Photo courtesy AP (c) 2012

SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday admonished the U.N. General Assembly to take a firm stance against violence and extremism, arguing that religious rights and free speech must be upheld as global responsibilities and not merely U.S. obligations. In an effort to stress the urgency of suppressing deadly protests that have erupted over perceived anti-Islamic sentiment, the president said "the impulse towards intolerance and violence" will not be contained if allowed to flourish over time. Mr. Obama underscored his message with examples of ongoing racial inequalities, abuses of women's rights, theocratic discrimination against religious diversity, despots who neglect or massacre their people to protect cronies and regime-friendly elites, and the inevitable cycles of sectarian violence likely to rise in the wake. Although the president's speech was delivered to world leaders, and was meant to address specific crises in the Arab world, tentative Republican voters confused Obama's descriptions of Syria, Egypt and Libya with Mitt Romney's campaign platform. The GOP challenger's polling numbers plummeted significantly as a result, according to reports Friday.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has often found herself on the receiving end of criticism by fellow Republicans for her controversial comments and factual errors. On Thursday, however, she received some of the harshest and most public rebukes of her career. House Speaker John Boehner joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and others in denouncing Bachmann's questioning of the security credentials of Hillary Clinton's Muslim aide. Boehner said "accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous." McCain labeled the attack "sinister." And even Bachmann's former campaign strategist, Edward Rollins, chimed in, writing on the Fox News website that "this is downright vicious and reaches the late Senator Joe McCarthy level." Bachmann defended her actions, which were supported by four other Republican members of the House, by explaining to Glenn Beck that she merely asked the federal government to "look into [Abedin's] family associations before she got a high level security clearance." Later Thursday evening, to prove that her concerns were universal and not the product of discrimination or bias, Bachmann levied the same complaint against openly Catholic lawmakers.

SAN NARCISO, Calif. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- Violent confrontations between Nigerian Christians and Muslims have escalated to their highest levels since the Bosnian war of 1992-1995, according to an international task force. But the core causes of the deadly clashes, which have claimed hundreds of lives this year alone, reach far beyond mere differences in faith. The report cites corruption, financial mismanagement, lack of policing crimes, lack of assistance for victims, and ongoing land disputes as the primary catalysts driving human rights violations and armed conflicts in the region. And though the report identified dozens of steps that could be taken by the world community to resolve the issues -- all of them costly and time consuming -- a delegation of Congressional Republicans told State Department officials that an email they received from Nigeria's rightful heir to the throne could pave a more direct and effective path to peace.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Bennington Vale Evening Transcript) -- A Tennessee judge ruled Tuesday that the Rutherford County planning commission failed to provide lucid and adequate notice to the public in 2010 of a meeting to approve plans for the development of what turned out to be a mosque. As a result, the building permit for the 52,000-square-foot complex in Murfreesboro, Tenn., was invalidated -- even though construction of the Islamic worship center was nearly complete. Attempting to defuse a powder keg of religious and political tension, the judge indicated that much of the issue stemmed from confusion over the nature of the facility: "A good number of folks in the community were under the impression that a muslin community center -- not a Muslim community center -- was being put up. Sort of a museum to honor the early textile industry of the nation. Cotton's a big part of our cultural heritage in the South. It gave us gauze, cheesecloth, airy calico fabrics, and work for the African immigrants we took in."