http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"The Maryland State Police classified 53 nonviolent activists as terrorists and entered their names and personal information into state and federal databases that track terrorism suspects, the state police chief acknowledged yesterday.
Police Superintendent Terrence B. Sheridan revealed at a legislative hearing that the surveillance operation, which targeted opponents of the death penalty and the Iraq war, was far more extensive than was known when its existence was disclosed in July...
The surveillance took place over 14 months in 2005 and 2006, under the administration of former governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R). The former state police superintendent who authorized the operation, Thomas E. Hutchins, defended the program in testimony yesterday. Hutchins said the program was a bulwark against potential violence and called the activists 'fringe people.'
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/08
-->This story appeared in "The Washington Post." But the NY Times and much of the nation's media did not bother to cover this story of dissenters turned into terrorists by a state police police department. Ellen Barfield, Vets for Peace in Maryland, on list for her work.
---------
"LONDON - The biggest ever sale of oil assets will take place today, when the Iraqi government puts 40bn barrels of recoverable reserves up for offer in London. BP, Shell and ExxonMobil are all expected to attend a meeting at the Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair with the Iraqi oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani.
Access is being given to eight fields, representing about 40% of the Middle Eastern nation's reserves, at a time when the country remains under occupation by US and British forces...
The deal is the first major oil contract with a foreign firm since the US-led war and was followed up by an agreement with Shell, potentially worth $4bn, to develop a joint venture with the South Gas Company in Basra.
This deal has also triggered controversy. Issam al-Chalabi, Iraq's oil minister between 1987 and 1990, questioned why there had been no competitive tendering for the gas-gathering contract and claimed it had gone to Shell as the spoils of war."
Guradian/UK http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/13-2
-->The NY Times isn't much interested in the war for oil theory. America's newspaper of record didn't even cover this massive contracting out of Iraq's oil resources.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Fantasyland Media:
http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
WASHINGTON - October 3 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement after voting against the Wall Street bail out plan, H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008:
"The public is being led to believe that Congress has reconsidered its position because we have before us a better bill than we had a few days ago. It is the same bill plus hundreds of new pages for hundreds of millions of tax breaks. What does this have to do with the troubles of Wall Street?
...Now the government will have to borrow $700 billion from banks, with interest, to give banks a $700 billion bailout, and in return the taxpayers get $700 billion in toxic debt...
Across our Nation, foreclosures continue to devastate our communities, people are losing their jobs, and the prices of necessities are skyrocketing. This legislation, just like the one we defeated last week, will do nothing to solve the problems plaguing American families or help them to get out from underneath the oppressive debt they have been forced to take on."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/03-3
-->The NY Times didn't cover Kucinich's statement. Simply not newsworthy when the purpose of the news is to support Wall Street.
---------
"In 1998, five Cuban men were arrested for infiltrating groups in the US that were plotting attacks on Cuba. They have not received a fair trial and two have not seen their families since...
The five were arrested and effectively accused of espionage. The US government argued that they were acting as foreign agents and should be treated as spies. The five argued that they had been trying to prevent terrorist attacks. A trial was held in Miami in 2001, despite legal objections that they would be unable to get a fair hearing there because anti-Castro sentiment was so rife...
They do, however, enjoy support from a variety of writers, artists and public figures in the US and around the world, including Harry Belafonte, Desmond Tutu, Harold Pinter, Nadine Gordimer, Danny Glover and José Saramago. Amnesty International has called on the US to review the decision to refuse the women visas to visit their husbands."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/06/usa.cuba
-->The NY Times did a report on the Cuban Five in August of 2007. Other than that, the story just doesn't get covered in the US.
---------
"A new United Nations report on the human rights situation in Palestinian territories blasts the Israeli government for its heavy-handed treatment of journalists reporting on the military occupation.
The 20-page report, which will go before the 63rd sessions of the General Assembly currently underway, singles out the mistreatment of award-winning Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer who was stripped, interrogated, kicked and beaten up when he returned from Europe to his home town in the occupied territory of Gaza last June.
A stringer for Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, Omer, 24, was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism for "displaying courage and ability in covering war zones"...
The security agents 'were fully aware that he had received the Gellhorn Prize while abroad, and were attempting to confiscate the award money, but were frustrated because it has been deposited in a bank account and was unavailable.'"
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/04-3
-->The New York Times rarely covers stories critical of Israel. Even though this is an official UN human rights report, it is simply kept from the American Public.
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
WASHINGTON - October 3 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) issued the following statement after voting against the Wall Street bail out plan, H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008:
"The public is being led to believe that Congress has reconsidered its position because we have before us a better bill than we had a few days ago. It is the same bill plus hundreds of new pages for hundreds of millions of tax breaks. What does this have to do with the troubles of Wall Street?
...Now the government will have to borrow $700 billion from banks, with interest, to give banks a $700 billion bailout, and in return the taxpayers get $700 billion in toxic debt...
