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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.
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