Free Republic

In 36 years, Hillary and I have shared a lot of birthdays, and each year I'm amazed at everything she has accomplished. This is a very special year: we're celebrating Hillary's 60th, and I hope you'll join me in sending her a birthday message, sharing your wishes for her and your hopes for the coming year.

MERIDEN - The end of Ramadan, a monthlong period of fasting and reflection, was particularly joyful for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community this year because they celebrated it at their new mosque in South Meriden.

BLOOMFIELD - A generation ago, Bloomfield was heralded as the all-American community. Blacks and whites lived side by side, chasing the American dream of middle-class stability without regard to skin color. There were trimmed lawns and good schools. Now, Bloomfield operates one of the most racially segregated school systems in the state. Minority students, mainly black children, account for 95 percent of public school enrollment. And when results were released recently on the state's annual 10th-grade achievement test, this quiet, middle-class suburb found itself confronting a question more often associated with the nation's poorest urban school systems:

BRISTOL - Trinity Episcopal Church could be called a house divided: Its defrocked pastor led a heavily attended prayer and song service at the church Wednesday night, while Episcopal Bishop Andrew Smith tried to muster parishioners to meet with a new pastor at a church in Plainville. Smith promoted his meeting in a letter to parishioners last week as a way to discuss the dispute between Trinity and the Episcopal Diocese and "begin to identify new leadership for the parish so that we can move forward in our life in Christ within the doctrine, discipline and worship of The Episcopal...

WASHINGTON - Diversity is strength. That sentiment has emerged in recent years as an article of faith in American public life. But research suggests that faith in diversity is being sorely tested. New studies confirm earlier evidence that, at least in the short- to mid-term, diversity weakens civic ties, fostering mutual mistrust and detachment. Beneath all the "happy talk" about diversity, many Americans harbor a deep ambivalence about where it will lead.

Muslims Open A Window To Faith Forum Reaches Out To Ease Suspicions As The Faithful Face Mecca MICHAEL MCANDREWS, July 7, 2007 AMID HUNDREDS OF MUSLIMS during afternoon prayers on Saturday, Asim Abdelrahman, 6, keeps close to his father, Abdel Abdelrahman, during the annual meeting of the Islamic Circle of North America held at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. The Abdelrahmans, who live in Princeton, N.J., joined about 15,000 other Muslims, mostly from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, as well as about 100 non-Muslim guests invited to learn more about Islam.