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RIGHT-WING PUNDITS USE MAINSTREAM MEDIA TO SMEAR AMERICAN MUSLIMS - TOPReport profiles 12 top Islamophobes in U.S. media, examines the rise of 'smearcasting' phenomenon - how Islamophobes use the mainstream media to spread fear, bigotry and misinformationPress Release, 10/8/08
NEW YORK, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR), the national media watchdog group, released a first-of-its-kind report today that profiles 12 of the leading Islamophobic pundits and media figures and examines the ways they've negatively influenced media coverage in the U.S. The report, "Smearcasting: How Islamophobes Spread Fear, Bigotry and Misinformation," describes a loose network of right-wing, anti-Muslim partisans who regularly use innuendo, questionable sources of information and even lies to smear, and effectively marginalize, Muslim Americans in the media.The report is available for download at: http://www.smearcasting.com
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THE ANTI-MUSLIM SMEAR MACHINE STRIKES AGAIN? - TOPIsabel Macdonald, Huffington Post, 10/10/08
In the midst of remarkably cynical election-time mud-slinging, the Obsession campaign is truly in a class of its own.
Over the past weeks, 28 million copies of the anti-Muslim propaganda film Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West have been delivered to the doors of newspaper subscribers in swing states. The 2006 documentary, which has been a mainstay of David Horowitz's "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week," describes "radical Islam" as a menace comparable to Adolf Hitler that, according to the film's website, "is threatening, with all the means at its disposal, to bow Western civilization under the yoke of its values."
For the groups behind the film's distribution, the goal seems pretty clear: Scare the holy hell out of millions of voters in swing states about a possible Muslim takeover of the U.S. It's hard to see the targeting of electoral battlegrounds as anything other than an attempt to help John McCain get elected -- perhaps by capitalizing on the widespread whispering campaign that Obama is a "secret Muslim." (MORE)
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VIDEO: CHICAGO MOSQUE VANDALIZED FOR FOURTH TIME - TOP
Click here to watch the video.
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RELEASE OF FEAR-FILLED "OBSESSION" PUTS HILLS AREA MUSLIMS IN UNCOMFORTABLE PLACE - TOPMary Garrigan, Rapid City Journal, 10/13/08
Copies of a documentary film that a local Muslim says manipulates political fears about her religion arrived in Rapid City mailboxes this week.
Samira Choudhury's first thought when she saw a DVD of "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" was, "They really got the wrong address."
But the 22-year-old Muslim woman quickly wondered if her neighbors also had received the DVD, and what their reaction would be.
"Oh my goodness, all my neighbors are getting this, and that kind of scares me," she said.
"I suddenly found myself running through the faces of the neighbors and families who have lived on my street for years and the classmates I had gotten to know in grade school here in Rapid City. What impact will this film have on their perceptions of people like me?"
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is concerned that anti-Muslim bias against individuals and mosques has increased around the country because of the film. One Chicago-area mosque has been the target of four vandalism attacks in the past two months. (MORE)
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OBSESSION`S SECRET PRODUCER REVEALED, REP. JEWISH COALITION TIES TO CLARION UNCOVERED - TOPRichard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, 10/10/1008
Thanks to investigative reporting of Will Evans and reader Robin McLaren, we’ve uncovered the identity of one of the formerly secret producers of Obsession (you’ll recall that the Clarion Fund listed two producers’ names for the film and both were fake). His name is Erik Werth, and he’s a former Clinton Administration advisor for “homeland security issues” (though there was no such concept in the Clinton Administration) and news producer for NBC’s Dateline. (MORE)
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OBSESSION, THIRD JIHAD PRODUCER ONCE ARRESTED FOR IMPERSONATING SECRET SERVICE AGENT - TOPRichard Silverstein, Tikun Olam, 10/10/1008
Many of the journalists who’ve reported on the Clarion Fund and its anti-Islam “documentary” Obsession have wondered why the film credits listed fake names for the two producers. Yesterday we reported that the real name of one of the producers is Erik Werth. (MORE)
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INTERFAITH GROUP BLASTS OBSESSION - TOPJTA, 10/10/08
An interfaith group blasted the creators and distributors of a film critical of radical Islam.
At a news conference Tuesday in Washington, Interfaith Alliance chairman Rabbi Jack Moline described the film, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War with the West" as a "thinly veiled call for disparagement and distrust of all Muslims."
By "exercising the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution," the film's distributors have "attempted, by inference and innuendo, to limit the rights of Muslims to enjoy the free exercise of their faith," he said. (MORE)
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ACTOR MIKE FARRELL & SHERIFF BACA JOIN COALITION OF CIVIC & FAITH LEADERS IN SPEAKING OUT AGAINST ANTI-MUSLIM DVD - TOP
(Los Angeles - 10/10/08) -- Sheriff Lee Baca will join actor Mike Farrell and the newly formed Coalition for Renewing American Democracy to speak out against an anti-Muslim film called "Obsession" during a press conference on Monday, October 13 in Los Angeles.
The DVD, called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War with the West," has been distributed to 28 million households in election swing states, and has been widely criticized as a divisive political ploy.
