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JAKARTA -- Indonesian photographer Ilham Anas won't be at U.S. President Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday. Instead he'll be starring as an Obama look-alike on Indonesian TV. Anas, 34, who from some angles bears a resemblance to the new U.S. president, shot to fame in Jakarta after Obama, 47, won the election in November, and is now earning income as an Obama double. Many Indonesians have a keen interest in Obama, who lived in Jakarta for four years after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Muslim Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Obama's Kenyan father. “When...

BY DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK WASHINGTON — Not long after Senator John McCain returned last month from an official trip to Iraq and Pakistan, he received a phone call from President-elect Barack Obama. As contenders for the presidency, the two had hammered each other for much of 2008 over their conflicting approaches to foreign policy, especially in Iraq. (He’d lose a war! He’d stay a hundred years!) Now, however, Mr. Obama said he wanted Mr. McCain’s advice, people in each camp briefed on the conversation said. What did he see on the trip? What did he learn? It was just one...

Barack Obama plans a 'paparazzi presidency' to speak directly to voters Barack Obama plans to cash in on his celebrity status and create what is being called a "paparazzi presidency", using appearances and interviews in glossy magazines to speak directly to voters. By Tim Shipman in Washington 17 Jan 2009 Planning to mobilise his vast network of supporters: Mr Obama's campaign, election and forthcoming inauguration have sparked the kind of hysteria and fascination with even his most inconsequential activities, usually associated with the private lives of Hollywood celebrities. Mr Obama has repeatedly sought to throw off the travelling press pack...

n W.H., Obama staff will say cu l8r 2 im By: Ben Smith January 17, 2009 08:24 PM EST Barack Obama may get to keep his Blackberry, but David Axelrod is losing his IM. The lawyers broke the bad news to Obama aides at a briefing Friday morning convened by incoming Deputy White House Counsel Cassandra Butts: Not only are they leaving the modern world to enter a White House where some of the clunky desktop computers still run Windows 2000 but—worst of all—they'll be forced to surrender form of communication staffers have relied on for the last two years...

At 8 pm, just as pres bush began his farewell speech peotus obama left blair house for the 30 second drive to equinox restaurant on connecticut and I st. Pool is holding outside... DEVELOPING...

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., introduced Gov. Janet Napolitano to his fellow senators Thursday, saying she has a "no-nonsense" attitude that will serve her well as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. McCain introduced Napolitano to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which questioned the Arizona Democrat about her credentials. McCain told committee members that Napolitano has served Arizona as a United States Attorney, Attorney General and governor and that, in 2005, she was named one of America's Top Five Governors by "Time" magazine, which stated, "Positioning herself as a no-nonsense, pro-business centrist, she has worked outside party...

Arizona's two senators voiced support for Gov. Janet Napolitano as she went before the Senate today, seeking confirmation as secretary of homeland security under President-elect Barack Obama. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl, both Republicans, said they expected Napolitano to ace her appearance before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.

Press Release For Immediate Release Friday, January 14, 2009 Barr Supports Closure of Guantanamo Prison Endorses Obama Proposal Former Congressman Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party's 2008 nominee for president, issued a statement Wednesday morning applauding President-elect Obama’s reported plan to close the controversial military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many suspected terrorists have been held, often without hearings, since shortly after 9/11. “If there are detainees there as to whom the government has evidence they pose a serious danger to the United States, then house them at the Super Max federal prison in Florence, Colorado and prosecute them....

WASHINGTON — Military commanders are drawing up plans for a faster withdrawal of American troops from Iraq in anticipation that President-elect Barack Obama will reject current proposals as too slow, Pentagon and military officials said Wednesday. The new plans would provide alternatives to a timetable drawn up by the top American commanders for Iraq to bring troops home more slowly than Mr. Obama promised during his presidential campaign. Those plans were described to Mr. Obama last month. The officials said that Mr. Obama had not requested the new plans, but that they were being prepared in response to public statements...

Remember at the debate when he vowed, “We will kill Bin Laden, we will crush al-Qaeda”? He’s stressed the importance of taking out Osama on other occasions, but never quite as forcefully as that. Why, enter the quote in Google and you’ll find it immortalized in the very first hit with an especially fulsome tribute at the Daily Dish. Anyway, change of plans: COURIC: How important do you think it is, Mr. President-elect, to apprehend Osama bin Laden? OBAMA: I think that we have to so weaken his infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so...