Across our Nation, foreclosures continue to devastate our communities, people are losing their jobs, and the prices of necessities are skyrocketing. This legislation, just like the one we defeated last week, will do nothing to solve the problems plaguing American families or help them to get out from underneath the oppressive debt they have been forced to take on."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/03-3
-->The NY Times didn't cover Kucinich's statement. Simply not newsworthy when the purpose of the news is to support Wall Street.
---------
"In 1998, five Cuban men were arrested for infiltrating groups in the US that were plotting attacks on Cuba. They have not received a fair trial and two have not seen their families since...
The five were arrested and effectively accused of espionage. The US government argued that they were acting as foreign agents and should be treated as spies. The five argued that they had been trying to prevent terrorist attacks. A trial was held in Miami in 2001, despite legal objections that they would be unable to get a fair hearing there because anti-Castro sentiment was so rife...
They do, however, enjoy support from a variety of writers, artists and public figures in the US and around the world, including Harry Belafonte, Desmond Tutu, Harold Pinter, Nadine Gordimer, Danny Glover and José Saramago. Amnesty International has called on the US to review the decision to refuse the women visas to visit their husbands."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/06/usa.cuba
-->The NY Times did a report on the Cuban Five in August of 2007. Other than that, the story just doesn't get covered in the US.
---------
"A new United Nations report on the human rights situation in Palestinian territories blasts the Israeli government for its heavy-handed treatment of journalists reporting on the military occupation.
The 20-page report, which will go before the 63rd sessions of the General Assembly currently underway, singles out the mistreatment of award-winning Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer who was stripped, interrogated, kicked and beaten up when he returned from Europe to his home town in the occupied territory of Gaza last June.
A stringer for Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, Omer, 24, was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism for "displaying courage and ability in covering war zones"...
The security agents 'were fully aware that he had received the Gellhorn Prize while abroad, and were attempting to confiscate the award money, but were frustrated because it has been deposited in a bank account and was unavailable.'"
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/04-3
-->The New York Times rarely covers stories critical of Israel. Even though this is an official UN human rights report, it is simply kept from the American Public.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Fantasyland Media:
http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"According to the Washington Times the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives has shelved H.R. 362, fearing that the resolution would provoke a war with Iran.
The bill, authored by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D - NY), urged the President, among other things, to prevent Iran from importing any refined petroleum products and demanded that he initiate an international effort to inspect 'all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran.' Though non-binding, the resolution is essentially urging a naval blockade against Iran - an act of war according to international law.
The bill was introduced on May 22, one day after the story broke that then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) to impose a naval blockade on Iran as a way of stopping its uranium enrichment program. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has endorsed the bill as a way to 'stop Iran’s nuclear program.'
Rep. Ackerman claims the bill 'is a way to avoid war by using diplomatic, political and economic tools.' He also intends to resubmit the bill for the next Congress, and vowed to have even more signatures then. The current incarnation of the bill had 270 co-sponsors, but the Washington Times reports that several of the original co-sponsors have since withdrawn their signatures."
http://news.antiwar.com/tag/iran/
-->The NY Times has completely avoided reporting on this resolution that pushes the US into war with Iran. The support of HR 362 by our own two Democratic members of the House, Hall and Gillibrand, has gotten no coverage either. The NY Times has hidden this story from its readers, in part to cover up the involvement of the Israeli lobby in a new war.
---------
"Human Rights Watch, a US-based group claiming to be a non-governmental organization, but which is in fact funded by government-linked quasi-private foundations and a Congressional funded political propaganda organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, has issued a report 'A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela' (9/21/2008 hrw.org). The publication of the 'Report' directed by Jose Miguel Vivanco and sub-director Daniel Walkinson led to their expulsion from Venezuela for repeated political-partisan intervention in the internal affairs of the country...
Jose Miguel Vivanco served as a diplomatic functionary under the bloody Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet between 1986-1989, serving no less as the butcher's rabid apologist before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights."
Lies, Crimes and Cover-ups by James Petras
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x8227
-->The NY Times reported things quite differently, making Vivanco a champion of human rights. He is even quoted: "Accusing us of being part of a conspiracy is a distraction tactic used to attack the messenger. We have never had this experience anywhere in this hemisphere.” No mention of funding by the National Endowment for Democracy or of Vivanco's bloody past.
---------
"Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely...
At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had an estimated 37 major military bases scattered around their dominions. At the height of the British Empire, the British had 36 of them planet-wide. Depending on just who you listen to and how you count, we have hundreds of bases. According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military 'sites' abroad..."
