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10 Most Under-
reported Stories of
2006-2007
By Peter
Phillips
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“Corporate media in the United
States are interested primarily in entertainment news to feed their
bottom-line priorities,” states Peter Phillips, Director of the
Project. “Some of the most important news stories that should reach
the American public falls on the cutting room floor to be replaced
by sex-scandals and celebrity updates.”
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The Sonoma State University research group is
composed of over 200 faculty, students and community experts who
review hundreds of story submissions for coverage, content,
reliability of sources and national significance. The top 25
stories are submitted to a panel of judges who then rank them in
order of importance. Current and former judges include
Michael Parenti, Cynthia McKinney, Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and
20 other national journalists, scholars and writers.
The Top
Ten
#1 No Habeas Corpus
for “Any Person”
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) ushered in military
commission law for US citizens and non-citizens alike. Text in the
MCA allows for the institution of a military alternative to the
constitutional justice system for “any person” arbitrarily deemed
to be an enemy of the state, regardless of American
citizenship.
“Who Is 'Any Person' in
Tribunal Law?”
Robert Parry, Consortiumnews.com,
10/19/2006
“Still No Habeas Rights
for You” Robert Parry, Consortium, 2/3/2007
“Repeal the
Military Commissions Act and Restore the Most American Human
Right”
Thom Hartmann, Common Dreams,
2/12/2007
#2 Bush
Moves Toward Martial Law
The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 allows the
president to deploy military troops anywhere in the United States
and take control of state-based National Guard units without the
consent of the governor or local authorities in order to "suppress
public disorder.”
“Bush
Moves Toward Martial Law”
Frank Morales, Uruknet, 10/
26/2006
#3
AFRICOM: US Military Control of
Africa’s Resources
In February 2007 the White House announced the formation of the US
African Command (AFRICOM), a unified Pentagon command center in
Africa. Presented as a humanitarian guard in the Global War on
Terror, the real objective is procurement and control of Africa’s
oil and its global delivery systems.
“Understanding
AFRICOM”
Parts 1-3, b real, MoonofAlabama.org
2/21/2007
#4
Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive
Trade Agreements
The US and European Union (EU) are vigorously pursuing increasingly
destructive trade and investment agreements outside the auspices of
the WTO, resulting in unprecedented exploitation, loss of
livelihood, displacement, and degradation of human rights and
environments.
“Signing
Away The Future” Emily Jones, Oxfam, 3/2007
“Free Trade Enslaving
Poor Countries”
Sanjay Suri, IPS coverage of Oxfam Report,
3/20/2007
#5 US
Embassy in Iraq Uses Human
Trafficking for its Labor
The enduring monument to US liberation and democracy in Iraq is
being built by forced labor. Contractors subcontracting to the US
State Department are using bait-and-switch recruiting practices to
smuggle Asian workers into brutal and inhumane labor camps—in the
middle of the US-controlled Green Zone.
“A U.S. Fortress
Rises in Baghdad: Asian Workers Trafficked to Build World's Largest
Embassy”
David Phinney, CorpWatch,
10/17/2006
#6
Operation FALCON Raids
Under Operation FALCON—Federal and Local Cops Organized
Nationally—more than 30,000 “fugitives” were arrested in the
largest dragnets in the nation's history. Over 960 state, local and
federal agencies were directly involved. Only promotional coverage
supplied by the DOJ was ever aired. We have yet to be told who
these fugitives were and what became of them.
“Operation Falcon and the
Looming Police State”
Mike Whitney, Ukernet,
2/26/2007
“Operation
Falcon”
Artificial Intelligence, SourceWatch, Updated
11/18/2006
#7
Behind Blackwater Inc.
Blackwater, the most powerful mercenary firm in the world, is the
company that most embodies the privatization of the military
industrial complex. Bush’s contracts with Blackwater have allowed
the creation of a private army of more than 20,000 soldiers,
operating with almost no oversight or effective legal constraints,
to deploy in nine countries and aggressively expand its presence
inside US borders.
“Our
Mercenaries in Iraq: Blackwater Inc and Bush's Undeclared
Surge”
Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now!
1/26/07
#8
KIA:
The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
The Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture, quietly signed by Bush and
India’s Prime Minister Singh, trades India’s agricultural sector
for US nuclear technology. The KIA allows for the grab of India’s
seed sector by Monsanto, its trade sector by giant agribusiness ADM
and Cargill, and its retail sector by Wal-Mart.
