Paul Broun’s budget boondoggle is the talk of the town today.

Personally, I think it’s all a bit overblown. Politically and symbolically, it’s a big issue, especially for a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative. But in the midst of a trillion-dollar war, is a $5,000 big-screen television really going to bankrupt the federal treasury?

What bothers me as a taxpayer is how difficult it is to get records of such spending.

I’ll admit that for the past week, I have been in a concert haze and haven’t been paying much (OK any) attention to what is going on in the world. I glanced at the headlines in the ABH, but I really didn’t do much on my vacation other than watch sweaty musicians on stage.

So today has been catch-up day for me (in both my actual work and to see what the world has been up to).

As I have been trolling the news Web sites, there are a few of my favorite items I have come across.

Rove calls Obama 'arrogant'
Now I’ll admit that Barack Obama can sometimes seem a little bit standoffish, but Karl Rove calling anyone “arrogant” is just plain laughable. Seriously, talk about the pot and the kettle.

Barry Fleming implies that Paul Broun is in favor of child molestation. Broun responds by calling Fleming something even worse – a Democrat.

Broun issued a response today to Fleming’s TV ad portraying Broun as soft on child molesters. In it, Broun points out that Fleming has worked for two Democratic congressmen, and says his primary challenge is playing into the hands of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who’s replaced Hillary Clinton as Republicans’ ur-bitch) by diverting funds from other tight races.

I am not what you would call a political junkie. I am what you would call an average, ordinary citizen who just so happens to read a lot of political stories … well because I am paid to do so.

But after more than a year and a half of reading about “Obama this” and “Clinton that” and “Insert-random-candidate’s-name-here such and such,” I can honestly say I am over it. I am so burned out on “Decision 2008” that even the coverage on “The Daily Show” isn’t funny anymore.

But of course, I will continue to read the “this” and “that” stories because it’s my job.

Georgia Congressman John Barrow endorses Obama
Eds: APNewsNow. May be led.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. John Barrow of Savannah has become the third Georgia Democrat this month to announce his support for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Barrow, who had withheld his endorsement, says Obama has demonstrated that he can work with people from both parties.
“The more I saw and the more closely I watched, the more convinced I was that he was the best choice for bringing us together as a party and as a country,” Barrow said Thursday.
Barrow narrowly won re-election last year and has been a top target for Republicans since first winning his seat in 2004. He is a Democratic superdelegate, meaning he has a vote at this summer’s national convention in Denver. His endorsement of Obama follows those of congressmen David Scott and John Lewis.

Funny, the way he's been voting in Congress, I expected him to endorse McCain.

One of the best pieces of political journalism I’ve read this campaign season came from right-wing blogger Andrew Sullivan, who penned an essay in The Atlantic explaining that the mere act of electing a mixed-race man of foreign origins named Barack Obama will transform the world, showing Them that they are much more like Us than They would care to realize, and vice-versa.

Now, I’m not telling you who I’m voting for, but I went to hear Obama’s top foreign policy advisor, Susan Rice, speak on campus Monday, and she laid out a similar, very convincing case for the senator’s transformative potential.

The headliner's on. Hello, Cleveland!

There's a band of Obama supporters in the nosebleeds.

Hillary's being really nice to Edwards now that he's dropped out.

"The wretched poverty that still stalks us, he made that a centerpiece of his campaign. It's too easy to forget."

She's really getting warmed up on poverty. Too many people don't have bealth care, she says. She wants to automatically raise the minimum wage when congressmen raise their own salaries. She's going off on CEO salaries, tax loopholes for corporations.

Fiscal responsibility: "I don't think we should borrow money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis." I think she stole that from James Marlow.

Here's something for Athenians: she wants wind farms, solar panels, biofuels. Germany's doing it, and we should too. And take tax subsidies away from the oil companies, while we're at it.

"I know we're not going to make any progress until the two oil men leave the White House."