Obama: "Capture Or Kill" Bin Laden WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2009(CBS) In just six days, Barack Obama will be sworn-in as President of the United States. Today, Osama bin Laden marked the occasion with a new threat. But in an exclusive interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric, the president-elect sent a message of his own for bin Laden and his terror network. What follows is a partial transcript of the interview. President-elect Barack Obama: We took our eye off the ball when we invaded Iraq. And now it's done. My job is to withdraw in a responsible way from Iraq...

Normally I’d drop this one into Headlines, but since everyone’s caught up in his tax dodging, I want to emphasize the point I made yesterday: The real objection to Geithner isn’t back taxes, it’s the fact that the financial collapse happened on his watch as head of the New York Fed. What does that mean, exactly? In the case of Citigroup, evidently it meant a lot of rhetoric about making sure banks have enough capital to offset their risk while politely ignoring Citi making riskier and riskier deals as its capital dwindled. Because the Fed conducts much of its work...

President-elect Barack Obama asked the nation Wednesday to make a "renewed commitment" to serving their communities, saying his presidency allows a possibility for national unity through active participation, and warning of big crowds and lots of walking on his Inauguration Day. Mr. Obama, who takes the oath of office Tuesday at noon, said Americans can visit the inaugural committee's new online service tool at USAService.org to host events in their neighborhoods. He detailed his plans to join his wife, Michelle Obama, and Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill Biden, on Martin Luther King Day Monday to...

At past inaugurations, ceremonial prayers uttered on behalf of the incoming president drew about as much attention as the flags on the podium. Not this year. Barack Obama's choice of clergy is under scrutiny like no other president-elect before him, alternately outraging Americans on the left and the right as he navigates the minefield of U.S. religion. "I can't recall any prayers drawing so much attention," said Charles Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center who specializes in religion in public life. Gay advocates assailed Obama, while many conservative Christians were heartened, when he invited the Rev. Rick Warren,...

"Everybody's going to have to give," President-elect Barack Obama warned over the weekend. And some people will have to give more than others -- starting with low-income smokers. Democrats are rushing this week to impose massive tax hikes of at least 61 cents on every cigarette pack sold in America, in addition to new increases on other tobacco products. The money will fund a long-plotted federal expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Yes, this is Dr. Big Nanny's prescription for recession: punitive tax increases on the poor to feed a universal health care Trojan horse. Obama and...

Unprecedented inaugural celebrations for President-elect Barack Obama by gay activist groups, social organizations and ordinary citizens suggests many view Obama's election as a signal of a forthcoming sea change for the gay rights movement in America. The Rev. Gene Robinson, a gay Episcopal bishop, will say a prayer at an inaugural event at the Lincoln Monument on Sunday; a gay and lesbian marching band will take its place in the official presidential parade; and a slew of gay parties and inaugural balls will be held in the nation's capital before and after Obama takes the oath of office. But the...

The photo-op after his meeting with Vice President-elect Joe Biden and Sen. Lindsey Graham was yet another bipartisan boon for President-elect Barack Obama. And the man who stole the show was none other than Graham – one of John McCain’s closest friends in the U.S. Senate. Seated next to the South Carolina Republican, Obama nodded pensively as Graham explained that he looks forward to working with Obama to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – even if he would have preferred a different outcome in November. Graham then offered support for the president-elect’s beleaguered Treasury pick and even gave...

Richard and Rita with Enrique Morones at a joint Latino African American press conference on the day they left for the battleground states. Enrique is the director of Border Angeles, an immigrant rights group in San Diego that provides water and food to immigrants in the desert. Kensington residents Richard Griswold and Rita Sanchez are among thousands of ordinary—or should we say extraordinary--citizens who felt inspired to pull up stakes and travel to distant states campaigning for Barack Obama. What’s it like to hit the road and talk to strangers all over the U.S. on behalf of a presidential candidate?...

