Wednesday, December 03, 2014

Common Dreams:
“As New War Rages, Study Finds, Mainstream Media Silences Debate.
New analysis finds little opposition in mainstream media to latest US military attacks on Middle East nations.

-In total, 205 sources appeared on the programs discussing military options in Syria and Iraq. Just six of these guests, or 3 percent, voiced opposition to US military intervention. There were 125 guests (61 percent) who spoke in favor of US war. 
-On the high-profile Sunday talk shows, 89 guests were invited to talk about the war. But just one, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, could be coded as an anti-war guest. 
-Guest lists leaned heavily on politicians and military insiders. Current and former US government officials—politicians and White House officials—made up 37 percent of the guest lists. Current and former military officials accounted for 7 percent of sources. Journalists made up 46 percent of the sources.”

—>The nation’s media is pushing for war again. When will they ever learn? Or better yet, when will we ever learn: to turn off our TV’s and question the US empire’s military expansion.

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Guardian UK:
“Rich countries are subsidizing oil, gas and coal companies by about $88bn a year to explore for new reserves, despite evidence that most fossil fuels must be left in the ground if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change.

The most detailed breakdown yet of global fossil fuel subsidies has found that the US government provided companies with $5.2bn for fossil fuel exploration in 2013, Australia spent $3.5bn, Russia $2.4bn and the UK $1.2bn. Most of the support was in the form of tax breaks for exploration in deep offshore fields.

The public money went to major multinationals as well as smaller ones who specialise in exploratory work, according to British think tank the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and Washington-based analysts Oil Change International.”

—>The NYT didn’t report this story. Big oil controls not only our government, but our media as well. The weapons makers want more war, and the oil companies want more global warming. Good for business, bad for you and me.   

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Haaretz:
“Jewish nation-state bill sets out to establish democracy for Jews only. The bill proposing a basic law on Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people will be presented to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday in its original form. This version … lets the cat out of the bag: The Jewish character of Israel supersedes its democratic character. The Jewishness of the state is manifest in discrimination against Arabs, and its democracy is none other than a regime that lets the majority do anything it wants and exploits the minority.

The current version of the bill states specifically that it is intended to outrank any ordinary legislation or basic law that preceded it, and that all legislation will be interpreted through it. Thus, the bill undermines the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom (1992), which ensures the right to human dignity, including the right not to be discriminated against based on affiliation to a certain group.

The bill also obviates the official status of the Arabic language, encourages preference for Jewish communities as opposed to non-Jewish ones, and declares that the state reserves the possibility to establish communities on the basis of national or religious affiliation.”

—>Would the US media ever let the American people know that Israel is legislating apartheid? Like the war lobby and the Big Oil lobby, the Israeli lobby runs the show when it comes to covering up stories it doesn’t like.