Obama: Koran Burning Is ‘Contrary To Our Values’

President Barack Obama weighed in Thursday on a Florida pastor’s proposal to burn copies of the Koran this Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

“If he’s listening, I hope [Pastor Terry Jones] understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans,” Obama said during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that aired this morning. “I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform,” the president added.

Obama certainly is not the first major political leader to comment on the controversy, yet he may have had good reason to show up late to this particular party. His remarks during an Iftar dinner at the White House last month supporting the rights of a group seeking to build a mosque just blocks from Ground Zero sparked a national debate on the issue that has still not ended.

This time around, however, Obama had plenty of precedent. Earlier this week his top general in Afghanistan, David Petraeus, a man who doesn’t normally interject himself into political matters, rebuked the church’s proposal, saying it would endanger the lives of U.S. troops fighting abroad. The president echoed Petraeus’ sentiment during this morning’s interview, saying, “this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Jones, who heads up the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, has drawn worldwide scorn since he announced his proposed stunt back in July. Despite that, the Christian pastor has defended his church’s idea to burn hundreds of copies of the Muslim holy book by arguing that it is constitutional as well as an appropriate response to the 9/11 attacks, in which Islamic terrorists hijacked and crashed four U.S. airplanes, killing 3,000 Americans.

The death threats Jones alleges he has received are disputable, but the global ire he has drawn is not. Several top U.S. leaders have openly condemned the church, from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who called the plan “regrettable,” to Attorney General Eric Holder, who called the idea “idiotic.” An editorial that ran recently in Dublin’s Irish Times equated the proposal to Nazi book burning.

A Facebook page created by the church to promote the event currently has over 13,000 ‘fans,’ yet it is unclear how many of them actually support the the idea. Locally, the church has been confronted over its plan by government and businesses alike. The fire department in Gainesville, a small college town in the north central part of the state, refused to grant the church a burning permit, stating the open burning of books is a fire hazard and is not allowed. Meanwhile, the bank where Dove has a mortgage loan has demanded that the church immediately repay its balance.

Justice may come for 9/11 victims

by Christina Lovato, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service


“In a September 2006 peer-reviewed study conducted by the World Trade Center Medical Monitoring Program, of 9,550 World Trade Center responders, almost 70 percent had a new or worsened respiratory symptom that developed during or after their time working at Ground Zero. Furthermore, another study documented that, on average, a New York City firefighter who responded to the World Trade Center has experienced a loss of 12 years of lung capacity.... The pain and suffering of the living victims of 9/11 is real and cannot be ignored. We, as a nation, must do more,” stated Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY).

Today at a joint subcommittee hearing under the House Judiciary Committee, witnesses testified and spoke in support of H.R. 847, the “James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2009.” Under the Act, responders, area residents, workers, and students who were exposed to the catastrophe of the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11 would be provided comprehensive medical treatment. It would also reopen the Victim Compensation Fund so that people can be compensated for their economic losses.

Barbara Burnette who is a former New York City Police Detective retired from the force after 18.5 years of service due to injuries she developed while working for 23 days in total at the World Trade Center site. Burnette was not provided with any respirator or other protection for her lungs and throat and now has been diagnosed with interstitial lung disease, more specifically, hypersensitivity pneumonitis with fibrosis in her lungs. During the time the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 was in mode, Burnette was not sick and the fund was closed to all applicants in December 2003. “Along with thousands of other rescue, recovery and construction workers, I have filed an individual lawsuit in the Southern District of New York, seeking redress for my respiratory injuries.... My case is now in its fourth year. It has been a long road, and I can’t tell you that I can see an end,” she said.

Over 2,000 rescue workers were compensated with funds from the Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 at a cost to the taxpayer of about $1 billion of the $7 billion spent, stated Kenneth R. Feinberg, the former Special Master of the Federal September 11th Compensation Fund of 2001. “I had enough problems determining eligibility and compensating 5,300 people back in 2001. Whether or not a fund like this should be reopened and the eligibility criteria expanded to include additional types of injury, that is up to the Congress to decide.... It is really an interesting dilemma for the Congress to consider whether it is appropriate to deal with this unfairness of not compensating some of these rescue workers,” expressed Feinberg.

James Melius, an MD and Administrator for the New York State Laborers’ Health and Safety Trust Fund said that the New York State Workers’ Compensation system is difficult to navigate through and is even worse for World Trade Center related illnesses. “The difficulties there are that these are complicated conditions. Our knowledge of them is evolving over time. We don’t know the prognosis for people. It’s more difficult to provide a proper assessment,” concluded Melius. According to information given by Melius, in New York City, uniformed services workers are, for the most part, not covered under the N.Y.S. Workers’ Compensation system but rather have a line of duty disability retirement system managed by New York City. So if a fire fighter, police officer, or other uniformed worker can no longer perform their duties because of an injury or illness incurred on the job, they can apply for disability retirement which allows them to leave with significant retirement benefits, but if a work-related illness becomes apparent after retirement, no additional benefits, including medical care, are provided.

“In the nearly eight years after 9/11, we have done enough talking. Now it is time to pass H.R. 847, the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act,” concluded Nadler.

September 11th Remembered - Pictures From Ground Zero

On Thrusday, September 11th, New York City commemorated the anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Here are a few pictures from Ground Zero.



















More pictures from Talk Radio News on our Flickr.