March 2008 Monthly Archive

March 31, 2008

USA 2008: The Great Depression

We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families. Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s.

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David Usborn - The Independent | Monday, March 31, 2008 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

Hillary's Bad History

No, not sniper fire in Bosnia. We're referring to Hillary Clinton's lament last week that the U.S. is flirting with a 1990s Japan-style deflation. Perhaps it's a good time to remind everyone what really happened in Japan, so Mrs. Clinton and the rest of Washington don't make the same mistakes. "I don't think we can work our way out of the problems we're in in the broad-based economy with monetary policy alone," Mrs. Clinton said in the interview with Journal reporters. "I think the Japanese tried that and tried and tried that." She added Japan should have relied more on fiscal stimulus spending and aid to banks and homeowners, which is what she wants Washington to try now.

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Wall Street Journal | Monday, March 31, 2008 | Topic: Editorials

 

Clinton Says Obama Wants to Stop Votes

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused rival Sen. Barack Obama and his allies of trying to stop people from voting as some of his backers have called on her to drop out of the presidential race.

The Obama campaign rejected the charge, dismissing Clinton's criticism as "completely laughable."

In a series of television interviews in states holding upcoming contests, Clinton vowed to press on with her campaign and suggested Obama and his supporters wanted to keep those states from playing a role in selecting the party's presidential nominee.

"My take on it is a lot of Senator Obama's supporters want to end this race because they don't want people to keep voting," she told CBS affiliate KTVQ in Billings, Mont. "That's just the opposite of what I believe. We want people to vote. I want the people of Montana to vote, don't you?"

Montana holds its primary June 3. The New York senator made similar comments in interviews with stations in Indiana and North Carolina, which hold primaries May 6.

Obama leads the overall race for the Democratic nomination with 1,631 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. He got the backing of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar on Monday. Clinton has 1,501, according to the latest AP tally.

Clinton almost certainly will end the primary season narrowly trailing Obama in the popular vote and among pledged delegates unless the nullified primaries in Florida and Michigan are counted - an unlikely scenario at best. But Obama is unlikely to end the race with the 2,024 pledged delegates needed to win outright either, meaning the nominee will be determined by roughly 800 superdelegates.

Responding to Clinton, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: "That is completely laughable from a campaign that thought the race would be over on February 5. We have encouraged our supporters to do no such thing and Senator Obama was very clear he supports her carrying on in this race."

Campaigning in Pennsylvania, Obama called the continuing primary battle "a struggle" but said he believed it was a good process that would strengthen the party in the long run.

"It is a healthy thing that so many people are passionate," Obama said in Johnstown. "I think it is great that Senator Clinton's supporters are as passionate about her as my supporters are about me... I think that is making this historic race that much more compelling."

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy last week became the first leading Democrat to openly call on Clinton to step aside and cede the nomination to Obama. He said he worried the prolonged nominating battle was strengthening the chances of the Republican nominee in waiting, John McCain.

Since then, Obama and his supporters have said Clinton should stay in the race as long as she chooses while indicating a lengthy primary battle would not help the party's position in the general election.

Obama has been picking up superdelegates at a rapid clip while Clinton's success with that group has slowed considerably.

"I don't even keep track of it, I can't even tell you that figure," Clinton said when asked by Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA how many superdelegates had endorsed her in recent weeks.

As she spoke, her husband, former President Clinton, was in Oregon, lobbying uncommitted superdelegates.

---

Associated Press Writer Devlin Barrett in Johnstown, Pa., contributed to this report.

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Beth Fouhy - AP | Monday, March 31, 2008 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

Second Female Senator Endorses Obama

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama secured the backing of a second female senator on Monday as a top supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton raised expectations for her rival in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary.

Freshman Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who recently voiced concerns about the rancorous tone of the Democratic primary, said she was forced to choose because she found remaining uncommitted difficult.

"Between Barack and a hard place, I chose Barack," she told reporters in a conference call. "He's able to dissolve the hard cynical edge that has dominated our politics under the Bush administration."

Klobuchar joins Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill in backing Obama, who hasn't fared as well with white female voters as Clinton has. Clinton leads Obama among white women 59 percent to 36 percent, according to exit polls of 27 competitive Democratic primaries held so far. Obama has won among white females in only Vermont, New Mexico and his home state of Illinois, while tying Clinton in Utah.

