Results tagged “barackobama”

President Barack Obama is in Boston today to tour MIT and to appear at a fund-raiser for Governor Deval Patrick at Westin Copley Place. (Expect traffic snarls on Huntington Avenue and elsewhere in the Back Bay.) He will be speaking to a select group of MIT faculty, students, and staff at 12:30 in MIT's Kresge Auditorium. We'd suggest shanking a student to get a ticket for the talk, but you probably won't be allowed past the doors with a shank or a stranger's blood on you. [Globe]

Maybe Shepard Fairey, beleaguered street artist, has now admitted to lying about his use of AP photos in creating the iconic "hope" poster featuring Barack Obama. His lawyers have withdrawn now that the lies have come to light (lawyers withdrawing from lies? that's a new one). It's unclear whether Fairey's countersuit against the AP will continue under other legal guidance, but it seems unlikely.

Harvard historian Niall Ferguson just came out and said it. Obama is a lucky black man! No, really. That's pretty much what he wrote in the Financial Times: "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[.]" Not only that, but Ferguson also thinks that Obama is totally wrong about everything. Do you think he eats lunch a lot with Skip Gates? [via Brainiac]

In the aftermath of controversies about a Cambridge police officer arresting a famous African-American professor for existing in his own home (also known as Gatesgate, and of his own choice to call the action "stupid," Barack Obama has proposed the unthinkable: a discussion. Talking about race in America? Get out! Breaking a longstanding tradition of ignoring racial conflict, Obama has officially invited Cambridge police officer James Crowley and Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr., to the White House for a beer and a bit of conversation about the incident. Obama's hope is that the debacle can morph into a "teachable moment" for everyone, and be brought to a conclusion that will allow the nation to focus once again on providing health care to all its citizens. Latest news has it that Skip has accepted the offer. We're excited to see the transcript of that chat, if it's released.

The AP reports that Massachusetts filed suit in federal court over the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman and limits the rights of same sex married couples. The first state to legalize gay marriage, and the cornerstone of a five-state New England bloc of marriage equality, the Commonwealth argues that DOMA "constitutes an overreaching and discriminatory federal law." President Obama pledged during his campaign to repeal the law, and there's no word on his administration's reaction to the lawsuit.

We, like the majority of Massachusetts residents, support universal health care in the Commonwealth, but the current system is badly flawed. And we need to figure out a way to fix it without screwing our most financially vulnerable neighbors.

David Plouffe, Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008, has joined Gov. Deval Patrick's reelection campaign as a consultant, the Boston Globe reported today. Plouffe's status is an obvious reminder of Patrick's friendship with President Obama. The Globe said this suggests the President will campaign for Patrick. Bostonist wants to know if Plouffe will bring the teleprompter.

Kennedy gift Bo comes home to the White House. For linguiça?

Although the Boston Globe breathlessly reported earlier this week that President Barack Obama would be spending the last two weeks of August on Martha's Vineyard, the MV Times writes today that they confirmed with a White House spokesperson that not only will the prez not be vacationing on the Vineyard, he won't be taking a vacation at all this summer. We guess maybe that whole "global economic crisis" is taking precedence over his tan. As the Times snarkily pointed out, the Globe story had no sources, just speculative quotes from Vineyarders, and "fueled a rumor that had been circulating on the Vineyard for weeks of an Obama vacation." Looks like the Globe was taken in by a case of Bored Locals Playing Telephone, a classic Martha's Vineyard off-season pastime.

• President Obama gave Queen Elizabeth II an iPod. That's not news. What's news is what's on it—Dylan? Stevie Wonder? Some people have questioned the gift, but at least it's less self-centered than what the queen gave him: a picture of herself. Cute, Lizzy. [Globe]
• Soon, you may no longer be able to ease the pain of unemployment with drugs. Except alcohol and tobacco. Because those don't count. [CNN]
• Margaret Greer tries the craiglist defense. [Globe]

Our old friend, street artist slash vandalist slash conspiracy victim Shepard Fairey speaks out on his own site and in the Huffington Post about his alleged copyright infringement in using an AP photo to produce his now-infamous posters of Barack Obama. Fairey continually uses the word "reference," and points to great artists who worked from photos. However, Fairey doesn't clarify how he used the photo: was he just glancing at it as he worked, or did he (as it almost looks) just Photoshop the original image to come up with "his" artwork? And if he did "just" Photoshop the image, is that sufficient artistic contribution to constitute originality?

