Davey D interviews Paul Mooney as they discuss the topics of President Barack Obama and the haters, the Richard Pryor skit he did about being the first black President 30 years ago, and Tiger Woods.
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From StarBulletin.com:
A former Manoa resident sent President Barack Obama an old photo of the two of them taken while they were third-grade classmates at Noelani Elementary School, requesting an autograph more than six months ago. He recently received the autographed picture back, as well as a personally signed thank-you note.
Scott Inoue, now a chiropractor in Stockton, Calif., said the small, black-and-white photo had been stashed away for almost 40 years at his childhood home in Manoa. For some reason, Inoue said, as he was growing up he always remembered that photo and wondered what became of “Barry.”
The picture — with the words “Scott & Barry 3rd grade 1969? scribbled at the bottom by Inoue’s mother — shows Obama almost a head taller than Inoue, with their arms around each other. Against a background of Christmas tree drawings, Obama is smiling more broadly than the shyer-looking Inoue.
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From USA Today
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine hosted his last call-in radio show this morning and greeted a guest who employed a surprise moniker:
“Barry from DC.”
Turned out to be none other than Pennsylvania Avenue resident Barack Obama.
“Barry” dialed in to “Ask The Governor” to pay tribute to the man he almost picked for vice president and did tap for Democratic Party chair — after first joking that he wanted to complain about traffic in Northern Virginia.
“Rather than go there, I just wanted to say how proud we are of your service as governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” the president told Kaine.
Check Out “Barry From D.C.”
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President Barack Obama was interviewed by Tom Joyner on his radio program this morning. Here it is.
President Barack Obama on “The Tom Joyner Morning Show”
TOM JOYNER: This is a very special day on the TJMS because we have the president of the United States on the phone. Good morning, sir.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: What’s going on, Tom?
How you doing?
I am doing great, and I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season. I hope everyone is having a great Christmas. I know folks here in D.C. got hung up here with a little snow, but overall, I hope everybody is having a great time.
Are you calling from the White House or from Air Force One?
I am calling from the Oval Office. Just as I speak, I am looking out over the South Lawn, and it is covered with snow. We got our Christmas tree up. Yesterday, Bo was jumping through the snow and then tried to rush into the Oval Office and get everyone wet. So it’s quite a scene around here.
When are you guys leaving for Hawaii?
You know, it depends on how soon the Senate can make that last vote on health care. It may end up being Christmas Eve, but we are on the brink of something historic here, so I want to make sure I’m here to solve any last-minute problems.
Are you ready for Christmas?
You know, here’s a good thing: Michelle and I made a bargain about 10 years ago that we don’t buy each other Christmas presents.
Oh, good one.
But she makes me pay during her birthday and our anniversary. It doesn’t save me money, but it does save me some wrapping time. So basically we just have to make sure the kids are taken care of, and these days, they don’t ask for too much. They like a lot of iPod stuff and video game stuff, books …
And what do they get you?
Listen, I don’t get nothing. It’s just like Father’s Day. You know, you get a tie. So that’s how that rolls.
I know, I know. Yeah, and then you open the gifts and you go, “Ahh, nice.”
That’s a great looking tie.
Oh, look, this one lights up!
(Laughter) That’s exactly right, but it’s the thought that counts. All I need from them is some hugs, and I’m happy.
Well, this is going to be a tough Christmas for a lot of Americans.
Yeah.
Especially African-Americans. So we’re going to have to really dig deep to celebrate, and we can only do that by remembering the true meaning of what Christmas is all about this year, a lot of us.
Well, listen, we’ve just gone through the toughest year we’ve had at least since 1981 and maybe since 1933. So there are a lot of folks hurting out there.
What do you have to say to the struggling people this Christmas?
Well, I think the main message I have is a) I know you’re hurting. I get letters from people across the country everyday that I read, and you know, the stories are heartbreaking. Folks are worried about losing their homes. They’ve lost their jobs. They’re trying to figure out how they can still pay for their kids’ college education. They’ve been sending out resumes, and nothing’s happening. They’ve lost their health care. The main message I have for them is help is on the way. I know it’s not coming as quick for some as we would like, but our first job this year was to make sure that the economy just didn’t collapse because then it would have been even worse. We could have had an unemployment rate that is double what it is right now. We’ve stabilized the economy and it’s starting to grow again.