WHAT: SHERIFF BACA JOINS CIVIC-FAITH COALITION IN SPEAKING OUT AGAINST MASS DISTRIBUTION OF ANTI-MUSLIM DVD WHEN: Monday, October 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. WHERE: Islamic Center of Southern California, 434 S. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90010
The coalition will also release a statement, signed by more than a dozen religious, civic and law enforcement officials, voicing their "deep concern over the recent distribution of a deeply divisive and anger-provoking DVD" which undermines "our common and cherished beliefs by inciting fear and furthering ignorant stereotypes."
The statement from the Coalition for Renewing American Democracy reads, in part:
We, as members of civic and religious organizations along with law enforcement, come together united against hate and extremism. We believe that the best way to counter political and religious extremism is through cooperation and coordination. Those who divide our pluralism along the lines of religious or political views only further the cause of extremism. They profit from the fear generated from propaganda while we are on the front lines of pursuing effective public policy to eradicate terrorism.
We have come together to express our deep outrage over the recent distribution of a divisive and hate-provoking DVD called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" to residents across the nation.... Invoking fear and anger in American voters is never the way to address the real problems of extremism and terrorism, and in a city as diverse and complex as Los Angeles -- at a time of great economic uncertainty -- this sort of hatred and blind tarring of a people and a faith is painful and dangerous.
America stands for the core values of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, pluralism, and equality for all. The Coalition for Renewing American Democracy seeks to work with a diverse group of faith and civic leaders and communities to renew America's promise by engaging elected officials and community leaders to promote security and guard against discrimination…
CONTACT: Edina Lekovic, 213-383-3443, communications@mpac.org
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CAIR: MEETINGS BEGIN BETWEEN EAST AFRICANS, COMMUNITY LEADERS - TOPChris Casey, Greeley Tribune, 10/11/08
A group of East African residents has begun monthly meetings with Greeley leaders following last month's dispute about prayer breaks at JBS Swift & Co., and subsequent firing of about 120 Muslim workers.
Five members of the East African Community Council met with social service representatives, Realizing Our Community and Greeley Mayor Ed Clark earlier this week. The next meeting is planned for Nov. 3 at the Greeley Recreation Center.
Members of the East African Council, some of whom tried to mediate the dispute between JBS Swift and the Muslim workers, on Monday gathered information about local education, social service and employment options for the local East African community.
The point of the dialogue with city leaders, said council member Graen Isse, is "so what happened at Swift won't happen again."
About 16 of the fired workers got their jobs back at JBS Swift, Isse said, while another 20 found employment elsewhere in town. About 50 to 60 in the group are still looking for work, he said, and they are generally looking for assembly or cleaning jobs where they don't have to speak English.
Isse said some of the fired workers have retained a Denver attorney, and legal representatives with the Council on American-Islamic Relations have met with the affected Muslims. (MORE)
-----OH: MUSLIM CHARITY TO GET ITS DAY IN COURT - TOPWilliam Fisher, IPS, 10/11/08
NEW YORK, Oct 11 (IPS) - In what appears to be another stunning legal rebuke to President George W. Bush's policies in the "global war on terrorism", a federal judge has blocked the government from blacklisting a Muslim-oriented charity to give the group a chance to defend itself after its assets were frozen almost three years ago.
In response to a request filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Ohio and several civil rights lawyers on behalf of KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc., Judge James G. Carr this week blocked the government from branding the organisation as a "specially designated global terrorist" "without first affording KindHearts with constitutionally adequate process," including notice and a meaningful opportunity to contest the basis for such a designation.
The judge ruled that the government's proposed action prior to a judicial review will cause KindHearts to "suffer serious and irreparable injury in the form of loss of reputation and goodwill." (MORE)
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THE MAN BEHIND THE WHISPERS ABOUT OBAMA - TOPJIM RUTENBERG, New York Times, 10/13/08
The most persistent falsehood about Senator Barack Obama’s background first hit in 2004 just two weeks after the Democratic convention speech that helped set him on the path to his presidential candidacy: “Obama is a Muslim who has concealed his religion.”
That statement, contained in a press release, spun a complex tale about the ancestry of Mr. Obama, who is Christian.
The press release was picked up by a conservative Web site, FreeRepublic.com, and spread steadily as others elaborated on its claims over the years in e-mail messages, Web sites and books. It continues to drive other false rumors about Mr. Obama’s background.
Just last Friday, a woman told Senator John McCain at a town-hall-style meeting, “I have read about him,” and “he’s an Arab.” Mr. McCain corrected her.
Until this month, the man who is widely credited with starting the cyberwhisper campaign that still dogs Mr. Obama was a secondary character in news reports, with deep explorations of his background largely confined to liberal blogs.
But an appearance in a documentary-style program on the Fox News Channel watched by three million people last week thrust the man, Andy Martin, and his past into the foreground. The program allowed Mr. Martin to assert falsely and without challenge that Mr. Obama had once trained to overthrow the government. (MORE)
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NEW YORK COUNTY PRINTS ‘BARACK OSAMA’ ON BALLOTS - TOPEd Hornick, CNN, 10/10/08
(CNN) — Some are calling it a Freudian slip. Everyone’s calling it a big mistake.
Hundreds of absentee ballots sent to voters in New York State’s Rensselaer County, near Albany, were printed with Barack Obama’s last name spelled as “Osama," the Albany Times Union reports.