Sarah Palin is speaking out against a plan put forth by a Florida-based church to burn Qurans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The former Alaska governor outlined her position on the contentious issue in a message posted to her Facebook page Wednesday evening.

“Book burning is antithetical to American ideals,” she wrote. “People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation — much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.”

Even in the wake of criticism, Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center — who is organizing the demonstration — signaled that he has no intention of backing down on his controversial plan earlier this week.

Palin directly addressed Jones in the statement she issued on the matter:

I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don’t feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.

In an unusual twist, Palin’s stance aligns with that of many prominent figures in the Obama administration — from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Gen. David Petraeus sounded the alarm over the national security threat that Quran burning may pose earlier this week:

Petraeus took the rare step of a military leader taking a position on a domestic matter when he warned in an e-mail to The Associated Press that “images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence.”

At the end of her statement, Palin wrote:

Our nation was founded in part by those fleeing religious persecution. Freedom of religion is integral to our charters of liberty. We don’t need to agree with each other on theological matters, but tolerating each other without unnecessarily provoking strife is how we ensure a civil society. In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn’t that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?

Palin recently made known her strong opposition to plans to develop a mosque and Islamic community center in New York City’s Financial District.

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Sarah Palin is speaking out against a plan put forth by a Florida-based church to burn Qurans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

The former Alaska governor outlined her position on the contentious issue in a message posted to her Facebook page Wednesday evening.

“Book burning is antithetical to American ideals,” she wrote. “People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation — much like building a mosque at Ground Zero.”

Even in the wake of criticism, Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center — who is organizing the demonstration — signaled that he has no intention of backing down on his controversial plan earlier this week.

Palin directly addressed Jones in the statement she issued on the matter:

I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don’t feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.

In an unusual twist, Palin’s stance aligns with that of many prominent figures in the Obama administration — from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod and Attorney General Eric Holder.

Gen. David Petraeus sounded the alarm over the national security threat that Quran burning may pose earlier this week:

Petraeus took the rare step of a military leader taking a position on a domestic matter when he warned in an e-mail to The Associated Press that “images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence.”

At the end of her statement, Palin wrote:

Our nation was founded in part by those fleeing religious persecution. Freedom of religion is integral to our charters of liberty. We don’t need to agree with each other on theological matters, but tolerating each other without unnecessarily provoking strife is how we ensure a civil society. In this as in all things, we should remember the Golden Rule. Isn’t that what the Ground Zero mosque debate has been about?

Palin recently made known her strong opposition to plans to develop a mosque and Islamic community center in New York City’s Financial District.

Philanthropist Gene Epstein says he will donate $1,000 to charity for every time a small business in the Philadelphia area hires an unemployed person.

“I think it’s unbelievably simple, this program, and it’s a no-risk, all-win situation,” said Epstein in an interview with HuffPost. “People see the money’s gonna go to charity — the business person’s not going to hire somebody because the government says we’re going to give you a tax credit!”

Epstein, 71, says he’s ready to give out $250,000 altogether, and that he thinks his plan could actually deliver a boost to the economy by creating some optimism. “I spoke to two dozen business people that I know, I called them and asked their opinion, and 22 out of 24 thought it was a good idea.”

Epstein has fielded several inquiries, and two businesses in the Delaware valley told HuffPost that Epstein’s scheme has encouraged them to make hires.

“I saw his story on action news…and I thought that it sounded like a really great idea,” said Gretchen Bearoff, who co-owns a commercial real estate appraisal company with her husband. “My husband and I had been putting feelers out but hadn’t made a final decision and this helped to push us over the edge. We’re ready, our business is doing better, so let’s do it.”

Bearoff told HuffPost that a brand new employee who’d been underemployed (he formerly worked for himself) just started at the company on Wednesday, expanding the company payroll to four. Bearoff said a $1,000 donation would be going to the Pennsylvania SPCA.

“He’s quite a philanthropist. It sparked us,” said Christian Roach, a member services executive at TruMark Financial Credit Union. Roach said he had been considering hiring a social media specialist when he heard of Epstein’s plan (though Roach said he didn’t know if the company would make a special effort to hire an unemployed person). “I was on the fence with the social media position, but it kinda made you go know what, maybe it’s time…. He moved me off the dime.”

Before his successful careers as a car dealer and real estate investor, Epstein says he and his mother opened a candy store to save their home when he was a teenager, not long after his father died. They took an apartment above the store. “I opened the store at 6 a.m. and closed it at 10 at night. At the end of the year we sold it, paid all our expenses and recaptured our home.”

