Thursday, August 15, 2013

Fantasyland Media: (for 8/1/13)

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 Dream
"Army private Bradley Manning received an outpouring of support over the weekend as people around the world launched rallies, vigils, and civil disobedience actions demanding the release of the whistleblower...

From London to Seoul to San Francisco, organizers in over 40 cities across the globe launched solidarity actions Saturday, as Manning awaits sentencing from the judge overseeing his case. The actions included protests at US embassies throughout Europe, a large banner drop in Florida, and a flash mob in San Francisco, organizers told Common Dreams.

RT reports 40 protests in German cities alone, with the largest German rally in Frankfurt. 'It is very heartwarming to see people support him, but it is not a surprise, and support is growing day after day,' Farah Muhsin of the Bradley Manning Support Network told Common Dreams."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/29-1

-->The NY Times follows the Pentagon's script so closely on Bradley Manning that our newspaper of record didn't report this worldwide support.

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Common Dreams:
"Chicago human rights advocates are demanding a United Nations investigation into the human rights abuses stemming from the closure of 49 public schools throughout the city.

The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights—a coalition of over 50 social justice organizations, service providers, and university centers, sent a 'letter of allegation' to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Switzerland, written by University of Chicago law professor Sital Kalantry with wide community input.

The letter charges that the mass school shutdown stands in direct violation of multiple human rights treaties of which the US is a signatory, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...

The closures violate prohibition of discrimination, because 'African American children make up 42% of the students in Chicago’s public schools, but 80% of the children impacted by the school closures are African American,' the letter declares."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/07/29-5

-->The NY Times would never question the neoliberal assault on public education, and didn't print this story. In fact, The NY Times has never published a story critical of corporate efforts to privative all of our nation's schools.

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Tribune/LA Times:
"One year ago, the Environmental Protection Agency finished testing drinking water in Dimock, Pa., after years of complaints by residents who suspected that nearby natural gas production had fouled their wells. The EPA said that for nearly all the 64 homes whose wells it sampled, the water was safe to drink...

In an internal EPA PowerPoint presentation obtained by the Tribune/Los Angeles Times Washington Bureau, staff members warned their superiors that several wells had been contaminated with methane and substances such as manganese and arsenic, most likely because of local natural gas production.

Critics say the decision in July 2012 by EPA headquarters in Washington to curtail its investigation at Dimock over the objection of its on-site staff fits a troubling pattern at a time when the Obama administration has used the sharp increase in natural gas production to rebut claims that it is opposed to fossil fuels.

In March 2012, the EPA closed an investigation of methane in drinking water in Parker County, Texas, although the geologist hired by the regulator confirmed that the methane was from gas production. In late June, the EPA dropped a study of possible contamination of drinking water in Pavillion, Wyo., despite its earlier findings of carcinogens, hydrocarbons and other contaminants in the water."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-epa-dimock-20130728,0,4847442.story

-->Is Obama's EPA as dishonest as he is? Readers of The NY Times will never know, since fracking always gets positive coverage on its pages. The NY Times didn't cover these incidents of the EPA distorting reports to favor the fracking industry.