A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer without permission or knowledge of the user. However, the term “virus†is commonly used, albeit erroneously, to refer to many different types of bad programs.
The original virus may modify the copies, or the copies may modify themselves, as occurs in a metamorphic virus. A virus can only spread from one computer to another when its host is taken to the uninfected computer, for instance by a user sending it over a network or the Internet, or by carrying it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, or USB drive.
Also, viruses can spread to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer. Viruses are sometimes confused with computer worms and Trojan horses. A worm can spread itself to other computers without needing to be transferred as part of a host, and a Trojan horse is a file that appears harmless until executed.
Many personal computers are now connected to the Internet and to local area networks, facilitating the spread of malicious code. Today’s viruses may also take advantage of network services such as the World Wide Web, e-mail, and file sharing systems to spread, blurring the line between viruses and worms.
Furthermore, some sources use an alternative terminology in which a virus is any form of self-replicating malware.
Some viruses are programmed to damage the computer by damaging programs, deleting files, or reformatting the hard disk. Others are not designed to do any damage, but simply replicate themselves and perhaps make their presence known by presenting text, video, or audio messages. Even these benign viruses can create problems for the computer user. They typically take up computer memory used by legitimate programs. As a result, they often cause erratic behavior and can result in system crashes. In addition, many viruses are bug-ridden, and these bugs may lead to system crashes and data loss.
The Creeper virus was first detected on ARPANET, the forerunner of the Internet in the early 1970s.
It propagated via the TENEX operating system and could make use of any connected modem to dial out to remote computers and infect them. It would display the message “I’M THE CREEPER : CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.â€. It is rumored that the Reaper program, which appeared shortly after and sought out copies of the Creeper and deleted them, may have been written by the creator of the Creeper in a fit of regret.
A program called “Elk Cloner†is commonly credited with being the first computer virus to appear “in the wild†— that is, outside the single computer or lab where it was created, but that claim is false.
See the Timeline of notable computer viruses and worms for other earlier viruses. It was however the first virus to infect computers “in the homeâ€.
Written in 1982 by Richard Skrenta, it attached itself to the Apple DOS 3.3 operating system and spread by floppy disk.
This virus was originally a joke, created by a high school student and put onto a game. The disk could only be used 49 times.
The game was set to play, but release the virus on the 50th time of starting the game.
Only this time, instead of playing the game, it would change to a blank screen that read a poem about the virus named Elk Cloner.
December 17, 2007–(Over the past few weeks, as interest has grown in the 2008 U.S. presidential contest, I’ve been asked by friends across the Arab world for my opinion on Barack Obama. Could I explain the phenomenon they are seeing on television? Can he win? Here is my response.)
Watching Barack Obama since he first burst onto the national scene with his electrifying speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, through his spectacular three-state tour de force last week with Oprah Winfrey, it is clear that the Obama phenomenon requires both reflection and understanding.
It appears from the excitement he generates that Barack has tapped into a deep vein in the contemporary American psyche. While it is always useful to parse out the positions he has taken on critical issues, and even to weigh in the balance the importance of “experience†versus “judgment,†or “change†versus “Washington†– these being the matters discussed by the candidates – they, alone, do not explain the phenomenon we are witnessing. Something more profound is occurring in this election. And it appears to be wrapped up in the person of Barack Obama, himself.
It was over a year ago that my daughter Sarah spoke to me of her enthusiasm for Barack’s still fledgling candidacy. Sarah is a graphic designer and a mother, sensitive and thoughtful about the issues of the day. But like many, she had grown weary of politics and wary of politicians.
She had heard Barack Obama speak and was moved by what she described as his authenticity and clarity. He did not appear to her to be typical. His call for a new approach to politics appealed to her. Quite simply, she said, “He gives me hope.â€
“Your generation,†she continued, “had many such figures,†mentioning the Kennedys and Dr. King. “We have not. I want to believe he can make a difference.â€
Sarah’s observations prefigured the themes that the Obama campaign would capture with their ubiquitous signs reading “Change you can believe in†and the simple “Hope†buttons worn by supporters.
I saw Barack Obama’s appeal on display the day he delivered his maiden campaign address before the Democratic National Committee in February of 2007. The other candidates had each delivered their speeches as if cut from the same cloth: a litany of issues and personal promises punctuated by a series of applause lines. When Obama’s turn came, he began quietly and thoughtfully, to deliver a discourse on the cynicism that has infected our politics and the need to awaken hope in the electorate that can mobilize the consensus needed to make real change.
As he continued, I looked around the room (which was so quiet you could have heard the proverbial pin drop) and saw something intriguing in the faces of the 600 or so assembled party leaders. Obama was showing respect for them, and they were respectfully listening and reflecting. Interestingly, he used the word “I†a mere handful of times in that address – compared to the more than two dozen times it was used by each of his competitors.
When he finished, the applause was thunderous.
Reading Obama’s autobiography “Dreams from My Father†helps, in part, to explain the man and the response he is capable of eliciting. Written at 34 (he is 46 now), more than simply telling his story, “Dreams†is an exercise in self-discovery. In it, he works through the many issues of his complex life trajectory, discovering the meaning of his identity, the role of family and community, and the legacy he inherited from both his mother and his “absent†father.
If he appears at peace with himself, self-possessed and able to “ring true†(to borrow Andre Gide’s phrase) it is because, to a remarkable degree, he is. And it appears that it is that very quality that resonates. Watching him on stage, in a crowd, or engaged in a conversation of substance, he looks at ease, unruffled and comfortable, alternately listening and engaging.
In the grueling and sometimes destructive sport of campaign politics, where candidates subject themselves to what are arguably the most brutal of endurance tests (always on call, always needing to be personable and informed, all the while being scrutinized and dissected), Barack Obama appears to remain cool and in control.
And then there is the matter of race. All of the questions about “will white America vote for him?†or “is he black enough?†point to a single reality, which is that race remains a defining issue in American life.
But then there was the scene of Obama announcing his candidacy on a bitter cold day in Springfield, Illinois before an overwhelmingly white audience of thousands who braved the weather to cheer their state’s “favorite son.†Or Barack and Oprah one day in Des Moines, Iowa, again before a largely white audience of 18,500, and then the next day before a mixed race audience of 29,500 in Columbia, South Carolina. And in both places they generated the same reaction, the same enthusiasm, the same hope.
To say, as some have, that Barack Obama transcends race, like Tiger Woods, misses the point. Rather, it appears, he embodies the matter of race and helps to reconcile the divide in his person and message.
Finally, the context is important to consider. After eight largely successful, but embattled and exhausting years, the Clinton Administration gave way to George Bush and seven years of lost opportunities and failed leadership. All of this has left many Americans bitter and cynical. Preying off of fear, anger and division has taken a toll and damaged the spirit of the body politic. Into this arena Barack Obama has issued a call in a different voice – an appeal to the angels of our better selves coupled with the optimism and conviction that change can come. It is this voice my Sarah, and so many others, have heard.
Can he win? His polling numbers are improving daily. In the end, however, the voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada will answer that question in January. But is he real, and does the movement he has inspired matter? The answer to that is self-evidently yes.
Washington Watch is a weekly column written by AAI President James Zogby. The views expressed within this column do not necessarily reflect those of the Arab American Institute.
BAGHDAD–When the Iraqi government last month invited home the 1.4 million refugees who had fled this war-ravaged country for Syria — and said it would send buses to pick them up — the United Nations and the U.S. military reacted with horror.
U.N. refugee officials immediately advised against the move, saying any new arrivals risked homelessness, unemployment and deprivation in a place still struggling to take care of the people already here. For the military, the prospect of refugees returning to reclaim houses long since occupied by others, particularly in Baghdad, threatened to destroy fragile security improvements.
“It’s a problem that everybody can grasp,†said a senior U.S. diplomat here. “You move back to the house that you left and find that somebody else has moved into the house, maybe because they’ve been displaced from someplace else. And it’s even more difficult than that, because in many cases the local militias . . . have seized control and threw out anybody in that neighborhood they didn’t like.â€
The vast population upheaval resulting from Iraq’s sectarian conflict has left the country with yet another looming crisis. At least one of every six Iraqis — about 4.5 million people — has left home, some for other parts of Iraq, others for neighboring nations.
Many have run out of money and options in Syria, Jordan and other Arab countries, all of which have recently intensified efforts to evict Iraqi refugees. Others have exhausted the patience and resources of family and friends. Lured by reports of security improvements and encouraged by a government eager to demonstrate normalcy, they have started to trickle back over the past two months.
The question of how to deal with them is posing a complex new challenge for Iraq’s government, as well as for U.S. military commanders, diplomats and international aid workers here. U.S. and U.N. officials have been pushing Iraqi leaders to develop programs and policies aimed at addressing the vexing problems associated with returning refugees.
“It’s very easy to say, ‘Come home,’ “ said Guy Siri, the U.N. deputy humanitarian coordinator in Iraq. “But come home where, and how? It’s much more complex than that. You have to look at the whole environment, how the community will accept them, whether it’s economically viable. There’s a whole lot of thinking on the government side to be done.â€
Kareem Sadi Haadi, 48, an engineer who now works in a shoe store in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood, said he returned from Damascus last month with his wife and daughter only because his savings ran out and he was not allowed to work legally in Syria. He said he is trying to save enough money to flee Iraq again.
