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The American media are accomplices in the worst contemporary crimes

BY CHRIS HEDGES "The very notion that on any given story all you have to do is report what both sides say and you've done a fine job of objective journalism debilitates the press," the late columnist Molly Ivins once wrote. "There is no such thing as objectivity, and the truth, that slippery little bugger, has the oddest habit of being way to hell off on one side or the other: it seldom nestles neatly halfway between any two opposing points of view. The smug complacency of much of the press--I have heard many an editor say, 'Well, we're being attacked by both sides so we must be right'--stems from the curious notion that if you get a quote from both sides, preferably in an official position, you've done the job..."

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HOWARD ZINN: “Je ne suis pas Marxiste”

Crosspost with http://invereskstreet.blogspot.com/2006/09/howard-zinns-je-ne-suis-pas-marxiste.html The late Howard Zinn gives Marx his humanity back, warts and all. The following is reprinted from The Zinn Reader (1997, Seven Stories Press, pp 574-578) and with the permission of the author. FOR A LONG TIME I thought that there were important and useful ideas in Marxist philosophy and political economy that should [...]

Asides

• The history that “binds” the US and Haiti

  You won't hear this from Katie Couric's lips (or Diane Sawyer's!)

  In his statement on the Haitian earthquake Wednesday, President Barack Obama referred to the “long history that binds us together.” Neither he nor the US media, however, have shown any inclination to probe the history of US-Haiti relations and its bearing on present catastrophe confronting the Haitian people. [continue reading]

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• US & Colombia keep looking for a war opening with Venezuela

  Washington eyes the destabilization and takeover of Venezuela a worthwhile objective—an Iraq in the making? As usual, American media fail to warn the US public about what their ruling class is plotting

  By Jorge Rueda (CP) – 2 hours ago

  CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez is accusing Colombia and the United States of plotting to set up a fake rebel camp on Venezuelan soil to discredit his government.

  Chavez accused Colombia of preparing what he called a "false positive" operation, saying on Monday that it's feasible the neighbouring country could build a makeshift camp in a remote location, then plant corpses and guns to make it look like a rebel camp had been discovered.

  Colombian officials have said that leftist rebel commanders from their country are taking refuge in Venezuela. Chavez says the officials are falsely trying to portray him as being in cahoots with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which Colombia has been battling for decades. (more...)

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• Chile confronts past with new museum

  It's dedicated to victims of Pinochet's 1973-1990 dictatorship, still a raw national wound.

  By Chris Kraul

  The Los Angeles Times

  December 28, 2009

  Reporting from Santiago, Chile

  << Pinochet, the butcher of Chile, in regalia. What they'll leave in and what they'll leave out -- that question haunts Margarita Iglesias as she considers next month's opening of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights.

  That Chile is recognizing victims of its military dictatorship in a striking new "monument to memories" is positive, said Iglesias, both a victim and a historian of Augusto Pinochet's bloody 17-year rule. As a high school student activist in Santiago in 1975, she was tortured before fleeing with her family to France.

  "It can't be just a horror show. The political movements and conditions that led to the coup and its aftermath must be explained. If not, how can you understand how state terrorism came about?" said Iglesias, 51, now a University of Chile professor. (more...)

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• Deniers the unwitting tools of megacorporations

  When I was back in eighth grade, my science teacher, Mr. Malone, a brittle old man with a shock of white hair and a stern classroom demeanor, but a sharp sense of humor, had made a banner that ran across the top of the blackboard. It read: “If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist.” (more...)

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• Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009 By Patrick J. O'Donoghue

  US plotting control of South America via Colombia, charges President Chavez.

  No one who knows the U.S. track record on Latin America can doubt the veracity of Venezuela's assertion.

  VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: Communication & Information (Minci) Minister Blanca Eekhout has held a press conference insisting that Venezuela seeks peace both in Venezuela and Colombia.

  The conference was part of a government counter-attack to charges launched by Brazil's Senate that postponed approval for Venezuela's entry into the Southern Cone Economic Zone (Mercosur) and the Colombian Foreign Ministry's decision to accuse Chavez at the UN for threatening Colombia with war. (more...)

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