Monday, June 23, 2003

MoveOn Primary Tomorrow QUOTE  OF THE DAY "Until life without parole means life without parole, the public is not safe without a death penalty. Until we have a judicial system that can adequately protect us, the only thing that will is the death penalty." - -  Howard Dean JUNE 23rd IN HISTORY: 1968 -- Vietnam becomes the longest war in U.S. history. RHINO HERE: A reminder that if you are not a Move On member, today is the last day to register to vote in their presidential Primary which begins tomorrow. REGISTER AT: http://moveon.org/pac/reg Keep an eye on your inbox for your special email ballot. You can get to know the candidates more before casting your vote by reading the letters to the MoveOn membership: -- Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/braun.html -- Governor Howard Dean: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/dean.html -- Senator John Edwards: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/edwards.html -- Congressman Dick Gephardt: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/gephardt.html -- Senator Bob Graham: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/graham.html -- Senator John Kerry: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/kerry.html -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/kucinich.html -- Senator Joe Lieberman: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/lieberman.html -- Reverend Al Sharpton: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/sharpton.html Today I offer a few articles that I hope will provide additional background to help make your MoveOn Primary decision. Please know that I plan to vote for whichever Democrat gets the final nomination, but right now, for reasons such as the ones these articles explain, I support Dennis Kucinich. Campaign Pulls Bright Spot From Dark Story Kucinich Wants 'Albatross' to Be 'Springboard' By Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, 6/22/03 In 1978, Cleveland was in free fall. The banks were pressuring the city's young and diminutive mayor, Dennis J. Kucinich, to sell the city's municipal electricity system to cover $4.5 million in debt. Kucinich refused, and the city went into default... But by 1994 many voters, thankful for their low electricity rates, had forgiven him. He distributed placards in the shape of a light bulb with the slogan "Because He Was Right," and unseated a Republican state senator. Two years later he won his House seat, defeating GOP Rep. Martin Hoke, this time with the slogan "Light Up Congress." READ IT ALL AT: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18457-2003Jun21.html?nav=hptop_tb Dean aligns with Bush on death penalty By TRACY SCHMALER,  Vermont Press Bureau , 6/14/03 "Former Gov. Howard Dean appears to be shedding some of the liberal tendencies that have won him national attention as he now expands his support for the death penalty.  In his 11 years as Vermont's governor, his position on capital punishment "evolved" from staunch opposition to limited support, Dean acknowledges.  Now, on the stump for the Democratic nomination for president, Dean has extended his endorsement of a death sentence for those who kill children or police officers to include those who commit terrorist acts. ... ...The leftist designation has amused political observers in Vermont, who have known Dean as a solidly moderate Democrat for years. But as a presidential candidate, Dean has planted himself on the left and gotten a great deal of attention for it, particularly his early, outspoken criticism of President Bush and the Iraq war. His shift on the death penalty — his second in his political career — has some questioning his motives...." IT'S ALL AT: http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/Story/67136.html Presidential Hopefuls Push Energy Alternatives, Pan Kyoto by Katherine Stapp, Inter Press Service, 6/10/03 "...Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, a delegate to the Earth Summit in 1992 and the Kyoto climate talks in 1997, has also argued that developing countries be held to Kyoto. He co-sponsored a State Department bill amendment that directed the Bush administration to work toward revising the treaty by promoting shared international responsibility of all major world powers to cut carbon dioxide emissions. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean has sided most closely with the Bush administration, endorsing the National Governors Association policy, which opposed the Kyoto Protocol unless it included mandatory emissions cuts for developing countries. The policy recommended that the United States "not sign or ratify any agreement that would result in serious harm to the U.S. economy." Of the Democrats now running, only Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich has stated, "the U.S. must ratify the Kyoto Protocol." THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IS AT: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0610-01.htm 7:06:53 AM    comment

Rhino's Bottom line - Let the People Speak Early RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE Let the People Speak Early By Don Hazen, AlterNet, June 19, 2003 "MoveOn.org PAC, the progressive online political organization, has turned the political system on its head by rapidly launching an online grassroots political primary long before the political establishment has weighed in on the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination... ...Pundits like Harold Myerson of the American Prospect see Howard Dean as potentially benefiting most from the MoveOn primary process. The web-savvy Dean has raised more than $1 million online, using MeetUp.com to bring supporters together across the country. Yet Dennis Kucinich should also do well, buoyed by what many are calling the most inspiring political speech heard in years, delivered to more than 1,000 cheering activists at the recent Take Back America conference in Washington DC. By the same token the Kerry campaign will not be happy if Vermont neighbor Dean runs away with MoveOn. And if scattered rumors of big union support for Dick Gephardt are true, the fairly sophisticated email apparatus of the AFL-CIO could be quickly mobilized to influence the MoveOn process. Part of the genius of this early kickoff is its capacity to reach out to and engage the American people in a kind of national primary. This is in stark contrast to the current focus on fundraising and the early beauty contests for the media; not to mention the early primary contests in New Hampshire and Iowa, where the virtually all-white population hardly represents the country as a whole..." READ IT ALL AT: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16209 "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. 5:57:59 AM    comment

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