President Obama says Tiger Woods is a terrific golfer
During an interview on the Fox News network, President Barack Obama weighed in on Tiger Woods’ decision to compete in the Masters.
He said Woods acknowledged he betrayed his family, but he’s still a terrific golfer. The 30-second video clip is posted below via TMZ.
White House will not preempt “Lost” season premiere
President Barack Obama’s star power was no match for the force of the ABC television show “Lost.”
Fanatics of the show were in a panic all month long since learning the president was considering Feb. 2 as a possible date for the State of the Union Address.
Fans even organized Twitter and message boards campaign to build support in an effort to persuade the White House not to schedule the address during the Feb. 2 season premiere of “Lost.”
During a briefing earlier this month with the press corps, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked whether the president was aware of the Internet storm regarding fans begging him not to schedule the State of the Union address during “Lost.”
“I don’t foresee a scenario in which the millions of people that hope to finally get some conclusion in “Lost” are pre-empted by the president,” Gibbs said during a press conference.
“Lost” fans have been impatiently waiting to watch the two-hour season premiere Feb. 2. Fans will finally get to see what happened after Juliet detonated a hydrogen bomb. They want to know if Juliet is dead or alive, and not even the president can prevent that from happening.
Apparently, their crybaby campaign worked. The State of the Union Address will be at 8 p.m. Wednesday (Jan. 27, central time).
Spokeswoman: No terrorist attack in Bush’s term
Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman for President Bush, made a bizarre comment on the Fox News Channel.
During an interview with Sean Hannity, Perino was criticizing President Obama for not calling the recent Fort Hood shootings “a terrorist attack.”
During the interview, she tried to praise President Bush by saying “We did NOT have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.”
But before she criticizes President Obama and defends her former boss President Bush, she might want to get her facts straight.
We DID get attacked during President Bush’s term. It was the worst terrorist attack in American history. It’s referred to as September 11th. I know it wasn’t Bush’s fault, but it DID happen during his term.
I’m not sure why Perino would say a terrorist attack never happened on Bush’s watch. I hope this was a slip of the tongue.
The video clip is posted below.
Dick Cheney’s daughter criticizes Obama
Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is doing something that I enjoy doing myself. She’s exercising her right to free speech and her right to criticize politicians (which I often do myself).
Liz Cheney recently created an organization titled Keep America Safe. The purpose of the organization is to oppose President Barack Obama’s foreign policy.
Liz made the following statement on the organization’s Web site, “We have watched with concern and dismay as the Obama administration has cut defense spending, wavered on the war in Afghanistan, and launched investigations into Americans serving on the front lines of the war on terror, while at the same time expanding legal protections for the terrorists that plot to attack this country. These policies, along with President Obama’s abandonment of America’s allies and attempts to appease our adversaries are weakening the nation.”
Again, I’m a huge supporter of free speech. I just wish Liz would also use the Web site to mention how her father (Dick Cheney) was responsible for leading us into the Iraq War by falsely telling Americans that Saddaam Hussein was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.
If anything, leading us into a war for false reasons weakened our nation more than anything President Obama has done.
President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
President Barack Obama speaking at Cairo University in Egypt. (AP Photo by Ben Curtis)
President Barack Obama was selected as a Nobel Peach Prize winner on Friday. The full Associated Press story is posted below via NewsOK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS BY KARL RITTER AND MATT MOORE
President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.
Nobel observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama woke up to the news a little before 6 a.m. EDT. The White House had no immediate comment on the announcement, which took the administration by surprise.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to inform Obama before the announcement because it didn’t want to wake him up, committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.
“Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn’t really something you do,” Jagland said.
The Nobel Committee lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama’s calls for peace and cooperation but recognized initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,” Jagland said.
Obama’s election and foreign policy moves caused a dramatic improvement in the image of the U.S. around the world. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush.
Still, the U.S. remains at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress has yet to pass a law reducing carbon emissions and there has been little significant reduction in global nuclear stockpiles since Obama took office.
“So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act,” said former Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate.
“This is probably an encouragement for him to act. Let’s see if he perseveres. Let’s give him time to act,” Walesa said.
