Friday, April 4, 2003

Shrub Unglued QUOTE OF THE DAY "Lately I find the most effective form of escape from what's really bothering me is watching West Wing." - - Gary Sherwood Rhine RHINO HERE: In response to a recent U.S. Government report on the chronically poor state of human rights in China, the Chinese Government fired back with a report of their own entitled "The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2002" citing the shrub administration on a list of specific human rights violations, essentially telling the U.S. to stop "pretending to be the world's judge of human rights." Once upon a time, Americans could actually believe we were the beacon of human rights hope in the world, (whether it was true or not). Nowadays the only people making that claim are living on the riverbanks of denial. Their report lists racial discrimination, torture & forced confessions, blunt violations of human rights of the people of other countries (Afghanistan & Iraq), poverty, hunger & homelessness, executing child offenders & the mentally ill, discrimination against women, poor management of overflowing jails leading to lack of protection of prisoners' rights. China Hits Back On Human Rights, Reuters, 4/3/03 China Hits Back Job Opportunity - Top Civilian Leader For The New Iraq No diplomatic experience necessary. Arabic language optional. Background in arms dealing a plus. Ooops sorry - turns out the shrub gang thinks they've found the perfect candidate in Jay Garner. The article excerpted below provides his unauthorized bio and under that is a petition to stop his appointment. A list of other articles detailing Garner's past can be found at: http://www.stopjaygarner.com/index.php?action Jay Garner: The Man Who Would Be King of Iraq Ian Williams writes - via alternet, "The real hitch in Bush administration's grand vision for post-war Iraq may well be the man slated to take charge of it - arms-dealer and former 'Star Wars' guru General Jay Garner. In a move typical for what passes for U.S. diplomacy these days, the Pentagon developed and announced its occupation plan without consulting the rest of the alleged coalition (no, not even trusty Britain) or the State Department. Worse, to this highly visible and important position, it picked a man with a dubious past and ideological credentials worthy of a Bush appointee. In 2000, Garner and 26 other U.S. officers signed a statement released by the right-wing Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) praising the Israeli Defense Forces for its 'remarkable restraint in the face of lethal violence orchestrated by the leadership of a Palestinian Authority.' Indeed, the choice of Garner seems designed to enflame local and regional resistance." http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15512 Stop Jay Garner A petition attempting to "Dear George Bush and Tony Blair: We are writing to express our grave concern over your selection of Jay Garner to be the top civilian in the transitional government of Iraq and to urge you to allow the United Nations to oversee reconstruction and democratization. Without public debate or a public hearing, you chose a former Army General who was, until recently, an executive at SY Technology - a weapons maker that built elements of missile systems now being used to bomb Baghdad. As human rights leaders, and as American and British citizens, we believe that the Iraqi people deserve better. They deserve transitional civilian leadership that represents freedom and democracy - not military conflict, weapons manufacturing, and back room deal-making. It is not too late to make a change. We urge you to allow the United Nations oversee the process of democratization and reconstruction. It's not just what's best for the Iraqi people - it's essential to protecting us all." Sign the petition. http://www.stopjaygarner.com/index.php?action Beware of Whimpified Corporate Sponsored Democrats As the Senate & Congress were deciding if they would vote to support shrub's war on Iraq, White House reps met with several key Democrats to show them secret documents proving that members of Saddam's gang had tried to purchase components for a nuke bomb from Niger. This compelling proof convinced the likes of my Senator, Diane Feinstein, that she should vote for the war. Turns out the document was a hoax. The C.I.A. knew it was a hoax. The President either was remiss in not knowing it was a hoax or he knew & was lying. Or maybe he didn't know & we really shouldn't expect him to know much but just be grateful he's reading his lines correctly, albeit, really slow these daze. So now that the truth is out, is Senator Feinstein outraged? Is she demanding an explanation from the shrubies on why she was tricked into rubber stamping the inevitable death of probably hundreds of American soldiers & God knows how many innocent Iraqi citizens? I haven't heard a peep out of her nor any of the members of what's called the Democratic Leadership Council. No instead of challenging all the lies that this war is based on, the DLC is attacking