Common Dreams:
“Former employees of the Pennsylvania Department of Health were ordered by supervisors to ignore complaints about fracking-related health issues and follow a host of other rules to keep the dangers of drilling under wraps — even at the expense of people's health.
NPR State Impact spoke with two retirees from the department who said they were instructed never to return phone calls from residents with health problems stemming from natural gas development, like skin rashes, nausea, and nosebleeds. Employees were also given a laundry list of ‘buzzwords’ and phrases to refrain from using when talking with the public — particularly those that explicitly related to the issue, like ‘fracking,’ ‘gas,’ and ‘soil contamination.’
Other terms covered health and environmental issues, such as ‘hair falling out,’ ‘water contamination,’ and ‘cancer cluster.’ …
Marshall P. Deasy, a 20-year veteran of the department, said that drilling was the only issue he could remember being censored by supervisors.”
—>The NYT employs similar tactics to preserve the reputation of the fracking industry. It didn’t print this story.
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NY Times:
—>If we had any doubts before about our newspaper of record’s stance on Palestine, the July 4 story on page 6 makes it clear. The pro-Israeli propaganda begins with two pictures above the article, one of masked Hamas fighters with guns, and the other an Israeli woman inspecting the "damage" from a rocket attack on her home. Thousands of homes destroyed by the Israeli military don't count. Israel having one of the world's most powerful militaries doesn't count either. It's just those horrible terrorists making life miserable for poor Israelis.
And the article is just as bad. "We need to finish them off before they finish us off" is the prevailing sentiment. Amazing how we as a country allow our major newspaper to get away with what is close to advocating genocide. We should picket The NYT for stories like this. Our newspaper of record has blood on it's hands. Interesting enough, the article is not even included in their on-line publication!
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Common Dreams:
“In a victory for environmental campaigners fighting to prevent the use of bee-killing pesticides, the agrochemical giant Syngenta on Friday withdrew an emergency application seeking permission to use such chemicals in the UK this planting season. …
As part of a coalition to uphold a ban on the European use of neonicotinoids, a class of chemicals used in pesticides shown to be extremely harmful to pollinating bees, both Friends of the Earth and Avaaz were among those who reacted to Syngenta's decision with celebration. …
Though Europe has maintained its ban and campaigners continue to press for stronger protections for the world's most effective pollinating species, efforts in the U.S. to ban these pesticides and other toxins have continued to falter despite the growing threat.”
—>No word on this victory from The NYT. One of the reasons that efforts to ban these pesticides in the US is faltering is our corporate controlled media. The NYT never prints a bad article about the agrochemical giants.
