Sen. Lisa Murkowski mounting write-in bid for Senate

Sen. Lisa Murkowski at a June news conference.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski says she'll mount a write-in campaign in Alaska in an effort to hold onto her seat after last month's stunning Republican primary loss to Joe Miller.

Murkowski made her announcement Friday evening at a rally in Anchorage while surrounded by supporters chanting: "Run, Lisa, Run!"

Murkowski had gone back and forth on whether to re-enter the race since conceding the GOP primary to Miller on Aug. 31. She has said she entertained the possibility of a write-in campaign only after receiving an outpouring of encouragement from Alaskans.

During the primary campaign, the Tea Party-supported Miller cast Murkowski as part of the problem in an out-of-control Washington.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged Murkowski on Twitter Friday afternoon to recognize that the state's primary voters demonstrated their support for Joe Miller in last month's election.

"Listen to the people, respect their will," said Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. "Voters chose Joe instead."

The convention center where the rally is being held featured signs reading "Let's Make History," and had a table where people could sign up to help Murkowski's campaign. Prominently displayed, too, was a photo of the late Sen. Ted Stevens with his arm around Murkowski.

Stevens is beloved in this state for bringing billions of dollars in federal aid and project to Alaska, and he was one of her biggest cheerleaders before his death last month.

The decision to launch a write-in bid follows Murkowski's surprise defeat by Miller last month.

Murkowski has said she has considered her options since conceding the race to Miller and following an outpouring of encouragement from Alaskans stunned by her loss.

Earlier this month, she told The Associated Press she wasn't a quitter and "still in this game." On Thursday, she told reporters that while there's a lot of risk involved in a run, success was possible.

"And I think this is the hope that Alaskans have been sharing with me," she said, "that if it is possible, Lisa, will you give it a try? Will you give us a choice?"

 In running, Murkowski would face long odds. Historians and election officials can think of no Alaska candidate who has successfully run as a write-in.She also has lost support from within the Republican establishment with some leaders urging her either to wait to challenge Alaska's Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in 2014 or to join them in supporting Miller, the self-described "constitutional conservative" who also has been endorsed by Sarah Palin. Murkowski also would have just has over six weeks to gear up a campaign and turn out the vote.

But she also enjoys widespread name recognition, and her campaign estimates she has about $1 million left in the bank. Plus, the race features a "kind of perfect storm of the things you need for a write-in to be successful," pollster Ivan Moore said. Among those, he said: a vast middle of Alaskans — "tens of thousands" — looking between Miller and Democrat Scott McAdams and questioning their choices.

The largest bloc of registered voters in Alaska are nonpartisan and undeclared.Heather Handyside, a spokeswoman for McAdams, said McAdams welcomed Murkowski to the race. She said the campaign didn't see how it was "statistically possible" for Murkowski to win and that her entry doesn't change McAdams' strategy at all.

"He still respects Sen. Murkowski but he knows it's impossible for her to win," she said.Political observers say that, to win, Murkowski would have to be far more aggressive than she was in the primary, when she touted the benefits of her seniority for Alaska and ran largely on her record. Miller cast her as part of the problem in an out-of-control Washington, and the California-based Tea Party Express, which reported spending more than $550,000 in support of Miller, called her a liberal Republican in name only and repeated stated in seemingly ubiquitous ads claims that she opposed repeal of the federal health care overhaul — claims she called false but didn't challenge until late.

Murkowski recently called the Tea Party Express an "extremist" group and said it has "hijacked" the state GOP. The group responded that it would work twice as hard as it did in the primary to defeat her if she ran as a write-in.To successfully run, Moore said, she "has to attack ... forcibly in both directions," pushing Miller "relentlessly to the far right" and painting McAdams, a small-town mayor as "not ready for this."

Carl Shepro, a political science professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage, said she would have a good shot at victory, despite what history shows.

"No question it's going to be a tough thing, it's not going to be easy at all," he said. "But, hey, at some point, somebody has to be able to do it even though the arguments are pretty much in the opposite direction."

Obama names Warren to set up consumer protection agency

President Obama announces the appointment of Elizabeth Warren as assistant to the president and special adviser to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the Rose Garden of the White House.