The award appeared to be a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama’s predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Nobel committee praised Obama’s creation of “a new climate in international politics” and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage.
“You have to remember that the world has been in a pretty dangerous phase,” Jagland said. “And anybody who can contribute to getting the world out of this situation deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.”
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by a five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Like the Parliament, the committee has a leftist slant, with three members elected by left-of-center parties. Jagland said the decision to honor Obama was unanimous.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who won the prize in 1984, said Obama’s award shows great things are expected from him in coming years.
“It’s an award coming near the beginning of the first term of office of a relatively young president that anticipates an even greater contribution towards making our world a safer place for all,” Tutu said. “It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama’s message of hope.”
Until seconds before the award, speculation had focused on a wide variety of candidates besides Obama: Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator, a Chinese dissident and an Afghan woman’s rights activist, among others. The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year’s prize, though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Obama.
“The exciting and important thing about this prize is that it’s given to someone … who has the power to contribute to peace,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.
Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the award: President Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919.
Wilson received the prize for his role in founding the League of Nations, the hopeful but ultimately failed precursor to the contemporary United Nations.
The Nobel committee chairman said after awarding the 2002 prize to former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, for his mediation in international conflicts, that it should be seen as a “kick in the leg” to the Bush administration’s hard line in the buildup to the Iraq war.
Five years later, the committee honored Bush’s adversary in the 2000 presidential election, Al Gore, for his campaign to raise awareness about global warming.
Obama was to meet with his top advisers on the Afghan war on Friday to consider a request by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, to send as many as 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan as the U.S war there enters its ninth year.
Obama ordered 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan earlier this year and has continued the use of unmanned drones for attacks on militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, a strategy devised by the Bush administration. The attacks often kill or injure civilians living in the area.
In July talks in Moscow, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed that their negotiators would work out a new limit on delivery vehicles for nuclear warheads of between 500 and 1,100. They also agreed that warhead limits would be reduced from the current range of 1,700-2,200 to as low as 1,500. The United States now as about 2,200 such warheads, compared to about 2,800 for the Russians.
But there has been no word on whether either side has started to act on the reductions.
Former Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, said Obama has already provided outstanding leadership in the effort to prevent nuclear proliferation.
“In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself,” ElBaradei said. “He has shown an unshakeable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts.”
Obama also has attempted to restart stalled talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, but just a day after Obama hosted the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in New York, Israeli officials boasted that they had fended off U.S. pressure to halt settlement construction. Moderate Palestinians said they felt undermined by Obama’s failure to back up his demand for a freeze.
Nominators for the prize include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation welcomed the award on behalf of its founder Nelson Mandela, who shared the 1993 Peace Prize with then-South African President F.W. DeKlerk for their efforts at ending years of apartheid and laying the groundwork for a democratic country.
“We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty,” the foundation said.
In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”
The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel’s guidelines, expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat poverty, disease and climate change.
President Obama says Kanye West is a jackass
The controversy involving Kanye West’s and Taylor Swift’s incident at the MTV Video Music Awards has penetrated the walls of the White House.
During an interview with CNBC, President Barack Obama called Kanye a “jackass” when asked about his thoughts on the ingredient.
He said “I thought that was really inappropriate. He’s a jackass.”
Although I agree Kanye was a “jackass” for rudely interrupting Taylor Swift’s speech, I was surprised the president of the United States weighed in on this issue.
Since he’s juggling health care, fixing our terrible economy and managing a war overseas, who knew he had time to fit the Taylor Swift and Kanye West discussion into his busy schedule.
In Obama’s defense, he made the comment BEFORE the interview actually began, and he was unaware that it was going to be recorded. He assumed it was off-the-record.
TMZ obtained a leaked version of the audiotape, and the off-the-record transcript is posted below.
Interviewer: Were your girls as hacked off as mine were that Kanye gave Taylor Swift the Joe Wilson treatment?
Obama: “I thought that was really inappropriate. You know it was like she’s getting an award. Why are you butting in? I hear you. I agree with you.”
