Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

The Independent:

"A US cruise missile armed with cluster ammunition was used in an attack in Yemen in December which resulted in the deaths of 52 people, more than half of them women and children, according to a human rights watchdog.

The Yemeni government insisted their forces alone carried out the strike on an al-Qa'ida training camp in the Abyan region. US authorities backed the claim that insurgents had been attacked but officially denied direct involvement in the attack.

However, Amnesty International has now released photographs of missile parts from the attack which appear to show that it was a BGM-109D Tomahawk cruise missile designed to be launched from a warship or submarine." 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/us-cruise-missile-parts-found-in-yemeni-village-where-52-died-1993253.html

-->The fact that our country would send missiles into another nation not at war with America is inconceivable to most US citizens. The fact that so many women and children were killed in the attack makes it even harder to believe. The NY Times, always the defender of US unilateral aggression, didn't print the Amnesty story.

---------------

Guardian.co.uk:

"The Israeli government has been forced to apologise for circulating a spoof video mocking activists aboard the Gaza flotilla, nine of who were shot dead by Israeli forces last week.

The YouTube clip, set to the tune of the 1985 charity single We Are the World, features Israelis dressed as Arabs and activists, waving weapons while singing: 'We con the world, we con the people. We'll make them all believe the IDF (Israel Defence Force) is Jack the Ripper.'

It continues: 'There's no people dying, so the best that we can do is create the biggest bluff of all.' 

The Israeli government press office distributed the video link to foreign journalists at the weekend, but within hours emailed them an apology, saying it had been an error. Press office director Danny Seaman said the video did not reflect official state opinion, but in his personal capacity he thought it was 'fantastic.' "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/06/israel-youtube-gaza-flotilla

-->Such stories of Israeli insensitivity after murdering aid workers on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla are routinely kept out of our newspaper of record, The NY Times. Maybe it reflects the insensitivity of our leaders, like VP Biden, who said "What's the big deal?" when a 19 year old US citizen was shot in the head four times at close range. 

---------------

Common Dreams:

"PORTLAND, Maine -- A Maine video producer recalled hearing shots amid the chaos that broke out as Israeli troops raided the aid flotilla he was on that was attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Scott Hamann of South Portland arrived in Maine late Friday night, five days after the flotilla was intercepted by Israeli troops, resulting in the deaths of nine pro-Palestinian activists...

He and hundreds of others on the flotilla were then brought to an Israeli prison and detained before they were deported. There, Israeli troops and intelligence officers intimidated and threatened the prisoners, he said. After being brought to an airport to be put on a plane, two deportees were attacked by soldiers when they refused to sign deportation orders, he said.

One of them, he said, was an American citizen who was beaten and bloodied. When soldiers gave him water to wash his face, he refused to do so, saying he wanted people to see what they did to him, Hamann said.

'Then they beat him up really bad and we haven't seen him since. The status, the last I heard, isn't good,' he said."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/05-3

-->This first hand account of the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was not reported in The NY Times, which has instead relied on a stream of official statements on the massacre from the Israeli government.

Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

NY Times:
"Hundreds of protesters gathered in Istanbul on Monday to condemn Israel's naval raid."

-->The NY Times even had a picture of these protests. The only trouble is the Huffington Post reported: "10,000 people here in Istanbul marched from the Israeli consulate to the city's main square, while thousands more took to the streets in Ankara, expressing outrage..."

Was it hundreds, or 10,000 in Istanbul? And The NY Times made no mention of a assault on the Israeli Embassy. The Guardian reported that "Thousands of Turkish protesters tried to storm the Israeli consulate in Istanbul."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phyllis-bennis/from-istanbul-outrage-ove_b_596158.html?ref=email_share

NY police had estimated a crowd of up to 2,000 on Monday in Times Square, protesting Israel's massacre. Although the march was in shouting distance of the NY Times, no picture or report of that action made it into our newspaper of record.

---------------

NY Times:
"...it is difficult to establish the sequence of events or, more simply, to determine who attacked first."

