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The White House on Saturday struggled to tamp down the controversy over President Barack Obama’s statements about a mosque near Ground Zero — insisting Obama wasn’t backing off remarks Friday night where he offered support for a project that has infuriated some families whose loved ones died in the Sept. 11 attacks. Obama’s comments placed him in the middle of the controversy over a Muslim group’s plans for a mosque near the site of the 2001 attack — and in turn, transformed an emotion-laden local dispute in New York into a nationwide debate overnight. Republicans pounced, amid early signs that...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will Friday join an evening meal to break the daily fast observed by Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan, the White House said. The hosting of Iftar will be held in a dining room at the White House, his spokesman said. Obama participated in a traditional Ramadan meal in September 2009, where he praised Islam as an integral part of the United States.

State Department officials on Monday confirmed Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Imam of the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, will soon be going on a trip of the Middle East and the U.S. government will be picking up the tab. The planned construction of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City has set off a contentious national debate over religious freedom in the U.S., drawing impassioned opposition from some families of 9/11 victims. Rauf has emerged as a controversial figure because of his refusal to acknowledge Hamas as a terrorist organization, which is how the U.S. government classifies the group....

Can you imagine someone working in the private sector going to work one day and going off on a deadly rampage, murdering a number of his coworkers and then continuing to receive paychecks from that employer? That’s exactly what is happening in the case of Major Nidal Hasan. Hasan gunned down his fellow soldiers and he’s still receiving a paycheck from the United States. Good grief! At least the banks are doing the right thing. ....

The big spenders who shelled out $30,400 a head for dinner with President Obama at the Four Seasons restaurant and at Anna Wintour's house didn't actually break any bread with him. After starting Tuesday night at a dinner for 60 high-rolling Democratic supporters hosted by hedge-fund billionaire Marc Lasry, Obama headed to a private room at the Four Seasons to wolf down steak, potatoes and broccoli with two aides before heading to Wintour's Greenwich Village home. Obama arrived at the Four Seasons at 5 p.m. Spies said he gave a short speech and schmoozed with 60 attendees, including Lasry and...

Last week, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the State Department released passport records of Stanley Ann Dunham, President Obama's mother – but those records for the years surrounding Obama's 1961 birth are missing. The State Department claims that a 1980s General Services Administration directive had resulted in the destruction of many passport applications and other "non-vital" passport records, including Dunham's 1965 passport application and any other passports she may have applied for or held prior to 1965. Destroyed, then, would also be any records shedding light on whether Dunham did or did not travel out of...

Judge Napolitano just reported that he has had an interview with Julian A of W@ikileaks. JA told him that he gave the docs to the White House for response two (2) weeks ago. Never receive a response. White House approved of Security Breach? Who at the WH received the Docs and who else did they give access to the docs?

Most Muslim extremists first radicalize their youth via sermon and brainwashing. One group, however, is skipping those steps and is taking the youngest of children right to the paramilitary route. But this group is not in Afghanistan or Iraq. No, it’s in Philadelphia, the so-called ‘City of Brotherly Love.’The United Muslim Movement (UMM) was incorporated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June 1994, with the goal of creating a central mosque in the city along with an organization that would be able to “respond to the social, economical, political, educational, and religious needs facing our [UMM’s] communities.” Less than four months...

SNIPPET: "A House appropriations bill calls for a $2-billion reduction in emergency funds, with the money going to help prevent teacher layoffs. Experts criticize what they call a lack of foresight."

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden revealed his plans to improve relations between America's space exploration agency and the Muslim world to Al Jazeera before Congress, the Washington Examiner reported. Bolden called a couple of lawmakers with the news on June 28, after his interview with the Middle East news organization but before it aired, the newspaper reported. "He ran down some of the things from the president's new space policy, and mentioned outreach to Muslims," Rep. Pete Olson, the top Republican on the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics recalled to the newspaper. "That stunned me. I didn't believe it." "NASA...

