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.
---------
"No less than in Vietnam several decades ago, the prospects for a military victory in Afghanistan are extremely slim. Far more likely is a protracted version of what CBS anchor Walter Cronkite famously called 'a bloody stalemate' in February 1968. But, in 2008, more important than whether the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan can bring 'victory' is the question of whether it should continue.
Right now, the basic ingredients of further Afghan disasters are in place -- including, pivotally, a dire lack of wide-ranging debate over Washington's options. In an atmosphere reminiscent of 1965, when almost all of the esteemed public voices concurred with the decision by newly elected President Lyndon Johnson to deploy more troops to Vietnam, the tenet that the United States must send additional troops to Afghanistan is axiomatic in U.S. news media, on Capitol Hill and -- as far as can be discerned -- at the top of the incoming administration.
But the problem with such a foreign-policy 'no brainer' is that the parameters of thinking have already been put in the rough equivalent of a lockbox. Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara and Lyndon Johnson approached Vietnam policy options no more rigidly than Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and Barack Obama appear poised to pursue Afghanistan policy options. Such destructive group-think, including wonkish faith in the efficacy of massive violence, caused Martin Luther King Jr. to denounce what he called 'the madness of militarism'."
Norman Solomon
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/12/05-4
-->The lack of debate in the US media about Afghanistan is deafening. We are told about military problems, but there is hardly a voice questioning why we continue to occupy a country that does not want us there.
---------
"Israel's leading civil rights organization yesterday broke a taboo by describing Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank as being “reminiscent of apartheid” in South Africa.
Alleging an intensification of human rights abuses against Palestinians, the respected Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) made the comparison in an annual report that described the existence of separate legal, planning and transportation systems for Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the West Bank..."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/civil-rights-group-claim-israeli-occupation-is-reminiscent-of-apartheid-1056546.html
-->The NY Times recently printed a story about the West Bank and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel. The word "apartheid" was nowhere to be found.
---------
"Why didn't Jimmy Carter speak from the podium at the Democratic National Convention? Alan Dershowitz said he had something to do with it.
In an interview with Shalom TV, the Harvard Law School professor says he "pushed" Barack Obama "very hard to make that decision," Dershowitz said in an interview with Shalom TV. "Barack Obama had to make a choice between his Jewish supporters and his anti-Israel supporters like Jimmy Carter, and he did not choose Jimmy Carter. And that was an embarrassment for Jimmy Carter and a show of disrespect."
JTA, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2008/11/13/1000960/ders
-->No news service in the US besides Democracy Now has ever covered the story behind former President Jimmy Carter being taken off the speakers' list for the Democratic National Convention. The story is still very newsworthy, of course. But letting the American people know about the power of the Zionist lobby would just raise too many questions. Meanwhile the starving of 1.5 million in Gaza is routinely hidden from US citizens.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Thursday, December 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.
---------
UNGA President calls for sanctions against Israeli apartheid...Miguel dÃEscoto Brockmann, President of the United Nations General Assembly had the following to say about Palestine:
"...I believe that the failure to create a Palestinian State as promised is the single greatest failure in the history of the United Nations. It has been 60 years since some 800,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes and property, becoming refugees and an uprooted and marginalized people
...As I speak here today, almost 1.5 millions Palestinians are enduring an unprecedented blockade of the Gaza Strip. All border crossings into Gaza are closed, blocking even the delivery of emergency humanitarian relief supplied by the United Nations. Lack of fuel is plunging the population into darkness and cold; basic medicines are running out; malnutrition is chronic and peoples' coping mechanisms are being exhausted."
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/1787.shtml
-->The NY Times doesn't cover such talk about Israel, even when it is a speech given by the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Censoring news about Israel has long been a priority of our American "newspaper of record."
---------
Global warming is for ever, some of the world's top climate scientists have concluded. Their research shows that carbon dioxide emitted from today's homes, cars and factories will continue to heat up the planet for hundreds of thousands of years...
The new research will add to the pressure on ministers at home and abroad to take radical steps. And it will add urgency to attempts to find ways of removing excess carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, as well as trying to prevent further emissions.
