Friday, May 23, 2003

FCC Quid Pro Quo QUOTE OF THE DAY "Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him." - - Martin Luther King Jr. MAY 23 IN HISTORY: 1963 - - Adolf Eichmann kidnapped by Israeli agents in Argentina. As head of the Nazi S.S. Jewish section he dispatched millions of Jews to death camps. Brought to trial in Jerusalem, he claimed only to be following orders -- a good bureaucrat. Convicted & hanged. 1985 - - President Ronnie Raygun bestows the Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian award, on the otherwise rarely paired duet: Mother Teresa & Frank Sinatra. RHINO HERE: RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is a telling interview with Howard Dean. Rhino says, "Don't miss it." Wednesday night was the last scheduled public hearing concerning the proposed FCC rule changes. Of course the General's son didn't show up. No, Michael Powell's not interested in what anyone has to say cause he's got his marching orders from on high & public opinion can't change that. MoveOn, Common Cause & True Majority have joined forces to create a citizen's lobby on the issue that seems to be the best bet for making an impact on the upcoming vote. If you're a member of any of these groups,I urge you to log onto their website and lend a hand to the efforts. Here's a press release: COUNT DOWN TO FCC VOTE ON MEDIA MONOPOLIES Common Cause, MoveOn.org Sponsor District Meetings With Members of Congress: You Are Invited! Congratulations to all of you who have worked so hard to urge the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) against loosening current media ownership rules and to postpone the June 2 vote on the issue to allow adequate public education and input. Thanks to your efforts, MoveOn.org and Common Cause have collected more than 200,000 signatures on an online petition to FCC Chairman Michael Powell urging him to reconsider his position on relaxing the current regulations. We are presenting print copies of the petitions to FCC officials next week. In addition, thousands more Americans have faxed, phoned and e-mailed their elected representatives on the issue. Just today, Common Cause and MoveOn.org organized a nationwide teleconference with reporters and newspaper editorial boards, explaining the issue and urging them to cover the story, as it has received virtually no coverage from the major television networks. The teleconference included musicians Mike Mills of R.E.M. and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. There is still more you can do before June 2. Congress is in recess next week, and with MoveOn.org, we invite you to attend meetings in your district or state with your U.S. Representative or Senator. These constituent meetings are critical in helping members of Congress understand your concerns about the rule changes before the FCC. Common Cause will supply you with meeting materials and be available to answer any questions you might have. Remember: the American people own the airwaves, and broadcasters are supposed to use them to serve the public interest and not the interests of a handful of media moguls! Click Here to Attend a Meeting in Your District: http://meetings.commoncause.ctsg.com Click Here for the FCC Issue Center: http://www.commoncause.org/action/fcc.htm I was sent an article by a David Podvin which gives a lot of background on the support the media conglom's gave the shrub campaign back in 2000. Even though it's a year & a half old, the article is an excellent piece for understanding how we got where we are. Can we all say, "Quid Pro Quo?" THE PAYOFF By David Podvin, MakeThemAccountable.com, 1/31/02 In 2000, when Karl Rove called General Electric Chairman Jack Welch to guarantee that a Bush Administration would be extremely generous to media conglomerates that were sympathetic to the Texas governor's presidential campaign, it was a notable moment in history. If only this once, Rove wasn't lying... Payoff RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is an interview of Howard Dean by the author of many previous Rhino's Bottom Lines, William Rivers Pitt. He's a New York Times best-selling author of two books - "War On Iraq" (Context Books) & "The Greatest Sedition is Silence," (Pluto Press). I'll continue to post interviews with & articles about the democratic candidates as I believe choosing the right one to run against "the lesser bush" as Arundhati Roy calls him, is crucial. I like a lot about Governor Dean & I like a lot of what I hear from Congressman Dennis Kucinich. I did notice in this interview that Dean says about the other candidates, "They all supported the Iraq war and I didn't." Well that's just not true in the case of Kucinich, in fact Dennis led the movement in the House against the war in no uncertain terms. If you're interested in joining Dean's campaign, you can sign up for their regular email updates at: http://www.DeanForAmerica.com If you're already siged up, they're asking people to help double their numbers by signing up friends at: Double Dean NY TIMES REPORT OF DEAN'S COMMENTS AT LAST WEEKEND'S TOWN HALL FORUM Democratic Candidate Dean Blasts Bush in Iowa 7:34:34 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - TruthOut Interview with Howard Dean TruthOut Interview with Howard Dean Conducted by William Rivers Pitt, Published Thursday 22 May 2003 As the election season begins to heat up, truthout has begun pursuing interviews with the seven Democratic candidates for President. Invitations have been extended to the Kerry campaign, and we have begun to reach out to the rest of the field. The first candidate to accept our invitation was Governor Howard Dean of Vermont. We at truthout are grateful to him for taking time out of his busy schedule to speak with us Howard Dean, M.D. served as the Governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2002. Dean is a physician who previously shared a medical practice with his wife, Dr. Judith Steinberg. He received his B.A. from Yale University in 1971 and his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978. He served in the Vermont House from 1982 to 1986; was elected lieutenant governor in 1986, and became governor in 1991. His campaign website is www.DeanForAmerica.com. PITT: There are 9 candidates running for the office of the Presidency in 2004. What sets you apart from them? DEAN: There's bunch of things. First of all, I am a Governor and a physician. The other candidates talk about the environment, and I have actually done a lot of environmental work. Everyone is going to talk about health insurance, but our health insurance plan is modeled after what worked in Vermont. That is an advantage, having been in a position to get things done, rather than just vote, introduce bills and all that. The second thing that is setting me apart, and is probably responsible for why we are doing as well as we are, is that I am really willing to stand up for the Democratic party. I don't think we can beat this President by being like the Republicans. The people I am running against have mostly voted for 'No Child Left Behind,' which most teachers think should be called 'No Behind Left.' Or 'No School Board Left Standing' from the school board members point of view. It's a huge unfunded mandate and there's an awful lot of bad educational policy in there. Many of my opponents have supported significantly large tax cuts, which has clearly caused a huge deficit and big problems in terms of job creation. They all supported the Iraq war and I didn't. So there are a lot of these issues that set me apart from the Democratic field, both in terms of my job experience and my willingness to stand up to the President. PITT: You have done a good job to date of capturing the hearts and minds of the liberal base. What views or beliefs or policy ideas do you have that would surprise some of the more liberal individuals who are considering supporting you? DEAN: I don't think much would surprise them, because I am very up-front about what I believe... THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW IS POSTED AT TRUTHOUT.COM: http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/052203A.shtml "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. 6:30:08 AM    comment

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