-->Wednesday's NY Times has a front page article about how hard it is to see which side is to blame for the massacre. Let's see. Armed commandos drop on a cargo ship in international waters and kill 10 unarmed civilians, wounding up to 50. But who started it? Whose fault is it? The NY Times just can't seem to figure it out.

---------------

NY Times:
"Despite sporadic rocket fire from the Palestinian territory against southern Israel, Israel says it allows enough basic supplies through border crossings to avoid any acute humanitarian crisis."

-->Isabel Kershner writing for the NY Times always goes to her favorite source when explaining things to readers - the Israeli government. She could have asked the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: "As a consequence of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip, 98 percent of industrial operations have been shut down since 2007 and there are acute shortages of fuel, cash, cooking gas and other basic supplies....Water-related health problems are widespread in the Strip because of the blockade and Israel's military operation in Gaza, which destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure, including reservoirs, wells, and thousands of kilometres of piping....Chronic malnutrition has risen in Gaza over the past few years to reach 10.2 percent..."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/01-8
(Thanks to FAIR for this article on pro-Israel bias in the press)

Nor does Ms. Kershner ever question her favorite source, reporting Israel's claim that the commando operation was legal without the least bit of skepticism. Legal scholars have characterized Israel's claims as completely without merit.

---------------

Washington Post:
"We have no sympathy for the motives of the participants in the flotilla--a motley collection that included European sympathizers with the Palestinian cause, Israeli Arab leaders and Turkish Islamic activists."

-->The Washington Post is both judge and jury when it comes to killing "motley" collections of people by military commandos. The Third Reich would have been proud.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/06/01-8

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PressTV:
"UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco has called on Israel to end its "unacceptable" blockade of the Gaza Strip. Fernandez-Taranco, who was speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, said that Israel's Monday attack on peace activists on a flotilla of ships off the coast of Gaza would not have happened without the blockade. He was speaking in proxy for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, DPA reported."
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=128565&sectionid=351020202

-->The NY Times did not report this statement or even the UN debate, for that matter.

Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

Guardian UK:
"Secret South African documents reveal that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime, providing the first official documentary evidence of the state's possession of nuclear weapons.

The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret.

The documents, uncovered by an American academic, Sasha Polakow-Suransky, in research for a book on the close relationship between the two countries, provide evidence that Israel has nuclear weapons despite its policy of "ambiguity" in neither confirming nor denying their existence...

The Israeli authorities tried to stop South Africa's post-apartheid government declassifying the documents at Polakow-Suransky's request and the revelations will be an embarrassment, particularly as this week's nuclear non-proliferation talks in New York focus on the Middle East."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons

-->Startling news about Israel's nuclear weaponry and at least one attempt to sell these weapons to the other apartheid state in the world at that time, South Africa. The NY Times story, when it covered it several days later, was devoted to Israeli sources denying the story. The article is entitled "Israel Denies It Offered South Africa Warheads."

---------------

Common Dreams:
"Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) announced today that he will introduce legislation that would end the practice of targeting U.S. citizens for extrajudicial killing.  Earlier this year, The Washington Post and The New York Times revealed that the Obama Administration was continuing the Bush-era policy of including U.S. citizens on lists of people to be assassinated without a trial. Kucinich has spoken out forcefully against revoking the basic constitutional rights of American citizens for simply being suspected of involvement with terrorism, and he is currently recruiting cosponsors for his bill.

'Intelligence operations that have virtually no transparency, accountability or oversight raise serious legal questions, particularly when the outcomes of such programs constitute possible violations of international law and violations of the Constitution of the United States.  Congress has the responsibility to protect the rights of all U.S. citizens.  We must reject the notion that protecting the constitutional rights of some citizens requires revoking the rights of other citizens.  My legislation would reaffirm our commitment to upholding our nation's basic constitutional principles, and prohibit the extrajudicial killing of United States citizens abroad.'"
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/05/19-12

-->Congressional resistance to Obama's latest attack on civil liberties doesn't interest our newspaper of record. The president declares the right to assassinate US citizens without an arrest or trial. Amazing stuff that the NY Times sees fit to ignore. Amazing times for what was once a constitutional democracy.

