Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles leaps fences penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.

For President Obama 'home of the brave' are not just the last words of our national anthem but also a call to action. This is why the president's policies and our platform include incentives to train and hire our troops returning home. Not only because of our moral responsibility but because it makes for a stronger more secure American economy.

I made a real specific decision when I came out of school and most artists were writing about home - if you were a woman you were writing about being a woman - and I decided not to do that write about what you know. That's not what I do. I went as far away from home as possible in terms of the development of my imagination.

I tentatively believe in a god. I was brought up in a fairly religious home. I think the world is compatible with reincarnation karma all that stuff.

I saw the president make the tough calls in the Situation Room - and today our troops in Iraq have finally come home so America can do some nation building here at home. That was the change that we believed in. That was the change we fought for. That was the change President Obama delivered.

The relevance for 9/11 is that what 9/11 marked was the beginning of a struggle in which the terrorists come at us and strike us here on our home territory. And it's a global operation. It doesn't know national boundaries or national borders.

Like most citizens of popular and international urban centres I don't take advantage of the cultural opportunities. Perhaps this comes from growing up in suburbia. Home is where you eat sleep read watch television and ignore your parents. It is not where you go to the ballet and then attend a heated panel discussion about it afterwards.

It is often easier to become outraged by injustice half a world away than by oppression and discrimination half a block from home.

And you know being able to wear the stars and stripes when you step up on one of the blocks or you know when you step off of an airplane or when you hear the national anthem play you know it's one of the greatest feelings in the world because you know that there are people at home who are supporting you and watching you.

From secrecy and deception in high places come home America. From military spending so wasteful that it weakens our nation come home America.