Say what you will about his politics, but it seems President Obama is a very loyal friend. Earlier this year, his high school buddy, Robert “Bobby” Titcomb, was arrested as part of a prostitution sting, after he allegedly approached an undercover police officer for sex in downtown Hawaii (a judge fined him $500 and, if he stays out of trouble for six months, it’s off his record).

During a visit with military families at a Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, a curious baby stuck his fingers into President Obama‘s mouth.

Tonight on the 20/20 holiday special (that’s the one where Sam Donaldson buys a sickly Christmas tree for the pageant and everyone makes fun of him), ABC will air a special interview that Barbara Walters did with Barack and Michelle Obama in which, presumably, Walters explains to them just was they’re so much less fascinating than the Kardashians.

Well, we guess potential Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump didn’t get to where he is today by lacking perseverance. The businessman and TV star has continued his search for President Barack Obama’s birth certificate by tapping people in Hawaii to help him “study” the circumstances surrounding Obama’s birth.

Local media are providing coverage of the tsunami waves threatening Hawaii this morning in the aftermath of the 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan. A “significant tsunami” is expected in Hawaii, and evacuations have been ordered. Emergency officials on the islands have prepared for damage as tsunami warnings are in effect across Hawaii. At 9 a.m. ET, the first waves have begun to hit. “We’re in the beginning of it now,” officials reported via KHON-TV.

A map that declares what each state in the country is worst at has made its rounds this week, leaving many people across America wondering about their fellow citizens. Some states got off easy; after all, it’s not so bad to be highlighted for having the highest cost of living, as Hawaii does. But other those who call Louisiana (the gonorrhea leader), Maine (the dumbest state), or Utah (porn capital of America) home seem to have some explaining to do. Here, a roundup of the opinion from writers around the nation defending their states:

Last week, celebrity journalist Mike Evans told KQRS a story we suspected would stir up a bit of attention: that Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie (pictured) – who has taken a strong, very public stance against birthers’ claim that President Barack Obama may have not beenborn in the U.S. and is thus ineligible to be president – confided in him that he could not procure a copy of Obama’s birth certificate.

Now, Evans is telling Fox News that he is “remorseful and embarrassed” that he gave the impression that such a conversation had transpired.

We have a hunch that this bit of news will get people talking, loudly and over one another: Last week, celebrity journalist Mike Evans, apparently a friend of Hawaii governor Neil Abercrombie, shared a story with KQRS morning radio show listeners about the search for Barack Obama‘s birth certificate. Updated – Evans now admits this story is not true.

In his first interview since being sworn in as Speaker of the House, John Boehner makes it clear he has no questions about President Obama’s birth, saying “the State of Hawaii has said President Obama was born there. That’s good enough for me.”

In the exclusive interview with NBC’s Brian Williams–set to air tonight on NBC Nightly News–Boehner does not say he’ll tell members of Congress to simply put the matter of the president’s birth aside:

The Brits have a bit of motorcade envy, it would seem. The UK’s Daily Mail has done some car-counting in Hawaii, and concluded that President Obama‘s 10-car motorcade (about five times the length of the typical Jaguar-and-a-police-cruiser affairs the British prime minister gets) had “provoked fresh outrage…after taking a 20-man motorcade to visit a childhood friend during his lavish Christmas holiday in Hawaii.”

“I’m not going to let you guys take a picture of me with my shirt off,’’ President Obama said to reporters earlier this year, during a trip to Florida’s Gulf coast. And Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports in the New York Times that the ban on photographing the Commander-in-Chief’s naked torso is also in effect in Hawaii: “The White House gave the press pool traveling with the president strict instructions that there would be no long lenses or other sneaky attempts to take pictures of a shirtless leader of the free world.”

Barack Obama‘s Christmas trip to Hawaii has been a welcome gift for news networks dealing with a relatively slow news cycle during the holidays. MSNBC decided to commemorate the Commander in Chief’s trip by having various contributors sample a variety of traditional Hawaiian foods and try guess which of these perplexing, mysterious dishes was which, all while wishing they were CNN’s Ed Henry, hula dancing on some far-off shore in a truly bitchin’ shirt.