It comes as a shock because most governments, and even many scientists, have assumed that carbon dioxide emissions would work their way out of the atmosphere in about a century, enabling it to clean itself fairly rapidly once the world switched to clean sources of energy...
Tomorrow's report by the Climate Change Committee – chaired by Lord Turner, who also heads the Financial Services Authority – is expected to discourage the construction of new coal-fired stations
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/greenhouse-gases-will-heat-up-planet-for-ever-1041642.html
-->Luckily, if you read The NY Times, you don't have to worry about these dire consequences of carbon dioxide. Global warming forever didn't make it into "all the news that's fit to print." Are there corporate links between the NY Times and the coal burning industry in the US? Links like the ones that distort reporting about nuclear energy?
---------
"JERUSALEM - International journalists based in Israel appealed to the country's Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a government decision barring foreign correspondents from entering the Gaza Strip.
The Foreign Press Association filed the court petition against the military's Gaza commander, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit after the government failed to heed a letter signed by heads of the world's largest news organizations calling for the ban to be lifted.
The court petition charged the media ban constitutes "a grave and mortal blow against freedom of the press and other basic rights and gives the unpleasant feeling that the state of Israel has something to hide." It requested an urgent hearing."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2008/11/24/foreign_press_in_israel_fight_gaza_entry_ban/
-->At least one foreign newspaper, however, wasn't much interested in being kept out of Gaza. The NY Times didn't even report about the petition filed by the Foreign Press Association.
---------
"Activist Radio" has been submitted to the WorthBroadcasting.org directory of podcasts and vidcasts dedicated to and of interest to charitable, campaigning and voluntary organizations.
Your sincerely
Adam Sargant, John Sargent
WorthBroadcasting Administrators
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.
---------
UNGA President calls for sanctions against Israeli apartheid...Miguel dÃEscoto Brockmann, President of the United Nations General Assembly had the following to say about Palestine:
"...I believe that the failure to create a Palestinian State as promised is the single greatest failure in the history of the United Nations. It has been 60 years since some 800,000 Palestinians were driven out of their homes and property, becoming refugees and an uprooted and marginalized people
...As I speak here today, almost 1.5 millions Palestinians are enduring an unprecedented blockade of the Gaza Strip. All border crossings into Gaza are closed, blocking even the delivery of emergency humanitarian relief supplied by the United Nations. Lack of fuel is plunging the population into darkness and cold; basic medicines are running out; malnutrition is chronic and peoples' coping mechanisms are being exhausted."
http://stopthewall.org/worldwideactivism/1787.shtml
-->The NY Times doesn't cover such talk about Israel, even when it is a speech given by the President of the United Nations General Assembly. Censoring news about Israel has long been a priority of our American "newspaper of record."
---------
Global warming is for ever, some of the world's top climate scientists have concluded. Their research shows that carbon dioxide emitted from today's homes, cars and factories will continue to heat up the planet for hundreds of thousands of years...
The new research will add to the pressure on ministers at home and abroad to take radical steps. And it will add urgency to attempts to find ways of removing excess carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere, as well as trying to prevent further emissions.
It comes as a shock because most governments, and even many scientists, have assumed that carbon dioxide emissions would work their way out of the atmosphere in about a century, enabling it to clean itself fairly rapidly once the world switched to clean sources of energy...
Tomorrow's report by the Climate Change Committee – chaired by Lord Turner, who also heads the Financial Services Authority – is expected to discourage the construction of new coal-fired stations
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/greenhouse-gases-will-heat-up-planet-for-ever-1041642.html
-->Luckily, if you read The NY Times, you don't have to worry about these dire consequences of carbon dioxide. Global warming forever didn't make it into "all the news that's fit to print." Are there corporate links between the NY Times and the coal burning industry in the US? Links like the ones that distort reporting about nuclear energy?
---------
"JERUSALEM - International journalists based in Israel appealed to the country's Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a government decision barring foreign correspondents from entering the Gaza Strip.
