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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Mohurram 23, 1433/December 19, 2011 # 52

Devastating analysis of the process of destruction of values in America by Indian Muslim intellectual Javed Jamil. Please scroll way down.

For photo of this rally, scroll to end. We had to shorten the picture.

Record Breaking Rally : Jamaate Islami Leader calls for end to Corrupt Power

December 18, 2011: Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Peshawar, Pakistan, to listen to Syed Munawar Hasan as he denounced the corrupt government of Pakistan. He urged Pakistan's immediate withdrawal from the NATO alliance. He called for an end to army action against the Pakistani people and instead the need to stop Indian and Northern Alliance [Karzai types] attacks within Pakistan. He noted that on the anniversary of the Indian invasion of East Pakistan and the untold suffering it entailed, the regime is giving most favored nation status to India.
Powerful speeches were also made by Qazi Hussain Ahmed [former JI ameer], Maulana Sirajul Haque [Deputy Ameer national JI] and Prof. Ibrahim, provincial leader of JI.
The enthusiasm of the huge crowd, expressed in thunderous Islamic slogans, indicated that the masses are on the move.

Three Days of Clashes in Cairo, Egypt: 10 KIlled 441 wounded by the army
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/dec/18/egypt-violence-dy-three?CMP=twt_gu

December 16, 17, 18: Protestors in their thousands calling for military rulers to step down were met with furious assault by military police. Clashes continued over three days. Among the 10 killed is a scholar of al-Azhar. A woman's hijab was torn off by the troops and she was dragged through the street.
[Meanwhile Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's CAIR-ISNA, has announced that it will honor Hosni Mubarak's agreements with foreign powers, including the treaty with Israel.]


[With thanks to Dr. Ismail Zayid, Canada.]
Republican Inanity Reaches New Depths:
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich claimed that Palestinians are an "invented" nation: They are just "Arabs" who should go be with the Arabs, or conversely they were part of the Ottomans! and the icing on the cake: "They are terrorists!" {December 11, speaking to the Jewish Channel and then speaking at the presidential debate.]

Newt Gingrich makes George Bush sound like a genius. [See list of Idiots of the Year, below.]

Shoora Resolution in Support of American Women

"We condemn the murders, rapes and violence being committed against American women on an ongoing basis as evidenced almost on a daily basis in the local news. Many rapes are not reported." [Resolution unanimously adopted by the National Islamic Shoora of Jamaat al-Muslimeen, November 12, 2011.]

December 14: Scroll way down for latest report on the agony of American women. It is horrific. No women in the world are treated like this.


Lowe's Ads? Why is it so easy to Distract Some Muslims from the real issues?
I am wondering why some Muslims are so concerned about Lowe's pulling ads from a crappy TV program depicting Muslims as flag-waving Americans, but not about Home Depot or Starbucks' support for Israeli apartheid and genocide against an entire population!

- Nadrat Siddique

Letter: US Government trying to Throttle Boko Haram

The US House of Representatives' resolve to make close inquiry into the Nigerians' internet and phone calls in order to curtail the activities of an Islamic sect called "Boko Haram" is the latest concern.

Ibrahim [Abuja, Nigeria]

Letter: Re: Snake "god" of Israel. Muhammad, pbuh, is the precursor of Modern Civilization.

Has anybody done research on the contribution of Islam to all aspects of human existence. I.e. the demarcation of the world into Pre Muhammad and Post Muhammad?

One topic would be the general acceptance of monotheism as a concept - Post Muhammad. Nowadays, no matter what religious circle you encounter - notion of one invisible god, has become normal.

Of course it is twisted in various ways, but the idea is established. I suspect this is because of the impact Islam had on the world. I wouldn't be surprised if Islam impacted Judaism, to bring it closer to its beliefs, perhaps even Protestantism.

I've read that Islamic society was the precursor to modern secular state and capitalist system, since it was the first to create a set up where different religious groups could live together and created an infrastructure which facilitated rapid exchange of goods and services.