---------------

Common Dreams:
"According to the conventional wisdom, the US is a center-Right country. But a new poll by Pew casts doubt on that idea. It shows widespread skepticism about capitalism and hints that support for socialist alternatives is emerging as a majoritarian force in America’s new generation...

The story gets more interesting when you look at two vital sub-groups. One is young people, the “millennial generation” currently between 18 and 30. In the Pew poll, just 43% of Americans under 30 describe “capitalism” as positive. Even more striking, the same percentage, 43%, describes “socialism” as positive. In other words, the new generation is equally divided between capitalism and socialism...

The more interesting story, though, is about Democrats. We hear endlessly about Blue Dog Democrats. But the Pew poll shows a surprisingly progressive Democratic base...

On nearly every major issue, from support minimum wage and unions, preference for diplomacy over force, deep concern for the environment, belief that big business is corrupting democracy, and support for many major social programs including Social Security and Medicare, the progressive position has been strong and relatively stable. If “socialism” means support for these issues, the interpretation of the Pew poll is a Center-Left country."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/18-3

-->That's the last thing the NY Times would ever report on. It is too busy scaring people about the "Tea Party" movement and the country's supposed move to the right.

Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

Guardian UK"
"A $95,000 question: why are whites five times richer than blacks in the US?

A huge wealth gap has opened up between black and white people in the US over the past quarter of a century – a difference sufficient to put two children through university – because of racial discrimination and economic policies that favour the affluent.
A typical white family is now five times richer than its African-American counterpart of the same class, according to a report released today by Brandeis University in Massachusetts.

White families typically have assets worth $100,000, up from $22,000 in the mid-1980s. African-American families' assets stand at just $5,000, up from around $2,000. A quarter of black families have no assets at all..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/17/white-people-95000-richer-black

-->Startling news about America's accelerating income gap between blacks and whites. Not of interest, however, to our newspaper of record, The NY Times, that pitches its stories to the affluent. We have a black president; things are just fine.

---------------

Common Dreams:
"...This warmongering attitude was on display again Monday, when a possible breakthrough regarding Iran's refining of nuclear material - its agreement to ship a substantial amount to Turkey in exchange for nuclear rods for medical research - was treated more as a negative than a positive.

The New York Times promptly framed the agreement reached by Iran, Turkey and Brazil as 'complicating sanctions talk,' while the Washington Post rushed out an analysis with the headline, 'Iran creates illusion of progress in nuclear negotiations.'

The Post's analysis followed a Saturday editorial denouncing Brazil's President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva for even trying 'yet another effort to engage' the extremist clique of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.' "
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/18-1

-->Let's not make any secret of the fact that both the NY Times and the Washington Post are spoiling for a fight with Iran. Any progress that Iran makes will only be characterized as "illusion." The real illusion is an American media free from Pentagon propaganda.

---------------

The Raw Story:
"More U.S. troops were hospitalized for mental health disorders than any other reason in 2009.

Mental health hospitalizations throughout the military topped injuries, battle wounds and even pregnancy and childbirth for the first time in 15 years of tracking by the Pentagon's Medical Surveillance Monthly report.

Mental health care accounted for almost 40% of all days spent in hospitals by servicemembers last year, the report said. Of those hospitalizations, 5% lasted longer than 33 days. For most other conditions, fewer than 5% of hospitalizations exceeded 12 days, the report said.

In 2009, there were 17,538 hospitalizations for mental health issues throughout the military, the study shows. That compares with 17,354 for pregnancy and childbirth reasons, and 11,156 for injuries and battle wounds."
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0515/troops-hospitalized-mental-health-reason/

-->The NY Times is too busy selling a new war against Iran to cover statistics about the mental disorders of US combat vets.

Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

BBC News:
"The US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan contains a facility for detainees that is distinct from its main prison, the Red Cross has confirmed to the BBC.

Nine former prisoners have told the BBC that they were held in a separate building, and subjected to abuse.

The US military says the main prison, now called the Detention Facility in Parwan, is the only detention facility on the base. However, it has said it will look into the abuse allegations made to the BBC.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that since August 2009 US authorities have been notifying it of names of detained people in a separate structure at Bagram."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/11-2

-->Closing Guantanamo only to set up a second torture facility in Afghanistan at Bagram? Another US setback for human rights, and The New York Times didn't cover the story. Obummer!

