Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Project Censored: Top Stories for 2007-2008


Project Censored Releases Top Censored Stories for 2007-08
Article by Project Censored
Photos: Veterans for Peace memorial, Arlington West at Santa Monica, California. A tribute to US and Iraqi killed in Iraq war/Photo Brenda Norrell

Sonoma State University, California: Project Censored announces the release of the annual yearbook Censored 2009 from Seven Stories Press featuring the top 25 most important news stories not covered by the corporate main-stream media in the United States.

This is the 32nd annual release for the most censored news stories for the year by Project Censored at Sonoma State University (SSU). Project Censored was founded by sociologist Carl Jensen in 1976 and has been under the directorship of professor Peter Phillips for the past 12 years. More than 200 faculty, students and community experts participated in selecting the most important censored news stories each year.

“In modern society censorship is any interference with the free flow of information,” said Peter Phillips. “We are faced with a Truth Emergency in the United States that will require a renaissance of independent media to correct,” said Phillips.

“Censored 2009 is a comprehensive review of how corporate media fail to keep the American people informed of the most important issues facing our democracy,” said Mickey Huff, Associate Director of Project Censored.

A full on-line review of the most censored stories is available at: www.projectcensored.org.

TOP 25 MOST CENSORED NEWS STORIES


#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation

After Downing Street, July 6, 2007
Title: “Is the United States Killing 10,000 Iraqis Every Month? Or Is It More?”
Author: Michael Schwartz

AlterNet, September 17, 2007
Title: “Iraq death toll rivals Rwanda genocide, Cambodian killing fields”
Author: Joshua Holland

AlterNet, January 7, 2008
Title: “Iraq conflict has killed a million, says survey”
Author: Luke Baker

Inter Press Service, March 3, 2008
Title: “Iraq: Not our country to Return to”
Authors: Maki al-Nazzal and Dahr Jamail

Over one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion by the United States. According to a study conducted by the polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB) the human toll exceeded one millions as of August 2007. In addition, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency and the International Organization for Migration, in 2007 almost 5 million Iraqis had been displaced by violence in their country, the vast majority of which had fled since 2003.


# 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA

Center for International Policy, May 30, 2007
Title: “‘Deep Integration’—the Anti-Democratic Expansion of NAFTA”
Author: Laura Carlsen

Global Research, July 19, 2007
Title: “The Militarization and Annexation of North America”
Author: Stephen Lendman

Global Research, August 2, 2007
Title: “North American Union: The SPP is a ‘hostile takeover’ of democratic government and an end to the Rule of Law”
Author: Constance Fogal

Leaders of Canada, the US, and Mexico have been meeting to secretly expand the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to form militarized tri-national Homeland Security force.


# 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business

The Progressive, February 7, 2008
Title: “Exclusive! The FBI Deputizes Business”

More than 23,000 representatives of US private industry are working with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to collect information on fellow Americans.


# 4 US International Law Enforcement Academy is Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America

Upside Down World, June 14, 2007
Title: “Exporting US ‘Criminal Justice’ to Latin America”
Author: Community in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador

NACLA Report on the Americas, March/April 2008
Title: “Another SOA?: A Police Academy in El Salvador Worries Critics”
Author: Wes Enzinna

CISPES, March 15, 2007
Title: “ILEA Funding Approved by Salvadoran Right Wing Legislators”
Author: Community in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador

AlterNet, August 31, 2007
Title: “Is George Bush Restarting Latin America’s ‘Dirty Wars’?”
Author: Benjamin Dangl

A resurgence of US-backed militarism threatens peace and democracy in Latin America. In 2005, US military aid to Latin America had increased by thirty-four times the amount spent in 2000.


# 5 War Protesters’ Assets can be Seized by the Treasury Department

Sources:
Global Research, July 2007
Title: “Bush Executive Order: Criminalizing the Antiwar Movement”
Author: Michel Chossudovsky

The Progressive, August 2007
Title: “Bush’s Executive Order Even Worse Than the One on Iraq”
Author: Matthew Rothschild
President Bush has signed two executive orders that would allow the US Treasury Department to seize the property of any person perceived to, directly or indirectly, pose a threat to US operations in the Middle East.


# 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act

Indypendent, November 16, 2007
Title: “Bringing the War on Terrorism Home”
Author: Jessica Lee

In These Times, November 2007
Title: “Examining the Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act”
Author: Lindsay Beyerstein

Truthout, November 29, 2007
Title: “The Violent Radicalization Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007”
Author: Matt Renner
The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 1955) passed the House on October 23, 2007, by a vote of 404–6. Author of the bill Jane Harman (D-CA) explains, “We’re studying the phenomenon of people with radical beliefs who turn into people who would use violence.”
Civil liberty and religious freedom groups and grassroots activists with helped to stall passage of the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act in the Senate bit some members of Congress continue to push for Internet censorship and racial profiling as necessary to prevent “homegrown terrorism.”


