9/11 remembrance ceremony starts in New York

A ceremony attended by President Barack Obama to honor nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001, began in New York Sunday with a procession of bagpipers and singing of the national anthem.

After Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced proceedings at Ground Zero, saying it was “a chance to reflect and remember,” the ceremony observed a moment of silence to mark the exact time when the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center, starting the 9/11 attacks.

It was the first of six moments of silence to be observed at the ceremony at Ground 0: one for each of the towers hit, one each for the Pentagon and the crash of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania and one each for the collapse of two towers.

Most Muslim Americans feel targeted by terror policies

They complain about increased surveillance and monitoring, and many report increased cases of name-calling, threats and harassment by airport security, law enforcement officers and others.

Still, most Muslim Americans say they are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. and rate their communities highly as places to live.

The survey by the Pew Research Center, one of the most exhaustive ever of the country s Muslims, finds no signs of rising alienation or anger among Muslim-Americans despite recent U.S. government concerns about homegrown Islamic terrorism and controversy over the building of mosques.

“This confirms what we ve said all along: American Muslims are well integrated and happy, but with a kind of lingering sense of being besieged by growing anti-Muslim sentiment in our society,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based Muslim civil rights group.

“People contact us every day about concerns they ve had, particularly with law enforcement authorities in this post-9/11 era,” he said.

Muslim extremists hijacked four passenger planes on Sept. 11, 2001, crashing them into New York s World Trade Center, the Pentagon near Washington and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

In all, 52 percent of Muslim Americans surveyed said their group is singled out by government for terrorist surveillance. Almost as many 43 percent reported they had personally experienced harassment in the past year, according to the poll released Tuesday.

That 43 percent share of people reporting harassment is up from 40 percent in 2007, the first time Pew polled Muslim Americans.

Asked to identify in what ways they felt bias, about 28 percent said they had been treated or viewed with suspicion by people, while 22 percent said they were called offensive names. About 21 percent said they were singled out by airport security because they were Muslim, while another 13 percent said they were targeted by other law enforcement officials. Roughly 6 percent said they had been physically threatened or attacked.

On the other hand, the share of Muslim Americans who view U.S. anti-terror policies as “sincere” efforts to reduce international terrorism now surpasses those who view them as insincere 43 percent to 41 percent. Four years ago, during the presidency of George W. Bush, far more viewed US anti-terrorism efforts as insincere than sincere 55 percent to 26 percent.

The vast majority of Muslim Americans 79 percent rate their communities as either “excellent” or “good” places to live, even among many who reported an act of vandalism against a mosque or a controversy over the building of an Islamic center in their neighborhoods.

They also are now more likely to say they are satisfied with the current direction of the country 56 percent, up from 38 percent in 2007. That is in contrast to the general U.S. public, whose satisfaction has dropped from 32 percent to 23 percent.

Andrew Kohut, Pew president, said in an interview that Muslim Americans  overall level of satisfaction was striking.

“I was concerned about a bigger sense of alienation, but there was not,” Kohut said, contrasting the U.S. to many places in Europe where Muslims have become more separatist. “You don t see any indication of brewing negativity. When you look at their attitudes, these are still middle-class, mainstream people who want to be loyal to America.”

The latest numbers come amid increased U.S. attention on the risks of homegrown terrorism after the London transit bombings in 2005. The problem has been especially pressing for President Barack Obama, with federal investigators citing a greater risk of attacks by a “lone wolf” or small homegrown cells following the 2009 Fort Hood shooting and the Times Square bombing attempt last year.

Such terror warnings have stirred raw emotions as the U.S. struggles to talk about religion in the context of terrorism.

Tensions erupted last summer over plans to build a mosque near the Ground Zero site in New York City after critics assailed it as an insult to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Rep. Peter King, a Republican held House hearings earlier this year to examine whether American Muslims are becoming “radicalized” to attack the U.S., declaring that U.S. Muslims are doing too little to fight terror.