I think slowly people are starting to hire back again, so I’m very confident that 2010 is going to be better than 2009. In the meantime, what we try to do is make sure that things like unemployment insurance is in place. That the Cobra program is cheaper so that people can buy health insurance or keep their health insurance if they’ve lost their job. Made sure that states had budgets, budget assistance so that they wouldn’t have to lay off teachers, police officers and other vital services. So we’re making progress on that front.
By the way, people need to understand that one out of every five African-Americans do not have health care. Nobody stands to gain more from this health care bill passing – 30 million people who are going to get health care from this insurance deal. It’s going to be disproportionately people who are of low-income. They work every day, but they’re not getting health care, so that’s going to be in place. But then next year, we’ve also got to focus on things like the education reforms that we’ve been initiating. Additional child care dollars. Setting up green jobs so that we can train some of those young men on the street to weatherize homes and put up insulation, put in new windows. That saves people on their energy bills, but also starts refurbishing and revitalizing communities that have been neglected too long. So there’s some long term projects to revitalize communities that are going to be in place next year, and I’m confident that 2010 is going to be better than 2009. And I think 2011 is going to be better than 2010.
We just want to keep making steady progress for a more just and equal society, and that may not be complete consolation for folks who are really struggling right now. Just know that Michelle and I are thinking about them every day. As I said to one interviewer the other day, it’s not as if Michelle and I don’t have relatives who are going though this stuff and are unemployed. One of the things about being part of the African American community is that no matter how well you do, you know there’s somebody in your family that’s still hurting because we’re not that far away from the neighborhood. And people need to know that I carry their stories with me whenever I come into the Oval Office.
You told us when we last talked, and it’s been about a year, that it was going to be tough, and it was going to be a tough job ahead. You warned us about it when we talked to you. So what’s been the toughest part for the first year as the first African-American president?
You know the truth is that I probably had more crises on my desk than any president since FDR, and that’s just subjectively speaking. You think about two wars, the economic crisis, the banking crisis, swine flu, we just had a lot of stuff coming at us quickly. I think we have managed it well, but the thing that I think is the toughest is, number-one, that the job growth is not as quick as we’d like. We’ve got the economy growing, but companies are not hiring back yet, and so we’re doing everything we can to try to push companies now that they’re making a profit again to start hiring some of those folks who were laid off so that they can further support the economy. Because if a worker is getting a paycheck, that means he’s spending buying products, buying services, circulating that money in the neighborhood, and that lifts everybody up. We’ve still got something of a crisis of confidence in the business community when it comes to hiring, and that’s been a very challenging thing ‘cause, you know, you can’t force a company to hire somebody; all you can do is give them incentives to hire.
And then the second thing is Afghanistan. You know, when you go out, and you meet family members of fallen soldiers, nothing weighs on you more heavily, so the decision I had to make to try to initiate a surge to get some folks in there help train Afghans and stabilize the situation so we can start pulling our troops out in a couple of years was a very difficult decision. And it’s a big tough messy situation. There were no good answers to it. I think we came up with the best possible plan, but it still has risks involved, and you know that some young men and women may not come home as a consequence of that decision. And that weighs on you pretty heavily.
You mentioned the swine flu, and I understand that you got your H1N1 shot just the other day.
I just got my shot the other day.
A lot of us are scared. A lot of us in our community are scared. We don’t think it’s safe.
Well, listen, here’s the main message I have to everybody who is listening. Michelle and I had Malia and Sasha get that shot about a month and a half, two months ago, when it first became available to kids. If people think that I would let my daughters, the most precious things in my life, get a shot that wasn’t safe, they’re crazy. So if the president and the First Lady are having their children get a shot, then you need to get your kids at least their shot. Because the problem with H1N1 is that unlike seasonal flu, which disproportionately affects older Americans, the H1N1 disproportionately affects younger Americans – particularly children. We’ve got a high rate of children who have asthma and underlying issues, health issues that make them more vulnerable, and so the mortality rate can still be significant. Heaven forbid that because somebody didn’t want to get their kid vaccinated finds their children really sick. We’ve already had two of my senior staff’s children who didn’t get shots had swine flu and had to be hospitalized, and they were perfectly healthy little girls. So I would really strongly urge everybody who is listening, you can now get a flu shot. Ask the school where your child attends where to go get it if you don’t already have that information or if you don’t have a regular doctor, but go ahead and at least make sure your child is vaccinated. And now we have enough vaccine for adults to be vaccinated. I just got mine yesterday. It didn’t hurt, and it gives you some added protection against what can be a pretty serious disease. And although there was a peak H1N1 wave that came through last month, usually with flu seasons, there is another wave that will be coming up after Christmas, so now is the best time to get it.
