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Dear Muslim World, I am writing you today as an American citizen who is deeply embarrassed by current events in my country. First, let me say that I am not representing anyone. I can't claim to speak for anyone but myself, though I am certain that many others feel as I do. I want to address the current controversy over the proposed Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero and the so-called "pastor" in Florida who had been threatening to burn a Koran. I'll begin with the easier of the two: Please ignore Pastor Terry Jones. I wish we had....

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- A pact that will reduce tariffs on hundreds of products traded between Taiwan and China took effect Sunday, a significant step for the Taiwanese president's efforts to forge closer trade ties with Beijing.The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement both sides signed in late June also lets Taiwanese firms enter banking and insurance markets in China to further boost bilateral trade that amounts to $110 billion annually.Taiwan's Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council and China's Ministry of Commerce announced the effective date of the pact on their websites Saturday, starting the tariff-reducing process....Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has hailed the pact...

President Barack Obama didn't weigh in like he did when a pastor in Florida threatened to burn the Quran. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates didn't make a personal phone call urging the same minister to call it off. The burning of a Quran and an American flag Saturday by members of Westboro Baptist Church drew little visible interest. Instead of the hoards of media representatives that descended on Florida, only a handful of area reporters turned out at noon for Westboro's burning. "I'm glad it didn't get a lot of publicity and it didn't draw a lot of people to...

Here’s a preview of how the Midterm media battles will be waged. The New York Times is running a front page feature on House Minority leader John Boehner (“a 60-year-old, perpetually tanned, sharply tailored, chain-smoking golfer”) the man recently cast as President Obama’s main foe in the Republican party, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has taken to Twitter to tell you how much he really wants you to read it. The article details Boehner’s “especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds,...

When looking back at the top car songs of all time, common themes include guitar-heavy odes to the joys of speeding and the call of the open road. Although, a more diverse list of themes and moods emerge as well. Cars are frequently used as metaphors for romantic conquests in rock lyrics, but they can also be a symbol of cultural pride, a measure of an economic divide, or a means of escape from a bleak lifestyle. As rated by AOL Radio listeners, we present the top car songs.

On the last Tuesday of last month, in a primetime address from the Oval Office, President Barack Obama a nnounced the end of U.S. combat operations in Iraq. On the first Friday of this month in an address that was only minimally covered, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kathy Kelly spoke at St. Ireneaus Catholic Church in Park Forest about her experiences protesting - and getting arrested - with 13 others at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada last April. Seven-and-a-half years and 4,427 American casualties after his predecessor's May 2003 "Mission Accomplished" speech, the current president declared that the end...

So far, the debate over the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero has unfolded along predictable lines, with the man at the center of the project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, drawing attacks from the right painting him as a terrorist sympathizer with ties to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. But meanwhile, links between the group behind the controversial mosque, the CIA and U.S. military establishment have gone unacknowledged.

StreetTalk With Bob LenznerCentral Banks Leading New Gold RushRobert Lenzner, 09.10.10, 08:00 PM EDT Russia, India, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines follow Soros and Paulson into the metal.No wonder gold rose to $1,260 an ounce this week before easing. One by one, central banks are amassing major gold positions, proof positive that they want to participate in the world's most glamorous asset class. Think central banks taking investment advice from global hedge funds.This is probably a unique order in the investment jungle. The major seller, the International Monetary Fund, does not look too sharp. It sold 541,700 ounces of the...

Thanks to stimulus funding, the local office of the Small Business Administration has boosted the number of “microloans” offered to small businesses in San Diego and Imperial counties through its intermediary lending partners. “We listen to our client’s stories and get to know their situation,” Lamping said. “At CDC Small Business Finance we make loans to people we believe in, even when there are some weaknesses in their loan request.” President Barack Obama’s stimulus package included a large infusion of federal funding that benefited the microloan program. In San Diego and Imperial counties, business took out 22 microloans totaling $737,000...

