The NY Times reports: "A group of antiwar advocates is accusing Clear Channel Communications, one of the nation's largest media companies, with close ties to national Republicans, of preventing the group from displaying a Times Square billboard critical of the war in Iraq. The billboard - an image of a red, white and blue bomb with the words 'Democracy Is Best Taught by Example, Not by War' - was supposed to go up next month ... to be in place when Republicans from across the country gathered in New York City to nominate President Bush for a second term. [Clear Channel used] its radio stations to rally support for the war in Iraq, while trying to silence musicians who oppose it [such as] the Dixie Chicks last year after the group's lead singer, Natalie Maines, told fans during a London concert, 'We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.'" No wonder! Look how the Bush thugs operate! First the DC's then Howard Stern.

"The Federal Government has refused to make public a detailed 61-page dossier outlining what Australians knew about prisoner abuse in Iraq, with the Minister for Defence, Robert Hill, claiming some details would offend the US. Senator Hill was yesterday censured in the Senate for his role in misleading Parliament and his failure to take responsibility for the false statements made by him, the Prime Minister and senior Defence officials."

NY Times: "The decision by the Sinclair Broadcast Group to pre-empt a broadcast of 'Nightline' devoted to reciting the names of every member of the military killed in action in Iraq ran into a torrent of protest yesterday from viewers, media watchdog groups, and one prominent veteran of the Vietnam War, Sen. John McCain. Senator McCain made public a letter he had sent to the chief executive of Sinclair, one of the country's largest owners of local television stations. He wrote that he found Sinclair's removal of the 'Nightline' news program from the eight ABC affiliates it owns 'deeply offensive.' 'Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public, and to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces,' he added. 'It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves.' "

"Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. ordered its ABC affiliates to preempt [Friday's] broadcast of 'Nightline,' which will air the names and photos of U.S. military personnel who have died in combat in Iraq, saying the move is politically motivated. 'Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show, the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq,' the company said in a faxed statement. Sinclair, which owns 62 U.S. television stations, said ABC is disguising political statements as news content...In an e-mailed statement, ABC said the broadcast 'is an expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have laid down their lives for this country.' " The Sinclair statement can be found at http://sbgi.net/

"Looks like the S-word might be the next profanity in the sites of indecency foes. Attorney John Thompson, whose complaints about Howard Stern helped prompt Clear Channel to banish the jock and the FCC to fine the company almost half a million dollars, says he has faxed a complaint to the FCC about Sunday night's 60 Minutes broadcast, in which singer Mary J. Blige uttered an under-her-breath 'shit.' ...Thompson was alerted by a piece on The Schnitt Show on Clear Channel's WIOD(AM) Miami. A check of the show's Web site (www.schnittshow.com) provided an audio clip of the Blige expletive underneath this caption: 'Mary J. Blige cursing during 60 minutes, will Viacom be nailed by the FCC for this?'"

"If you're looking to buy a copy of Robert Greenwald's superb documentary, 'Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War,' don't go to your local Wal-Mart. Anderson Merchandising, the company that picks the movies that are sold in the retail chain, has told the distributor of the movie that the film is 'unpatriotic' and inappropriate for Wal-Mart. The decision is a form of censorship because Wal-Mart is one of the largest outlets in terms of CD and DVD sales, and is often the only retail source in smaller communities. If you want to protest Wal-Mart's decision, you can either call the company headquarters at 1-479-273-4000 email them through the website. The address for snail mail is: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 702 S.W. 8th Street, Bentonville, AR 72716"

"Risking a clash with civil libertarians, major Jewish communal organizations are lobbying the Senate to approve a bill that would tighten federal monitoring of government-funded Middle East studies programs at universities. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives overwhelmingly, is pitting the Jewish organizational community against professors associations and leading international studies scholars as well as against traditional allies such as the American Civil Liberties Union."

AP reports: "An award-winning drawing blaming... Bush for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was pulled from a small-town exhibit over 'insurance issues' after a businessman withdrew his $300 prize and called the piece a form of 'hate speech.' Artist Chuck Bowden's drawing, 'The Tactics of Tyrants Are Always Transparent,' won second place in the Redwood Art Association's annual fall exhibit, held earlier this month in Eureka, Calif. In the 11-inch-by-14-inch drawing, a crown and halo-topped Bush stands on a grave, his hand dripping with blood as bodies fall to the ground from the World Trade Center towers in the distance... 'They shouldn't call it 'open to art,' Bowden said of the contest's original call for entries. 'They should call it, 'open to Republican art' or 'open to closed-minded art... For local business owners to try to stagnate artistic expression according to their political interpretation of how life should be is not such a good idea.'" Heil Bush!

