US state-sponsored ‘news’: ‘I received orders to manipulate news to demonize Syria and Iran’

Ex-CNN reporter: I received orders to manipulate news to demonize Syria and Iran

• CNN and the business of state-sponsored TV news
• Why didn’t CNN international air its own ‘iRevolution’ documentary?

Amber Lyon on CNN, commenting on the March 2011 repression in Bahrain

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported from Prague on March 30 that ex-CNN on-air correspondent reporter Amber Lyon had revealed that “during her work for the channel she received orders to send false news and exclude some others which the US administration did not favour with the aim to create a public opinion in favour of launching an aggression on Iran and Syria.”

Bitter legacy of US ‘liberation’ of Iraq

This month marks the tenth anniversary of the US-allied invasion and occupation of Iraq. The attack was launched on a complete lie. While the Americans have gone, writes the respected Toronto journalist ZAFAR BANGASH*, the legacy of toxic weapons they used is affecting Iraqi civilians in horrible ways, while politically the twin cards of sectarianism and Kurdish nationalism are being used from outside as part of a covert program to infirm and split Iraq.

ON THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY of their country’s invasion and occupation by the US, Iraqis can be forgiven if they do not see the benefits of “liberation” even if American troops have left. The Americans left behind a bitter legacy of devastation, killings and destruction. Prior to US troop withdrawal in December 2011, the Americans had hoped for a deal that would allow some of their forces to remain in Iraq. In anticipation, the US built the largest embassy in the world, complete with nuclear bomb-proof bunkers, in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The agreement fell through because the Iraqi government refused to grant immunity to American soldiers if they committed crimes in Iraq. America would not allow its soldiers to be prosecuted in foreign courts even if they are guilty of the most heinous crimes.

Flashback: Global Day of Action – Halifax rally condemns U.S.-led aggression against Iraq

On Saturday, March 22, over 3,000 people in Halifax again demonstrated against the war on Iraq in open sympathy with the Iraqi people

From our archives: ten years ago today, Canadians massively responded as part of the powerful determination of the world’s people to condemn and oppose the Anglo-American war of aggression against Iraq. This Global Day of Action involved over fifteen million people worldwide, including over 50,000 in Toronto and over 200,000 people in Montreal – “an ocean of people against the war” – at the time the largest political demonstration in the history of Québec and larger than any demonstration in the United States.

By TONY SEED

(Halifax, March 22, 2003) – ON MARCH 22, the people of Halifax joined people across Canada and around the world to demand that the U.S.-led aggression against Iraq be stopped immediately. More than 3,000 people from all walks of life gathered at the Halifax Commons before marching through the streets of the provincial capital to the U.S. consulate. The flags of Palestine and Iraq were held high and cheered by the crowds as people chanted slogans in support of the growing global revolt against the American war machine. In the heart of the march, behind a giant Iraqi flag proudly held aloft by Iraqi Canadians, different political groups and their supporters gathered together on the basis of Unity in Action to vigorously shout anti-imperialist, anti-war slogans as one.

South Koreans protest US nuclear subs

ON MARCH 21, local residents and political activists went into action holding an emergency demonstration at the south Korean Naval Operations Command headquarters in Busan when they heard that the nuclear-powered U.S. submarine Cheyenne had docked at the naval port to take part in the joint south Korea-U.S. war exercises presently underway. The Cheyenne is an attack submarine equipped with vertical cruise missile launch tubes and up-to-date combat systems, news agencies report.

American social mobility is a myth

You can be anything you want to be – heartwarming U.S. folk saying

Business Insider – A STUDY released in March by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco reports that nearly half (44 per cent) of American adults who are in the bottom 20 per cent in income were born to parents who were also in the bottom 20 per cent; nearly half (45 per cent) of adults in the top 20 per cent had parents who were also in the top 20 per cent. Most Americans who were born in the middle 60 per cent had parents who were also born in the middle 60 per cent.

If you were born in the bottom 20 per cent, your chances of ending up in the top 20 per cent are about one in 20 – or 5 per cent.

If you were born in the top 20 per cent, your chances of ending up in the bottom 20 per cent are about one in 20 – or 5 per cent.