Interviewer: So does that count as the first question?
Obama: “The young lady seems like a perfectly nice person. She’s getting her award. What’s he doing up there? He’s a jackass. No, now this… all this stuff, I’m assuming all this stuff. Where’s the pool? Come on guys. Cut the president some slack. I got a lot of other stuff on my plate. Yeah. Cause I remember last time it was the fly thing.”
Interviewer: No that worked out well for you. You were a ninja.
Obama: Except PETA.
Obama family tours national parks
The Obama family took a tour of the national parks during the past week, including Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park.
A photo gallery is posted below. Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Obama protester rips up Rosa Parks poster
Rosa Parks was arrested in 1956 after refusing to sit in the back of the bus during the segregation era. Her actions helped initiate the Civil Rights Movement. (AP photo)
I support free speech. It’s one of the greatest freedoms we have in this country.
Many protesters who oppose President Obama’s health care plan have been heckling members of Congress during their town hall meetings.
If you don’t like the president’s health care plan, that’s fine. I support your right to protest.
But when you disrespect Rosa Parks, the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, that’s where I draw the line.
According to Politico, during a health care town hall meeting hosted by Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri, a few women were holding posters of Rosa Parks. Then, the crowd began booing them.
When one woman unrolled her poster, an angry man went up to her, grabbed the poster and tore it up.
When the woman tried to get her poster back from the protester, she along with the protester were escorted out of the building.
Freedom of speech goes both ways. The protester had the right to be angry and vocal about his irritation with President Obama’s health care plan.
But the Obama supporter also had the right to hold a Rosa Parks poster if she wanted to without having it ripped up.
A video clip of the incident is posted below.
President Obama is black and lucky?
The Financial Times columnist Niall Ferguson wrote a column in the publication comparing President Obama to Felix the Cat.
He wrote “President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US as he takes a well-earned summer break after just over six months in the world’s biggest and toughest job.”
Earlier this year, the New York Post created a little controversy when they ran an editorial cartoon that compared President Obama to a chimpanzee.
I don’t know if it’s something in the water, but why do some people have a habit of comparing President Obama to animals?????
President Obama apologized for comments about Special Olympics
President Barack Obama was a guest March 19 on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. (AP photo)
President Barack Obama issued an apology in reference to a comment he made about the Special Olympics while appearing on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno.
During his appearance on the show March 19, the president was talking about how terrible his bowling skills are. He compared his bowling skills to the athlete’s skills in the Special Olympics. (Which is for athletes who have disabilities).
After realizing what he did, the president called Special Olympics chairman Tim Shriver to apologize.
On “Good Morning America,” Shriver said the president “expressed his disappointment and he apologized in a way that was very moving. He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population.”
”I think it’s important to see that words hurt and words do matter. And these words that in some respect can be seem as humiliating or a put down to people with special needs do cause pain and they do result in stereotypes.”
Shriver also said the president expressed interest in inviting some of the Special Olympics athletes to the White House to play basketball or to bowl.
He insults them then he invites them to the White House. Is that how he operates now?
On a serious note, I believe the president is genuinely sorry for his remarks. He was talking with Jay Leno, so he was probably just trying to be funny, which is okay.
But next time he should be funny by making jokes about Republicans or his other political rivals, and he should leave the Special Olympics alone.
Tim Henley
President Obama is more popular than Jesus Christ
President Barack Obama is more popular than our savior Jesus Christ.
According to a new Harris Poll released this week, Americans named President Obama as their number one hero. Jesus Christ came in second place and Martin Luther King Jr. placed third.
Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John McCain, John F. Kennedy and Mother Teresa also made the list.
Although I think President Obama is a good guy, there’s no way I would rank him ahead of Jesus if I was participating in this poll.
Considering the fact that Jesus is God’s right-hand man, and he probably will help determine whether I go to heaven or hell, I think it’s safe to say that my vote will go to Jesus on this one.
Tim Henley
President Obama discusses A-Rod scandal
Baseball star Alex Rodriguez aka A-Rod recently admitted he used to take steroids.
