America's political leadership has a love affair with the concept of connecting with the moderate Muslim world. This is not the domain of one party or one ideology -- indeed, the administrations of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama are heavily invested in the idea. Yet in the push to find moderate Muslims with whom to interact, there's a question that seems to keep coming up: how far are we willing to stretch the definition of "moderate" in order to overlook certain uncomfortable facts? We've seen this problem most recently in the interactions with Imam Rauf in the swirl of controversy about his mosque project in New York City. Some view Rauf as a moderate go-between who could further legitimate relations -- but others point to his funding sources and refusal to denounce Hamas as a sign the moderate label is questionable. The Rauf situation inspired the Wall Street Journal to arrange a roundtable of several Muslim figures this week -- but the panel unintentionally served as a perfect example of the kind of strained definition of "moderate" some sources employ when it comes to leading Muslim political figures. In this case, the Journal included Malaysia's opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, in the conversation. His statement is worth reading, but it must also be studied with a critical eye: Skeptics and cynics alike have said that the quest for the moderate Muslim in the 21st century is akin to the search for the Holy Grail. It's not hard to understand why. Terrorist attacks, suicide bombings and the jihadist call for Muslims "to rise up against the oppression of the West" are widespread. The radical fringe carrying out such actions has sought to dominate the discourse between Islam and the West. In order to do so, they've set out to foment anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism. They've also advocated indiscriminate violence as a political strategy. To cap their victory, this abysmal lot uses the cataclysm of 9/11 as a lesson for the so-called enemies of Islam. To some, Ibrahim is a beloved figure -- he is charming and a capable communicator, who has been subject to malignant political and legal attacks, and has defenders in the United States ranging from Al Gore to Paul Wolfowitz. Yet to read Ibrahim talk of those who "foment... anti-Semitism" for public relations gain is jarring, considering it is exactly the sort of activity he is utilizing to mount his political comeback. One of the oldest tactics when it comes to relations with the Western world is the art of saying one thing in English, and another in your native language. Ibrahim is canny enough to know that his purposes are best served by keeping his anti-Semitic messages in a form which appeals to the right audience -- in this case, he's invoked the spectre of Jewish influence on more than one occasion. The pattern prompted a letter from B'Nai Brith earlier this year, sent to the State Department and the leaders of Senate and House committees, requesting that U.S. officials cease relations with Ibrahim over his "anti-Jewish and anti-Israel slanders," which include suggesting that Israeli spies are "directly involved in the running of the government," are antagonizing him through the police force, and are organizing a public relations campaign against him. We would be wise to consider the aims of individuals like Ibrahim, not just accept his words to the American press at face value. I had the opportunity recently to interview Lee Smith, the author of The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations and a columnist for Tablet. He advances a view of American-Muslim relations that is both more sophisticated and more straightforward than the one which ruled in Washington over the past ten years. A key takeaway from his approach to understanding the Muslim world is that we must understand the way that individuals like Ibrahim and Rauf use the American approach to foreign relations to their advantage, and not allow for entanglements that make us lose sight of their real aims. In any case, it's clear that honest relations with legitimate spokesmen from the Muslim world are paramount as we move closer to a decade removed from the 9/11 attacks. Yet we should have no illusions about the nature of those friendships, and we must reject the idea that figures can get away with saying one thing in their own countries and in their own language while criticizing that same activity in our newspapers and in English. Americans would not tolerate such two-faced activity from our own leaders, nor should we tolerate it from others.

A key financial backer of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero once contributed to a U.S.-designated terror group, MyFox New York reports. Egyptian-born businessman Hisham Elzanaty, who made what is described as a “significant investment” in the Ground Zero mosque project,contributed more than $6,000 in 1999 to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, also known as HLF, tax records show. The donations came two years before the federal government shut down HLF and designated it a terror group. Elzanaty’s attorney told MyFox New York that his client believed at the time that he was donating to an orphanage. Elzanaty did not respond to questions. Federal investigators say the group was set up as a Texas-based charity, but in fact supported Hamas. Ray Locker, managing director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, told MyFox New York that even in 1999, news outlets reported on possible ties between HLF and terror organizations. Five HLF leaders were convicted in 2008 of providing support to Hamas. Click here to read the full story from MyFox New York http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/manhattan/mosque-investors-donation-investigation-20100902

For starters, the Recovery Act is the most ambitious energy legislation in history, converting the Energy Department into the world's largest venture-capital fund. It's pouring $90 billion into clean energy, including unprecedented investments in a smart grid; energy efficiency; electric cars; renewable power from the sun, wind and earth; cleaner coal; advanced biofuels; and factories to manufacture green stuff in the U.S. The act will also triple the number of smart electric meters in our homes, quadruple the number of hybrids in the federal auto fleet and finance far-out energy research through a new government incubator modeled after the Pentagon agency that fathered the Internet. (See TIME's special report "After One Year, A Stimulus Report Card.")

Michael Scherer, TimePresident Obama, during a town-hall meeting with young African leaders in the East Room of the White House on Aug. 3, 2010The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube. He stands before a cheering Elkhart high school gymnasium in August 2008, tireless, aspirational, promising a new America of jobs and hope. "We can choose another future," says the newcomer with the funny name. "So I ask you to join me." Today that view of Obama is harder to find in Indiana. A couple of weeks back and a dozen miles west of Elkhart, hundreds gathered...

AP - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday he saw and heard evidence that the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy is taking hold in critical Kandahar province.