The Iraqi government should not be telling refugees that the country is secure or offering to ferry them back from Syria, Haadi said, adding, “They are misleading Iraqis 100 percent. Eighty percent of those who want to come back is because of residency complications in Syria.â€
The thorny issues were evident when the first and so far only group of families was bused back from Syria by the Iraqi government on Nov. 28. According to the United Nations, only about a third of the 30 families returned to their original homes. Most of the rest, finding a new sectarian makeup in their neighborhood or their property pillaged, moved in with already overburdened relatives in other parts of the Baghdad area.
For many Iraqis, the homes they left no longer exist. Houses have been looted, destroyed or occupied. Most Baghdad neighborhoods, where Shiites and Sunnis once lived side by side, have been transformed into religiously homogeneous bastions where members of the other sect dare not tread.
U.S. military commanders and diplomats here acknowledge that the recent decline in violence is the result, in part, of the city’s segregation. There are now far fewer mixed neighborhoods where religious militias can target members of the other sect.
“There is an element of the violence being down because segregation has already happened,†said Col. William E. Rapp, a senior aide to Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq. “The violence is still at the fault lines, and we’re sitting on those fault lines.â€
Rapp said Iraqis have to ask themselves: “Do you even want to come back? Because that neighborhood is no longer Sunni, it’s now Shia. Or it’s no longer Shia, it’s now Sunni.â€
In most of Baghdad, the population shift has been at the expense of Sunnis, many of whose former neighborhoods are newly populated by poorer Shiite migrants under militia protection and, often, control. Groups such as Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia “are no longer just thugs who are carrying guns around on the street,†the diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity about the issue. “They’ve kind of supplanted local government, with streams of revenue — rent from housing they’ve taken over, protection money from businesses,†and control of fuel and electricity supplies.
Omar Qasim, 36, left Baghdad’s Sidiya district with his wife and two sons for Damascus last December, after Shiite militias began moving into the neighborhood and fellow Sunnis began getting killed. Now, he said in a telephone interview from Syria, his car and furniture are gone and his house is occupied by a militia commander. “I wish to go back right now to my country,†he said, “but the current calm in Baghdad is the calm before the storm.â€
The U.S. military command estimates that there are 350,000 displaced persons in Baghdad, 80 percent of them original residents of the capital who fled their neighborhoods primarily because of sectarian violence. The figure does not include those who have not come to official attention by registering a new address for monthly food rations.
“This is a major issue that’s probably going to be resolved by new housing construction as opposed to wholesale evictions and resettlements,†Rapp said. “But we have been asking, pleading with the government of Iraq to come up with a policy so that it’s not put upon our battalion commanders and the [Iraqi] battalion commanders to figure it out on the ground.â€
After frantic foreign intervention, the Iraqi government agreed this month to temporarily suspend the offer of a bus trip from Syria.
Seeing the problem as one of new housing construction is an indication of the lowered expectations that have come to characterize many aspects of the current U.S. push for political reconciliation in Iraq. But U.N. and other aid officials argue that the status quo is unacceptable.
“People have papers. There should be a law. Houses cannot just be taken like that; people will not accept it,†Siri said.
The number of Iraqis returning under their own steam is still a relative trickle. The Iraqi Red Crescent estimates that 25,000 have come back from Syria since September, while the Iraqi government puts the combined total in recent months at 60,000 from Syria and Jordan, where the Iraqi refugee population totals about 700,000.
Recent surveys conducted by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees paint an increasingly dire picture of refugee life. In Syria, a third of Iraqi refugees said their resources will last for less than three more months. With new Syrian visa requirements and restrictions on services, nearly half said their children have dropped out of school.
“If you are in Damascus,†Siri said, “you are tempted to say, ‘Many families [returned] last week; maybe it’s time for us, as well.’ A snowball effect can be created.â€
The Iraqi government appears divided on whether to encourage the returns. The Damascus bus convoy was reportedly organized by the Ministry of Defense, although apparently it was not coordinated with the Transportation Ministry, which scrambled to find transportation into Iraq for the refugees when Syrian buses left them at the border and refused to travel farther.
While the convoys have been put on hold for the moment, state television has continued to run commercials advocating return. Iraqi officials in Damascus grumble that U.N. emergency relief for refugees there is keeping them from going home.
“The government is basically doing this to restore confidence in themselves,†said Herve Richard-Thomas of the International Medical Corps, a U.S.-based relief organization working on humanitarian issues in Iraq. “It’s partly because Baghdad is safer right now, but the biggest reason is so that they can look good and show that they’re doing something.â€
But the government ministry charged with caring for the returnees has been more cautious. “In reality, the ministry cannot absorb a return on that scale,†Migration Minister Abdul-Samad Rahman said at a news conference this month. “If the influx is huge, then neither the ministry nor the entire government can handle it.â€
Correspondent Sudarsan Raghavan and special correspondent Zaid Sabah contributed to this report.
December 18, 2007–MOUNT ARAFAT, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Millions of Muslims marked the zenith of the hajj Tuesday, praying for God’s forgiveness on a rocky desert hill here where in Muslim tradition Adam and Eve were reunited after leaving Eden.
The ritual of standing at Mount Rahma is the most spiritual moment of the pilgrimage, when Muslims believe God will grant whatever prayers they make.
Among the faithful this year is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who on Tuesday stopped by the vast tent city where pilgrims are housed on the plateau called Mount Arafat to visit with Iranians there, Tehran’s state broadcasting company.
However, Ahmadinejad stayed away from a brief rally held by several hundred Iranian pilgrims, calling on Muslims to unite against the U.S. and Israel, which they said ‘’dominate the Muslim world.’’
The rally is an annual occurrence at hajj, arranged by the Iranian government. An envoy read a statement from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the faithful, telling them that hajj requires them to show love for God and to ‘’expel, fight and stand up to Satan’’ — lessons Muslims ‘’have to learn all over the world.’’
‘’They are hatching plots in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan and pitting one section of Muslims against the other,’’ Ayatollah Mohammadi Reyshahri said, reading the statement.
A few at the gathering shouted ‘’Death to America!’’ and ‘’Death to Israel!’’ and called the two nations the enemies of God. But there was none of the fist shaking that marks such chants at rallies back home in Iran — a nod to the hajj’s traditional lack of aggressiveness, arguments and disputes.
The protest, directed by Iranian security officers, stayed strictly inside the encampment, following Saudi rules. In the fervent early years after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian pilgrims held public protests outside their camps during hajj rituals, leading to friction with Saudi authorities that climaxed in 1987 when a protest in Mecca turned into a clash with Saudi police that killed several hundred Iranians, Saudi and others. In recent years, Iran has put less effort into the small yearly rally inside the camp.
On Tuesday, most of the Iranians paid little attention to the envoy’s speech.
Azam Rahimi, 44, a teacher, said she didn’t listen.
‘’We’ve heard these slogans for so many years that we know them by heart,’’ she said. But she added, ‘’Of course we don’t want America to impose its culture on us. It’s the duty of all Muslims to stop this from happening.’’
Saudi pilgrim Ali Saadi and his friends sat on a plastic mat on a sidewalk nearby.
‘’This is not the place for politics,’’ said Saadi, a 58-year-old businessman. ‘’Hajj is when you get close to God. I guess they have their own justification. As their hosts, we can’t stop them.’’
Mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and mainly Shiite Iran are regional rivals, with Saudis concerned over the increasing influence of Iran in the Middle East. The two countries back opposing camps in the crises in Iraq and Lebanon.
Around 3 million Muslims from around the world are attending this year’s hajj. They flooded into Arafat late Monday and early Tuesday. Lines of buses with pilgrims on the roofs packed highways leading into the site, while others on foot swarmed between the vehicles.
They climbed Mount Rahma, the rocky hill on Arafat where it’s believed Adam and Eve were reunited after leaving Eden, and sought God’s forgiveness of their sins. They performed noon prayers at the Namira Mosque, where the Prophet Muhammad (s) gave his last sermon.
Young children and old women begged for money as the crush of people pressed ahead on their way to Mount Rahma. Some spread out prayer beads, bags, umbrellas, and cookies on the pavement for sale.
Most pilgrims stay in the sprawling tent city, which is divided by country. But thousands of others slept in the open on blankets, in small makeshift plastic tents.
The Arafat rituals end at sunset Tuesday, after which the faithful move to the nearby Muzdalifah and spend the night there. They collect stones that they will take with them to Mina the next day with which to pelt the devil. This ritual commemorates Abraham’s stoning of Satan when he tried to tempt him to disobey God.
Courtesy New America Media, News Analysis, Jalal Ghazi
Dec 14, 2007
Editor’s Note: Recent bombings in Algiers and Beirut suggest the work of Al-Qaeda. However, Arab media believe that the violence may have been motivated by political forces within the two countries. Jalal Ghazi writes the weekly column Eye on Arab Media for New America Media.
Arab political analysts differ on who might be behind the latest car bombings in Algiers and Beirut, but they agree that these bombings are not independent acts by terrorist groups; they are the result of ongoing political rivalries within the two countries.