During President Obama’s televised news conference at the White House, a reporter asked Obama what he thought about the A-Rod scandal and he replied,
“I think it’s depressing news on top of what’s been a flurry of depressing items when it comes to major league baseball. And if you’re a fan of major league baseball, I think it tarnishes an entire era, to some degree. And it’s unfortunate, because I think there are a lot of ballplayers who played it straight.”
“What I’m pleased about is major league baseball seems to finally be taking this seriously, to recognize how big a problem this is for the sport, and that our kids hopefully are watching and saying, ‘You know what? There are no short cuts, that when you try to take short cuts, you may end up tarnishing your entire career, and that your integrity’s not worth it. That’s the message I hope is communicated.”
I think it’s okay if President Obama has an opinion about A-Rod and steroid use, but I don’t think this press conference was the appropriate place to discuss this topic.
The reporter never should have asked this question. We are stuck in a war in Iraq that keeps dragging on, we have the worst economy since the Great Depression and workers are getting laid off left and right.
I prefer my president focus on these important issues instead of discussing A-Rod. Let the Major League Baseball organization be concerned about A-Rod.
Tim Henley
Barack Obama’s brother arrested
He’s only been in office for two weeks, but President Barack Obama’s relatives are already misbehaving.
The president’s half brother George Obama was arrested in Kenya on a complaint of marijuana possession. The good news is the two brothers barely know each other, and they have little contact.
Therefore, we won’t have to worry about him trying peer pressure the president into experimenting with any substances.
A piece of advice for George Obama. If your brother recently became president of a country, please don’t draw negative attention to your family. At least wait until his second term in office.
Tim Henley
Beyonce sang to Barack and Michelle Obama
In a very touching moment, Beyonce serenaded Barack and Michelle Obama during an inaugural ball.
Beyonce sang the Etta James classic song “At Last” while the new president and first lady danced.
The clip is posted below.
Beyonce and Mariah Carey will perform for Obama’s inauguration ball
Beyonce has been selected to sing for Barack and Michelle Obama during their first official dance Tuesday at an inauguration ball, and Mariah Carey will perform her hit song “Hero.”
Beyonce’s song of choice? She will be performing “At Last” by Etta James. Beyonce recently portrayed Etta James in the film “Cadillac Records.”
To hear Beyonce perform “At Last” during VH1′s Fashion Rocks event, watch the clip below.
My New Year’s resolution for celebrities (part 1)
– My News Year’s resolution for Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson is for them to tell us the truth soon about whether they are pregnant. They keep denying media reports that they are pregnant, but yet, we keep seeing photos of them gaining weight. Please show us the pregnancy test results so we can put this behind us once and for all.
– My New Year’s resolution for Barack Obama is for him to stay away from all religious pastors. First, he got in trouble for associating himself with Rev. Jeremiah Wright who blamed America for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Now, he’s under heavy scrutiny for selecting Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. Warren has a history of making derogatory statments about gay people.
– My New Year’s resolution for MTV is for that network to start airing music videos again. MTV stands for Music Televsion, but they rarely air music videos. They typically only air reality shows. Maybe they should change the the name to RTV (Reality Television).
– My New Year’s resolution for Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie and Kim Kardashian is for them to find a real full-time job. I get annoyed when I see them making millions even though they don’t have a job.
– My New Year’s resolution for Caroline Kennedy is for her to stay away from the U.S. Senate. Just because her last name is Kennedy, that doesn’t mean she should be appointed to that seat.
– My New Year’s resolution for George W. Bush is for him to NEVER run for public office again. No explanation needed.
– My New Year’s resolution for Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen is for them to gain some weight. It’s very unhealthy for adult women to weigh 75 pounds. They need to go to McDonald’s and eat a couple of Big Mac’s, fries and an apple pie every day this year until they tip the scale at 105 pounds.
– My New Year’s resolution for Tyler Perry is for him to take his sitcom “House of Pain” off the air permantently. That is the worst sitcom I have ever seen.
Tim Henley
Most admired men and women in America
A USA Today Gallup that was released this week ranks the most admired men America. It’s no surprise that President-Elect Barack Obama came in first place in the male category.