So, January 20 will usher in a new era: * Out with George Bush and his obsessive, overindulgent workouts; in with Barack Obama and his workouts that give him a “chance to reflect” and leave him “revved up.” * Say goodbye to the status quo; say hello to much of Bill Clinton’s old guard. * It’s unseemly to have a lavish inauguration during wartime, but okay to eat cake to celebrate during a recession. * Did you miss the presence of Hollywood’s glitterati in Washington during the last eight years? Relax: the stars will once again be shining in our...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama will allow gays to serve openly in the military by overturning the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy that marred President Clinton's first days in office, according to incoming White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The startling pronouncement, which could re-open a dormant battle in the culture wars and distract from other elements of Obama's agenda, came during a Gibbs exchange with members of the public who sent in questions that were answered on YouTube.

Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton told fellow senators during her confirmation hearing that the United States needs to follow a foreign policy of what she called "Smart Power." Sounds impressive, doesn't it? And just what does it mean? It means whatever you want to think it means. It's not a policy; it's just a slogan that sounds good. And who would want to be labeled an opponent of "smart power" even if they hadn't the vaguest idea of what it means? What the honorable members of the Senate need to do is delve a little deeper into the kind of...

Justice: We're impressed by President-elect Barack Obama's attempts to reach out to moderates and conservatives. In that spirit, we hope he rejects Congress' bad idea to prosecute Bush officials for "crimes."A troubling report released by House Democrats Tuesday suggests they want Obama to launch a criminal investigation of key Bush administration officials for breaking the law during the Iraq War. Similar requests have come from a number of so-called human rights groups. Our advice to Obama: Don't do it. So far on this issue, as on so many others, Obama has wisely been cautious, saying only, "obviously we're going to...

Apparently, it pays to complain to President-elect Barack Obama. Despite his protestations to the contrary, Obama clearly felt a bit burned by the outcry over his selection of Pastor Rick Warren, an evangelical preacher with a nasty track record when it comes to respecting the rights of lesbians and gays, to deliver the invocation at his inaugural. So Obama has tapped the Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the only openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, to deliver the invocation at the inaugural concert to be held at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, Jan. 18. The New Hampshire bishop had...

Many people balk at the notion that the United States will be dissolved into some component of a North American Union, or even a Global Union. They balk because they know that Americans still have a sense for and love of their individual freedom and constitutional rights. They also sense that if something like that were to take place now, there could be riots, civil war and possibly succession by various states or groups of states who do not wish to be a part of the union. People sense we are not ready for socialism because we are not yet...

As President-elect Barack Obama assembles his team of economic advisors it has become readily apparent that he has abandoned his campaign promise of a more fair trade policy after several key positions have been filled by “free traders” with a global economic outlook. Timothy Geithner, former President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has been tapped by Obama to head up the Treasury Department. If confirmed, Geithner will be charged with shaping finance and monetary policy along with being the president’s principal economic advisor. Geithner has a wealth of experience, working for 13 years at the Treasury Department...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden urged Muslims to launch a jihad against Israel and condemned Arab governments as allies of the Jewish state in a new message aimed at harnessing anger in the Mideast over the Gaza offensive.

Washington, DC, Jan. 13, 2009 (CNA) -- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Pepperdine University Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.

So according to Susan J Rice the 20th hijacker was tortured while he was being held at Gitmo. He was allegedly kept alone by himself (the horror), held without sleep (poor guy), made to stand nude (oook), and put in the cold. What were these interrogators thinking? Why are they treating this guy like he had planned to kill 3,000 people.

"Everybody's going to have to give," President-elect Barack Obama warned over the weekend. And some people will have to give more than others -- starting with low-income smokers. Democrats are rushing this week to impose massive tax hikes of at least 61 cents on every cigarette pack sold in America, in addition to new increases on other tobacco products. The money will fund a long-plotted federal expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Yes, this is Dr. Big Nanny's prescription for recession: punitive tax increases on the poor to feed a universal health care Trojan horse. Obama and...

Obama’s choice for Treasury secretary disclosed publicly Tuesday that he failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in federal taxes from 2001 to 2004. Senate Democrats tried to brush aside the last-minute complication as a minor bump on an otherwise smooth path to confirmation for Timothy Geithner, who has been president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. After the underpayments were detected, Geithner paid back taxes and interest totaling $43,200.

Dear Camille, When Obama is reading off a teleprompter or in a scripted environment like a debate (where the game is to plug in your prepared sound bites regardless of the question), he comes across as a magnificent and inspiring speaker. But there were several times during the campaign where he appeared to trip all over himself when off script. Now in his comments about the Blagojevich mess, he comes across badly and makes it look like we are in for another four (or eight) years of people having to carefully parse every word. Do you get that same impression...

