PROJECT CENSORED'S TOP 10 STORIES FOR THE PAST YEAR

[Jcrowley]

Censored Stories
The 10 stories the nation's mainstream news media ignored, neglected or missed last year

Following are Project Censored's Top 10 stories for the past year.

1. The feds and the media muddy the debate over Internet freedom

So, when the Supreme Court ruled that giant cable companies aren't required to share their cables with other Internet service providers, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the major media did little in terms of exploring whether this ruling would destroy Internet freedom. As Elliot Cohen reported at buzzflash.com, the issue was misleadingly framed as an argument over regulation, when it's really a case of the Federal Communications Commission and Congress talking about giving cable and telephone companies the freedom to control supply and content--a decision that could have them playing favorites and forcing consumers to pay extra to get information and services that currently are free.

2. Halliburton charged with selling nuclear technology to Iran

Halliburton, the notorious U.S. energy company, sold key nuclear-reactor components to a private Iranian oil company called Oriental Oil Kish as recently as 2005, using offshore subsidiaries to circumvent U.S. sanctions, journalist Jason Leopold reported on Globalresearch.ca, the Web site of a Canadian research group. He cited sources intimate with the business dealings of Halliburton and Kish.

3. World oceans in extreme danger

Rising sea levels. A melting Arctic. Governments denying global warming is happening as they rush to map the ocean floor in hopes of claiming rights to oil, gas, gold, diamonds, copper, zinc and the planet's last pristine fishing grounds. This is the sobering picture author Julia Whitty painted in a beautifully crafted piece that makes the point that "there is only one ocean on Earth ... a Mobiuslike ribbon winding through all the ocean basins, rising and falling, and stirring the waters of the world."

4. Hunger and homelessness increasing in the United States

As hunger and homelessness rise in the United States, the Bush administration plans to get rid of a source of much of the data that supports this embarrassing reality--a survey that's been used to improve state and federal programs for retired and low-income Americans.

5. High-tech genocide in Congo

If you believe the corporate media, then the ongoing genocide in the Congo is all just a case of ugly tribal warfare. But that, according to stories published in Z Magazine and the Earth First! Journal, and heard on radio program The Taylor Report, is a superficial, simplistic explanation that fails to connect the dots between this terrible suffering and the immense fortunes that stand to be made from manufacturing cell phones, laptop computers and other high-tech equipment.

What's really at stake in this bloodbath is control of natural resources such as diamonds, tin and copper, as well as cobalt, which is essential for the nuclear, chemical, aerospace and defense industries--and most importantly for the high-tech industry, coltan and niobum. These disturbing reports concluded that a meaningful analysis of Congolese geopolitics requires a knowledge and understanding of the organized crime perpetuated by multinationals

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