Wednesday, March 19, 2003

Dubya Dubya III ? QUOTE OF THE DAY "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomer is this: a modern brick schoolhouse in more than 30 cities. It is two fine fully equipped hospitals. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of war, it is humanity on a cross of iron." Dwight D. Eisenhower (Speech to the American Socity of Newspaper Editors, 4/16/53) RHINO HERE: shrub's ultimatum to saddam has a familiar ring to some Indian friends of mine. Rhino's Blog reader Vic Glover writes in, "Over a hundred years ago, as the U.S. pressed westward onto Indian lands, the military issued a proclamation in the dead of winter to the last holdouts of Plains Indians, trying to preserve their way of life.  The order told them, 'break your camps and report in to the forts, or we'll consider you hostile renegades, in which case, we'll track you down and kill you, to the last woman and child,' which they proceeded to do." Not that saddam & his crew in their palaces can really be compared to the Plains Indians, but I think shrub and his crew can be compared to custer, sherman & their ilk. Any chance of stopping them from dropping their threatened "shock & awe" 3000 bombs in 48 hours on Baghdad? Seems like the true definition of, "overkill". Here's two possibilities: 1) Kucinich Intros Draft Amendment To Repeal Congressional War Mandate Yep, it's that peace wager, Congressman (& presidential candidate) Dennis Kucinich at it again. Call your Congresspeople today & urge them to support Kucinich's Draft Amendment To Repeal the Oct.10 Congressional War Mandate. 2) The Uniting for Peace Resolution The Center for Constitutional Rights asks for your help to support an adoption of a Uniting for Peace Resolution by the UN General Assembly to prevent an attack on Iraq by the US, UK et al. If even one country requests such a meeting, it can trigger this procedure. While in the U.N. system the Security Council has primary responsibility for maintaining international peace & security but another procedure exists to ensure peace when the Council fails to do so. The Uniting for Peace resolution allows the General Assembly to meet to consider the threat to international peace and it can then recommend collective measures to U.N. Members to maintain or restore peace. dure. Contact your U.N. representative, other members of your government, and other governments to request that they write to the Secretary-General to call for an emergency special session under the Uniting for Peace Resolution. Please also circulate these materials to other groups and individuals and encourage them to do the same. To send an e-mail to all UN Member States go to: http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailUFP.asp Following up on this week's honoring of the elders (Monday's piece on Dr. Muller & Tuesday's piece by Granny D) here's an article reporting on the position of an American with unquestionable ethics. A man who knows the power of the national media and how it can be and is being abused; Uncle Walter. Walter Cronkite Slams War AP reports, "U.S. invasion of Iraq would destroy the UN, former CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite said, [adding] a U.S. invasion would plunge this country into financial chaos... 'We have shown arrogance, almost an egotism, in our conduct of foreign policy so that we have alienated most of our former allies in the world,' Cronkite said. 'I think (it) is going to get us in very serious trouble.' The 86-year-old Cronkite, who was the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962-81, asked why American troops couldn't remain on Iraq's doorstep. They would be ready to respond instantly if Saddam showed evidence of atomic, biological or chemical weapons, he said. Cronkite also warned that the cost of the war and its aftermath, coupled with Bush's proposed tax cuts, would leave a national debt 'that our grandchildren's grandchildren will be paying for. That's a terrible legacy for any generation to leave.'" http://www.cjonline.com/stories/031603/kan_cronkite.shtml So we have our President in exile; Al Gore, then there's our president-select (he wasn't elected, he was selected) the shrub, and then there's my President, the acting President of the USA, Martin Sheen. Following is a link to an article written by Mr. Sheen responding to critics who say actors have no business talking about politics. Then comes a link to an article written a couple years back about Mr. Sheens political commitments. A Celebrity, but First a Citizen Being famous does not bar an American from speaking out against an unjust war. by Martin Sheen, 3/17/03, by the Los Angeles Times I am not the president; instead, I hold an even higher office, that of citizen of the United States. For most of us in this country, citizenship is a birthright. However, this does not cloak the citizen with a life free of responsibility... http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0317-02.htm Left Of Center In The West Wing by Mark Pattison, Horizon Magazine http://www.horizonmag.org/2/martin-sheen.asp And while we're on the topic, here's a link to: Eleven Reasons to Give Actors a Break By Sean Gonsalves, AlterNet, 3/17/03 What's up with these talk radio hosts and TV pundits getting all hot and bothered over the various Hollywood celebs who have spoken out against a U.S. invasion of Iraq? I wonder how many of these Hollywood bashers voted for the thespian-turned-politician Ronald Reagan. Should we not pay attention to the "Great Communicator?" A friend recently sent me a top 11 list of why blacklisting Hollywood war opponents is ridiculous... http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15385 THE BOTTOM LINE today is written by Thom Hartmann who lived and worked in Germany during the 1980s. He's the author of over a dozen books, including "Unequal Protection" and "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight."   In the June 14, 2002 Rhinos Blog, I featured an essay by Hartmann entitled "UNEQUAL PROTECTION: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and Theft of Human Rights" http://radio.weblogs.com/0103207/2002/06/14.html In both essays, the one linked above and the one below, Hartmann has a fascinating way of applying historical events to present day events. 8:13:18 AM    comment

When Democracy Failed: The Warnings of History by Thom Hartmann, CommonDreams.org, 3/16/03 The 70th anniversary wasn't noticed in the United States, and was barely reported in the corporate media. But the Germans remembered well that fateful day seventy years ago - February 27, 1933. They commemorated the anniversary by joining in demonstrations for peace that mobilized citizens all across the world. It started when the government, in the midst of a worldwide economic crisis, received reports of an imminent terrorist attack. A foreign ideologue had launched feeble attacks on a few famous buildings, but the media largely ignored his relatively small efforts. The intelligence services knew, however, that the odds were he would eventually succeed. (Historians are still arguing whether or not rogue elements in the intelligence service helped the terrorist; the most recent research implies they did not.) But the warnings of investigators were ignored at the highest levels, in part because the government was distracted; the man who claimed to be the nation's leader had not been elected by a majority vote and the majority of citizens claimed he had no right to the powers he coveted. He was a simpleton, some said, a cartoon character of a man who saw things in black-and-white terms and didn't have the intellect to understand the subtleties of running a nation in a complex and internationalist world. His coarse use of language - reflecting his political roots in a southernmost state - and his simplistic and often-inflammatory nationalistic rhetoric offended the aristocrats, foreign leaders, and the well-educated elite in the government and media. And, as a young man, he'd joined a secret society with an occult-sounding name and bizarre initiation rituals that involved skulls and human bones... READ THE REST OF THIS INCREDIBLE HISTORY LESSON AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0316-08.htm "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 7:44:22 AM    comment

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