By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com
http://www.alternet.org/audits/97913/the_us_has_761_military_bases_across_the_planet%2C_and_we_simply_never_talk_about_it/?page=5
-->In this extraordinary time of economic meltdown, wouldn't you think that some US media would at least mention the cost of keeping 500,000 US troops in over 150 countries? Or the cost of spending more on our military than the rest of the world combined? Other countries see the connection, and talk about the US empire brought to its knees by the crushing costs of its imperialist ambitions. But empire never comes up when the US media analyzes Wall Street's impending collapse.
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"According to the Washington Times the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives has shelved H.R. 362, fearing that the resolution would provoke a war with Iran.
The bill, authored by Rep. Gary Ackerman (D - NY), urged the President, among other things, to prevent Iran from importing any refined petroleum products and demanded that he initiate an international effort to inspect 'all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains, and cargo entering or departing Iran.' Though non-binding, the resolution is essentially urging a naval blockade against Iran - an act of war according to international law.
The bill was introduced on May 22, one day after the story broke that then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had urged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) to impose a naval blockade on Iran as a way of stopping its uranium enrichment program. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has endorsed the bill as a way to 'stop Iran’s nuclear program.'
Rep. Ackerman claims the bill 'is a way to avoid war by using diplomatic, political and economic tools.' He also intends to resubmit the bill for the next Congress, and vowed to have even more signatures then. The current incarnation of the bill had 270 co-sponsors, but the Washington Times reports that several of the original co-sponsors have since withdrawn their signatures."
http://news.antiwar.com/tag/iran/
-->The NY Times has completely avoided reporting on this resolution that pushes the US into war with Iran. The support of HR 362 by our own two Democratic members of the House, Hall and Gillibrand, has gotten no coverage either. The NY Times has hidden this story from its readers, in part to cover up the involvement of the Israeli lobby in a new war.
---------
"Human Rights Watch, a US-based group claiming to be a non-governmental organization, but which is in fact funded by government-linked quasi-private foundations and a Congressional funded political propaganda organization, the National Endowment for Democracy, has issued a report 'A Decade Under Chavez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela' (9/21/2008 hrw.org). The publication of the 'Report' directed by Jose Miguel Vivanco and sub-director Daniel Walkinson led to their expulsion from Venezuela for repeated political-partisan intervention in the internal affairs of the country...
Jose Miguel Vivanco served as a diplomatic functionary under the bloody Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet between 1986-1989, serving no less as the butcher's rabid apologist before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights."
Lies, Crimes and Cover-ups by James Petras
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x8227
-->The NY Times reported things quite differently, making Vivanco a champion of human rights. He is even quoted: "Accusing us of being part of a conspiracy is a distraction tactic used to attack the messenger. We have never had this experience anywhere in this hemisphere.” No mention of funding by the National Endowment for Democracy or of Vivanco's bloody past.
---------
"Here it is, as simply as I can put it: In the course of any year, there must be relatively few countries on this planet on which U.S. soldiers do not set foot, whether with guns blazing, humanitarian aid in hand, or just for a friendly visit. In startling numbers of countries, our soldiers not only arrive, but stay interminably, if not indefinitely...
At the height of the Roman Empire, the Romans had an estimated 37 major military bases scattered around their dominions. At the height of the British Empire, the British had 36 of them planet-wide. Depending on just who you listen to and how you count, we have hundreds of bases. According to Pentagon records, in fact, there are 761 active military 'sites' abroad..."
By Tom Engelhardt, Tomdispatch.com
http://www.alternet.org/audits/97913/the_us_has_761_military_bases_across_the_planet%2C_and_we_simply_never_talk_about_it/?page=5
-->In this extraordinary time of economic meltdown, wouldn't you think that some US media would at least mention the cost of keeping 500,000 US troops in over 150 countries? Or the cost of spending more on our military than the rest of the world combined? Other countries see the connection, and talk about the US empire brought to its knees by the crushing costs of its imperialist ambitions. But empire never comes up when the US media analyzes Wall Street's impending collapse.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Fantasyland Media:
http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"Newly released grand jury transcripts add strong evidence to the argument that the conviction and execution of Ethel Rosenberg in the Cold War's biggest espionage case were based on perjured testimony.
In recent years, one of the two key witnesses against Rosenberg recanted his testimony. It now appears that the other witness made up her testimony. too. The witnesses were Ethel's brother and sister-in-law, David and Ruth Greenglass.
Thanks to the work of a team of lawyers and historians, the government released the grand jury testimony that formed the basis for the charges against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
At the Rosenbergs' trial, the Greenglasses testified that Ethel Rosenberg had typed stolen atomic secrets from notes provided by David Greenglass. The testimony provided the direct involvement the jury needed to convict Ethel Rosenberg and that the judge in the case needed to sentence her to death."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=5786138
--->The NY Times carried a story about the Rosenbergs entitled: "A Spy Confesses, and Still Some Weep for the Rosenbergs." None of this false testimony made it into their story.
---------
Cynthia McKinney (Green Party) and Ralph Nader will be on the NY State ballot, according to the amount of signatures each candidate received.
