Ilham Anas, President Barack Obama

Ilham Anas, President Barack Obama, A “shy” photographer in Indonesia is in great demand because of his resemblance to the new US President, Barack Obama.

Ilham Anas, 34, is already a celebrity in Jakarta, where Mr Obama once lived, but his fame is spreading.

He has appeared on Indonesia’s premier TV talk show, done an advertisement as Mr Obama, and received other marketing offers from companies in the region.

The real Barack Obama went to school in Jakarta in the late 1960s, when his classmates knew him as Barry.

Mr Anas told Reuters news agency: “I was in the airport in Malaysia in transit and a man approached me and asked: ‘Are you Obama?’. I was very surprised when he asked to take a picture together and bought me a meal.”

Mr Anas’s increasing popularity arose after his colleagues, at a local teenage magazine, asked him to pose with a suit, tie and American flag, following Mr Obama’s election victory in November.

I see my resemblance to Obama as a blessing – I used to look at the mirror and I had a negative perception of myself
Ilham Anas

Soon, they were taking photos and sending them to friends. “The pictures spread very quickly on the internet. It was phenomenal. Then TV stations and an advertising agency got in touch with me,” he said.

Mr Anas was born and raised in Bandung, West Java. He says he is happy to cash in but there are limits.

“I will take all the opportunities that come my way, as long as they don’t violate ethical codes and my personal values,” he told AFP news agency.

And he admits that all the attention has given him something of a boost. “I’m actually a shy person. I don’t like being put in the spotlight.

Many Indonesians have a keen interest in Mr Obama, who lived in Jakarta for four years after his American mother, Ann Dunham, married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro following the end of her marriage to Mr Obama’s Kenyan father.

44th President: President Barack Obama

44th President: President Barack Obama, Barack Hussein Obama II ( born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.

He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004.

He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party’s nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and the Budget Control Act of 2011.

In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered US involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama, President Barack Obama’s oratory soared again when he made his State of the Union address to Congress in the very House of Representatives chamber where Republicans have done so much to taunt Obama and snuff out the hopes that so many American people had of the new young, intelligent, telegenic president.

It was great theater. Unfortunately for Obama and for America, too many contradictions remain between his promises and the dirty real world. You had only to watch the deadpan expression and almost permanently glazed eyes, hauntingly hostile, of John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, sitting behind Obama’s left shoulder, to realize that Republicans will oppose Obama tooth and claw, whatever it takes.

Yes, this is election year and Obama was laying out his stall to create, as he put it, “A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we’re in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.”

Later he came down from his folksy heaven to below the rumbling proliferating clouds of political and economic thunderstorms. America has a choice, he declared: “We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by; or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone gets a fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

Such marvelous presidential dreams — but unfortunately Obama has had three years in the White House, and the lot of many ordinary Americans has got worse. He is fighting not only against his own failures to turn soaring rhetoric into political reality, but also against determined opponents who deride Obama as either a socialist or, worse, a closet European.

In addition he faces economic headwinds of slow growth and unemployment not seen since the 1930s. On top of that, America’s place in the world is rapidly changing and its predominance being challenged in ways that Obama seems unable to admit and Republicans are dangerously determined not to.

The president suggested various ways to revive the economy and employment, including giving tax credits to companies bringing jobs back and denying them to those outsourcing jobs, and for pumping money saved from fighting wars into badly needed renewal of U.S. infrastructure. But there seems little hope that Republicans, determined above all to pay down the debt and pander to the rich, will agree. They don’t want to give him any credit: They want him out of the White House.

In laying into the rich who benefit from tax breaks that reduce the rates they pay to 15 percent or less, Obama was both taking a dig at Republican rival Mitt Romney, who paid just 13.9 percent tax on his 2010 earnings of $21.7 million, and presenting himself as the leader of ordinary Americans.

Romney’s tax bill was entirely legal, since he took advantage of lower taxes on capital gains. “I pay all the taxes that are legally required, and not a dollar more,” Romney said. (In fact, Floyd Norris of the New York Times discovered that Romney overpaid his taxes by about $44,000 because a trust had miscalculated the capital gains actually realized.) Obama and his wife paid tax of about 26 percent on their $1.7 million income, including from sales of the president’s books.