New York politicians are bending over backwards and violating protocol to build a mega mosque at Ground Zero. In warped speed they are ramming it through, removing every obstacle to expedite the process and erect a triumphal mosque at Ground Zero in time for it to meet its stated opening date, the tenth anniversary of September 11. Why? Would they do this for a church? A synagogue? This is an outrage. Wednesday night, on less than a week and a half’s notice (at a time when most people who care are not even around), the Lower Manhattan Community Board 1...

Here is video of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying that President Obama will use a speech on Thursday to push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Gibbs said Obama will “reiterate” that we “cannot have immigration reform passed individually by each state through a patchwork of laws.” Gibbs said Obama will also emphasize that it will take “Republican support” to get an Immigration Bill passed, which he said, “has certainly been there in the past.” The Arizona anti-Illegal Immigration Law really has the Obama crew rattled. They are afraid other states are soon to follow suit, and they want to...

...I heard you on Dr. Kate’s radio program the other night, and it caught my attention when you said that you believe that your case will end up at the Supreme Court despite the fact that the Third Circuit is scheduled to hear your appeal. Could you expound on that?...Yes. If the Third Circuit affirms the District Court’s decision to dismiss the case for lack of standing and political question, then the Kerchner plaintiffs will file a Writ of Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. It does not mean that the court will necessarily hear the case because you’re essentially...

Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam' The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies. fox news The president's top counterterrorism adviser on Wednesday called jihad a "legitimate tenet of Islam," arguing that the term "jihadists" should not be used to describe America's enemies. During a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, John Brennan described violent extremists as victims of "political, economic and social forces," but said that those plotting attacks on the United States should...

In September 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama decided to change policy toward prisoners at Bagram, granting them lawyers for the first time and a review of their status every 6 months. Detainees can take literacy classes or lessons in farming and also have access to a high-tech medical center. There is a playground for their children when they come to visit. About a quarter who have been reviewed since January have been sent back to their communities, said Martins.

Lieberman panel seeks info on Awlaki's '02 catch-n-release Stonewalled by the Justice Department in its efforts to get to the bottom of intelligence lapses that led to the Fort Hood massacre, the Senate Homeland Security Committee has broadened its probe to look into why Justice a year after 9/11 withdrew an arrest warrant for the radical American-born imam who corresponded with the Fort Hood terrorist. WND has learned that the chief counsel for the Senate panel, led by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., has requested an interview with a federal agent who shortly after 9/11 attacks worked with the Joint Terrorism...

The White House said Monday that it would continue to pursue sanctions against Iran after the country went around the United States to strike a nuclear fuel swap deal similar to the Western-backed plan that fell apart last fall. Iran is trying to avoid sanctions after it rejected a deal with the U.S., Russia, France and the International Atomic Energy Agency in October. The latest move puts the Obama administration in check in the ongoing nuclear chess match by giving nations reluctant to support sanctions a potential excuse to support Iran. But White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took a...

How dangerous does a group have to be to get included on the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list? In the wake of the Times Square attack, the omission of the Pakistani Taliban from the FTO list revealed a gap in understanding of the threat posed by a violent Islamist network that consists of al-Qaeda franchises and affiliates. But there are other cases where terrorist groups that pose a clear threat to American interests have been omitted from the list. For example, according to a recent report, the State Department will not include the Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus...

Could radical Islam be responsible for recent terrorist attacks inside the U.S.? That question doesn't seem like too much of a poser, but it was too much for Attorney General Eric Holder when he testified before the House Judiciary Committee today. Rep. Lamar Smith tries to get Holder to acknowledge that radical Islam could have played a role in one or more of the recent attacks, but Holder apparently views it as a trick question:

(WASHINGTON, DC) – The Virginia mosque of the radical Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, credited as the key link behind the Fort Hood shootings, the Christmas Day underwear bomber, and the Times Square bomber, has been receiving $23,000 a month from the U.S. Census Bureau for rent of an office building the mosque owns in the Washington suburbs. “I wonder do we actually even have a Department of Homeland Security,” says Congressman John Carter (R-TX), who represents the Fort Hood area in the House. “The purpose for creating this cabinet-level agency in 2002 was to coordinate all agencies of the federal...