The Foreign Press Association filed the court petition against the military's Gaza commander, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit after the government failed to heed a letter signed by heads of the world's largest news organizations calling for the ban to be lifted.
The court petition charged the media ban constitutes "a grave and mortal blow against freedom of the press and other basic rights and gives the unpleasant feeling that the state of Israel has something to hide." It requested an urgent hearing."
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2008/11/24/foreign_press_in_israel_fight_gaza_entry_ban/
-->At least one foreign newspaper, however, wasn't much interested in being kept out of Gaza. The NY Times didn't even report about the petition filed by the Foreign Press Association.
---------
"Activist Radio" has been submitted to the WorthBroadcasting.org directory of podcasts and vidcasts dedicated to and of interest to charitable, campaigning and voluntary organizations.
Your sincerely
Adam Sargant, John Sargent
WorthBroadcasting Administrators
Thursday, November 20, 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 UN in the Gaza Strip says it will run out of food aid in two days unless Israel's blockade - which it describes as "shameful and unacceptable" - eases.
The UN refugee agency Unrwa, which distributes food to half of Gaza's 1.5m people, called the blockade "a physical as well as a mental punishment".
Israel is now allowing a limited amount of fuel across the border, but it is still blocking food deliveries."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7722948.stm
-->The NY Times doesn't do "shameful and unacceptable" when it comes to UN reports about Israel. The story was covered by interviews with Israeli officials. The assessment of the UN refugee agency was not included.
---------
"Documents Linking Iran to Nuclear Weapons Push May Have Been Fabricated...The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.
The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/11-11
--> A war against a country in the Middle East being promoted by false documents? Were have we heard that before? But the push for war against Iran goes on unabated in the NY Times, which didn't bother to print this story at all.
---------
"WASHINGTON - Nuclear power is a risky source of energy that comes with many hidden costs, said an environmental analyst and long-time leader in the U.S. environmental movement Tuesday.
Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, said the "flawed economics" of nuclear power are placing unforeseen burdens on taxpayers: the costs related to the construction of nuclear plants, the disposal of nuclear waste, the decommissioning of old plants, and security in case of an accident all contribute to the price the world pays for nuclear power. Wind energy is a more economically sound option, said Brown.
The apparent cost of nuclear power is the cost of construction and fuel for nuclear plants, and this price is rising. The estimated construction cost of a nuclear reactor two years ago was between $2 and $4 billion. Now it is $7 billion, in part because of the rising cost of steel and cement, Brown said.
...Brown said that when calculating the true cost of nuclear power, factors such as waste disposal, insurance in case of an accident, and decommissioning costs once a plant is worn out have to be included."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/01-2
-->The NY Times has always been a shameless advocate of nuclear power plants. Its story on Lester Brown has him safely advocating for more wind energy. It didn't include his attack on the "flawed analysis" of nuclear power. Perhaps the NY Times is part of that flawed analysis.
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 UN in the Gaza Strip says it will run out of food aid in two days unless Israel's blockade - which it describes as "shameful and unacceptable" - eases.
The UN refugee agency Unrwa, which distributes food to half of Gaza's 1.5m people, called the blockade "a physical as well as a mental punishment".
Israel is now allowing a limited amount of fuel across the border, but it is still blocking food deliveries."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7722948.stm
-->The NY Times doesn't do "shameful and unacceptable" when it comes to UN reports about Israel. The story was covered by interviews with Israeli officials. The assessment of the UN refugee agency was not included.
---------
"Documents Linking Iran to Nuclear Weapons Push May Have Been Fabricated...The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.
The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/11-11
--> A war against a country in the Middle East being promoted by false documents? Were have we heard that before? But the push for war against Iran goes on unabated in the NY Times, which didn't bother to print this story at all.
---------
"WASHINGTON - Nuclear power is a risky source of energy that comes with many hidden costs, said an environmental analyst and long-time leader in the U.S. environmental movement Tuesday.
Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, said the "flawed economics" of nuclear power are placing unforeseen burdens on taxpayers: the costs related to the construction of nuclear plants, the disposal of nuclear waste, the decommissioning of old plants, and security in case of an accident all contribute to the price the world pays for nuclear power. Wind energy is a more economically sound option, said Brown.
The apparent cost of nuclear power is the cost of construction and fuel for nuclear plants, and this price is rising. The estimated construction cost of a nuclear reactor two years ago was between $2 and $4 billion. Now it is $7 billion, in part because of the rising cost of steel and cement, Brown said.
...Brown said that when calculating the true cost of nuclear power, factors such as waste disposal, insurance in case of an accident, and decommissioning costs once a plant is worn out have to be included."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/11/01-2
-->The NY Times has always been a shameless advocate of nuclear power plants. Its story on Lester Brown has him safely advocating for more wind energy. It didn't include his attack on the "flawed analysis" of nuclear power. Perhaps the NY Times is part of that flawed analysis.
Tuesday, November 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.
---------
"President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for White House chief of staff is one of the biggest recipients of Wall Street money in Congress, according to a Washington, D.C.-based “money-in-politics” watchdog group.
The Center for Responsive Politics has issued a report highlighting millions of dollars in campaign contributions that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has raised from individuals working in the hedge fund industry, private equity firms, and large investment firms..."
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/11/obamas-pick-for-chief-of-staff.html
---------
"Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped (Bill) Clinton amass a then-unheard-of $72 million."
Wikipedia
---------
"After leaving the Clinton White House...he went to work for Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and Wall Street financier. Over a 2 1/2-year period he helped broker deals-often using political connections-for Wasserstein Perella. According to congressional financial disclosures, he earned more than $18 million during that period."
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh10242006.html
---------
"Emmanuel...Obama's honeymoon looks like it could be short, given the problems fast piling up in his in tray, from controversy over of his new chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel's close links with Israel...The powerful position for Emanuel has also raised concerns among those looking for an even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/07/obama-white-house-barackobama
-->But to the NY Times, such revelations about Emanuel just don't exist. There is little written about his Wall Street connections, and less about his Zionist sympathies. Even Emanuel's service in the Israeli Army is left out. How could our major newspaper of record have missed all this important information?
Emanuel's family background is similarly whitewashed. His father, according to the NY Times, is an "immigrant Jewish father" and a doctor who "made house calls to patients who are now the son’s constituents." Nothing about his father's participation in the Israeli Irgun (described by the NY Times in 1947 as a terrorist group). Nor did the Times include a recent quote by the father: "Obviously he (referring to his son) will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
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.
---------
"President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for White House chief of staff is one of the biggest recipients of Wall Street money in Congress, according to a Washington, D.C.-based “money-in-politics” watchdog group.
The Center for Responsive Politics has issued a report highlighting millions of dollars in campaign contributions that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) has raised from individuals working in the hedge fund industry, private equity firms, and large investment firms..."
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/11/obamas-pick-for-chief-of-staff.html
---------
"Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped (Bill) Clinton amass a then-unheard-of $72 million."
Wikipedia
---------
"After leaving the Clinton White House...he went to work for Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and Wall Street financier. Over a 2 1/2-year period he helped broker deals-often using political connections-for Wasserstein Perella. According to congressional financial disclosures, he earned more than $18 million during that period."
http://www.counterpunch.org/walsh10242006.html
---------
"Emmanuel...Obama's honeymoon looks like it could be short, given the problems fast piling up in his in tray, from controversy over of his new chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel's close links with Israel...The powerful position for Emanuel has also raised concerns among those looking for an even-handed approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/07/obama-white-house-barackobama
-->But to the NY Times, such revelations about Emanuel just don't exist. There is little written about his Wall Street connections, and less about his Zionist sympathies. Even Emanuel's service in the Israeli Army is left out. How could our major newspaper of record have missed all this important information?
Emanuel's family background is similarly whitewashed. His father, according to the NY Times, is an "immigrant Jewish father" and a doctor who "made house calls to patients who are now the son’s constituents." Nothing about his father's participation in the Israeli Irgun (described by the NY Times in 1947 as a terrorist group). Nor did the Times include a recent quote by the father: "Obviously he (referring to his son) will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House."
