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 to keep from the public eye.

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Common Dreams:

"Marine life in the gulf and the communities which dot its coast are rife with problems. As Phil Radford, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA and Aaron Viles, Deputy Director of Gulf Restoration Network write today: 'Throughout the food chain, warning signs are accumulating. Dolphins are sick and dying. Important forage fish are plagued with gill and developmental damage. Deepwater species like snapper have been stricken with lesions, and their reefs are losing biodiversity. Coastal communities are struggling with changes to the fisheries they rely upon. Hard-hit oyster reefs aren't coming back and sport fish like speckled trout have disappeared from some of their traditional haunts. BP's oily fingerprints continue to mar the landscape and destroy habitats."

'People should be aware that the oil is still there,' Wilma Subra, a chemist who travels widely across the Gulf meeting with fishers and testing seafood and sediment samples for contamination, told freelance journalist Jordan Flaherty. Subra thinks this what is now being seen in the gulf is just the 'beginning of this disaster.' In every community she visits, writes Flaherty, 'fishers show her shrimp born without eyes, fish with lesions, and crabs with holes in their shells.' According to Subra, tarballs are still washing up on beaches across the region."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/20-9

-->NPR presented a different story on Marketplace April 19. According to Public Radio, the damage has gone away, and most of the oil has been dispersed naturally. There is no need to worry about spills like this in the future. Oil company propaganda on National Public Radio. 

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FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting:

"The four-part series America Revealed, airing on PBS stations this month, looks at big-picture economic issues, from agriculture to transportation to manufacturing. The series underwriter? The Dow Chemical Company, whose commercial interests closely track the subjects covered in the PBS series.

The first episode, entitled Food Machine (4/11/12), focused on large-scale agriculture, which is one of the industries in which Dow is a major player. The program featured an extended look at the corn industry, including efforts to control pests. As the program explained, the food industry 'needed a game changer' in that fight. And it got one: The 'genetically modified organism, better known as a GMO.'

This positively portrayed 'game changer' just happens to be the very type of product Dow sells. Indeed, Dow is among a handful of companies that dominate the genetic seed market. The company has recently been trying to win approval for a new genetically modified corn that has been nicknamed 'Agent Orange' for its resistance to a highly toxic herbicide."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/23-8

-->Both PBS and NPR have suffered greatly from their growing dependence on industry sponsorships. Major corporations now control much of their reporting, a direct result of less money from the federal government.

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Guardian UK:

"News organizations cultivate a reputation for demanding transparency, whether by suing for access to government documents, dispatching camera crews to the doorsteps of recalcitrant politicians, or editorializing in favor of open government.

But now many of the country's biggest media companies - which own dozens of newspapers and TV news operations - are flexing their muscle in Washington in a fight against a government initiative to increase transparency of political spending.

The corporate owners or sister companies of some of the biggest names in journalism - NBC News, ABC News, Fox News, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Politico, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and dozens of local TV news outlets - are lobbying are against a Federal Communications Commission measure to require broadcasters to post political ad data on the internet."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/apr/20/us-media-lobbying-transparency

-->To its credit, The NY Times did report this story of big media trying to hide the source of political ad spending.

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 to keep from the public eye.

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Common Dreams:

"Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is promising more controversy in his highly anticipated television series "The World Tomorrow". The show premiers this coming Tuesday on RT.

The show will feature Assange in conversation with 'iconoclasts, visionaries and power insiders.'

'First of all, being under house arrest for so long, it’s nice to have an occasional visitor and to learn more about the world. And given that the conversations we were having are quite interesting, why not film them and show other people what was going on,' Assange stated. The show, 'revealed sides of very interesting and important people that are not normally [heard] because they are not dealing with a standard interviewer, they are dealing with someone who is under house arrest, who has gone through political problems that they can sympathize with.'

The first-episode will feature a 'particularly controversial guest' who's identity is yet to be revealed and premieres on the 500th day of the financial blockade on Wikileaks.”

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/13-1

-->The NY Times doesn't report on Julian Assange unless the story is negative. Wouldn't it be something if a man like Assange ran The NY Times newsroom, instead of the usual pro-corporate, pro-Pentagon hack. We wouldn't be reading misleading stories about Iran's supposed nuclear weapons program. We would be getting the facts, straight from WikiLeaks!

