The 10 Most Significant Censored or Under-reported Stories of 2005:

[newswolf56]

Thanks to Foreign Policy magazine (and a tip of the hat to Der Spiegel for posting the FP link in its online service):

The world will remember 2005 for its natural disasters, the passing of a pope, and the ongoing insurgency in Iraq. But, all the while, FP’s editors have been keeping an eye out for those stories that fell through the cracks but will have a lasting impact for years to come. In a year-end FP exclusive, here are 10 stories you might have missed.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3315&page=1

Interesting, even frightening reading -- especially about Halliburton recruiting from Latin American death squads, and Exxon's projection that 2010 will mark the beginning of Peak Oil and therefore (though of course Exxon does not say this) the end of civilization -- and quite possibly human life itself. (This is not hyperbole. Our corporate overlords have painted us into such a corner with dependence on petroleum that Peak Oil will bring about the total collapse of all global, regional and local economies -- think of the aftermath of Katrina multiplied to the 1000th power and so widespread literally no one can escape it. The result will be worldwide chaos -- war, revolution, famine, disease {undoubtedly including the deliberate release of biological warfare agents} and death -- apocalyptic horror on a scale humanity has never before seen or imagined.)

And, once again -- all the more ironically given that Foreign Policy is published in the United States -- we have to turn to the European press to find out about it.

[ck4829]

1. The Scanlon Memo would be on my list

[sonofliberty]

2. A bit scary N/T

[sojourner]

8. i know...i kind of want to forget that i just read that bit about peak oil

--- even though i know about it, i never let it get that real. makes me want to hide.

[CAG]

3. What about that librul media not sayin anything about the big war on xmas

and the fact that those same librul media types won't even try to attempt to blame ALL the nations problems on Bill and Hillary??????

Sincerely,
Jim Bob Repub
Loyal Fox news viewer and Bill O'Reilly supporter
BFE, Arkansas

[intheflow]

4. 31% of VA treatments were for mental disorders?

A third of all VA patients had mental problems? That seems like an abnormally high percentage. :(

[sojourner]

7. it is...result of iraq wars 1 and 2...

vietnam also has its share. mind you, many of the vets NEEDING treatment never even become VA patients. so a third is just those most critically disabled who have managed not to fall through the cracks.

[MountainLaurel]

10. Not surprising

We send people into the military so they can kill other people, which often contradicts everything they've been taught about what a decent human being is, and then expect them to come back after all they've seen and done and be normal human beings again, who take their kids to cheerleading practice and sit in church on Sunday. I'm surprised the figures aren't higher.

[omega minimo]

5. Merry Damn Christmas

:evilgrin:

[soothsayer]

6. here are the top 25 from Project Censored

#1 Bush Administration Moves to Eliminate Open Government

#2 Media Coverage Fails on Iraq: Fallujah and the Civilian Death

#3 Another Year of Distorted Election Coverage

#4 Surveillance Society Quietly Moves In

#5 U.S. Uses Tsunami to Military Advantage in Southeast Asia

#6 The Real Oil for Food Scam

#7 Journalists Face Unprecedented Dangers to Life and Livelihood

#8 Iraqi Farmers Threatened By Bremer’s Mandates

#9 Iran’s New Oil Trade System Challenges U.S. Currency
#10 Mountaintop Removal Threatens Ecosystem and Economy
#11 Universal Mental Screening Program Usurps Parental Rights

#12 Military in Iraq Contracts Human Rights Violators

#13 Rich Countries Fail to Live up to Global Pledges

#14 Corporations Win Big on Tort Reform, Justice Suffers

#15 Conservative Plan to Override Academic Freedom in the Classroom

#16 U.S. Plans for Hemispheric Integration Include Canada

#17 U.S. Uses South American Military Bases to Expand Control of the Region

#18 Little Known Stock Fraud Could Weaken U.S. Economy

#19 Child Wards of the State Used in AIDS Experiments

#20 American Indians Sue for Resources; Compensation Provided to Others

#21 New Immigration Plan Favors Business Over People

#22 Nanotechnology Offers Exciting Possibilities But Health Effects Need Scrutiny

#23 Plight of Palestinian Child Detainees Highlights Global Problem

#24 Ethiopian Indigenous Victims of Corporate and Government Resource Aspirations

#25 Homeland Security Was Designed to Fail

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2006/

[MountainLaurel]

11. Thanks for posting that

Doesn't PC do a book version every year?

[cascadiance]

12. And of course neither of these articles mentioning gagging whistleblowers!

like Sibel Edmonds, Bunnatine Greenhouse, etc. that are at the heart of the conspiracies that are plaguing this country, though perhaps this falls under the #1 reason here about Bush's moves to eliminate open government.. There more secret than the secret, so lets still keep it "nebulous" even when we think we're getting the "good stuff"!

[Stevepol]

14. Better list, Soothsayer. Fraudulent voting machines are never reported.

[newswolf56]

15. Thanks for adding that. The more...

of these kinds of lists we bring together, the more it will underscore the truth of Al Gore's (unreported) remarks to -- ironically -- the recent Associated Press investigative reporters' symposium: that American democracy has never been in greater jeopardy.

[mistertrickster]

9. I've seen the gloom-and-doom on a world without oil before, and I'm

not buying it.

You're right that we've been painted into a corner by big oil, but we can get out of it with a little leadership and will.

As a long-time reader of "Mother Earth Magazine," there is a host of alternative energy sources out there that are just coming into their own:

Superinsulated houses with solar collectors. Wind generation on a massive scale. Bio-mass converted to methane and ethanol. Coal gasification. Then there're still exploitation of oil shale, which mysteriously seems to have been "just on the horizon" for about thirty years now, and nuclear fusion which could not only provide non polluting energy but "burn up" all the dangerous radioactive material we've got lying around.

The death of oil will be the best thing that's happened to our environment since the glaciers melted 10,000 years ago . . .

On edit--imagine living in Minnesota and not paying a penny for fossile fuels to heat your house all winter. That technology is available today. Cars can easily be made to run on 85 percent ethanol right now.

[Cleetus]

13. Secret torture and detention facilities

Although I'm new here, I have been lurking for a while. I remember months ago reports of Secret detention facilities. Stories of detailees being whisked off in private jets to undisclosed locations to be tortured.

Nothing became of this in the MSM, although the story did make waves here, and the usual places; Rawstory, HuffPo...