The Blog of Record

The president’s half-brother Samson Obama lived illegally in the U.K. for seven years, lied to police when arrested in a sexual assault case last November, and submitted forged documents to support his visa application. A telling detail about the man:

In President Obama’s 1995 book, Dreams From My Father, he writes of meeting Samson for the first time and how he expressed disappointment that the portable tape recorder Barack brought for him as a gift was not a Sony.

No wonder Barack Obama isn’t exactly crazy about his Kenyan relatives.

Barack Obama with his brothers Samson , left, and Ben, right, in 1987 in Nairobi

Victor Davis Hanson’s thoughts on America at the London G20 summit.

He’s the president of the United States, and he’s doing what needs to be done. And it’s not like he was against using force in Pakistan before.

Michelle Obama is not amused.

“Let Us In! We Are Purple!”

And where is the outrage from those who thought Rick Warren was a fundamentalist?

(Via NewsBusters.)

Update: The Bush administration must share the blame.

A U.S. congressman whose party affiliation is self-evident has introduced H. J. Res. 5 – a resolution proposing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to repeal the 22nd amendment, which limits presidents to two terms in office.

I think I remember that some foreign leader was considering doing something like that but decided against it because it would have looked too fishy… Ah yes – Vladimir Putin.

By Robert Stein, who used to employ one.

“Will she be treated just like any other employee?” “Yes, just like any other employee who comes to work with Secret Service agents and goes home to the White House on weekends.”

Robert is in his 85th year, but he’s just “Up and Coming”.

The Daily Mail makes sure to mention that these soldiers were white.

Now, after 45 years of independence from Britain, it’s black Kenyans who are killing and torturing other black Kenyans, so we can be sure there’s no racism involved. It’s incredible how much progress a mere 45 years can bring.

Aaron Werner has put together 2008 electoral maps for various groups – people aged 65 and older, whites, men, women, moderates, independents and more.

No map for black voters, because it “would be a sea of blue”, writes Aaron. Sure, although I think such a map’s visual impact would give it some educational value.

Barack Obama has an aunt in Boston:

Zeituni Onyango, the aunt so affectionately described in Mr. Obama’s best-selling memoir Dreams from My Father, lives in a disabled-access flat on a rundown public housing estate in South Boston.

And there’s Uncle Omar, also in Boston:

Aunt Zeituni and Uncle Omar are the children of Mr. Obama’s grandfather Hussein Onyango Obama, by his third wife – the woman Mr. Obama calls “Granny” because she raised his father. Mr. Obama’s father, Barack Sr, was Onyango Obama’s son by his second wife, Akumu. That makes Zeituni and Omar a half-sister and half-brother of Mr. Obama’s father, or Mr. Obama’s half-aunt and half-uncle.

Despite living in a public housing project, and not being registered to vote, Aunt Zeituni has made a $260 contribution to the Obama campaign. This leads the Times to conclude she must be a U.S. citizen, but given Obama’s willingness to circumvent campaign finance law, that is not something that can be simply assumed.

And this shouldn’t be a surprise:

The Obama campaign was repeatedly approached for comment yesterday but had not responded at the time of going to press. It is not clear whether Mr. Obama has been in touch with his African relatives living in the US, or even whether he is aware that they are on US soil.

African relatives are great to give color to a memoir, but that seems to exhaust their purpose for Obama. Even if they live in America.

And why is it a British newspaper that discovered this story? Is Sarah Palin’s wardrobe so large that it keeps the U.S. press from working on anything else?

(Via Memeorandum.)

From Bits & Pieces via Blame It on the Voices.