# 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking

Southern Poverty Law Center, March 2007
Title: “Close to Slavery: Guestworker Programs in the United States”
Authors: Mary Bauer and Sarah Reynolds

The Nation, June 25, 2007
Title: “Coming to America”
Author: Felicia Mello

Times of India, March 10, 2008
Title: “Trafficking racket: Indian workers file case against US employer”
Author: Chidanand Rajghatta

Human rights advocates warn that the guest worker program in the United States victimizes immigrant workers. Labor organizers, lawyers, and policy makers say that the H-2 visa program has locked thousands into a modern-day form of indentured servitude.


# 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse website, December 7, 2007
Title: “In FISA Speech, Whitehouse Sharply Criticizes Bush Administration’s Assertion of Executive Power”
Author: Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

The Guardian, December 26, 2007
Title: “The Rabbit Hole”
Author: Marcy Wheeler

On December 7, 2007, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed on the floor of the US Senate that he had declassified documents that state, “An executive order cannot limit a president. There is no constitutional requirement for a president to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the president can instead modified or waived it… And the Department of Justice is bound by the President’s legal determinations.”


#9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify

Iraq Vets Against the War, March 13–16, 2008
Title: “Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations”

War Comes Home, Pacifica Radio, March 14–16, 2008
Title: “Winter Soldier 2008 Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations”
Co-hosts: Aaron Glantz, Aimee Allison, and Esther Manilla

One World, March 19, 2008
Title: “US Soldiers ‘Testify’ About War Crimes”
Author: Aaron Glantz

The Nation, July 30, 2007
Title: “The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness”
Authors: Chris Hedges and Laila Al-Arian
Over 300 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have come forward recount the brutal impact of the ongoing occupations. The Winter Soldier hearings in Silver Spring, Maryland, in March 2008, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, Soldiers’ presented multiple testimony of atrocities they witnessed or participated in directly.


# 10 American Psychology Association Complicit in CIA Torture

Salon, June 21, 2007
Title: “The CIA’s torture teachers”
Author: Mark Benjamin

Vanity Fair, July 17, 2007
Title: “Rorschach and Awe”
Author: Katherine Eban

Democracy Now!, August 20, 2007
Titles: “American Psychological Association Rejects Blanket Ban on Participation in Interrogation of US Detainees,” “APA Interrogation Task Force Member Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo Exposes Group’s Ties to Military,” “Dissident Voices: Ex-Task Force Member Dr. Michael Wessells Speaks Out on Psychologists and Torture,” and “APA Members Hold Fiery Town Hall Meeting on Interrogation, Torture”

In 2005 news reports exposed the fact that psychologists were working with the US military and the CIA to develop brutal interrogation methods.


# 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror

NACLA–Upside Down World, August 24, 2007
Title: “El Salvador: Water Inc. and the Criminalization of Protest”
Author: Jason Wallach

The Nation, December 31, 2007
Title: “GWOT: El Salvador”
Author: Wes Enzinna

Peacework, September 2007
Title: “Salvadoran Activists Targeted with US-Style Repression”
Author: Chris Damon

In These Times, November 13, 2007
Title: “El Salvador’s Patriot Act”
Author: Jacob Wheeler

Inter Press Service, August 19, 2007
Title: “El Salvador: Spectre of War Looms After 15 Years of Peace”
Author: Raul Gutierrez

El Salvador’s new “Anti-terrorism Law —based on the USA PATRIOT Act— criminalizes political expression and social protest.


# 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind

Diatribune and Daily Kos, March, 30, 2007
Title: “Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From NCLB”
Author: Mandevilla

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is huge success in the realm of corporate profiteering, bit has had little positive impact on public education.


# 13 Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq

Vanity Fair, October 2007
Title: “Billions over Baghdad”
Authors: Donald Barlett and James Steele

Rolling Stone, August 23, 2007
Title: “The Great American Swindle”
Author: Matt Taibbi

The United States Federal Reserve shipped $12 billion in US currency to Iraq at the beginning of the war. At least $9 billion is unaccounted for due to a complete lack of oversight.


# 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste

Nuclear Information and Resource Service, May 14, 2007
Title: “Nuclear Waste in Landfills”
Author: Diane D’Arrigo

Environment News Service, May 14, 2007
Title: “US Allows Radioactive Materials in Ordinary Landfills”
Author: Sunny Lewis

Environment News Service, February 4, 2008
Title: “US Company Seeks Permit to Import Nuclear Waste”
Author: Sunny Lewis

Radioactive materials from nuclear weapons production sites are being dumped into regular public landfills, and being used as recycled metals.