Courtesy Undernews

In Memoriam: Dacajeweiah, Splitting-the-Sky

January 7, 1952 – March 13, 2013

On March 13, Dacajeweiah, Splitting-the-Sky, 61, left us forever when he passed away in his home in Adams Lake, British Columbia. Dac’s colonial name was John Boncore Hill, from Six Nations. “From Attica to Gustafsen Lake,” and thereafter, he was a warrior, a comrade, a friend.

We deeply mourn his loss.

The family will release a biographical statement and details of memorial arrangements in due course. With deepest love to his wife and soul-mate, She-Keeps-the-Door, and children. We stand with Dac’s many many co-fighters and friends.

TML Daily, March 18, 2013

Condemn Toronto Star’s scandalous scare-mongering on Cuba

THE Toronto Star and El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish-language sister publication of the Miami Herald, have conspired to publish a sensationalist series on “sex tourism” to Cuba. The series began precisely one month to the day following the “visit” by Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird to Cuba on February 15, 2013 and his provocative meeting with “dissidents”. “He pledged Canada’s support for efforts to secure freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” his department said at the time in a release, “in the only remaining Communist country in the Western hemisphere.”

Now the “dissidents” have emerged, writes ANDREW BRETT*, to form the main “source” for the Toronto-Miami media disinformation blaming the Cuban people and government, who are the victims, for “sex tourism.” Far from being a coincidence, the series serves the agenda of the Harper government of political destabilization and isolation of all opposition to imperialist dictate in the Americas. 

The Star also writes: “Although Canada has had a law against abusing children abroad since 1997, it is undermined by the inability of law enforcement officials to monitor sexual offenders as they slip out of the country.” Thus, under the banner of high ideals, it furnishes the Harper Government the pretext to collect information on all those Canadians travelling to the independent Socialist Republic of Cuba. – Tony Seed

Toronto Star makes up facts in exposé of sex tourism in Cuba

“THERE is truly no prostitution healthier than Cuba’s,” said Fidel Castro in 1992. Or so claims the Toronto Star. But did he really?

Not at all. Castro actually said, “There is truly no tourism healthier than Cuba’s.”

This just scratches the surface of the fact-free reporting of the Star in its new series The Ugly Canadians, an exposé of a supposed epidemic of Canadians travelling to Cuba for child sex tourism.

‘Making the desert bloom’ – Israeli forces destroy Palestinian village for the 48th time

Middle East Monitor – ISRAELI bulldozers have destroyed the homes of Palestinian Bedouin living in Al-Araqeeb village in the Negev Desert for the 48th time. According to Israeli officials, the Bedouin live in the village illegally and they are planning to evacuate them to Al-Sofaraa Park, a project supported by pro-Israel and Western organisations.

After their wooden shelters and tents have been demolished, the Bedouin always rebuild them. They have lived in this miserable situation for years.

The Islamic Movement in Israel said that such actions by the government would not deter Palestinians from clinging to their land. A spokesperson for the movement called on the Bedouin to use all possible means to stay on their land and not to allow the Israelis to carry out their plans. Israel’s policy is regarded as ongoing ethnic cleansing to remove Palestinians from as much of their land as possible.

“The Israeli government moves Palestinian citizens from their land under the pretext of improving their lives,” said the Islamic Movement. “However, this is an entirely false premise.”

Commemorations in Canada as part of the world tribute to Hugo Chávez

Millions of Venezuelans take to the streets to pay tribute to President Hugo Chávez, as his body is taken from the military hospital where he died to the National Military Academy to lie in state, March 6, 2013

CANADIAN progressive media has reflected extensively on the occasion of the death of the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez as part of the world expressions of grief and homage. Meanwhile, memorial tributes and tributes in his honour being held from coast to coast across the northern nation.

Blowing smoke

Photo: vortex_amity

Pope Francis: A man of the people with an intellectual side – headline in  the Toronto Star. “New pope, the Argentine earlier known as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is complex: a man of social conscience, but with conservative views, too,” writes its foreign affairs editor, blowing smoke.