The two presidential candidates each have the backing of 13 senators, who are superdelegates to the convention.

Klobuchar's decision follows last Friday's endorsement from Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who has campaigned with Obama on his six-day bus tour of the Keystone State.

Clinton holds a double-digit lead in state polls and Obama is trying to erase or at least cut into her advantage in the April 22 primary. Gov. Ed Rendell, who backs Clinton, said Monday that Obama was probably making up ground.

"We have a very strong lead, but I think that lead is going to shrink," Rendell said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Rendell appeared on the program with Casey, who said Obama is "certainly the underdog in our state."

Obama spoke at a town hall Monday morning and visited a gas station later in the day to highlight the rising cost of a gallon of gas. As part of his campaign in the state, Obama is airing an ad in which he says he's not beholden to the oil companies and offers his plan for energy independence.

"I don't want to make promises I can't keep. So I don't promise that the minute I'm elected suddenly the gas prices drop a buck," Obama told the town-hall audience. "That's not gonna happen but what I can promise is we can go after those windfalls."

Asked by a voter at a town hall event in Lancaster, Pa., about his vote for the Patriot Act reauthorization, Obama said some provisions were needed.

"I'll give you an example: prior to the Patriot Act you could not wiretap a phone that wasn't land-based. Now think about it. Nobody uses a land-based phone anymore. Certainly (terror suspects) aren't going to be using an old dial-up phone, right? So it made sense then to change that law and there were some other changes that made sense."

He added: "I want everybody to understand I taught constitutional law for 10 years. I take the Constitution very seriously," he added.

Joshua Dratel, a criminal defense lawyer who has worked on terrorism cases before and after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, said Obama's description "is not correct."

"I've been involved with wiretaps on people with cell phones, both terrorism, and non-terrorism cases, going back to the 1990's. He's confusing two separate concepts," said Dratel.

The Patriot Act did, for the first time, allow a judicial authorization in terrorism cases for what is often referred to as "roving wiretaps" - listening in on calls from a particular person even if they switch cell phones and SIM cards to try to evade authorities.

Prior to the Patriot Act, federal agents could get the exact same roving wiretaps for criminal terrorism investigations that they could get for organized crime and anti-drug investigations and other serious federal crimes. The Patriot Act, and a subsequent expansion passed in 2002, allows the government to get "John Doe" roving wiretaps under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) which do not have the same protections for innocent non-targets as criminal surveillance orders.

"I think that's what he probably meant, but what he said is not accurate," said Dratel.

Lawyer Seth Taube, a former federal prosecutor who specializes in corporate finance cases, agreed with Dratel.

"The Patriot Act introduced roving surveillance wiretaps of cell phones, by a person rather than a number, but the ability to tap a cell phone existed beforehand," said Taube.

Asked later in the day what he meant by saying the federal government could not wiretap cell phones prior to the Patriot Act, Obama said: "The way that the laws were written at the time you had to have a fixed location."

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DEVLIN BARRETT - AP | Monday, March 31, 2008 | Topic: Breaking Story

 

March 28, 2008

Clinton: In the Race for the Long Run

If Hillary Rodham Clinton is feeling heat from pundits and party elders to quit the race and back Barack Obama, you'd never know it from her crowds, energy level and upbeat demeanor on the campaign trail.

"There are millions of reasons to continue this race: people in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, and all of the contests yet to come," Clinton told reporters Friday. "This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted."

The former first lady weathered a two-pronged blow Friday, with influential Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. endorsing Obama and another Senate colleague, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, urging her to step aside. But to hear Clinton tell it, it was just another day in an epic primary battle whose result is still not known.

"I believe a spirited contest is good for the Democratic Party and will strengthen the eventual nominee," she said. "We will have a united party behind whomever that nominee is. ... I look forward to campaigning over the next several months."

Traveling across Indiana, the former first lady was greeted by large, enthusiastic audiences who roared their approval at her proposals to help fix the state's economic challenges.

At events here and in North Carolina on Thursday, Clinton raised the issue of whether she should quit the race, only to have it firmly batted down by her supporters.

"There are some people who are saying, you know, we really ought to end this primary, we just ought to shut it down," she said in Mishawaka, Ind., drawing cries of "No, no!" inside a packed gymnasium.

In Hammond, she compared the state's struggling steel industry to her own efforts to fight the odds.

