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 to keep from the public eye.
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BBC News:
"US special forces are present in five South Asian countries, including India, a top Pentagon commander has revealed. US Pacific Commander Admiral Robert Willard said the teams were deployed to help India with their counter-terrorism co-operation...
Adm Willard said US teams were also present in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.
'We have currently special forces assist teams - Pacific assist teams is the term - laid down in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, as well as India,' Admiral Willard told a Congressional hearing."
-->Why must we go to foreign news sources to find out about the spread of US special forces around the globe? Inside America, such infiltrations of other countries by the US military is given little attention, another sign that the empire is on the move again in Asia and Africa.
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Common Dreams:
"From March 4 -6, as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) convenes its annual conference in Washington, DC, Occupy AIPAC has organized a concurrent summit to discuss AIPAC's heavy influence in determining US foreign policy. It hopes to show a there is a new way forward for a just Middle East policy.
Occupy AIPAC, coordinated by CODEPINK Women for Peace in partnership with the Institute for Policy Studies, Just Foreign Policy, US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Interfaith Peace-builders, Jewish Voice for Peace, and with the endorsement of over 100 organizations from around the country, states:
'The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has a dangerous stranglehold over U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East. AIPAC’s unrelenting support for the illegal policies of the Israeli government—separation walls, settlements, the siege of Gaza—in addition to its bellicose policies across the region, especially Iran, has been devastating for Palestinians and the Middle East, including Israel. It also harms our reputation around the world and squanders $3 billion a year subsidizing the powerful Israeli military when we need that money to rebuild the United States. It’s time to wean U.S. policy away from AIPAC’s grip towards an even-handed position that respects international law and the human rights of all people in the region.'
-->Why can't our major media outlets frame war against Iran in such terms? To The NY Times, it is all about Iran's supposed nuclear arms ambitions. No word of the organized resistance against AIPAC and Congressional warmongering. Over 400 people attended this occupy AIPAC conference and protest in DC this weekend.
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Common Dreams:
"As southern Indiana, Kentucky and other midwestern states woke Saturday to devastated communities and a rising death toll, the world again was treated to pictures and video of mother nature's ferocious power and the merciless power of her most precise and terrifying storm, the tornado. Most striking to some is the early arrival of this year's tornado season, which usually begins later in the spring and runs into summer. For climate scientists, who have long predicted longer or more powerful storms and less predictable seasons, the events are an affirmation that offer no comfort...
In a press briefing on Thursday, representatives of the nation's top insurance companies, citing a year of history-making natural disasters and $1 billion-plus in damages, took a definitive stance, along with members of the US Senate, to confirm that the costs -- both to taxpayers and private businesses -- from extreme weather events will continue to climb due to the irrefutable march of global warming and climate change.
-->Major insurance companies are becoming worried about the potential destruction of global warming, but not The NY Times. In its extensive coverage of these disasters, The NY Times does little to link them to any consideration of climate change. Reports are all about the extensive damage, and what meteorologists said about weather conditions.
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Occupy Washington Blog:
"If President Obama signs HR 347, it will be a federal crime if you mic-check a presidential candidate or the president. HR 347, the federal trespass bill that makes it illegal to knowingly protest in an area where there is someone under Secret Service protection or an area that Homeland Security has declared there is an event of 'national significance.'
Can they make a presidential inauguration an event where protest is not allowed? How about a meeting of the WTO, G8 or NATO? How about a meeting of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC? The law was passed by voice vote in the Senate - no record of anyone voting against it. And, in the House there were only three votes against it, Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) and Rep. Broun (R-GA)-- all Republicans...Is this another sign that elected officials fear the anger of the people?"
-->No mention of this impending legislation by our newspaper of record, The NY Times.
