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Reuters) - President Barack Obama, seeking to fire up an important part of his support base ahead of November's elections, told black leaders on Saturday he wanted their support to "guard the change" he was delivering.

New audio has surfaced of the imam behind the controversial mosque near Ground Zero allegedly telling an audience overseas that the United States has been far more deadly than al-Qaeda. "We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non Muslims," Feisal Abdul Rauf said at a 2005 lecture sponsored by the University of South Australia. After discussing the U.S.-led sanctions against Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Rauf went on to argue that America is to blame for its testy relationship with Islamic countries....

Obama can end the "birthers" controversy in one single day by releasing the original documents, but for some inexplicable reason he refuses, and the love-struck media never ask him why... Trust but verify.-- Ronald ReaganIt's good practice to take a person at his word until someone shows you proof he is lying. Barack Obama says he was born in Hawaii, and since no one has shown any proof he was born in Kenya or elsewhere, it's OK to conclude he was born in Hawaii. Sure his grammar school records show that he was enrolled as an Indonesian Muslim, but some...

Washington (CNN) - President Obama used his weekly internet and radio address to once again call for passage of legislation regarding political advertising. "[W]e cannot allow the corporate takeover of our democracy," Obama says in the address. "So we’re going to continue to fight for reform and transparency. And I urge all of you to take up the same fight. Let’s challenge every elected official who benefits from these ads to defend this practice or join us in stopping it."

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden denounced Republican candidates Friday for offering "draconian ideas basically on steroids." Biden credited Republicans of the 1860s and 1950s with investing in infrastructure and technology to advance the nation's interests. That's no longer the case, he told a meeting of the Democratic National Committee in St. Louis. "This ain't your father's Republican Party," Biden said. "This is the 'Republican Tea Party.' And as they [voters] focus on that alternative, what they're going to find out is, the choices are pretty stark." The Hill reported the vice president singled out...

One of the leaders of the proposed Islamic center and mosque two blocks from ground zero in New York says it's too late to back out now. "There is too much at stake," said Daisy Khan, who, with her husband, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is leading the project. "Constitutional rights, the development of the Muslims here, how the world is watching the United States. We tell people America upholds religious freedom. We should not compromise those values." Khan spoke to Sally Quinn of the Washington Post, who quoted her in a blog post. "We have to convince people that not...

WASHINGTON (AP) - American taxpayers will pay the imam behind plans for a mosque near the Manhattan site of the Sept. 11 attacks $3,000 in fees for a three-nation outreach trip to the Middle East that will cost roughly $16,000, the State Department said Wednesday. The department said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf will get a daily $200 honorarium for the 15-day tour to Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which is intended to promote religious tolerance. Airfare is included, as well as the standard federal government per diem for expenses and lodging in each of the cities he will...

I am disgusted and appalled at the lack of respect for the new and glorious mosque that our peaceful friends, the Muslims of the world, are building in New York for us. Repeatedly I keep hearing it referred to as the "Ground Zero Mosque". This is an abomination under their holy, many-headed god "Allah". The number zero, in the Muslim world, is considered the lowest of all possible numbers, and therefore when Fox News and other right wing so-called "news" people refer to it as "ground zero", what they are doing is saying that a Muslim mosque is worth absolutely...

Santelli on the floor of the exchange.

Video 2:40

WASHINGTON -- A White House spokesman said today that politics wasn’t a factor in President Obama’s remarks about building a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton said it was “not politics” but Obama’s feeling that he had the obligation as president to “make sure people are treated equally” under the Constitution. Obama has said that religious freedom allows the mosque to be built, but without commenting on the wisdom of building one two blocks from ground zero. Republicans have pounded him for his comments, making it a prime midterm election issue. Burton...