The Associated Press reported last week that with CIA guidance, the New York Police Department dispatched undercover officers into minority neighborhoods, scrutinized imams and gathered intelligence on cab drivers and food cart vendors, jobs often done by Muslims.

It is now common in U.S. mosques for Muslims to preface public remarks by saying that they know the government is eavesdropping but Muslims have nothing to hide.

Mostly foreign-born immigrants, Muslim Americans are significantly younger, more likely to be male and more racially diverse than the public as a whole. They express a broad willingness to adopt U.S. customs and are just as likely as the rest of Americans to hold a college degree.

For example:When asked to choose, nearly half of Muslims in the U.S. say they think of themselves first as Muslim, rather than as American. Roughly 60 percent say that most Muslims come to the U.S. to adopt the American way of life and see no conflict between being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

Foreign-born Muslims in the U.S. come from at least 77 different countries, led by Pakistan, Iran, the Palestinian territories, Bangladesh, Yemen, Jordan and Iraq. About 70 percent of foreign-born Muslims report they are now naturalized U.S. citizens, higher than the 47 percent rate for the broader immigrant population in the U.S.

Muslim Americans are more likely than Muslims in the Middle East to say a way can be found for the state of Israel to exist so that Palestinian rights are addressed 62 percent say this, compared with a range of 13 to 40 percent in other countries surveyed by Pew. That 62 percent share compares with 67 percent among the general U.S. public who hold this view.

The Pew survey is based on telephone interviews with 1,033 Muslims in the U.S., conducted in English, Arabic, Farsi or Urdu from April 14 to July 22. Subjects were chosen at random, from a separate list of households including some with Muslim-sounding names, and from Muslim households that had answered previous surveys.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Furore in US over Osamas death

Euphoria engulfed the United States soon after US President Barack Obama announced the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. A large crowd of people gathered outside the White House gates on Pennsylvania Avenue, waving flags and dancing in jubilation.

They sang the “Star Spangled Banner” in unison and chanting “USA USA USA” and “Na na na na — na na na na …Hey hey goodbye” in reference to Osama bin Laden.

The crowd is swelling by the minute. People are running to join the group with American flags and there is lot of dancing and cheering. As the news was finally confirmed, families of those who died in the 2001 attacks spoke through tears of their relief that Bin Laden had finally been killed.
Bush has called the killing a “momentous achievement”. He said, “The fight against terror goes on.”

Former US secretary of state Conoleezza Rice said, “The demise of Osama Bin Laden is a tremendous victory for the American people.”

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said US had kept their promise after the 09-11 attacks to capture or kill Bin Laden.

Maurice Lucas Dead at 58

Maurice Lucas Dead at 58: Former NBA player Maurice Lucas, a forward for the Portland Trail Blazers, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer, the team said on its website. He was 58.

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Lucas “was a central figure on the Trail Blazers’ 1976-77 championship team,” the team said. During that championship season, Lucas — known as “The Enforcer” — led the team in scoring, with 20.2 points, along with field goals made (8.0), free throws made (4.2), offensive rebounds (3.4) and minutes (36.2), according to the team.

In the 1977 playoffs, Lucas was the team-high scorer in eight of 19 games and led the team in rebounds twice. He is one of four three-time All-Stars in Trail Blazers history.

He most recently served as an assistant coach for the Trail Blazers from 1988-89 and again from 2005-10. The team honored him by retiring his number, 20, in 1988.

“Portland and the NBA lost one of their greats today,” team owner Paul Allen said in the website posting. “Maurice Lucas was an amazing man, and I count myself lucky to have known him. We all — players, coaches, the owner and the fans — were made better by having Maurice a part of our team, whether playing on the championship team, or most recently as an assistant coach.”

“He was one of the greatest Blazers ever,” Allen said. “I’ll miss him.” He offered his condolences to Lucas’ wife, Pamela, and their children.