UPDATE: The NY Times finally reported on Assange's TV show, although the story was full of disparaging remarks, calling it an "improbable platform for a man who poses as a radical left-wing whistleblower and free-speech frondeur battling the superpowers that be." 

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Wired Magazine:

"War's cruel legacy continues to unleash itself on the children of Iraq as weapons used by the U.S. have left Iraqi children with horrific birth defects, and the problem shows no signs of abating, Inter Press Service is reporting today.

'In 2004 the Americans tested all kinds of chemicals and explosive devices on us: thermobaric weapons, white phosphorous, depleted uranium...we have all been laboratory mice for them,' hospital spokesman Nadim al-Hadidi told Inter Press Service (IPS).

IPS notes that the Iraqi Health Ministry, in close collaboration with the WHO, is set to embark on its first ever study on congenital malformations in the governorates of Baghdad, Anbar, Thi Qar, Suleimania, Diala and Basra this month.

Iraqi children being born with birth defects has been devastating families for years. A July 2010 study showed that increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukemia in the heavily bombarded city of Fallujah surpass those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/13-3

-->Such depressing news about the empire never makes it to our newspaper of record, The NY Times.

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Common Dreams:

"Drastic changes are 'important climate change signals,' researchers conclude.

A rapid rise in sea levels in Southwest Pacific Ocean has occurred, according to a new study, and researchers say human-made climate change is likely the cause for significant rises in the 20th century. Scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia, partnered with other British universities, measured sea levels going back 6,000 years and spotted significant increases in the 19th and 20th centuries. Of note is that a major spike in the late 20th century, starting around 1990, is likely linked to human-created climate change, researchers said.

'The 1990s peak is most likely indicative of human-induced climate change,' said Patrick Moss, a scientist from the University of Queensland. 'Any drastic changes from the norm, which persist for several decades and over a wide area, represent important climate signals.' "

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/13-2

-->The NY Times doesn't like to discourage its readers with stories about man made climate change. Or has the Gray Lady been in bed with the oil producers for the last several decades? It didn't print this story.

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The Examiner:

"The big food factories are at it again. Monsanto and Dow are really worried about controlling the weeds on the farms that produce a huge percentage of the fresh produce in the United States, so they have come up with a scheme to take care of the problem. Unfortunately, the consequences will be detrimental to everyone’s health. Oh, well . . . What’s the proposal? Let’s use this genetically engineered 2,4-D and Roundup to dust down the crops...

What is 2,4-D? It sounds like an equation, and in a way it is. Except this one adds up to three times the Nebraska farmworkers developing non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, along with high rates of miscarriage and increased birth defects in the families who work in those areas.  This extremely potent herbicide contains half of the chemical mixture of Agent Orange used during the Vietnam War to clear the jungles. The military men and civilians that were exposed suffered from reproductive problems, cancer, and Parkinson’s disease. The problem was so wide spread that now the VA offers special benefits to those who have become disabled and are dying from this chemical exposure over a short period of time."

http://www.examiner.com/article/pass-the-poison-please

-->The NY Times never goes against corporate interests like Monsanto and Dow. It isn't covering this story.

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 to keep from the public eye.

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Electronic Intifada:

"The European Commission has released a document that lists projects it funded that were destroyed or damaged by the Israeli military between May 2001 and October 2011.

The list documents 82 such instances, amounting to a monetary loss of ($65.6 million), ($40 million) of which came directly from European aid.

The list was made available to Chris Davies, a British member of the European Parliament, following his inquiry to the European Commission. Davies subsequently published the findings on his webpage where he stated that the list was 'the most detailed response I have ever received from the European Commission.' ”

http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-causes-66-million-worth-damage-eu-funded-aid-projects/11130

-->The NY Times doesn't bother reporting most of Israel's human rights abuses against Palestinians. Its reporters are hopelessly biased because of their close ties to the Israeli state.

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Wired Magazine:

"A top adviser to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned the Bush administration that its use of 'cruel, inhuman or degrading” interrogation techniques like waterboarding were 'a felony war crime.'

What’s more, newly obtained documents reveal that State Department counselor Philip Zelikow told the Bush team in 2006 that using the controversial interrogation techniques were 'prohibited' under U.S. law —  'even if there is a compelling state interest asserted to justify them.'