Friday, November 07, 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.
---------
"Massive UN Vote in Support of Lifting US Embargo on Cuba
UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly for the 17th year in a row in favor of lifting the 46-year-old US trade embargo on communist-ruled Cuba, as Havana hoped for better ties with a new US administration.
[The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the 17th year in a row Wednesday to demand an end to the 46-year-old US trade embargo on communist-ruled Cuba, with only three countries saying no...
Some 185 of the assembly's 192 members approved a resolution, which reiterated a "call upon all states to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures (such as those in the US embargo) in conformity with their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international law."
The United States, Israel and Palau voted against the resolution, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.
The margin of support for ending the embargo has grown steadily since 1992, when 59 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The figure was 179 in 2004, 182 in 2005 and 184 in 2007."
-->The NY Times actually covered this story, the first time in the 17 year history of the UN vote condemning the embargo. In a five sentence story entitled "New Spin on Cuba Embargo Resolution" (was there an old spin from the NY Times?), the emphasis was put on the fact that the Cuban embargo was older than Obama.
---------
"WASHINGTON - October 28 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy is pressing his efforts to head off an avalanche of Wall Street bailout bonuses. Recent reports indicate bonuses and other compensation packages paid by financially troubled firms receiving government assistance could reach into the tens of billions of dollars.
Today he released a letter sent to Congressman Henry Waxman, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking that the Full Committee move quickly to investigate how bailout funds are being spent by the financial service companies participating in Treasury's capital purchase program.
"It would be an affront to taxpayers and shareholders alike if Wall Street executives cashed in on the bailout. We must prevent the diverted directly or indirectly of bailout funds to bonuses and exorbitant compensation packages," he said."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/28
-->Such an "affront to taxpayers" didn't get Kucinich's request for an investigation into the NY Times. In fact, the US media completely ignored this story. Perhaps the intensity of the anti-bailout fervor may have scared the corporate dominated press.
---------
"Final Text of Iraq Pact Reveals a US Debacle
WASHINGTON - The final draft of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces agreement on the U.S. military presence represents an even more crushing defeat for the policy of the George W. Bush administration than previously thought, the final text reveals.
The final draft, dated Oct. 13, not only imposes unambiguous deadlines for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by 2011 but makes it extremely unlikely that a U.S. non-combat presence will be allowed to remain in Iraq for training and support purposes beyond the 2011 deadline for withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/23-3
-->The NY Times had a different take on this story. Debacle? Crushing defeat? Not at all, despite the fact that Iraq is pushing the US out long before we wanted to leave. The NY Times termed the pact a "significant breakthrough after months of halting negotiations."
---------
"BAGHDAD - The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.
Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/27-2
--> The NY Times predictably left this story out. Breakthroughs just sound better for the United States than political blackmail.
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.
---------
"Massive UN Vote in Support of Lifting US Embargo on Cuba
UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly for the 17th year in a row in favor of lifting the 46-year-old US trade embargo on communist-ruled Cuba, as Havana hoped for better ties with a new US administration.
[The UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly for the 17th year in a row Wednesday to demand an end to the 46-year-old US trade embargo on communist-ruled Cuba, with only three countries saying no...
Some 185 of the assembly's 192 members approved a resolution, which reiterated a "call upon all states to refrain from promulgating and applying laws and measures (such as those in the US embargo) in conformity with their obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international law."
The United States, Israel and Palau voted against the resolution, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.
The margin of support for ending the embargo has grown steadily since 1992, when 59 countries voted in favor of the resolution. The figure was 179 in 2004, 182 in 2005 and 184 in 2007."
-->The NY Times actually covered this story, the first time in the 17 year history of the UN vote condemning the embargo. In a five sentence story entitled "New Spin on Cuba Embargo Resolution" (was there an old spin from the NY Times?), the emphasis was put on the fact that the Cuban embargo was older than Obama.