# 15 Worldwide Slavery Spreads

Sojourners, March 15, 2007
Title: “From Sex Workers to Restaurant Workers, the Global Slave Trade Is Growing”
Author: David Batstone

Foreign Policy, March/April 2008
Title: “A World Enslaved”
Author: E. Benjamin Skinner

Twenty-seven million slaves exist in the world today, more than at any time in human history.


# 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights

International Trade Union Confederation website, September 2007
Title: “2007 Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights”

The first Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights documents enormous challenges to workers rights around the world.


# 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights

One World, September 14, 2007
Title: “UN Adopts Historic Statement on Native Rights”
Author: Haider Rizvi

BSNorrell.blogspot.com, December 11, 2007
Title: “Indigenous Peoples Protest World Bank Carbon Scam in Bali”
Author: Brenda Norrell

Common Dreams, December 12, 2007
Title: “Indigenous Peoples Shut Out of Climate Talks, Plans”
Author: Haider Rizvi

Forest Peoples Programme, November 30, 2007
Title: “NGO Statement on the World Bank’s Proposed Forest Carbon Partnership Facility”
Author: Tom Griffiths

In September 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The resolution called for recognition of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and control over their lands and resources.


# 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers

Associated Press, March 2, 2008
Title: “13,000 Abuse Claims in Juvie Centers”
Author: Holbrook Mohr

In states across the country, child advocates have harshly condemned the conditions under which young offenders are housed—conditions that involve sexual abuse, physical abuse, and even death.


# 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction

Trade BioRes, September 21, 2007
Title: “Conference Agrees Steps to Safeguard Farm Animal Diversity”
Author: The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

La Via Campesina, September 11, 2007
Title: “Wilderswil Declaration on Livestock Diversity”
Authors: Representatives of pastoralists, indigenous peoples, and smallholder farmers

Industrialized livestock production is causing the worldwide destruction of animal diversity.


# 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record

Marijuana Policy Project, September 27, 2007
Title: “Marijuana Arrests Set New Record for Fourth Year in a Row”
Author: Bruce Mirken

National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws, September 24, 2007
Title: “Marijuana Arrests for Year 2006—829,625 Tops Record High”
Author: Paul Armentano

Marijuana arrests in 2006 totaled 829,627, an increase from 786,545 in 2005.


# 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option

The Guardian, January 22, 2008
Title: “Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, NATO told”
Author: Ian Traynor

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officials are considering a first strike nuclear option to be used anywhere in the world.


# 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid

Inter Press Service, July 23, 2007
Title: “Mutiny Shakes US Food Aid Industry”
Author: Ellen Massey

Revolution Magazine, October 1, 2007
Title: “Starvation, Aid Agencies and the Benevolence of the Imperialists”
Author: Revolution Cooperative

In August 2007, CARE, announced that it was turning down $45 million a year in food aid from the United States government.


# 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs

NewStandard, April 20, 2007
Title: “FDA Complicit in Pushing Prescription Drugs, Ad Critics Say”
Author: Shreema Mehta

Drug companies are making false, unsubstantiated, and misleading claims in their advertising, often withholding mandated disclosure of dangerous side effects.


# 24 Japan’s Parliament Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror

Rense.com and Rock Creek Free Press, January 14, 2008
Title: “Transcript Of Japanese Parliament’s 911 Testimony”
Author: Benjamin Fulford

Testimony in the Japanese parliament, broadcast live on Japanese television in January 2008, challenged the premise and validity of the Global War on Terror. Parliament member Yukihisa Fujita insisted that an investigation be conducted into the war’s origin: the events of 9/11.


# 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer

Truthout, February 2008
Title: “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime”

Global Research, March 17, 2008
Title: “Why the Bush Administration ‘Watergated’ Eliot Spitzer”
Author: F. William Engdahl

The exposure of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer’s tryst with a luxury call girl was the result of his being a target of a White House and Wall Street operation to silence him.

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Censored News is published by censored journalist Brenda Norrell. A journalist for 27 years, Brenda lived on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, writing for Navajo Times, AP, USA Today, Lakota Times and other American Indian publications. After being censored and then terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006, she began the Censored Blog to document the most censored issues. She currently serves as human rights editor for the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report at the Hague and contributor to Sri Lanka Guardian, Narco News and CounterPunch. She was cohost of the 5-month Longest Walk Talk Radio across America, with Earthcycles Producer Govinda Dalton in 2008: www.earthcycles.net/
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