Salaam,
Shoaib [Qatar, Middle East]

[Ed note: Allama Iqbal wrote extensively on the Prophet, pbuh, as the leader of the new era in which people want guidance, not magic and miracles. However, your point is well taken because of the fog of anti-Islam propaganda which surrounds us.]

Letter: Re: Snake "god" of Israel. Need to distribute it among non-Muslims
Can you make a copy of the New Trend article on the snake "god" of Israel for me to distribute to non- Muslims in this area? I am getting a problem to copy it in the library where i work. I would appreciate it very much if you can send me a print of this article and I will print it out.
Abu Talib [Brooklyn, New York]

Top Ten Idiots of the World for the Year 2011
Compiled by Imam Badi Ali from information provided by New Trend's research team.
  1. Mahmoud Abbas of the West Bank in Occupied Palestine. He has the first position in this list because he is benefitting the occupiers of Palestine and legitimizing Israel although it is no more than an occupation army. His supporters are puppets of imperiailism guarding the unclear but expanding borders of Israel.


  2. President Barack Obama. Why is such a semingly brilliant orator in second position as an idiot? Nothing has improved under his tenure. The poor are poorer. African Americans feel betrayed. He continues to talk and does not realize that talk can only fool the audience for so long. The promises he kept are those for which there was nothing else that could be done, like the inevitable withdrawal in defeat from Iraq. He thinks he is able to manipulate Muslims but it's not working. More Zionist, often, than the Zionists, he is entirely in the hands of his handlers.


  3. Prime David Cameron of UK seems to be under the impression that he is the new Margaret Thatcher. He has also claimed his love of the Bible and contradicted himself by saying that he is a "committed" bur "vaguely practicing" Christian. Mr. Cameron should look around. UK is rapidly becoming a Third World Country, a follower, rather than a leader. Mr. Cameron follows the US out of necessity rather than conviction. Muslims in UK continue to suffer serious episodes of racism and police brutality under his rule.


  4. Sarkozy, President of France, is extending his fingers into Africa, seeking to re-colonize it. At home he defies Islam, attacks hijab and shows that there is no honor in his behavior. He does not have a clue that France is no longer an important power.


  5. Salah, President of Yemen, somehow cannot hear the cries of his people though they come out EVERY DAY to condemn him. He does not trust his people. He keeps killing and hoping against hope that he will survive his unravelling rule.


  6. Zardari of Pakistan and Karzai of Kabul are a strange couple, "ruling" entirely at the orders of their masters overseas. They are like clowns trying to rule a nation of giants.


  7. Abdullah, King of Jordan, has no idea that he will have to leave too. He is in fact telling Assad of Syria to step down. He can best be described as a playboy who thinks his people love him. The fog of unreality surrounds him.


  8. Bashir of Sudan allowed one third of the people of Sudan to become the enemies of Sudan. He has created an "Israel" in Sudan. He had no authority or mandate to allow a new "country" within Sudan but he did it to please the West..


  9. Newt Gingrich, Republican candidate for President of USA, has no understanding of the Middle East or even of global geography. He claims that Palestinians are an "invented" people. His is a mixture, a natural mixture, of Zionism and racism.


  10. The Gulf's "Karzai Packet." This includes the Ameer of Kuwait and the rulers of Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE. What style they live in, blowing away millions of dollars on trivilialities. They never seem to think that they have no roots or public support in the Middle East. With the steady retreat of America, their future is dim.

The Haqqani-Ijaz-Shuja Drama
Pakistani Ruling Class Imploding as an Alleged Qadiani Enters the Highest Elite Level
by Kaukab Siddique

Pakistan's ruling elites are easily differentiated under two headings:
  1. The army. the military intelligence and their ancillary services.
  2. The politicians and bureaucrats emanating from the landlord, feudal, capitalist segments of society.

More than 90% of the people do not count in the planning and conspiracies of the rulers. The growing middle class too is largely disregarded.