Rich Lowry, National ReviewThe much-analyzed speeches at the Glenn Beck Lincoln Memorial rally weren't as notable as what the estimated 300,000 attendees did: follow instructions, listen quietly to hours of speeches, and throw out their trash.Just as stunning as the tableaux of the massive throngs lining the reflecting pool were the images of the spotless grounds afterward. If someone had told attendees they were expected to mow the grass before they left, surely some of them would have hitched flatbed trailers to their vehicles for the trip to Washington and gladly brought mowers along with them. Receive news...

Christopher Hitchens, Vanity FairHE OF LITTLE FAITHThe author at home in Washington, D.C.When I described the tumor in my esophagus as a “blind, emotionless alien,” I suppose that even I couldn’t help awarding it some of the qualities of a living thing. This at least I know to be a mistake: an instance of the “pathetic fallacy” (angry cloud, proud mountain, presumptuous little Beaujolais) by which we ascribe animate qualities to inanimate phenomena. To exist, a cancer needs a living organism, but it cannot ever become a living organism. Its whole malice—there I go...

BusinessWeek - Goldman Sachs may not have a lot of friends in the White House these days, but one of its former employees has made a good impression. After three years as an analyst in Goldman's fixed-income, currencies, and commodities division, Monique Pean began her own jewelry line that can now be found in Barneys, Jeffrey New York, and around the neck of Michelle Obama.

Bob Shrum, The WeekJan Brewer's 'train wreck' opening statement The wrestlers haunting Linda McMahon Glenn Beck: The alcoholism question 6 global warming skeptics who changed their minds 5 things you need to know about Vanity Fair's Sarah Palin expose America's first medical marijuana TV ad Archie Comics' new gay friend Fall elections: A Democratic 'bloodbath'? Obama's Oval Office makeover How would a pay-per-view YouTube stack up? Is it 'boring' to play with your kids? Glenn Beck's 'fiery' new website The egg recall: 4...

David Corn, Politics Daily

Eugene Robinson, Wash Post

Sarwat Sayed, Det NewsGround zero, where many of our friends, relatives and countrymen lost their lives, is a place that will be hard to forget, for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. We are blessed to live with our family, friends and children in this beautiful country and aspire to provide safety and security to all countrymen, irrespective of their race, religion or culture. Building a mosque so close to ground zero will not serve that purpose. AdvertisementOn the contrary, it will freshen up the wounds of 9/11 leading to doubts and distrust of the motives. The cause of building unity and a safe America cannot be...

Charles Krauthammer, Washington PostMany have charged that President Obama's decision to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan 10 months from now is hampering our war effort. But now it's official. In a stunning statement last week, Marine Corps Commandant James Conway admitted that the July 2011 date is "probably giving our enemy sustenance."A remarkably bold charge for an active military officer. It stops just short of suggesting aiding and abetting the enemy. Yet the observation is obvious: It is surely harder to prevail in a war that hinges on the allegiance of the locals when they hear the U.S....

Paul Krugman, New York TimesNext week, President Obama is scheduled to propose new measures to boost the economy. I hope they’re bold and substantive, since the Republicans will oppose him regardless — if he came out for motherhood, the G.O.P. would declare motherhood un-American. So he should put them on the spot for standing in the way of real action. Paul Krugman But let’s put politics aside and talk about what we’ve actually learned about economic policy over the past 20 months. When Mr. Obama first proposed $800 billion in fiscal stimulus, there...

Politico - Opinion: It’s becoming increasingly unlikely that the California senator will beat Carly Fiorina.

David Brooks, New York TimesThe Democrats could be heading toward a defeat of historic proportions in November, but it is possible to imagine a scenario in which things might have turned out differently: David Brooks David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns.On Dec. 16, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama and his senior aides gathered for a briefing on the state of the U.S. economy. It was horrifying. The economy was on the verge of collapse. There was little prospect that robust growth would be returning anytime soon. Many of the president-elect's advisers had been reading...

David Paul Kuhn, RealClearPoliticsWe are a long way from Dwight Eisenhower's cabinet. "Eight millionaires and a plumber," as one journalist dubbed Ike's team.The Obama administration has the least corporate executive experience of any White House in decades. Receive news alertsThe premiere posts of Treasury and Commerce express the issue. Both are traditionally bridges to business. This is the only first-term administration in about a century, when the Commerce post was created, to have neither a Commerce nor Treasury secretary with significant business experience."Obviously, the Obama administration...

David Harsanyi, Denver PostAdmitting you're a fan of economics is another way of saying that you live a deeply tragic life.That said, I can't seem to get enough of economists who blog about human behavior or write wickedly counterintuitive books about how all the bad things we do are good for society. Receive news alertsProfessionally speaking, economists are also vital. Where else are columnists going to find a Ph.D. to corroborate all the gibberish we put in our pieces?But the most crucial lesson I've gleaned from smart men and women who practice the dismal science is this: Those who claim to grasp the...

Steve Huntley, Chicago Sun-TimesThe Obama administration's summer of recovery has crashed into an economic reality casting a cloud over the festivities of the Labor Day weekend: Too many Americans are doing little or no labor these days.You can't make a persuasive argument for recovery when the unemployment rate is 9.5 percent and the under-employment rate, those who are unemployed or working part time but want full-time jobs, is at 18.6 percent, as reported by a Gallup survey.

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, USA TodayUSA TODAY OPINION Columns In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes a variety of opinions from outside writers. On political and policy matters, we publish opinions from across the political spectrum. Roughly half of our columns come from our Board of Contributors, a group whose interests range from education to religion to sports to the economy. Their charge is to chronicle American culture by telling the stories, large and small, that collectively make us what we are. We also publish weekly columns by Al Neuharth, USA TODAY's founder, and DeWayne Wickham, who...