So, we’re not out of the woods. Now, at the Christmas party there at the White House, you couldn’t see (Bill) O’Reilly and the other Fox news people at the party all frowned up, and they were eating up all the shrimp and the ham. Drinking all the liquor. I mean, the people that bad mouth you were there at your party. How hard is it to deal with that – or does it make you stronger and more determined?
Well, look, first of all, they all got their pictures taken with me.
I know!
So, I think that’s part of the Christmas spirit, and Michelle and I try to kill them with kindness. Michelle starts hugging all of them.
Ha, ha – I saw that.
‘Oh, it’s great to see you!’ And you know, look, the thing about a lot that goes on in cable news – and you know this better than anybody Tom – I mean, these guys fundamentally are entertainers. They are often times not thinking from a journalistic perspective; they are thinking, ‘How can we generate some controversy to boost our ratings?’ You know, the difference between you and them is you’re explicit about the fact that you’re entertaining people, and some of the stuff they try to pass off as news. My hope is that with the health care debate winding down, we get that done. The people, everybody takes a deep breath and remembers that everybody’s an American. I’ve got my birth certificate to prove it. We are all just trying to do what’s best for the country. We’re gonna have our differences, but we don’t have to attack each other’s motives which I think has become a habit in Washington. You know you know me pretty well, Tom, and I’m always an optimist. I don’t hold grudges, and I’m just interested in getting the job done.
Well, I’m here for you. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We’ll always be here for you. On the King holiday, I’m doing a town hall meeting in Houston on the campus of Texas Southern, and it’s going to be on MSNBC. Chris Matthews and I are hosting, and it’s going to be called “Hope and Fear in Obama’s America.”
Well, you know, I might watch that! I might watch that. But, you know, I think the main message that I’ve got for the African American community as we go into this next year is that this has been a hard one. It’s been a tough one. But Michelle and I are so blessed by the support that we receive, and everywhere we go, people come up to us and say, “We’re praying for you, thinking about you and rooting for you.” I just want everybody to know that goes both ways, and I’m praying for all your listeners and thinking about all your listeners, and we’re rooting for you. And that’s not just Michelle and me – that’s Malia and Sasha, the first grandmother.
How’s Mrs. Robinson doing?
You know, she’s doing fine. You know, at first she didn’t want to come here. You know how folks get; they’ve been living in the same house for 40 years, and they say, “I’m not moving,” and “I don’t need all that fuss.” And we said, “Well, do it for us for three months because we need help with the transition,” and she said okay. And then she got here, and she’s got a life! Now suddenly, you know, she’s been using that box at the Kennedy Center, going out with Betty Curry, Bill Clinton’s old secretary, and they’ve been having fun. So she’s quite the lady about town. But the nice thing is that she just walks out the gate and goes over to CVS and starts doing her shopping or whatever.
Well, give Mrs. Robinson a hug for me.
You know I will.
And the First Lady and the children. And give the dog a high-five.
Alright, Tom. It was great to see the family, and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Happy holidays, sir.
Happy holidays.
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On NBC’s, Meet The Press, Tavis Smiley continued his ongoing criticism of President Obama. He reffered to Obama’s upcoming victory on health care refom as small change. Here’s what he had to say.
“Throughout the campaign, the president promised change, We have change on the horizon here but, unfortunately, it’s small change. I find myself kind of like John McCain agreeing with Howard Dean, here I am agreeing with my friend Joe Scarborough.”
“I think the real winners here are the insurance industry. They’re, they’re the–yeah, they’re the ones who win here. I mean, you, you, you walk through that list, David, of those points you put up earlier. The president wanted the public option, the industry said no. The president wanted to tax their windfall profits, the industry said no. The president wanted to do a variety of things, the industry pushed back. And here’s the problem for me. It’s not just, David, that we’re not getting the kind of health care that we were promised we were going to get, it’s that in the president’s first big fight with a powerful lobby in Washington, the White House lost and they lost big. And that, I think, portends something very dangerous down the road for all the other issues we have to deal with where lobbies are going to be pushing back on the White House.”