"I know a little bit about comebacks," she said to cheers. "I know what it's like to be counted down and counted out. But I also know there is nothing that will keep us down if we are determined to keep on."

Yet despite the optimistic talk, there is no doubt that Clinton faces an uphill battle to secure securing her party's nod.

She trails Obama among pledged delegates and is not expected to close that gap even with a strong showing in the 10 remaining primaries. She also trails in the popular vote and probably cannot make up the deficit without revotes in Michigan and Florida, whose January primary results were nullified because they broke party rules. Neither state is expected to go through with new contests.

As a result, the so-called "superdelegates" - some 800 elected officials and party insiders who can choose to support any candidate - would risk intraparty rebellion if they backed Clinton.

The New York senator reaffirmed her belief that superdelegates will base their choice on which candidate would make the best president and would have the best chance to beat Republican John McCain in November.

All the more reason to look forward to Pennsylvania's primary April 22, Indiana and North Carolina's May 6 and the handful of others that follow, Clinton insisted.

"There will be additional information that will inform those decisions that will come from these upcoming contests," she said.

Dismissing concerns raised by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean that a prolonged contest would demoralize the party base, Clinton pointed to a recent surge in voter registration and projected turnout in Pennsylvania. Democratic registration went up by 4 percent in the state this year, while it declined 1 percent among Republicans.

"Both Senator Obama and I have brought millions of new people into the process," she said. "People are registering to vote for him and to vote for me. They're part now of the Democratic Party."

Asked what she thought of Obama's comment Friday that the Democratic primary race resembled "a good movie that lasted about a half-hour too long," Clinton smiled broadly and said, "I like long movies."

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Beth Fouhy - AP | Friday, March 28, 2008 | Topic: Most Popular

 

McCain guru linked to subprime crisis

The general co-chairman of John McCain’s presidential campaign, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), led the charge in 1999 to repeal a Depression-era banking regulation law that Democrat Barack Obama claimed on Thursday contributed significantly to today’s economic turmoil.

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Lisa Lerer - Politico | Friday, March 28, 2008 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

Mexican army streams into violent city on U.S. border

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Hundreds of camouflage-clad Mexican troops flew into the northern city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday to quell a surge in drug gang murders across the border from El Paso, Texas.

Part of a 2,500-strong army and federal police force set to descend on the dilapidated city over the next three days, the heavily armed soldiers streamed out of military planes and were trucked off to set up road blocks and launch foot patrols.

The troop convoys are opening up a new front in President Felipe Calderon's 15-month-old war on drug cartels. Already about 25,000 soldiers and federal police have deployed in hotspots across Mexico, especially along the U.S. border.

Ciudad Juarez, which has drawn worldwide attention because of a rash of brutal murders of women, has seen 200 people slain in drug-related violence so far this year -- ten times as many as a year ago.

The overall death toll associated with drug gangs in Mexico has rise to more than 720 so far this year, well above the count this time last year.

Mexico's drug wars killed more than 2,500 people in 2007.

The troops in Ciudad Juarez will raid houses, seize weapons and narcotics and purge local police forces accused of working with drug gangs, officials said. Military commanders will take over the day-to-day running of security.

"It's well overdue, but it's a good thing the army has arrived. They are the only ones who can fight the drug gangs, the police are too scared," said Marcelo Acosta, an engineer who last week witnessed a shootout at a busy intersection.

The United Nations and Amnesty International have expressed concern about whether Mexico's use of soldiers against drug gangs risks human rights abuses, following a handful of civilian deaths last year.

Until recently Ciudad Juarez has had a light military presence and analysts say drug cartels have taken advantage of that to try to control smuggling routes to the United States.

Police say Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who leads the Sinaloa cartel of Pacific coast traffickers, has taken his fight for control of smuggling routes to the city, targeting the once-mighty Juarez cartel.

The local cartel was weakened by the 1997 death of its leader and is also being attacked by eastern Mexico's Gulf cartel.

Soldiers in Ciudad Juarez seized cocaine, marijuana and heroin bound for the United States and arrested 42 people this week suspected of links to drug gangs, army commanders said.

(Writing by Robin Emmott; Editing by Catherine Bremer)

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Alberto Fajardo and Ignacio Alvarado - Reuters | Friday, March 28, 2008 | Topic: Today's Top News

 

Obama Gets Boost, Clinton Urged to Quit

Barack Obama got a surprise boost in the last big state of the long Democratic campaign Friday with an endorsement from Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., while another Obama supporter sought to nudge Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the race.