WASHINGTON — President Obama named Wall Street critic Elizabeth Warren a special adviser Friday and tasked her with setting up an agency to look out for consumers in their dealings with banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions.

Calling Warren "one of the country's fiercest advocates for the middle class," Obama said she would ensure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ends abusive practices.

"Never again will folks be confused or misled by pages of barely understandable fine print that you find in agreements for credit cards or mortgages or student loans," he said, standing alongside Warren and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in the Rose Garden.

THE OVAL: More on Obama's appointment

Obama credited Warren with developing the concept of the consumer agency, and said, "It only makes sense that she should be the architect."

Obama did not nominate Warren to be the bureau's director, however.Instead he is creating a role that allows her to avoid a lengthy confirmation fight with Senate Republicans who view her as too critical of Wall Street and big banks. 

The business and banking community also opposed Warren as director, believing she would make the agency too aggressive.

Warren designed the advisory role during long conversations with White House officials, a person familiar with her thinking said. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The 61-year-old Harvard professor can assume her duties immediately, leading a team of Treasury officials already laying the groundwork for the bureau. Obama said Warren would eventually help him choose the agency's chief.

The financial regulation law creating the bureau gives the Treasury Department authority to run it while the nomination of its director is pending. The bureau won't write rules restricting mortgages or credit cards until it assumes power from other agencies — a move planned for July 21, 

2011, according to a memo Friday from Geithner.

Until then, it will be hiring staff, creating the new offices and conducting research to inform later rule-making activities, the memo says. That means Warren may not get much say in the two bureau powers banks fear the most: onsite monitoring of the largest banks, and writing rules to restrict products deemed unfair or deceptive.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, who had questioned whether Warren would have enough support to win confirmation, said Thursday the White House was within its rights to name Warren as an adviser and expert.

But he added on Bloomberg television, "We need a director. We've got to have someone who is confirmable. The law requires that there be a director of this bureau of consumer financial protection and that that nominee be confirmed by the Senate."

Asked whether Warren would effectively be serving in that capacity, Dodd replied: "You can't do that. You'll end up with too much opposition. ... I'd be totally opposed to someone on a backdoor operation here."

Warren has spent the past two years running the Congressional Oversight Panel, charged with monitoring the Treasury Department's handling of the $700 billion bank rescue fund known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She stepped down from the panel just after Friday's Rose Garden announcement.

Arlington National Cemetery finds more mismarked graves

Remains in the soldier's grave were discovered not to be those of that soldier

Washington  -- More graves in Arlington National Cemetery have been discovered to be mismarked after remains were exhumed last month, the Army said Wednesday.

At the request of a deceased soldier's next of kin, one grave was investigated and the remains were discovered to not be the deceased soldier in question. 

The investigation found discrepancies that concerned two sets of remains, the Army said.The Army said the errors were immediately addressed.

"All families involved with this indicated that all discrepancies have been fixed to their satisfaction," said a statement released by Army spokesperson Gary Tallman. The Army did not clarify the situation beyond the statement.

The national cemetery has been engulfed in scandal since June, when the Army released a report that detailed gross mismanagement of the cemetery. 

The investigation cited missing burial records, hundreds of mismarked graves and burial urns put in a spillage pile, where dirt dug up for grave sites is left.

During a Senate subcommittee hearing one senator suggested as many as 6,600 graves at Arlington Cemetery may be "unmarked, improperly marked or mislabeled,"

The statement released by Tallman said the Army deeply regrets the mistakes that were made and acknowledges that Army leadership expects additional errors to come to light as Arlington works to address the problems cited in the report.

Some 330,000 veterans and their family members are buried at the historic site, overlooking the nation's capital.

Police: Washington state woman made up acid attack story

Police in Vancouver, Washington, say Bethany Storro has admitted her injuries were self-inflicted

A 28-year-old woman who said an unknown assailant threw a cup of caustic liquid in her face has admitted her injuries were self-inflicted, Vancouver, Washington, police said Thursday.

Bethany Storro was being interviewed by detectives, and whether she will be charged will be up to prosecutors, police said.

"She is extremely upset," said police Commander Marla Schuman. "She is very remorseful. In many ways it got bigger than she expected."