As a student at Marquette University, Lucas led the school to the NCAA championship game in 1974, according to the Trail Blazers. Portland acquired him as the second pick in the 1976 ABA dispersal draft. He played 12 seasons in the NBA and four in the American Basketball Association, according to the Portland team’s website.

“Words cannot express the magnitude of loss we feel tonight with the passing of Maurice Lucas,” Larry Miller, Trail Blazers president, said in the statement. “The Trail Blazers family has lost our Enforcer, but for me personally, I have lost a brother.”

Republicans Win the House in US Polls

Resurgent Republicans won control of the House and cut deeply into the Democrats’ majority in the Senate in momentous midterm elections shadowed by recession, ushering in a new era of divided government certain to complicate the final two years of President Barack Obama’s term.

House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, voice breaking with emotion, declared shortly before midnight Tuesday that the results were “a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people.”

Obama monitored returns at the White House, then telephoned Boehner with congratulations in a call that underscored the power shift.

On a night of triumph, Republicans fell short in their effort to gain control of the Senate and take full command of Congress, although they picked up at least six seats. They failed in an attempt to defeat Majority Harry Reid in Nevada, winner in an especially costly and brutal race in a year filled with them.

Boehner and his Republicans needed to gain 40 seats for a House majority, and they got them. They led for 11 more.

The victories came in bunches — five Democratic-held seats each in Pennsylvania and Ohio and three in Florida and Virginia.

Among the House Democrats who tasted defeat was Rep. Tom Perriello, a first-termer for whom Obama campaigned just before the election.

Obama was at the White House as the returns mounted, a news conference on his Wednesday schedule.

In Senate races, tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida coasted to easy Senate victories, overcoming months of withering Democratic attacks on their conservative views. But Christine O’Donnell lost badly in Delaware, for a seat that Republican strategists once calculated would be theirs with ease.

Democrats conceded nothing while they still had a chance. “Let’s go out there and continue to fight,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi exhorted supporters in remarks before television cameras while the polls were still open in much of the country.

But not long after she spoke, Democratic incumbents in both houses began falling, and her own four-year tenure as the first female speaker in history seemed near an end.

With unemployment at 9.6 percent nationally, interviews with voters revealed an extraordinarily sour electorate, stressed financially and poorly disposed toward the president, the political parties and the federal government.

Sen.-elect Paul, appearing Tuesday night before supporters in Bowling Green, Ky., declared, “We’ve come to take our government back.”

About four in 10 voters said they were worse off financially than two years ago, according to preliminary exit poll results and pre-election surveys. More than one in three said their votes were an expression of opposition to Obama. More than half expressed negative views about both political parties. Roughly 40 percent of voters considered themselves supporters of the conservative tea party movement. Less than half said they wanted the government to do more to solve problems.

The preliminary findings were based on Election Day and pre-election interviews with more than 9,000 voters.

All 435 seats in the House were on the ballot, plus 37 in the Senate. An additional 37 governors’ races gave Republicans ample opportunity for further gains halfway through Obama’s term, although Andrew Cuomo was elected in New York for the office his father once held.

Republicans were certain of at least six Senate pickups, including the seat in Illinois that Obama resigned to become president. Rep. Mark Kirk won there, defeating Alexi Giannoulias.

Democratic Sens. Russell Feingold in Wisconsin and Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas were turned out of office. In addition, Republicans scored big in races for Democratic seats without incumbents on the ballot. Former Rep. Pat Toomey won a close race in Pennsylvania, North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven won easily there, and former Sen. Dan Coats breezed in a comeback attempt for the Indiana seat he voluntarily gave up a dozen years ago.

“Republicans will continue to stand up for the American people and for the priorities they voted for today, and we are hopeful that the administration and Democrat leaders will change course,” Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said in a written statement.

Democrats averted deeper losses when Gov. Joe Manchin won in West Virginia — after pointedly distancing himself from Obama — for the unexpired portion of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd’s term, and Attorney General Richard Blumenthal was victorious in Connecticut, dispatching Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. Sen. Barbara Boxer was elected to a fourth term in California, overcoming a challenge from Carly Fiorina.