Algerian Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni was quoted in the independent Algerian newspaper El Khabar, saying: “[T]he objective [of the double suicide explosions] was to derail the democratization process in the country and prevent it from having real democracy,†especially since the explosions occurred outside the newly constructed Constitutional Council. Zerhouni said the bombing might have been an attempt to stall a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow current president Abdulaziz Bouteflika to run for another term.
Bouteflika has introduced major political reforms since he was first elected in 1999. Before that, French-backed army generals had strengthened their control over Algeria for years after a military coup in 1991. In 1992, they cancelled legislative elections when it became evident that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) – an Islamist political party – was going to win, and used the civil war that followed to strengthen their control. Bouteflika successfully reasserted presidential authority and curbed the power of the army generals – along with offering several amnesties to the armed Islamic groups fighting against the military.
The relative calm enabled Bouteflika to embark on a demilitarization program that curbed the power of the army generals. First, Muhammad al-Ammari resigned from his post as army chief of staff in August 2004 – after Bouteflika won a second five-year term. Then Algerian daily newspaper El Khabar reported that Bouteflika fired the commander of the Republic guards Lt. Gen. Ali Juma’ and the commander of the naval forces Muhammad al-Taher Yali, both in 2005.
One of Bouteflika’s biggest obstacles, however, is the army’s intelligence, which still works independently from the presidential office. Many Algerians believe that this intelligence has been involved in a “dirty war†by infiltrating extremist Islamist groups during the civil war and instigating acts of violence against civilians as a way to strengthen their grip on the political process in Algeria.
Now, some Algerians are accusing this intelligence of being behind the recent violence with the objective of undermining Bouteflika’s government and preventing him from running for another term – even though the suicide bombing was made to look like that of the FIS or other Islamist groups.
Abbasi Madani, the head of the Islamic Salvation Front, told Al Jazeera: “Their objective is to bring Algeria back to the bloody years of the civil war. As if the crimes that were committed were not enough…. Every time Algeria nears a solution to the political crisis, the enemies of Algeria try to return it to the bloody years. Why aren’t the Algerians left alone so they can build their own state?â€
Abbasi’s view reflects that of many Algerians who feel that France is still indirectly occupying their country through its loyal army generals, who still have a great deal of influence over Algeria.
Similarly, Wednesday’s car bomb assassination in Lebanon must also be understood in the context of the domestic political rivalry between the so-called “March 14 Alliance†backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia and the “March 8 Alliance†backed by Iran and Syria.
The two camps have been overwhelmed with a fierce power struggle over who the next president should be and how he should be elected since Nov. 23, when Lebanese President Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term. The two camps came to an agreement on the candidacy of General Michel Suleiman, the chief of the army. But hopes of unity and stability were jeopardized by the sudden assassination of Brigadier General François al-Hajj, who was supposed to succeed Suleiman as the next army chief.
Some suggested that the perpetrators may have carried out the assassination – a parked car exploding when Gen. al-Hajj drove by on his way to work – because the general played a leading role in fighting the Al Qaeda-affiliated group known as Fatah Al Islam in the Nar Al Bared refugee camp, which would mean that the assassination was an act of revenge.
However, the timing, location and sophistication of the operation strongly suggests that the perpetrators had access to sensitive information that members of Fatah Al Islam, or other Al Qaeda-affiliated groups, most likely do not have.
So, who was really behind the Lebanon car bomb?
The fact that the bombing took place in a secured area makes some analysts skeptical that it was indeed carried out by these terrorist groups. Political analyst Masry Sayegh told Al Jazeera, “This operation was a great setback for the Lebanese army because it happened within their own ground. As an independent observer, I wonder how can these powerful explosives reach these secured areas? Can we consider this a security breach or a miracle carried out by the terrorists?â€
The former chief of the Lebanese gendarmerie Saeed Eid told Al Jazeera that the perpetrators could be “external forces that want to see Lebanon dragged into a civil war. They assassinated Francois al-Hajj as a way to weaken the army which is the most important line of defense against a war,†he said, referring to Israel.
The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper raised a very important point: “What is unique about this assassination is the fact that the Lebanese officials refrained from accusing Syria of being behind it, like all other assassinations.†According to the newspaper, this is because the assassinated Lebanese general was a fierce enemy of Israel, and there was no animosity between him and the Syrian regime. The newspaper continues, “Some Lebanese believe that the biggest beneficiary from the ongoing Lebanese crisis is Israel. The assassination aims at dragging the country into a civil war, just like what happened in the mid-1970s.â€
The recent explosions in Algeria and Lebanon may have the look and feel of those carried out by Al Qaeda-affiliated groups, but the timing of these explosions strongly suggest that external forces – like Syria, Israel or even French colonial powers – may also have a hidden hand.
Washington — Religion is not a part of the conversation among her friends at school, but treating each other with respect is, says Jessica, 14, at an interfaith dinner organized by Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders.
“I believe in God, but I am not a member of any particular church,†the teenager said at the December 16 dinner outside Washington in Frederick, Maryland. She attended the event with a friend and his family, who are Jewish.
“It’s all good,†her friend, Sam, 14, said. “Younger people are open to new ideas and diverse communities.â€
More than 250 members of the Jewish, Islamic and Christian communities in Frederick shared a meal together at the second annual Hanukah, Christmas and Hajj Festival. Dinner was served potluck style — families contributed their favorite dishes of the season and placed them side by side with those of their neighbors on long banquet tables. There was something for everyone — from green bean casserole and homemade saffron bread to matzoh ball soup, keema kabob and vegetable pilaf.
“I came [to the interfaith festival] to meet people in my community,†said Latifa Boutaleb. Her husband attended the first interfaith dinner in 2006 and said he would not miss this year’s event. The Boutalebs worship at the Islamic Society of Frederick, and Tewfik Boutaleb performed Hajj in 2006. The Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, is the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, which all able Muslims are expected to perform at least once in their lifetime. (See related article.)
“It is beautiful to be here with all the children playing together,†Tewfik Boutaleb said. His son, Mohamed, 7, was spinning a dreidel, the traditional top played during the eight-day Jewish festival of Hanukah, with Nourjannah, 9, the daughter of Imam Yahya Hendi of the Islamic Society of Frederick.
“There are some people all over the world who misunderstand religions,†Nourjannah said. “Maybe if we bring them all together, they can see there is another side to their religions.â€
Nourjannah, who told USINFO she wants to be a “speaker of peace who travels around the world†when she grows up, said she is glad she lives in America where “everybody can practice their faith.†Nourjannah said her room at home has piles of books about different religions, and she enjoys reading about and listening to other people’s stories. Both Nourjannah and Mohamed were paying close attention when representatives from the Jewish, Islamic and Christian communities gave presentations explaining stories and rituals of Hanukah, Christmas and Hajj.
Sadia Fayyaz, 17, said she hopes to be a teacher some day so she can encourage young people “to talk through†religious debates. Sadia’s parents live in Pakistan; she lives in Frederick with her sister and brother-in-law and their four children. “A lot of my friends at school are Jewish,†Sadia told USINFO. “We are always questioning each other.â€
Sadia said there is much diversity at her secondary school, which has designated a special room for Muslim students to pray during the day. Her father has performed Hajj, said Sadia, who hopes to make the pilgrimage herself soon.
Hendi and fellow Frederick spiritual leaders Rabbi Dan Sikowitz of Congregation Kol Ami and the Reverend Gerald Hanberry of Glade United Church of Christ offered blessings before the meal. Hendi explained that although Eid-ul-Adha, which marks the end of Hajj, is celebrated by pilgrims making the annual journey to Mecca, it also is celebrated by Muslims elsewhere, including in the United States.
“It is important to come together to find out how much we share in our humanness,†said Miriam Klements who was seated at the same table as the Boutalebs. “What we do to get to know each other at the human, family and community level is really important.†Klements is a member of Frederick Interfaith, a sponsor of the event.
The interfaith festival also was sponsored by the Islamic Society of Frederick, Glade United Church of Christ, United Church of Frederick, St. Katherine Drexel Roman Catholic Church, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick, Beth Sholom Congregation and Congregation Kol Ami of Frederick.
Rukhsana Rahman and Cathy Olson used the evening to catch up. The two have become friends since they began “sharing†an Iraqi teenager who came to the Frederick area as an exchange student. Olsen hosted him in the summer; Rahman got him for the school year.
“I would like to be part of the peace-building process,†Janet Borison, a member of the Glade United Church of Christ, told USINFO, “and I want to support whatever my community is doing to advance that process.†Borison attended the dinner with her husband and three children. Her son Ian, 17, said “religion doesn’t have much to do with who I associate with.†Ian’s brother, Adam, 6, told USINFO that he learned about Hanukah and Hajj in primary school.
“We all have things to sacrifice for the glory of God, for example, time and money,†said Hendi. “By bringing peace and justice, we all have something to contribute.â€
USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
Key senators say Congress has outlawed one of the most notorious detainee interrogation techniques — “waterboarding,†in which a prisoner feels near drowning. But the White House will not go that far, saying it would be wrong to tell terrorists which practices they might face.
Inside the CIA, waterboarding is cited as the technique that got Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the prime plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to begin to talk and provide information — though “not all of it reliable,†a former senior intelligence official said.