Clinton leads by double-digits in Pennsylvania polls, and Obama hopes Casey's endorsement will earn him a second look from the state's white, working class and Catholic voters - groups that have leaned toward Clinton in other Democratic contests this year.

Clinton, on the other hand, is hoping a victory in Pennsylvania will help persuade party "superdelegates" to support her and allow her to catch Obama in the race for National Convention delegates.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont senator who endorsed Obama in January, said she was never going to win enough delegates, and he suggested she should throw in the towel in "the interests of a Democratic victory in November." A number of Democrats have expressed concern that Republican John McCain is getting a head start while Obama and Clinton fight on.

Undeterred, Clinton said the competition would only strengthen the party in the long run.

"This spirited, exciting contest is actually a real plus for us," she said while campaigning in Indiana, which has its primary two weeks after Pennsylvania's April 22 vote.

McCain launched his first television ad of the general election campaign Friday, portraying himself as a courageous leader with the knowledge and experience to keep the country safe as a wartime commander in chief. "The American president Americans have been waiting for," the ad says, juxtaposing footage of the Arizona senator with clips of him as a prisoner of war in Vietnam three decades ago.

Casey, the son of a popular late governor, had said earlier this month he would not endorse before the Pennsylvania primary out of concern for party unity. But he joined Obama at a boisterous rally kicking off a six-day bus trip through the state, where current Gov. Ed Rendell has been campaigning hard for Clinton.

Coming so late in the campaign season, Pennsylvania will play an unexpectedly key role this year. The state's primary will allocate 158 delegates, the biggest prize left in the drawn-out nomination battle.

After the Pittsburgh rally, Casey said of Obama: "I believe in this guy like I've never believed in a candidate in my life, except my father."

Unfazed, Clinton noted her own roster of high-powered endorsements including Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and anti-war Rep. John Murtha in addition to Rendell.

The former first lady's campaign used the criticism of her candidacy as a fundraising tool.

"Have you noticed the pattern?" Clinton wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "Every time our campaign demonstrates its strength and resilience, people start to suggest we should end our pursuit of the Democratic nomination. Those anxious to force us to the sidelines aren't doing it because they think we're going to lose the upcoming primaries. The fact is, they're reading the same polls we are, and they know we are in a position to win."

Obama is hoping for a showing in the state that would force her to rethink whether she will push ahead. Obama holds the lead in pledged delegates, and Clinton would need landslide wins in the remaining 10 contests to overtake him in that category, an unlikely scenario.

The Casey endorsement also was a welcome change of subject for Obama after two weeks of grappling with the uproar over incendiary comments from his pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Recent national polls indicate that the Illinois senator, bidding to become the first black president, handled the situation well with a major speech on race.

Casey is a first-term senator, a Catholic who, like his father, is known for his opposition to abortion and his support of gun rights.

"I really believe that in a time of danger around the world and in division here at home, Barack Obama can lead us, he can heal us, he can help rebuild America," Casey told the crowd in Pittsburgh.

His move on Friday could be seen in part as a political jab at the Clintons. Bill Clinton was the Democrats' presidential nominee in 1992 when Casey's father was not given a prime-time speaking position at the party's convention, which outraged many of the state's conservative Democrats.

Casey said enthusiasm for Obama by family members - including his four daughters - was part of his reason for endorsing now. He said he did a lot of thinking over the Easter holiday.

"When people you love and people you respect in your family or community are not just supportive of him, but incredibly enthusiastic about his candidacy, that has had an impact on my thinking and the way I approach this," he said. "I didn't think that at this point in our history with the stakes so high that I could stay on the sidelines once I had made a decision about who, the person I'd vote for."

He said the decision had nothing to do with the Casey history with the Clintons.

Obama himself challenged Clinton's argument that her experience in government would make her a better candidate in November against McCain.

"If the contest between McCain and the Democratic nominee is who's been there longer, John McCain wins!" he said to laughter from the crowd.

"If the argument is who is going to pursue a foreign policy like George Bush's, then John McCain wins. If that's the criteria for being tough, if that's the criteria for answering the 3 o'clock phone call after you voted for the war in Iraq and you went along with George Bush's policies when it came to Iran and not talking to leaders that we don't like, then John McCain wins that fight."