The GOP gubernatorial gains came after a campaign in which their party organization spent more than $100 million, nearly double what Democrats had.

Among the incumbents who fell were Ted Strickland in Ohio, defeated by former Rep. John Kasich, and Chet Culver in Iowa, loser to former Gov. Terry Branstad.

In California, former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. was elected to the office he held for two terms more than a quarter-century ago.

In a footnote to the brutal politics of the campaign, Republican-turned- independent Lincoln Chafee was elected governor of Rhode Island. Obama campaigned in the state in the campaign’s final week. But he declined to endorse the Democratic candidate, Frank Caprio, out of what the White House said was respect for Chafee, who had endorsed the president in his own presidential race two years ago.

A Republican takeover of the House would usher in a new era of divided government after two years in which Obama and fellow Democrats pushed through an economic stimulus bill, a landmark health care measure and legislation to rein in Wall Street after the near collapse of the economy in 2008.

Republicans opposed all three of the measures, accusing the president of supporting an ever-expanding role for the government with ever-rising spending.

Paul’s triumph in Kentucky completed an improbable rise for an eye surgeon making his first race. He drew opposition from the Republican Party establishment when he first launched his bid, then struggled to adjust to a statewide race with Attorney General Jack Conway.

Rubio, also running with tea party support, was gaining about 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race in Florida, months after he forced Gov. Charlie Crist to leave the Republican Party and run as an independent. Democratic Rep. Kendrick Meek was running third.

But a third tea party-backed candidate, O’Donnell, who went from a virtual unknown to primary winner to fodder for late-night comedians in the span of a few months, lost overwhelmingly to Democrat Chris Coons in Delaware. Republicans had counted on taking the seat from the Democrats early this year, but that was before O’Donnell defeated veteran Rep. Mike Castle in a September primary. Democrat John Carney easily won the seat that was Castle’s for nearly two decades.

Not all the Republican newcomers were party crashers.

In New Hampshire, Republican Kelly Ayotte won a Senate seat, defeating Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes. Former Bush administration official Rob Portman won a seat in Ohio, and Rep. Jerry Moran won in Kansas and Rep. Roy Blunt in Missouri.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont was re-elected to his seventh term and Barbara Mikulski her fifth. New York Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand also won, as did Sen. Ron Wyden in Oregon and Boxer in California In Hawaii, Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye was elected for a ninth time to the seat he has held since 1962.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, who won a second term in South Carolina, has been working to establish a nationwide standing among conservatives. He was instrumental in supporting tea party challengers in several primaries this spring and summer at a time the GOP establishment was backing other candidates.

In Alabama, Sen. Richard Shelby was re-elected easily, as were Republican Sens. Tom Coburn in Oklahoma, Richard Burr in North Carolina, John Thune in South Dakota, Johnny Isakson in Georgia and Mike Crapo in Idaho.

The president gave a series of radio interviews pleading with Democratic supporters not to sit on the sidelines. “I know things are still tough out there, but we finally have job growth again,” he said in one. “It is all at risk if people don’t turn out and vote today.”

While Obama’s name was not on the ballot, his record and policies were. After nearly two years in power, he and congressional Democrats were saddled politically with the residue of the worst recession since the 1930s.

“I will honestly say that I voted for him two years ago,” said Sally McCabe, 56, of Plymouth, Minn., stopping to cast her ballot on her way to work. “And I want my vote back.”

In Cleveland, Tim Crews, 42, said he measures Obama’s performance by the number of paying miles he drives in his delivery van. His miles have tripled to 9,000 a month. Crews said of the economy: “It’s moving. I know, because I’m moving it.” He voted accordingly.

With so many contested races, and a Supreme Court ruling removing restrictions on political activity by corporations and unions, the price tag for the elections ran to the billions.

Much of the money paid for television advertisements that attacked candidates without letup, the sort of commercials that voters say they disdain but that polls find are effective.