the 2 Democratic candidates for President who are most steadfastly standing for truth and peace; Howard Dean & Dennis Kucinich. At this rate, the Rhino is gonna have a hard time unconditionally closing ranks with the dems. I already swore I'd never again vote for any of them who voted for this war, including Hillary. A positive footnote is that my Congressman, Henry Waxman wrote a piercing letter to shrub demanding to know what he knew about the bogus documents. http://www.house.gov/waxman/ DLC Attacks Dean and Kucinich over W-ar Opposition Via Democrats.com Democrats.com believes in Democratic Unity, so we rarely criticize fellow Democrats. But the Democratic Leadership Council has gone out of its way to attack Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich for opposing Operation Bush Empire, adding nasty slurs against two leading Democratic candidates. Clinton's "muscular internationalism" was fine with us, since it was used for humanitarian purposes (stopping ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia) and to strengthen international institutions. Bush's War is not about "liberating" the Iraqi people from Saddam's tyranny - it's about stealing Iraq's oil, establishing a US empire in the Middle East, and "taking down" the UN and other international institutions. The lesson of Vietnam is that a poor nation will fight to the death to defend itself against a US invasion, no matter how badly we delude ourselves about the beauty of our motives. Bush's War is criminal, and it's wrong. Share your views here: http://www.ndol.org/cobrand/contact_us.cfm The DLC Attack Article, "Good Night, Vietnam" New Dem Daily, 4/1/03 Good Night, Vietnam " ...The Kucinich campaign is sort of the Unclaimed Freight Outlet of Democratic politics, retailing every failed or outdated lefty idea with a fierce and touching passion..." In the article linked above, the DLC cites a speech Kucinich gave on day 1 of the war. Here's a snippet of, & a link to that speech. " Come home, America. Come home and fix your broken streets and mend your broken dreams.... Come home and establish a living wage.... Come home and provide single payer, guaranteed health care for the forty-one million Americans who suffer illness without relief.... Come home and provide guaranteed social security for generations to come without privatization and without extending the retirement age, which would be devastating for minorities.... Come home and make non-violence an organizing principle within our society through the creation of a Department of Peace, America!" http://www.kucinich.net/speeches/speech13.htm Wonder why so many Dem Senators Keep voting with the shrub gang? It's the "DLC" agenda. The "New Democrats". You know, like the GOP's "NeoConservatives". Check the voting records. Tough to tell the difference between a New Democrat vs. a NeoConservative; or the DLC legislative agenda vs. the Bush agenda. Rhino's willing to vote Democratic but come on! As Jim Hightower used to say, "If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates." Wonder why the DLC is trashing Howard Dean & Dennis Kucinich? Here's a sampling of their members, and a link to the entire list: http://www.ndol.org/new_dem_dir_action.cfm?viewAll=1 John Kerry, U.S. Senator, MA / Joe Lieberman, U.S. Senator, CT / John Edwards, U.S. Senator, NC / Richard Gephardt, U.S. Representative, MO / Bob Graham, U.S. Senator, FL / Max Baucus, U.S. Senator, MT / Evan Bayh, U.S. Senator, IN / John Breaux, U.S. Senator, LA / Maria Cantwell, U.S. Senator, WA Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator, NY / Christopher Dodd, U.S. Senator, CT / Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator, CA / Tim Johnson, U.S. Senator, SD / Mary Landrieu, U.S. Senator, LA / Zell Miller, U.S. Senator, GA Speaking of Jim Hightower, he wrote the following brief essay for alternet. As usual his words are spiced with wry humor, but I wish it were just funny instead of being funny and true. It is THE BOTTOM LINE. 7:14:06 AM    comment

THE BOTTOM LINE - 'Leaders' Have Come Unglued THE BOTTOM LINE Our 'Leaders' Have Come Unglued By Jim Hightower, AlterNet, March 31, 2003 "It's time to say the obvious: The Bushites are insane. From George W on down, their behavior toward the world, toward our basic liberties, and toward the real needs of America - is delusional and maniacal. Start with George's war. He's lost in a fantasy of Messianic Mission and no reality can penetrate it. Forget what liberals, Democrats, and millions of peace protestors say - people in his own party and the wiser heads from his father's presidency also think the boy has slipped into the weird. Bush doesn't merely think he's right, he thinks he's righteous and that only God and he see the righteousness of his war wrath. He's not thinking victory - he's thinking Mt. Rushmore...or higher!..." SEE THE REST AT: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15521 "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. 6:54:06 AM    comment

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