Fantasyland Media:

http://www.fantasylandmedia.org

Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want keep from the public eye.

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Salon:
"At this point, I didn't believe it was possible, but the Obama administration has just reached an all-new low in its abysmal civil liberties record.  In response to the lawsuit filed by Anwar Awlaki's father asking a court to enjoin the President from assassinating his son, a U.S. citizen, without any due process, the administration late last night, according to The Washington Post, filed a brief asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit without hearing the merits of the claims.

That's not surprising:  both the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly insisted that their secret conduct is legal but nonetheless urge courts not to even rule on its legality.  But what's most notable here is that one of the arguments the Obama DOJ raises to demand dismissal of this lawsuit is 'state secrets':  in other words, not only does the President have the right to sentence Americans to death with no due process or charges of any kind, but his decisions as to who will be killed and why he wants them dead are 'state secrets,' and thus no court may adjudicate their legality." -Glenn Greenwald
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/26-5

-->Why doesn't The New York Times express outrage at this further shredding of the US Constitution? The story printed by The NY Times was very balanced, with some quotes supporting extrajudicial assassinations and some against. Our newspaper of record did not see fit to make this a subject of an editorial, and didn't bother quoting Mr. Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer who has written two books on the abuse of executive power.

(UPDATE: On Sept 30, The New York Times finally published an editorial condemning Obama's civil liberties record.)

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Huffington Post:
"The war on dissent, rather than terrorism, continued full steam with FBI SWAT teams breaking down doors at 7 am Friday (Sept 24) morning and raiding the homes of several anti-war leaders and activists in Minneapolis, Chicago and possibly a couple other Midwest cities. Members of the FBI's 'Joint Terrorism Task Force' spent a few hours at each Minneapolis residence, seizing personal photographs and papers, computers and cell phones as well as serving Federal Grand Jury subpoenas on the various activists.

Obviously the scathing review of post 9-11 FBI 'terrorism investigations' targeting various peace and social justice groups completed by the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) and just issued four days ago gave no pause to the FBI to reflect before continuing to do more of the same. Nor did accompanying media revelations about the FBI having improperly conducted surveillances of an antiwar rally in Pittsburgh; the Catholic Worker peace magazine; a Quaker activist, the Thomas Merton Center in Pittsburgh, of members of the environmental group Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and of a small student group of anti-war activists in Iowa City, Iowa who were targeted for 9 months in 2008.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/inspector-general-critici_b_738932.html

-->The New York Times reported the FBI break-ins, but failed to link them to the Department of Justice's highly critical report of other FBI "Terrorism Investigations."

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Haaretz Newspaper
"Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be the winner of the construction-freeze crisis: The 10-month suspension of building in the settlements will not be extended and the prime minister has given up nothing. Peace talks with the Palestinians will continue, the coalition is as strong as ever, and the government enjoys some freedom of movement regarding the settlers and the U.S. administration.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, his threats to the contrary, will not scuttle the peace talks that have barely begun just because Netanyahu isn't extending the freeze. U.S. President Barack Obama, preaching for the moratorium to continue, can't force it on Netanyahu on the eve of the congressional elections when his party's leaders are calling for negotiations to continue without regard to the settlements."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-winner-in-the-settlement-row-is-netanyahu-1.315719

-->Refreshing analysis by the Israeli newspaper of the left. It is too bad that the American media can't seem to focus on Obama's inability or unwillingness to demand an end to the illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Fantasyland Media:

 http://www.fantasylandmedia.org

Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want keep from the public eye.

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WAMC/NPR:
A special report from the national NPR described the effectiveness of trade sanctions against Iran. There were some successes, according to the report. But real progress is still a long way off. The report cited Turkey and China as major obstacles in "stopping Iran from building nuclear weapons."

-->Notice how the debate in the US media has gone from whether Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons to how best to stop them from building the bomb. It is an important step to take, at least from the Pentagon's point of view. Establishing a nuclear weapons program in Iran is like establishing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq before that misguided invasion.

Reading or listening to US media, one can understand the direction of US interventions in the Third World. First, the big lie. And then the US media repeating that lie again and again until most people consider it the consensus of informed opinion. But how did our media become the conduit for Pentagon propaganda? And how long has our "free press" been feeding us what the government wants us to believe?

