Friday, August 15, 2003

Always Fair & Balanced QUOTE OF THE DAY "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." - - Will Rogers KNOW YOUR HISTORY - AUGUST 15th 1935 - - American humorist, political pundit, Hollywood actor, cowboy philosopher & Cherokee Indian by blood, Will Rogers; along with aviation pioneer Wiley Post, were killed when their airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska. 1969 - -  Half a million young Americans gathered at Max Yasgur's dairy farm in the Bethel hamlet of White Lake, N.Y. for the Woodstock music festival. Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney) & the Hog Farm Crew handled security & ran a free kitchen & a "bad trips tent." Performers included Joan Baez; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Creedence Clearwater; the Grateful Dead; Jimi Hendrix; the Jefferson Airplane; Janis Joplin; Canned Heat & Ravi Shankar. RHINO HERE: The Rhino is pleased to announce that the latest fruit of his day job (creating the blog is strictly an after dinner thing), the documentary entitled, "A Seat At The Table; Struggling For American Indian Religious Freedom", will have its World Premiere at the Amnesty International Film Festival to be held September 19th thru the 21st in Salt Lake City. We're scurrying to get entered in several other festivals whose deadlines are today so I'm making this blog entry by sampling several important blurbs from the latest "Amnesty Online". I urge you to take a couple minutes to sign the Congo Petition (info below) But first, you may have heard that FOX News is suing Al Franken cause he uses the words, "Fair And Balanced" in the title of his new book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" . Fox says the slogan is copyrighted. Three Little Words - Fox News Sues http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A46985-2003Aug11?language=printer In response, fellow blogger Neal Pollack has made a proclamation that I saw fit to honor. Below is a part of his blog entry & a link to the rest, but first, with disdain for the unfair & blatantly biased coverage by FOX News, & in tribute to all the New Yorkers who had quite a night last night, the Rhino sez... I got ya fey-a & balanc-ta rite he-ya! Neal Pollock's Fair And Balanced Day Proclamation "... It's the policy of this website to rise to the aid of satire whenver it's threatened, even if the threatened satirist is three links above it on the comedy food chain. Therefore, I declare this Friday a day of emergency protest. This Friday, August 15, is Fair And Balanced day on the Internet. You are all hereby instructed to use the words Fair And Balanced in very creative ways on your various websites. My cosponsor in this effort, Atrios, informs me that many of you are already using "Fair And Balanced" in your taglines. Very good. Sometimes, I swear you don't even need instructions from me. But we can go further. Tell Fox News to take its Fair And Balanced slogan and shove it up its Fair And Balanced hole. Feel free to be more subtle than that, if you wish..." http://www.nealpollack.com/cgi-bin/blog/do.cgi/200308122150/permalink TAKE ACTION ON THE CONGO Over three million civilians have died and a vast humanitarian catastrophe has erupted during the last five years of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sign our petition to the presidents of Uganda and Rwanda urging them to end their support for rebel groups in the Congo. SIGN NOW: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6474 HUMAN RIGHTS IN BRIEF Liberia With the first contingent of Nigerian troops arriving in Monrovia, Amnesty International is urging the UN to provide them with a strong and unambiguous mandate to protect Liberian civilians. The UN resolution authorizing the multinational force did not include the kind of explicit mandate that has been provided for other similar peacekeeping operations. Read more: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6487 Iraq Coalition forces have held people in inhumane conditions without access to a lawyer or judge. Amnesty International has also received reports of Coalition soldiers shooting at demonstrators and stealing property, including large sums of money, during arrests. Read more: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6488 USA Amnesty International will hold hearings on racial profiling by local, state, and federal law enforcement throughout the country during Fall 2003. The hearings are part of Amnesty International's new Campaign Against Discrimination, which seeks to expose and challenge discrimination and related human rights violations against members of specific social identity groups. Read more: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6456 ASK AMNESTY Have a question about human rights in Liberia? Please submit your questions to exiled Liberian journalist Hassan Bility, who was falsely accused of plotting to kill Liberian president Charles Taylor and for having links to a rebel group. He was held incommunicado and tortured for six months while in prison. Send in your questions / Find out more: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6491 Read answers to questions submitted: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6479 7:45:52 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - First National Human Rights Education Summit AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HOLDS FIRST-EVER NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION SUMMIT Early this month, more than 180 educator-activists, community representatives, administrators, politicians and others met in New York City at the first-ever national human rights education summit. Participants of the summit -- organized by Amnesty International USA's Human Rights Education Program -- discussed how human rights educators can help children to become active, engaged members of society. New York Regents Vice-Chancellor Adelaide Sanford and New York Assemblyman Steven Sanders opened the summit and set the tone for the meeting. Laying out the issues confronting schools in New York, particularly in the city, both provided participants with their vision of what is needed for schools to succeed and why human rights education is so important. Inspired by a keynote address from former Senator Paul Simon, participants also discussed how race and ethnicity and the current political climate affect how educators teach and how students either learn or are shut out and isolated. According to Program Director Karen Robinson, "In today's educational climate it has become increasingly clear that there are many significant issues as well as policy decisions that provide both opportunities and challenges for us as human rights educators. This may sound like a truism, but perhaps more so than ever national trends are having great impact on local education. Due to this, it is critical that human rights factor into the decisions being made." For more information about the summit, please go to: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=610577&;l=6485 "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. 6:38:14 AM    comment

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