What’s most shocking is that President George W. Bush still came in second place despite a terrible economy and an unpopular war.
In the female category, our future Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was ranked number one. She has been ranked number one 13 times during the past 16 years.
The most shocking thing about this category is that Sarah Palin outranked Oprah Winfrey.
Most Admired Men in America
1. Barack Obama – 32 percent
2. George W. Bush – 5 percent
3. John McCain – 3 percent
4. (tie) Bill Clinton, Pope Benedict XVI and Billy Graham – 2 percent
Most Admired Women in America
1. Hillary Clinton – 20 percent
2. Sarah Palin – 11 percent
3. Oprah Winfrey – 8 percent
4. Condoleezza Rice – 7 percent
5. Michelle Obama – 3 percent
RuPaul’s new drag show
Crossdressing entertainer RuPaul is starting a new drag queen reality show. RuPaul’s Drag Race will begin airing sometime next year on the Logo Channel.
Meanwhile, RuPaul has been doing some photo promotions for the show, and he dressed up as Michelle and Barack Obama. The photo is below. Take a look.
Barack and Michelle Obama on the cover of Essence magazine
President-elect Barack Obama and future first lady Michelle Obama will be on the cover of the latest issue of Essence magazine.
I’m glad they are on the cover of this magazine, but it appears to me that the photos might be airbrushed a little too much. It kind of looks too fake.
The magazine will be on newsstands Dec. 12. Take a look at the photos below. The photographer went overboard with the airbrushing.
Celebrities react to Barack Obama’s victory
Celebrities have long supported the Democratic candidates during presidential elections.
They supported Al Gore in 2000, and he lost (thanks to the Supreme Court), they supported John Kerry in 2004, and he lost.
The supported Barack Obama this year, and he won. Celebrities finally have a victory notch in their belt.
Barack Obama easily won the presidential election Tuesday night earning 349 electoral votes giving him enough to win the election.
Here are reactions from celebrities who backed the candidate……
“It feels like hope won. It feels like there’s a shift in consciousness. It feels like something really big and bold has happened here, like nothing ever in our lifetimes did we expect this to happen.” (Oprah Winfrey, The BBC)
“I’m speechless, honestly. I don’t even know what to say. Barack Obama doesn’t represent a color. He represents change.” (from singer Usher, Access Hollwood)
“My parents met working for Obama’s running mate on one of his early campaigns. If it weren’t for Joe Biden, I would not exist as a human being. I am proud to be a part of history in the making.” (singer Pete Wentz, People magazine)
“I congratulate President-elect Obama on his historic victory, and now it’s time to begin unifying the country so we can take on the extraordinary challenges that this generation faces.” (actor George Clooney, Entertainment Tonight)
“I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office, and that may not be true but that’s how much power it felt like I had.” (P. Diddy, People magazine)
“This is my proudest day as an American. We have elected a leader that represents change and unity. Barack Obama has carved his place in history as a true beacon of hope.” (Nick Cannon, MTV)
“Hey, the American people spoke. They elected Barack Obama as our president and our new Commander in Chief, and I’m behind that 100 percent. (Joe the Plumber, The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.
Below are some Associated Press photos of the Obama family before the acceptance speech.
Barbra Streisand holds a fundraiser for Barack Obama
Barbra Streisand held a fundraiser for Barak Obama this week, and the event brought in $9 million for Obama’s presidential campaign.
Several celebrities attended the event and mingled with Obama, including Will Ferrell, Chris Rock, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jodie Foster, Jamie Lee Curtis and Steven Spielberg among others
Barbra Streisand has always been active in raising political awareness, but I have some advice for celebrities….. If you want to see a Democrat in the White House, then you need to keep a low profile and stop publicly rallying around a particular candidate.
Celebrities rallied around Al Gore, and that didn’t help him any. They rallied around John Kerry, and that didn’t help him any. Now, they are rallying around Barack Obama, and it might not help him either.
If they want to see a Democrat win the presidency again, they need to stop publicly supporting him because the public tends to vote the exact opposite from what the celebrities want them to do.
Tim Henley
