| |
 |
Tuesday, April 8, 2003 |
April 8 IN HISTORY
563 BC - - Buddha's Birthday
1826 -- US: Secretary of State Henry Clay & Senator John Randolph, who accused Clay of striking a "corrupt bargain" to steal the 1824 Presidential election from Andrew Jackson, fight a duel in Virginia. They both missed.
1885 -- Panama: Yes, We Have No Ripe Bananas? US Troops invade, to "protect US interests."
1952 -- President Truman orders US Army to seize the nation's steel mills to avert a strike. The act was ruled to be illegal by the Supreme Court on 2 June.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Just as there is a so-called art of waging war, so there is an art of waging peace."
- - Marianne Williamson
RHINO HERE:
This week, the 2003 edition of, Addicted To War made the L.A. Times best seller list (non-fiction paperback). Although cartoon format & appropriate for teenagers, this is also a compelling read for adults. Chronicling the history of U.S. military interventions with lots of who's why's & how's. I bought a case & giv'em away for housewarmings & birthdays.
Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation is still Number One on the non-fiction hardback list. 55 weeks on the list. No matter how you feel about Michael Moore's antic, this book is a must read. Or a must hear. I did the audio book version.
L.A. Calender Best Seller List
Bestsellers
More about Addicted To War at:
http://www.addictedtowar.com
Addicted To War endorsed by (they really think you should read it) Howard Zinn, Michael Parenti, Ed Asner, Susan Sarandon, Blase Bonpane, Martin Sheen, S. Brian Willson, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Ron Kovic, Col. James Burkholder, Kris Kristofferson, Father Roy Bourgeois, Ramsey Clark, Russell Means, Rev. James Lawson, Kevin Danaher, Michael Franti & Rhino. With over 50,000 copies distributed and 70,000 in print, Addicted To War is being read by more and more people, including many high school and college students, as their teachers are using it as a history textbook.
First Native American Military Woman Killed In Combat
Lori Piestewa, (Hopi/Navajo) of the Navajo Reservation community of Tuba City was among 8 members of the Fort Bliss, Texas-based 507th Maintenance Company ambushed in Iraq whose status was changed Friday from missing in action to killed. She is thought to be the first Native American woman in U.S. military service killed as a result of combat.
Tributes planned for Piestewa
Arizona Daily Sun, 4/07/2003
PHOENIX (AP) -- Plans are being made in the nation's capital to honor an Army private from northern Arizona as the first American Indian woman known to have lost her life in the U.S. military as a result of combat. Already, Pfc. Lori Piestewa of Tuba City is to be featured in an exhibit set to open May 24 at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, located at Arlington National Cemetery, and later at Memorial Day ceremonies there...
http://www.azdailysun.com/non_sec/nav_includes/story.cfm?storyID=63339
.
Statement from Percy Piestewa, mother of Lori Piestewa
The Navajo Times
... "We ask people that they hug their little ones, tell them how much they mean to them -- all the naliis (paternal grandmothers), all the kids."...
http://www.thenavajotimes.com/loristatement.html
Memorial fund created for Piestewa children
Navajo Times, 4/07/2003
Friends and family of Lori Piestewa have established a memorial fund for her 4-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, who are being cared for by their grandparents in Tuba City. Those wishing to contribute to the fund, which will be used to raise the children and for their future educational needs, can send checks to"Lori Piestewa's Memorial Fund" at Wells Fargo Bank ACCOUNT # 0464633783
FOR MORE INFORMATION OR QUESTIONS:
Please contact Dee Wilson at 1-928-380-4647 or to Dolly Lane at 1-928-283-3012
"We also ask you to continue to pray for all the troops, all the servicemen and women and the world leaders ... so that our children will know one day what it is to live in a world of peace and so that there will be a quick end to this conflict as well as other conflicts around the world." Weyland Piestewa, Lori's brother....
Today - Tuesday April 8, 2003
Congressman Dennis Kucinich Introducing U.S. Department of Peace Bill for 2nd Time
At this critical time in our nation's history, righteous action is the antidote to despair. Please participate in a powerful citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dennis Kucinich. This bill establishes nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, cultivating an array of peace-building policies and procedures. Today, April 8th, this historic legislation will be introduced for a second time; whether or not it becomes law is dependent on whether we, the people of the United States, take the time to make phone calls, lobby our Congresspeople, and in other ways create the political will to make it happen.
Please join us, either in Washington D.C. for the bill's introduction and our initial lobbying campaign, or in your local area, as we blanket every Congressional district with a strong message of support for a Department of Peace. Let us stand as passionately for peace, as some now stand so passionately for war.
WHAT IT IS:
Domestically, the Department would be responsible for developing policies which address issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, mistreatment of the elderly, and other issues of cultural violence.
Internationally, the Department would gather research, analyze foreign policy and make recommendations to the President on how to address the root causes of war and intervene as or before they begin, while improving national security, including the protection of human rights and the prevention and de-escalation of unarmed and armed international conflict.
We are currently in Washington DC for our Democracy conference in support of the bill. We have over 160 meetings scheduled with congressional offices lobbying in support of this landmark legislation. The response has been very exciting.
Now we need your support! WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1. CALL OR FAX YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVE ON APRIL 8th
It is easy to find their phone numbers...visit ( www.Congress.org ). Say that this is a constituent call, and you want them to know you support the bill for a Department of Peace being introduced by Cong. Dennis Kucinich. If the Rep. is already a supporter of the bill, say you would appreciate his or her doing whatever possible to garner further support from others.
2. GET AS MANY OTHERS AS POSSIBLE TO CALL, FAX AND WRITE THEIR REP'S too.
Send this e-mail to everyone you can. If someone doesn't know who their Representative is, they can visit www.Congress.org; if they do, they can call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 or 800-839-5276.
3. Join our Campaign to create a Department of Peace in the United States government!
Lots of Department of Peace Campaign info at:
http://www.dopcampaign.org/
8:18:51 AM 
|
|
THE BOTTOM LINE today is a brief summary of the...
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PEACE LEGISLATION
-Hold peace as an organizing principle in our society;
-Endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights;
-Strengthen non-military means of peacemaking;
-Work to create peace, prevent violence, divert from armed conflict, use field-tested programs, and develop new structures in non-violent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict;
-Address matters both domestic and international in scope;
-Submit to the President recommendations for reductions in weapons of mass destruction, and make annual reports to the President on the sale of arms from the United States to other nations, with analysis of the impact of such sales on the defense of the United States and how such sales effect peace;
-Encourage the development of initiatives from local communities, religious groups, and nongovernmental organizations;
-Facilitate the development of peace summits at which parties to a conflict may gather under carefully prepared conditions to promote non-violent communication and mutually beneficial solutions;
-Develop new programs that relate to the societal challenges of school violence, guns, racial or ethnic violence, violence against gays and lesbians, and police-community relations disputes;
-Sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolution initiatives, create special task forces, and draw on local, regional, and national expertise to develop plans and programs for addressing the root sources of conflict in troubled areas;
-Provide for the training of all United States personnel who administer postconflict reconstruction and demobilization in war-torn societies;
-Sponsor country and regional conflict prevention and dispute resolution initiatives, create special task forces, and draw on local, regional, and national expertise to develop plans and programs for addressing the root sources of conflict in troubled areas;
Lots of Department of Peace Campaign info at:
http://www.dopcampaign.org/
"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.
7:49:43 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
|
|