Zelikow argued that the Geneva conventions applied to al-Qaida — a position neither the Justice Department nor the White House shared at the time. That made waterboarding and the like a violation of the War Crimes statute and a  felony, Zelikow tells Danger Room. Asked explicitly if he believed the use of those interrogation techniques were a war crime, Zelikow replied, 'Yes.' "

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/04/secret-torture-memo/

-->The NY Times is distinctly disinterested in war crimes being committed by the empire. It hasn't printed the story.

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Guardian UK

"A report released today shows that worldwide opposition to the biotechnology giant Monsanto and 'the agro-industrial model that it represents' is growing.

La Via Campesina, Friends of the Earth International, and Combat Monsanto, the groups who issued the report, show that small farmers, groups and communities in every continent are rising up to resist Monsanto's products and environmental harm. While Monsanto's -- and other giant agribusinesses' -- approach, including genetically modified crops, has been shown to hurt biodiversity, local food knowledge and the environment, the report shows that 'food sovereignty is a real and feasible alternative.'

'This new report documents the intense opposition to this powerful transnational company, which peddles its genetically modified products seemingly without regard for the associated social, economic and environmental costs,' said Martin Drago, Friends of the Earth International's Food Sovereignty programme coordinator."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/04-5

-->The NY Times has long been in bed with Monsanto. Even The NY Times Science Section usually sings praises for genetically modified food. Our newspaper of record would never print a report like this.

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 to keep from the public eye.

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Common Dreams:

"According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology industries spent over $700 million in lobbying between 2009 and 2011, surpassing other special interest spending such as big oil and insurance industries.

The extreme spending comes as this year's 'industry-friendly proposals' face the House and Senate, such as legislation limiting the FDA’s drug and medical device scrutiny.

'Congress is also considering legislation that would relax conflict-of-interest standards for federal advisory members at the FDA, allowing scientists with a financial stake in the outcome to vote on panels that approve or reject drugs and medical devices,' states UCS."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/03/30-4

-->The NY Times doesn't do a very good job reporting on corporate influences on governmental regulators. Or newspaper of record often omits such damning reports like this one from the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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Guardian UK:

"US acted to conceal evidence of intelligence failure before 9/11. Operation Foxden, delayed by turf war between the FBI and the CIA, given green light three days before the al-Qaida attacks...

The US government shut down a series of court cases arising from a multimillion pound business dispute in order to conceal evidence of a damning intelligence failure shortly before the 9/11 attacks, MPs were told.

Moreover, the UK government is now seeking similar powers that could be used to prevent evidence of illegal acts and embarrassing failures from emerging in court, David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, told the Commons."

http://m.guardian.co.uk/ms/p/gnm/op/s0EvnTLdU6-fR-DQO91AOkg/view.m?id=15&gid=world/2012/mar/27/us-intelligence-failure-911-fbi-cia&cat=most-read

-->The NY Times did not cover Operation Foxden or the attempts by the US government to conceal intelligence failures prior to 9/11. Readers must go to an British publication for "all the news that's fit to print."

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Guardian UK

"A group political activists and journalists has launched a legal challenge to stop an American law they say allows the US military to arrest civilians anywhere in the world and detain them without trial as accused supporters of terrorism.

The seven figures, who include ex-New York Times reporter Chris Hedges, professor Noam Chomsky and Icelandic politician and WikiLeaks campaigner Birgitta Jonsdottir, testified to a Manhattan judge that the law – dubbed the NDAA or Homeland Battlefield Bill – would cripple free speech around the world.

They said that various provisions written into the National Defense Authorization Bill, which was signed by President Barack Obama at the end of 2011, effectively broadened the definition of 'supporter of terrorism' to include peaceful activists, authors, academics and even journalists interviewing members of radical groups."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/29/journalists-us-anti-terrorism-law-ndaa?newsfeed=true

-->The Bill of Rights being defended by America's leading intellectuals. Not of interest to The NY Times, which didn't print this story.

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Common Dreams:

"A heartbreaking report from Save the Children and East Jerusalem YMCA Rehabilitation Program on the more than 8,000 Palestinian children living under Israeli occupation who have been arrested, handcuffed, blindfolded, detained and often brutalized in Israeli prisons, usually for throwing stones - and that doesn't include those caught in the assaults on Gaza. An estimated 90% suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Unsurprisingly, there is little help for them."

http://www.commondreams.org/further/2012/03/27-3

-->No sign of this report in The NY Times, which routinely leaves out stories of Palestinian suffering in the West Bank and Gaza.