Building a house of worship =  Burrning another religion's holy book. Huh?

Media conservatives, led by Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, are comparing a Florida church's plans to burn Qurans on the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks to plans to build an Islamic community center in Manhattan.

It's not just "media conservatives" -- John Boehner, your next Speaker of the House, also believes this. I'm sure you guys can explain it to me. Apologies for the slow blogging over the last day -- I was out, um, reporting, spending a lovely evening with Christine O'Donnell down in Dover, Del. More on that later.

September 11 is a very important day for Glenn Beck. For one thing, the king of all right-wing media talks about it all the time -- more on that in a second. What's more, the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, as pretty much the event that made the Fox News Channel host into the national lightning rod that he is today -- the vehicle that caused him to complete his journey from a Morning Zoo "rodeo clown" to a political guy who suddenly was replacing the so-9/10 Laura Schlessinger on radio outlets coast to coast and then leading a series of transparently self-serving honoring the troops rallies for Clear Channel.

But Beck has talked a lot about 9/11 over nine years  -- and the highly notable exception of his bizarre September 2005 attack on the family members of victims of the terrorist attack -- the emphasis has been on extreme reverence for that day in American history. When he was getting off the ground on FNC, he used the images of 9/11 to launch  project he claimed would bring Americans back together.

As recounted in my new book The Backlash, he said on his now imfamous March 13, 2009 "We Surround Them" program of the attacks that...

“[t]he skies were filled with black clouds and our hearts were full of terror and fear. We realized -- for the first time -- how fragile we really were.” As Beck addressed his coast-to-coast audience, viewers saw images of anguished, tearful women, head in hands, mouths agape, staring at the hellish fires of the World Trade Center, then a mother racing down a Manhattan byway pushing two children in a stroller, away from the deadly dust.

This is cool -- the Daily News now has a blog for my own corrupt and contented Delaware County. In a shocking development, it's called TheDailyDelco.

My first impression? You think Attytood is opinionated (and maybe a tad self-righteous) -- check out when Brother Bill Bender gets wound up -- about the Tea Party and transparency:

Tea party groups from southeastern Pennsylvania are hosting a Republican candidates’ forum tonight at the Quality Inn Conference Center in Montgomeryville. It’s being billed on tea party Web sites as “an evening of frank discussion between the Tea Party Coalition and those candidates who seek our votes for public service.”

Then there’s this: “The entire event is OFF THE RECORD as we expect a forthright but respectful conversation. No recording or video devices will be permitted.” What?

There’s a time and place for off the record, but this clearly ain’t it, with a major election less than two months away. Why can’t the candidates be on the record and “frank” simultaneously, so the rest of the electorate can hear what they have to say?

I could not have said it any better myself.

Your Philadelphia Phillies (winning ugly, but we'll take it) move back into first place in the National League East for the first time since May.

There's no turning back, baby!

This one was phoned in by Barack.

He also told me "they don't realize they're the ones who're square" -- not sure what that means.

This first one goes out to Rahm.

Everyone's welcome tonight -- even if you want to just stroll in, tell me where to go, and walk right back out -- when I sign copies of The Backlash from 6 to 7 p.m. tonight at the Barnes & Noble on Rittenhouse Square in Center City (Philadelphia, for you out-of-towners), which is at 1805 Walnut Street to be exact.

See you there (here are the details) and if you're nice about it maybe we'll all go out for a beer afterwards and talk about...the Phillies?

Because you wanted to see it....my cover story for today's Daily News on "Islamophobia" around the country (bad) and in Philadelphia (not as bad).

It's been a rare thing lately but I thought President Barack Obama had a good day today -- although we'll see what the dreaded media spin cycle has to say about that. I thought it was a good day because a) he proposed an infrastructure plan that -- as is the case, occasionally -- would be good government if he somehow could get it past the 37 Percenters (that's how much of the U.S. is represented by the Gang of 41) and is also good politics, whether or not it passes and b) for Labor Day gave his most impassioned speech in months, so much so that when I stumbled across it on CNN on my satellite radio in the car I actually listened all the way to the end for once.

That said, I wonder if all anyone will talk about tomorrow will be this:

“They talk about me like a dog,” Obama said with a chuckle of his political opponents. “That’s not in my prepared remarks but it’s true.”

I'm starting a pool right now on which right-wing media personality (or elected official, for that matter) will be the first to point out that "dog" is a particularly biting insult in the Arabic world and thus more proof that Obama is "a secret Muslim." Regardless, the TV talking heads will probably dissect this six ways 'til Sunday, literally, and Sunday is five long days away.

It will surely divert attention from what's important:

President Obama, looking to stimulate a sluggish economy and create jobs, called Monday for Congress to approve major upgrades to the nation’s roads, rail lines and runways — part of a six-year plan that would cost tens of billions of dollars and create a government-run bank to finance innovative transportation projects.

With Democrats facing an increasingly bleak midterm election season, Mr. Obama used a speech at a union gathering on Labor Day, the traditional start of the campaign season, to outline his plan. It calls for a quick infusion of $50 billion in government spending that White House officials said could spur job growth as early as next year — if Congress approves.

Voters want Washington to do something about jobs, and infrastructure is the best way to go here. Most Americans have a good handle on how these type of projects create jobs for the middle class and also have seen with their own eyes how badly this nation has neglected it infrastructure for the last 40 years or so. This particularly appeals to those handful of sensible swing voters, while those who don't want Washington to spend another dime on anything are a) a vocal and large minority, but still a minority and b) people who wouldn't vote for Obama if he discovered a cure for cancer on the same day he landed a head shot on Osama bin Laden. Will the new Obama jobs program happen in gridlocked Washington? Almost certainly not, not between now and November, but there's never a bad time for a good idea.

As for Obama's style, you only had to listen to the speech for only10 seconds to learn that the guy relishes the campaign trail, and actually he was more lively than his general election speeches in the fall of '08 which seemed intentionally dulled up at times. The weird thing is that I think Obama also has passion for the task of governing -- geeky passion, at times -- but you'd think he could work a little more excitement into his speeches during the three seasons of the year not named Fall.