US Elections 2010 Results

WASHINGTON, US Elections 2010 Results: U.S. approval ratings for President Barack Obama have slipped and frustration over the U.S. economy and anti-incumbent sentiment have risen, making for some hotly contested races in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

The western state of Nevada hosts one of those contentious races, with conservative Sharron Angle, a Tea Party favorite, in a tight race with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Reid was elected to the Senate in 1986 and has seen his popularity plummet as the state faces some of the worst foreclosure and jobless rates in the country.

In the state of Kentucky, Tea Party favorite Rand Paul won the Senate race against state Attorney General Jack Conway, a Democrat. Paul became the Republican nominee in a surprise upset over Kentucky’s Secretary of State, Trey Grayson.

In a three-way contest in Florida, former state lawmaker and Tea Party favorite Marco Rubio defeated Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek and Governor Charlie Crist, who ran for the Senate seat as an independent after losing the Republican nomination to Rubio.

In Delaware, Democrat Chris Coons defeated conservative activist and political novice Christine O’Donnell to win the Senate seat once held by Vice President Joe Biden. O’Donnell, a Tea Party-backed candidate, generated controversy after winning the Republican nomination in an upset over moderate veteran U.S. Representative Mike Castle.

In Senate races still to be decided, Republican Ken Buck poses a challenge to incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet in Colorado. Bennet came to the Senate as an appointee for a vacant seat, and won the Democratic nomination during this year’s primary vote.

In Pennsylvania, longtime incumbent Senator Arlen Specter quit the Republican Party in 2009 and became a Democrat, only to lose the Democratic primary this year to Representative Joe Sestak. Now Sestak is locked in a close battle with Republican Pat Toomey for Specter’s seat.

In the western state of Washington, incumbent Democratic Senator Patty Murray is in a close race with Republican Dino Rossi, a businessman who has twice lost the state governor’s race.

In yet another contentious race, California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer is facing a strong challenge from Republican Carly Fiorina – a former chief executive officer of the Hewlett-Packard company.

Alaska’s Senate race has been complicated by the fact that there are three candidates: Tea Party-backed Joe Miller, who won the Republican nomination, and incumbent Lisa Murkowski, who is campaigning as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican nomination. Polls show Miller and Murkowski in a tight race, with Democrat Scott McAdams possibly benefiting from a split in the Republican vote.

USA Races to Redraw Lines of Power

CHICAGO: As Democrats struggle to keep their majorities in the U.S. Congress in the November 2 elections, the next decade of party control may well be determined by scores of state legislative races also on the ballot.

At stake is the redrawing by state lawmakers of electoral districts for the House of Representatives in Washington — an adjustment of boundaries every 10 years that tends to favor the party in charge of each state legislature.

The Democratic Party, which has gained seats at the state level since 2004, faces a Republican onslaught expected to alter the balance of power in Congress and in the states.

“The theme for the Democrats is what goes up must come down,” said Tim Storey, an elections analyst at the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures, noting the party in control of the White House has lost state legislative seats in 25 of 27 midterm elections since 1900.

“The real question is how big will the losses be for the Democrats? Where will they be? How critical will they be?”

State legislatures assert themselves in various ways — their proposals can percolate up to Congress and they may throw up roadblocks to national policies.

For instance, a handful of state legislatures have sought to block enforcement of the healthcare overhaul championed by President Barack Obama, with Republican opponents arguing it is unconstitutional to require people to buy health insurance.

In most states, legislatures are in charge of redrawing congressional districts once each decade to take account of population shifts recorded by the U.S. Census. The party in power can draw friendly, and convoluted, boundaries to include voters who support its congressional candidates.

Big Republican wins in state houses could give them control of the gerrymandering for about 165 of the 435 seats in the U.S. House, compared with just 30 or so for the Democrats, a report by the National Council of State Legislatures said.

The NCSL projects that control is likely to switch mainly in favor of Republicans in at least 12 chambers, with states such as Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in play.

