Reports have confirmed these actions were of a renegade soldier. President Barack Obama immediately contacted Afghan President Hamid Karzai to extend his condolences and offer support for the bereaved families. It is imperative that the United States convinces Afghan leaders that actions such as these will not be tolerated by anyone, in an effort to minimize backlash.

Many fear there still may be some consequences resulting from this and The Taliban has already promised to payback for those innocent lives taken. As we are in the midst of scaling back troops, tensions are beginning to rise. Some governmental officials feel that this incident should not affect the already instituted timetable of withdrawing troops. Troop withdrawal has become a very sensitive subject in Washington, D.C.; it is one of the vital promises of President Obama’s campaign.

What are your thoughts? Should we continue with the proposed withdrawal or does this act justifies a longer stay in Afghanistan?

Get a SIP!

Yesterday, President Barack Obama criticized Congress for their delay in raising the debt ceiling. He remarked that both his daughters are smart enough to finish their homework before the deadline. “You know, Malia and Sasha generally finish their homework a day ahead of time. Malia is 13 and Sasha is 10. It is impressive. They don’t wait until the night before. They’re not pulling all-nighters.” Well, now Congress has taking heed. Senate majority Leader, Harry Reid announced the July recess has been canceled in order to work and vote on this pressing matter. During Congressional recess, votes and official business are put on hold in Washington D.C. and members use this time to travel back to their districts, as well as host district town halls.

The President has recommended that the debt ceiling be raised. The debt ceiling is a limit placed by Congress to the Treasury to issue debt as needed to fund government operations. The President has advocated increasing this amount rather than failing to pay our nation’s bills. In yesterday’s press conference, President Obama stated exactly how dire the effects of defaulting could be: job availability could worsen, higher interest rates for businesses, and higher interest rates for consumers could result.

President Obama ended the press conference by urging Congress to do their job and stop playing the blame game. “There’s no point in putting it off. You know, we’ve got to get this done. And they’re saying Obama’s got to step in- you need to be here, I’ve been here. I’ve been doing Afghanistan, Bin laden, and the Greek crisis. You stay here. Let’s get it done.”

To raise the debt ceiling or not?- that is the million dollar question.

The President has received great criticism for his action on foreign policy for a while now; troop withdrawal was a promise Obama made on the campaign trail. There is no doubt this action comes at an opportune moment for the President, as he seeks re-election, but is it too late?

The Back Story:

The 1970 awarding winning hit by Edwin Star has long been the mantra for many American’s…”War – what is it good for absolutely nothing!”

Though the statement is highly debatable because at times of massive danger and terrorism such as the September 11th attacks, the automatic assumption was that we would go to war to get the enemy who had killed so many innocent American lives. Now 10 years later, we have killed the “enemy” Osama Bin Laden and spent hundreds of millions of dollars while in pursuit. Many Americans are awaiting the word that there sons and daughters that are serving will return home and that our focus can shift back towards matters on our homefront.

The need to shift the focus from defense back to the economy specifically is a theme that the American people are getting serious about and communicating to the people they have elected to represent them. The United States Conference of Mayors passed an internal resolution yesterday that will be given to Congress for consideration; calling for a quick wrap-up of the War in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to bring troops home and funnel the large amount of money being spent on those expenses back to American soil. Of course not all Mayor’s or people across the country agree with this resolution with debate circulating about the potential negative effects of immediate withdrawl.

Paul Soglin Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin stated, “We are at a point where municipalities are faced with cuts in services that affect all of our citizens, especially those that are in need the most.”

It is ironic that the White House just announced that President Obama will be making a special announcement on Wednesday night, regarding his plans to withdraw 30,000 troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2012.

It is obivious the tide has changed and that the American people are taking the blinders off because these Mayor’s certainly did not develop these opinions only amongst themselves. Though many of them have different opinions about war, they all share a commonality that we are being forced to cut necessary programs left & right, all the while spending large amounts of money on war that frankly wasn’t our issue to begin with. Whether Congress will adhere to the resolution and bring this issue to House Floor we can’t be sure of. But we can take this as a positive step in the right direction that local elected officials are feeling the pressure and doing their job by relalying it to other levels so that we can start to implement change that needs to happen.

It was reported that a United States bomb killed Osama Bin Laden, and after a thourough DNA analysis it has been proven in fact that body does belong to Bin Laden.

In a very somber tone, President Obama delivered an address on Sunday evening, May 1, 2011 reflecting on the lost lives and broken families as a result of the tragedy that is referred to as September 11^th .  The term, “United” was mentioned several times throughout the speech as he referred to the American people and our military officials.  Shortly after taking office, President Obama made the capture of Osama Bin Laden one of his top priorities, right along with dismantling his influence and power in Afghanistan.  The President also made it clear that the United States war is not with Islam but with terrorist abroad. Before the President signed off, he made mention that justice has been carried out. The address was a very passionate one and President Obama once again used his charisma and great speaking abilities to deliver a dramatic and moving response.

“We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.”- President Obama