The uprising of the masses comes in the form of Islamic fighting groups who take refuge in the mountains and try to implement Shar'ia or Islamic Law.
The peaceful dissent takes its most activist form in the rallies of Jamaate Islami and in religious criticism of the power elite which 'Ulama and mullas carry out in their mosques.

The armed groups are seen as a threat by the US owing to the growth and organizational skills of al-Qaida led by Shaykh Osama bin Laden [and now by Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri].

The growth of the fighting groups in the northern areas led to the take over of large areas, such as Swat and Dir, where great numbers of people supported Shar'ia. The spread of these Islamic teachings in the plains took most specific shape in the Red Mosque and Jamia Hafsa [women 's seminary] in Islamabad. General Musharraf who always had great contempt for religious, people assaulted, with the most modern weaponry, these two nodes of Islamic moral power and obliterated them, killing hundreds of young men and women in the process.

The peaceful religious movements did not understand that west-backed military secularism had decided to challenge Islam in the very capital city of Pakistan named "Islamabad." However, the fighters in the mountains understood the challenge and the slaughter of hijabi women ignited a real Islamic revolution.

Washington was deeply concerned at the rapid gains being made in the north by the Shari'a-oriented movement which was strategically outflanking the battlefield in Afghanistan.
Benazir Bhutto had declared that the action against the Red Mosque was too little too little. The westernized Pakistani elites started "educating" Washington about the slow movement of the military, especially Musharraf, against the "jihadists." A campaign began to assure Washington that parts of the military were linked to the "jihadists," and westernized elites with a civilian government ["democratic legality"] would be much more effective against the Islamic uprising, which, if not suppressed could link up with al-Qaidah.

Hence we saw the painfully slow departure of Musharraf, and his replacement with a Peoples Party=ANP-MQM government.
Now move forward to the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Who tipped off the Americans? Segments of the army felt like fools, that Pakistani air space was used to kill a global Islamic leader and the military found out after the event. This may not be true of General Kayani and General Shuja [the intelligence chief] but they cannot be investigated. It appeared as if the civilian government had helped the Americans.
At this moment, the Pakistani ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, thought that the army might carry out a coup against the Peoples's Party government [Haqqani has the close support of Zardari, the Paki president]. So, it is said, Haqqani sent a memo to a top American military brass asking for help to pre-empt the coming Paki military coup.
Haqqani took the help of a Pakistani American, Mansoor Ijaz, to give the memo the "correct" wording and pass it on to an American marine general [Jones] who would pass it on to the American top brass [Mullen]. Unfortunately, after the act was done [treachery according to the Constitution of Pakistan] for some reason, still unexplained, Ijaz revealed Haqqani's memo to the media [Financial Times UK]. There was storm of outrage in Pakistan. Haqqani was recalled. He protested his innocence and he was pressured to resign, which he did.

Mansoor Ijaz is the key to this story. He is a great supporter of war against the "jihadis." He is a multi-millionaire with connections to the highest people in the American power structure, from presidents to generals. During the era of outright war against Muslims during 8 years of Bush, Ijaz appeared on FOX TV more than 100 times urging war against the "terrorists." At one time he tried to expand the war by claiming that Osama was hiding in Iran.
Why this intense hatred against Islamic fighters? Once clue could be that, according to some reports, Ijaz is a Qadiani [known as "ahmedddis" in America]. Ijaz's father, according to a report, was a close friend of Abdus Salam, another Qadiani known for his scientific achievements. Qadianis are said to be full of hate for Pakistan because during the rule of Z.A. Bhutto [Benazir's father] they were declared non-Muslims with the popular support of the masses.

So why did Ijaz reveal the memo when Haqqani trusted him so much? One line of thought is that it was an attempt to bring the civilian government and the army into collision. [ It was so real a conspiracy that President Zardari fled to UAE feigning illness. He thought he might be arrested by the military. ] It could be an attempt by India to disrupt Pakistan from within, or the Americans might have been preparing to bring in Imran [who met the American ambassador secretly during this time of crisis but was photographed], or even, by a long shot, Nawaz Sharif.