---------
"WASHINGTON - October 28 - Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Domestic Policy is pressing his efforts to head off an avalanche of Wall Street bailout bonuses. Recent reports indicate bonuses and other compensation packages paid by financially troubled firms receiving government assistance could reach into the tens of billions of dollars.
Today he released a letter sent to Congressman Henry Waxman, Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, asking that the Full Committee move quickly to investigate how bailout funds are being spent by the financial service companies participating in Treasury's capital purchase program.
"It would be an affront to taxpayers and shareholders alike if Wall Street executives cashed in on the bailout. We must prevent the diverted directly or indirectly of bailout funds to bonuses and exorbitant compensation packages," he said."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/28
-->Such an "affront to taxpayers" didn't get Kucinich's request for an investigation into the NY Times. In fact, the US media completely ignored this story. Perhaps the intensity of the anti-bailout fervor may have scared the corporate dominated press.
---------
"Final Text of Iraq Pact Reveals a US Debacle
WASHINGTON - The final draft of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces agreement on the U.S. military presence represents an even more crushing defeat for the policy of the George W. Bush administration than previously thought, the final text reveals.
The final draft, dated Oct. 13, not only imposes unambiguous deadlines for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops by 2011 but makes it extremely unlikely that a U.S. non-combat presence will be allowed to remain in Iraq for training and support purposes beyond the 2011 deadline for withdrawal of all U.S. combat forces."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/23-3
-->The NY Times had a different take on this story. Debacle? Crushing defeat? Not at all, despite the fact that Iraq is pushing the US out long before we wanted to leave. The NY Times termed the pact a "significant breakthrough after months of halting negotiations."
---------
"BAGHDAD - The U.S. military has warned Iraq that it will shut down military operations and other vital services throughout the country on Jan. 1 if the Iraqi government doesn't agree to a new agreement on the status of U.S. forces or a renewed United Nations mandate for the American mission in Iraq.
Many Iraqi politicians view the move as akin to political blackmail, a top Iraqi official told McClatchy Sunday."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/27-2
--> The NY Times predictably left this story out. Breakthroughs just sound better for the United States than political blackmail.
Friday, October 31, 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 prominent Palestinian human rights group says it has found evidence that 68 children were killed in the Gaza Strip in the 12 months to June this year as a result of "disproportionate and excessive lethal force" by the Israeli military.
The deaths are documented, with witness testimony, in a report published today by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Many of the deaths resulted from an Israeli military incursion into Jabaliya, in eastern Gaza, in late February and early March, in which more than 100 Palestinians, at least half of them civilians, died in what Israel said was an operation to stop rockets being fired into southern Israeli towns...
The rights group said many of the deaths passed without investigation, and those internal Israeli military inquiries that were held did not meet international standards of independence and transparency."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/21/israel-palestinian-children
-->The NY Times rarely publishes articles critical of Israel. It didn't print this report either.
---------
"WASHINGTON - The "American Dream" of upward social mobility appears to have emigrated from its birthplace in the United States to northern Europe, according to a major new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the growth of economic equality over the past 20 years.
Of its 30 member states, most of which are also members of the European Union, the United States has the largest gap between its wealthiest and poorest households after Mexico and Turkey, according to the report, "Growing Unequal?", which was released at OECD headquarters in Paris Tuesday.
That gap has grown particularly large in the U.S. since 2000 -- that is, under the administration of President George W. Bush -- according to the report, which found that the gap between the U.S. middle class and the wealthiest 10 percent has also increased...
The crisis has sparked unprecedented worldwide criticism of the "free-market" economic model that the U.S. and Washington-based international agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have vigorously promoted since the administration of President Ronald Reagan."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/22-7
-->The NY Times did not cover this OECD report despite the fact that NYC has one of the largest gaps between the rich and poor in the world.
---------
"Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment.
In a survey of 120 major cities, New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya Abidjan and Ivory Coast...
"High levels of inequality can lead to negative social, economic and political consequences that have a destabilising effect on societies," said the report. "[They] create social and political fractures that can develop into social unrest and insecurity."