President Obama can’t catch a break on his holiday vacation. First the birth certificate controversy reignited, then his phone call regarding Michael Vick got plenty of people angry, and now just when he thinks he can enjoy a quiet and relaxing game of golf, he almost gets smacked by a golf ball.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year–a time for sledding, hot cocoa, and very little hot news tidbits. So when Hawaiian governor Neil Abercrombie rekindled the dying embers of the birther fire today, the media leapt up like starved piranhas to nip at the scrap. Would a final investigation bury the birther debate once and for all? Would it discover that the birth certificate that was never actually existed? And, just as importantly, what would Orly Taitz, D.D.S., Esq. have to say?

Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie is going to finally put to rest the Birther debate. In an interview with CNN’s Ed Henry, Abercrombie explained that he will try his best to publicly release the birth certificate. The strangest thing is that he plans on doing that even if the White House doesn’t want him to for fear of even bringing the dead argument back up. Why? Because Abercrombie has long been friends with President Obama’s parents and he’s sick of them being disrespected.

Poor President Obama. The guy can get as far away from Washington DC as possible but he still can’t avoid being surrounded by crap. Massive rainstorms in Hawaii have caused sewage leaks all over paradise and right in the area that the Obamas are staying.

The Maui Time, an alternative weekly on Maui, now knows the cover of its next edition as Governor Linda Lingle vetoes a bill approved by the legislature that would have permitted civil unions for same-sex couples.  In an afternoon news conference, Lingle announced that is was a “mistake to allow a decision of this magnitude [...]

RNC Chairman Michael Steele visited Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC earlier today, a month removed from the Voyeur club scandal and four months removed from the RNC’s Hawaii planning meeting. Condemning the RNC for “having luaus” while “we were digging our way out of the snow banks” and getting mostly laughter as a response, Mitchell brought up Voyeur, to which Steele responded: “You mean to tell me not one employee of your organization has done something that the management has not been proud of?” Too soon?

Last night, the right-of-center side of the blogosphere jumped all over President Obama‘s reference to what they thought was a non-existent Hawaiian Earthquake in 2006. Writers for the site Hot Air and Gateway Pundit, used this as an example of a “one size fits all” government-funded solution, and even worse, an example of the presidential cluelessness. Because of course, “Hawaii hasn’t had an earthquake since 1972!” Actually, on this one, Obama was right.

Yesterday, every network and news outlet waited with bated breath while a giant wall of water was supposed to come rushing towards Hawaii’s coast like a scene out of Deep Impact. Luckily it was a Saturday, or no one would have gotten any work done, glued to their TV sets as they were. But the tidal wave, caused by Friday night’s Chilean earthquake, never came…and while we can’t say we’re disappointed that a state wasn’t decimated, we are wondering: who got it wrong?

Within minutes of the earthquake just off of Chile’s coast early this morning, the US Geological Survey had it pegged – an 8+ on the Richter scale, ten times as strong as Haiti’s 7.0. A short time later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration presented a map of expected energy distribution throughout the Pacific Ocean. [...]

World Net Daily correspondent and conservative radio host Lester Kinsolving, with an assist from NBC’s Mike Viqueira, threw more hilariously loaded questions at Robert Gibbs from behind his signature shotgun mic. He touched on some subjects sure to tickle the sensibilities of the birther/global warming denier/dittohead set when he asked Press Secretary Robert Gibbs why it was so cold out, did the President visit the hospital that Rush Limbaugh stayed in in Hawaii, and…just what hospital was the President born in?

President Obama stepped away from his Christmas vacation in Hawaii to hold a short press conference in order to address Friday’s averted terrorist attack aboard Northwest Flight 253 as well as the escalating conflict in Iran. The President appeared without tie, or teleprompter, to reassure the nation that “we will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable” and that “the American people should be assured that we are doing everything in our power to you keep you and your family safe and secure during this busy holiday season.”

Sarah Palin’s weird attempt to remain incognito on the beaches of Hawaii (and/or the lack of sun hats for sale there) have completely backfired. After blacking out John McCain’s name from a visor she donned for anonymous, vacation beach going this week, which blew up into a national news story thanks to some intrepid TMZ reporting, Palin has announced she is cutting her family holiday short.