Democratic leadership: Senate to seat BurrisStory WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Illinois senior senator and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin said Monday that the Senate would accept the credentials of former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. Roland Burris testifies at an impeachment hearing for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday. "The Secretary of the Senate has determined that the new credentials presented today on behalf of Mr. Burris now satisfy Senate Rules and validate his appointment to the vacant Illinois Senate seat. In addition, as we requested, Mr. Burris has provided sworn testimony before the Illinois...

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., has a bit of dilemma on his hands. It’s the kind of problem that has the potential to snowball and create an avalanche of political issues, depending on how he handles it. As the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Specter will have a front-row seat to what could become a political spectacle: the confirmation hearings of President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr. Specter’s pivot point is not whether he decides to grill Holder, but how. Go overboard as many perceive he did with Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas Supreme...

Little coverage has been given to Israel's REAL opponent in this Gaza conflict IRAN. The Islamic Republic created by Jimmy Carter, is described as one of the chief arms providers of Hamas, but their control of the terrorist group go WAY beyond giving them weapons to kill with. Dr. Walid Phares believes that Iran deliberately pushed Hamas to provoke Israel at a time "between" the two Presidential administrations and before the Israeli and Palestinian elections: Timing the Hamas end to the cease fire between two American presidencies in Washington and just before the Israeli and Palestinian elections, the Iranian Mullahs...

SINCE its Islamist revolution of 1979, Iran's hardline leadership has relentlessly painted the US as a racist, bloodthirsty power bent on oppressing Muslims worldwide. Nothing punctures this narrative more than the election of an African-American, Barack Obama, who supports dialogue with Iran and whose middle name, Hussein, is that of the central figure in Shia Islam. While the Bush administration's policies often served to unite Iran's disparate political landscape against a common threat, an Obama presidency could accentuate the country's deep internal divisions. Though intolerant conservatives are in firm control of Iran's Government, the moderates and reformists among the political...

President-elect Barack Obama and congressional leaders plan to move soon to block the estate tax from disappearing in 2010, suggesting the levy might outlive the "Death Tax Repeal" movement that has tried mightily to kill it. The Democratic stance on the estate tax contrasts with Mr. Obama's reluctance to press forward with his campaign pledge to raise income-tax rates on top earners, which he worries could have an adverse economic impact during a recession. But Democrats are determined to act quickly to prevent the estate tax's scheduled repeal. Elimination of the levy on big inheritances was approved by Congress under...

Obama starts to backtrack on campaign promises Obama Calls for Sacrifice, Scaling Back Campaign Promises Edwin Chen and Angela Greiling Keane 01.11.2009 President-elect Barack Obama said turning around the U.S. economy will require cutting back on some campaign promises and personal sacrifice from Americans.

Similar to hate factions like the KKK and neo-Nazis, the New Black Panther Party is a militant hate group, headquartered in Washington, D.C. that seeks to redefine the black struggle for equality and demand liberation from what it sees as white supremecy.

Senate Democrats prepared Sunday to answer a request for the remaining $350 billion in financial industry bailout funds as the Bush administration and President-elect Obama undertook a tag-team effort to obtain the money from reluctant lawmakers. A vote in Congress is likely as early as this week, several senators predicted after receiving a rare Sunday briefing from top Obama economic adviser Larry Summers on the Wall Street bailout, as well as on Obama's separate $800 billion-or-so economic recovery plan. President Bush would request the additional money for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, but the incoming administration would make...

SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Kyodo)—The United States has rejected a North Korean offer that a senior foreign ministry official attend the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama later this month, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday. North Korea offered to send Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, chief delegate to the six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, to the Jan. 20 ceremony, Yonhap quoted a diplomatic source as saying.

White House reporters for The New York Times predict that the market collapse will force President-elect Barack Obama to abandon for now many of his campaign promises. If his stimulus plan "doesn’t work out, he may very well be a one-term president,” said Jeff Zeleny, who covered Obama’s campaign. “It’s hard to imagine that he could be reelected if the economy’s in the exact same position four years from now.” “A lot of the things he said on the campaign trail you can now dispense with,” said correspondent Peter Baker. “For the moment he has to focus on the economy.”...