However, Ijaz misfired. Seemingly, the military and the civilians are both great supporters of America. General Shuja [the intelligence chief] went to England and met Ijaz to confirm the Haqqani memo.The US has managed to calm down both its supporters. Zardari has returned to Pakistan. [December 18.] Poor Haqqani lost his job and may have learned that religion does play a role in life even if the "religion" is Qadiani.

To be fair to Haqqani, General Kayani and General Shuja must have written many memos to American generals. Both visited Mullen and the CIA bosses and Kayani has been to the NATO headquarters in Brussels, once, twice, thrice? Where are their memos and the orders to kill the Shari'a toting Muslims?

In the Wake of "Occupy" Movement-9 Excerpts from
The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism-9
The re-Conditioning of the Value System by the Capitalists.
Dr Javed Jamil
Media the salesman

Another significant 'contribution' of the media has been its role in driving masses to the markets of all kinds. The media is least concerned with the welfare of the people, or their education and morals. Whatever information the media disseminates is almost always invested with some commercial linkage. The prints as well as the electronic media are playing this role to perfection. The overall strategy is to materialise human lives; as conscientious men and women are of no use to the market. It is in fact here that the intrigues of the economic fundamentalists have reached the most sordid level. For them human beings are no humans; they are either animals or machines. It is their animal instincts that fetch them wealth and they use the media to arouse these baser instincts. What a travesty of knowledge that the people these days know enormously more about film actors and actresses, models, fashion designers, musicians and dancers, than scientists, poets, thinkers and reformers.

Is it not sheer nonsense that a number of beauty pageant films and music awards programmes and fashion shows are telecast live all over the world but the recording of the presentation ceremony of the biggest academic awards, the Nobel Prize, is not telecast even at a later stage. There are no exclusive interviews of the Noble Laureates and hardly any prominence is given to their achievements. The snaps of a Miss World or Miss Universe continue to adore the newspapers and magazines for months but they have little space for the Nobel Prize, Magasasay Award or Nehru Award winners. The satellite TV has worsened the matter to unbearable limits. Throughout the day and night, the overwhelming majority of the channels present gorgeously or scantly clad film actors and actresses; the academicians, the moralists and reformists are consciously and conveniently neglected. In doing so, they succeed in amassing wealth not only themselves but also help the other industries to satiate their thirst. The advertisements go straight to strike the inner senses of the watchers who go to buy their 'dream items' at first opportunity.

Advertising propagates two fold message. First, it convinces the target watchers that the possession of a certain product, at the earliest, shall enhance their social status, shall improve their quality of life and shall defend them against imminent dangers. Second, it blindly promotes such social values and aggravates such physical desires as will ensure benefits for the market. These two objectives are sometimes difficult to be simultaneously achieved in a single advertisement. Yet the advertisers are not ready to ignore either of the two, and it results in incongruity between the original message (about the product) and the scenes giving the underlined social message. Whatever the nature of the item, whatever its application and whoever its users, semi-naked, gorgeous women invariably appear on the screen. Not only the natural attraction between men and women is utilised up to the hilt but the human covetousness is also stimulated. If you wish or plan to win over a person or persons of the opposite sex, you must brush your teeth with specific brands of tooth brush and tooth paste, must shave yourself with the shaving machine, blade and shaving cream of a certain company, your hair must be washed with a particular shampoo, your bath must be with a specific kind of soap, you must put on trousers, shirts or sarees of a specific name, even your lingerie must belong to a certain company, you must wear a particular tie, you must have a shoe bearing a special name, must ride a specific bicycle, motorbike, scooter, motorcycle or a car, must smoke a particular brand of cigarette and must take beverages and wines produced by a certain company. Enjoying sex, you are made to believe, is the most essential part of life which should be topmost on your agenda from the time you step out of your bed till the time you retire; and for a wholesome and perfect sexual life, you must not forget to use all the 'essentials', mentioned about and many more. It does not stop here. The advertisements advise you which brand of condoms you must use, in case you have an opportunity to hit your ultimate target, and which tablet you must swallow and lotion you must spray on your genitalia to increase your sexual urge and power; after all, the ecstasy of sexual union must be shared by both the partners.