“If one party controls both houses of the legislature and the governorship then they’re in the catbird seat as far as redistricting is concerned,” said Dennis Goldford, professor of politics at Drake University.

The results of state legislative elections could have “ramifications for the whole decade” as they could reinforce one party’s strength in the U.S. House, he said.

In 2006, the Supreme Court largely upheld a controversial redistricting plan in Texas that led to more Republicans than Democrats being elected to Congress from that state.

Gerrymandering in the 1990s in Illinois ensured a safe Hispanic district for Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez by connecting geographically distant chunks of Chicago and some suburbs by way of an interstate highway.

Jhootha Hi Sahi Songs

‘Hello Jhootha Sahi’, a film director famous Tyrewala Abbas was released music Friday September 17, 2010. And began singing in the music reality show on Zee TV, Sa Re Ga as Pennsylvania, were all present at the launch of Abbas Tyrewala’s wife Pakhi, is debuting as an actress with ‘Jhootha Sahi hello’, and also wrote the screenplay. And John Abraham, the chief representative of the film and one in India to the best music directors AR Rahman, who composed the music of the film is also present at the launch.

And Ibrahim Abdel-Rahman is already serving as guests largely on supply and entertainment audiences with funny answers to questions raised by the contestants on ‘love and lies.’ Music ‘Jhootha Sahi hello’ is available on the Internet.

Those who intend to listen to music and should click on the link provided below. It has all the songs of the movie.

Big Lake Updates

The cable networks on a roll this summer, the one or is very good, and saw a new display after another. They are so good that even procedural that would not fit the template with a normal cable, ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ is to pull the numbers than most of what is going on in television broadcasting. To roll, though, you may get a break with the ‘big lake’. Comedy Central trying for the first time in multi-camera, live audience sitcom does not amount to a couple of reasons. More importantly, it’s just not funny.

Episodes, which sent a review copy, which the night air to return back at 10:00 Eastern Time, barely raised laughter from me. He also failed in an attempt to establish a form of edgier traditional sitcom. Finally, it fails in a mine subject to deepen the spelling of a recession, and to return home after a fall from grace, and the fallacy of trusting people who say they can make you rich.

Chris Gethard plays Josh Franklin, a young financial whiz who was living the good life in New York until he collapsed, fund management, shooting, and was working for the brokerage went under. I think Lehman Brothers with a hint of Bernie Madoff, and you’ll get the idea. Josh return to his native state of Pennsylvania, who will move with his parents (James Rebhorn, Deborah Rush).

And lost their retirement savings in the collapse, and this bitter truth of his father reminded him every single day. When he returned, he would restore his immature friends with Glenn Horatio Sanz () and a professor of ancient history, Mr. Henkel (Chris Parnell). Oh, and he realized that his little brother Jeremy (Dylan Blue) is not a teenager became clean Lisps it portrays of their parents.

Blast shakes Kabul as US military chief visits

KABUL: The Afghan capital was rocked Saturday by an accidental blast just as Washington”s military chief promised business as usual despite the sacking of the US commander of foreign forces.

The blast, near the foreign ministry in Kabul”s embassy district, happened when an anti-personnel mine in an Afghan army vehicle accidentally detonated, a NATO spokesman said.

The blast shook Kabul after US Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, began a visit aimed at reassuring leaders following the sacking of the top US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.

Police on the scene told media there were no casualties.

General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the defence minister, said the Afghan National Army driver of the truck had been detained for questioning.

Meeting President Hamid Karzai, Mullen said NATO troops would still “spare no efforts avoiding civilian casualties” while continuing to strengthen and cooperate with Afghan forces, a statement from the presidency said.

Mounting foreign troop deaths have fuelled criticism in the international media that the US-led alliance is becoming bogged down in Afghanistan, something Washington denies.
The statement from Karzai”s office said the Afghan leader had welcomed the appointment of David Petraeus as the new commander of foreign forces.

“Afghanistan… considers the appointment of this general who is experienced, aware of the Afghan situation and a war veteran, as the right decision,” it said.

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