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Common Dreams:
"Israeli Company Hired by State Government to Spy on Pennsylvanians and Other Americans.

The surprise disclosure that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through its state Homeland Security Agency, along with a number of local police departments in the state, have been employing a private Israeli security company with strong links to Mossad and the Israeli Defense Force grows increasingly disturbing when the website of the company, called the Institute of Terrorism Research and Response, is examined...

The description for the Tactical Advantage course, which the website says was designed for military, law enforcement and security personnel, describes the program as 'intense, dirty, aggressive and based on Israeli Counter-Terror Schools policy.' It says 'This course pushes trainees to the physical and mental edge.'  American organizations which engage in protests and rallies, hearing that reference to the Israeli Counter-Terror Schools policy, might recall the IDF’s handling of the aid flotilla that was boarded on the high seas by IDF troops as they read these lines."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/19-1

-->An Israeli security company with links to their secret service is spying on political activists in Pennsylvania. But our newspaper of record, The NY Times, is disinterested in stories critical of Israel's power in the United States. Perhaps the newspaper has its own links to Mossad.

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The Raw Story:
"That the Food and Drug Administration is opposed to labeling foods that are genetically modified is no surprise anymore, but a report in the Washington Post indicates the FDA won't even allow food producers to label their foods as being free of genetic modification.

In reporting that the FDA will likely not require the labeling of genetically modified salmon if it approves the food product for consumption, the Post's Lyndsey Layton notes that the federal agency 'won't let conventional food makers trumpet the fact that their products don't contain genetically modified ingredients.' "
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/09/19-0

-->The NY Times ran a story about GM salmon the same day. But the piece avoided any mention of the labeling controversy. When it comes to corporate policies that threaten human health, The NY Times can be counted on to toe the business line. Just look at the last decade's worth of positive articles on nuclear energy.

Fantasyland Media:

http://www.fantasylandmedia.org

Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want keep from the public eye.

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Common Dreams:
"Washington, D.C., is leading the transformation of urban public education across the country—at least according to Time magazine, which featured D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee on its cover, wearing black and holding a broom. Or perhaps you read it in Newsweek or heard it from Oprah, who named Rhee to her 'power list' of 'remarkable visionaries.'

But there’s nothing remarkably visionary going on in Washington. The model of school reform that’s being implemented here is popping up around the country, heavily promoted by the same network of conservative think tanks and philanthropists like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and the Walton Family Foundation that has been driving the school reform debate for the past decade. It is reform based on the corporate practices of Wall Street, not on education research or theory. Indications so far are that, on top of the upheaval and distress Rhee leaves in her wake, the persistent racial gaps that plague D.C. student outcomes are only increasing...

Rhee continues to target career teachers, in action and words. In the spring and summer of 2009 the district hired more than 900 new teachers—three times the usual number of summer hires. Then, in October, Rhee announced that a newly discovered budget shortfall required that 266 teachers be laid off. Because the layoffs were budget related, principals were free to ignore the 'last hired-first fired' rules in the union contract. According to the union, a substantial number of the laid-off teachers were older, more senior teachers, rather than those who had been hired the previous spring and summer. Students and parents protested as beloved teachers and counselors were yanked out of buildings."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/09/13-5

-->Very little in the US media questions "education reform" as presented by Bush and now Obama. But it involves the corporatization of public schools, and even to the firing of older, higher paid professionals. All the abuses of corporate America brought into the classroom.

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Guardian/UK:
"The bulk of the media often gets pulled along for the ride when the United States government has a serious political and public relations campaign around foreign policy. But almost nowhere is it so monolithic as with Venezuela. Even in the run-up to the Iraq war, there were a significant number of reporters and editorial writers who didn't buy the official story. But on Venezuela, the media is more like a jury that has 12 people but only one brain...

The 'all bad news, all the time' theme was overwhelmingly dominant even during Venezuela's record economic expansion, from 2003 to 2008. The economy grew as never before, poverty was cut by more than half, and there were large gains in employment. Real social spending per person more than tripled, and free healthcare was expanded to millions of people. You will have to search very hard to find these basic facts presented in a mainstream media article, although the numbers are hardly in dispute among economists in international organisations that deal with statistics...

