Radio America Online News Bureau

Obama says Koran burning could be a ‘recruiting bonanza’ for Al Qaeda, administration conducts extensive discussions about whether a direct dialogue with Florida pastor would convince him to cancel the burning, good news for one U.S. hiker held in Iran, Castro slams Ahmadinejad and suggests the Cuban system no longer works, Obama says rich should get continued tax cuts because it wouldn’t change their spending patterns and a new government report shows Obama’s health care plan will cost more than advertised.

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Another report from the actuary’s office at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services shows the price tag of the forthcoming health care policy changes coming in much higher than was promised by advocates of the new laws.  So how much will these changes cost us and why were the original estimates off base?  We ask Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute.  She also warns of an encroaching Big Brother mentality in government, as officials in North Carolina demand to know the names of all patients with prescriptions for painkillers.

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Gen. David Petraeus and other military leaders have urged a Florida church not to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of 9-11, suggesting that such a spectacle would inflame many people in the Muslim world and possibly endanger our troops.  Yet the military saw no problem burning boxes of Bibles written in local Afghan dialects that a soldier received from his home church.  Does the military apply a clear double standard in how it treats Islam compared to Christianity?  How is this manifested in everyday military life?  Is the military increasingly hostile towards Christianity?  And if so, how could that impact recruiting and retention?  We discuss all this with retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Bob Maginnis, who is now a senior strategist with the Army.

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With less than eight weeks remaining until Election Day, President Obama is trying to boost his party’s dismal poll numbers by touting a new economic agenda and attacking the Republican approach.  But will it work?  Will the public believe Democrats are still the best choice to lead us out of the economic ditch?  We ask John Gizzi, political editor at Human Events.  Gizzi also offers more primary predictions, discusses whether Rahm Emanuel will be the next mayor of Chicago and how vocal the Obama administration ought to be in the Koran burning controversy.

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President Obama pushes his economic agenda and mocks the Republican approach, GOP advocates preserving tax cuts and slashing federal spending, controversy over burning the Koran on 9-11 continues.

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President Obama says a Republican majority in Congress would return America to the leadership that led our economy into decline.  He also says Republicans are being hypocritical in pushing for extended tax cuts that he claims would add to the deficit.  Not true, according to Missouri Rep. Blaine Leutkemeyer.  He says Obama clearly fails to see that excessive spending – not lower taxes – created huge deficits despite record revenues.  He also says the GOP economic strategy is pretty simple – slash spending and freeze the tax cuts.  We discuss the president’s economic approach, the Republican alternative and much more with Rep. Leutkemeyer.

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In a new report, BP takes some responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon explosion that triggered a three-month gushing of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.  However, the energy giant is also quick to blame Halliburton and Transocean for their alleged negligence as well.  How is the report playing along the Gulf coast?  Will a second explosion on an oil rig in recent days damage efforts to lift a drilling moratorium in the Gulf?  We ask Louisiana Sen. David Vitter and get his reaction to President Obama’s latest economic proposals and the president’s plan to allow some Bush tax cuts to expire.

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Pressure continues to build from every direction against a Florida pastor’s plans to burn a Koran on Saturday – the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.  Act for America founder and terrorism survivor Brigitte Gabriel says burning the Koran may well incite Muslims but will also deprive Americans of a genuine debate on the Koran – a debate she says will reveal the radical ideology that is driving our enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan and beyond.  So what does the Koran say to back up her claims?  How was it interpreted by Mohammed and his early followers?  And why does outrage in the Muslim world manifest itself so much more violently than protests from Christians, Jews and adherents to other faiths?  We ask Brigitte Gabriel.

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The pastor of a small ‘renegade’ church in Florida plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.  But Open Doors USA is part of a growing Christian chorus urging Terry Jones and his congregation to cancel the event.  So what do we know about Jones and his church?  Why does Open Doors USA believe publicly burning the Koran would violate the commands of Christ and also endanger Christian believers in Muslim-dominated countries?  We ask Jerry Dykstra, media relations director at Open Doors USA.

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President Obama is unveiling a new economic agenda, including $50 billion in new spending and tax breaks designed to spur growth and expansion for small businesses.  But will any of it do any good?  Will the tax breaks accomplish much if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire?  And should be be bearish or bullish on where the economy is headed over the next couple of years?  We ask Brian Wesbury, former chief economist for the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

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