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.
------
Guardian UK:
"Government says death of Hakimullah Mehsud has destroyed attempts to hold peace talks with Islamist militants. ...
A Pakistani government minister said the strike by an unmanned aircraft on Friday had destroyed attempts to hold peace talks with the militants which began this week.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the interior minister, said: 'This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts.' "
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/02/pakistan-taliban-leader-us-drone-strike
-->Contrast this to the cheering in The NY Times story. "The death of the leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, is a signal achievement for the covert C.I.A. program at a time when drones themselves have come under criticism from human rights groups and other critics in Pakistan and the United States over the issue of civilian casualties." Did the CIA intentionally destroy peace talks by the murdering Mehsud? Our newspaper of record only mentions that the drone strike came at a "delicate time" for peace talks, which now have been "possibly rendered unnecessary."
------
Washington Times:
"The National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security have issued 'cease and desist' letters to a novelty store owner who sells products that poke fun at the federal government.
Dan McCall, who lives in Minnesota and operates LibertyManiacs.com, sells T-shirts with the agency’s official seal that read: 'The NSA: The only part of government that actually listens,' Judicial Watch first reported.
Other parodies say, 'Spying on you since 1952,' and 'Peeping while you’re sleeping,' the report said.
Federal authorities claimed the parody images violate laws against the misuse, mutilation, alteration or impersonation of government seals, Judicial Watch reported."
-->Sometimes The NY Times protects the security state from itself. This is a great story about how paranoid the NSA has become with its 10 billion dollars and 35,000 employees. But The NY Times prefers front page articles about hazing at professional football teams. It didn't print the NSA story.
------
Common Dreams:
" 'We have a moral duty to ensure that our laws and values limit surveillance programs and protect human rights,' Snowden writes in the letter reportedly penned in Moscow on Friday. 'While the NSA and GCHQ (the British national security agency) appear to be the worst offenders -- at least according to the documents that are currently public,' he writes, 'we cannot forget that mass surveillance is a global problem and needs a global solution.'
That solution, according to Snowden, is now possible due to increasing public awareness. Despite a 'never before seen witch hunt' that threatens journalists who expose such governmental wrongdoings, Snowden writes, the NSA leaks have already improved public awareness and will continue to promote citizen based reform. 'Instead of causing damage, the usefulness of the new public knowledge for society is now clear because reforms to politics, supervision and laws are being suggested,' he wrote.
'Citizens have to fight against the suppression of information about affairs of essential importance for the public,' a translation by Reuters reads. 'Those who speak the truth are not committing a crime.' "
-->The NY Times rarely prints Snowden's words, no matter how eloquently or informative they are. Speaking truth to power is a foreign notion to America's most prestigious newspaper.