Leahy told Vermont Public Radio in an interview that aired Thursday: "There is no way that Sen. Clinton is going to win enough delegates to get the nomination."

In a statement issued Friday, he said Casey's endorsement was the latest sign.

"Senator Clinton has every right, but not a very good reason, to remain a candidate for as long as she wants to. As far as the delegate count and the interests of a Democratic victory in November go, there is not a very good reason for drawing this out. But as I have said before, that is a decision that only she can make," Leahy said.

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Associated Press Writer Beth Fouhy in Mishawaka and Kimberly Hefling in Washington contributed to this report.

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DEVLIN BARRETT - AP | Friday, March 28, 2008 | Topic: Breaking Story

 

March 24, 2008

"Pay day" loans exacerbate housing crisis

As hundreds of thousands of American home owners fall behind on their mortgage payments, more people are turning to short-term loans with sky-high interest rates just to get by.

While hard figures are hard to come by, evidence from nonprofit credit and mortgage counselors suggests that the number of people using these so-called "pay day loans" is growing as the U.S. housing crisis deepens, a negative sign for economic recovery.

"We're hearing from around the country that many folks are buried deep in pay day loan debts as well as struggling with their mortgage payments," said Uriah King, a policy associate at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL).

A pay day loan is typically for a few hundred dollars, with a term of two weeks, and an interest rate as high as 800 percent. The average borrower ends up paying back $793 for a $325 loan, according to the Center.

The Center also estimates pay day lenders issued more than $28 billion in loans in 2005, the latest available figures.

In the Union Miles district of Cleveland, which has been hit hard by the housing crisis, all the conventional banks have been replaced by pay day lenders with brightly painted signs offering instant cash for a week or two to poor families.

"When distressed home owners come to us it usually takes a while before we find out if they have pay day loans because they don't mention it at first," said Lindsey Sacher, community relations coordinator at nonprofit East Side Organizing Project on a recent tour of the district. "But by the time they come to us for help, they have nothing left."

The loans on offer have an Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of up to 391 percent -- excluding fees and penalties. All you need for a loan like this is proof of regular income, even government benefits will do.

On top of the exorbitant cost, pay day loans have an even darker side, Sacher notes. "We also have to contend with the fact that pay day lenders are very aggressive when it comes to getting paid."

Ohio is on the front line of the U.S. housing crisis. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, at the end of the fourth quarter Ohio had 3.88 percent of home loans in the process of foreclosure, the highest of all the 50 U.S. states. The "Rust Belt" state's woes have been further compounded by the loss of 235,900 manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2007.

But while the state as a whole has not done well in recent years, pay day lenders have proliferated.

Bill Faith, executive director of COHHIO, an umbrella group representing some 600 nonprofit agencies in Ohio, said the state is home to some 1,650 pay day loan lenders -- more than all of Ohio's McDonald's, Burger Kings and Wendy's fast food franchises put together.

"That's saying something, as the people of Ohio really like their fast food," Faith said. "But pay day loans are insidious because people get trapped in a cycle of debt."

It takes the average borrower two years to get out of a pay day loan, he said.

Robert Frank, an economics professor at Cornell University, equates pay day loans with "handing a suicidal person a noose" because many people can't control their finances and end up mired in debt.

"These loans lead to more bankruptcies and wipe out people's savings, which is bad for the economy," he said. "This is a problem that has been caused by deregulation" of the U.S. financial sector in the 1990s.

Because of the astronomical interest rates there is a movement among more states to implement a cap of 36 percent APR that is currently in place in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

"Thirty-six percent is still very high," said Ozell Brooklin, director of Acorn Housing in Atlanta, Georgia where there is a cap in place. "But it's better than 400 percent."

SPRINGING THE TRAP

But even in states like New York where pay day loan caps or bans exist, loopholes allow out-of-state lenders to provide loans over the Internet.

Janet Hudson, 40, ran into pay day loans when she and her fiance broke up, leaving her with a young son and a $1,000 monthly mortgage payment. Short on cash, she took out three small pay day loans online totaling $900 but fell behind with her payments. Soon her monthly interest and fees totaled $800.

"It almost equaled my mortgage and I wasn't even touching the principal of the loans," said Hudson, who works as an administrative assistant.

After falling behind on her mortgage, Hudson asked Rochester, New York-based nonprofit Empire Justice Center for help. A lawyer at Empire, Rebecca Case-Grammatico, advised her to stop paying off the pay day loans because the loans were unsecured debt.