According to the annual State of the World's cities report from UN-Habitat, race is one of the most important factors determining levels of inequality in the US and Canada...The report suggested that Beijing was now the most egalitarian city in the world, just ahead of cities such as Jakarta in Indonesia and Dire Dawa in Ethiopia."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/23/population-egalitarian-cities-urban-growth
-->That hurts, doesn't it? Beijing much more egalitarian than NYC. But doesn't hurt if you don't know about the report. The NY Times, of course, didn't cover this story. You have to go the Guardian in the UK to read about America's shame.
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 prominent Palestinian human rights group says it has found evidence that 68 children were killed in the Gaza Strip in the 12 months to June this year as a result of "disproportionate and excessive lethal force" by the Israeli military.
The deaths are documented, with witness testimony, in a report published today by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. Many of the deaths resulted from an Israeli military incursion into Jabaliya, in eastern Gaza, in late February and early March, in which more than 100 Palestinians, at least half of them civilians, died in what Israel said was an operation to stop rockets being fired into southern Israeli towns...
The rights group said many of the deaths passed without investigation, and those internal Israeli military inquiries that were held did not meet international standards of independence and transparency."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/21/israel-palestinian-children
-->The NY Times rarely publishes articles critical of Israel. It didn't print this report either.
---------
"WASHINGTON - The "American Dream" of upward social mobility appears to have emigrated from its birthplace in the United States to northern Europe, according to a major new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the growth of economic equality over the past 20 years.
Of its 30 member states, most of which are also members of the European Union, the United States has the largest gap between its wealthiest and poorest households after Mexico and Turkey, according to the report, "Growing Unequal?", which was released at OECD headquarters in Paris Tuesday.
That gap has grown particularly large in the U.S. since 2000 -- that is, under the administration of President George W. Bush -- according to the report, which found that the gap between the U.S. middle class and the wealthiest 10 percent has also increased...
The crisis has sparked unprecedented worldwide criticism of the "free-market" economic model that the U.S. and Washington-based international agencies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have vigorously promoted since the administration of President Ronald Reagan."
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/22-7
-->The NY Times did not cover this OECD report despite the fact that NYC has one of the largest gaps between the rich and poor in the world.
---------
"Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment.
In a survey of 120 major cities, New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya Abidjan and Ivory Coast...
"High levels of inequality can lead to negative social, economic and political consequences that have a destabilising effect on societies," said the report. "[They] create social and political fractures that can develop into social unrest and insecurity."
According to the annual State of the World's cities report from UN-Habitat, race is one of the most important factors determining levels of inequality in the US and Canada...The report suggested that Beijing was now the most egalitarian city in the world, just ahead of cities such as Jakarta in Indonesia and Dire Dawa in Ethiopia."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/23/population-egalitarian-cities-urban-growth
-->That hurts, doesn't it? Beijing much more egalitarian than NYC. But doesn't hurt if you don't know about the report. The NY Times, of course, didn't cover this story. You have to go the Guardian in the UK to read about America's shame.
Friday, October 24, 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.
---------
"Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.
Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.
Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. Pressure on the US firms to review preparations for annual bonuses increased yesterday when Germany's Deutsche Bank said many of its leading traders would join Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, in waiving millions of euros in annual payouts."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/17/executivesalaries-banking
-->Bailout going to corporate cronies at Wall Street's top banks? Enormous bonuses for those who created the economic collapse? The NY Times didn't think this story was newsworthy. It was covered in the Guardian, UK.
---------
Last Wednesday night Americans waited for presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, to take the stage at Hofstra University for the final debate before the elections. Outside the debate "15 protesters" were arrested, and "one person may have received a minor injury." That, according to the Associated Press.
The truth was considerably different. All those arrested were US veterans, most of whom served at least one tour in Iraq. Anyone looking at pictures of the event can see the bleeding veterans on the ground after being charged and trampled by police horses. At least one veteran had broken bones in his face.
And what if the public had really known about the veterans?