Truthout, 2010 – On April 20, Argentina’s last dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Jorge Videla, Argentina’s first dictator, was recently accused of 49 forced disappearances, added to an already expansive investigation. In total, nearly 700 people have been indicted for crimes committed a generation ago. The investigations reach beyond the military. The church, too, has been a target. In 2006, Catholic priest Cristian Federico Von Wernich was convicted of human rights abuses, after the father perverted the confession into an interrogation tactic of the torturers who secretly held prisoners. More recently, Argentine investigative journalist Horacio Verbitsky has written a series of articles in the country’s left-leaning daily Pagina 12 accusing Jorge Bergoglio, currently an Argentine cardinal, of participating in the kidnapping of two liberal priests in 1976.

Hands Off Korea!

An Appeal to People of Conscience Regarding the DPRK’s Just Response to U.S. Preparations for a Second Korean War

DUE TO to the seriousness of the issues involved by the actions of the big powers against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), including those of the United Nations Security Council and of the Harper Government, we are reproducing the entire edition of TML Weekly Information Project dated March 9, 2013 concerning the escalating war preparations against the DPRK. These have directly involved two Canadian warships, the HMCS Algonquin and the HMCS Ottawa in U.S. war exercises. The special edition not only deals with how the issue presents itself but also provides comprehensive, in-depth information on the historical context. We think these are important matters of conscience. TML Weekly states: “We appeal to all men and women of conscience to take a just stand that favours the sacred cause of Peace, Freedom and Democracy. Since the position of the United States, Canada and other big powers fills the airwaves and newspapers, in this issue of TML Weekly we are providing arguments that the DPRK presents to substantiate its case and other pertinent views, comments and analysis. Join the discussion!”

Graphic details. Outpouring of social love at state funeral for Hugo Chávez

Internet and new technologies are a battlefield

Fighting media terrorism or disinformation as a strategy of the great centres of power is essential in these changing times

[juventudrebelde.co.cu/] – The Second International Workshop on social networks and alternative media concluded yesterday in Havana with a call to promote the liberating use of new technology, and the joint implementation of proposals for confronting media campaigns from the key power centres.

World Baseball Classic: ‘Italy’s’ humiliation of Team Canada

Canada’s Pete Orr, left, throws over the sliding Mike Costanzo of “Italy” to complete a double play during the fifth inning of Canada’s 14-4 opening loss at the World Baseball Classic. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

amateursport.wordpress.com – PERHAPS Canada should stick to lacrosse and ski cross. While Mexico soundly defeated Team USA 5-2, a second US team posing in the uniforms of the Azzuri drubbed Canada 14-4 at the World Baseball Classic today.

The mercy rule, comprehensive national humiliation is simple enough to explain on the surface: atrocious pitching, lack of key hits from the Canadian major leaguers – especially the two former MLB MVPs in Joey Votto and Justin Morneau (with the notable exception of young Michael Saunders from Victoria, BC who had two hits and a pair of RBIs on the day) – errors of judgment, and aggressive hitting by “Italy” backed up by adequate pitching and defence.

International Women’s Day 2013

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Interview with Ivy Shaw*, Retired Postal Worker, Halifax

FROM MY OWN PERSPECIVE, and this is my personal opinion, I think that not only women have to get out and vote at election time but they also have to run to change the culture of what is happening across Canada.

Hugo Chávez, oil and Maine

The death of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela not expected to immediately affect energy assistance program in Maine, which has benefited over 60,000 households as well as the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Mi’kmaq and Maliseet First Nations, tribal official says. A civilized and cultured response that stands in stark contrast to the response of Ottawa and Washington filled with hate and revenge against the Bolivarian leader as the “instigator” of all the obstacles that lie in the path of the U.S. imperialist striving for domination of the Americas and the world.

By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff

Millions of Venezuelans take to the streets to pay tribute to President Hugo Chávez, as his body is taken from the military hospital where he died to the National Military Academy to lie in state, March 6, 2013

INDIAN ISLAND, Maine (March 7) — The death Tuesday of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is not expected to affect the Venezuelan-sponsored humanitarian program that has provided energy assistance to low-income Maine people since at least 2006, according to an official familiar with the program.

Among those who have benefited from the heating aid provided by Citgo Petroleum Corp. — the national petroleum company of Venezuela — are households throughout the state that are eligible for the state’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, and members of Maine’s Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet tribes.