Nationally, McKinney is running at 1% and Nader at 6%. Nader is now on the ballot of 45 states. As we have reported before on Activist Radio, independent candidates make up 10% of Americans polled recently for their presidential preferences.
--->The NY Times doesn't think McKinney and Nader are newsworthy, and they are simply not covered. This blackout reflects the wishes of both major parties that plan on keeping third party candidates will be kept out of the corporate funded debates as well. The major corporations fear that letting third party ideas slip out into the general public might really mean change, not the insipid and misleading "change" offered by offered by the front runners.
---------
Both Kirstin Gillibrand and John Hall, supposed "peace candidate" have signed on as cosponsors of the "Blockade Iran" resolution (HR 362). Not only does the bill call for an act of war, blockading Iran, but it accepts as fact all sorts of unproven allegations regarding weapons of mass destruction. Sound familiar? It should since a similar resolution was passed before the catastrophic invasion of Iraq.
Hall and Gillibrand are simply collaborators in the pending attack on Iran. No doubt they want to get reelected and need support from the weapons manufacturers, the oil companies and the Israeli lobby. But we the people, who want peace and our children home from the Middle East, should throw the bums out. Collaborators are worse for the peace movement than enemies. Until we start defeating this type of pro-war Democrat, there will be no ending America's slide into military empire.
--->The NY Times continues its blackout of RH 362. The betrayal of the peace movement by Kirstin Gillibrand and John Hall (along with other Democratic candidates for House seats) just doesn't fit into the two party story narative. The NY Times is also promoting an attack on Iran, and doing it as clearly as it promoted the last US war crime, the attack on Iraq.
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"Newly released grand jury transcripts add strong evidence to the argument that the conviction and execution of Ethel Rosenberg in the Cold War's biggest espionage case were based on perjured testimony.
In recent years, one of the two key witnesses against Rosenberg recanted his testimony. It now appears that the other witness made up her testimony. too. The witnesses were Ethel's brother and sister-in-law, David and Ruth Greenglass.
Thanks to the work of a team of lawyers and historians, the government released the grand jury testimony that formed the basis for the charges against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
At the Rosenbergs' trial, the Greenglasses testified that Ethel Rosenberg had typed stolen atomic secrets from notes provided by David Greenglass. The testimony provided the direct involvement the jury needed to convict Ethel Rosenberg and that the judge in the case needed to sentence her to death."
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=5786138
--->The NY Times carried a story about the Rosenbergs entitled: "A Spy Confesses, and Still Some Weep for the Rosenbergs." None of this false testimony made it into their story.
---------
Cynthia McKinney (Green Party) and Ralph Nader will be on the NY State ballot, according to the amount of signatures each candidate received.
Nationally, McKinney is running at 1% and Nader at 6%. Nader is now on the ballot of 45 states. As we have reported before on Activist Radio, independent candidates make up 10% of Americans polled recently for their presidential preferences.
--->The NY Times doesn't think McKinney and Nader are newsworthy, and they are simply not covered. This blackout reflects the wishes of both major parties that plan on keeping third party candidates will be kept out of the corporate funded debates as well. The major corporations fear that letting third party ideas slip out into the general public might really mean change, not the insipid and misleading "change" offered by offered by the front runners.
---------
Both Kirstin Gillibrand and John Hall, supposed "peace candidate" have signed on as cosponsors of the "Blockade Iran" resolution (HR 362). Not only does the bill call for an act of war, blockading Iran, but it accepts as fact all sorts of unproven allegations regarding weapons of mass destruction. Sound familiar? It should since a similar resolution was passed before the catastrophic invasion of Iraq.
Hall and Gillibrand are simply collaborators in the pending attack on Iran. No doubt they want to get reelected and need support from the weapons manufacturers, the oil companies and the Israeli lobby. But we the people, who want peace and our children home from the Middle East, should throw the bums out. Collaborators are worse for the peace movement than enemies. Until we start defeating this type of pro-war Democrat, there will be no ending America's slide into military empire.
--->The NY Times continues its blackout of RH 362. The betrayal of the peace movement by Kirstin Gillibrand and John Hall (along with other Democratic candidates for House seats) just doesn't fit into the two party story narative. The NY Times is also promoting an attack on Iran, and doing it as clearly as it promoted the last US war crime, the attack on Iraq.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Fantasyland Media:
http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"A report to the UN Human Rights Council on Israel's shelling of Beit Hanoun in Gaza almost two years ago says it may have been a war crime. The report compiled by Archbishop Desmond Tutu casts doubt on Israel's explanation that the shelling resulted from a flawed artillery firing system. It calls on Israel to pay compensation to the victims, 19 of whom were killed.
Archbishop Tutu went to Beit Hanoun in May, after objections by Israel delayed his mission several times. The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the South African cleric's report contains horrific testimony from survivors of the shelling.