Perversions promoted

The advertisements are not alone in encouraging criminal liaisons. Even the programmes on TV and films, encourage premarital and extramarital relationship. The films show the lovers in extremely provocative dresses and in highly compromising positions. The message to the young lover is unambiguous. The lovers in the past would continue to have mental proximity for a number of years without compromising their physical aloofness; the modern lovers seek the earliest opportunity, which usually comes within a few days of their introduction, to engage in kissing and hugging culminating in the bed. For increasingly larger number of boys and girls, premarital sexual links are no more taboo. The television and films in West are miles ahead. Sex before marriage is a rule rather than exception there. Thanks to the media that keeps the sexual urge in a state of excessive excitement. The press there drives immense pleasure and, of course, money from publishing the photographs of eminent personalities in compromising positions or in the nude. To peep into the private lives of the rich and famous is a favourite pastime for the amateur cameramen and a lucrative job for the professionals. The tabloids are always willing to assist them in their naked pursuits.

The media in the West, for many years, have been in virtual control of private owners. In countries like, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and China, however, the appearance of private satellite channels is of relatively recent origin. But their entry has been with a bang. Their impact on public perceptions has already started puzzling the social scientists and unnerving the moralists. These satellite channels air a large number of film-based programmes. The restrictions on the official media do not generally apply on them. The dresses of the presenters on private channels are becoming provocatively naughty. Now, the ladies, compeering or anchoring various programmes, who have relatively soberer looks on the government-owned channels, can be found more often than not dressed (or undressed) in shorts and shirts that do not make difficult for the watchers to see and imagines their anatomical detail. With the advent of new non-film musical videos, the media are better placed to be able to exploit the wild fantasies of young men and women. In order to compete with private channels, the official TV too has started presenting similar programmes.

Reconditioning human psychology

As has been mentioned earlier, the economic fundamentalists owning the media have two-fold objectives. Not only do they multiply commercial gains by telecasting programmes showing women's anatomy at its best, they also seek to develop a culture that would open new venues for business. Due to certain restrictions, however, imposed by the law of land, and also due to their own fears of provoking public protests, the media cannot show all that it wants to. But the media strategists are no idiots. They have thousands of ways to recondition human psychology. What they fail to carry through serials and other programmes, they achieve with the help of discourses and discussions organised on TV. The topics of discussions are mostly related to the changing social values. There are discussions, for example, on: Should there be any bar on women's dresses, is there any thing bad in posing nude before camera or giving "bold" scenes in the films and serials? What is wrong with premarital or extramarital liaisons? Is pornography bad? Should there be any legal measures against smoking and drinking? Should the unwed mothers be ostracised by society? Should the young girls opt for modelling as career? Is marriage necessary for society?, and so on. The presentation of such discussions is usually slick. The moderators engage the participants, who are chosen with the objective of conveying a specific message to the listeners or watchers, in a manner that the ultimate result would be in accordance with the specified objective. Though the protagonists and antagonists of a particular issue are given a fair chance to vent their feelings, the producers invariably succeed in extracting from the participants observations that fit in their own scheme of things. The substitution of such programmes appears in the magazines in the form of surveys based on a questionnaire that is circulated among a few thousand persons in a way as would give the desired impression. Recently, for example, some well-known magazines in India carried out surveys for determining the sexual attitude of people living in the country. The surveys indicated that the attitudes of Indian men and women too like their counterparts in the West, were undergoing steady transformation, and people in increasingly greater numbers were indulging in premarital and extramarital sex, and, even, incest and homosexuality were on the rise. The obvious purpose of these exercises is to suggest that the social and legal response towards these practices must change. The law must recognise them as "natural" aberrations or preferences that need neither condemnation nor punishment; society must stop stigmatizing the people behaving differently in their sexual choice, and others have no business to poke their noses.