---------------

The New York Times:
"Wall Street has always put its money where its interests and beliefs lie. But it is far less common that so many financial heavyweights would adopt a social cause like charter schools and advance it with a laserlike focus in the political realm."
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/nyregion/10charter.html?hp

-->Left out of The New York Times coverage is one small but familiar detail: corporate profit making. According to Juan Gonzalez, "Wealthy investors and major banks have been making windfall profits by using a little-known federal tax break to finance new charter-school construction. The program, the New Markets Tax Credit, is so lucrative that a lender who uses it can almost double his money in seven years."
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/05/07/2010-05-07_albany_charter_cash_cow_big_banks_making_a_bundle_on_new_construction_as_schools.html

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Common Dreams:
"Agents of the United States are openly trying to assassinate Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen, while he is in hiding in Yemen. Despite what the apologists for assassination argue this is illegal, immoral and unwise.

Assassinating Awlaki in the US would be murder, a capital crime, punishable by life in prison or even the death penalty. Morally, few would argue that agents of the FBI or the CIA could murder the cleric in the US. If it is illegal and immoral to kill a Muslim cleric in the US why would it be legal, moral or wise to do so in Yemen?"
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/10-1

-->The New York Times did its own "People Magazine" piece on al-Awlaki. Although we get his story from cradle to anticipated grave in this long article, there is never any questioning of his need to be assassinated without a trial. When it comes to the rights of US citizens, The New York Times is always the first to champion the views of the Pentagon.

Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

Huffington Post:

"Obama's FCC Expected to Abandon Net Neutrality, Universal Internet. On Sunday, the Washington Post reported that the Federal Communications Commission is expected to abandon its pledges to protect Net Neutrality and to ensure universal, affordable broadband. The story cites anonymous insiders confirming that FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is 'leaning toward' siding with the most powerful phone and cable lobbyists on a crucial decision: whether the FCC will have any authority to protect an open Internet and make it available to all.

It is a testament to the phone and cable industry's overwhelming influence that they seem to have convinced the nation's communications agency to swear off authority to protect Americans' right to open communications. But it is stunning that Genachowski would even contemplate allowing it to stand, given President Obama's repeated pledge to ensure fast, affordable, universal Internet broadband for every American."

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/04-5

-->Another Obama pledge abandoned in favor of big business. But that wasn't the point when The NY Times reported this story. In a long article about the debate, The Times printed one sentence in favor of new neutrality, while extensively quoting business executives who were against the concept. And, of course, Obama's capitulation didn't come up once.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/technology/internet/03neutral.html?scp=1&sq=FCC%20Chairman%20net%20neutrality&st=cse

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Inter Press Service:

"UNITED NATIONS - A month-long Review Conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) began Monday with a predictable target: Israel.

As the only Middle Eastern country armed with nuclear weapons, Israel has been treated as a political sacred cow, one whose weapons programs have not been publicly challenged either by the United States or Western powers.

But on Monday an overwhelming majority of U.N. member states - 118 out of 192 - wanted the defiant Jewish state to come clean with its nuclear weapons program and sign the NPT, which is aimed at halting the spread of these devastating armaments.

Speaking on behalf of the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the fact that Israel has refused to sign and ratify the NPT has resulted in the continued exposure of non-nuclear weapon states of the region to nuclear threats by the only country possessing these weapons of mass destruction."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/05/03-11

-->But to The NY Times, this debate was all about Iran. Towards the end of a long article entitled "Iran Angrily Defends Nuclear Program," Israel's nuclear weapons were simply referred to as having "overshadowed the conferences in recent years." As always, The NY Times puts the interests of Israel's military regime above American's right to know.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/world/04nuke.html?scp=1&sq=Nuclear%20Non-Proliferation%20Treaty&st=cse

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Russian Times:

"War is big bucks, especially for civilian, defense and private security contractors - the vital organs of today's military apparatus.

