Monday, April 14, 2003

No Politics In Baseball! QUOTE OF THE DAY "Long live democracy, free speech and the '69 Mets; all improbable glorious miracles that I have always believed in." - - Tim Robbins APRIL 14th IN HISTORY: 1828 -- First publication of Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language, 22 years in preparation. It introduces "Americanisms" -- 12,000 words never before in any dictionary. RHINO HERE: President of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Dale Petrovskey, recently announced he was canceling a 15th-anniversary celebration of the movie Bull Durham that scheduled at the Hall in April due to antiwar comments by actor/activist Tim Robbins. THE BOTTOM LINE today is an exchange of letters between Petrovskey & Robbins speaks volumes. I can see Tom Hanks wailing, "Politics? There's no politics in baseball!" But first, I've been calling my Senator once a week asking the helpful phone staffers when Ms. Feinstein was going to declare her outrage about having been bold face lied to by t.s.g. Inc. She was shown documents proving Iraq had tried to buy 500 tons of "yellow cake" from the country of Niger, a major producer of the main ingredient in nuke bombs. My Senator & others were convinced into putting many young Americans into harm's way by documents later proven to be fakes. Veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who Richard Pearl called, "the closest thing the media has to a terrorist", fleshes out the story in this month's New Yorker article, "Who Lied To Whom?" WHO LIED TO WHOM? by SEYMOUR M. HERSH. The New Yorker, 3/31/03 Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq's nuclear program? Last September 24th, as Congress prepared to vote on the resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to wage war in Iraq, a group of senior intelligence officials, including George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence, briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq's weapons capability. It was an important presentation for the Bush Administration. Some Democrats were publicly questioning the President's claim that Iraq still possessed weapons of mass destruction which posed an immediate threat to the United States. Just the day before, former Vice-President Al Gore had sharply criticized the Administration's advocacy of preemptive war, calling it a doctrine that would replace "a world in which states consider themselves subject to law" with "the notion that there is no law but the discretion of the President of the United States." A few Democrats were also considering putting an alternative resolution before Congress... READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT: http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?030331fa_fact1 8:24:40 AM    comment

THE BOTTOM LINE - Tim Robbins vs. Baseball Hall of Fame THE BOTTOM LINE Tim Robbins vs. the Baseball Hall of Fame The Nation, April 11, 2003 National Baseball Hall of Fame April 7, 2003 Mr. Tim Robbins Dear Mr. Robbins: The President of the United States, as this nation's democratically-elected leader, is constitutionally bound to make decisions he believes are in the best interests of the American people. After months of careful deliberations, President Bush made the decision that it is in our nation's best interests to end the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, and to disarm Iraq of deadly weapons which could be used against its enemies, including the United States. In order to accomplish this, nearly 300,000 American military personnel are in harm's way at the moment. From the first day we opened our doors in 1939, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum--and many players and executives in Baseball's family--has honored the United States and those who defend our freedoms. In a free country such as ours, every American has the right to his or her own opinions, and to express them. Public figures, such as you, have platforms much larger than the average American's, which provides you an extraordinary opportunity to have your views heard--and an equally large obligation to act and speak responsibility. We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important--and sensitive--time in our nation's history helps undermine the US position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger. As an institution, we stand behind our President and our troops in this conflict. As a result, we have decided to cancel the April 26-27 programs in Cooperstown commemorating the 15th anniversary of Bull Durham. Sincerely, Dale Petroskey President Tim Robbins April 9, 2003 Dear Mr. Petroskey, As an American and as a baseball fan, I was dismayed to read your letter canceling my appearance at the Baseball Hall of Fame due to my public criticism of President Bush. I had been unaware that baseball was a Republican sport. I was looking forward to a weekend away from politics and war to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Bull Durham. I am sorry that you have chosen to use baseball and your position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement. I know there are many baseball fans that disagree with you and even more that will react with disgust to realize baseball is being politicized. As an American who believes that vigorous debate is necessary for the survival of a democracy, I reject your suggestion that one must be silent in time of war. To suggest that my criticism of the President puts the troops in danger is absurd. If people had listened to that twisted logic we'd still be in Vietnam. I must remain skeptical of the war plans of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, all of whom have never been in battle, one of whom skirted service in Vietnam for a cushy stateside job. It does not surprise me that these men, in their current federal budget have cut $844 million dollars from Veteran's health care. Yes, let's support the troops. For Life... READ THE REST OF THE LETTER AT: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030428&;s=robbins "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. 7:50:55 AM    comment

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