Barack Obama NOW!

As you might have heard, after Shepard Fairey was sued by AP for unauthorized use of the Obama photo, Shepard Fairey decided to counter-sue AP using the “fair use” defense.

As a member of Fairey’s defense team, Lawrence Lessig has an update on Shepard Fairey’s case, asking the public for similar images of Obama on his blog:

As mentioned, the Fair Use Project at Stanford’s CIS is representing Shepard Fairey in his suit against the AP. To that end, we’d be grateful for some net-based knowledge. How many photos are there “like” the beautiful photograph that Mannie Garcia took (the one on the left; the one on the right is a CC licensed photo taken by Steve Jurvetson)? Can you send any examples to shep_use@pobox.com?
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Also, please send any favorite examples of photos used as visual references for other works of art. We lawyers don’t know much, but we can learn pretty quickly.

You can read more at Lawrence Lessig’s blog at Lessig.org

February 17th, 2009 | Category: grapics, money | Comments (4)

Fellow blogger BarackOblogger has an interesting idea for a petition:

Background (Preamble):
We the people of the United States who support Barack Obama and the economic stimulus package hereby challenge each and every Republican congressman and congresswoman who voted against the stimulus package to return any and all federal monies given to their constituents because of the stimulus package….
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And if you don’t have the guts to do this and are just playing politics, then we demand that you cease and desist from standing in the way of progress, and let our President do what is necessary to get this country back on track!
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Petition:
We the people of the United States who support Barack Obama and the economic stimulus package hereby challenge each and every Republican congressman and congresswoman who voted against the stimulus package to return any and all federal monies given to their constituents because of the stimulus package.
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The Republican Party claims that it is the party that stands for economic and personal responsibility.
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So we take the Republicans at their word and challenge them to stand by their moral principles.

You can read the full text of this petition and add your support by visiting this page.

I have mixed feelings about this petition. It definitely sends a direct message to members of the Great Obstructionist Party about standing in the way of progress and recovery for the United States of America.

If it will help voters realize that their Republican representatives are on the wrong side of common sense, then I’m in favor of this.

On the other hand, it still hurts the American people that need the help.

I don’t know the answer, but I hope that President Barack Obama will recognize that there’s very few Republicans that are willing to demonstrate actual bi-partisanship, so the Democrats might as well just write the legislation they want, instead of trying to dilute their best efforts.

February 16th, 2009 | Category: economy, money | Comments (6)

ePolitics.com has assembled a great collection of articles on how Barack Obama became President.

Click HERE to see this great list.

February 15th, 2009 | Category: Democrats, Election 2008 | Comments (1)

The big news is that President Barack Obama was able to get a big stimulus package passed by the U.S. Congress.

The public is still loving Barack Obama, with sky-high approval ratings.

Cartoonist Lloyd Dangle imagines what the stimulus package could have been…

Elsewhere in the news, the Obamas announced that their first cultural event at the White House will honor Stevie Wonder.

The White House is planning a concert this month to honor Stevie Wonder, whose music provided part of President Barack Obama’s campaign soundtrack.
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The White House says the president and first lady Michelle Obama will present Wonder a Library of Congress award on Feb. 25. The concert will be broadcast the next day on PBS as part of its “Performance at the White House” series.

… and this blogger is getting lazier with this Obama blog, choosing other activities to spend his time on..

February 14th, 2009 | Category: Music, cartoons, celebrations, economy, humor, money | Leave a comment

Here’s a story that doesn’t surprise me

The pensive Obama facing upward, forward, onward and futureward, with that Warholesque red, white and blue and the word, HOPE, is the work of Shepard Fairey, a Los-Angeles based street artist.
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It has driven the sales of hundreds of thousands of posters and stickers, with Fairey-signed copies fetching thousands of dollars on eBay.
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It is based, Fairey has acknowledged, on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Manny Garcia at the National Press Club in Washington.
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The AP is asking for credit — and compensation.

Read more:
Chicago Tribune Swamp blog
Huffington Post overview
Today with President Barack Obama

.. and to think…. today, I just discovered Obamaicon.Me !