Police would not speculate on Storro's motives, only saying the August 30 incident did not occur as she described and that there were discrepancies in her account, including wearing sunglasses in the evening.

They also had questions about the liquid's splash patterns on Storro's face.Officers acquired a search warrant and conducted a search Thursday morning. They removed several undisclosed items, but said they did not find a substance that might have caused her injuries.

Vancouver had searched for an assailant, described as an African-American woman with an athletic build and slicked-back hair pulled into a pony tail.

Storro was released from an Oregon hospital on September 5 after undergoing surgery for her injuries after the alleged attack.

Police spent hundreds of hours on the case and the community came together to offer donations for Storro's treatment.

"It has had an impact on our community," said Police Chief Clifford Cook. "It has brought negative attention on our community that is undeserved."

Storro's family was also being interviewed, police said. They described her as being in a fragile mental state.

Storro credited a new pair of sunglasses -- which she said she bought just 20 minutes before the attack -- with saving her eyesight.

"God is watching over me," Storro, of Vancouver, told CNN affiliate KATU in Portland, Oregon, at the time. "I believe in him. That his hands are on me and I can't live the rest of my life like that -- in fear. I can't let what she did to me wreck my life."

Storro told KATU that she had stopped at a Vancouver Starbucks about 7:15 p.m., just after she had gone back to buy a pair of sunglasses that she had seen earlier. The woman walked up to her and said, "Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?"

When Storro declined, the woman threw the contents of the cup in her face and ran off, Storro claimed at the time.

Man kills mother, self at Baltimore hospital after wounding doctor

Police: Gunman shoots self, mother

Baltimore, Maryland  -- A man distraught about his mother's health shot and wounded a doctor at Baltimore's prestigious Johns Hopkins Hospital on Thursday before killing his mother and taking his own life, police said.

The gunman was getting an update on his mother's medical condition "when he became emotionally distraught" and pulled a pistol out of his waistband, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld said. He shot the doctor, then retreated to his mother's room, Bealefeld told reporters.

Police moved in and closed off the floor after the shooting, which occurred shortly after 11 a.m. About 1:30 p.m., after nearly two and a half hours with no contact with the gunman, officers used a robot to peer into the room and when it was determined there was no movement, police entered to find the suspect and his mother dead, Bealefeld said. No officers reported hearing gunshots, but both mother and son had single gunshot wounds to their heads, he said.

"At this point we are treating this case as a murder-suicide," Bealefeld said.Police identified the mother as Jean Davis, age 84, and her son as Paul Warren Pardus, age 50, of Arlington, Virginia. Pardus had no prior criminal record beyond traffic violations, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.The doctor, whose name was not released, was rushed to surgery for an abdominal wound and is expected to survive, Guglielmi said.

"He's in the best place he could ever be," Guglielmi said, referring to the hospital.

Bealefeld initially identified the gunman as Warren Davis. Hospital officials said they could not disclose any details about what illness afflicted the gunman's mother, citing federal privacy laws.

Johns Hopkins Hospital, which first opened in 1889, is part of a $5 billion medical system, according to its website. The 982-bed facility has consistently earned the top spot in U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of more than 4,800 American hospitals, placing first in five medical specialties, among other things.

Harry Koffenberger, the hospital's security chief, said the roughly 80,000 visitors who come to the hospital each week are issued wristbands. Only "high-risk" patients get screened with hand-held magnetometers, he said.

"We have over 80 doors, loading docks and emergency exits on these campus buildings," Koffenberger said. "So to put a magnetometer at 80 doors, and the required armed force that would need to be staffing the magnetometers, is not realistic."

Authorities evacuated part of the hospital after the shooting, and Bealefeld said the facility's security plan "worked as designed" to protect patients, staff and visitors. The hospital "asked employees, visitors, patients and caregivers to stay in rooms or offices until further notice" restricted access to the main hospital building after the shooting, it said in a statement.Earlier, police said officers shot and killed the gunman, but later said that account was incorrect.

Boston prosecutors to release 'Craigslist killer' file

Accused "Craigslist killer" Phillip Markoff killed himself in jail in August.