Whatever happens, we can expect complete coverage of one side of the story from the media. So keep it in mind: even when you are reading the New York Times or listening to NPR on Venezuela, you are getting Fox News. If you want something more balanced, you will have to look for it on the web."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/12-4

-->How is it that a free society does not have a free press? Why does The NY Times continue to slander countries according to the Pentagon's enemies list? Like reporting on Nicaragua in the 1980's, there is no difference between what The NY Times reports and what the government wants you to read.

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Guardian/UK:
"Israel has snubbed five senior European foreign ministers, including the British foreign secretary, William Hague, by refusing to receive them for a planned visit to Jerusalem, according to reports in the Israeli press.

The respected Haaretz newspaper reported today that the visit, planned for Thursday, was officially rejected by the Israeli foreign ministry because of the date's proximity to the Jewish religious holiday, Yom Kippur, which begins on Friday evening. However, a senior Israeli official told Haaretz that the real reason was concern that EU ministers wanted to pressure Israel to extend its settlement construction freeze. The 10-month partial freeze is due to expire in two weeks.

The EU meeting is reported to have been initiated by the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and his Spanish counterpart, Miguel Moratinos, after discussions between them over the EU's efforts to promote the Middle East peace process. Hague would have been a member of the delegation."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/12/israel-refuses-eu-foreign-ministers

-->Of course, The NY Times would not cover that highlighted the illegal settlements or made Israel look bad. Here there is very little difference between what The NY Times reports and what the Israeli government wants you to read.

Fantasyland Media:

http://www.fantasylandmedia.org

Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want keep from the public eye.

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RobertReich.org:

"President Obama reportedly will propose two big corporate tax cuts this week.

One would expand and make permanent the research and experimentation tax credit, at a cost of about $100 billion over the next ten years. The other would allow companies to write off 100 percent of their new investments in plant and equipment between now and the end of 2011 at a cost next year of substantially more than $100 billion (but a ten-year cost of about $30 billion since those write-offs wouldn't be taken over the longer-term).

The economy needs two whopping corporate tax cuts right now as much as someone with a serious heart condition needs Botox. 

The reason businesses aren't investing in new plant and equipment has nothing to do with the cost of capital. It's because they don't need the additional capacity. There isn't enough demand for their goods and services to justify it. Consumers aren't buying because they're trying to come out from under a huge debt load, including mortgage debt; they have to start saving because their nest eggs are worth substantially less; and they've lost or are worried about losing jobs and pay.

In any event, small businesses don't have enough profits against which to use these tax credits and deductions, and large corporations are sitting on over a trillion dollars of profits and don't need them."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/07-8

-->Why isn't our media presenting these massive business tax cuts for what they are? Perhaps because big business controls big media.

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BoingBoing.net:

"Today, the ACLU, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) filed a lawsuit challenging the government's claimed authority to search, detain, and copy electronic devices ≠ including laptops, cell phones, cameras, etc. ≠ at the country's international borders without any suspicion of wrongdoing.

We carry a lot of private information on those devices, including pictures, personal emails, work-related documents, and much more. Normally, the Fourth Amendment requires the government to obtain a warrant before sifting through this information, and the First Amendment protects this information from unwarranted government scrutiny. The Fourth and First Amendments should also bar the government from rummaging through all that information and detaining the devices indefinitely without any suspicion, just because a person is crossing the border.

The plaintiffs are Pascal Abidor, a 26 year-old U.S.-French dual citizen and a Ph.D. student at McGill University in Montreal who was taken off an Amtrak train in upstate New York and whose laptop was detained and searched (including through personal materials like family photos and chat logs with his girlfriend) for 11 days; NACDL, an organization of approximately 10,000 attorneys with members who often travel overseas for work with documents protected by the attorney-client privilege; and the National Press Photographers' Association (NPPA), an organization of about 7,000 photojournalists."

http://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech-technology-and-liberty/aclu-challenges-laptop-searches-and-seizures-border

-->The Wall St. Journal covered this story. But not The NY Times.

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Montreal Gazette:

"Quebec - The Harper government has quietly presented a bill in the House of Commons that would give U.S. officials final say over who may board aircraft in Canada if they are to fly over the United States en route to a third country.