She says it speaks of the dead lying in the streets, of local hospitals overwhelmed, and of the injured having to hand over cash to get through Israeli checkpoints for treatment in Israel itself."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7617433.stm
--->The NY Times, as expected, never covered this story at all. Human rights abuses by Israel are simply kept off its pages. Perhaps that is why Americans know so little about what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. Freedom of the press is routinely sacrificed to present favorable images of Israel.
---------
"Houses of cards, chickens coming home to roost - pick your cliche. The new low in the financial crisis, which has prompted comparisons with the 1929 Wall Street crash, is the fruit of a pattern of dishonesty on the part of financial institutions, and incompetence on the part of policy makers.
We had become accustomed to the hypocrisy. The banks reject any suggestion they should face regulation, rebuff any move towards anti-trust measures - yet when trouble strikes, all of a sudden they demand state intervention: they must be bailed out; they are too big, too important to be allowed to fail...
It was all done in the name of innovation, and any regulatory initiative was fought away with claims that it would suppress that innovation. They were innovating, all right, but not in ways that made the economy stronger. Some of America's best and brightest were devoting their talents to getting around standards and regulations designed to ensure the efficiency of the economy and the safety of the banking system. Unfortunately, they were far too successful, and we are all - homeowners, workers, investors, taxpayers - paying the price."
Joseph E Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/16/economics.wallstreet
--->The NY Times didn't think that Professor Stiglitz's remarks were newsworthy, even though he was a recipient of a Nobel prize in economics and works a subway stop from the Times building in Manhattan. The Guardian from the UK is the only place Americans can get a non corporate view of our financial debacle.
---------
Causes of Fannie's Collapse -- and How to Stop the Speculators
WASHINGTON - September 9 -
"The collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is partly the result of their own practices, but it is also part and parcel of the broader collapse of regulation that took hold in the late 1990's with the repeal of Glass-Steagall [banking regulation], which opened the door to massive securitization of subprime mortgages, and then the deliberate fostering of the housing bubble under the Bush administration...
[Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson's actions face up to the reality that government must be involved in housing. Meanwhile, John McCain continues to deny that reality. McCain's economic policy was created, in full, by Phil Gramm -- the architect of the deregulation that brought us this crisis. If John McCain becomes President, we'll likely see the 'solution' now being recommended by Alan Greenspan: breakup and privatization of Fannie and Freddie, leaving the private bankers in charge and taking government out of the housing business. There will be no recovery of the housing sector if that happens, and many more will face foreclosure."
James Galbraith (latest book: The Predator State)
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/0909-6
--->The NY Times in its exhaustive coverage of the Fannie, Freddie crisis didn't think the Glass-Steagall act even worth mentioning. Deregulation the culprit in the current economic meltdown? Not to the Times whose board is made up of corporate executives.
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"A report to the UN Human Rights Council on Israel's shelling of Beit Hanoun in Gaza almost two years ago says it may have been a war crime. The report compiled by Archbishop Desmond Tutu casts doubt on Israel's explanation that the shelling resulted from a flawed artillery firing system. It calls on Israel to pay compensation to the victims, 19 of whom were killed.
Archbishop Tutu went to Beit Hanoun in May, after objections by Israel delayed his mission several times. The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the South African cleric's report contains horrific testimony from survivors of the shelling.
She says it speaks of the dead lying in the streets, of local hospitals overwhelmed, and of the injured having to hand over cash to get through Israeli checkpoints for treatment in Israel itself."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7617433.stm
--->The NY Times, as expected, never covered this story at all. Human rights abuses by Israel are simply kept off its pages. Perhaps that is why Americans know so little about what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza. Freedom of the press is routinely sacrificed to present favorable images of Israel.
---------
"Houses of cards, chickens coming home to roost - pick your cliche. The new low in the financial crisis, which has prompted comparisons with the 1929 Wall Street crash, is the fruit of a pattern of dishonesty on the part of financial institutions, and incompetence on the part of policy makers.
We had become accustomed to the hypocrisy. The banks reject any suggestion they should face regulation, rebuff any move towards anti-trust measures - yet when trouble strikes, all of a sudden they demand state intervention: they must be bailed out; they are too big, too important to be allowed to fail...
It was all done in the name of innovation, and any regulatory initiative was fought away with claims that it would suppress that innovation. They were innovating, all right, but not in ways that made the economy stronger. Some of America's best and brightest were devoting their talents to getting around standards and regulations designed to ensure the efficiency of the economy and the safety of the banking system. Unfortunately, they were far too successful, and we are all - homeowners, workers, investors, taxpayers - paying the price."
Joseph E Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/16/economics.wallstreet
--->The NY Times didn't think that Professor Stiglitz's remarks were newsworthy, even though he was a recipient of a Nobel prize in economics and works a subway stop from the Times building in Manhattan. The Guardian from the UK is the only place Americans can get a non corporate view of our financial debacle.