Prosecutors in Boston, Massachusetts, say they plan to release their files on accused "Craigslist killer" Phillip Markoff, who killed himself in jail in August, after formally dropping the murder case against him on Thursday.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's office said Wednesday it plans to file paperwork requesting a dismissal of their case Thursday morning. The case was short-circuited when Markoff took his own life August 15, but District Attorney Daniel Conley said at the time that the evidence against the suspect was "overwhelming."

Conley is slated to discuss the case with reporters Thursday morning after requesting the case be dropped, a move his office said will set the stage for the release of "all relevant documents" at an unspecified later date.

"Prosecutors are currently reviewing and redacting those documents and assembling the physical evidence," the district attorney's office said in a statement issued Wednesday. "We expect that it will be ready for media review within the next few weeks."

Markoff, 24, was a second-year student at Boston University's School of Medicine when arrested in April 2009 in the killing of Julissa Brisman, 25, at Boston's Copley Marriott Hotel. Police said that Brisman, a model, advertised as a masseuse on the online classifieds service Craigslist, and Markoff might have met her through the site.

Authorities said Markoff killed himself in his jail cell by cutting himself multiple times with a makeshift scalpel crafted from a pen and a piece of metal. In addition, a large, clear plastic bag of a type issued to inmates was fastened around his neck with a piece of gauze.

The name of his former fiancee, who called off their wedding after his arrest, was scrawled in what appeared to be blood on the wall of his cell when he was found, Conley told reporters at the time. 

Several hurt in fire at Tennessee plant

"flash fire" at a plant in west-central Tennessee

Several people were injured in a "flash fire" at a plant in west-central Tennessee that makes decoy flares for the military, officials said Tuesday.

The incident occurred at Kilgore Flares Co. in Hardeman County, about 75 miles northeast of Memphis, said Jeremy Heidt, spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.

Three hospitalized employees received burns and one was treated for stress, the company said. But hospitals said they were treating six people, three of them in critical condition.

The plant in Toone, Tennessee, makes materials that are flammable but not explosive, Heidt said.

United Kingdom-based Chemring Group, which owns Kilgore Flares, said the fire started at 12:30 p.m. in one of its "expendable countermeasures assembly facilities."

Due to the nature of the materials involved, and its proximity to other materials, the emergency services consider it is best to let the fire burn itself out, Chemring said in a statement. "Once the fire is extinguished, an investigation into the cause of the incident will be undertaken in cooperation with the local authorities."

The Regional Medical Center at Memphis has received three patients, two of them flown in, said executive secretary Jackie Harris. All three were in critical condition with unspecified injuries, she said.

Three others were at Bolivar General Hospital in good condition, said spokeswoman Kay Cranford of West Tennessee Healthcare.

A receptionist who answered the phone at Kilgore said no local spokesman was available.

According to its website, Kilgore Flares makes decoy flares for aircraft and naval forces, many of which are used as countermeasures against heat-seeking missiles. Kilgore Flares is one of the county's largest employers, Hardeman County Mayor Willie Spencer said.

A nearby elementary school was locked down after the early afternoon incident and several hundred Kilgore employees were sent home, Spencer said.

Kilgore Flares was levied $200,000 in penalties for several violations after an employee was fatally burned in a 2001 explosion and fire, according to Occupational Safety & Health Administration records.

WTO to rule on Boeing subsidies

WTO to rule on Boeing subsidies

The World Trade Organization is expected to rule Wednesday that huge subsidies paid to Boeing since the early 1990s are illegal, say media following the dispute.

The ruling would equalize the score in the epic legal fight between Chicago-based Boeing and France-based Airbus SAS, said the Telegraph of London.

The WTO will give its opinion to the United States and the European Union, which filed counter-cases in September 2004.

The EU claims Boeing received $24 billion in illicit aid, including $16 billion in grants from NASA and $2.1 billion in export tax discounts, plus subsidies from the Pentagon.

The panel also is likely to condemn $5.7 billion in aid for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, the Telegraph said.

In June, the WTO ruled on the U.S. complaint and found Airbus benefited from $4 billion in support from European governments to launch the A280 superjumbo jet, Bloomberg News reported.