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Gloria Estefan’s interview with President Obama—conducted for a Univision Christmas special—didn’t exactly delve into immigration reform or health care. Politico offers up the complete transcript. Some of the, uh, highlights:
* Urgent matters: “I have a very important question to start off this interview,” Estefan says. “Which chimney will Santa be coming down?”
* Diplomatic relations: Regarding Santa, Obama says he wants to make sure when the big guy comes to the White House “that he feels like he is getting good service.”
* Domestic affairs: Upon finding out Obama feels “lucky” to have his mother-in-law living at the White House, Gloria gushes, “That’s wonderful. I loved my mother-in-law as well.
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Wyclef and Will Smith traveled to Oslo, Norway to pay tribute to President Barack Obama’s peace prize. Check out will Smith beat-boxing for Wyclef at the end.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs says the hip hop community should take partial credit in the election of America’s first black president.
“I think we are probably responsible for Obama being in office, yes. If nobody else is gonna say it, then I’m gonna say it,” he tells Playboy magazine. “The confidence, the swagger we instilled in our communities made that possible.
Diddy also said he would mind of the president decided to bring him into the White House to be the First Son..
“I met him (Obama) twice… If God said I could pick one person to be my father, I’d want to be Sean Combs Obama. That’s how dope he is. I hope he reads this interview and adopts me.
“I wouldn’t even need to be in the will. I got my own money.”
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“Will and Jada Pinkett Smith talk to CNN’s Dan Lothian to discuss Nobel Peace Prize recipient President Barack Obama.” - CNN
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How embarrassing for White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers and her incompetent staff:
It seems that an uninvited couple showed up at a White House checkpoint for Barack Obama’s 1st state dinner on Nov. 24, and simply walked in like they owned the place.
Michaele Salahi — who is a cast member on the 1st season of ‘Real Housewives of DC’ - and her husband, millionaire Tareq Salahi, attended the prestigious White House dinner without an invite and later posted pictures of their escapade on Facebook.
The Salahis posted pics of themselves posing with WH chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, Vice President Joe Biden and marines on the White House lawn.
Bravo cameras followed the couple throughout the day on Tuesday as they prepared for the party, but the cameras were not on White House grounds that night, according to a Bravo spokesman.
At first the White House lied and said the couple never got close to the president. It took 3 days for a picture of the couple schmoozing with Barack Obama at the dinner to surface online.
When the AP asked WH social secretary Desiree Rogers whether she or anyone from her office were at the checkpoint to receive the guests, she answered curtly, “We were not.”
isn’t that her job to make sure someone is at the checkpoint to see that her invited guests get in OK and to keep uninvited guests out? Maybe if Desiree tended to her job a little better instead of worrying about being on the social scene, this kind of scandal could have been avoided.
Now everyone’s pointing fingers and the Secret Service is scrambling to explain how this couple got through their supposedly strict security procedures. A spokesman for the SS acknowledged that protocol was not followed that night.
Ronald Kessler, author of a book on the Secret Service, said in an interview:
“While the couple did pass through a magnetometer to detect weapons, they could have assassinated the president or vice president using other means — anthrax, for example. The additional security checks referred to by the Secret Service spokesman screen for such items as radiological contamination but would not detect secreted biological weapons.”
And let’s not forget that somewhere within the hallowed halls of the White, the Obamas children were sleeping soundly. Their lives could have been endangered by this unprecedented lapse in security.
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SandraRose.com Reports:
Those of us who run our own websites and blogs understand that being ranked highly in Google’s search engine equals more ad revenue.
So it is with shock and surprise that a blog with an extremely racist image of The First lady Michelle Obama is ranked #1 in search engine results for her name. Does that make sense?
Well, Google seems to think so. In response to the outpouring of criticism, Google took out ad space to explain the algorithms they use to rank blog pages:
“The beliefs and preferences of those who work at Google, as well as the opinions of the general public, do not determine or impact our search results… Google views the integrity of our search results as an extremely important priority. Accordingly, we do not remove a page from our search results simply because its content is unpopular or because we receive complaints concerning it.“
Google did end up removing the offending blog from its search results — not because of the offensive image, but because the blog contained malware of spyware that compromised the computers of readers.
This PSA was made to encourage children to live healthier lives. It promotes Play 60 and United We Serve which encourages kids to exercise and adults to volunteer in their community. Also in the commercial is Adrien Peterson and Eli Manning.
