Obama Backs Off on Veto Promise

President Barack Obama had promised to veto the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 -- that is until wording in some statutes were changed. I thought the president and I and many other concerned Americans were on the same page on this issue.

I thought the president's concern was about the wording addressing the indefinite detention of American citizens by the military in the absence of charges or a trial. Turns out that wording doesn't bother the man who is also a constitutional lawyer. It was other wording, wording that the Commander-in-Chief felt threatened the Oval Office's powers to deal with terrorists.

Despite the president's change of heart in using his veto power on the Congressionally-approved NDAA, I have still written the White House with my concerns about what I see as provisions that place American civil liberties at risk.

Don't take my word for what this legislation entails. Read Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com who details the three myths about indefinite detention of American citizens on U.S. soil.

Where do you stand on this issue?

Politics As Usual...And They Stink

It never ceases to amaze me what our elected officials choose to find important at any given moment. Right now, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)has decided to arm wrestle the president into an untenable position on the payroll tax cut Obama has been lobbying for.

The payroll tax cut would be a continuation of the decrease in Social Security taxes that those employed pay from the usual 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. The current tax cut is set to expire on December 31 unless a new measure is signed into law.

Members of the House have tied additional issues into the measure, seeking to force the president to sign the legislation that would also give the go-ahead for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline project. President Obama has wanted a different route created for the proposed pipeline, set to carry crude oil from Canada to the Mississippi gulf. The president's hesitance has to do with concerns of underground water being adversely affected by the current route. House Republicans are poo-pooing such concerns, saying it's time for the pipeline now.

Also added to the payroll tax cut measure by the House Republicans include removing EPA restrictions on emissions from boilers and small incinerators, a move the EPA reports will cause over 8,000 premature deaths each year.

Obama has promised to veto the payroll tax cut bill if the pipeline go-ahead is attached to the measure, causing Congress to work into its intended holiday recess.

It's my hope that the Senate will be the voice of reason in this issue; few believe that will happen. If it does not, I support the president if he carries through the veto he has promised.

What are your feelings on the issues? Do you support the Keystone XL pipeline project as it is? What about the payroll tax cut continuation? How about the politics of the whole she-bang?

Obama Must Fulfill Promise of Veto

Former FBI Special Agent Coleen Rowley: Obama Should Veto Empire Over Republic

T Is for Town Hall Chat

Town hall chat as in the first-of-its-kind town hall chat with President Barack Obama held via Facebook social media on April 20, 2011.

As you may know, the town hall meeting was held at Facebook headquarters in California. Mark Zuckerberg hosted the meeting, which I thought made a viable and interesting pairing for the discussion. Both men are highly intelligent, although in different realms.

I would like to preface any future remarks by saying I give respect to anyone elected Commander-in-Chief of the United States. Barack Obama happens to be a man I not only respect as the leader of our nation, but I hold many of the same values as does he and I admire his steadfastness of purpose.

The town hall meeting should have been an exciting opportunity for me. When the president entered the meeting hall, my heart swelled with pride. It was only moments later that I had to prop up my head with my hand to stay awake.

It wasn't the topics of his rhetoric so much as the clarity that this meeting held in that medium was meant to engage young voters. And that's okay. I understand wanting to get and keep young adults engaged in the welfare of our country. I just wish the open invite to the town hall meeting had had a warning asterisk some where.

Judge Me By MY Words

American politics can be an ugly arena. It's difficult to imagine that any elected official can go through a major election campaign and remain unscathed. That being said, I believe that Barack Obama has eloquently addressed the issue that has been in the news of late, about a message his former pastor and long-time friend and spiritual advisor made some years ago.

There are those in politics and the media who tell us that we are to judge a potential presidential candidate by the thoughts and words of his/her friends. I would hope that common sense prevails in this issue. Who of us agrees with every word or thought uttered by our friends or family members? If we threw away meaningful relationships with everyone with whom we disagreed, we'd each be isolated people. Being a friend means we care for someone in spite of their flaws.

I would be sorely disappointed if Obama had denounced his friendship with Rev. Wright. That would make him a far smaller person in my eyes. Anyone who would end a friendship for political gain is not a person I would respect.

In these words below, Obama explains his thoughts on what Rev. Wright said, and his thoughts on the man and their longstanding friendship: I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Rev. Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely -- just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed. But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country -- a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America, a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam. As such, Rev. Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems -- two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all. Given my background, my politics, and my professed values and ideals, there will no doubt be those for whom my statements of condemnation are not enough. Why associate myself with Rev. Wright in the first place, they may ask? Why not join another church? And I confess that if all that I knew of Rev. Wright were the snippets of those sermons that have run in an endless loop on the television and YouTube, or if Trinity United Church of Christ conformed to the caricatures being peddled by some commentators, there is no doubt that I would react in much the same way But the truth is, that isn't all that I know of the man. The man I met more than 20 years ago is a man who helped introduce me to my Christian faith, a man who spoke to me about our obligations to love one another; to care for the sick and lift up the poor. He is a man who served his country as a U.S. Marine, who has studied and lectured at some of the finest universities and seminaries in the country, and who for over thirty years led a church that serves the community by doing God's work here on Earth -- by housing the homeless, ministering to the needy, providing day care services and scholarships and prison ministries, and reaching out to those suffering from HIV/AIDS. To read the entire transcript of Barack Obama's March 18 ,2008 speech, click on the title link.