International Conspiracie

It is not only the private media where economic fundamentalism manifests itself in its ugliest form, the corporations like BBC and Voice of America too are extremely partisan in their presentations. They project themselves as the most unbiased news organisations, but, there is always a carefully hidden conspiracy lurking in the shadows of their programmes. Their objectives include presenting the people of the West as developed and civilised, and the people of the East as backward, belligerent and uncivilised, making every possible effort to malign religion (especially a particular religion that is considered the biggest threat to their dominance), beating anti-west nations with the stick of "human rights", blindly supporting individualism, regarding all social aberrations as natural, impressing upon the East that, whatever vices the West is blamed for, are also existing in their societies, and advising them that, if they want to travel on the road to progress, they have no option but to seek scientific, technical and economic assistance from Western Powers. BBC has always spouted venom on communism, Islam and Indian culture. It has constantly striven to demolish all religions in general and Islam in particular. The sense and concept of chastity with which Islam and other religious people have always been extremely concerned has been ridiculed rather than appreciated; instead, it has carried reports on homosexuality and other similar perversions in some East Asian countries in order to convince the listeners that debauchery is not limited to the West.

'Gutter journalism'

The impact of economic fundamentalism on the press has spawned what is aptly termed 'gutter journalism'. The market of newspapers and magazines expands in the wake of sensational stories. Scandals are reported with a great fanfare; in fact, non-issues are many a time converted with the magic of ink into mind-blowing scandals. Sex scandals have become routine in the West. Till recently such news was confined to a few tabloids and the leading dailies did not attach any significance to these stories. But now even the biggest dailies garnish their front pages with reports, often with 'exciting' photographs, on the private lives of public figures. The affairs of the members of the Royal family are the topics of discussion in bars, restaurants and clubs of England.

The impacts of sensationalism in journalism on business are manifold. It multiplies the sales of newspapers and magazines, diverts the attention of the masses from their real problems that are mostly the outcome of glaring economic imbalances accentuated by economic fundamentalism, fans materialistic desires which are the key to consumerism, and changes social and cultural ethos in society. Sometimes it goes to the extent of blackmailing the public figures. The increased sales naturally brings in more advertisements

"Freedom of expression"

To justify and perpetuate its style of functioning, the media has discovered the "freedom of expression" that has lately assumed notorious proportions. To traduce anybody, to malign religions and religious figures, to describe and exaggerate the most private areas of the life of any celebrity, to portray or publish anyone in the nude, to film the lewdest forms of sexual relations and to engage in disinformation for the furtherance of the desired objectives--all these have become great symbols of freedom of expression for them. Liberty has turned into libertinage and license to express has resulted in licentiousness. Any attempt to censor or curb such vagrancy attracts virulent condemnation by the media all over the world. Those who advocate some control on expression are booed down as the enemies of freedom, civilisation and development. To give further credence to its licentiousness, the media has used the "right to know" as an instrument to defend itself. And when, sometimes, it faces unbearably intensive shelling for its waywardness, it takes refuge in the argument that, instead of making any laws to patrol the media, the media must itself resolve to exercise self- restraint. This is another matter that, as soon as the controversy gets subdued the self-restraint too is cremated with full media honours. Reality TV, which are hardly Real, is becoming increasingly notorious and therefore increasingly popular. Thus "freedom of expression" is nothing but a tool in the hands of the economic fundamentalists, who misuse it with great effect for their commercial adventures.

No doubt one may smile and smile and yet be a villain.