From theMemoryHole.org: "The Qatar-based al Jazeera network--often called the CNN of the Arab world--is known for broadcasting images and reports that the Western powers would rather you not see. The news outlet has a reputation for not backing down, but that seems to be changing. With its star reporter under arrest (he's been accused of being a part of al Qaeda) and the station at least temporarily silenced in Iraq, al Jazeera has apparently caved to US pressure. According to Arab News, the station yanked two political cartoons from its Arabic and English-language Website when a US official from the State Department complained that they were 'inflammatory'. Thanks to Phantom DJ, a reader of The Memory Hole, we now present both expunged cartoons."

"1. The neoconservative plan for global dominance [drawn up by the PNAC]. 2. Homeland security threatens civil liberties. 3. U.S. illegally removes pages from Iraq U.N. report. 4. Rumsfield's plan to provoke terrorists. 5. The effort to make unions disappear. 6. Closing access to information technology. 7. Treaty busting by the United States. 8. U.S. and British forces continue use of depleted uranium weapons despite massive evidence of negative health effects. 9. In Afghanistan: poverty, women's rights, and civil disruption worse than ever. 10. Africa faces new threat of new colonialism. 11. U.S. implicated in Taliban massacre. 12. Bush administration behind failed military coup in Venezuela. 13. Corporate personhood challenged. 14. Unwanted refugees a global problem. 15. U.S. military' war on the earth. 16. Plan Puebla-Panama and the FTAA. 17. Clear Channel monopoly draws criticism." Read all 25 on Sonoma State University's annual list of the most censored stories.

Jackson Thoreau writes: "In 1984, at the height of Reagan's militarism, the editor of a Texas suburban newspaper - where I had worked as a reporter for two years right out of college - told me the paper could not print a feature article I wrote on a local woman who began a nuclear weapons freeze organization because it would 'upset' advertisers. After all, many of those advertisers worked for the U.S. military/industrial complex. This is a situation that sadly is more common in today's media environment than it was in 1984."

From Buzzflash: "We have now written six news analyses on how the National Baseball Hall of Fame's cancellation of a long-scheduled 'Bull Durham' festival was much more than an isolated impulsive act. It is highly unlikely that it was just an individual action taken by the Republican operative who serves as President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. No, Dale Petroskey, the Marvin Bush friend and former Reagan aide who summarily canceled the 'Bull Durham' event, is not going to suddenly reschedule it. He has made that clear. All he has done, in response to the onslaught of negative fan response and hostile press, is say that he should have called Robbins and Sarandon before he turned his blistering pro-Bush propaganda letter to them over to the Associated Press."

Jeannette Walls writes: "Will another anti-war celeb take a career hit? Bush supporters have been deluging ABC with calls and e-mails, complaining about a sitcom the network has in development starring outspoken war protester Janeane Garofalo. ABC has reportedly been working on the comedy, in which Garofolo plays a producer at a TV newsmagazine. The pro-war protesters are threatening to organize a major campaign against ABC, including a boycott of advertisers, if the network airs the show." Tell ABC to keep Garafalo's show - and not to bow to the McCarthyite tactics of Bush's rightwing supporters, who are opposed to the American right to Free Speech! Call ABC at (818) 460-7477. You can also write ABC, Inc. 500 S. Buena Vista Street Burbank, CA 91521-4551, or email ABC at netaudr@abc.com

"The pictures of U.S. POWs and Iraqi civilian casualties has been censored by our hosting provider. Therefore, we cannot show these pictures. They also forced us to remove pictures of Iraqi casualties. Our site was shut down for an hour until we removed the pictures. We also can no longer provide a link to the pictures, otherwise our site will be shut down."

"Artist Emilie Clark and writer Lytle Shaw were arrested for posting pictures of people from Baghdad in Soho late Thursday night. Both have been released. A court date has been set to prosecute the two for showing New York City the people who will die in a possible war against Iraq. Clark and Shaw were members of the Baghdad Snapshot Action Crew. Based in New York City, the crew of 75 artists and activists began posting simple flyers with pictures of ordinary Iraqi citizens around New York City."