The EU in 2007 claimed the U.S. support, plus support from state governments, "clearly aims at weakening Airbus’ position and competitiveness and boosting that of Boeing,” Bloomberg said.

Businessweek said Airbus views the cases as key to resolving a wider dispute over government aid to aircraft makers.

But Boeing disagrees, Businessweek said, quoting Ted Austell, vice president, trade policy at Boeing: "The two cases are completely separate and deal with very specific issues. The WTO ruled very clearly at the end of June that all government money provided to Airbus for development of new aircraft was an illegal subsidy and must stop. That debate is over and it is time for compliance. Should the WTO find against U.S. practices, Boeing is prepared to accept compliance with the ruling."

Airbus has a different point of view, Businessweek reported."Only with two reports on the table will there be a window for a balanced discussion, which will be the only way out of this destructive and anachronistic dispute," Airbus spokeswoman Maggie Bergsma told the magazine.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents in 'Firefight' With Mexican Gang

U.S. Border Patrol vehicle drives along the fence separating the U.S. from Mexico, near Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

U.S. Border Patrol agents fired gunshots into Mexico after coming under attack during a half-ton drug bust and giving chase to a truck along the Rio Grande, U.S. authorities said Monday.

No Border Patrol agents were hurt during the "fire fight" early Saturday in Mission, agency spokeswoman Rosalinda Huey said. She did not say whether Border Patrol gunfire hit anyone, citing the ongoing investigation.

"The firing they received came from the Mexican side," Huey said.

Huey said several Border Patrol agents, at least some of whom were patrolling in boats, were seizing a half-ton of marijuana when they came under gunfire. Federal officials said the shots from Mexico began when a truck that was being chased by another group of Border Patrol agents entered the area.

FBI special agent Jorge Cisneros said the truck, which was on the U.S. side, appeared to be connected to the drug seizure. He said the gunfire from Mexico was a "direct result" of Border Patrol agents doing their jobs.Cisneros described the shootout as brief.

"We're obviously concerned with what happened, that they would be shooting from the Mexico side to us," Cisneros said.

Federal officials did not release how many agents were involved, how many shots were fired or the number of shooters on the Mexico side. Cisneros said the FBI was working with Mexico authorities, including the Mexican military and the Tamaulipas state police, to determine what happened.

It was at least the second time in three months that Border Patrol agents in Texas have fired into Mexico. In June, a Border Patrol agent fatally shot a 15-year-old Mexican boy after authorities say a group trying to illegally enter Texas threw rocks at officers near downtown El Paso.

Reports of bullets whizzing across the border from Mexico also are on the rise. At least eight bullets have been fired into El Paso in the last few weeks from the rising violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where drug violence has killed more than 4,000 people since 2009, making it one of the deadliest cities in the world.

Cisneros said he can recall a handful of times in the last few years that gunfire from Mexico has crossed over the border. He said Border Patrol agents "have always been very good about not shooting back unless there is a life-threatening situation."

Huey who would not say whether the agents involved in the shooting still were on patrol. She said agents are authorized to fire their weapons any time they feel lives are at risk, even into Mexico.

"As long as our agents feel their life is in danger, they are allowed lethal (force)," she said.

Shots fired into Mexico by U.S. Border Patrol agents

Agents seized over 1,000 pounds of marijuana during the incident, according to Huey

U.S. Border Patrol agents fired gunshots into Mexico over the weekend after being attacked during a marijuana seizure in Mission, Texas, the agency told CNN on Monday.

The incident between border patrol agents and alleged drug traffickers took place around 7:40 a.m. Saturday, Border Patrol spokeswoman Rosalinda Huey said.

"Our agents were being fired upon and they did respond with fire back into Mexico," she said. "I don't have the number of how many people were involved. But none of our agents were injured."

Agents seized over 1,000 pounds of marijuana during the incident, according to Huey. The incident is under investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the Mexican government, Huey said.

"At this point we don't know what cartel it's tied to or if it's just an unaffiliated source. We're not attributing it to anybody right now," she said.

Although attacks against border patrol agents are not uncommon, assaults against agents have decreased in the last fiscal year, she said.

Mission is a small border town in the Rio Grande Valley near McAllen, Texas.