Waterboarding is variously characterized as a powerful tool and a symbol of excess in the nation’s fight against terrorists. But just what is waterboarding, and where does it fit in the arsenal of coercive interrogation techniques?
On Jan. 21, 1968, The Washington Post published a front-page photograph of a U.S. soldier supervising the questioning of a captured North Vietnamese soldier who is being held down as water was poured on his face while his nose and mouth were covered by a cloth. The picture, taken four days earlier near Da Nang, had a caption that said the technique induced “a flooding sense of suffocation and drowning, meant to make him talk.â€
The article said the practice was “fairly common†in part because “those who practice it say it combines the advantages of being unpleasant enough to make people talk while still not causing permanent injury.â€
The picture reportedly led to an Army investigation.
Twenty-one years earlier, in 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out another form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk.
“Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor,†Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) told his colleagues last Thursday during the debate on military commissions legislation. “We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II,†he said.
A CIA interrogation training manual declassified 12 years ago, “KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation — July 1963,†outlined a procedure similar to waterboarding. Subjects were suspended in tanks of water wearing blackout masks that allowed for breathing. Within hours, the subjects felt tension and so-called environmental anxiety. “Providing relief for growing discomfort, the questioner assumes a benevolent role,†the manual states.
The KUBARK manual was the product of more than a decade of research and testing, refining lessons learned from the Korean War, where U.S. airmen were subjected to a new type of “touchless torture†until they confessed to a bogus plan to use biological weapons against the North Koreans.
Used to train new interrogators, the handbook presented “basic information about coercive techniques available for use in the interrogation situation.†When it comes to torture, however, the handbook advised that “the threat to inflict pain . . . can trigger fears more damaging than the immediate sensation of pain.â€
In the post-Vietnam period, the Navy SEALs and some Army Special Forces used a form of waterboarding with trainees to prepare them to resist interrogation if captured. The waterboarding proved so successful in breaking their will, says one former Navy captain familiar with the practice, “they stopped using it because it hurt morale.â€
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the interrogation world changed. Low-level Taliban and Arab fighters captured in Afghanistan provided little information, the former intelligence official said. When higher-level al-Qaeda operatives were captured, CIA interrogators sought authority to use more coercive methods.
These were cleared not only at the White House but also by the Justice Department and briefed to senior congressional officials, according to a statement released last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Waterboarding was one of the approved techniques.
When questions began to be raised last year about the handling of high-level detainees and Congress passed legislation barring torture, the handful of CIA interrogators and senior officials who authorized their actions became concerned that they might lose government support.
Passage last month of military commissions legislation provided retroactive legal protection to those who carried out waterboarding and other coercive interrogation techniques.
Courtesy Phillip F. Tourney, Survivor of the USS Liberty
As I sit in my office beginning to write my first article for American Free Press newspaper, I look out my window. I see snow covered peaks, nature at its best in Colorado. It calms me to see such beauty and thank God I’m alive with my family. As I start to write, my heart is beginning to race, my palms are sweating. I’m not as comfortable as I was just a few moments ago. I know all of you know the story of the attack on our ship, the USS LIBERTY, by the government of Israel, but it needs to be repeated.
June 8, 1967 I was a 20 year old 3rd class petty officer in damage control at the time of this sneak attack from our so-called ally, Israel. We were identified as American and friendly many hours before the slaughter began at 2:00 P.M.
The Israeli jet aircraft were ruthless and stubborn in their attempt to sink and murder all hands aboard. They hit every antennae on our ship, no accident for sure. The Israeli reconnaissance aircraft took pictures of our ship in the morning hours, nothing was missed. The attacking aircraft dropped napalm on the bridge of our ship to burn us alive.
Soon after the jets were done with us we see 3 motor torpedo boats approaching our ship at a high rate of speed. We then learned who our attackers were.
We saw 3 flags marked with the Star of David. We were in shock because the Israelis were supposed to be our allies! We had had no idea who was attacking us until then. The attacking jet aircraft were unmarked. The torpedo boats maneuvered themselves into a torpedo launch attitude, now come the 5 to 6 torpedoes. The captain was doing his best to maneuver the ship to avoid sudden death. The torpedoes whizzed by our ship, forward and aft with 1 hitting its mark, almost dead mid-ships, blowing to bits 25 American heroes who stood their ground below the water line and accepted their fate, doing their duty for the United States Government.
The torpedo gunboats were not even close to being done with us. The torpedo gunmen shot at our fire fighters and stretcher bearers, anything that moved. They were shooting at our water line to blow up the boilers inside and finish the job of sinking us.
The captain had given the order to abandon ship, as it appeared we were about to roll over. There were 3 life rafts left that were floatable. We put them over the side so we could put our most severely wounded in them to try to save their lives. The torpedo gunmen would have none of that and blew 2 of them out of the water. They took the 3rd raft aboard their boat, seeing it as an obvious trophy for all their hard work. The torpedo gunmen continued their assault until I guess they ran out of ammunition. They circled the ship and left.
Old Glory was still on her mast, 7’ x 13’ holiday colors. We thought the attack was over. Two Israeli helicopters approached our ship with armed gunmen at the ready to finish us off. They were there a short time and left in the same direction they came. We had no idea why they didn’t shoot at us. We wondered if they were finally done with their murderous carnage on a virtually unarmed ship which only had 4 50 caliber machine guns that had been taken out by the jets on the first pass when the attack began.
Little did the crew know that Terry Halbardier, an ET, got off an SOS from an antennae that was not hit by the Israeli heat seeking missiles because it was taken off line due to a malfunction before the attack. The SOS he sent stated we were under attack by unknown jet aircraft. This message was sent out within 15 minutes of the attack and was picked up by the USS SARATOGA and the USS AMERICA. Captain Tully of the USS SARATOGA sent ready aircraft to our aid only to have them recalled. The USS AMERICA also sent rescue aircraft to come to our aid. These life saving planes were recalled not once but twice. These orders came straight from the White House, first from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and then from President Johnson himself. Johnson said he was not about to attack our “allyâ€, Israel. How did he know who was attacking our ship when we didn’t even know? Help did not arrive until 18 hours later when the American rescue aircraft could have been there in 15 to 20 minutes driving off the torpedo boats and saving precious American lives.
What remained was a ship with a 40 x 40 foot torpedo hole in her side, 821+ canon and rocket holes, thousands of rounds of fifty caliber armor piercing bullets and napalm that had been burning up our ship. Thirty four American souls were murdered, 173 were wounded, which constituted attempted murder, out of a crew of 294. Two thirds of the crew had been murdered or wounded.
Israel and our government, in this 2 hour attack, had come up with a plan to sink our ship, blame it on Egypt and bring the U.S. into the Six Day War. If this so called accident was so cut and dry, why were all records sealed tighter than Fort Knox? Israel got by with cold-blooded murder and other war crimes and it’s only a matter of time until they do it again, perhaps on a ship off the coast of Iran. Israel controls America’s fate and our elected officials bow to their every whim.
I love my country and will not stand by and let this continue. While there is time, we must do what we can to save our sinking ship of state. In many ways, America today is the USS Liberty after that 2 hour attack taking place 40 years ago. We are badly hit and stand the chance of sinking into the abyss with everyone being lost forever unless something is done immediately. Write your president and congressmen and let them know you know what is going on and you will not fight anymore for Israel. Israel has 300 nukes, so let them take care of themselves. There is nothing, neither in the Middle East nor elsewhere, that is worth one more drop of precious American blood.
The leaders of our country who swore an oath to protect this nation ordered the survivors of the LIBERTY to never repeat this piece of history under penalty of jail or worse. 40 years ago, another nation got away with cold-blooded murder on the high seas, and as an American veteran, let me say this for the record–NO ONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GET BY WITH COLD-BLOODED MURDER, AND ESPECIALLY NOT ISRAEL, NOT THEN AND NOT NOW.
The USS LIBERTY VETERANS ASSOCIATION is offering $10,000.00 to anyone who can disprove that our story is the truth. as of this moment, no one from the pro-Israeli crowd has accepted the challenge.
12/10/2007 By Phil Tourney, survivor of the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. Submitted by Mark Glenn crescentandcross@gmail.com posted here: http://ussliberty.wordpress.com
For the second time this year, Saudi Arabia has seen the bird flu rear its ugly head. The deadly H5N1 strain of the virus was found in ostriches living on a farm in the Al-Kharj region of the Kingdom in recent weeks and has seen the government since adopt a wide-ranging culling campaign to curb the spread of the disease. As of press time, approximately 36,000 ostriches have been culled. Since the beginning of the year when the first case of bird flu was detected in the Kingdom a total of 4 million birds have been culled. Fortunately, there has never been a case of a human being infected with the H5N1 virus in the Kingdom and has been confined to birds exclusively.
The recent outbreak of the bird flu in Saudi Arabia has forced GCC member-states, to think twice before allowing birds, poultry or eggs from Saudi Arabia into their respective countries. They have adopted and enforced a crippling ban on all Saudi Arabian imports. The biggest causalities under the ban so far have been Saudi Arabian eggs. Combined, Saudi Arabian (and Indian) eggs make up 50% of the egg market in the GCC. The ban, especially on eggs, has hit consumers in the Middle East hard with many consumers not even having eggs available on their breakfast tables. In Dubai, there is an estimated 85% shortage in the availability of eggs. The price of eggs has gone up by between 15-30% per tray, which is out of the price range for many expatriates. In Kuwait, there is also a noticeable shortage with eggs also rising in price by 25%.