---------
Causes of Fannie's Collapse -- and How to Stop the Speculators
WASHINGTON - September 9 -
"The collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is partly the result of their own practices, but it is also part and parcel of the broader collapse of regulation that took hold in the late 1990's with the repeal of Glass-Steagall [banking regulation], which opened the door to massive securitization of subprime mortgages, and then the deliberate fostering of the housing bubble under the Bush administration...
[Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson's actions face up to the reality that government must be involved in housing. Meanwhile, John McCain continues to deny that reality. McCain's economic policy was created, in full, by Phil Gramm -- the architect of the deregulation that brought us this crisis. If John McCain becomes President, we'll likely see the 'solution' now being recommended by Alan Greenspan: breakup and privatization of Fannie and Freddie, leaving the private bankers in charge and taking government out of the housing business. There will be no recovery of the housing sector if that happens, and many more will face foreclosure."
James Galbraith (latest book: The Predator State)
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/0909-6
--->The NY Times in its exhaustive coverage of the Fannie, Freddie crisis didn't think the Glass-Steagall act even worth mentioning. Deregulation the culprit in the current economic meltdown? Not to the Times whose board is made up of corporate executives.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Fantasyland Media:
http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
The 2008 Democratic Party Platform and the Middle East:
"Among the positive aspects of the platform is a commitment to take concrete steps towards nuclear arms control and eventual disarmament. These include ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, strengthening the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and recognizing U.S. obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty...
Regarding the greater Middle East, however, the Democrats don't appear to have yet learned the lessons of the past 40 years: that the more the United States militarizes the region, the less secure we become...
The 2008 platform endorses an ongoing U.S. military role in that violent oil-rich nation. It calls for an unspecified number of U.S. troops to remain as a 'residual force' for such 'specific missions' as 'targeting terrorists; protecting our embassy and civil personnel; and advising and supporting Iraq's Security Forces, provided the Iraqis make political progress.'
A troubling aspect to these exceptions is the vagueness of the language. Given that the Bush administration has referred to all Iraqi insurgents fighting U.S. forces as "terrorists," it raises questions as to what degree U.S. military operations and the number of troops to sustain them will actually be reduced. In addition, the U.S. "embassy" - the largest complex of its kind in the world, taking up a bigger area than Vatican City and situated in the heart of Baghdad - requires a substantial military force to adequately defend. And the number of "civil personnel" in the country is in the tens of thousands and would presumably require many thousands of troops to protect them."
Stephen Zunes
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/05-3
--->Most of our mainstream media never presents the presidential candidates as basically agreeing on most aspects of the Iraq conflict. Why not cover this? It might reveal the involvement of both parties in continuing the occupation.
---------
"When John McCain selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, pundits and reporters saw the move as more proof of McCain's "maverick" nature--despite the fact that Palin's selection would seem in large part to be an attempt to placate the Republican Party base, further undermining his media-sustained reputation as an independent politician who breaks with his party...
For the media, the storyline for McCain seems to be that he's a maverick just because he's John McCain. Weighing McCain's decision to choose either Palin or former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, John Harwood wrote in the New York Times (9/1/08), 'Both choices offered the opportunity to reinforce Mr. McCain's image as a free-wheeling maverick.' For much of the mainstream media, there is no other way to describe John McCain--no matter what reality is telling you."
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/0903-0
--->And why might the media be exaggerating McCain's maverick status? To elect another Republican who will continue the policies of George Bush, despite the fact that these policies are deeply unpopular. "Maverick" means change, or so the media tells us. Will Americans be stupid enough to believe it?
---------
Causes of Fannie's Collapse -- and How to Stop the Speculators
WASHINGTON - September 9 -
"JAMES K. GALBRAITH Galbraith's latest book is The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. He said today: 'The collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is partly the result of their own practices, but it is also part and parcel of the broader collapse of regulation that took hold in the late 1990's with the repeal of Glass-Steagall [banking regulation], which opened the door to massive securitization of subprime mortgages, and then the deliberate fostering of the housing bubble under the Bush administration.'
'This was tied to financialization throughout the economy and the sequence of bubbles and busts that have resulted. The first was in information technology, the second in housing, and now we're seeing it in commodities, especially oil.'
'[Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson's actions face up to reality that government must be involved in housing. Meanwhile, John McCain continues to deny that reality. McCain's economic policy was created, in full, by Phil Gramm -- the architect of the deregulation that brought us this crisis. If John McCain becomes President, we'll likely see the 'solution' now being recommended by Alan Greenspan: breakup and privatization of Fannie and Freddie, leaving the private bankers in charge and taking government out of the housing business. There will be no recovery of the housing sector if that happens, and many more will face foreclosure.'"