* Dr Javed Jamil is Executive Chairman, International Centre for Applied Islamics, Chief Editor, "Islam, Muslims & the World" and Director PEACE. He is also author of more than a dozen books including "Islam means Peace", "The Essence of the Divine Verses", "The Killer Sex", "Rediscovering the Universe", "The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism" and "Islamic Model for Control of AIDS". Also has more than 200 articles and papers to his credit. His soon-to-be-published works include "Scientific & Social Principles based on Qur'an" and "Westernism: the Ideology of Hegemony". He can be reached at doctorforu123@yahoo.com. Phones: 91- 8130340339

The last line is a quote from Shakespeare - Ed.

29 Million Women have been victims of extreme violence: 1 in every three were raped.

Domestic Violence: 1 In 4 American Women Attacked By Intimate Partner

By MIKE STOBBE 12/14/11 08:26 PM ET Associated Press
ATLANTA -- It's a startling number: 1 in 4 women surveyed by the government say they were violently attacked by their husbands or boyfriends.
Experts in domestic violence don't find it too surprising, although some aspects of the survey may have led to higher numbers than are sometimes reported.
Even so, a government official who oversaw the research called the results "astounding."
"It's the first time we've had this kind of estimate" on the prevalence of intimate partner violence, said Linda Degutis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey, released by the CDC Wednesday, marks the beginning of a new annual project to look at how many women say they've been abused.
One expert called the new report's estimate on rape and attempted rape "extremely high" - with 1 in 5 women saying they were victims. About half of those cases involved intimate partners. No documentation was sought to verify the women's claims, which were made anonymously.
But advocates say the new rape numbers are plausible.
"It's a major problem that often is underestimated and overlooked," said Linda James, director of health for Futures Without Violence, a San Francisco-based organization that advocates against domestic abuse.
The CDC report is based on a randomized telephone survey of about 9,000 women and 7,400 men.
Among the findings:
Several of the CDC numbers are higher than those of other sources. For example, the CDC study suggests that 1.3 million women have suffered rape, attempted rape or had sex forced on them in the previous year. That statistic is more than seven times greater than what was reported by a Department of Justice household survey conducted last year.
The CDC rape numbers seem "extremely high," but there may be several reasons for the differences, including how the surveys were done, who chose to participate and how "rape" and other types of assault were defined or interpreted, said Shannan Catalano, a statistician with the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
"It is an evolving field, and everyone is striving to get a handle on what's the best estimate," Catalano said.
The CDC's numbers don't seem surprising to people who work with abused women.
"I think that the awareness is growing," said Kim Frndak, community educator for the Women's Rescue Center to End Domestic Violence, which operates a shelter on the outskirts of Atlanta.
"More and more people are really saying, `Oh, this is something that we need to pay attention to as well,' because it's your sister, it's your mother, it's your daughter, it's your son, it's your brother. Someone in your own circle is being affected by domestic violence, and the effects can be devastating," she said.
____
Associated Press Writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report


Peshawar: The city of the fearless and Allah-Conscious People.
December 18: Cherish the photo below.

A gathering of historic and record breaking proportions indicates Victory of Peaceful Islamic Movement Jamaate Islami led by Syed Munawar Hasan.


With thanks to Br. L. in Illinois via Asia Times.
The man who rationalized and "sold" the war on Iraq.
America's Leading Zionist Jew: Presented by NYT as an intellectual was mentally a pygmy.

BOOKS REVIEW
Deconstructing Thomas Friedman
The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work by Belen Fernandez

Reviewed by Sandra Siagian

NEW YORK - A new book on the influential New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman sets out to debunk his hawkish, neo-liberal views, accusing him of overt racism, factual errors and skewed judgments on issues ranging from the United States invasion of Iraq to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Deconstructing one of the country's highest-paid journalists, Belen Fernandez's The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work presents a comprehensive overview of the man - and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner - she describes as "characterized by reduction of complex international phenomena to simplistic
rhetoric and theorems that rarely withstand the test of reality".

Fernandez, 29, admits that prior to 2009 she wasn't too familiar with the work of the foreign affairs columnist. It wasn't until that summer she decided to analyze Friedman's work after reading "a sequence of ridiculous articles".