Even being clad in the mantle of Man of the People does not help Obama against determined Republicans who persist in their belief that it is the rich people who create jobs, and should be encouraged. Romney’s main Republican rival, Newt Gingrich, said he wants to reduce tax on capital gains to zero.

Firsts In African-American History

Firsts In African-American History, African Americans are a demographic minority in the United States. The first achievements by African Americans in various fields historically establish a foothold, providing a precedent for more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is “breaking the color barrier”.

One commonly cited example is that of Jackie Robinson, who was the first African American of the modern era to become a Major League Baseball player, ending 60 years of segregated leagues. Segregated Negro Leagues had been established for decades, featuring many talented athletes.

18th century
1760
First known African-American published author: Jupiter Hammon (poem “An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries”, published as a broadside)
1770
First person shot to death during the Boston Massacre: Crispus Attucks, called the first martyr of the revolution.
1773
First known African-American woman to publish a book: Phillis Wheatley (Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral)
First separate African American church: Silver Bluff Baptist Church, Aiken County, South Carolina
1774
First African-American Baptist congregation: First Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia
1777
First known African-American church congregation: First Colored Baptist Church, renamed First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia. This claim is contested by the First Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia (1774) and historians of the Silver Bluff Baptist Church (1773-1775) of Aiken County, South Carolina
1778
First African-American U.S. military regiment: the 1st Rhode Island Regiment
1780s
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, popularly known as “The Father of Chicago”, was the first known settler in the area which is now Chicago, Illinois.
1783
First African American to formally practice medicine in the U.S.: James Derham, who did not hold an M.D. degree (See also: 1847)
1792
First major African-American Back-to-Africa movement: 1,200 slaves who escaped to settle in Settler Town, Sierra Leone
1793
First African Methodist Episcopal Church established: Richard Allen founded Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1794
First African Episcopal Church established: Absalom Jones founded African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1800s
1804
First African American ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States: Absalom Jones in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1807
First African Presbyterian Church opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1810s
1816
First fully independent African-American denomination established: Richard Allen founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was elected bishop. Several black congregations withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal Church and created their own denomination.

1820s
1821
First African American to hold a patent: Thomas L. Jennings, for a dry-cleaning process
1823
First African American to receive a degree from an American college: Alexander Twilight, Middlebury College (See also: 1836)
1827
First African-American owned-and-operated newspaper: Freedom’s Journal

1830s
1836
First African American elected to public office and to serve in a state legislature: Alexander Twilight, Vermont (See also: 1823)
1837
First African-American doctor: Dr. James McCune Smith from the University of Glasgow, Scotland (See also: 1783, 1847)

1840s
1845
First African American licensed to practice law in the United States: Macon Allen from the Boston bar
1847
First African American to graduate from a U.S. medical school: Dr. David J. Peck (Rush Medical College) (See also: 1783, 1837)
First independent African-American nation and first African-American president of any nation: Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Liberia
1849
First African-American college professor: Charles L. Reason, New York Central College

1850s
1851
First African-American member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), Patrick Francis Healy. (See also: 1866, 1874)
1853
First novel written by an African American: Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter, by William Wells Brown.
1854
First African-American Roman Catholic priest: James Augustine Healy. (see 1875 and 1886)
First institute of higher learning created to educate African Americans: Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania, renamed Lincoln University in 1866. (See also: 1863)
1858
First published play by an African American: The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown
First African-American female college instructor: Sarah Jane Woodson Early, Wilberforce College