"I have faith in the American people. I believe that a lot of those people sitting at their kitchen table would have reached for the phone to ask their members of Congress why they were looking at an image of a wounded soldier bleeding on a sidewalk in Hempstead, New York in a picture that looks like it came from the streets of Baghdad, Iraq.
The politicians and pundits love to praise our veterans for protecting our way of life and ensuring our liberties. This week Nick and his fellow Iraq veterans sought to exercise those rights. They paid the price. As usual, the mainstream media looked the other way."
Cheryl Biren Wright, of wordpress.com
http://www.ervetsforpeace.blogspot.com/
-->Veterans defending the Constitution and demanding an end to the Iraq occupation? The NY Times doesn't cover such things.
---------
"In an election year that promises record numbers of young voters, a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) documents a large wage and benefit advantage for young workers in unions relative to their non-union counterparts...
'Even though they've done everything right -finished high school and college at higher rates than in the past, young workers have been the hardest hit by stagnant and declining wages over the last 30 years' said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR and the author of the study.
The report, 'Unions and Upward mobility for Young Workers,' found that young unionized workers -those age 18 to 29-- earned, on average, 12.4 percent more than their non-union peers. In addition, young workers in unions were much more likely to have health insurance benefits and a pension plan."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/16-3
-->The NY Times covered this story, but in the NY Region Section, not in the national news. Much of the NY Times story was not about the benefit of unions. And when the information was finally presented, it was characterized not as fact but as a finding that "groups argue" in favor of (the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Fiscal Policy Institute).
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.
---------
"Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned.
Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed.
Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. Pressure on the US firms to review preparations for annual bonuses increased yesterday when Germany's Deutsche Bank said many of its leading traders would join Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, in waiving millions of euros in annual payouts."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/17/executivesalaries-banking
-->Bailout going to corporate cronies at Wall Street's top banks? Enormous bonuses for those who created the economic collapse? The NY Times didn't think this story was newsworthy. It was covered in the Guardian, UK.
---------
Last Wednesday night Americans waited for presidential candidates, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, to take the stage at Hofstra University for the final debate before the elections. Outside the debate "15 protesters" were arrested, and "one person may have received a minor injury." That, according to the Associated Press.
The truth was considerably different. All those arrested were US veterans, most of whom served at least one tour in Iraq. Anyone looking at pictures of the event can see the bleeding veterans on the ground after being charged and trampled by police horses. At least one veteran had broken bones in his face.
And what if the public had really known about the veterans?
"I have faith in the American people. I believe that a lot of those people sitting at their kitchen table would have reached for the phone to ask their members of Congress why they were looking at an image of a wounded soldier bleeding on a sidewalk in Hempstead, New York in a picture that looks like it came from the streets of Baghdad, Iraq.
The politicians and pundits love to praise our veterans for protecting our way of life and ensuring our liberties. This week Nick and his fellow Iraq veterans sought to exercise those rights. They paid the price. As usual, the mainstream media looked the other way."
Cheryl Biren Wright, of wordpress.com
http://www.ervetsforpeace.blogspot.com/
-->Veterans defending the Constitution and demanding an end to the Iraq occupation? The NY Times doesn't cover such things.
---------
"In an election year that promises record numbers of young voters, a new report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) documents a large wage and benefit advantage for young workers in unions relative to their non-union counterparts...
'Even though they've done everything right -finished high school and college at higher rates than in the past, young workers have been the hardest hit by stagnant and declining wages over the last 30 years' said John Schmitt, a Senior Economist at CEPR and the author of the study.
The report, 'Unions and Upward mobility for Young Workers,' found that young unionized workers -those age 18 to 29-- earned, on average, 12.4 percent more than their non-union peers. In addition, young workers in unions were much more likely to have health insurance benefits and a pension plan."
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/10/16-3
-->The NY Times covered this story, but in the NY Region Section, not in the national news. Much of the NY Times story was not about the benefit of unions. And when the information was finally presented, it was characterized not as fact but as a finding that "groups argue" in favor of (the Center for Economic and Policy Research and the Fiscal Policy Institute).
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