'Right now on the ground of Afghanistan the US has 140,000 people that are called contractors,' Jeremy Scahill, investigative journalist and author, estimated. 'Many of them are mercenaries just on the Department of Defense payroll. The State Department has another 14,000. [Barack] Obama during his presidency has doubled the number of armed contractors in Afghanistan. So, what we see is a radical outsourcing of war,' Scahill noted.

To put figures into perspective, government records show nearly 70% of the military budget is spent on contractors. Multinational corporations like Boeing Company, Raytheon Company and NorthRup Grumman Corporation, to name a few, are making a killing off of war.

'The whole system is the US addiction to privatized warfare,' Jeremy Scahill elaborated..."

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/04/30-5

-->One must read the Russian Times rather than The NY Times to understand the role of private contractors in Obama's war escalations. Our newspaper of record, however, did print an opinion piece somewhat critical of private contractors in November, 2009. The editorial, written by Thomas Freidman, does not mention Obama.

Fantasyland Media:

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 keep from the public eye.

---------

Huffington Post:
"Concerned that President Obama's deficit-reduction commission is going to look in the wrong places for budget cuts, Barney Frank has appointed his own bipartisan commission. This one will specifically look at ways to reduce the bloated military budget.

Defense cuts seems to be politically off-limits these days, but the group convened by the outspoken liberal congressman from Massachusetts shares a belief that America is "overextended and overcommitted" and that there should be a "substantial reduction in the reach of American military commitments," Frank told HuffPost.

He expects the group to propose reducing the number of overseas bases, especially in the rich countries of Western Europe and Japan. 'There's a big debate right now about where 3,000 Marines in Okinawa should go. My suggestion is Nebraska,' he said.

And he expects it will propose cutting weapons systems that don't meet any plausible need...

Frank despairs that the deficit-reduction debate plays out in Washington as if there are only two choices: raise taxes or cut entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/23/the-barney-commission-def_n_550066.html

-- >Readers of The New York Times are limited to the same two choices. Our newspaper of record didn't cover Barney Frank's new commission, nor his comments on the runaway defense budget. Some things are just too sacred to question.

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Guardian UK:
"Meanwhile in the United States, a rebellion is growing in Congress against the war. Wisconsin Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, House Democrat Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, and House Republican Walter Jones from North Carolina have introduced legislation that would require President Obama to establish a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan. The bill has quickly picked up 29 co-sponsors, and could reach 100 within the next few weeks.

How does this get us out of Afghanistan? My colleague Robert Naiman of Just Foreign Policy explains:
'A signal like this is likely to have dramatic political effects in Afghanistan, just as these things had dramatic political effects in Iraq. In 2007, Congress never succeeded legislatively in writing a military withdrawal timetable into US law. But the fact that the majority of the House and Senate went on the record in favour of a timetable had dramatic effects in Iraq. It put pressure on the Bush administration to compromise its objectives, to start serious negotiations with people it had previously been trying to kill.'" http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/apr/23/usforeignpolicy-afghanistan

-- >Not a word about any of this from The NY Times. A signal being sent to stop the war in Afghanistan? You have to read newspapers in England to learn about it.

---------------

Politico:
"Indifference has given way to curiosity, and -in recent weeks especially- to a nearly manic obsession that sometimes seems to place the tea partiers somewhere near the suffragettes and the America-Firsters in the historical ranking of mass political movements.

Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism, which tracks media reports, found that the tea parties consumed a steady measure of news for most of this year before exploding during tax week to compete with the Icelandic volcano for attention and outstripping health care with 6% of all media reports that week.

But various sides have their own reasons for finding something new and arresting in the spasms of outrage personified by the tea partiers. The right sees the protests as evidence of a popular revolt against President Barack Obama-proof of a changing tide they believe will bring massive victories in 2010 and 2012. The left sees them as evidence of incipient fascism and an opposition to Obama rooted in racism-proof of the beyond-the-pale illegitimacy of large swaths of the conservative moment."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/04/22-3

-- >Obsessed with the Tea Party movement, mainstream media is incapable of this type of political assessment. A reporter would have to step out of the two party paradigm to write such a thing. Even to think such a thing.