Border patrol agents this year have seized more than 800,000 pounds of marijuana in this area, Huey said.

In June, a border patrol agent in El Paso, Texas, fired into Mexico killing a 15-year-old from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Surveillance video of the incident showed the teen throwing rocks at the agent before being shot.

Maragh starts fall season with triple at Belmont Park

Jamaican reinsman Rajiv Maragh in action aboard Operation Red Dawn at Belmont Park, New York, last season.

NEW YORK, USA (CMC) — Rajiv Maragh opened the fall season of racing at Belmont Park with a treble on Saturday's 10-race card.The Jamaica-born jockey was one of the leading reinsmen during the spring/summer meet, which ended at this track on July 18.

Maragh got into the frame early, with a comfortable five-length victory in the US$45,000 second race over 1,200 metres on the inner turf aboard the 4-1 chance Atlantic Voyage.The 25-year-old jockey lightly urged the two-year-old, chestnut filly to take charge after the start, and she set all the fractions to get under the wire in one minute, 09.05 seconds.

Maragh then added the US $39,000 sixth race going 1,600m on the main turf course with the 3-1 bet Sky Blue Pink, which won by a neck.He kept the three-year-old, chestnut colt at a reserved pace along the inside route, and then angled him three-wide into the lane to commence the drive for the line.

They closed on the leader inside the straight, drawing abreast at the sixteenth pole before proving best a couple of jumps prior to the end to clock one min, 35.17 secs.Maragh corked a fine day with another narrow victory in a time of 1:11.54 astride the 8-1 shot Port Royal in the US$18,000 eighth race over 1,200m on the dirt.

Traffic congestion hampered Maragh and the six-year-old, chestnut ridgling in the middle of the race, but they got clear before reaching the quarter pole, and took the leader out at the sixteenth pole to edge away to win by a neck.

USA. Small business, tax cuts and economy dominate pre-election Congressional work period

USA Pre-Election Congressional

As Congress reconvenes on September 13 in advance of the mid-term elections, typical legislative business is likely to be complicated by substantial pre-election partisan posturing. Major agenda items include an NMMA-backed small business bill that languished before the recess over procedural concerns.  The Senate version of this (Landrieu-Baucus-Reid) legislation, H.R. 5297, includes an extension of the Small Business Administration Dealer Floorplan Financing Program (DFP) for three years, and would increase SBA loan caps for dealer floorplan financing to $5M, eliminate SBA fees and make other improvements that will enhance credit availability for floorplans and other business credit. The legislation also includes more than $12 Billion in Small Business Tax Relief, as well as an NMMA-backed Small Business Lending Fund that would make available $30B for small business lending. 

Part of the small business debate is likely to include an amendment to repeal new Sec. 1099 reporting requirements passed as part of the recent Health Care bill. Under the new law, companies are required to send a 1099 tax form to other businesses for all purchases over $600. NMMA strongly supports the repeal of this provision. The Senate is expected to take up this bill for floor votes on September 14. 

In addition, Congress will likely consider a broad range of Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. While the President would extend the cuts for those earning under $250,000, Republican leaders are calling for a two-year extension of all tax cuts. NMMA strongly supports the full extension of existing tax rates (read NMMA and partners’ letter to Congress here). Congress will also consider permanently extending and strengthening the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit, which NMMA also supports. Finally, President Obama’s recent call for $50 billion in transportation and infrastructure spending may receive some debate, but Republicans and some Democrats have come out strongly against the proposal, and it is unlikely to gain traction. Congress will adjourn October 8 and Members will return home to campaign

Plan to burn Qurans ignites debate on rights

Dr. Ingrid Mattson, center, president of the Islamic Society of North America, speaks during a news conference denouncing the growing intolerance against the Islamic faith on Tuesday in Washington, D.C

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Constitution won't let you yell "fire" in a crowded theater if there isn't one. It won't let you utter "fighting words" with impunity. But scholars agree it will let a pistol-packing minister of a tiny fundamentalist church outrage countless Muslims by burning the Quran, a book he says he hasn't read.

