Tuesday, June 3, 2003

executive/military/corporate pirates QUOTE OF THE DAY "I never said I had no idea about most of the things you said I said I had no idea about." - - Iran-Contra lackey Elliot Abrams, June 3, 1987 (In response to US Congressman Jack Brooks telling Abrams that he had "more pride in not knowing anything than anybody I ever saw.") JUNE 3rd IN HISTORY: 1980 - - A computer malfunction; specifically, the failure of a 46 cent computer chip, is responsible for signaling a Soviet nuclear attack on the US. U.S. forces are called back in the nick of time. It happens again on June 6th that year. RHINO HERE: As expected, Michael (the general's son) Powell led his 2 fellow Republican FCC commissioners in relaxing even further the rules regarding ownership of media outlets. So the people lose a battle in their war to keep title to the airwaves, while the executive/military/corporate pirates take another blatant step in trying to create their Orwellian info-hypmo-machine. Meanwhile, another Democratic hero (besides Congressman Waxman) is facing off against the Pentagon. Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich has written a letter to Secretary Rummie which I've excerpted below. He seems to be trying to shine the truth light on the heart of the Pentagon's in-BED-ed media program. If you like what he's doing here, I suggest you give him a call and let him know. Better yet, send a contribution to his Campaign. Whether he wins or not, Kucinich is someone we need in the upcoming national dialogs. https://www.kucinich.us Kucinich also recently spoke out in opposition to agribusiness monopolies. Kucinich farm policy supports packer ban By THOMAS BEAUMONT Desmoines Register, 6/02/2003 Ames, Ia. - Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on Sunday proposed sweeping changes in the nation's farm policy during a campaign visit to Iowa. A key element of the plan outlined by the Cleveland congressman would be a national ban on livestock ownership by meatpacking companies... ..."I'm going to challenge every candidate in this race to take a stand on behalf of family farmers," said Kucinich, who is a vegetarian, but says he is not anti-meat. READ IT AT: http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4789004/21400952.html THE BOTTOM LINE today is excerpts from a recent evocative essay by Sean Penn. Does the Pentagon Have Amnesia on Lynch? By Rep. Dennis Kucinich, June 2, 2003 Dear Secretary Rumsfeld, I am writing to request your assistance in resolving the controversy surrounding the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch... ...First, I request that you order the public release of the unedited footage taken by the military cameraman of the military operation to recover Private Lynch. There has been a great deal of commentary on the manner in which the Department edited and aired a videotape of the rescue operation. Several media representatives have requested that the full tape be released so the American people can make an independent assessment of these conflicting claims. I see no reason for the Department to reject this request. Second, I would like you to answer formally the following questions about the health status of Private Lynch and the military operation to recover her: - Did U.S. forces encounter any Iraqi forces in the hospital? - Were U.S. troops fired upon during the rescue operation? If so, please describe specifically the nature of the interchange. - Did U.S. [forces] have any information suggesting that Iraqi forces had abandoned the hospital? - Did Private Lynch sustain any gunshot or knife wounds? - Did U.S. officials have any information suggesting that Iraqi medical staff were trying to deliver Private Lynch to American forces? - Did U.S. forces at any time fire on any ambulances? Finally, I understand the Department has ordered an investigation into the facts surrounding Private Lynch's capture by Iraqi forces. I also understand, however, that investigators were not asked to examine the circumstances surrounding Private Lynch's rescue. In light of the controversy that has arisen regarding this case, I suggest that the Pentagon's ongoing investigation also include the facts surrounding Private Lynch's rescue as well. THE ENTIRE LETTER IS POSTED AT: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16055 7:03:54 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Kilroy's Still Here Today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE is an essay written by Sean Penn and placed as an ad in last Saturday's NY Times. I have lifted 2 brief excerpts to give a sense of the piece but I believe it's worth your time to read the entire piece. Mr. Penn knows the type of opposition he faces each time he makes his voice heard and yet he chooses to do so anyway. Agree or not with his points of view, I believe he is a true patriot. RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE Kilroy's Still Here by Sean Penn, excerpts from a full-page ad in the NY Times, Published Friday, May 30, 2003 ...Only five short years ago, September 12th, 1998, I sat upon a wooden church pew as a military honor guard reached across my lap to place a precisely folded American flag into the stoic hands of my father's widow. His beloved wife of forty-one years... my mother. My dad, Leo Penn had died from lung cancer at the age of 77. (The last time I saw my father was in a viewing casket on September 11th.) A decorated soldier in World War II and a blacklisted artist in the '50s, it was this cloth of Stars and Stripes and all it had meant to him, and had come to mean to me, that brought unexpected and unrestrained emotion. The soldier, in his fine dress uniform, began to speak to my mother "In the name of the President of the United States and in gratitude for your husband's heroic..." And that was it, I was gone. I thought, where the hell did this flood of emotion come from? But, the answer came quickly. My father loved this country so deeply, and he had passed that love and patriotism on to his three sons. At that moment, this son, this distracted boy from the public school system, became all that patriotic could describe in a living civilian, and that flag before my mother's now gently tear-streaked face, came to embody every freedom, privilege, and pride I'd ever known. It symbolized my father. His great heart, his kindness, his courage, and yes, even his (I was lucky) occasional human lapses. Yet, now here we are, just those five short years have passed, and that same flag that took me so long to love, respect, and protect, threatens to become a haunting banner of murder, greed, and treason against our principles, honored history, Constitution, and our own mothers and fathers... ...Can we consider United States' policy internationally? Can we consider that the Afghans, Iraqis, Africans, so many, and yes, even here in America need food, water, medicine, hope and sweet dreams? That entire cultures are disintegrating and will be gone in our childrens' lifetime. That the millions of people in need who make up so much of the world, where we stand as the greatest Democracy in its history, leave us to dance with them in our hearts and minds, or, to dance upon them, their graves and those of their children. We are being told that the needs of these people and nations are being met. We are being told that our principles and our nation's rewards are being preserved and won for our people. We have been told many things. But if we do not participate in an educated democracy, we participate in its demise. We all have different means. Be it a letter to a congressman, charity support, or a piece in the New York Times. But whatever our means, and imagination, we must speak. We must question. We must value ourselves, our integrity, our families, our hearts, and the country my father and so many others served. And soon, we must do one more thing... we must vote. "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. READ THE ENTIRE ESSAY AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0530-10.htm 6:24:09 AM    comment

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