'Canadian sovereignty has gone right out the window,' Liberal transport critic Joe Volpe told The Gazette in recent telephone interview. 'You are going to be subject to American law.'

Bill C-42 amends Canada's Aeronautics Act to allow airlines to communicate passenger information to 'a foreign state' for flights over that country without landing.

At present, airlines are only required to give passenger information to the U.S. government on flights landing in the United States."

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Canada+says+Uncle+wants+your+data/3214360/story.html

-->No mention in the US media of this proposed spying on US citizens abroad.

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NPR's "51 Percent" likes doing programs about Afghanistan. The script is much like women's rights reporting on Iraq before the US invasion. The Pentagon sees these issues as a rallying cry for imperial occupations, a version of the Brits bringing "civilization" to their colonies. Wednesday's "51 Percent" report ended on a typical note: how "destructive" it would be if the West were to leave Afghanistan at this point, now that women are winning their rights. How much reporting does 51 Percent do on women's rights in Middle Eastern dictatorships supported by the US? Don't ask.

Fantasyland Media:

http://www.fantasylandmedia.org

Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want keep from the public eye.

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Inter Press Service:
"NEW YORK - Two of the nation's most influential human rights organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging the government's authority to carry out 'targeted killings' of U.S. citizens located far from any armed conflict zone. 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) charge that the authority contemplated by the Obama administration is far broader than what the Constitution and international law allow.

The organizations claim that, 'outside of armed conflict, both the Constitution and international law prohibit targeted killing except as a last resort to protect against concrete, specific, and imminent threats of death or serious physical injury. An extrajudicial killing policy under which names are added to CIA and military kill lists through a secret executive process and stay there for months at a time is plainly not limited to imminent threats.' "
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/31-6

-->The NY Times discussed these issues in an Aug. 3 article, but has yet to report this lawsuit. The assassination of US citizens without trial should be the biggest story of the year. But most Americans seem unaware that their Constitutional rights are slipping away under President Obama. It is not something they see on TV or read about in the press.

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Guardian/UK:
"Dozens of Israeli actors, playwrights and directors have signed a letter refusing to take part in productions by leading theatre companies at a new cultural centre in a West Bank settlement, prompting renewed debate over the legitimacy of artistic boycott.

More than 60 have joined the protest over plans by Israel's national theatre, the Habima, and other leading companies to stage performances in Ariel, a settlement 12 miles inside the West Bank. The letter, to Israel's culture minister, Limor Livnat, says the new centre for performing arts in Ariel, which is due to open in November after 20 years in construction, would 'strengthen the settlement enterprise'.

'We want to express our dismay with the intention of the theatres' managements to perform in the new auditorium in Ariel and hereby declare that we will refuse to perform in the city, as in any other settlement.' Israel's theatre companies should 'pursue their prolific activity inside the sovereign territory of the state of Israel within the boundaries of the Green Line.' "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/29/actors-boycott-west-bank-theatre

-->Israeli actors boycotting the West Bank because of illegal settlements? The story appeared in some readers' letters, but not as an actual story in our newspaper of record.

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In These Times:
"Like other workers around the country, employees say they're getting squeezed. They're expected to do more with less: fewer supplies, fewer breaks, and less money. Like the vast majority of American workers, they're not unionized. Company-wide profits, however, seem to be doing okay.

But in a move rarely seen since the Great Depression, Embassy Suites workers went on strike early this month over alleged lost wages. Although as nonunion workers they had few legal rights to protect their actions, they were united and angry. On August 9, workers walked off the job and formed a picket line at the hotel's entrance.

It was the latest in a series of bold actions by workers affiliated with UNITE HERE, the hotel workers union, this summer. In May, organizers at the Hyatt Regency Chicago were denied access to hotels to speak with workers; in response, the workers staged a brief wildcat walkout.

Last month, almost a thousand UNITE HERE workers and community supporters were arrested in civil disobedience actions around the country—many in cities where such actions had not occurred for decades—against the Hyatt corporation. And now the Embassy workers in Irvine walked off the job despite a lack of union recognition."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/08/26-2

-->Unions beginning to fight back when American workers are being screwed? Just like they did during the last Great Depression? Readers of the NY Times will never be made aware of corporations cheating workers in the US, or of union and nonunion employees fighting back. It didn't cover this story.