Aljazeera
"A videotape is behind the decision by the Palestinian Authority (PA) to delay the vote on a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes during its offensive on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian news agency has reported.
Quoting what it called reliable sources, Shahab news agency said on Tuesday that PA representatives at a meeting in Washington had initially rejected Israel's request not to endorse the report and were determined to stick to this position.
But, the agency added, Brigadier Eli Avraham played a videotape showing a meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister.
The meeting was also attended by Tzipi Livni, Israel's former foreign minister.
The video reportedly showed Abbas trying to convince Barak to continue the war on Gaza, while Barak looked hesitant..."
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/2009106184126258933.html
-->The NY Times has not printed this explosive story of Palestinian betrayal. Abbas, of course, is a US puppet and therefore protected by propaganda media conglomerates like the NY Times.
UPDATE: Although this story is alive and well on the Internet, it seems to have been withdrawn by Aljazeera and is no longer on its website. The BBC refers to this story, but with a warning that the report is from "a news agency based in Hamas-controlled Gaza."
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The Nation
"In the wake of the Congressional witch hunt against the community organization ACORN, initiated by Republican minority leader John Boehner and supported by all but seventy-five Democrats in the House and ten in the Senate (Independent Bernie Sanders also voted no), a small number of Democratic lawmakers are pushing back. Last week, in response to the Defund ACORN Act, which seeks to prohibit federal funds to the community group, Minnesota Democrat Betty McCollum, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, introduced an ACORN act of her own. It is titled the 'Against Corporations Organizing to Rip-off the Nation Act of 2009...'
McCollum's legislation takes aim at massive healthcare corporations. 'It's time Congress get serious about taxpayer funding of corporate cheats, crooks and criminals,' says McCollum. 'Last month Congress took action to defund a nonprofit serving poor Americans but failed to act against the corporate crooks that are actually guilty of felonies--including defrauding taxpayers. Why are companies that break the law as a business strategy allowed to receive taxpayer funds?
McCollum's bill singles out Pharmacia & Upjohn Company Inc., a subsidiary of Pfizer. Last month Pfizer agreed to pay a $2.3 billion settlement, which the Justice Department calls 'the largest healthcare fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice.' The settlement stemmed from Pfizer's 'illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products,' where the company marketed dosages that had not been approved by the FDA."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/06-0
-->The NY Times is never interested in public fraud when it comes to large US corporations. That's because The NY Times' Board of Directors is full of the rich, white men running these giant firms.
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The Guardian in UK
"Six lobbyists for every member of Congress as healthcare industry heaps cash on politicians to water down legislation.
America's healthcare industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to block the introduction of public medical insurance and stall other reforms promised by Barack Obama. The campaign against the president has been waged in part through substantial donations to key politicians.
Supporters of radical reform of healthcare say legislation emerging from the US Senate reflects the financial power of vested interests ‑ principally insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms and hospitals ‑ that have worked to stop far-reaching changes threatening their profits.
The industry and interest groups have spent $380m in recent months influencing healthcare legislation through lobbying, advertising and in direct political contributions to members of Congress. The largest contribution, totaling close to $1.5m, has gone to the chairman of the senate committee drafting the new law."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/01/lobbyists-millions-obama-healthcare-reform
-->Readers of The NY Times will be spared the pain of a Congress that has sold out to the healthcare industry. In the midst of our nation's crippled healthcare reform effort, The NY Times has not run one story in the last month on the $380M spent on buying Congressional influence.