Though cruelly/constitutionally barred from voting, young citizens can still make their political voices heard. On January 15, the NY Times published letters from students of 826 National, the network of non-profit writing and education centers that was co-founded by Dave Eggers of the McSweeney's empire.

Well, today's the big day. If you're not excited, some numbers might whet your appetite for change. Here's a roundup of things to do around town for the inauguration. (And at this point, it's shocking when an event doesn't involve special presidential drinks with cute names.)

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! Here are some MLK day events that you might enjoy.

       

When Leicester's BJ Hill set out from San Francisco in March to walk across the United States, he armed himself with blank books. The idea: to collect messages written to the next president, words written by the Americans he would encounter during his journey. The endeavor was a larger-scale version of Hill's 2006 Walk Across Massachusetts, a project that ended with a sit-down when Hill presented then-new Gov. Deval Patrick messages from his constituents.

Three men were arrested today on charges that they set fire to the predominately black Macedonia Church in Springfield following the election victory of Barack Obama. The incident was a part of a small spate of racially-motivated crimes that broke out in isolated parts of the country on Election Day. The fire did $2 million worth of damage to the church. [Globe]

Remember Steve Case? Yeah, he founded that thing called AOL! It was really awesome and popular, until it wasn't anymore, and now Google is the AOL of the future. Anyway, Case hasn't gone away, and is actually using his AOL fortune for nice things, like helping you meet Barack Obama. Okay, maybe not meet Barack Obama, but get real close to within a few thousand feet of him at his presidential inauguration.

Well, sorta. The Herald reports that Amtrak is increasing service from Boston (among other cities) to DC for Barack Obama's inauguration on January 20, and many airlines plan to offer additional flights to the capital for the festivities as well. So that makes it seem kind of like Obama has made us all reconsider our addiction to cars, but that isn't quite the case—plus the increased train and plane usage is probably not that great for the environment anyway. Regardless, increasing train service for the day is better than having thousands of folks drive their cars into DC, create massive traffic, and attempt to park in nonexistent spaces, so kudos to Amtrak for making at least one smart (and lucrative) decision in its history.

• Gothamist said good-bye to 2008 by looking back at the year and rang in 2009 in Times Square. (God bless YouTube for capturing Kathy Griffin's New Year's comments to a heckler.)
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Paul Keleher's buddy Clifford loves the snow.

Tombstone photographed by alohadave

The rainbow-colored umbrage taken over Rick Warren's appearance at Obama's inauguration was starting to die down—until today, when the New York Times' Frank Rich (he of the previously Obama-adoring columns) came down hard on Obama's seeming naivete over this decision, and Obama spokesman David Axlerod appeared on Meet the Press to discuss it with David Gregory, the new host of the venerable political program. This high-profile coverage of what many liberals see as Obama's first major blunder effectively ripped the scab from the wound left by the passing of Prop 8 and Warren's much-publicized comments comparing gay marriage to pedophilia and polygamy. After the jump, we give you a total of eight aspects of an issue which has touched the life of many a Mass. activist. If you're a real politics junkie, you can spend your New Year's Eve figuring out many more.

Yesterday, the Herald brought us one of the most amazing and disturbing photos ever: a pajama- and plaid-clad (baby) Mayor Menino in Santa Obama's lap. Accompanying the photo was an article listing what Menino wants from the North Pole White House. It was begging for a LOLGov caption, so we made one. What would be yours?

• Gothamist greeted Election Day with excitement--and some really, really long lines. Even Tim Robbins had a meltdown at his polling site!
• Bostonist discovered that it's hard out there for a singer when we met The Opera Guy, a classically trained busker, and Jess Tardy, an independent singer-songwriter whose work has appeared on television.
• Seattlest thought that this video of Capitol Hill hipsters literally dancing in the streets -- to Journey, no less -- ought to go into an Election Night 2008 time capsule.

The Globe reports that arson is suspected in a Springfield church fire that happened early Wednesday morning following Barack Obama's victory in the presidential election. Macedonia Church of God in Christ had been under construction and about 75% complete. The predominantly black congregation has pledged to rebuild, although neighbors had protested the initial construction of the church in a residential area. Bishop Bryant J. Robinson Jr., who heads the church, suspects the fire might have been a hate crime.