president

Dear President Obama:

I write to you today not as a Democrat, nor as the Chair of the Gaston County Democratic party, but I write to you as a proud man and Gay American.

I voted for Barack Obama for President because I am black and I felt strongly that he was intelligent enough to hold the title. I have gone through 12 years of schooling and heard that black folks could become the President one day so when the opportunity came that I could vote for a black man then why in the hell would I not vote for him? I have voted for white men up until “our” current President was elected.

Hell no “our” current President didn’t have any experience at being the President because he had never held the title before. But none of the others before him had held the title before they became the President either. So what is the damn problem?

I can say I found Barack Obama while surfing the net when he was running for US Senate. I was on his mailing list up until that election was over.

Romney vs Obama. I know, i know. Doesn't really get you excited, huh?

Could it be because Obama has punted on closing down Guantanamo Bay?
Continued the Drug war, especially on Medical Marijuana distributors in states where they are certified and legal?
Started yet another war without congressional approval and by overstepping the constitutional limitations of the presidency?
Ramped up non-violent illegal immigrant deportations?
Signed the NDAA giving himself and future presidents the ability to arrest anyone at anytime in any country (even the US) by simply declaring them a terrorist or enemy combatant?
Supported an extension of the Patriot Act?
Declared the President has the ability to assassinate American Citizens without trial?

And Romney...well, I don't think I need to say much about that.

But Fear not!

In 1968 President Nixon officially launched the “War on Drugs” in response to what was seen as a growing problem of drug use in the United States. At that time, approximately 1.3% of the U.S. population was considered addicted to drugs and the “War” was waged through measures such as heavy policing and arrests for drug possession and trafficking, building more prisons to house drug offenders, and harsh penalties for users. Over 40 years and 1 trillion tax dollars later, the rate of addiction in the U.S. holds steady at 1.3% and drugs are cheaper, purer, and easier to get than ever before.

Think about this, what if this oil spill, as tragic as it is, provides us with the wake up call about how we power our world? My first thought when the spill happened was, what if we had not gotten rid of the electric car of the 1990's (from the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?) and electric cars had grown in usage for the past decade? Would the drilling platform catastrophe still have happened?
No one can be sure, but what we can be sure of, is that it will keep happening until we change our cars from gas/oil powered to electric powered.

That's why this petition is so important - the Gulf Oil Spill Electric Car Credit. It asks for legislation to give a substantial credit for purchasing an electric car, and it has key provisions to put a lot of people to work, immediately, in a midterm election year. But we need to get support for this idea in the US House and Senate. That's where you can help.

Here is the link to the Charlotte Observer printing of it in today's newspaper. The column originally ran in the Miami Herald.

It's happening right now. Today is also national coming out day. And President Obama gave a speech yesterday on the eve of this event. A busy weekend for gay rights.

(cross-posted at dKos)

Some thoughts from the perspective of a young evangelical Christian who long ago told the Republicans to go fly a kite ...

Overall, I have to call this a draw. Obama couldn't have handled himself better, and judging by the amount of applause probably got a few people off the fence. However, McCain may well have won some people over as well.

More thoughts after the jump ...