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
--
To unsubscribe from this feed, click here
To manage other subscriptions, click here
~
Powered by RssFwd, a service of Blue Sky Factory, Inc

He used alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine during his teenage years, Obama writes, to "push questions of who I was out of my mind.

Obama, who defines himself in The Audacity of Hope as "a Democrat, after all," has been criticized for his political actions by self-described progressive commentator David Sirota, and complimented for his "Can't we all just get along?" manner by conservative columnist George Will. An October 2005 article in the British journal New Statesman listed Obama as one of "10 people who could change the world. In a nationally televised speech at the University of Nairobi, he spoke forcefully on the influence of ethnic rivalries and corruption in Kenya. Boosted by increased national standing, he went on to win election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with a landslide 70% of the vote in an election year marked by Republican gains. However, Ryan withdrew from the race in June 2004, following public disclosure of child custody divorce records containing sexual allegations by Ryan's ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously.

It was an immediate bestseller and remains on the New York Times Best Seller List. Boosted by increased national standing, he went on to win election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004 with a landslide 70% of the vote in an election year marked by Republican gains. I've been chewing Nicorette strenuously.

In March 2007, speaking before AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, he said that while the U.S. "should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons. In Ukraine, they toured a disease control and prevention facility and witnessed the signing of a bilateral pact to secure biological pathogens and combat risks of infectious disease outbreaks from natural causes or bioterrorism.