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Meet Barack Obama ... The Next President of The United States of America |
Meet Barack Obama
Early Years
Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.
Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.
It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.
Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.
The College Years
Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.
The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.
He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.
Political Career
It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.
In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.
In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress.
As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.
Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago's South Side.
www.barackobama.com More! | Meet Jeff Morris Canidate for CD2 |
Meet Jeff Morris
 Jeff Morris is a Northern California native, a 6th generation descendant of miners and ranchers who settled in Trinity County in the 1870's. Today Morris, a Weaverville businessman and entrepreneur, is serving his fourth year as a Trinity County Supervisor and is a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in California's 2nd Congressional District.
Born in 1967, Jeff spent his entire childhood in Trinity County, both in the county seat of Weaverville and in more remote areas such as Trinity Center and Big Bar. His grandfather, Leonard, served three terms as Trinity’s County Clerk in addition to being proprietor of several prominent local businesses, one of which used Trinity County timber to built ship fenders for the Navy during World War II. Both Leonard and his wife, Florence, were strong supporters of arts programs throughout the county, and were horse-packers and hunters in whose company Jeff explored the Trinity Alps as a child and young adult. Jeff’s father, Robert Morris, helped integrate phone service throughout Trinity County and was instrumental in developing the Trinity Alps Wilderness Area. His mother, Susanne Twight-Alexander, worked as a schoolteacher and later served as County Supervisor in Trinity’s 2nd District — the same seat to which Jeff was sworn in exactly twenty years later.
Jeff attended California State University Sacramento, studying music and international relations, and spent a year in Brazil as a foreign exchange student, learning Portuguese. In Sacramento, he worked for a legislative information and tracking service and spent six years as an advertising executive for Tower Records, handling million-dollar budgets annually. Based on their experience in the entertainment industry Jeff and his soon-to-be-wife Judy started a marketing firm in 1996. After a few years in Los Angeles, the couple returned to Trinity County, expanding their business to include a successful music shop and coffeehouse in the heart of downtown Weaverville. Jeff was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2004, while Judy, an advertising and marketing professional, served as President of the local Chamber of Commerce and became involved in other efforts to bring business opportunities to Trinity County. In 2006 they sold their retail interests to focus on web-based ventures and business consulting. Judy currently serves as California State Assembly member Patty Berg’s ex-officio appointee to the Trinity County Democratic Central Committee.
As the Supervisor representing Trinity’s most densely populated area, Jeff has been a driving force behind the county’s financial turnaround, taking it from the edge of bankruptcy to a point where its bond rating has been upgraded from junk to investment status. In 2006, he and other local leaders pushed hard for passage of two ballot measures designed to shore up the finances of Trinity Hospital, preserving local emergency medical services for the county’s 13,000 residents. This was accomplished with bipartisan support from the California State Legislature, including strong backing by Assembly member Patty Berg and State Senator Sam Aanestad. After passage, Jeff worked with Senator Barbara Boxer’s office to secure additional capital improvement funds that helped bring the hospital’s diagnostic equipment up to date.
To encourage economic development, Jeff has spearheaded an effort to create a new general plan for Trinity County, revising outdated land-use and zoning designations and insuring that local stakeholders drive the process. Working with the California Emerging Technology Fund, he has also helped put Trinity on a fast track for expansion of broadband Internet, which will help county citizens, businesses, and students connect and compete internationally.
In 2006 Jeff served as vice-chair of the California State Association of Counties' Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Committee. In 2007 he was elected to one of two rural-county seats on the association’s executive committee and appointed chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee. During 2007 he served as co-chair of the association’s Working Group on Climate Change, which produced a policy framework to guide counties in managing and reversing climate change while also discouraging a top-down, “one-size-fits-all” regulatory approach. Jeff’s concern about overburdening California’s small rural counties was a consistent theme in the development of this policy.
