“Heads of state” on The Daily Caller

1.) Joe Biden refuses to criticize totalitarian Egyptian president, admits liking The Onion — Muhammad Hosni Sayyid Mubarak has not truly “won” an election in the 30 years that he has been president of Egypt. Instead, he’s used secret police and state-controlled media to intimidate and incarcerate his critics and political opponents, including the runner-up in the first presidential election where someone other than Mubarak was allowed on the ballot. On January 25, Egyptians rose up against Mubarak, and the Egyptian president responded by shutting down the country’s Internet and sending armed thugs into the streets to do violence against his own people. By definition, Mubarak is a dictator. Unless, of course, your dictionary was penned by Vice Pres. Joe Biden, in which case geopolitical interests supersede honesty and/or human rights. “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things,” Biden told PBS’ Jim Lehrer last night. “I would not refer to him as a dictator.” In other Biden news, the vice president likes the Onion’s made-up coverage of him. “I think it’s hilarious, the stuff they do on me,” Biden told Yahoo! News Thursday. “I saw the one of me washing a Trans-Am automobile in the driveway shirtless with tattoos all over myself and out there,” he added. “By the way, I have a Corvette– a ’67 Corvette– not a Trans-Am.” (more)

1.) Obama writes editorial against regulatory excess, can name only one excessive regulation — Overly schoolmarmish regulations have to go, Pres. Obama writes in an op-ed in the morning’s Wall Street Journal. In it, Obama pays lip service to America’s semi-free market system as the source of “dazzling ideas and path-breaking products” and “the greatest force for prosperity the world has ever known.” The op-ed is a curtain-raiser for this afternoon, when Obama will sign an executive order that “requires that federal agencies ensure that regulations protect our safety, health and environment while promoting economic growth,” as well as “a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.” But do not get your hopes too high: Apparently, the only regulatory excessiveness that Obama could think of was artificial sweetener: “The FDA has long considered saccharin, the artificial sweetener, safe for people to consume. Yet for years, the EPA made companies treat saccharin like other dangerous chemicals. Well, if it goes in your coffee, it is not hazardous waste. The EPA wisely eliminated this rule last month.” Meanwhile, a spox for Rep. Eric Cantor wishes Obama had released this executive order in 2009, when House Republicans proposed it first. (more)

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit President Obama in Washington on Monday, the White House said this morning. (more)

Last month American reporters expressed concern at a recent study published by the Conference Board which claimed that the US economy would be overtaken by China in two short years.  This alarming news came just weeks after a ranking of the world’s most powerful people put President Barack Obama at number two — beaten into second place by Chinese premier Hu Jintao. (more)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has tried recently to beef-up his image as a manly man or, in the words of his camp, “as a man of deeds in case he returns to the presidency in 2012.”  Putin has accomplished this by appearing “caught on camera” while outdoors fishing, taking long walks and “[enjoying] “events involving the participation of fauna.” (more)

In ‘The King’s Speech,’ which hits select theaters today, an unconventional speech therapist helps King George VI overcome a stuttering defect in what has been deemed an excellent, surprisingly funny historical drama. (more)

MOSCOW (AFP) – Russia’s tough-guy prime minister Vladimir Putin called Hollywood heart-throb Leonardo DiCaprio a real man after the actor’s plane had to make make an emergency landing on the way to a summit on tigers in Putin’s native Saint Petersburg. (more)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s top adviser suggested to The Huffington Post late Wednesday that the administration is ready to accept an across-the-board, temporary continuation of steep Bush-era tax cuts, including those for the wealthiest taxpayers. (more)

The next two years do not bode well for the United States in relation to the rest of the world. (more)

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin recently released a collection of photos “to preserve his image as a man of deeds in case he returns to the presidency in 2012,” The Guardian reports. Rather than accomplish this, however, the glamor shots make Putin look like he’s posing for L.L Bean’s fall catalog. (more)

An avid and self-avowed sports nut, President Barack Obama on Monday said it would serve the nation well to celebrate those achieving excellence in science the same way it celebrates athletes. (more)

It was a strange week for the loony strongman from Iran. (more)

The pope has banned faithful followers from bringing vuvuzelas to his public appearances on his UK tour next month. (more)

I interviewed Roger Stone, master of the political arts, in October, 2008, as things were looking pretty sorry for my Republicans. (more)

Russia’s announcement that it will help Iran get nuclear fuel is raising questions about what President Obama calls the “better-than- ever” relationship between Russia and the U.S. after the two former Cold War adversaries recently signed a nuclear reduction treaty. (more)

The retired general also indicated that the return of three American hikers held in Iran for the past year would be an “important gesture”. (more)

Snooki is upset with President Obama, and not because of foreign policy, health care reform or even the tanning tax she whined about in the Jersey Shore premiere. (more)

President Obama Friday flew Marine One from the White House less than six miles to Northwest DC. (more)

KADANOK, Russia (AP) — Some of the devastating wildfires sweeping western Russia are out of control, Russia’s emergency chief said Tuesday, as fears grew there were not enough firefighters to battle them. (more)

Thursday on the Today show, Meredith Vieira asked special correspondent Jenna Bush if she had any words of advice for Chelsea Clinton. “I just want her to enjoy every minute,” Bush said. “She’s lovely and I know she’ll make a beautiful bride.” They should have asked Jenna’s advice earlier — she could have shared an even more important insight: Don’t be outrageously coy about your wedding; it will only draw more attention. (more)