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In this clip: GQ’s Men of the Year, Mya Dancing with the Stars, The Revolution of Black Online Webisodes.
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From The New York Daily News
Fans expecting to see Tracy Jordan at Tracy Morgan’s Carnegie Hall performance Friday night got a rude awakening.
The bawdy comedian packed the venerable performance venue with fans expecting his “30 Rock” character’s prime-time humor. But minutes after Morgan started his routine, many walked out in disgust.
Some of the controversial jabs he made included a set about the First Family.
“Obama is really changing the White House, because he and Michelle will have the first presidential sex tape out,” he said to a stunned crowd.
“Barack probably had Michelle in the window doggy-style. ‘Yes, Mr. President, yes Mr. President,’”
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AlphaCat made this video as a parody of the ’scuffle’ situation between President Barack Obama and Fox News. This video is for entertainment purposes only.
Concept, Produced, Written and Edited by Iman Crosson (as President Barack Obama)
http://www.youtube.com/Alphacat *For Business Inquiries Only: ImanCross@gmail.com
Directed by Cory Williams “Mr. Safety” - http://www.youtube.com/smpfilms
Co Starring Vernetta Jenkins as Michelle Obama - http://www.youtube.com/VernettaJenkins
Cameo by Lisa Lavie - http://www.youtube.com/Lisalavie1
Parody Music by Mike Kalombo aka Klassic Master - http://www.youtube.com/klassicmaster
Original Choreography by Michael Peters, Michael Jackson
DANCERS (and zombie secret service) Nikolai de Malvinsky aka Nikodemus
Co Founder of Machine Gone Funk Dance Crew
http://www.myspace.com/gfunkstars
Jay Gutierrez aka J Smooth, Machine Gone Funk, Sweepy , Rock Steady Crew,
Destin (Sweepy’s son), Khalid Ghajji, Fantstic Armada Dance Crew,
Arash Haile aka Shammy Dee, Toshika Ito
Additional Music by Kevin MacLeod - http://www.incompetech.com
Vocals By Iman Crosson, Lisa Lavie
Creepy Voiceover Tay Zonday - http://www.youtube.com/tayzonday
President Barack Obama Makeup and SFX Zombie Makeup Tiffany Burgess, Joanna Catindig
Michelle Obama Glam Squad - Makeup by Dee Dee Kelly - Costume Design by Ceci
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Starring
Iman Crosson
http://www.yputube.com/alphacat
Vernetta Jenkins as Michelle Obama
http://www.youtube.com/vernettajenkins
Directed by Cory Williams
http://www.youtube.com/smpfilms
Watch Sneak Peek clip below:
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Did you catch this week’s episode of Washington Watch on Sunday on TVOne? If not, we’ve got some highlights for you!
WATCH Roland’s panel go in on Dick Cheney. Is the now-famous conspiracy about Dick Cheney at Inauguration believable?
WATCH Luda tell Roland how Hip-Hop has changed since the election of Barack Obama:
Have a question or comment for Roland & the Washington Watch team? SUBMIT your videos here.
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The White House allowed a Fox News Channel reporter to interview Treasury Department “pay czar” Kenneth Feinberg Thursday after executives from rival networks refused to use a pool arrangement to speak to him unless Fox was included.
The protest comes amid the ongoing dustup between the White House and Fox over the network’s coverage of President Barack Obama.
The Obama administration said it had received requests from TV networks to speak to Feinberg and had asked that the interviews be recorded through the networks’ pool arrangement. The pool is set up and paid for by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox to save time and resources, so a single camera crew can record interviews done by separate network correspondents.
The White House said Fox had not asked for an interview and the White House sent its request for a pool reporter without including Fox. Bureau chiefs held a quick conference call and decided that their networks would not do the interviews unless Fox was given the opportunity, said a network executive who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person did not wish to be a part of the White House-Fox beef.
After this decision was relayed, the White House quickly agreed to include Fox, the person said Friday.
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President Barack Obama declared the swine flu outbreak a national emergency and empowered his health secretary to suspend federal requirements and speed treatment for thousands of infected people.
The declaration that Obama signed late Friday authorized Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to bypass federal rules so health officials can respond more quickly to the outbreak, which has killed more than 1,000 people in the United States.
The goal is to remove bureaucratic roadblocks and make it easier for sick people to seek treatment and medical providers to provide it immediately. That could mean fewer hurdles involving Medicare, Medicaid or health privacy regulations.