Epstein talks about his plan with fervor, stressing that partisan policy solutions haven’t been working. He doesn’t care if a policy egghead would point out that we’re out eight million jobs since the start of the recession. “When I went to Temple I had an economics professor who was an adviser to the White House,” he said. “I never understood what the hell he was talking about. I know what it is to make a living.”

Interested in Gene’s plan? Email thegemfoundation@verizon.net, and cc arthur@huffingtpost.com.

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This clip from the upcoming season of “The Amazing Race” almost just made us actually want to watch “The Amazing Race.” It’s THAT good! If you were to instant message this video to one of your coworkers, the conversation should read something like this:

Coworker: what is this?
Coworker: are those watermelons
Coworker: oh shit!!!!!!!!!!
Coworker: WTF?!

Yeah, we said it was good. (Via The Daily What)

WATCH:

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This clip from the upcoming season of “The Amazing Race” almost just made us actually want to watch “The Amazing Race.” It’s THAT good! If you were to instant message this video to one of your coworkers, the conversation should read something like this:

Coworker: what is this?
Coworker: are those watermelons
Coworker: oh shit!!!!!!!!!!
Coworker: WTF?!

Yeah, we said it was good. (Via The Daily What)

WATCH:

People — not just prostitutes — have sex for many reasons. Sometimes, for some of us, one reason is money.

From October 2006 to January 2007 I accepted money in exchange for sexual services I provided to men I met online in what was then called the “erotic services” section of Craigslist.org. No more a “professional” than a person renting a room on the same site is necessarily a professional real estate broker, for me and other women and men like myself, Craigslist at that time provided a simple, familiar forum through which I could do my business with complete anonymity, from the safety and convenience of my own home. At Craigslist.org, I was able to bill myself as exactly what I was at the time: a graduate student, bored and curious, sexually uninhibited, looking to make a little money while having a little fun. I wrote my own ads, screened my own prospective dates, decided on my own what I would and would not do for money, and — best of all — I kept every penny I earned, all without the interference of an agency or other ubiquitous “middle man.”

Ultimately, while my experience as a “non-pro” was not the “fun” I had come looking for — I found the lifestyle physically demanding, emotionally taxing and spiritually bankrupting, and so I made a decision to desist some months after I’d gotten started, exiting the industry just as freely as I’d entered — never have I felt it was the state’s obligation — nor its right, in fact — to protect me from the decisions I made.

On Thursday, September 4th, cowing to ongoing criticism from attorney generals and advocacy groups, Craigslist shut down what had come to be called its “adult services” section, replacing the link with a black and white bar that reads “censored.” This, after years of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark fighting such pressure, is a disappointing display of him abandoning the very principles of freedom on which his site was founded and feels more a violation than ever I experienced on even my worst “dates.” Opponents to the “adult services” section claimed that its existence facilitated with greater ease the trafficking and exploitation of women and children, and while I do not doubt such exploitation exists, it is my supposition that most women who are found out by the authorities to sell sex would rather be labeled a “victim” (and so entitled to protection) than to be considered a criminal (to be prosecuted and exposed).

For all the “victims” of the “adult services” section of Craigslist.org, I would venture there are a considerable number of individuals like myself — free thinking, entrepreneurial human beings with choices and responsibilities — whose real-life experiences, not to mention sources of income — are being stifled by our so-called advocates.

It has been some years since the last time I met a stranger through Craigslist for reasons other than to buy or sell a piece of furniture. I hope to never again make the choice to trade sex for cash even as I risk my current job and social standing to speak out for an individual’s right to do so. The simple fact is that people do have sex for money — many different kinds of people for many different reasons, people as varied as those looking to buy concert tickets, sell a collectible or adopt a pet — and these people will continue to. Whether the choice to do so is being dignified and protected with its own forum or whether what was once that safe space remains appropriately labeled “censored,” that choice, without a court order one way or another, remains up to Newmark.

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People — not just prostitutes — have sex for many reasons. Sometimes, for some of us, one reason is money.

From October 2006 to January 2007 I accepted money in exchange for sexual services I provided to men I met online in what was then called the “erotic services” section of Craigslist.org. No more a “professional” than a person renting a room on the same site is necessarily a professional real estate broker, for me and other women and men like myself, Craigslist at that time provided a simple, familiar forum through which I could do my business with complete anonymity, from the safety and convenience of my own home. At Craigslist.org, I was able to bill myself as exactly what I was at the time: a graduate student, bored and curious, sexually uninhibited, looking to make a little money while having a little fun. I wrote my own ads, screened my own prospective dates, decided on my own what I would and would not do for money, and — best of all — I kept every penny I earned, all without the interference of an agency or other ubiquitous “middle man.”

