A paragraph disappeared from the newspaper that cited the attack on Syria is really about showing the pro-Israel lobby group the U.S. is serious about Iran; economic scarcity melds the mind; meanwhile, the hypocrisy of the “red line” in Syria is highlighted by the fact that the Pentagon acknowledged using white phosphorus in Iraq a few years ago. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

New York Times Deletes Paragraph In Which White House Says AIPAC Is Key To War AIPAC censorship even applies to the Times.

Poop, There It Is: New Test for Exotic Civet Coffee Scientists say they have found a unique chemical fingerprint of exotic civet coffee to verify that the rare and expensive Kopi Luwak is the real thing.

Scarcity Changes How We Think The feeling of lacking something captivates us and reorients us toward those unfulfilled needs.

As Tech Companies Create Alibis, Experts Warn NSA Has Compromised Entirety of Internet While several major tech companies scrambled this weekend to save face following implications in the latest NSA revelations reported Thursday, several experts sounded the alarm over what they see as the greatest threat to internet privacy in all of the NSA revelations so far.

U.S. Used White Phosphorus in Iraq The Pentagon has acknowledged using incendiary white phosphorus munitions in a 2004 counterinsurgency offensive in the Iraqi city of Falluja, but defended their use as legal.

New York Times and Terrorism: When Lapdogs Roar The inside story of how the New York Times published a Bush-era terror exposé is a fascinating media case study.

And the Winner Is. . . It’s unclear who the next head of the Fed will be. But it’s clear the gloves have come off.

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