“Vandana
Shiva on Farmer Suicides, the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal, Wal-Mart in
India”
Democracy Now! 12/13/2006
“Genetically
Modified Seeds: Women in India take on Monsanto” Arun Shrivastava, Global Research, 10/9/06
“Sowing
Trouble: India's ‘Second Green Revolution”
Suman Sahai, SciDev.Net,
5/9/06
#9
Privatization of America’s
Infrastructure
More than 20 states have enacted legislation allowing
public-private partnerships to build and run highways. We will soon
be paying Wall Street investors, Australian bankers, and Spanish
contractors for the privilege of driving on American roads.
“The
Highwaymen”
Daniel Schulman with James Ridgeway.
Mother Jones, 2/2007
“Bush
Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway”
Jerome R. Corsi, Human Events,
6/12/2006
#10
Vulture Funds Threaten Debt Relief
for Poor Nations
Vulture funds, as defined by the IMF, are companies that buy up the
debt of poor nations cheaply, when it is about to be written off,
and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interest—which
might be ten times what they paid for it. Otherwise known as
“distressed-debt investors,” these companies profit off plunging
impoverished nations into crippling debt.
“Vulture Fund Threat to Third World”
Greg Palast with Meirion Jones for BBC Newsnight,
02/14/2007
Statement by Project Censored
Director Peter Phillips Regarding the Importance of the 2008
Censored Stories and the Nature of Censorship Today.
We need to broaden our understanding of censorship in the US. No
longer is the dictionary definition of direct government control of
news adequate. The private corporate media in the US significantly
undercover and/or deliberately censor numerous important news
stories every year.
The systemic erosion of human rights and civil liberties, in the
US, is the common theme of many of the most censored stories of
2006-07.
The corporate media last year ignored that habeas corpus can now be
suspended for anyone by order of the President. With the approval
of Congress, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, signed by
Bush on October 17, 2006, allows for the suspension of habeas
corpus for US citizens and non-citizens alike. While media,
including a lead editorial in the New York Times October 19, 2006,
have given false comfort that American citizens will not be the
victims of the measures legalized by this Act, the law is quite
clear that ‘any person’ can be targeted. The text in the MCA allows
for the institution of a military alternative to the constitutional
justice system for “any person” regardless of American citizenship.
The MCA effectively does away with habeas corpus rights for all
people living in the US deemed by the President to be enemy
combatants.
Laws enacted last year allowing the government to more easily
institute martial law is another civil liberties story ignored by
the corporate media in 2006-07. The John Warner Defense
Authorization Act of 2007 allows the president to station military
troops anywhere in the United States and take control of
state-based National Guard units without the consent of the
governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public
disorder." The law in effect repealed the Posse Comitatus Act,
which had placed strict prohibitions on military involvement in
domestic law enforcement in the US since just after the Civil
War.
Additionally, under the code-name Operation FALCON (Federal and
Local Cops Organized Nationally) three federally coordinated mass
arrests occurred between April 2005 and October 2006. In an
unprecedented move, more than 30,000 “fugitives” were arrested in
the largest dragnets in the nation's history. The operations,
coordinated by the Justice Department and Homeland Security,
directly involved over 960 agencies (state, local and federal) and
are the first time in US history that all of the domestic police
agencies have been put under the direct control of the federal
government.
Finally, the term “terrorism” has been dangerously expanded to
include any acts that interfere, or promote interference with the
operations of animal enterprises. The Animal Enterprise Terrorism
Act (AETA), signed into law on November 27, 2006 expands the
definition of an “animal enterprise” to any business that “uses or
sells animals or animal products.” The law essentially makes many
protesters, boycotters or picketers of businesses in the US
potential terrorists.
Most people in the US believe in our Bill of Rights and value
personal freedoms. Yet, our corporate media in the past year failed
to inform us about serious changes in our civil rights and
liberties. Despite our busy lives we want to be informed about
serious decisions made by the powerful and rely on the corporate
media to keep us abreast of important changes. When a media fails
to cover these issues, what else can we call it but censorship?
A broader definition of censorship in America today needs to
include any interference, deliberate or not, with the free flow of
vital news information to the American people. With the size of the
major media giants in the US, there is no excuse for consistently
missing major news stories that affect all our lives.
http://www.couplescompany.com/Features/Politics/Censored2008.htm
Military
COMMISSIONS torture ACT
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The Terrible –
and Documented – Truth About "Able Danger"
The
Schmitz Family - A Key Nazi Connection to 9/11
US
security firm Blackwater banned from Iraq
New
Poverty Draft: Military Contractors Target Latin America For
...
Ties between southern Christian fundamentalists
Patriots Question 9/11 - Responsible
Criticism of the 9/11 Commission Report
Bill Moyers -
The cost of Iraq!!
Blackwater
banned
Sen. Robert Byrd blows his
top at Senate hearing
The Brookings
Institute
Plutocracy
Great
Deception
make a statement
political art
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