Graphic details. US rich get richer

What the chart does not show is that the increasing wealth of the rich monopolies, some of them headquartered in Canada, is also being plundered from the sweat and toil of the peoples of Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the rest of the world. – TS

Source: Working America

Community Memorial for Hugo Chávez

Join us for a community memorial and discussion celebrating the life, work and legacy of Hugo Chávez Frias

Friday March 8th -5:30pm

Just Us! Coffee House

5896 Spring Garden Road, Halifax Nova Scotia

Dr. John Kirk, Dr. Afua Cooper and Dr. Isaac Saney will be presenting short pieces regarding the loss of Venezuelan president Chávez.

Hugo Chávez was a steadfast fighter for self-determination, social justice, independence and internationalism. His vision and politics went beyond the boundaries of Venezuela to encompass the struggle for dignity not only in Latin America and the Caribbean but for the entire world.

Sponsored by CNC, NSCUBA, CPC(ML), CUPW, NSPIRG

Honour and Glory to President Hugo Chávez!

July 28, 1954 – March 5, 2013 The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) expresses its deepest condolences and sorrow on the untimely death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Eternal glory will honour his name for bringing freedom and independence to his motherland, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and opening its path to progress. CPC(M-L), its allies and all others in Canada concerned for the well-being of the world in the face of the hostility and aggression of U.S. imperialism, join the peoples of Venezuela, all of Latin America, the Caribbean and the world in mourning the tremendous loss of President Chávez and his courage, determination and leadership. “No matter what happens, we will continue to have our homeland,” President Chávez said. We are convinced that the Venezuelan people will turn their grief into strength and defend the achievements made under the leadership of President Chávez and the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and will continue to safeguard the sovereignty of their homeland and build on the successes of the Bolivarian Revolution. May President Chávez Rest in Peace! Long Live the Bolivarian Revolution! Long Live the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela!

Canada Post’s outrageous claims

Veteran postal worker LOUIS LANG, former president of the Ottawa Local of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, exposes what is behind the demagoguery of Canada Post about “falling revenues”: privatization, cut-backs in services and attacking the wages, benefits and working conditions of postal workers

[TML Daily] – CANADA POST recently announced that it was facing a $327 million operating loss and is considering cut backs in service like reducing home delivery from five to four or even three days per week. The spokesperson stated that “all options are on the table” including closing some of the 6,500 retail outlets across the country as well as consolidating its 21 sorting centres to “just major cities.”

IFJ condemns shooting of photojournalist in Ramallah

[Press Release, 5 March 2013] – A PALESTINIAN PHOTOJOURNALIST was shot and severely injured by an Israeli soldier near the Ofer prison in Ramallah last Friday evening, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), affiliated to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

The IFJ has today condemned the shooting, calling for an investigation to identify and punish the shooter.

U.S. student debt triples in three years

Alternet – A NEW REPORT from the New York Federal Reserve further confirms what many commentators have been long saying – student debt is the bubble that just keeps expanding. Total student debt has nearly tripled in the past three years.

Total student debt stands at almost one trillion dollars ($966 billion) as of the end of 2012, with a 70 per cent increase in both the number of borrowers and the average balance per person. The overall number of borrowers past due on their student loan payments has also grown, from under 10 per cent in 2004 to 17 per cent in 2012.

Noting the N.Y. Fed report, Huffington Post pointed out that the proliferation of indebted students and their families has knock on effects on other areas of the economy: Fewer people with student loans are buying homes, according to data in the report. Of borrowers ages 25 to 30 who are taking out new mortgages, the percentage of those with student debt has fallen by half, from nearly 9 per  cent in 2005 to just above 4 per cent in 2012…

Americans see biggest monthly income drop in 20 years

CNN – AMERICANS saw their income drop so dramatically in January that it marked the deepest one-month decline in 20 years. Personal income decreased by $505.5 billion in January, or 3.6 per cent, compared to December (on a seasonally adjusted and annualized basis).

How Reagan promoted genocide

 ROBERT PARRY, Consortium News – SOON AFTER taking office in 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s national security team agreed to supply military aid to the brutal right-wing regime in Guatemala to pursue the goal of exterminating not only “Marxist guerrillas” but their “civilian support mechanisms,” according to a newly-disclosed document from the National Archives. Over the next several years, the military assistance from the Reagan administration helped the Guatemalan army do just that, engaging in the slaughter of some 100,000 people, including what a truth commission deemed genocide against the Mayan Indians in the northern highlands.