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/0909-6
--->The NY Times in its exhaustive coverage of the Fannie, Freddie crisis didn't think the Glass-Steagall act even worth mentioning. Deregulation the culprit in the current economic meltdown? Not to the Times whose board is made up of corporate executives.
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
The 2008 Democratic Party Platform and the Middle East:
"Among the positive aspects of the platform is a commitment to take concrete steps towards nuclear arms control and eventual disarmament. These include ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, strengthening the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and recognizing U.S. obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty...
Regarding the greater Middle East, however, the Democrats don't appear to have yet learned the lessons of the past 40 years: that the more the United States militarizes the region, the less secure we become...
The 2008 platform endorses an ongoing U.S. military role in that violent oil-rich nation. It calls for an unspecified number of U.S. troops to remain as a 'residual force' for such 'specific missions' as 'targeting terrorists; protecting our embassy and civil personnel; and advising and supporting Iraq's Security Forces, provided the Iraqis make political progress.'
A troubling aspect to these exceptions is the vagueness of the language. Given that the Bush administration has referred to all Iraqi insurgents fighting U.S. forces as "terrorists," it raises questions as to what degree U.S. military operations and the number of troops to sustain them will actually be reduced. In addition, the U.S. "embassy" - the largest complex of its kind in the world, taking up a bigger area than Vatican City and situated in the heart of Baghdad - requires a substantial military force to adequately defend. And the number of "civil personnel" in the country is in the tens of thousands and would presumably require many thousands of troops to protect them."
Stephen Zunes
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/05-3
--->Most of our mainstream media never presents the presidential candidates as basically agreeing on most aspects of the Iraq conflict. Why not cover this? It might reveal the involvement of both parties in continuing the occupation.
---------
"When John McCain selected Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate, pundits and reporters saw the move as more proof of McCain's "maverick" nature--despite the fact that Palin's selection would seem in large part to be an attempt to placate the Republican Party base, further undermining his media-sustained reputation as an independent politician who breaks with his party...
For the media, the storyline for McCain seems to be that he's a maverick just because he's John McCain. Weighing McCain's decision to choose either Palin or former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, John Harwood wrote in the New York Times (9/1/08), 'Both choices offered the opportunity to reinforce Mr. McCain's image as a free-wheeling maverick.' For much of the mainstream media, there is no other way to describe John McCain--no matter what reality is telling you."
Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR)
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/0903-0
--->And why might the media be exaggerating McCain's maverick status? To elect another Republican who will continue the policies of George Bush, despite the fact that these policies are deeply unpopular. "Maverick" means change, or so the media tells us. Will Americans be stupid enough to believe it?
---------
Causes of Fannie's Collapse -- and How to Stop the Speculators
WASHINGTON - September 9 -
"JAMES K. GALBRAITH Galbraith's latest book is The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. He said today: 'The collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is partly the result of their own practices, but it is also part and parcel of the broader collapse of regulation that took hold in the late 1990's with the repeal of Glass-Steagall [banking regulation], which opened the door to massive securitization of subprime mortgages, and then the deliberate fostering of the housing bubble under the Bush administration.'
'This was tied to financialization throughout the economy and the sequence of bubbles and busts that have resulted. The first was in information technology, the second in housing, and now we're seeing it in commodities, especially oil.'
'[Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson's actions face up to reality that government must be involved in housing. Meanwhile, John McCain continues to deny that reality. McCain's economic policy was created, in full, by Phil Gramm -- the architect of the deregulation that brought us this crisis. If John McCain becomes President, we'll likely see the 'solution' now being recommended by Alan Greenspan: breakup and privatization of Fannie and Freddie, leaving the private bankers in charge and taking government out of the housing business. There will be no recovery of the housing sector if that happens, and many more will face foreclosure.'"
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/0909-6
--->The NY Times in its exhaustive coverage of the Fannie, Freddie crisis didn't think the Glass-Steagall act even worth mentioning. Deregulation the culprit in the current economic meltdown? Not to the Times whose board is made up of corporate executives.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Fantasyland Media:
http://www.fantasylandmedia.org
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"Over 1000 new buildings are being constructed in the settlements, in which approximately 2,600 housing units, according to Peace Now’s calculations (aerial photographs and field visits). Approximately 55% of the new structures are located to the EAST of the constructed Separation Barrier.
The number of tenders for construction in the settlements has increased by 550%. 417 housing units, compared to just 65 in 2007. The number of tenders in East Jerusalem has increased by a factor of 38 (1,761 housing units compared to 46 in 2007).
In recent years the trend has accelerated to eliminate the Green Line through intensive construction intended to create a territorial connection between the blocks of settlements and isolated settlements in the heart of the West Bank."
http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&docid=3380
--- >The NY Times reported the settlements story quite differently. There is no mention of where the settlements are being built in the West Bank.