Smaller GCC countries, like Dubai for example, have no choice but to rely on ‘Big Brother’ Saudi Arabia for a continuous supply of eggs. The reason being is because local suppliers simply cannot keep up with supply and demand. In addition, the cost of feed for egg-laying chickens has seen a massive increase by almost 50% in price from suppliers. Many local egg producers have had to close up shop entirely while other larger producers are still operating albeit in the red.
It could be months before the Saudi Arabian government gives the all-clear that the H5N1 virus has been annihilated in the Kingdom and there are likely to be more bird cullings in the future to be sure the virus has been eradicated. In the meantime, consumers in the GCC will have no choice but to pay the hefty prices for eggs as long as supplies hold out. Once supplies are exhausted there is no telling if eggs will even be available in the Middle East. Perhaps, GCC countries will have to start importing dried egg powder, which can be reconstituted with water or even ‘egg beaters’ brand egg alternative to meet the demands of their populous. Regardless, not having omelets for breakfast is small sacrifice to make to ensure that the bird flu does not take hold in the Middle East and threaten the lives of humans.
NEW DELHI – It has been a long wait for Lal Krishna Advani, who has been finally selected as his party, Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate. Though the decision was long on the cards, it was formally announced last week (December 10) after a brief meeting of the party’s parliamentary board. Making the announcement, BJP president Rajnath Singh said: “Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani have been instrumental in bringing BJP to this position. Every party worker accepts this decision. I would like to congratulate L K Advani on my party’s behalf.â€
With Advani’s candidature for the prime ministerial position approved sometime by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the board unanimously supported his name. Ahead of the board’s meeting, Advani’s name was cleared by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Expressing his gratitude for his selection, Advani said: “On this occasion, all I would like to say is that I am grateful to BJP president, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and I hope I can do my best to serve the people and the party.â€
Though 80-year-old Advani’s desire for the prime ministerial position has never been a secret, its announcement at this stage has sprung a surprise. Nevertheless, this definitely clarifies that if BJP wins the next parliamentary elections, scheduled for 2009, Advani will be the prime minister. This clearly signals Vajpayee, due to health-problems, is no more in the race. It also rules out prospects of BJP president Singh considering his candidature for the position. With the RSS having endorsed Advani’s selection, it signals his return to their fold, which suffered a slight setback when he praised Mohammed Ali Jinnah as a “secular†leader in June 2005.
The timing of the announcement just a day before first phase of assembly elections was held in Gujarat cannot be ignored. There is a view that the announcement was deliberately timed to enhance BJP’s chances in Gujarat elections It is also held that this announcement sends a strong message to state chief minister Narendra Modi. The saffron brigade wants Modi to learn, irrespective of whether he wins or loses Gujarat polls, he must not have any prime ministerial ambition. Dismissing the latter view, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said: “This is the imagination of a fertile mind. The consultation process was over in the party and the announcement was made.â€
There has been mixed range of reactions from BIP rivals and supporters to Advani’s selection for the top post. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh commented that this decision was based on the party fearing a “danger†from Modi. “Modi se khatra tha, isiliye BJP ne Advani ki taj poshi kar di hai (Fearing danger from Modi, BJP has crowned Advani,†Manmohan remarked while speaking to media persons in Vadodara (Gujarat). He declined from commenting further saying that it was an internal affair of BJP.
Countering the PM’s comments on Advani’s selection as the party’s candidate, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javedkar said in Ahmedabad (Gujarat): “Basically, by making such a statement, the PM has conceded that Modi is going to win in Gujarat.â€
The Congress has also described the BJP’s move as “emotionally blackmailing†the people. “It is a desperate attempt of a desperate BJP ahead of the Gujarat polls amid reports that Chief Minister Narendra Modi is on his way out,†Congress spokesman Shakeel Ahmed said. Dismissing prospects of Advani making it to the top position, Ahmed said: “There is no vacancy as Manmohan Singh is the PM now and the UPA will get a full majority in the next poll.â€
The “secular†allies of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have confirmed that they have no objections to Advani being the prime ministerial candidate as long as there is no deviation from their common agenda. The common agenda does not refer to saffron brigade’s Hindutva options. The NDA allies and right-winged associates have welcomed BJP’s decision. Clarifying that his party (Janata Dal-United) will not accept any deviation from the common agenda of NDA, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said: “The JD-U welcomes and supports Advani’s candidature as PM.â€
Without doubt, Advani is hopeful of midterm polls enhancing his chances of becoming the next prime minister. The midterm polls may take place if the rift between the Congress and the left bloc widens over the India-United States civilian nuclear deal, leading the latter to withdraw its support to the government. Whatever may be differences between the Congress and the left over the deal, prospects of latter withdrawing support to pave way for BJP forming the government may be viewed as non-existent. Nevertheless, Advani is hopeful that results of assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will lead to midterm polls. As he said, “The BJP is going to win in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. And the results are going to decide the timing of the mid-term (parliamentary) elections. The Lok Sabha elections which were to happen in 2009 will now happen in 2008 due to instability at the center.â€
Howsoever hopeful Advani may be, in the opinion of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav: “The post of Prime Minister is not in his (Advani’s) stars.â€
Though Advani’s wait is over for being selected as his party’s candidate for the top position, he still has a long road ahead to actually become the prime minister.
I read with great sadness the letters to the editor in one of the daily newspapers in the Detroit, Michigan area. The letters were responding to an editorial written earlier by one of our upstanding community leaders in this area, Victor Ghalib Begg.
He wrote excellent column that decried the ignorance of those who practice and push Islaophobia. What is interesting to note is that ALL letters to the editor responses were negative toward Islam. ALL of them; and they took up a major portion of the page. Most said Mr. Begg wrote a nice piece and it sounded good, but the truth is Muslims don’t condemn terrorism and he needs to tell his words to the Muslim imams. Imagine! They all said Muslims don’t condemn terrorism – which is a Big Lie. They even had a Hindu write in asking, “Why do you think there is no Hinduphobia? He took great pains distancing himself from, and condemning us.
I don’t know how many Muslims wrote in (I know there were some, but the paper printed none) But that’s unimportant concerning what I’m talking about. The important thing is here you have a “nice, suit and tie wearing, Bloomfield Hills based, businessman that calls his peers Bob, Bill, Joe and Stan, and yet, in their eyes, he’s still no more than a terrorist-loving Islamist.
I bring this up because of the seriousness of the situation, brought to light by these letters. Muslims have made great strides in recent years with more recognition than ever before. But something is missing. I say it is a too much culture and not enough religion.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s when Imam W.D. Mohammed was electrifying the society with a resurgence of Islam, there was much more recognition and respect for Islam. Then things slowed down and the community of Muslims became inactive and somewhat ineffective.
After that came the first World Trade Center bombing, and later, 9/11, with lots of incidents in between and after, and our credibility was shot.
If a Muslim is talking and looks foreign in any way, especially Middle Eastern or South Asian, their flowery words are listened to with suspicion and disdain.
This is especially true since they have linked even clean-cut, intelligent medical doctors with being secret terrorists (after the recent Glasgow terrorist incident).
We are going to have to get serious about enhancing and highlighting the real essence of Islam, ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.
Imams are going to have to stop bringing so much “back home culture†into the religion. We’re going to have to quit saying “this is Islam; that’s not Islam; this is haraam; that’s halal, if ALLAH didn’t say it first. ALLAH is very emphatic in Qur’an where He says “don’t you make haram what I didn’t make haram.â€
One of the biggest problems is non-Muslim people don’t know what Islam is because they see so many different versions of it determined by where a person is raised or what “school†they follow. Pure scripture gets very little attention.
The recent events in Sudan regarding the teacher; and the sentencing of the gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia are all about cultures ignorantly defining what they think Islam is – and they are saying things that ALLAH never said and is completely against. Yet, the world thinks it’s Islamic and the haters of Islam exploit it for their own devilish, sinister benefit.
If your cultural and ethnic traditions are false, ignorant, archaic, and doing Islam harm, you need to send it back across the water and live in the country you have chosen to adopt – America.
ALLAH has blessed us with the complete way of life and the final instruction to all of mankind.
“…This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor on you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.â€
Notice He didn’t say He chose Chineseism, Arabism, Africanism, or Pakistanism.
He says He chose Islam (that He revealed) as our religion. Let’s look more at the Book of ALLAH and less at our culture for true salvation.
I guarantee we will get more genuine respect, especially from Christians.
With ALLAH’S name, the Merciful Benefactor, Merciful Redeemer
As Salaam alaikum (Al Hajj) Imam Abdullah Bey El-Amin
An article that appeared in the Manchester Guardian written by Peter Barker, indicated that an alarming number of English men suffer mental health problems, but most are too “macho†to seek help. The article indicated that men don’t step forward as women do with their feelings of depression; that they must learn to acknowledge their feelings and be willing to receive treatment. Barker reported that in order to de-stigmatize mental health problems a lot more work would have to be done.
