It’s no secret that Will Smith has been pining a way to play The President even before he got elected but here the actor offers an interesting reason for why he’d be ideal.

VIA EUR:

President Barack Obama Wednesday conferred America’s highest civilian honor on 16 examples of unshakeable human spirit, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and screen legend Sidney Poitier.

Former Irish president Mary Robinson, British scientist Stephen Hawking and Bangladeshi economist and Nobel peace laureate Muhammad Yunus were also honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a ceremony in the White House.

“No barriers of race, gender or physical infirmity can restrain the human spirit, and that the truest test of a person’s life is what we do for one another,” said Obama, as he introduced the 2009 honorees.

“There are many honors and privileges bestowed on the occupants of this house. But few mean as much to me as the chance to award America’s highest civilian medal to the recipients that are here today.”

Obama praised Tutu for preaching amid tear gas and police dogs during the horror of apartheid South Africa.

“Later, when a free South Africa needed a heart big enough to forgive its sins, Archbishop Desmond Tutu was called to serve once more,” Obama said, praising him as a “voice of the oppressed, cantor of our conscience.”

“It’s been said that Sidney Poitier does not make movies, he makes milestones — milestones of artistic excellence, milestones of America’s progress,” Obama said of the famed star of “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”

Poitier, the president added, had not only entertained, but shifted racial attitudes, broadened hearts and brought Americans together.

Medal recipient Senator Edward Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, was missing from the ceremony, and was represented by his daughter Kara. Kennedy suffered another blow on Tuesday with the death of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver. “The life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy has made a difference for us all,” Obama said.

Obama also presented medals to breast cancer crusader Nancy Goodman Brinker, medical campaigner Pedro Jose Greer Jr, tennis legend Billie Jean King, civil rights leader Reverend Joseph Lowery, native American tribal chief Joseph Medicine Crow, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, actress Chita Rivera, and cancer researcher Dr. Janet Davison Rowley.

He awarded posthumous medals to former Republican congressman, football quarterback and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp and gay rights campaigner Harvey Milk.

Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is to visit the Irish town from where his great-grandfather emigrated to the United States in the 1800s, the town’s mayor announced Thursday.

Ali, 67, has finally agreed to take up a long-standing invitation from the town council to visit Ennis, County Clare, reports Reuters. “We will make him very welcome,” Mayor Frankie Neylon told AFP. “We will be delighted to see him. I would hope to arrange a vote of the council to make him a freeman of Ennis.”

Ali will be in Ireland later this month to take part in “An Evening with the Greatest,” a Dublin-based fundraising event for the recently established Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Charitable Fund. The Irish biotechnology firm Alltech established the fund with Ali to promote educational and humanitarian goals. Alltech president and founder Pearse Lyons said Ali will revisit Dublin — where he fought Al “Blue” Lewis in 1972 in front of a crowd of 25,000 — for “a new and equally profound fight, a fight in the name of benevolence.”

Research by genealogists found that Ali’s great-grandfather Abe Grady emigrated to Kentucky in the 1860s. Abe married an African-American and they had a son called John Grady who was Ali’s grandfather. He in turn had a daughter called Odessa Lee Grady who was Ali’s mother. Ali was originally Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior but changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to the Nation of Islam.

Genealogists also claim that both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are descended from Irish families of shoemakers with their ancestors leaving Ireland within weeks of each other in April and May 1849.

Obama’s ancestor came from Moneygall in County Offaly in the midlands and Biden’s is believed to have emigrated from Carlingford, County Louth in the north-east. As a result of waves of migration, about 34 million people in the United States claim an Irish connection today.

VIA EUR:

The police officer at the center of a national dispute over race and law enforcement says a much-anticipated meeting at the White House was productive and all parties are looking forward, according to reports.

Cambridge, Mass., police Sgt. James Crowley spoke to reporters after meeting with President Barack Obama and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., along with Vice President Joe Biden and some brews at the White House, which the press is referring to as the ‘Beer Summit.”