---------
"Israeli Naval vessels are currently firing on unarmed Palestinian fishing boats and international human rights workers off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The fishing boats are several miles off the coast of Gaza City, in Palestinian territorial waters. As of 11am (4am EST) no one had been injured, but live ammunition is still being fired in the direction of the civilian boats.
The unarmed boats went to sea at dawn this morning, in an attempt to fish in their own water. Six international human rights workers from five different countries accompanied the fishermen in the hopes that their presence would deter the Israeli military from firing on the fishermen. In the past the Israeli military has shot and killed unarmed Palestinian fishermen for trying to fish in their own waters." (e-mail from activists who broke the blockade of Gaza)
UPDATE: According to a report from the International Middle East Media Center, two fishermen several miles to the north were hit by Israeli weapons fire. Mohammad Ani Assultan, age 19, was wounded, and Hussam Assultan, age 32, was hit in the head. He is said to be in critical condition. http://www.imemc.org/article/56793
--- >The NY Times did not report this story at all. Protecting Israel's reputation has always been more important than reporting the news to Americans.
---------
"One in ten respondents in a recent national poll of preference for President support candidates other than either Senator Barack Obama (Dem.) or Senator John McCain (Rep.). This is a finding of a poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, released by CNN.
The ORC poll found 6 percent support Ralph Nader (Independent/Peace & Freedom, in California), 1 percent support former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (Green), and 3 percent support former Congressman Bob Barr (Libertarian)."
--- >Despite CNN's involvement with this poll and relationship with ORC, CNN never reported that a surprisingly large one in ten support other candidates. In fact, CNN scarcely reported on this poll at all. The NY Times has characteristically kept silent about candidates outside the two corporate funded parties.
UPDATE: A poll from Gallup's website indicates that "just 12 % of Americans expressing confidence in Congress...the worst rating for any institution in the 35 year history of this question...Only 26 percent of respondents have confidence in the institution of Presidency; only 32 percent in the Supreme Court, only 24 percent in TV news; only 24 percent in newspapers; and only 20 percent have confidence in big business."
News fashioned by the people in charge, the corporations and your government. Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine.
---------
"Over 1000 new buildings are being constructed in the settlements, in which approximately 2,600 housing units, according to Peace Now’s calculations (aerial photographs and field visits). Approximately 55% of the new structures are located to the EAST of the constructed Separation Barrier.
The number of tenders for construction in the settlements has increased by 550%. 417 housing units, compared to just 65 in 2007. The number of tenders in East Jerusalem has increased by a factor of 38 (1,761 housing units compared to 46 in 2007).
In recent years the trend has accelerated to eliminate the Green Line through intensive construction intended to create a territorial connection between the blocks of settlements and isolated settlements in the heart of the West Bank."
http://www.peacenow.org.il/site/en/peace.asp?pi=61&docid=3380
--- >The NY Times reported the settlements story quite differently. There is no mention of where the settlements are being built in the West Bank.
---------
"Israeli Naval vessels are currently firing on unarmed Palestinian fishing boats and international human rights workers off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The fishing boats are several miles off the coast of Gaza City, in Palestinian territorial waters. As of 11am (4am EST) no one had been injured, but live ammunition is still being fired in the direction of the civilian boats.
The unarmed boats went to sea at dawn this morning, in an attempt to fish in their own water. Six international human rights workers from five different countries accompanied the fishermen in the hopes that their presence would deter the Israeli military from firing on the fishermen. In the past the Israeli military has shot and killed unarmed Palestinian fishermen for trying to fish in their own waters." (e-mail from activists who broke the blockade of Gaza)
UPDATE: According to a report from the International Middle East Media Center, two fishermen several miles to the north were hit by Israeli weapons fire. Mohammad Ani Assultan, age 19, was wounded, and Hussam Assultan, age 32, was hit in the head. He is said to be in critical condition. http://www.imemc.org/article/56793
--- >The NY Times did not report this story at all. Protecting Israel's reputation has always been more important than reporting the news to Americans.
---------
"One in ten respondents in a recent national poll of preference for President support candidates other than either Senator Barack Obama (Dem.) or Senator John McCain (Rep.). This is a finding of a poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, released by CNN.
The ORC poll found 6 percent support Ralph Nader (Independent/Peace & Freedom, in California), 1 percent support former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (Green), and 3 percent support former Congressman Bob Barr (Libertarian)."
--- >Despite CNN's involvement with this poll and relationship with ORC, CNN never reported that a surprisingly large one in ten support other candidates. In fact, CNN scarcely reported on this poll at all. The NY Times has characteristically kept silent about candidates outside the two corporate funded parties.
UPDATE: A poll from Gallup's website indicates that "just 12 % of Americans expressing confidence in Congress...the worst rating for any institution in the 35 year history of this question...Only 26 percent of respondents have confidence in the institution of Presidency; only 32 percent in the Supreme Court, only 24 percent in TV news; only 24 percent in newspapers; and only 20 percent have confidence in big business."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)