If Yvonne Hiller killed her coworkers at the Kraft Foods baking plant in Northeast Philadelphia last week as charged, she would join a rare - but possibly emerging - breed: women as workplace killers. Women commit fewer than 5 percent of homicides and assaults in the workplace, said Larry Barton, a teacher at the FBI Academy and author of four books on crisis management and violence at work. And, as a rule, they're much less likely to kill in general than men. They tend to internalize their anger or use words rather than haul out a gun in a public...

The issue: Nine years after Sept. 11, 2001, it's easy to get caught up in thinking protests, anger and hatred are the norm. We say: Nine years later, we are proud of this place. While perfection, everlasting peace, and paradise still elude us, we work and play and live together here. Nine years ago we woke in horror.It was the day after.It still seemed like the world might be ending.Today we wake remembering, but we are filled with hope. We ask that you look around this place we call home, and join us in hopeful, prayerful, thankful recognition of the...

Jerry Brown has a secret plan to balance the California state budget. When the state attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial nominee recently visited the San Francisco Chronicle's editorial board, he brought with him a large three-ring binder with his ideas on how to bring state spending back into the black. But he wouldn't tell us what was in the book. I asked him what he, as governor, would do that state employee labor unions, which are spending millions to get him elected, won't like. He answered, "Well, I'm certainly not going to tell you now." And: "I'm not going to...

Orszag: Obama “not a socialist” Former Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag told Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that President Barack Obama’s critics are wrong to say that he has a socialist economic philosophy. “President Obama is not a socialist,” Orszag said. The label reflects a “yearning for pragmatic solutions to the problems that we face. And socialist just -- I mean, again, it just does not fit.” Orszag said that given the actions that the Obama administration has taken to deal with the economic crisis, labeling Obama as a socialist is misguided. “One...

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band,A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius.And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God.And now send...

2010 NFL WEEK 1 SUNDAY LIVE THREAD Sunday, September 12th 1:00PM ET @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 4:15PM ET @ @ @ 8:20PM ET @

Governor Palin’s Robocall For Christine O’Donnell Hi, this is Governor Sarah Palin and I’m calling to ask you to vote for Christine O’Donnell for US senate this Tuesday. The wave of positive change can really sweep across our land with the election of constitutional conservatives like Christine who promise to use common sense and reign in federal Government spending. And I can relate to the vicious personal attacks on Christine, and can tell you it’s sad to see the establishments desperation in this. Christine will support efforts for Americas energy security and patients centred health care reform, and cutting...

Has physics done away with God? A newly release book by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow says, “Yes.” What is a Jewish or Christian believer to make of this? Is the Creator now out of a job? The short answer is (unsurprisingly) no: the ideas propounded in Hawking’s book constitute no threat whatever to the Jewish and Christian doctrine of Creation. The idea that Hawking is now touting is not new—in fact, within the fast-moving world of modern physics it is fairly old. My first introduction to it was reading a very elegant theoretical paper entitled “Creation of Universes from...

Axelrod: Reform will get more popular By: Mike Allen September 12, 2010 10:00 AM EDT White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he thinks voters will eventually warm to health-care reform. “I think that health care, over time, is going to become more popular,” he told David Gregory. “But people are focused on this economy right now – they’ve got anxiety about this economy. That’s what’s driving the vote right now.” President Barack Obama’s signature accomplishment is currently so unpopular with voters that no Democratic candidate is running ads promoting it.

Strategic Command to acquire 40 nuclear capable fighters Press Trust Of India New Delhi, September 12, 2010 With an aim of increasing its lethal power, India's tri-services strike force is planning to acquire 40 fighter planes capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) has submitted a proposal to the Defence Ministry for setting up two dedicated squadrons of fighter aircraft which will act as "mini-Air Force", ministry sources said. This will be the first time that SFC, which at present depends on the Indian Air Force for delivering nuclear weapons under its command, will have its own...

MIRAMSHAH: A US missile strike Sunday killed six militants in Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border, officials said. The Pakistani Taliban said Tuesday they would continue to target Pakistani security forces with suicide attacks in revenge for the US drone strikes. “We are targeting Pakistani security forces because the government has allowed America to launch drone attacks on us,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Azam Tariq told AFP by telephone. The latest drone attack hit Newey Adda village in the Datta Khel area near Miramshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, they said. “A US drone fired...