Jeff is currently working with other California county supervisors to improve the way Washington compensates rural counties for tax revenues lost to protected national forest land — compensation that is vital to funding rural schools and road projects. He’s also been deeply involved in the establishment of the Weaverville Community Forest, a 1,000-acre tract that represents a new model of federal land management, bringing local, timber, and environmental constituencies to the table to allow sustainable harvesting of local timber resources. Last year, 800,000 board feet of lumber from this forest were delivered to a local mill, which in previous years had been forced to import logs from Canada. Because of this success, an additional 12,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in the Weaverville Basin is currently being considered for inclusion in the Community Forest initiative.
Jeff makes his home in Weaverville with his wife, Judy.
www.jeffmorrisforcongress.com More! | Meet Grace Bennett Candidate for District 4 Supervisor |
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 As your County Supervisor, I will always let you know where I stand on the issues confronting our county, and will always be available to hear your concerns. I am not a politician, just a hard-working business owner and proud citizen who loves working on behalf of this wonderful place we call Siskiyou County.
I served 3 terms on the Yreka City Council, Mayor for 2 of those years and a member of the Collier Interpretive and Information Center Board for 14 years. I have developed a long standing working relationship with Federal, State and local agencies, I have these partnerships to help me achieve results. I will work hard to ensure that vital service such as fire, law enforcement and infrastructure are sustained to protect and help the citizens of Siskiyou County. I believe that working together, exploring new ideas and pooling knowledge and resources are the key ingredients needed to solve community problems.
I am the person to face the challenges of the future. I am a proven leader.
bennettforsupervisor.org | More! | Meet Jim Hardy Candidate for District 2 Supervisor | 
Jim Hardy is a proven leader, currently serving a President of the COS Board of Trustees. Jim knows the entire county well, having served in a county-wide role with the County Department of Education. Having lived in Siskiyou County for 40 years and raised his family here, Jim has practical knowledge of the county as well.
Jim has spent his entire career in public service. He understands agencies and budgets. Now that he is retired, Jim will devote his experience and his full-time efforts to representing the citizens of District 2 as Supervisor.
More! | Meet Paul Singh Candidate for State Senate 4th district |
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Raised on a California peach orchard, the small business owner from Live Oak spent 20 years maintaining industrial equipment for large power and water development projects throughout the western United States. He handled multi-million budgets, trained workers, and conducted system-wide evaluations of the various projects.
In addition to running a peach and prune farm in Sutter County — Paul works as an asbestos contractor, a pest control advisor and a property insurance adjuster.
He and his wife, Andrea, have three children, including an adult child living in England.
Throughout his life, he has been struck by the habit many people have of making decisions contrary to their own best interests. This is particularly true when it comes to the habit of north state voters to elect politicians who are ineffective at bringing resources to the north state.
“We have to take control of our own futures in the north state. That means stop sending people to Sacramento who are out of touch with the power structure,” Singh said. “We are definitely different creatures in Northern California than in Los Angeles and Sacramento, but when we continue to send politicians to Sacramento who have no chance of communicating with the majority party, our infrastructure needs remain ignored.”
The North State provides essential natural resources like timber and water. “What are we getting in return?” Paul Singh asks.
Northern Californians are taxed at the same rates as other Californians. “But we get less in return,” Paul Singh says.
“Look at the phantom Third Bridge between Marysville and Yuba City,” Singh said. “They have been talking and talking and talking about this project since 1950, and nothing has been accomplished. “We need someone in Sacramento that the Democratic majority will listen to. Instead, we send those who are so wrapped up in partisan politics that they can’t get into the inner circle, where the money issues are really decided.”
Paul Singh believes that it is time for the North State to be represented by someone who can get things done in Sacramento. “For a change, we need to try a Democrat. Not just any Democrat, but a true Northern California farm-boy Democrat who understands this district and has a no-nonsense approach to getting things done.”
Paul believes it is time to end the cycle of poverty that swells the welfare roles. ‘I believe we need trade schools to promote education in things like the construction trades. We need workers getting paid good wages to build the roads and bridges we need in Northern California. Not everyone is destined for college. In fact, in Northern California, thousands and thousands of high school kids never get to college. Let’s begin by understanding that fact, and then work to improve conditions for our young. That is the best way to improve conditions for all of us.”
It is time to invest in Northern California again, in its roads and in its people.
Vote for the future- Paul Rueben Singh State Senate 4th district.
www.singh4senate.com/ |
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