1861
First North American military unit with African-American officers: 1st Louisiana Native Guard of the Confederate Army
First African-American U.S. federal government civil servant: William Cooper Nell
1862
First African-American woman to earn a B.A.: Mary Jane Patterson, Oberlin College
First recognized U.S. Army African-American combat unit: 1st South Carolina Volunteers
1863
First college owned and operated by African Americans: Wilberforce University, Ohio. (Founded earlier; not fully owned and operated by African Americans until 1863) (See also: 1854)
First African-American president of a college: Bishop Daniel Payne (Wilberforce University)
1865
First African-American field officer in the U.S. Army: Martin Delany
First African-American attorney admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court: John Swett Rock
1866
First African American to earn a Ph.D.: Father Patrick Francis Healy, S.J. (from University of Leuven, Belgium). (See also 1851, 1874)
First African-American woman enlistee in the U.S. Army: Cathay Williams
1868
First elected African-American Lieutenant Governor: Oscar Dunn (Louisiana). (See also: 1871, May)
First African-American mayor: Pierre Caliste Landry, Donaldsonville, Louisiana
1869
First African-American U.S. diplomat: Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, minister to Haiti
First African-American woman school principal: Fanny Jackson Coppin (Institute for Colored Youth)
1870
First African American to vote in an election under the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting voting rights regardless of race: Thomas Mundy Peterson
First African American to graduate from Harvard College: Richard Theodore Greener
January: First African American elected to either chamber of the U.S. Congress: Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels (R-Miss.)
May: First African-American acting governor: Oscar James Dunn of Louisiana from May till August 9, 1871, when sitting Governor Warmoth was incapacitated and chose to recuperate in Mississippi. (See also: Douglas Wilder, 1990)
December: First African American elected to U.S. House of Representatives: Joseph Rainey (R-S.C.)
1872
First African-American governor (non-elected): P. B. S. Pinchback of Louisiana (See also: Douglas Wilder, 1990)
First African-American nominee for Vice President of the United States: Frederick Douglass by the Equal Rights Party.
1874
First African-American president of a major college/university: Father Patrick Francis Healy, S.J. of Georgetown College. (See also: 1851, 1863, 1866)
1875
First African-American Roman Catholic bishop: Bishop James Augustine Healy, of Portland, Maine. (See also: 1854)
1876
First African American to earn a doctorate degree from an American university: Edward Alexander Bouchet (Yale College Ph.D., physics; also first African American to graduate from Yale, 1874) (See also: 1866)
1877
First African-American graduate of West Point and first African-American commissioned officer in the U.S. military: Henry Ossian Flipper.
1879
First African American to graduate from a formal nursing school: Mary Eliza Mahoney, Boston, Massachusetts

1880
First African American to command a U.S. ship: Captain Michael Healy.
1881
First African American whose signature appeared on U.S. paper currency: Blanche K. Bruce, Registrar of the Treasury.
1883
First known African-American woman to graduate from one of the Seven Sisters college: Hortense Parker (Mount Holyoke College)
1884
First African American to play professional baseball at the major-league level: Moses Fleetwood Walker. (See also: Jackie Robinson, 1947)
1885
First African-American woman to hold a patent: Sarah E. Goode, for the cabinet bed, Chicago, Illinois
1886
First African-American Roman Catholic priest publicly known at the time to be African-American: Augustine Tolton, Quincy and Chicago, Illinois
1891
First African-American police officer in present-day New York City: Wiley Overton, hired by the Brooklyn Police Department prior to 1898 incorporation of the five boroughs into the City of New York. (See also: Samuel J. Battle, 1911)
1892
First African American to sing at Carnegie Hall: Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones
First African American named to a College Football All-America Team: William H. Lewis, Harvard University
1895
First African American to earn a doctorate degree (Ph.D.) from Harvard University: W.E.B. Du Bois
First African-American woman to work for the United States Postal Service: Mary Fields
1896
First African American appointed to serve as U.S. Army Paymaster: Richard R. Wright

1900s
1901
First African American invited to dine at the White House: Booker T. Washington
1902
First African-American professional basketball player: Harry Lew (New England Professional Basketball League) (See also: 1950)
1903
First Broadway musical written by African Americans, and the first to star African Americans: In Dahomey
First African-American woman to found and become president of a bank: Maggie L. Walker, St. Luke Penny Savings Bank (since 1930 the Consolidated Bank & Trust Company), Richmond, Virginia
1904
First Greek-letter fraternal organization established by African Americans: Sigma Pi Phi
First African American to participate in the Olympic Games, and first to win a medal: George Poage (two bronze medals)
1906
First intercollegiate Greek-letter organization established by African Americans: Alpha Phi Alpha (?‘?¦?‘), at Cornell University
1907
First African-American Greek Orthodox priest and missionary in America: Very Rev. Fr. Raphael Morgan (Robert Josias Morgan)
1908
First African-American heavyweight boxing champion: Jack Johnson
First African-American Olympic gold medal winner: John Taylor (Track and field medley relay team). (See also: DeHart Hubbard, 1924)
First intercollegiate Greek-letter sorority established by African Americans: Alpha Kappa Alpha (?‘K?‘)
1909
First African-American scholar to address the American Historical Association: W.E.B. Du Bois