The above paragraph illustrated the feminine and material thinking of Western society mixed in with a generous amount of ignorance. Could it be that men do not step forward as women do with their feelings of depression because they are not women? There are many things that women don’t do that men do because they are not men. Of course this is a deep concept to a society that does not understand gender differences. What benefits will accrue if male mental depression becomes de-stigmatized? Unwed motherhood became de-stigmatized in the West and it has increased ten-fold in just two generations. Divorce became de-stigmatized and has now become the norm in Western society. De-stigmatizing the un-natural or harmful tends to make it popular and propagated; it definitely does not eliminate the condition. However, the West as we shall see, has no choice but to de-stigmatize all that is un-natural and immoral.
The Manchester Guardian article never addressed the question of why male mental depression exists, and therefore could not get to the next question of how to prevent it.
The feminine psyche of Western civilization cannot deal with the unseen; therefore, it cannot deal with causes but only with effects. It expends considerable money and effort to treat male mental health but not a penny on how to prevent it.
Peter Barker didn’t even pose the question, are rates of male suicide in England high or low when compared to the rest of the world? Denmark and Sweden have the same rates of male suicide, which are 150 times that of Iraq, 200 times that of Syria, and 300 times that of Egypt. This is not a typographical area; I did not meant percent. Now when a nation has a national suicide rate two hundred to three hundred times that of other nations, one would expect that they would ask why.
High rates of male suicide, depression, and mental illness in England, and in the West in general have already become an acceptable norm. In 2005 The World Health Organization announced that the major health issue of England, the United States, and Canada is mental illness. Last year the National Institute for Mental Health announced that 26% of all Americans are now classified as mentally ill. Western society is going insane; a viewpoint supported by its own statistics.
If the West cannot locate a cause for its high rates of mental health problems among its men (they are even higher among its women) it at least might try to find a common factor in those societies that have low rates of mental illness, such as among Arabs, East Asians, African peoples relatively not influenced by the West, and various Pacific Island groups.
A common factor of these groupings is extended family. People raised in a strong extended family environment have a sense of security not known in the West; they also have a strong sense of purpose, a commonality of interest, an appreciation of the world of their creator, and a well-developed spiritual awareness.
Elder George’s website is www.mensaction.net and he can be reached at 212-874-7900 ext. 1329.
Ron Paul is capturing the imagination of young America. On December 16, all across the country, his supporters, mostly young men and women, braved the cold and storm to restage the Boston Tea Part to express their dissatisfaction with the policies and programs of all other Republican and Democratic candidates aspiring to be the next president of the United States of America.
They reminded each other that the country has enslaved by a leadership that believes in taxation with misrepresentation. They support a non interventionist policy. They speak against the Patriot Act and they demand that the constitution should be given the highest priority in the country.
Dr. Ron Paul, a ten term congressman, in their view is the ideal candidate to lead the country into a new century of respect and prosperity. His supporters, comprising ordinary people, have given a notice to all other candidates by showing unprecedented loyalty to him. They raised more than 6 million dollars in one day to beat all previous internet fund raising records and unlike all other campaigns, they are volunteering their time to work for the Paul agenda.
Some People are skeptical about the success of the Paul campaign. However, the supporters believe that the ideas Paul is espousing are not going to disappear after the elections are held. Rather, they are there to stay and shape the future of America.
Paul’s agenda is likely to impact the campaigns of all other candidates. Regardless of what others believe, they cannot ignore millions of ordinary Americans who have voiced their support for a major overhaul in our fiscal, foreign and domestic policies.
We Americans love our freedoms. We understand that all government action is inherently coercive. We believe that government action requires taxes and we taxation is a kind of coercion. As was said by Ronald Reagan “…man is not free unless government is limited. There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics: As government expands, liberty contracts.â€
This is what Ron Paul has to say on the issue of freedom and the coercion of the government.
We’ve all heard the words democracy and freedom used countless times, especially in the context of our invasion of Iraq. They are used interchangeably in modern political discourse, yet their true meanings are very different.
George Orwell wrote about “meaningless words†that are endlessly repeated in the political arena*. Words like “freedom,†“democracy,†and “justice,†Orwell explained, have been abused so long that their original meanings have been eviscerated. In Orwell’s view, political words were “Often used in a consciously dishonest way.†Without precise meanings behind words, politicians and elites can obscure reality and condition people to reflexively associate certain words with positive or negative perceptions. In other words, unpleasant facts can be hidden behind purposely meaningless language. As a result, Americans have been conditioned to accept the word “democracy†as a synonym for freedom, and thus to believe that democracy is unquestionably good.
The problem is that democracy is not freedom. Democracy is simply majoritarianism, which is inherently incompatible with real freedom. Our founding fathers clearly understood this, as evidenced not only by our republican constitutional system, but also by their writings in the Federalist Papers and elsewhere. James Madison cautioned that under a democratic government, “There is nothing to check the inducement to sacrifice the weaker party or the obnoxious individual.†John Adams argued that democracies merely grant revocable rights to citizens depending on the whims of the masses, while a republic exists to secure and protect pre-existing rights. Yet how many Americans know that the word “democracy†is found neither in the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence, our very founding documents?
A truly democratic election in Iraq, without U.S. interference and U.S. puppet candidates, almost certainly would result in the creation of a Shiite theocracy. Shiite majority rule in Iraq might well mean the complete political, economic, and social subjugation of the minority Kurd and Sunni Arab populations. Such an outcome would be democratic, but would it be free? Would the Kurds and Sunnis consider themselves free? The administration talks about democracy in Iraq, but is it prepared to accept a democratically-elected Iraqi government no matter what its attitude toward the U.S. occupation? Hardly. For all our talk about freedom and democracy, the truth is we have no idea whether Iraqis will be free in the future. They’re certainly not free while a foreign army occupies their country. The real test is not whether Iraq adopts a democratic, pro-western government, but rather whether ordinary Iraqis can lead their personal, religious, social, and business lives without interference from government.
Simply put, freedom is the absence of government coercion. Our Founding Fathers understood this, and created the least coercive government in the history of the world. The Constitution established a very limited, decentralized government to provide national defense and little else. States, not the federal government, were charged with protecting individuals against criminal force and fraud. For the first time, a government was created solely to protect the rights, liberties, and property of its citizens. Any government coercion beyond that necessary to secure those rights was forbidden, both through the Bill of Rights and the doctrine of strictly enumerated powers. This reflected the founders’ belief that democratic government could be tyrannical.
Few Americans understand that all government action is inherently coercive. If nothing else, government action requires taxes. If taxes were freely paid, they wouldn’t be called taxes, they’d be called donations. If we intend to use the word freedom in an honest way, we should have the simple integrity to give it real meaning: Freedom is living without government coercion. So when a politician talks about freedom for this group or that, ask yourself whether he is advocating more government action or less.
The political left equates freedom with liberation from material wants, always via a large and benevolent government that exists to create equality on earth. To modern liberals, men are free only when the laws of economics and scarcity are suspended, the landlord is rebuffed, the doctor presents no bill, and groceries are given away. But philosopher Ayn Rand (and many others before her) demolished this argument by explaining how such “freedom†for some is possible only when government takes freedoms away from others. In other words, government claims on the lives and property of those who are expected to provide housing, medical care, food, etc. for others are coercive– and thus incompatible with freedom. “Liberalism,†which once stood for civil, political, and economic liberties, has become a synonym for omnipotent coercive government.
The political right equates freedom with national greatness brought about through military strength. Like the left, modern conservatives favor an all-powerful central state– but for militarism, corporatism, and faith-based welfarism. Unlike the Taft-Goldwater conservatives of yesteryear, today’s Republicans are eager to expand government spending, increase the federal police apparatus, and intervene militarily around the world. The last tenuous links between conservatives and support for smaller government have been severed. “Conservatism,†which once meant respect for tradition and distrust of active government, has transformed into big-government utopian grandiosity.
Orwell certainly was right about the use of meaningless words in politics. If we hope to remain free, we must cut through the fog and attach concrete meanings to the words politicians use to deceive us. We must reassert that America is a republic, not a democracy, and remind ourselves that the Constitution places limits on government that no majority can overrule. We must resist any use of the word “freedom†to describe state action. We must reject the current meaningless designations of “liberals†and “conservatives,†in favor of an accurate term for both: statists.
Every politician claims to support freedom. The problem is so few of them understand the simple meaning of the word.
Based on what Ron Paul says, it is important that we pay heed to what he says. It is not different than what most of us believe as a Muslim and as an American.
Investors have long been well served by adhering to the old adage ‘’buy low and sell high.’’ Whenever someone thought up that bit of wisdom, it wasn’t during times like now when all sorts of asset classes sell at premium prices. Yet there are always opportunities for astute investors. We just have to find them — and dare to go where the crowd will not!
For investors who have been trained in what I call “the faulty theories of diversification and asset allocation,†looking for bargains is not really an issue. They simply build their portfolios to include several different asset classes, and those, as a rule, are the ones most widely held.
