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Saturday, July 26, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND
"The man who doesn't read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them."
- - Mark Twain
THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY
JULY 26th, 1894 - Aldous Huxley's Birthday -- English novelist/critic/pacifist Huxley wrote "Brave New World", which warned of a mindless, materialistic existence a modernized society could produce. He also wrote "The Doors Of perception".
--- Huxley archive
JULY 27th , 1953 -- Korean War ends after 575 meetings, Panmunjon, Korea.The war lasted three years, 32 days. Truce negotiations lasted two years, 17 days. 27,000 Americans died & 80,000 were injured.
BOOK TIP OF THE WEEK:
"Fast Food Nation" - An ironically entertaining patchwork of the history the globally dominant fast food culture including the the competition between Mickey Mouse & Ronald McDonald, the relationship between fast food franchises & the interstate highway system, and the histories of of french fries, ground beef & the use of cheap labor. Here's 2 things the Rhino learned while listening to the audio book version: 1) McDonald's gets a $2400 tax break with every new employee "trained". (Average length of employment for all McDonald's employees is three months) 2) Neither of the 2 most dangerous jobs in the US are being a cop. Instead, for most likely to get injured on the job, the worst job is a janitor in a meat slaughter house. And for getting killed on the job, the most dangerous is - no kidding here - working in a fast food restaurant. "Fast Food Nation" is a fascinating read. Something not in the book is that both McDonalds & Burger King are now serving vege burgers (The McVege and the BK Vege). The times they are a changing.
MOVIE TIP OF THE WEEKEND
"Whale Rider" - This is the best movie the Rhino has seen a long while. A heart-warming & heart-wrenching story about a Maouri Grandfather struggling to preserve his ancient tribal culture in the modern world, believing that his Grandaughter may be the greatest hindrance to his struggle, but finding out the opposite is true. Some may have seen the movie "Once Were Warriors", which was also about Maouri people, but about those who had given up their culture and moved to the city. It was a bit gruesome for general consumption but made its point powerfully about how modern life & alcohol have destroyed so many tribal peoples' lives. "Whale Rider" is much gentler and makes its point magically.
AMAZE YOUR FAMILY & FRIENDS
In the coming month, Earth will be catching up with Mars, an encounter that culminate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the brightest object in the night sky. This will be the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. Next time Mars may come this close will be 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and perturbs its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. Mars will be easy to spot. At a modest 75-power magnification, Mars will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. At the beginning of August,it will rise in the east about 10 PM & reach azimuth about 3 AM. But by the end of August Mars will rise at nightfall & reach azimuth about 12:30 AM. Pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no human has seen in recorded history. No one alive today will ever see this again.
RHINO HERE:
Besides "Whale Rider" which is still in theatres, there's another movie opening in theatres this weekend which you've probably already heard about; "Seabiscuit". It's the true story of a racehorse, derided by the pundits as a long shot with no chance of winning, who not only wins, but inspires the nation during the Great Depression. Too short. Too funny looking. Not the winning type. Sound like anyone we know?
This weekend, expect to see more than a thousand volunteers nationwide passing out "Long Shots Do Win!" fliers & Kucinich literature at theaters showing "Seabiscuit." The Kucinich campaign says Dennis has his own history of winning long-shot campaigns & proving the pundits wrong. To learn more about the Kucinich "Seabiscuit" campaign, go to:
http://kucinich.us/volunteeraction.htm
This last week, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Commerce Justice State appropriations bill, which contained an amendment that pared back the Patriot Act and an amendment that overturned part of the FCC's recent, controversial ruling allowing greater media concentration. Dennis Kucinich not only voted in favor of the bill, as did nearly all Democrats, he offered the amendment on the Patriot act with Republicans Butch Otter (ID) and Ron Paul (TX). The amendment prohibited the Department of Justice from making "sneak and peek" searches of personal property. Sneak and Peek searches are one of the most egregious new powers granted by the Patriot Act. The Otter-Kucinich amendment was the first successful initiative to roll back the Patriot Act. The FCC related amendment rolled back a weakening in the media ownership rules allowing one broadcasting company to own television stations reaching up to 45% of viewers nationwide.
KUCINICH OPEN LETTER TO NADER VOTERS & GREENS
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0724-08.htm
11:33:30 AM 
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Romper Room
By Geov Parrish, WorkingForChange.com, July 17, 2003
Remember, way back in December 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court finally stole, er, ruled that George W. Bush would become the next President of the United States? One of the primary themes to emerge from the ornate hotel lobbies of Washington, from the mouths of AM talk radio hosts, from the new regime's sneering acolytes in cowboy hats and fur-trimmed coats was that at last, finally, grown-ups would be running Washington, D.C. No more semen-stained dresses. No more fags in uniform and half-assed missile attacks. No more her. No more children running the world. Wrong.
At least with Clinton you knew that the most powerful man in the world had reached adolescence, if not much beyond it. But all current evidence suggests that the world is now being run by 7-year-olds. Oh, to be sure, petulant little children are announcing themselves all around the world these days, from surly little bullies like Ahmad Chalabi (who, after spending years on various playgrounds stealing other kids' lunch money, have come home to be handed a shiny new bicycle called Iraq), to the angry little brat in North Korea trying to get his parent's attention ("I've got uranium now!" "Now I've got a missile!" "Now I'm arming it! Watch me! I really am!" "I said I really am! I mean it this time!!"). Kim Jong II needs time out and a nap; Chalabi needs reform school.
But the most alarming spectacle is in Washington itself, where Peter Pan went and recruited his whole grade school class. The result is calamity almost beyond words to describe: an appetite for cool comic-book foreign policy, emphasis on blowing stuff up, combined with a Never-Never Land insistence on how the world works and economics learned from watching older siblings play Monopoly. Little kids, you'll recall, can be incredibly cruel. And so it is in D.C. these days, a dramatic step down from the last depressing administration, where the Clinton crew (including, no doubt, Janet Reno) had at least discovered girls. This collection hasn't even matured enough yet to learn right from wrong, or that actions have consequences, or even to experience the essential step in human development of understanding that the world doesn't start and stop with them...
THERE'S MORE AT:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16428
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10:52:06 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
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