Crowley described himself and Gates as “two gentlemen who agreed to disagree” about the confrontation that led to Gates’ arrest, but said the conversation focused on moving forward, not reliving the events of the past two weeks. The officer also said he and Gates are planning more meetings. (For more from Crowley, see video below.)

President Obama, meanwhile, described the meeting as a “friendly, thoughtful conversation.”

In a statement following the conversation, Obama said he was surprised to learn that Gates and Crowley had already spent some time talking with each other. He called that “a testament to them.”

Said Obama: “I have always believed that what brings us together is stronger than what pulls us apart. I am confident that has happened here tonight, and I am hopeful that all of us are able to draw this positive lesson from this episode.”

In a statement he posted at his website, The Root, here is what Dr. Gates had to say about the meeting and the original incident itself:

“I would like to applaud President Obama for bringing Sergeant Crowley, me and our families together. I would also like to thank the President for welcoming my father, Henry Louis Gates, Sr., who for most of his life has been a Republican! My dad turned 96 this past June, and the fact that he worked two jobs every day is the reason that my brother, Dr. Paul Gates, and I were able to receive such splendid educations. I am honored that he chose to join me at the White House, along with my fiancée, my daughters, and my brother.

Sergeant Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters – as metaphors, really – in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control. Narratives about race are as old as the founding of this great Republic itself, but these new ones have unfolded precisely when Americans signaled to the world our country’s great progress by overcoming centuries of habit and fear, and electing an African American as President. It is incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand.”

VIA EUR:

Thanks to President Barack Obama, America’s still “got talent” tonight at 9 p.m.

In order to get NBC to broadcast his Wednesday night press conference, the White House agreed to move its previously announced 9 p.m. start time to 8 p.m., allowing the Peacock to air its heavily-promoted Susan Boyle edition of “Talent” in its regular 9 p.m. timeslot tonight.

With NBC on board, three of the four major broadcast networks will carry President Obama’s primetime news conference about health care reform.

FOX was the only network to decline the White House request outright. It was not about to disturb tonight’s two-hour live broadcast of “So You Think You Can Dance,” and will instead direct viewers to Fox News for the presser. This is the second time FOX has ruled against covering an Obama press conference, a move the network has made in the past when the event’s purpose seemed less than urgent.

CBS, which airs only repeats on Wednesday nights, was the only network that immediately agreed to broadcast the president’s fourth primetime presser since taking office six months ago.

ABC News often has the highest-rated coverage of Obama’s primetime events and was leaning toward carrying the conference after the White House announced it on Friday. Its highest-rated Wednesday program, “Wipeout,” will move from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight, and “I Survived a Japanese Game Show” will move to 10 p.m.

The ABC News special “Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil,” originally slated for 10 p.m. tonight, will now air Friday as a special edition of “20/20.”

Out of all the broadcast networks, NBC was the most reluctant to bump its programming for the president because “Talent” is the most-watched program of the summer. And tonight includes a heavily promoted interview with “Britain’s Got Talent” singing sensation Susan Boyle.

Faced with the prospect of only one or two major broadcasters — CBS and ABC — covering the event, the White House moved its start time to 8 p.m.

A White House representative told the Hollywood Reporter, “In speaking with various media outlets, we found that rescheduling for one hour earlier would help us to arrange for as many Americans as possible to hear directly from the President at the press conference.“

There’s so many Obama TV appearances he can play himself in his own movie! Check out these Obama actors below and share your thoughts!

President Barack Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the 2009 MLB All-Star Game. I’m not that into baseball but if you want to play the numbers, his Chicago White Sox have a  45-43 record right now and he’s the 44th president. Now go tell grandma.

Could any of these guys do a better job of running the country?

Area 51, Phoenix , AZ – President Barack Obama was way ahead of his time when he initiated the now famous “fist bump” at a Democratic rally announcing his nomination in June of 2008. Insiders say the decision to bump was based on the countless hands President Obama shook that night prior to setting foot on stage and having run out of hand sanitizer hours before.