1910
First African-American millionaire: Madam C. J. Walker
1911
First intercollegiate Greek-letter society established by African Americans at a historically black college: Omega Psi Phi (?©?¨?¦), at Howard University
First African-American police officer in New York City: Samuel J. Battle, following the 1898 incorporation of the five boroughs into the City of New York, and the hiring of three African-American officers in the Brooklyn Police Department. Battle was also the NYPD’s first African-American sergeant (1926), lieutenant (1935), and parole commissioner (1941). (See also: Wiley Overton, 1891)
1915
First African-American alderman of Chicago: Oscar Stanton De Priest
1916
First African-American football player to play in a Rose Bowl game: Fritz Pollard, Brown University
First African-American serviceman to become a colonel in the United States Army: Charles Young
First African-American woman to be a police officer in Los Angeles, seven years after the LAPD hired the first woman officer in the country: Georgia Robinson
1917
First African-American police officer killed in the line of duty: NYPD officer Robert H. Holmes
First African-American woman to win a major sports title: Lucy Diggs Slowe, American Tennis Association

1920
First African-American NFL football players: Fritz Pollard (Akron Pros) and Bobby Marshall (Rock Island Independents)
First African-American bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church: Robert Elijah Jones and Matthew Wesley Clair.
1921
First African-American woman to become a pilot, first American to hold an international pilot license: Bessie Coleman
First African-American NFL football coach: Fritz Pollard, co-head coach, Akron Pros, while continuing to play running back
First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the U.S.: Sadie Tanner Mossell, Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania
1924
First African American to win individual Olympic gold medal: DeHart Hubbard (Long jump, 1924 Summer Olympics). (See also: John Taylor, 1908)
1925
First African-American Foreign Service Officer: Clifton R. Wharton, Sr.
1926
First African-American woman to receive a degree (Ph.D.) from Yale University: Otelia Cromwell, who had previously been the first African-American graduate of Smith College.
1927
First African American to star in an international motion picture: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques.
1928
First post-Reconstruction African American elected to U.S. House of Representatives: Oscar Stanton De Priest (Republican; Illinois)
1929
First African-American sportscaster: Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell (WNJR, Newark, New Jersey)