Obama: You Need To Fire Everyone The Market Ticker Saturday, January 10. 2009 Posted by Karl Denninger at 11:57 Obama: You Need To Fire Everyone ..... involved in producing your "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan".Why? In "Appendix 1" We considered multipliers for the case where the federal funds rate remains constant, rather than the usual case where the Federal Reserve raises the funds rate in response to fiscal expansion, on the grounds that the funds rate is likely to be at or near its lower bound of zero for the foreseeable future. Please tell me this is a joke....

Here is video of incoming Barack Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs answering a submitted question regarding the whether Obama would get rid of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for homosexuals. In the brief but emphatic answer, Gibbs - speaking for President-elect Obama - says the answer is "Yes." No word on how soon he would move to remove any restrictions on actively gay people serving in the military - but clearly, it's going to happen. . . . . (watch video)

Another gun show and another record turnout at the Southtowne Expo Center. This time more than 11,000 people showed up to the first day of the Crossroads of the West Gun Show. That’s about twice as many people as were expected, according to show organizer Bob Templeton. “We knew it would be busy, I don't think we knew it would be as busy as it has been. I think people are concerned about the future of gun rights," said Templeton. The hot item at this gun show was ammunition. Gun owners fear President-elect Barack Obama could implement an increased bullet...

Seven decades later, we can only marvel at FDR’s decision making, especially in light of Leon Panetta’s nomination to run the CIA. During a time of war — and facing threats no less menacing than the Japanese Empire — President-elect Barack Obama selected a man who is singularly unqualified to lead a key intelligence agency. It’s not that Mr. Panetta lacks experience; he’s been a fixture in Washington since the late 1960s, when he was a member of the Nixon administration. After switching parties, he became a Democratic congressman from California and later served as the OMB director and White...

As a social conservative, I never thought in the space of one calendar year I would have been defending soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and beleaguered Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich. But sometimes fate can lead us to strange places. I supported Hillary Clinton's doomed Democratic presidential primary bid against Barack Obama though I didn't have a vote in the matter. At the time, I felt that even the Clintons would be better for America than President-elect B. Hussein Obama and, for the record, there has been nothing to change my mind. Indeed, my opinion on the subject is...

Remember when you were a kid and you used to wait for the new Topps cards to come out every year? Remember begging Mom to buy you a pack of the cards with the stick of gum inside? Every year they had football player cards, and baseball cards, and basketball cards, and the politician cards. Oh wait, scratch that last one. Come to think of it, I don't recall any Carter or Reagan cards when I was a boy. Now Topps is jumping on the Obama Superstar bandwagon and releasing fanboi photocards of the Obama pre-presidency. Obama's rookie season cards...

Liberal activists are frothing for investigations into officials who carried out warrantless-wiretapping policies and employed "enhanced" interrogation techniques on captured terror suspects. They hope to have an ally in Panetta, who wrote an article in 2008 strongly condemning the use of "torture" in the name of "national security." Some anxious spies fear the new CIA chief could launch a witch hunt—one that would destroy morale and make the agency more risk-averse. Officials familiar with the views of Obama's team insist there's no massive probe coming. But a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Oregon's Ron Wyden, told NEWSWEEK he...

Stars flock for a place in ‘Bamelot’ Sarah Baxter CELEBRITIES and socialites are vying to be on Washington’s “O-List” – the hot-test ticket to social success – in anticipation of Barack Obama’s inauguration. The city has not been this glamorous since the dashing John F Kennedy presided over Camelot. “Number one: Obama is cool,” said Morris Reid of the Creative Coalition, which has a waiting list of 500 for its star-studded inauguration ball. “He is truly the first pop culture president – the first to have a BlackBerry, get his music from his iPod and walk around with aviator Ray-Bans.”...

Who's responsible for the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae mess? Democrats don't want you to know it was their failures which created this financial monster, zeroed right in on Barney Frank. This video shows that President George Bush tried to warn Congress starting in 2001 that this economic crisis was coming if something wasn't done. The liberal AMERICAN media did not want this video on You Tube, so they had Time Warner threaten a law suit (proprietary rights) if it was not taken off. The link above to Proud To Be Canadian is the same video but is routed through...