders “energy”, “tax”, and of course “lift american spirits”. Clearly, it was difficult for her to remember three points which have (probably) been included in every major US political speech in the last ten years, so Robert Gibbs decided to poke fun at her.

Delivering his brief, Gibbs allowed photographers to capture images of his palm, revealing his own list: “Milk, Eggs, Bread, Hope, Change”

This is a rather clever move. It takes a jab at the Republicans, who have been gaining ground on the Obama administration, adds some humour to a hard political time, and gathers a great deal of media attention (even that of this respected weblog). The Democrats will be attacked for this, but there’s no denying that while ridicule may be childish, it has always been a very effective tactic to make a joke of the opposition- John Wilkes provides a shining example.

Barack Obama is struggling to keep his promise to close down Guantanamo Bay, and all because of 47 difficult prisoners.

But these prisoners aren’t difficult in the way that one might expect. The problem they’re causing isn’t due to attempted escapes or hunger strikes. What makes them difficult is this: Officials don’t know what to do with them.

According to ABC News, “They are reportedly too dangerous to be released, but cannot be tried either because the evidence against them is too flimsy or was extracted by coercion.” What this means for these prisoners is they will continue to be held without trial. And “coercion” can probably be read as “torture”.

Terrorism is a serious crime. But regarding any other offence, in this end of the world, people have a right to a fair trial. Even if the police or government are certain that someone is guilty of something terrible, multiple rapes and murders for example, they are not charged until enough evidence is gathered for a conviction. If it can’t be proven that this person is guilty, they remain free.

Apparently, suspecting that somebody might be considering performing an act of terrorist one day is enough to put them away for the rest of their lives without trial.

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As Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Price on the grounds that he is not George W. Bush, I feel obliged to point out to the world that I am also not George W. Bush.

Plus, Mr Obama has recently sent 30,000 troops to Afghanistan.
I have sent fewer troops to Afghanistan than this. To date, I have sent approximately zero troops into Afghanistan. That’s a difference of about 30,000.

I would also wager that Mr Obama’s carbon footprint is several thousand times greater than mine. Living in a white house is supposed to be good for the environment, but i think I still have the edge.

However, I must confess that neither of us have signed the Kyoto agreement, so we’re on an equal footing there.

I broke up a fight in a pub once. Barack killed a fly on telly.

It’s right there in facts and figures, folks. They can’t argue with it. See you in Oslo.