With the Swine Flu taking the country’s fears by storm, the President has urged Americans to initiate the fist bump as the safest measure against this outbreak for the time being.

Still recognized as a premier greeting through out the hoods and ‘inner cities within the United States, the bump became popular when President Obama greeted his wife, Michelle, at a rally in 2008.

California residents, known for incorporating the fist bump ‘into’ the pound are concerned that the sudden change in greeting will have an effect on their children, who at a young age are liable to be confused about their greeting identity.

Members of California’s Bloods, Crips as well as Mexican Gangs have reservations against the aforementioned technique and are lobbying against the direct fist bump.

Sport fans are being directly affected by the sudden change during one of the key sports seasons of the year.

Until the President deems it safe to greet or celebrate by clasping hands and the Swine Flu is firmly contaminated, Americans may have to resort to this simple, yet most effective way of avoiding the disease since the use of the word “Hello”.

-Dick Shittman

]]> http://theurbandaily.com/special-features/hood-newz/dick-shittman/president-obama-you-can-get-the-fist/feed/ 1 http://theurbandaily.com/tv/jbarrow/video-president-obama-with-jay-leno/ http://theurbandaily.com/tv/jbarrow/video-president-obama-with-jay-leno/#comments Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:36:22 +0000 Jerry Barrow, Senior Editor http://theurbandaily.com/?p=153771
Last night President Barack Obama was interviewed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This was the first time a sitting President has appeared on a talk show. What do you think? Was this a good look for The President?

1. Because before the shoe was even thrown by Iraqi reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi, George Bush went in for a straight-on fraternity-style handshake with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki.
2. Because shoe-throwing (along with calling someone a dog, which al-Zaidi also did) is one of the most offensive insults an Iraqi Arab can hurl. After the fall of Baghdad, the United States government made much ado about those seemingly trumped-up videos of children throwing shoes at the fallen statue of Saddam Hussein. It’s not awesome to see our president attacked, but it does neatly complete the circle, doesn’t it?
3. Because al-Maliki totally tried to deflect the second shoe.
4. But he didn’t try that hard.
5. Because George Bush was kind of laughing throughout the whole thing.
6. Because the other Iraqi reporters immediately jumped in to stop the shoe attacks.
7. But the Secret Service took their sweet, sweet time to take the guy down.
8. And let’s be honest, the reporters around al-Zaidi who reacted the quickest were mostly just taking pictures.
9. Because nothing politically funny ever happens over the weekend now that the election is over (we’re looking at you, Saturday Night Live).
10. Because whatever you think of George Bush, he ducked those shoes like a frigging Japanese game-show contestant. No other world leader could have dealt with that situation with the same humor and quick reflexes. We’re legitimately impressed.

Check out NewsOne to read the exciting story about the reporter and the people who are demanding his release!

Sotheby’s has yanked three papers related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from auction after his estate claimed the documents, being sold by Harry Belafonte, are estate property, reports the Associated Press.

Sotheby’s spokeswoman Lauren Gioia said Belafonte himself asked that the papers be withdrawn from Thursday’s sale.

The documents, including a handwritten draft of King’s first anti-Vietnam war speech in 1967, had a collective pre-sale estimate of $750,000 to $1.3 million.

“The King estate believes the documents being offered in Thursday’s auction are a part of the wrongly acquired collection,” said a statement issued on behalf of the estate Wednesday by Isaac Farris, CEO of the King Center in Atlanta. “The King estate is currently in conversations with Sotheby’s to establish the truth.”

The King estate said unnamed members of the singer’s family previously tried to “anonymously and secretly” sell other such documents through a Beverly Hills, Calif., auction house. It said the estate managed to block that sale and the documents were returned to it, with an apology by the would-be sellers to Coretta Scott King. It did not cite a date for that incident.

As previously reported, Belafonte told The Associated Press that the papers were given to him by King or his wife after the civil rights leader was assassinated in 1968.