February 4th, 2009 | Category: government ethics, grapics, pop culture | Comments (9)

Julianna Goldman discussed the impact of Barack Obama as a pop culture icon in an article for Bloomberg.com:

Barack Obama’s popularity makes him a marketer’s dream. Now, the honeymoon may be over for those trying to profit from his appeal.
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White House lawyers want to control the use of the president’s image, recognizing the worldwide fascination about Obama’s election, First Amendment free-speech rights and easy access to videos and photos on the Web.
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“Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being careful not to squelch the overwhelming enthusiasm that the public has for the president,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
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Obama’s calls for change and his “Yes We Can” campaign mantra are being evoked to sell assembly-required furniture in Ikea’s “Embrace Change” marketing campaign, bargain airfares during Southwest Airlines Inc.’s “Yes You Can” sale and “Yes Pecan” ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc. shops.
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“I can’t remember this ever happening to an active politician before, as a spokesperson or as an image for a brand,” said Brad Adgate, director of research for Horizon Media Inc., a New York-based advertising agency. “He’s in the highest profile of any person in the world right now.”

Read the full article by clicking here.

By the way, here’s an example of the advertising Ben & Jerry is using to promote it’s “Yes Pecan” brand ice cream. If you decide to indulge in some “Yes Pecan” in Scoop Shops during the month of January, Ben & Jerry’s is donating the proceeds to the Common Cause Education Fund.

Yum…. this is a message I approve!

I won’t complain if any free samples of this product are sent my way!

January 30th, 2009 | Category: money, pop culture | Comments (10)

It’s been quite a week. Tuesday was certainly a very big day for the United States of America.

Boston.com collected some amazing photos from the inaugural as part of it’s Big Picture series. Here’s some of my favorites from that collection…

Spectators in Times Square watch President Barack Obama take the oath of office during his inauguration Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Residents of Kibera, one of the poorest quarters in Nairobi gather to watch the inauguration ceremony of US President Barack Obama in Nairobi on January 20, 2009. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)

People watch a big television screen broadcasting Barack Obama being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 during a ceremony at the Paris town hall in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon)

Vertie Hodge, 74, weeps during an Inauguration Day party near Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. in Houston on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 after President Barack Obama delivered his speech after taking the oath of office, becoming the first black president in the United States. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Mayra Beltran)

I love the Boston.com Big Picture photo spreads. Click here to see some of the other ones, including one on the inaugural preparations

One of the coolest photographs of the inauguration was captured by David Bergman using “Gigapan” technology, which involves the usage of a robotic camera mount that captures a very large picture with multiple images, pieces it all together with specialized software, and then shares it online using technology similar to GoogleMaps.

photograph and technology courtesy of Gigapan.com

When you zoom into the image, you can seen an amazing amount of detail, of the various participants at this event. Here’s a close-up of the new president:

Here’s a close-up of some of the other photographers:

I have no doubt there will be plenty of other exceptional photographs from this big day. By all means, feel free to share in the comments.

Here’s an image from where the creator of this blog was at on this very special day – Santa Cruz, California.

Congratulations, America! Now, it’s time to fix the big problems…

January 26th, 2009 | Category: celebrations | Comments (6)

The moment so many of us have been waiting for has finally happened.

Barack Obama is now the President of the United States of America.

As he said today…

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.
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On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
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On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
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We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
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In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
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For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
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For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
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For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
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Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
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This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

There is now an official White House blog at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/

In San Francisco, Bush Street has been re-named as Obama Street.

Here’s a couple of video clips to help celebrate the moment…

First, a snippet of President Obama at the Lincoln Memorial Concert on Sunday…

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…followed by some songs of celebration…

Sheryl Crow, Will.i.am, and Herbie Hancock channel Bob Marley with “One Love”
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The Boys Choir of Kenya singing on the National Mall on January 19, 2009…. I wish the CNN footage was shared. I love these guys!
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… a song that resonates with my soul…
Beyonce channeling Etta James for “At Last”
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“I Can See Clearly Now” – Johnny Nash
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… and one of the finest American anthems,
“America the Beautiful” by Ray Charles

Thank you, America!

January 20th, 2009 | Category: Music, celebrations, news | Comments (10)

Here’s a few links to share before tomorrow, with thanks to porhomme …

Barack Obama’s Pre-Inauguration checklist

Rush Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails
…spoken like the true hypocritical “patriot” that claims to “love” his country…

Will Obama say ‘banana’ in inaugural speech? Place yer bets!
Swedish online betting site Betsson sets the odds at 1,000 to 1

Dear Sir Obama: Presidential Advice
Children write to the President-elect

Historic Failure: Bush’s Final Approval Rating is at 22%
Bush’s final approval rating is the lowest final rating for an outgoing president since Gallup began asking about presidential approval more than 70 years ago

Photographer that inspired iconic Obama image is revealed
Jim Young didn’t even know he was the source for Shepard Fairey’s iconic image
… more details at MikeWebkist Flickr page

January 19th, 2009 | Category: celebrations, news, pop culture | Comments (3)