Barack Oblogger

Video: Obama Tours Ghanaian Slave Dungeon

2009-07-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

Video: Sotomayor's Opening Statements

2009-07-14T07:51:00.001-07:00

President Obama in Ghana

2009-07-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the president's speech to the Ghanaian parliament.

Video: President Obama on the Fourth of July, Overcoming America's Challenges

2009-07-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Vanity Fair: It Came from Wasilla

2009-07-03T09:05:00.001-07:00

Vanity Fair's profile on Sarah Palin.

What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life? Why did so many skilled veterans of the Republican Party—long regarded as the more adroit team in presidential politics—keep loyally working for her election even after they privately realized she was casual about the truth and totally unfit for the vice-presidency? Perhaps most painful, how could John McCain, one of the cagiest survivors in contemporary politics—with a fine appreciation of life’s injustices and absurdities, a love for the sweep of history, and an overdeveloped sense of his own integrity and honor—ever have picked a person whose utter shortage of qualification for her proposed job all but disqualified him for his?

Video: Obama Townhall on Healthcare Reform

2009-07-03T09:03:00.000-07:00

Video: How Social Networks Can Make History

2009-06-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

From TED.com:

Clay Shirky shows how Facebook, Twitter and TXTs help citizens in repressive regimes to report on real news, bypassing censors (however briefly). The end of top-down control of news is changing the nature of politics.

Video: Sec. Clinton with Israeli Foreign Minister Lieberman

2009-06-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

Video: President Obama on Financial Regulatory Reform

2009-06-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

Read the transcript here

Updates on Iran Election Protests #iranelection

2009-06-15T20:02:00.000-07:00

Nico Pitney of Huffington Post is liveblogging the Iranian election protests.

Follow a livestream of updates on the Iranian election on Twitter.

Recovery Act Opportunities

2009-06-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

You may be eligible for federal loans, grants, programs or other benefits.

Click here to read about monies made available by the Recovery Act.

Video: Banks Repay Taxpayer Money

2009-06-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

President Obama also discussed his commitment to reinstating "pay-as-you-go" (PAYGO), meaning government cannot spend an additional dollar without saving it somewhere else.

Kiva Launches U.S. Lending

2009-06-11T06:38:00.000-07:00

Kiva.org is a site that lets you lend money to the working poor, entrepreneurs who are in need of relatively small sums of money to grow their businesses.

You can lend in $25 increments, in whatever amount feels comfortable.

In the past, Kiva has focused its efforts on entrepreneurs in developing countries where a $1,000 loan might represent a substantial sum of money needed to expand a business.

Kiva is expanding its mission to include entrepreneurs in the United States.

This is Amato, who lives in California.

Amato, a widowed mother of two, has always loved children and believes her mission in life is to help them. For over ten years, she worked with disadvantaged children at various nonprofits before being laid off in 2003. She began fostering children and decided to take this effort one step further by opening a daycare center in her home in California. Amato hopes that the individual care and attention each child receives at Village d’Afrique will teach them great values and give them the opportunity to flourish in life. She’d like to provide this opportunity to more children, but needs funds to fully convert her home into a daycare center with a higher capacity.
With a $6,000 loan from Opportunity Fund, Amato will be able to carpet the living room nap area, convert her garage into a play room, and buy art and educational supplies.

State Department Youth Programs

2009-06-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

The State Department is reaching out to students with cultural exchange programs and grant funding opportunities.

Take Action: North Korea Sentences Two U.S. Journalists to 12 Years Hard Labor

2009-06-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

From an action posted on Facebook:

The nightmare continued tonight for journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were convicted a few hours ago by the North Korean government and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor.

Laura and Euna, employees of San Francisco-based Current TV - a media venture founded by former Vice President Al Gore - were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while reporting on refugees living in China. Both women, accused by North Korea of crossing into the country illegally from China and committing “hostile acts,” were be tried on criminal charges last week.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said charges against two American journalists detained in North Korea for illegally entering the country are baseless and they should be allowed to return home. The U.S. government believes “that the charges against these young women are absolutely without merit or foundation,” Clinton said on ABC television’s “This Week.” Clinton nodded when asked if she’d sent a letter asking for their release. “I have taken every action that we thought would produce the result we’re looking for,” Clinton said. “We hope the trial ends quickly, it’s resolved, and they’re sent home.”

Please join the effort to amp up the noise in support of Laura and Euna.

FOLLOW ON TWITTER
http://twitter.com/liberatelaura

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60755553149

SIGN THE PETITION FOR THEIR RELEASE
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/free-euna-and-laura

WRITE TO PRESIDENT OBAMA
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

WRITE YOUR SENATOR
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

WRITE YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

READ AND SUBSCRIBE TO
http://liberatelaura.wordpress.com

Video: Obama Likeness in Egyptian Pyramid

2009-06-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

President Obama and advisor David Axelrod stumbled upon a hieroglyphic likeness of Obama that is thousands of years old. (Note: It's the ears!)

Video: Obama's Speech in Cairo

2009-06-05T08:46:00.000-07:00

Click here to find translations of the speech in other languages.

Here is a photo slideshow of the event.

This video shows a few Muslim Americans who are proudly serving in the federal government.

U.S. and Afghanistan Team Up to Stop Opium Poppies

2009-05-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

The U.S. and Afghanistan signed a memorandum of agreement awarding $6,437,000 to seven provinces in Afghanistan in recognition of their efforts to eliminate or curtail opium poppy cultivation.

Video: Obama Administration Embraces New Media

2009-05-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

Video: Obama Picks Sotomayor for Supreme Court

2009-05-26T11:05:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

President Obama's Memorial Day Address

2009-05-25T07:21:00.001-07:00

Data.gov Answers Calls for Transparency

2009-05-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Obama Administration, in keeping with President Obama's campaign promise of more governmental transparency, has launched Data.gov.

The purpose of Data.gov is to increase public access to high value, machine readable datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. Although the initial launch of Data.gov provides a limited portion of the rich variety of Federal datasets presently available, we invite you to actively participate in shaping the future of Data.gov by suggesting additional datasets and site enhancements to provide seamless access and use of your Federal data.

The British Speaker of the House of Commons just resigned because a tenacious freelancer publicized FOIA records of British politicians' wasteful expenditures.

Jake Brewer of the Sunlight Foundation heralds Data.gov as a means of fighting voter apathy.

Citizens must demand the same levels of transparency at the state and local levels. Open and transparent data is the strongest tool the public has at its disposal to lessen political corruption, particularly where money and politics are concerned.

Video: Sec. Clinton Holds Global Press Conference

2009-05-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Sec. Clinton holds a press conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington, D.C.

Video: Sec. Clinton on Humanitarian Aid to Pakistan

2009-05-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the transcript.

Video: Nomination of Gov. Huntsman as Ambassador to China

2009-05-18T10:13:00.000-07:00