Traditional investors don’t seem to mind whether an asset class is pricey or cheap. They simply build their portfolios much like everyone else does: start with a ‘’core holding,’’ usually a domestic large-cap mutual fund; throw in some small caps, some mid caps, and a small portion of international stocks; and then add a nice domestic bond fund for the sake of taming volatility.
As I’ve said many times, that is one of the worst ways to invest, and it’s too bad that so many still think it’s a viable plan! Of course, if it weren’t for how poorly so many invest, little in the way of under-priced choices would exist to find and buy.
Obviously, buying low makes the most sense, so we’ll ignore the ‘’buy high and sell higher ‘’crowd like the Cramer’s of the world — and his “momentum†peers. Buying low offers real advantages, including the ‘’margin of safety’’ espoused by great investors like Graham, Dodd and Buffett.
So far, so good. It sounds easy, doesn’t it? All we have to do is find holdings selling for much less than previous prices and off we go. Well, that might sound easy, but try to make it happen!
Let’s face it, the stock markets are relatively efficient in that so many investors are involved in the same game. Little remains to buy that hasn’t already been picked over — given massive money printing by the Fed and the reckless use of leverage and margin debt by hedge funds.
Some in the financial media now that think that investing in home builders is a play too cheap to ignore. Not me! Sure, those shares prices are well off their old highs. But a couple years ago, business was better than any of them had ever seen. That was the upside beauty of the asset bubble!
But not only is that industry watching business revert back to the long-term mean, the downturn promises to be one of the worst on industry record. While, from a trailing basis, those stocks may appear cheap with very low price-to-earnings ratios, their P/Es may well be heading much higher. Remember, when a company swings to a loss of earnings, no P/E exists. Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I see losses continuing in that industry for at least the next couple years. What looks like “cheap home builder prices†now may well reach new lows in the coming months.
Buyers are also interested in areas of today’s beaten-down financial sector, including those of banks, brokers and mortgage companies. It’s tempting for many when looking at the stock chart for a company like Citigroup or Washington Mutual, which are now selling at prices that most would have thought impossible just a year or two ago.
And we’ve heard how much money a rich Saudi prince made by buying into Citicorp in the early 1990s, when it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Many, myself excluded, think that scenario can happen all over again. As tempting as the new, 52-week-low price is, Citigroup’s troubles may be just starting, rather than nearing an end.
Other buyers flock daily to stocks like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, with bullish types thinking that implicit backing by our government will not allow them to fail. But a reading shows their balance sheets in horrible shape. Why take a chance on companies in such precarious condition just because their stock prices have fallen so much? Remember those who bought stocks like JDS Uniphase or Enron at prices well below their previous highs?
So, then, what is left to buy for today’s bottom-fishing investors? Well, the way I see it, not much! That’s why I continue to be bearish, especially on the domestic stock markets, but that’s nothing new for me. Keep in mind that, as I write this column in mid-December, the S&P 500 sits at about the 1,475 level, still lower than its peak in early 2000. Trying to find bargains in a secular bear market is what investors in London refer to as ‘’a mug’s game.’’
The time to look for bargains in those areas will be when everyone else has given up on them. When the time comes that nobody wants to talk about buying Citigroup, Fannie Mae or home builders and their stock prices languish without much movement one way or the other – that will be the time to take your chances on them.
I strictly adhere to my own investing strategy — my own maxim. I prefer to ‘’buy it when it’s quiet,’’ or when few others are interested. Right now, too many investors are bottom fishing for those troubled shares to allow all the bad news to be reflected in share prices. Wait for these share prices to become “range-bound†at low levels for a few months before wading in.
If you’d like to do some bargain hunting for stocks, a very few good fishing places do exist. Of course, given my bias towards the international markets, I look there first. Yes, you can still find reasonable prices in domestic energy shares like COP, and check energy-related names like Frontline, the oil tanker company.
But the best places to look now are in Europe, and I don’t mean the emerging economies of Eastern Europe. While that was a great place to invest over the past few years, the crowd has caught on and is now bidding up prices, thus taking out what might have been left of upside potential.
Take a look at Europe’s older economies instead. How many stock market promoters are talking about places like Belgium, The Netherlands, Austria, Sweden or Norway? Not many, right? And that fits perfectly with my investing adage about buying when it’s quiet or when few others are looking in the same direction.
The obvious disclosure here is that I have recently invested in those places for my managed accounts. And the obvious caveat is that, if you follow me and lose money, tell someone else! Remember, I could possibly change my mind and sell them, even before you read this — though I doubt it.
Right now, those, to me, may be today’s best-looking opportunities. Yes, I try hard to move away from the crowds – but that doesn’t always work as planned. And, just so you know, I tend to arrive very early…..
Have a great week.
Bob
Bob Wood ChFC, CLU Yusuf Kadiwala. Registered Investment Advisors, KMA, Inc., invest@muslimobserver.com.
Editor’s note: A terribly important issue that faces all Muslims is the conduct of our children and the manner of our raising them. The Islamic Institute of Knowledge has one of the best program designed to reach out to Muslim adolescents in the entire Southeast Michigan region–the following is a letter by one of its directors regarding the progress they have made over the past year.
On Friday, December 7, 2007 at 6 p.m. the Islamic Institute of Knowledge celebrated the first anniversary of the Young Ladies Guidance Class.
During this celebration, imam Abdul-latif Berry and I greeted a crowd of about 150 parents and students. We talked about the great milestones we have accomplished in the short year.
We established a class that now embraces about 55 girls of the community. They became role models, leaders, mentors, writers, etc… We also established the first all-girls camping trip thru the IIk and the girls class.
We were able to send the girls to an all-girls swimming program too. The knowledge, understanding, and work we have established in this class has been phenomenal to say the least.
Working with a large group of girls and their parents, we have established a great network within our community enabling our girls to achieve the unachievable within the framework of what Islam requires.
We have also instilled in the girls the proper morals and ethics and have witnessed them first hand in how they act, interact, and have implemented the teachings from this unique course.
Due to popular demand, we have now expanded our class. Also, students from the girls’ class have been receiving various leadership roles in their schools and communities.
We even have a young lady from the class that has chosen to go to hajj.
She will be returning Inshallah Jan. 2. Furthermore, our girls have truly been implementing what they have learned from the class their parents said to me.
Many girls have stopped listening to music, while others now pray on time instead of postponing it.
A few parents even stressed that the girls have been practicing patience as Islam stresses that factor. Many others are now devoting their time to helping the less fortunate by either collecting money, food, or clothing for them. Also under the Imam and myself supervision, the girls attend various community events such as funerals to pay respect to the deceased and their families, or to fundraising dinners in volunteering.
As you can see, this class and made a HUGE impact not only on the girls, but their parents as well. Since the parents have noticed such a tremendous change in their daughters. Since the class has been such a hit, we now have also opened up a class to the mothers every Saturday from 6 p.m. thru 7:30 pm.
Hajja Khalida.
“Modesty and faith are both companions: when one is taken away the other is taken! “
Abdul Qayyum Of LEI Organized An Evening With Russell Jones Russell Jones Worked In Saudi Arabia: Visited Pakistan
Six months before the people of America will be voting for the next President of United States, another important election will be happening in the fifth safest city of USA, the suburbs of Houston called Sugar Land. Current Mayor of Sugar Land Honorable David Wallace could have run for his fourth and last term in the May 10th – 2008 Elections, but he has opted out of the race to concentrate on his business interests, leaving the mayoral race wide open and unpredictable, since last time Honorable Wallace won unopposed.
Among the various concerns, the new Sugar Land’s Mayor most likely will be dealing with the continued population growth in the area and the land development of several salient areas along U.S. 59.
Former Termed-Out Sugar Land City Councilman Jimmy Thompson was the first one to enter this mayoral race. In September 2007, one of the leading candidates to replace Honorable Wallace is District 3 City Councilman Russell Jones entered the race. Russell Jones has been in the Sugar Land City Council Office since 2003.
Abdul Qayyum, a community advocate and entrepreneur and President of the Leadership Empowerment Institute (LEI) invited Russell Jones, his wife and campaign staff to a local restaurant for dinner with the community members and activists. In his presentation introducing Mr. Jones, Abdul Qayyum said he has all the ingredients of a leader, whom he defines as: (L)everage, (E)ncore Values, (A)ction, (D)irection / Vision, (E)nthusiasm and (R)esolute. “Mr. Jones further has the 5-Ds: Desire, Direction, Decision, Discipline and Determinationâ€: Added Abdul Qayyum.
Mayoral Candidate Sugar Land City Councilman Russell Jones in his presentation said that he is an independent candidate not picked by any special interest group: He has been a loyal Sugar Land citizen by being the only candidate who established his business within the city. He being City Councilman at present, with past 27 years of community service experience is the most suited choice to be the next Mayor of Sugar Land. “During my term on City Council, I played a leadership role in ensuring that tax rates have declined every year, stepping up the city’s role in drainage responsibility, limiting the influence of special interest groups, and encouraging economic development. I have taken the lead in assuring ethics in government by the development of a new ethics ordinance. I also took a leadership role in the recent effort to bring the Museum of Natural Science to Sugar Landâ€: Said Mr. Jones.