Ultimately, while my experience as a “non-pro” was not the “fun” I had come looking for — I found the lifestyle physically demanding, emotionally taxing and spiritually bankrupting, and so I made a decision to desist some months after I’d gotten started, exiting the industry just as freely as I’d entered — never have I felt it was the state’s obligation — nor its right, in fact — to protect me from the decisions I made.

On Thursday, September 4th, cowing to ongoing criticism from attorney generals and advocacy groups, Craigslist shut down what had come to be called its “adult services” section, replacing the link with a black and white bar that reads “censored.” This, after years of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark fighting such pressure, is a disappointing display of him abandoning the very principles of freedom on which his site was founded and feels more a violation than ever I experienced on even my worst “dates.” Opponents to the “adult services” section claimed that its existence facilitated with greater ease the trafficking and exploitation of women and children, and while I do not doubt such exploitation exists, it is my supposition that most women who are found out by the authorities to sell sex would rather be labeled a “victim” (and so entitled to protection) than to be considered a criminal (to be prosecuted and exposed).

For all the “victims” of the “adult services” section of Craigslist.org, I would venture there are a considerable number of individuals like myself — free thinking, entrepreneurial human beings with choices and responsibilities — whose real-life experiences, not to mention sources of income — are being stifled by our so-called advocates.

It has been some years since the last time I met a stranger through Craigslist for reasons other than to buy or sell a piece of furniture. I hope to never again make the choice to trade sex for cash even as I risk my current job and social standing to speak out for an individual’s right to do so. The simple fact is that people do have sex for money — many different kinds of people for many different reasons, people as varied as those looking to buy concert tickets, sell a collectible or adopt a pet — and these people will continue to. Whether the choice to do so is being dignified and protected with its own forum or whether what was once that safe space remains appropriately labeled “censored,” that choice, without a court order one way or another, remains up to Newmark.

Read the subtitle of Arianna Huffington latest book, Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream, and you already know a lot about the author’s understanding of America’s economic and cultural collapse. It’s a rigged game in which Wall Street gets all the breaks and the Main Street gets stuck with the bill. Stories of lost jobs, lost homes, lost dreams, and a collapsing infrastructure help Huffington explain how the financialization of the economy has impacted millions of middle-class Americans.

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Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson traveled across the U.S. for two and a half months to find and correct typos in public signage. Deck and Herson tell the tale of that journey in their new book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time” (Crown). Our heroes unearthed over 400 spelling and grammar errors during their adventures, and certain kinds of typos kept popping up along the way. You must know your enemies before you can vanquish them; use the following reconnaissance to win the battle against typos. Here are the top 10 most common typos in America today.

Their book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time,” is available now.

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Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson traveled across the U.S. for two and a half months to find and correct typos in public signage. Deck and Herson tell the tale of that journey in their new book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time” (Crown). Our heroes unearthed over 400 spelling and grammar errors during their adventures, and certain kinds of typos kept popping up along the way. You must know your enemies before you can vanquish them; use the following reconnaissance to win the battle against typos. Here are the top 10 most common typos in America today.

Their book, “The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time,” is available now.

WASHINGTON — Job openings are rising modestly, a sign that employers may step up hiring soon.

But rising openings in the past year haven’t reduced unemployment, heightening concerns that the unemployed might lack the skills to fill the jobs that are coming available. If companies have openings but can’t find qualified workers, that will make it even harder to lower the unemployment rate.

Some economists argue that the broader problem is that the economy just isn’t generating enough jobs.

The number of jobs advertised rose by 6.2 percent to 3.04 million in July, according to the Labor Department’s latest data. That’s the highest total since April, when temporary census hiring inflated that month’s figure. But even with the increase, total openings remain far below the 4.4 million that existed in December 2007, when the recession began.

Openings have risen 30 percent since July 2009, when they fell to their lowest level on records dating to 2000. Yet the unemployment rate has actually ticked up during that period, from 9.4 percent a year ago to 9.6 percent last month. Private employers added a net total of only 67,000 jobs in August, the government said Friday. That’s below the roughly 100,000 jobs a month the economy needs just to keep up with population growth.

Some analysts say that means factors other than a lack of hiring are keeping the jobless rate high. Workers may not have the expertise the new jobs require. Or falling home prices may make it harder for the unemployed to sell their homes and move to where jobs are available.

Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, said such mismatches could account for as much as 2.5 percentage points of the unemployment rate.

“Firms have jobs but can’t find appropriate workers,” he said in a speech Wednesday in Missoula, Mont. “The workers want to work, but can’t find appropriate jobs.”

