9/11/2011 Forgotten Reports

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An enemy of democracy?

He was the first journalist in Hiroshima after the bomb, describing the nuclear fallout under the headline: ''Warning to the world: The atomic plague.'' He reported on the wars in Korea and 
Indochina from a non-Western perspective, and was sympathetic to Mao's Cultural Revolution

As a result, Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett (1911-1983), the subject of a retrospective under way at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth next month, was a lightning rod for controversy.

Jim Pollard of the FCCT says that Burchett was vilified by some US and Western officials _ with his homeland refusing to issue him a passport for 17 years _ because of the unpopular stance he took in his reports. ''The essence of the Burchett story is that he broke one of the biggest stories of all time _ radiation poisoning killing thousands in Hiroshima after the A-bomb,'' Pollard said. ''And the Americans, probably then at their most arrogant in terms of believing they had the capacity to manipulate everything, never forgave him.''

Pollard credits Burchett with showing ''incredible guts'' in covering the Korean War from the other side and doing the same in his Vietnam War reporting

The FCCT exhibition, entitled ''Burchett's Pin-ups'', comprises 30 rarely seen photographs to mark the 100th anniversary of Burchett's birth in September. The selection portrays the conditions of women and ethnic minorities, as Burchett saw the struggles of Southeast Asians for independence and social justice as a broader struggle for emancipation and equal rights.

The exhibition at the FCCT ends on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the club will be hosting a screening of Public Enemy Number One, Academy Award-nominated film-maker David Bradbury's acclaimed profile of Wilfred Burchett.

Bradbury, who will present the film at the FCCT, spoke to Sunday about his experiences making the documentary.

Air Force ROTC Promoting Christianity

the lesson was provided by the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), the same unit that oversees the training of the missile launch officers. 

3 Essential Oils that Heal

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• Greg Mitchell: Press Censorship: Famous War Reporter's Historic Scoop Spiked -- for 60 Years (huffingtonpost.com)
• Reports on Viet Cong made sense (search.japantimes.co.jp)
• Portrayal of a leftist journalist (search.japantimes.co.jp)
• Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett sets meetings with public (knoxnews.com)
• Letters: A salute to the honor guard (knoxnews.com)
• Tim Burchett cuts own budget; Carter school agreement withdrawn (knoxnews.com)
• From Hiroshima to Fukushima: Japan's atomic tragedies | Amy Goodman (guardian.co.uk)
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• Knox schools chief backs County Mayor Tim Burchett's plan on Carter school (knoxnews.com)