2001
First African-American Secretary of State: Colin Powell
First African-American president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Wilton Daniel Gregory
First African-American president of the Unitarian Universalist Association: Rev. William G. Sinkford
First African-American president of an Ivy League university: Ruth J. Simmons at Brown University, also the first permanent female president of Brown.
First African-American woman to win the ASCAP Pop Music Songwriter of the Year award: Beyoncé Knowles
First African-American woman to be appointed National Security Advisor: Condoleezza Rice (See also: 2005)
First African-American billionaire: Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television (see also 2002)
First African-American female billionaire: Sheila Johnson
2002
First African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress: Halle Berry (Monster’s Ball, 2001)
First African-American Winter Olympic gold medal winner: Vonetta Flowers (two-woman bobsleigh). (See also: Shani Davis, 2006)
First African American to become majority owner of a U.S. major sports league team: Robert L. Johnson (Charlotte Bobcats, NBA) (see also 2001)
First African-American female combat pilot in the U.S. Armed Services: Captain Vernice Armour, USMC
First African American to hold the #1 rank in tennis: Venus Williams, February 25, 2002.
First African American to hold the year-end #1 rank in tennis: Serena Williams
First African American to be named year-end world champion by the International Tennis Federation: Serena Williams
First African-American Arena Football League head coach to win ArenaBowl: Darren Arbet (San Jose SaberCats), ArenaBowl XVI
First African-American general manager in the National Football League: Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens)
2003
First African American to win a Career Grand Slam in tennis: Serena Williams (See also: Althea Gibson, 1956; Arthur Ashe, 1968)
2004
First African American General Manager for World Wrestling Entertainment: Theodore Long
First African American to win Broadway theater’s Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play: Phylicia Rash??d
First African-American NBA general manager to win the NBA Finals: Joe Dumars (Detroit Pistons), 2004 NBA Finals
First African-American Canadian Football League Head Coach to win the Grey Cup: Pinball Clemons (Toronto Argonauts), 92nd Grey Cup
2005
First African-American woman appointed Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice (See also: 2001)
First African-American woman U.S. Coast Guard aviator: Jeanine Menze
2006
First African-American individual Winter Olympic gold medal winner: Shani Davis (men’s 1,000 meter speed skating) (See also: Vonetta Flowers, 2002)
First African-American Extreme Championship Wrestling champion: Bobby Lashley
First African American to command a United States Marine Corps division: Major General Walter E. Gaskin
First African American to reach the peak of Mount Everest: Sophia Danenberg
2007
First African-American Governor of Massachusetts: Deval Patrick
First African-American NFL head coaches to reach the Super Bowl: Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy, Super Bowl XLI
First African-American NFL head coach to win the Super Bowl: Tony Dungy (Indianapolis Colts), Super Bowl XLI
First known African-American woman to reach the North Pole: Barbara Hillary
First African-American female professional wrestler to win the NWA World Women’s Championship: Amazing Kong
2008
First African American to be nominated as a major-party U.S. presidential candidate: Barack Obama, Democratic Party
First African American to referee a Super Bowl game: Mike Carey (Super Bowl XLII)
First African-American NFL general manager to win the Super Bowl: Jerry Reese (New York Giants), Super Bowl XLII
First African-American woman elected Speaker of a state House of Representatives: California Rep. Karen Bass
First African-American governor of New York State: David Paterson (elected as lieutenant governor, succeeded on resignation of previous governor)
First African American to own a movie and TV studio: Tyler Perry
First African American elected President of the United States: Barack Obama
First African American to be appointed to the United States Senate by a state governor: Roland Burris
First African-American female combat pilot in the United States Air Force: Major Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell
2009
First African-American President of the United States: Barack Obama
First African-American First Lady of the United States: Michelle Obama
First African-American chair of the Republican National Committee: Michael Steele (See also: 2002)
First African-American United States Attorney General: Eric Holder
First African-American woman United States Ambassador to the United Nations: Susan Rice
First African-American United States Trade Representative: Ron Kirk
First African-American woman Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Lisa P. Jackson
First African-American White House Social Secretary: Desirée Rogers
First African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin: Duke Ellington (District of Columbia quarter).
First African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for History: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family
First African-American Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Charles F. Bolden, Jr.
First African-American woman rabbi: Alysa Stanton
First African-American woman CEO of an S&P 100 Company: Ursula Burns, Xerox Corporation.
First African-American doubles team to be named year-end world champion by the International Tennis Federation: Serena and Venus Williams
First African-American to win an Academy Awards for an Adapted screenplay (Push by Sapphire) Geoffrey S. Fletcher
First African-American Disney Princess: Tiana

2010
First African-American to win the WWE Diva’s Championship: Alicia Fox
First African-American Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: Roderick L. Ireland

Prejean Video , President Barack Obama

Carrie Prejean is called “Miss Good Finger” for her masturbating skills! Prejean video is making big splashes on the internet. While the video may not be available so easily, TMZ has all the spicy pictures of Prejean wearing a thong and vest too short to cover her boobs and very well formed nipples peeking from behind the vest. The release of the portions of the video is just another incident to add the difficulties of the model. Miss California pageants sued her for not fulfilling the contract requirement. As she wore the crown of Miss California, it was required that under no condition her explicit photographs would appear in public media. However we all witnessed the picture in which she is wearing a pink panty and there is nothing above (she is looking kool by the way!). Later she made it clear that the picture is an old one and she was only seventeen at that time and that she regrets her decision to have agreed to appear topless.

Prejean in her turn sued Miss California pageant. Reportedly the Prejean has taken back the suit because she was threatened that her video in its entirety would be made public. However the contract between Prejean and K2 productions remained terminated. After the settlement of the issue Prejean would only receive the reimbursement of her lawyer fees.

Prejean has also been criticized for her opposition of the same sex marriages; however she has made it clear that her stance is based on principles and in line with the stand of President Barack Obama.