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 House Fades into "Blue Screen" as Chaos Reigns

The House is back to "blue screen" - the picture of the Capitol dome with the blue sky above it shown on the internal Capitol television system with the words "recess subject to the call of the chair" across the bottom. And blue screen often means something has gone terribly awry inside the chamber, which is in chaos this afternoon. This follows a walkout of Republicans last night over a disputed vote on a farm spending bill and technical problems today with the voting board. Shortly past 2 p.m. this afternoon, Republicans offered a motion to adjourn the chamber, a normal protest vote that the minority, regardless of party, has been using for decades. However, in the middle of this protest procedure, the voting machine that keeps the tally went dark, prompting House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to call for a recess in order to fix the voting machines.

washingtonpost.com Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:41:07 EDT

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/08/03/BL2007080301488.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
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