
              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 10  Num. 45
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                     ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
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"PROJECT CENSORED" TOP 10 STORIES OF 1996
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(Source: "Metro Times" 3/26/97-4/1/97)
(Thanks to a CN reader for the following.)
 
10.)  Facing Food Scarcity:  Projected 90 million more people per
year on planet.  Problem:  the world's stock of rice, wheat, corn
and other grains has fallen  to  the lowest level in two decades.
"Solution?"  Poor countries will have to feed their  own  people,
without  help  from  wealthier  nations.  Will Bill Clinton "feel
their pain?"
 
9.)  U.S. Troops  Exposed  To  Depleted  Uranium During Gulf War:
Highly toxic depleted uranium was used by Gulf War forces as both
armor-piercing bullets and as tank armor.  U.S. Army is  said  to
have an as-yet unreleased report.
 
8.)  Big Brother Goes High-Tech:  New technologies are gaining on
civil  liberties  on  an  increasing  scale.   Hundreds  of  huge
databases are linking up and sharing "cyber-gossip."
 
7.)   Cashing  In  On Poverty:  Pawnshops, check-cashing outlets,
rent-to-own stores, finance  companies and high-interest mortgage
lenders prey on the disadvantaged.   These  predators  are  often
bankrolled  by  such  as Ford, Citibank, NationsBank and American
Express. In turn, stocks go up and yuppie puppies are pleased.
 
6.)  New Mega-Merged Banking Behemoths  = Big Risk:  In U.S., top
1 percent of households controls almost one-third of the nation's
net  worth.   71.5  percent  of  U.S.  banking  assets  are   now
controlled by the 100 largest banking organizations.  Fewer banks
controlling  more  and more wealth means smaller, community banks
get squeezed  out  --  making  it  harder  and  harder  for small
borrowers to get loans.
 
5.)  Corporate Crime:  Whitewash At The Justice  Department:   In
1987  alone,  50,000  to  70,000  workers  died  prematurely from
on-the-job exposure to  toxins.   Yet  while such corporate/white
collar crime costs America 10 to  50  times  *more*  than  street
crime,  the  Justice  Department  shows  little  interest  in the
problem.  Of more  than  51,000  federal  criminal indictments in
1994, only 250  involved  criminal  violations  of  the  nation's
environmental,  occupational  health  and  safety,  and  consumer
product safety laws.
 
4.)   The  PR  Industry's  Secret  War  On Activists:  The Public
Relations (PR) industry,  by  dipping  into  the  deep pockets of
their  giant  corporate  clients,  vastly  directs  and  controls
thought and policy.   Watch  out  for  "astroturf"  campaigns  --
strange  "citizen  groups" (really a false front) lending support
to corporate and elite causes.   *True* dissenting voices tend to
get muffled in the process.
 
3.)  Big Perks For Wealthy Hidden In Minimum  Wage  Bill:   Among
provisions  hidden  in  the  bill,  weakening  of  retirement and
pension  protection.   "Welfare  reform"  expands  the  supply of
low-wage applicants without expanding the supply of jobs.   Wages
are essentially held down. 
 
2.)  Shell's  Oil,  Africa's  Blood:   Despite  Royal Dutch/Shell
Group's  intimate  links  to the Nigerian government, Shell seems
to have ignored worldwide pleas that it use its influence to stem
judicial  violence in that African nation.  In fact, Shell likely
helped  instigate  the  violence.   Shell's  drilling  in Nigeria
destroyed farmlands.  When Ken Saro-Wiwa and  the  300,000-member
Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People targeted Shell with
mass  protests,  there  was a crackdown.  Internal documents show
that Shell was more than a passive player in the affair.
 
1.)  Nuclear  Proliferation  In  Space:   In  October (apparently
1997), NASA plans to launch  a  space  vehicle  to  Saturn.   The
Cassini  probe  will  carry  72  pounds  of deadly plutonium-238.
Enroute, the probe  will  whip  around  Earth  at 42,300 mph, 312
miles above the planet's surface.  What if there is  an  accident
(certainly  not  unlikely)?   Five billion people *could* receive
dangerous levels of  radiation  exposure.  Solar power technology
would eliminate risk, yet NASA and  corporate/government  friends
ignore   that   solution.    NBC   (General   Electric)  and  CBS
(Westinghouse) are  "strangely"  silent  about  it  all  on their
nightly "news" shows.
 
 +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +
 
(DIS)HONORABLE MENTION
======================
Stories In The "Project Censored" Top 25 For 1996
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** Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Is Meaningless Economic Measuring
Stick.
** rBGH (Bovine Growth Hormone In Milk) -- Milking The Public.
** Teen "Drug Crisis" Is A Myth.
** Derivatives: Risky Business
**  Corporate  America  Spends  Big  Bucks  On  Pro-China  Public
Relations.
** Refrigerator Revolution and Repairing the Ozone.
** Tuna, Free Trade and Cocaine.
 
(The "Project Censored" book  is  published  yearly.   *CENSORED:
The News That Didn't  Make  The  News:  The 1997 Project Censored
Yearbook*.  Published by Seven Stories Press.  Available  through
your local bookstore or phone 1-800-596-7437.)
 
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