Obama's Half Bro Says Dad Beat Him, Mom

Half-siblings, step-family of president are famous now

(NEWSER) - New York takes a look at President Obama’s far-flung—and now famous—family, complete with a handy PDF diagram and nicknames to help you remember who is who. George, the youngest half-brother, is arguably the (second) most famous, thanks to a minor drug arrest followed by a memoir deal, but there are quite a few more:

• Maya Soetoro-Ng: Obama’s half-sister, from his mother’s second marriage, she is the only sibling he knew growing up, and is the closest to him.

'Anti-colonialist' accusations misunderstand father and son

(NEWSER) - Those who suggest Barack Obama is a “rabid anti-colonialist” based on impressions of his father are way off the mark about both father and son, writes Bruce L.R. Smith in the Washington Post . Dinesh D’Souza recently argued that “the president inherited political radicalism from his father.” But Obama Sr.—whom Smith knew personally—“was, in fact, an urbane, Western-oriented intellectual” of an only “modestly leftist bent.” More»

'The Woman I Was Born to Be' will be out in the fall

(NEWSER) - Susan Boyle is out to conquer a new medium. The Scottish singer is working on an autobiography to be published in the fall, reports the BBC . The Woman I Was Born to Be will chronicle her unlikely rise to fame after she appeared on Britain's Got Talent, with the main theme being that you "shouldn't judge a book by its cover," she says. More»

Will write about journey from life of crime to life of advocacy

(NEWSER) - President Obama’s half-brother will publish a memoir next year, in a book deal one official says is worth six figures, the AP reports. George Obama, 27, lives in Kenya and did not grow up with the president, but they share a passion for community organizing—an area George embraced after a life of crime. His is the latest in a series of books by Obama relatives. More»

Clintons denounce author Edward Klein as a 'known liar'

(NEWSER) - Bill Clinton considers Barack Obama such an "incompetent" president that he begged Hillary last summer to quit the State Department and run against him in 2012—or at least, that's the story a new, unauthorized Obama biography is telling. "Barack Obama is an amateur," Clinton is quoted as telling his wife in an excerpt from Edward Klein's new book, which appropriately is titled The Amateur. Hillary protests that she wants to make her mark on the State Department. "The country needs you!" Clinton counters. "The country needs us!" More»