The White House press loves to complain about the terrible treatment they all endure, stuck in the basement of the White House waiting for hours to be lied to. So it may do them some good to see what real repression is like. How about this upcoming Saudi Arabia trip?

Here is the U.S. State Department's instructions for journalists traveling with President Obama to Saudi Arabia later this week:

The Saudi government is permitting journalists accompanying President Obama entry into the country without a visa or the usual customs procedures. While in Saudi Arabia, therefore, journalists are expressly prohibited from leaving the hotel or engaging in any journalistic activities outside of coverage of the POTUS visit. Those who do so risk arrest and detention by Saudi authorities.

Oh no! How will Ed Henry ever find out what King Abdullah's most "transcendent moment" has been, thus far?

Whoops! Meanwhile, while all the journalists are locked in their hotel, Obama will be dining with King Abdullah begging him to make the oil cheaper again, so that he can tax it, in order to save General Motors. Amnesty International would like the President to maybe ask the king about all those political prisoners they're probably holding in secret, too.