Florida preacher Terry Jones prepared for a bonfire of the Qurans on Saturday -the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks-despite protests from the White House, the Vatican, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, fellow Christian evangelicals and veterans' groups."As of right now," Jones said Wednesday, "we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing."In an interview with USA TODAY he said he had not been contacted by the White House, State department or Pentagon. If he were, he said, "that would cause us to definitely think it over. That's what we're doing now. I don't think a call from them is something we would ignore."Jones' plans for "International Burn a Koran Day" at his Dove World Outreach Center provoked a warning this week from Gen. David Petraeus that U.S. troops in the field could be endangered.

"We're concerned with troops and missionaries ourselves," Jones said. "Our question is when do we stop backing down. ... In certain areas of our country, we have lost our backbone. We have backed down too much."Wayne Sapp, an associate pastor, said the church is "still in prayer over the whole thing" and could cancel. "God is leading us right up to the moment. It's no different than Abraham and his son. God didn't tell him, 'Go right up to the point where you might sacrifice him.' He wanted him to be fully committed. We're prepared to do what we're called to do."

IN LOUISVILLE: New mosque an oasis of calm

VOICES: How do you feel about an Islamic center near Ground Zero?

The church's plan presents an excruciating dilemma for Americans, many of whom regard freedom of expression as a sort of secular religion. But a nation that allows the symbolic burning of its own flag cannot stop the burning of a book, says Stephen Gillers, a New York University law professor."From a legal point of view, Gen. Petraeus' prediction (of violence) is too ambiguous to support suppressing the conduct," he said. "Were the government to try to stop it, it would lose."Still, he said, the facts of the case are troubling: "It's hard to find a direct analogy to this in U.S. constitutional history."

Although many Americans, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, expressed frustration that a small fringe group could command such attention, ignoring Jones was not an option.Not after Petraeus warned that "images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists ... to inflame public opinion and incite violence." Not after the Vatican accused Jones of "an outrageous and grave gesture." Not after Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Governors Association, said, "I don't think there's any excuse for it."RepublicanAlan Wolfe, director of Boston College's Center for Religion and American Public Life, said Washington shouldn't ignore Jones: "This requires public diplomacy by the administration to point out how repugnant this is to most Americans."

The inconvenient Constitution

The incident was a reminder of how inconvenient the Constitution can be."The First Amendment, as it's been interpreted, would probably not win if it were put up to a vote," said Gillers, whose media law class discussed the case."It is very hard to explain to people why this sort of conduct should be permitted."If Americans schooled in civics have trouble understanding, how much harder is it for people in Ramallah or Khartoum or Jakarta? Wolfe was sanguine: "Enough people in the Muslim world understand that this is a fringe group."

Scott Appleby, a Notre Dame religious historian, acknowledges puzzlement, in a nation where artists and performers routinely ridicule organized religion, over Islam's exquisite sensitivity to disrespect for Allah, his word or his prophet, Mohammed.The incident recalls a controversy in 2005, when 12 editorial cartoons, most depicting the prophet, were published in a Danish newspaper. After they were reprinted in other countries, protests spread across the Muslim world. Some demonstrators were killed and several Danish embassies were set on fire or vandalized.

Appleby explained that while not all Christians read the Bible literally, virtually all Muslims believe every word in the Quran came directly from Allah, as revealed to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel.Coming amid discord over an Islamic center and mosque proposed near the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York, the Quran controversy gives many Americans something to agree on — and rally against, Wolfe said. "Even conservative Christians who might not like Muslims understand the importance of freedom of speech and religion."Appleby calls the controversy "a mirror" for Americans who "revere their Bible, even if they've never opened it." Followers of all religions, he said, "can see what another religion's sacred text means to them, because you know what yours means to you."

Some wonder whether Jones is motivated less by fundamentalism than opportunism. "For people like this, this is a gold mine," Wolfe said of the furor. "What an opportunity to rise up from obscurity!"Sapp, the associate pastor, asked, "When have you seen a congregation of 40 to 50 people with something they're doing get worldwide attention like this?"As Sapp spoke with a reporter outside the church, a man walked up and handed him $20 for Jones' effort. "I'm a Roman Catholic," Tommy Heenan said. "I don't know if I've ever seen a Roman Catholic cut anybody's head off, slice somebody's throat or abuse women. ... I don't know if Rev. Jones is correct, but we know where he stands."