“As a nation, we have prepared at all levels of government, and as individuals and communities, taking unprecedented steps to counter the emerging pandemic,” Obama wrote in the declaration, which theWhite House announced Saturday.
He said the pandemic keeps evolving, the rates of illness are rising rapidly in many areas and there’s a potential “to overburden health care resources.”
Because of vaccine production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses would be available by mid-October. As of Wednesday, only 11 million doses had been shipped to health departments, doctor’s offices and other providers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionofficials said.
The government now hopes to have about 50 million doses of swine flu vaccine out by mid-November and 150 million in December.
The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs, and the yield hasn’t been as high as was initially hoped, officials explained.
Swine flu is more widespread now than it’s ever been. Health authorities say almost 100 children have died from the flu, known as H1N1, and 46 states now have widespread flu activity.
Worldwide, more than 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic, the World Health Organization said Friday. Since most countries have stopped counting individual swine flu cases, the figure is considered an underestimate.
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Watch highlights from the past week’s episode of Washington Watch!
If you have a question for upcoming guests, submit your video HERE!
Congressman Elijah Cummings discusses healthcare reform with Roland Martin:
The invited panel discusses Obama’s visit to New Orleans:
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PITTSBURGH — Artist Shepard Fairey, who recently admitted concealing a key mistake in a lawsuit over his use of an Associated Press photo in his famous Barack Obama ”HOPE” poster, said Saturday that the error should not be viewed as ”premeditated and sinister.”
Fairey was at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh on Saturday night for the opening of an exhibit of his works — including the 4-foot-by-8-foot Obama poster. He drew a chuckle from the crowd during a question and answer session when he said, ”I am learning from my mistakes, if everybody’s been keeping up with the news.”
On Friday night, Fairey’s attorneys — led by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University — said they intend to withdraw from the case and said the artist had misled them by fabricating information and destroying other material.
Fairey admitted that he didn’t use The Associated Press’ photo of Obama seated next to actor George Clooney he originally said his work was based on — which he claimed would have been covered under ”fair use,” the legal claim that copyrighted work can be used without having to pay for it.
Instead he used a picture the news organization has claimed was his source — a solo picture of the future president seemingly closer to the iconic red, white and blue image of Obama, underlined with the caption ”HOPE.” Fairey said that he tried to cover up his error by submitting false images and deleting others.
The distinction is critical because fair use can sometimes be determined by how much of an original image or work was altered in the creation of a new work. If Fairey didn’t need to significantly alter the image he used — in this case the solo shot of Obama — then his claim could have been undermined. Fair use cases also may consider the market value of the copyrighted material and the intended use of the newly created work.
Laurence Pulgram, an intellectual property lawyer who represented Napster in a copyright fight with the rock band Metallica, said Saturday that Fairey’s case was in trouble.
”This was a brain-dead move by Mr. Fairey, and it could be the turning point. His lawyers will still be able to argue that he made a ‘fair use’ under copyright law, but it’s a whole lot less likely that the court or jury will think that what he did was actually ‘fair’ if he has lied and tried to mislead the entire world about what use he made,” Pulgram said.
Fairey said Saturday that it was wrong to portray the error in his initial claim ”as if it was very, very premeditated and sinister.”
He said the ”HOPE” poster was ”a piece of grassroots activism done exactly the same way as my other posters.”
Fairey described his craft as manipulating existing images and said barring such work is like ‘’saying you can’t use those words anymore, they’ve already been used. How would we talk to each other?”
Srinandan R. Kasi, AP vice president and general counsel, said Fairey’s admission struck ”at the heart” of Fairey’s defense that he was protected by fair use.
”Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used,” Kasi said. ”Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions.”
Kasi said the AP would continue to pursue its countersuit alleging that Fairey willfully infringed the AP’s copyright. It was not immediately clear from the statements issued and court filings if Fairey would continue with his case, but a person close to Fairey said that the artist would. The person was not authorized to discuss the case and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Falzone said in a statement that the legal team’s decision to withdraw had nothing to do with the ”underlying merits” of Fairey’s case.
”We believe as strongly as ever in the fair use and free expression issues at the center of this case, and believe Shepard will prevail on those issues,” Falzone said. ”We hope this unfortunate situation does not obscure those issues.”