This limits what the central bank can do to reduce unemployment, Kocherlakota said. In a similar speech last month, he said. “The Fed does not have a means to transform construction workers into manufacturing workers.”

Many private recruiters say they are having a hard time finding the right people for jobs that are available. A survey by the Corporate Executive Board of company recruiters found that most are struggling to hire qualified jobseekers. More than 80 percent said that fewer than half their applicants are qualified, even though the number of unemployed has surged since the recession began.

That’s partly because many of those who have lost their jobs in the downturn are relatively low-skilled, according to Jean Martin, an executive director at the Corporate Executive Board. Those with a high school education or less have a higher unemployment rate than those with college degrees. And the gap widened during the downturn.

Some economists say the skills and geographic mismatches aren’t the biggest obstacle for jobseekers. The overall weakness of the economy is the main problem, they say.

“The same pattern has been seen in previous downturns,” said Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist. “When the economy starts growing again … firms start taking chances on people and training them.”

Competition for job openings, in the meantime, remains fierce. About 4.8 unemployed people, on average, are competing for each opening, Wednesday’s report shows, compared with about 1.8 before the recession.

The report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, illustrates how much job churn the U.S. economy experiences each month: Companies and government agencies, including the Census Bureau, hired 4.2 million people in July. At the same time, 4.4 million people were laid off, quit or retired that month.

Total hiring remains weak and is down from a monthly total of 5 million people in December 2007. Layoffs, meanwhile, have risen moderately for the past two months but are still at pre-recession levels, the report shows.

“It is the lack of hiring that largely accounts for the ‘recession feeling’ in the job market,” said Henry Mo, an economist at Credit Suisse.

Among industries, education and health services and leisure and hospitality showed the biggest increases in job openings.

The education and health sectors posted 533,000 jobs in July, up from 487,000 the previous month. Restaurants and hotels advertised 310,000 openings, up from 263,000.

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PHILADELPHIA — The former CEO of entertainment company National Lampoon Inc. has been sentenced in Philadelphia to nearly four years in prison in a stock price manipulation scheme.

Federal prosecutors say 48-year-old Daniel Laikin plotted to artificially inflate the company’s stock price by paying people to buy shares. They dropped a count of securities fraud last fall when Laikin pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

Prosecutors say Laikin and others hoped to push the share price from $2 to $5 to boost the company’s attractiveness in a strategic partnership or acquisition. They say the company was removed from the American Stock Exchange and its share price plummeted.

The company owned the rights to the “Vacation” and “Animal House” movies.

Laikin was sentenced Wednesday to three years and nine months.

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DETROIT — General Motors’ new CEO told employees that the automaker needs to make cars and trucks that are better than those of competitors such as BMW.

Former telecommunications executive Daniel Akerson, in his first webcast to employees since taking over as CEO Sept. 1, said the company needs to go into “attack mode” to stay ahead of rivals, according to a worker who watched the speech on Wednesday.

The speech comes just before GM’s board meets this week. Directors may set a date for the sale of GM stock to the public, perhaps in November. That sale would make GM a publicly traded company again after a radical overhaul in bankruptcy court.

Akerson, 61, told employees that GM needs to keep competitors on their heels rather than responding to what they do, said the worker, who asked not to be identified because the webcast was not public.

Akerson used BMW as an example, saying that GM’s Cadillac luxury brand has to make cars that are better than BMW’s 300, 500 and 700 series sedans.

Through August, BMW has sold 139,236 vehicles, beating Cadillac by almost 47,000 cars and trucks, according to Autodata Corp.

In his 40-minute address, Akerson, who has been on GM’s board for about a year, said he is learning quickly about the auto industry but faces a large amount of information.

“He said he’s drinking from a fire hose right now,” the worker said.

Akerson last week replaced Ed Whitacre, who was also known for an aggressive style. He fired ineffective executives, starred in GM commercials and led the company to two straight quarterly profits after years of losses.

Akerson, GM’s fourth CEO in less than two years, was introduced by Whitacre, who told employees that he stepped down because the company needed a CEO who would be in charge long after the stock sale.

Whitacre, 68, a retired CEO of telecommunications giant AT&T Inc., said he didn’t want to stay too long after the sale, which is called an initial public offering.

Like Whitacre, Akerson has worked as a top executive at major telecommunications companies, holding leadership posts at both MCI and Nextel. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Akerson was appointed to GM’s board by the government in July of last year after GM emerged from bankruptcy protection. He also led global buyouts for The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm.

Whitacre will stay on as GM chairman through the end of the year, and no replacement has been named for that position.

GM is 61 percent owned by the federal government, but the company hopes to shed that majority control with the IPO.

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