Jones denied he was in it for profit or publicity: "I would not put my life on the line just for publicity. When we decided this, we had no idea this much attention, this much publicity would happen." As for profits, he said, "It's probably caused some members to leave."Eddie Houk, who lives 300 yards from the church, said news coverage has created a monster. "If it wasn't for the media, it wouldn't go anywhere. Why would 40 to 50 people, if that, be able to make such a big impression on the whole wide world over one little thing?"His frustration was shared by Clinton, who told the Council on Foreign Relations it was "regrettable that a pastor ... can make this outrageous and distrustful, disgraceful plan and get the world's attention. But that's the world we live in right now."Jones, meanwhile, was besieged with calls from all quarters to cancel his protest.

Jones met with Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, whom Jones called "very nice, very friendly, very respectful. In a lot of areas, not the religious area, we were in agreement on many subjects.""We came to have a peaceful conversation with the pastor, to hear his grievance, to ask him to follow his own Scripture about his enemies," Musri told reporters. "His Scripture teaches him to love his enemies."The office of evangelist Franklin Graham, who was traveling in Alaska, said he tried unsuccessfully to reach Jones by phone to ask him to cancel the burning. Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham, has said that although he loves Muslims, Islam is "evil" and cannot lead to salvation.Joe Davis, spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Gulf War veteran, called Jones selfish for exposing Americans overseas to danger: "If this guy really wants to make a statement, why doesn't he go to Afghanistan in the middle of a market square and then douse the Quran on fire? Then he would have a true vested interest in his actions."

Todd Bowers, a former Marine officer and now spokesman for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said it's costly just to be accused of offending religious sensibilities in some Muslim nations. Bowers said his unit was in Afghanistan last year when the Taliban spread rumors that U.S. forces had desecrated a Quran and thrown a dead dog into a mosque, even though "no one was even patrolling in that village at that time."The rumors sparked protests involving hundreds of demonstrators. Shots were fired, killing an Afghan police officer and a Marine, Bowers said. Afterward, "we would do patrols and realized no one was talking to us," he said. "It set us back months."

Jones' relatively few defenders included Chuck Morse, a Massachusetts-based conservative writer and talk-show host. He said opposition to the Quran burning showed how successful "Islamic fundamentalists have been ... in their international campaign of threats and terror. ... The world is now cowering in fear."He said protesters who burned a Bible or a Quran in the West "need not worry that they will be beheaded. They know that American or Christian leaders would not sentence them to death, nor would Western leaders use the protest to incite violence in the populace at large. And this is the basic point of Pastor Jones' protest."

'It's just wrong'

The Dove World Outreach Center sits on 20 acres in a residential area 7 miles northwest of downtown Gainesville, a city of 125,000 that is home to the University of Florida.Jones, who has been with the church since it was founded about 25 years ago, says he's received more than 100 death threats, some extremely graphic. He's started wearing a .40-caliber pistol strapped to his hip.His second-floor office is sparsely decorated, with a painting of Presidents Washington, Lincoln and George W. Bush on one wall, and a poster for the Mel Gibson 1995 movie, Braveheart, on another. (Jones has a YouTube video series called The Braveheart Show.)Scores of Qurans, some ordered by his supporters from Amazon and shipped directly to the church, were piled on a table in another room.

Outside, three signs on the road in front of Dove World read: "Islam ... is of the ... Devil."Some neighbors are not happy with the church's plans for Saturday. "Totally immoral," said Shirley Turner, a retired teacher. "It's bigoted. It's just wrong to burn the holy book of any faith. ... They've had the devil sign up for over a year."On Wednesday morning police went door-to-door with fliers to alert residents of a driver's license checkpoint to be set up at an intersection near the church. The flier warns: "In the event of a significant incident occurring in the area ... the sole entrance to your neighborhood will be shut down, and there will be no way in or out for an undetermined amount of time."Shirley Turner said she had planned to leave for the day Saturday, but now will hunker down. "I'm not going to be scared into leaving my home. I hope he (Jones) gets a message from God that says, 'Don't do this!' "