Barack Obama

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas). Barack Hussein Obama (born August 4, 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party.

Obama grew up in culturally diverse surroundings. He spent most of his childhood in the majority-minority U.S. state of Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention while still an Illinois state legislator. Since announcing his candidacy in February 2007, Obama has emphasized ending the Iraq War and implementing universal health care as campaign themes.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, Obama co-sponsored the enactment of conventional weapons control and transparency legislation, and made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Obama's parents separated when he was two years old and later divorced. His father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident when the younger Obama was twenty-one years old.

The Worst Technology Laws

Given how much technology affects all parts of our lives these days, it's scary to think about how often Congress gets regulation of tech issues wrong. Sometimes it passes laws, like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that make things worse. Other times it ignores vital issues such as online privacy, leaving us at the mercy of companies and whatever their privacy policies say this week.

PC World Tue, 31 Jul 2007 01:19:07 EDT

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073100065.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
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Obama began podcasting from his U.S. Senate web site in late 2005. " The audio book edition earned Obama the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album. He spent most of his childhood in the majority-minority U.S. state of Hawaii and lived for four years in Indonesia.

Speculation intensified in October 2006 when Obama first said he had "thought about the possibility" of running for president, departing from earlier statements that he intended to serve out his six-year Senate term through 2010. In the fall of 2002, during an anti-war rally at Chicago's Federal Plaza, Obama said: I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda. Together with Warren and Brownback, Obama took an HIV test, as he had done in Kenya less than four months earlier. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher. Obama's campaign reported raising US$25.8 million between January 1 and March 31 of 2007. Finally, he spoke for national unity: The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. I've got an ironclad demand from my wife that in the stresses of the campaign I don't succumb. A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination. His father went to Harvard University to pursue Ph.D. studies, then returned to Kenya, where he died in an auto accident when the younger Obama was twenty-one years old.

During his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, Obama won the endorsement of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police, whose officials cited his "longtime support of gun control measures and his willingness to negotiate compromises," despite his support for some bills the police union had opposed.