I just came across a site called Project Censored, that takes a well-researched look at the “news that didn’t make the News.” (hat tip to J.D. Tuccille at Disloyal Opposition) Project Censored has a list of the Top 25 Censored Stories and it’s well worth your time to read. In fact, I think we are all obligated to know what the government is doing in our name. As Patrick Henry stated:

The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government — lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.

I haven’t read through the whole list yet, but here are a few that caught my attention.

#1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation

Based on multiple studies that the government denies and the mainstream media ignores, approximately 1.2 million Iraqis have died, and about 5 million are refugees, as a result of the US invasion and occupation. This is more than died in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Every month that we stay, another 10,000 people are killed.

#5. Seizing War Protesters’ Assets

President Bush has signed two executive orders that would allow the US Treasury Department to seize the property of any person perceived to, directly or indirectly, pose a threat to US operations in the Middle East.

Vaguely worded to allow inclusion of most anybody who disagrees with our wars, the act further authorizes freezing the assets of “a spouse or dependent child” of any person whose property is frozen. The executive order on Lebanon also bans providing food, shelter, medicine, or any humanitarian aid to those whose assets have been seized—including the “dependent children” referred to above.

#6. The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act

In a startling affront to American freedoms of expression, privacy, and association, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 1955) passed the House on October 23, 2007, by a vote of 404–6. The Senate is currently considering a companion bill, S. 1959. The act would establish a national commission and a university-based “Center for Excellence” to study and propose legislation to prevent the threat of “radicalization” of Americans.

Author of the bill Jane Harman (D-CA) explains, “We’re studying the phenomenon of people with radical beliefs who turn into people who would use violence.”

“Radical beliefs” like … First Amendment rights, for instance? Joe Liberman is pushing this bill, and demanded that YouTube take down “Islamic propaganda” videos. With a few exceptions, they refused. Return to McCarthyism, anyone?

#25. Bush’s Real Problem wtih Eliot Spitzer

The exposure of New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer’s tryst with a luxury call girl had little to do with the Bush administration’s high moral standards for public servants. Author F. William Engdahl advises that, “in evaluating spectacular scandals around prominent public figures, it is important to ask what and who might want to eliminate that person.” Timing suggests that Spitzer was likely a target of a White House and Wall Street operation to silence one of its most dangerous and vocal critics of their handling of the current financial market crisis.

It seems Spitzer wrote an editorial in the Washington Post that said, in part, “Not only did the Bush administration do nothing to protect consumers, it embarked on an aggressive and unprecedented campaign to prevent states from protecting their residents from the very problems to which the federal government was turning a blind eye.”

While Bush and all those in Washington will someday have to account for their actions before our Maker, we will someday have to account for our inactions.