Finding it difficult to ''cram all of that incompetence into a concise book'', Fernandez divided the content into three issues that ''most enraged'' her, analyzing his work along with a brief examination of the shortcomings of the US media.

The Imperial Messenger looks at Friedman's obsession with US global dominance, his Orientalism vis-a-vis the Arab/Muslim world, and his special relationship with Israel.

It took her just over a year, working with the editor and feature writer at Pulse Media, in which she read every column he had written since 1995 three times. She also read a selection of his articles that were free to access from the New York Times archive, from 1981 to 1995.

The final product, written in a punchy and often sarcastic tone, offers a concise overview that is accessible even for those who aren't familiar with Friedman's work.

Media darling
Fernandez explained that the first chapter, "America", incorporates Friedman's "cheerleading of punitive economic systems at home and abroad" while the "Special Relationship" chapter delves into the inconsistencies of his persona as a serious critic of the Jewish state.

"His criticism, of course, is limited to intermittently encouraging the Israelis to slightly curtail settlements," Fernandez told Inter Press Service (IPS). "Not because he cares about the plight of non-settlers, but because he wants to avoid a situation in which Palestinians demand equal rights in a multiethnic democracy."

As an example, Fernandez cites his advocacy of the war in Iraq "to create a free, open and progressive model in the heart of the Arab/Muslim world to promote the ideas of tolerance, pluralism and democratization".

She says Friedman wrote this after having said in 2002 that "unless the US encourage(s) alternative energies that will slowly bring the price of oil down and force Arab/Muslim countries to open up and adapt to modernity - we can invade Iraq once a week and it's not going to unleash democracy in the Arab world".

In the same year, Friedman classifies the invasion of Iraq as "the most important task worth doing and worth debating", even while admitting that it "would be a huge, long, costly task - if it is doable at all, and I am not embarrassed to say that I don't know if it is".

In the "Arab/Muslim World" chapter, she quotes Friedman as concluding that the "short answer" for why the US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan in response to 9/11 "is because Pakistan has nukes that we fear and Saudi Arabia has oil that we crave".

Fernandez notes that Friedman is never forced to formally retreat or even informally amend offensive and racist statements, meanwhile diverting attention from the role of Israel in generating regional rage by accusing the Palestinians of "a collective madness".

Friedman's power and freedom to express his views is made evident when Fernandez describes the latitude granted him by the New York Times. Take this excerpt:

"Readers of Friedman's column are often reminded that New York Times columnists are not permitted to endorse US presidential candidates. The blatant endorsement of war crimes like collective punishment, however, is apparently less polemical, even when columnists cannot keep track of their own reasons for said punishment.

"In separate reflections on the war with Serbia published two months apart in 1999, Friedman writes in the former that once the [Kosovar] refugee evictions began ... using a huge air war for a limited objective was the only thing that made sense." He then adds that he may indeed understand the true sequence of events, 'NATO [the North Atlantic Treaty Organization] bombed, and [Slobodan] Milosevic began ruthlessly killing and evicting Kosovar Albanians'".

Whatever the reader's political bent, The Imperial Messenger raises thought-provoking questions about the objectivity of mainstream media when it comes to US economic and foreign policy interests.

After stripping down columns, articles and his books, Fernandez said her perception of Friedman worsened from beginning to end.

"I realized how truly criminal his behavior is, whereas before I had thought of him more as a somewhat amusing purveyor of mixed metaphors who had by accident ascended to the post of New York Times foreign affairs columnist," she told IPS.

"The New York Times is totally complicit in Friedman's crimes, just as it was complicit in selling the whole business of the Iraq war. The degenerate state of the mainstream media, which actively sides with corporate profit over human life, is simply a testament to the importance of alternative media outlets."

The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work by Belen Fernandez. Verso (November 1, 2011). ISBN-10: 1844677494. Price US$16.95, 240 pages.

(Inter Press Service)

2011-12-19 Mon 19:04:33 cst
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