Ziad El-Hady looks at how government, elite and corporate interests shape media reports of international and domestic events, trivializing and sensationalizing news, corrupting our understanding of the world and reinforcing prejudice and bigotry.

“The corporate race for mass media consumption is a phenomenon that we as citizens pay the price for, both financially and psychologically, producing news that is generally negative, superficial and punchy; hardly ever constructive, beneficial or thought provoking.”

This is very interesting material. This article is written by Steve Kroft from 60 Minutes. It begins to piece together the rise of Obama and his behavior in leading the nation along with many members of Congress (in particular the Democrats, such as the election of Pelosi as the minority leader in Congress)

If you have wondered where Obama came from and just how he quickly moved from obscurity to President, or why the media is "selective" in what we are told, here is the man who most probably put him there and is responsible. He controls President Obama's every move. Think this is absurd? Invest a few minutes and read this. You won't regret it.

New TEPCO estimates calculate the amount of Cesium leaked from Fukushima is 24 times higher than previously thought and equal to 4,023 Hiroshima bombs.

The NATO summit held in Chicago last weekend reflects everything that is wrong with our society.
The NATO summit put on display how we can and do conjure up foreign and domestic threats to justify government control of our society. For it is fear that justifies not just our obscene military spending, but more importantly, the official violation of our civil and constitutional rights and the concession of political power to corporations.

Paul Craig Roberts
Activist Post

The US government is the second worst human rights abuser on the planet and the sole enabler of the worst – Israel. But this doesn’t hamper Washington from pointing the finger elsewhere.

The US State Department’s “human rights report” focuses its ire on Iran and Syria, two countries whose real sin is their independence from Washington, and on the bogeyman-in-the-making – China, the country selected for the role of Washington’s new Cold War enemy.

Hillary Clinton, another in a long line of unqualified Secretaries of State, informed “governments around the world: we are watching, and we are holding you accountable,” only we are not holding ourselves accountable or Washington’s allies like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the NATO puppets...

TEPCO says they don't know what to do if Reactor 4 collapses, instead declaring it safe from earthquakes after finding it leaning and with a bulged exterior wall.

Activist Post

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, the president of Vatican's bank Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), reportedly resigned Thursday after a vote of no confidence by the bank's board.

No details were given other than that Tedeschi "failed to meet some highly important functions" and that he was removed for "for dereliction of duty."

Tedeschi was tapped to run the bank in 2003 about twenty years after its involvement in one of Italy's largest banking fraud cases in history...

The butler, identified as Paolo Gabriele, 40, was held by gendarmes after a special commission of three top senior cardinals had been appointed by the Pope to identify the source of the leaks which have caused severe embarrassment.

Mr Gabriele, who has been at the Pope’s side for six years, is one of the German born pontiff’s closest members of his inner circle which totals just four lay people and four nuns. Vatican sources said the Pope had been ''deeply pained and struck'' by the arrest of the man who has been a constant presence at his side

Eighteen months on, it is still too early to judge Egypt’s January 25th revolution. This was a unique revolution, transforming Egyptians from spectators into true players, who are now actively involved in shaping their country. But the revolution has not changed Egypt’s old political dynamic.

What is striking about Egyptian history, both ancient and contemporary, is how the country has been governed. All Egypt’s rulers, natives and foreigners, have shared an authoritarian mindset.