The Shout Heard ‘Round The World: Obama Called Liar During Speech Sep 10, 200911:57 PDT

Thursday, September 10, 2009.

President Obama took a bold risk by addressing all of Congress in the Capitol building to push his health care agenda. In entertainment, American Idol announces a replacement for Paula Abdul and Hugh Hefner files for divorce from a wife that most forgot he had. This is your Daily Surf Report, using the best videos on the web to keep you abreast of the day’s top stories.

Obama “Scores a Win” With Congressional Address

Despite a tremendous amount of focus on President Obama’s education speech, delivered Tuesday morning to students in schools across the country, Thursday night’s address to both Houses of Congress on the issue of health care is the speech drawing the most attention as a new legislative session begins.

The entire speech, broadcast live on national television, was designed to give President Obama a platform with which to address the need for changes to the health care system, and to outline in detail specific component’s of the plan.

Those details, which include limitations on insurance practices and the formation of a public alternative for low income individuals and small businesses in need of affordable health coverage, were received with a fair amount of applause and occasional moments of contention.

One moment in particular is drawing media attention, where Rep. Joe Wilson (R, SC) shouted “You lie!” loud enough to be picked up by cameras in response to the President’s statement that illegal immigrants would not receive Government health coverage. Wilson has since issued an apology for the remark, which he described as “inappropriate”.

Media analysts are viewing the speech as a significant achievement for the Obama Administration.

Viewer reaction was also positive, with the more contentious moments in the speech likely to be split along party lines. This video details the results of a real time audience poll, and covers the highlights of the Obama address:

Degeneres To Replace Abdul on Idol

Daytime talk show host and comedienne Ellen Degeneres has officially been announced as the fourth judge for the upcoming season of American Idol. She will be replacing original judge Paula Abdul, who left the show over a contract dispute. The announcement came as a surprise and was received with mixed reviews. Purists who wanted the judges to have a music background generally disliked the move, while viewers who thought the show was becoming stale, welcomed the addition.

Degeneres, who was interviewed on American Idol host Ryan Seacrest’s radio show, hopes to become the “viewer’s voice”. She states “I’m really honest, but I think you can be honest in a kind way. That’s one thing Paula did bring to the show, that empathy and compassion, so I hope to do that.”

So do you think the comedian as a singing judge will work out for the TV ratings juggernaut or should they have just forked over the extra money to bring back Paula?

Here’s a video of Ellen dancing with the contestants of the new season of another hit Fox show, So You Think You Can Dance, which premiered Wednesday, September 9:

Hef Officially Moves On, Finalizes Split

Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner has filed for divorce from his nearly forgotten wife of twenty years, Kimberly Conrad Hefner. Hefner and Conrad were married in 1989, and then separated in 1998. Hefner has explained that the two remained married despite the separation for the sake of their two sons, who lived with Conrad in a house next door to the famed Playboy Mansion. Both sons are now attending college.

Conrad with receive $20,000 a month in spousal support.

Hefner being “The Hef”, however, is not likely to receive much sympathy from the divorce announcement. Earlier this year, on the season premiere of the Playboy sponsored reality show The Girls Next Door, Hef introduced his three new girlfriends, Crystal Harris, 23, and twins Karissa and Kristina Shannon, 19:

Additional contributions to today’s post by Joe Nguyen.

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