Fairey, 39, had claimed he based his ”HOPE” drawing on a photo of then-Sen. Obama seated next to Clooney. The photo was taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia, on assignment for the AP, at the National Press Club in Washington.
Fairey now says he started with a solo photograph of Obama taken at the same event, by the same photographer. The AP has long maintained that Fairey used the solo shot for the poster.
Fairey sued the not-for-profit news cooperative in February, arguing that he didn’t violate copyright law because he dramatically changed the image. The AP countersued in March, saying the uncredited, uncompensated use of an AP photo violated copyright laws and signaled a threat to journalism.
Fairey, a Los Angeles-based street artist with a long, often proud history of breaking rules, said in a statement Friday that he was wrong about which photo he used and that he tried to hide his error.
”In an attempt to conceal my mistake, I submitted false images and deleted other images,” said Fairey. ”I sincerely apologize for my lapse in judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions, which were mine alone.”
He said he was taking steps to correct the information and regretted that he didn’t come forward sooner.
In addition to indicating they plan to withdraw from the case, attorneys for Fairey filed papers Friday in federal court in Manhattan stating that he misled them. They also amended the original court documents, reflecting that Fairey used a different picture.
”Mr. Fairey was apparently mistaken about the photograph he used when his original complaint for declaratory relief was filed on February 9, 2009,” the papers say. ”After the original complaint was filed, Mr. Fairey realized his mistake. Instead of acknowledging that mistake, Mr. Fairey attempted to delete the electronic files he had used in creating the illustration at issue. He also created, and delivered to his counsel for production, new documents to make it appear as though he had used the Clooney photograph as his reference.”
Fairey said in his statement Friday that the real issue was ”the right to fair use” so artists can create freely.
”Regardless of which of the two images was used,” he said, ”the fair use issue should be the same.”
The dispute between Fairey and the AP has led to a strong debate between artists and free speech advocates defending Fairey and photographers and journalism organizations citing the need for copyright protection.
The ”HOPE” image has appeared on countless posters, stickers and buttons. It has appeared in several books and in numerous museums, including a mixed-media stenciled collage version added to the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.
Fairey also used the AP photograph for an image designed especially for the Obama inaugural committee, which charged anywhere from $100 for a poster to $500 for a poster signed by the artist. It is unclear how much, in total, Fairey may have earned from the design, though he has often said he did not personally profit from it.
Fairey has said that he first designed the image in early 2008, after he was encouraged by the Obama campaign to come up with some kind of artwork.
The AP plans to donate any proceeds received for past use of the photo to the AP Emergency Relief Fund, which assists staffers and their families around the world who are victims of natural disasters and conflicts.
From HuffingtonPost.com:
At a town hall meeting in New Orleans Thursday, fourth-grader Terrence Scott earnestly asked the question that has probably been on many people’s minds as they witnessed the rage that has been directed at Obama these last few months: “why do people hate you?” The young man seemed genuinely concerned as he asked the question, and he went on to tell Obama that “They supposed to love you.” Obama responded by giving the young man a hug while saying, “That’s what I’m talking about.” Then came the hard part of actually answering his question.
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From the New York Times:
Attacking the news media is a time-honored White House tactic but to an unusual degree, the Obama administration has narrowed its sights to one specific organization, the Fox News Channel, calling it, in essence, part of the political opposition.
“We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” said Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, in a telephone interview on Sunday. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”
RELATED: VIDEO: 100 Days of Fox News Hate For Obama
Her comments are only the latest in the volatile exchange between the administration and the top-rated network, which is owned by the News Corporation, controlled by Rupert Murdoch. Last month, Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, and David Axelrod, a senior adviser to President Obama, met for coffee in New York, in what Politico, which last week broke that news, labeled a “Fox summit.”
While neither party has said what was discussed, some have speculated that a truce, or at least an adjustment in tone, was at issue. (Mr. Ailes and Mr. Obama reportedly reached a temporary accord after a meeting in mid-2008.) But shots are still being fired, which animates the idea that both sides see benefits in the feud.
RELATED: VIDEO: Glenn Beck Calls Obama “Racist” On Fox News
Fox seems to relish the controversy.
“Instead of governing, the White House continues to be in campaign mode, and Fox News is the target of their attack mentality,” Michael Clemente, the channel’s senior vice president for news, said in a statement on Sunday. “Perhaps the energy would be better spent on the critical issues that voters are worried about.”
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