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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Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR)
"The budget proposal released last week by Rep. Paul Ryan includes tax cuts for the wealthy, tax hikes for the middle class, drastic cuts in spending and a radical restructuring of Medicare that would shift most of the cost of healthcare to seniors. Its dubious claims of deficit reduction rely on fatally flawed assumptions and inexplicable projections (Center for Budget & Policy Priorities)
But much of the media coverage about the plan has presented Ryan's proposal as a serious solution to long-term budget problems, or at least the starting point of a serious conversation about the topic...
In Time magazine, readers learned that Paul Ryan--described as having 'jet black hair and a touch of Eagle Scout to him--has unveiled an ambitious package of huge budget cuts designed to dig the country out of its crippling debt crisis. For Ryan, reining in spending is nothing less than an act of patriotic valor'...
He's been making the media swoon for months now, as the January 25 New York Times made clear: 'He is the guy with the piercing blue eyes, love for heavy metal on his iPod and a reputation among Democrats, including President Obama, as a Republican who has put forward budget ideas that are thoughtful and serious, if not in sync with their own.' "
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/04/12-8
-->Our nation's corporate media simply loves the far right, especially when it comes to cutting workers' benefits to support tax cuts for the rich.
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The Guardian, UK:
"A senior United Nations representative on torture, Juan Mendez, issued a rare reprimand to the US government on Monday for failing to allow him to meet in private Bradley Manning, the American soldier accused of being the WikiLeaks source and held in a military prison. It is the kind of censure the UN normally reserves for authoritarian regimes around the world.
Mendez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, said: 'I am deeply disappointed and frustrated by the prevarication of the US government with regard to my attempts to visit Mr Manning.'
Manning's supporters claim that the US is being vindictive in its treatment of Manning, who is held at the marine base at Quantico, Virginia, in conditions they describe as inhumane."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/11/bradley-manning-juan-mendez-torture
-->The NY Times didn't print this story, nor mention Juan Mendez's comments. Government torture is often given short shrift by the official publication of the empire.
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Public Citizen:
"Plastic surgeons cover up new evidence of human cancer from implants.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons and the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery hosted a members only webinar essentially urging members to inaccurately downplay the risks of breast implant related cancer when speaking to female patients...
'Yes, it's classically a malignant tumor, but...when we were discussing ways to talk to the media, we decided that we would call this a condition...I would recommend that you use the same terms with your patients rather than disturb them by saying this is a cancer, this is a malignancy. The best word is this is a condition...' "
-->The NY Times did a health story on March 21 entitled "A Decade of Boosting Breast Size." No mention of the efforts by plastic surgeons to mislead their clients on the dangers of breast cancers.
