http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
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"According to the Washington Times the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives has shelved H.R. 362, fearing that the resolution would provoke a war with Iran.
The bill, authored by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D - NY), urged the President, among other things, to prevent Iran from importing any refined petroleum products and demanded that he initiate an international effort to inspect 'all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran.' Though non-binding, the resolution is essentially urging a naval blockade against Iran - an act of war according to international law.
The bill was introduced on May 22, one day after the story broke that then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) to impose a naval blockade on Iran as a way of stopping its uranium enrichment program. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has endorsed the bill as a way to 'stop Iran’s nuclear program.'
Rep. Ackerman claims the bill 'is a way to avoid war by using diplomatic, political and economic tools.' He also intends to resubmit the bill for the next Congress, and vowed to have even more signatures then. The current incarnation of the bill had 270 co-sponsors, but the Washington Times reports that several of the original co-sponsors have since withdrawn their signatures."
http://news.antiwar.com/tag/iran/
-->The NY Times has completely avoided reporting on this resolution that pushes the US into war with Iran. The support of HR 362 by our own two Democratic members of the House, Hall and Gillibrand, has gotten no coverage either. The NY Times has hidden this story from its readers, in part to cover up the involvement of the Israeli lobby in a new war.
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"Human Rights Watch, a US-based group claiming to be a non-governmental organization, but which is in fact funded by government-linked quasi-private foundations and a Congressional funded political propaganda organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, has issued a report 'A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela' (9/21/2008 hrw.org). The publication of the 'Report' directed by Jose Miguel Vivanco and sub-director Daniel Walkinson led to their expulsion from Venezuela for repeated political-partisan intervention in the internal affairs of the country...
Jose Miguel Vivanco served as a diplomatic functionary under the bloody Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet between 1986-1989, serving no less as the butcher's rabid apologist before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights."
Lies, Crimes and Cover-ups by James Petras
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x8227
-->The NY Times reported things quite differently, making Vivanco a champion of human rights. He is even quoted: "Accusing us of being part of a conspiracy is a distraction tactic used to attack the messenger. We have never had this experience anywhere in this hemisphere.” No mention of funding by the National Endowment for Democracy or of Vivanco's bloody past.
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"Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely...
At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had an estimated 37 major military bases scattered around their dominions. At the height of the British Empire, the British had 36 of them planet-wide. Depending on just who you listen to and how you count, we have hundreds of bases. According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military 'sites' abroad..."
By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com
http://www.alternet.org/audits/97913/the_us_has_761_military_bases_across_the_planet%2C_and_we_simply_never_talk_about_it/?page=5
-->In this extraordinary time of economic meltdown, wouldn't you think that some US media would at least mention the cost of keeping 500,000 US troops in over 150 countries? Or the cost of spending more on our military than the rest of the world combined? Other countries see the connection, and talk about the US empire brought to its knees by the crushing costs of its imperialist ambitions. But empire never comes up when the US media analyzes Wall Street's impending collapse.
