Obama's Speech to the Muslim World

As usual, the NY Times has an interactive transcript with video.

The White House is making translations of the speech available in 13 languages including Arabic, Chinese, Dari, French, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Malay, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu.

Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu weighs in with a statement:

"The government of Israel expresses hope that President Obama's important speech will lead to a new period of reconciliation between the Arab and Muslim world, and Israel. We share Obama's hope that the American effort will bring about an end to the conflict and to pan-Arab recognition of Israel as the Jewish state.

"Israel is obligated to peace and will do as much as possible to help expand the circle of peace, while taking into consideration our national interests, the foremost of which is security."

Transcript from the White House.

YouTube - President Obama Speaks to the Muslim World from Cairo, Egypt

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Obama: "America Is Not a Christian, Jewish or Muslim Nation"

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Obama, Peres and Colbert on the Persian New Year - The Lede Blog - NYTimes.com

The man is good. Think about how this sort of reference to Persian literature will play in a place that is so steeped in history and with such a rich literary culture.

Notable in Mr. Obama’s message is his reference to the words of Saadi, a revered Persian poet. Near the end of his remarks, Mr. Obama said:

I know that this won’t be reached easily. There are those who insist that we be defined by our differences. But let us remember the words that were written by the poet Saadi, so many years ago: “The children of Adam are limbs to each other, having been created of one essence.”

Mr. Obama was quoting from a translation Saadi’s poem “Bani A’dam.” The full text of the poem has been rendered into English in several varying translations. During the siege of Sarajevo in 1994, Anthony Lewis quoted the poem in full in a column in The Times. Marizeh Ghiasi, a blogger in Canada who was born in Tehran, published this translation, beneath an image of the original Persian script on her blog:

The children of Adam are the limbs of one body
That share an origin in their creation
When one limb passes its days in pain
The other limbs cannot remain easy
You who feel no pain at the suffering of others
It is not fitting for you to be called human

Read more at NYTimes.com's Lede Blog

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Obama Sends Iran Message On Nowruz

Obama speaks in Farsi!

"I want you, the people and leaders of Iran, to understand the future that we seek," Obama concludes. "It is a future with renewed exchanges among our people, and greater opportunities for partnership and commerce. It is a future where the old divisions are overcome, where you, and all of your neighbors and the wider world can live in greater peace and security."

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Obama ended the address with a Farsi saying, Eid-eh Shoma Mobarak -- which translates to 'have a celebratory new year' -- and included Persian captions in the video."

Read more at HuffPo.

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Michael Steele's new implant

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U.S. officials: Hamas slipped note to Obama via Kerry

It said, "Meet me behind the gym after recess...."

Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas passed Sen. John Kerry a letter for President Obama while Kerry visited Gaza on Thursday, senior State Department officials said.

The letter for the president is in the hands of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, the officials said Friday.

Kerry, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, toured the devastation in Gaza and met with officials from the U.N. Works Relief Agency, the main provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

Frederick Jones, the committee's communications director, told CNN at the end of Kerry's meeting with UNRWA chief Karen Abu Zayed that 'she handed [Kerry] a letter addressed to the president of the United States along with other materials.'

Read more at CNN.com.

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Mormon church reports $190,000 Prop. 8 expenses

Remember Prop 8? Californians should be disgusted that the state constitution has been manipulated by out-of-state interests. The Mormon Church maintained that individual contributions funded the Prop 8 campaign, and the church didn't donate, but a piece in today's SF Chronicle begs to differ:

Mormon church officials, facing an ongoing investigation by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, Friday reported nearly $190,000 in previously unlisted assistance to the successful campaign for Prop. 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California.

The report, filed with the secretary of state's office, listed a variety of California travel expenses for high-ranking members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and included $20,575 for use of facilities and equipment at the church's Salt Lake City headquarters and a $96,849 charge for 'compensated staff time' for church employees who worked on matters pertaining to Prop. 8.

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