"For months after that the pay day lenders left me voice mails threatening to have me thrown in jail, take everything I owned and destroy my credit rating," Hudson said. After several months, the pay day lenders offered to reach a settlement.

But Hudson was already so far behind on her mortgage that she had to sell her home April 2007 to avoid foreclosure.

"Thanks to the (New York state) ban on pay day loans we've been spared large scale problems, but Internet loans have still cost people their homes," Case-Grammatico said.

A national 36 percent cap on pay day loans to members of the military came into effect last October. The cap was proposed by Republican Senator Jim Talent and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson -- citing APR of up to 800 percent as harmful to the battle readiness and morale of the U.S. Armed Forces.

There are now proposals in other states -- including Ohio, Virginia, Arizona and Colorado -- to bring in a 36 percent cap.

And, in Arkansas, attorney general Dustin McDaniel sent a letter to payday lenders on March 18 asking them to shut down or face a lawsuit, saying they have made a "lot of money on the backs of Arkansas consumers, mostly the working poor."

Alan Fisher, executive director of the said up 2 million Californians have pay day loans. There is a proposed 36 percent cap awaiting debate in California's state assembly.

"We expect pay day loans will make the housing crisis worse," said Alan Fisher, executive director of the California Reinvestment Coalition, an umbrella group of housing counseling agencies. California, a state with an estimated 2 million pay day loans, the assembly is set to debate a bill on introducing a 36 percent cap.

"Thanks to the credit crunch and foreclosure crisis, state and federal policy makers are taking a hard look at the policy of credit at any cost," the CRL's King said. "But more needs to be done, fast."

(Reporting by Nick Carey; Editing by Eddie Evans)

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Nick Carey - Reuters | Monday, March 24, 2008 | Topic: World News

 

Obama's Church Addresses Controversy

CHICAGO (AP) - The new pastor of Barack Obama's Chicago church said during Easter Sunday services that recent national scrutiny of the church is a test that will only make the congregation stronger.

"Any time you go through a crucifixion experience ... eventually they have to lift you up," said the Rev. Otis Moss III, who did not shy away from the controversy surrounding his predecessor at Trinity United Church of Christ, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.

Wright retired from Trinity's pulpit last month but retains the title of senior pastor. Video from some of his more inflammatory sermons has surfaced online and on television in recent weeks.

Moss said Sunday that Wright's critics and the news media "are just lifting us up to give us the opportunity to speak love to this situation."

Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate, has responded to the flap by condemning Wright's statements but expressing admiration and support for the pastor who officiated at his wedding, baptized his two daughters and inspired the title of his best-selling book, "The Audacity of Hope."

In a speech last week that took the country's racial divide head-on, Obama - the son of a white woman from Kansas and a Kenyan father - said black anger persists over injustice in America, and whites shouldn't be surprised about the way it's expressed in sermons.

"The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour in American life occurs on Sunday morning," Obama said.

Obama did not attend the Easter Sunday service.

Trinity describes itself as "Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian," a declaration some consider separatist and even racist. In recent days, a CBS News poll indicated most voters have heard at least something about Wright's comments.

But at the church itself, the "unashamedly black" identity can be seen in the African and African-American art on the walls and windows, as well as in the traditional African clothing of the choir. It can be heard in references to rapper Tupac Shakur in Moss' Easter Sunday sermon, which was titled "Gangster's Paradise."

Moss told the more than 3,000 worshippers at one of four Easter services that the controversy has opened an unprecedented dialogue about race.

"We are talking in ways we have never talked as a country," he said.

Trinity is fighting back, including by launching its own YouTube channel and blog.

The spotlight has placed the 8,000 mostly black members of the church in the unusual position of being asked to explain something deeply personal - their faith and the way that they worship.

Linda Thomas, a professor of theology and anthropology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, has been a member of Trinity since 1997. She said she views the scrutiny of the church "as an opportunity for teaching."

"What's happened has opened up an opportunity to learn more about the prophetic ministry of Trinity United Church and of our awesome pastor Dr. Jeremiah Wright," she said. "And it brings in our new pastor in a big way."

She said she hopes people will realize Wright's comments have been taken out of context.

"A sound bite cannot capture ... a whole sermon," Thomas said.

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Karen Hawkins -AP | Monday, March 24, 2008 | Topic: Breaking Story