Together with his wife, Thelma, Jones is principal of a Sugar Land real estate and commercial law firm and a title company. “As a small business owner, I understand the pressures of trying to meet payroll and hire trained, dedicated employees. By working with other city and county leaders, I will continue to ensure that Fort Bend’s growth creates a strong business climate for small business owners and provides enough talented individuals for our needed work force.â€
A native Texan and life long resident of the Houston area, Jones has been married to his wife, Thelma, for 36 years. Russell and Thelma raised their two daughters with strong family values in the Fort Bend County. They are members of Christ United Methodist Church. Jones received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Washington in 1972 and his law degree from the University of Houston in 1979. His experience includes serving as a commercial lending officer for Houston’s largest bank and as finance administrator for the world’s largest oil production company. Under that capacity, he lived and worked in Saudi Arabia and visited several countries of Middle East as well as went to visit Pakistan.
Answering to the questions, he said that a museum will be made at the Imperial Sugar property, while the rail station at the location should be preserved. He added if money is not the issue, he is in favor of Commuter Rail along US 90A corridors, but at present, this is an extremely costly option: He added that without the commuter rail, solving traffic congestion problem is not easy.
For more information about Russell Jones campaign, contact Abdul Qayyum, President, Leadership Empowerment Institute at Phone: 713-303-3388 or call his campaign office at 281-242-8100.
PCC-USA Hosted Dinner In The Honor Of New Consul General Of Pakistan
“Pakistani American Community in the US is a strategic asset for Pakistan and we have to work together to leverage the presence of technically well-trained and financially sound community to maximize political and economic advantages for Pakistan†said Mr.Mohammad Aqil Nadeem, Consul General of Pakistan, at a dinner in his honor, hosted by the Pakistan Chamber of Commerce-USA, at a local hotel in Houston.
He stated that although there are several ethnic media, where we have a sizable Pakistan Community, but now there is the need for our presence in English mainstream media including TV, Radio and print to effectively project our point of view in the US, where media plays an important role in the decision making.
The Consul General said that presently the Pakistan community is engaged in limited professions such as medical, engineering and small and medium enterprises but now is the need to diversify and move to the next niche of economic ladder of the US economy and we should educate our next generation to engage in the vast services sector.
Earlier, while welcoming the Chief Guest, PCC President Gul Faraz Khan highlighted the close liaison and cooperation of PCC with the Consulate of Pakistan, since its establishment in Houston and appreciated the role of the past Consul General for the services extended to the Pakistani American Community. He hoped that Mr. Aqil Nadeem will put in new efforts for the improvement of the Consular Services to facilitate the Pakistan Community.
Dr. Ashraf Abbasi, Founder Chairman of PCC-USA, introduced the honorable Chief Guest, the consul general of Pakistan, Mr. Aqil Ndeem, and stated that Mr. Nadeem has a vast experience in foreign service of Pakistan at his credit. He has served as First Secretary in the Pakistan Embassies at Athens and Jakarta, in the United Nations Administration and various other positions in Pakistan’s Foreign office.
Also spoke on the occasion were Chairman Advisory Council, Mr. Haroon Sheikh, General Secretary, Mr. Amir Khan and Master of the Ceremony, Ms. Farah Ahmed.
At the end, President-Elect Saeed Shaikh, on behalf of all members of PCC announced a Life Time Achievement award for Dr. Ashraf Abbasi for his meritorious and countless services to the Community.
With the rise of Islamophobia, particularly on Talk Radio, and the shocking prevalence of anti Muslim hate crimes, the work of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) grows in importance with each year, not only for the Muslim community, but for the nation at large.
MPAC held a highly successful convention, its seventh annual convention, this past weekend at the Convention Center in Long Beach, Ca.
More than 1,000 people attended. Titled “Islam: A Call for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happinessâ€, the day long event featured workshops, plenary sessions and an evening banquet/fundraiser. A parallel Youth Session was also held. The event raised $456,000.
Haris Tarin, MPAC’s Community Development Director, opened the Convention with a reading of the Holy Koran. Prominent Muslim spokesperson, Senior Advisor to MPAC, and activist, Dr. Maher Hathout, spoke of the Muslim Code of Honor, initiated by the work of MPAC as a joint effort with Muslim scholars. The Code soon spread from its origins in Southern California. Highly regarded Muslim leaders took to the podium after introductions and spoke briefly about the Code of Honor and its significance.
The first plenary session reflected the theme of the Convention and was titled: “Choosing Life and Liberty over Death and Tyranny. The significance is two fold. Not only do these titles reflect the opening portion of the Declaration of Independence, they address and rebut the most recent attack on Islam: that it is a culture of death.
One of the panelists at that session, Dr. Ingrid Mattson, a scholar and the current President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told of a recent experience with an Islamic critic. Toward the end of her presentation Dr. Mattson shared this experience with her audience. During an interfaith event a member of the audience asked in a confrontational manner how Dr Mattson could justify the Islamic treatment in Sudan of Gillian Gibbons. Dr. Mattson said that she turned the tables on her interrogator by asking him why she or any Muslim would be asked to justify it. She reminded him of a fellow Christian in Italy who contemporaneously with Ms Gibbons’ experience suggested that immigrant lawbreakers in Italy be placed in concentration camps based on the Nazi model. No one, she said, would ask a Christian how he would justify that.
The audience applauded in approval. The speakers were all enthusiastically received, and a lively question and answer session followed the presentations.
Three parallel interactive workshops followed. They dealt with MPAC’s project to counter Islamophobia “Truth over Fearâ€; helping Muslims to build successful coalitions, and facilitating the entry of Muslims into the American government infrastructure.
Attendees used the lunch break to discuss the morning’s discussions.
“Dr, {Ingrid} Mattson gave me some ideas for dealing with hostile questioners†said one young Muslim woman of student age, referring to Dr. Mattson’s presentation earlier in the day.
“Until this session I had underestimated the importance of the Code of Honor†said a non Muslim woman. “I can see now how very much needed it isâ€.
After lunch and Dhuhr prayer, the convention continued with a plenary session titled: “Shaping the Conversationâ€. Among the featured panelists was David Hiller, the CEO and Publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Mr. Hiller spoke of his interaction with MPAC through its Executive Director, Salaam Al Marayati, and the friendship that they formed. Recently they both attended a meeting of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Upon their return to Los Angeles Mr Hiller invited young Muslims — future leaders — to the Los Angeles Times office for a second Muslim American Youth Summit. The first such summit had recently been held in Washington, D. C., and there future Muslim leaders were able to meet many government officials and become familiar with the government infrastructure.
Polystyrene is an aromatic polymer made from the aromatic monomer styrene, a liquid hydrocarbon that is commercially manufactured from petroleum by the chemical industry. Polystyrene is a thermoplastic substance, normally existing as a solid at room temperature, but melting if heated (for molding or extrusion), and becoming solid again when cooling off.
Polystyrene was accidentally discovered in 1839 by Eduard Simon, an apothecary in Berlin. From storax, the resin of Liquidambar orientalis, he distilled an oily substance, a monomer which he named styrol. Several days later Simon found that the styrol had thickened, presumably from oxidation, into a jelly he dubbed styrol oxide (“Styroloxydâ€). By 1845 English chemist John Blyth and German chemist August Wilhelm von Hofmann showed that the same transformation of styrol took place in the absence of oxygen. They called their substance metastyrol. Analysis later showed that it was chemically identical to Styroloxyd. In 1866 Marcelin Berthelot correctly identified the formation of metastyrol from styrol as a polymerization process. About 80 years went by before it was realized that heating styrol starts a chain reaction which produces macromolecules, following the thesis of German organic chemist Hermann Staudinger (1881–1965). This eventually led to the substance receiving its present name, polystyrene. The I.G. Farben company began manufacturing polystyrene in Ludwigshafen, Germany, about 1931, hoping it would be a suitable replacement for die cast zinc in many applications. Success was achieved when they developed a reactor vessel that extruded polystyrene through a heated tube and cutter, producing polystyrene in pellet form.
Pure solid polystyrene is a colorless, hard plastic with limited flexibility. It can be cast into molds with fine detail. Polystyrene can be transparent or can be made to take on various colors. It is economical and is used for producing plastic model assembly kits, license plate frames, plastic cutlery, CD “jewel†cases, and many other objects where a fairly rigid, economical plastic is desired.
Solid foam
Polystyrene’s most common use, however, is as expanded polystyrene (EPS). Expanded polystyrene is produced from a mixture of about 90-95% polystyrene and 5-10% gaseous blowing agent, most commonly pentane or carbon dioxide.[citation needed]
The solid plastic is expanded into a foam through the use of heat, usually steam. Extruded polystyrene (XPS), which is different from expanded polystyrene (EPS), is commonly known by the trade name Styrofoam. The voids filled with trapped air give it low thermal conductivity. This makes it ideal as a construction material and it is therefore sometimes used in structural insulated panel building systems. It is also used as insulation in building structures, as molded packing material for cushioning fragile equipment inside boxes, as packing “peanutsâ€, as non-weight-bearing architectural structures (such as pillars), and also in crafts and model building, particularly architectural models. Foamed between two sheets of paper, it makes a more-uniform substitute for corrugated cardboard, tradenamed Fome-Cor. A more unexpected use for the material is as a lightweight fill for embankments in the civil engineering industry.
