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Saturday, September 27, 2003 |
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government & the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this."
- - Albert Einstein ( "My First Impression of the U.S.A", 1921)
THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY
SEPT 27th , 1989 -- The first two people to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel & live to tell the tale are Jeffrey Petkovich & Peter DeBernardi, who go over the 167-foot high Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. When asked why did it, they say, "To show kids there are better things to do than drugs."
SEPT 28th, EVERY YEAR -- Huichol Indians of Mexico celebrate "Festival Of Wawtsari", a Peyote festival honoring the God of Deer Peyote.
MOVIE TIP OF THE WEEK: Under The Tuscan Sun
Under The Tuscan Sun opens nationally this weekend. Written & Directed by Rhino's Blog reader & friend, Audrey Wells, it's a heart warming tale of a woman (played by Diane Lane) searching for the possibility of love and/or meaning in her life. Rhino attended the premiere and (I don't mind telling you) cried like a baby through the last half. Audrey previously wrote & directed the movie Guinevere (1999) . She has also written the following screenplays: Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), George of the Jungle (1997), Disney's The Kid (2000) and the forthcoming remake of Shall We Dance? (2004).
http://tuscansun.movies.go.com/splash.html
WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: The Special Interest Brothel
Arianna Huffington's new Flash Animation cartoon depicting an old west cat house featuring scantily clad Arnold & "busty" Cruz selling themselves to hunky special interests. ...in which Arianna announces a new petition drive to put a Clean Election proposition on the California ballot. Are cartoons Governor-like?
http://votearianna.com/cleanhouse/
NOR-CAL EVENT TIP: Machete Ensemble CD Release Party
Friday Oct 4th - 10 PM
Grammy nominated John Santos y Machete Ensemble CD Release Party, "Brazos Abiertos"
at The Elbo Room, 647 Valencia St., (between 17th & 18th), San Francisco CA, info (510) 866 6407
JOHN SANTOS is one of the foremost exponents of Afro-Latin music in the world today. He is known for his innovative use of traditional forms and instruments in combination with contemporary music, and has performed and recorded with acknowledged masters of the Afro-Latin and Jazz idioms such as Cachao, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Lazaro Ros, Armando Peraza, Eddie Palmieri, Patato Valdés, Francisco Aguabella, Orestes Vilató, Max Roach, Batacumbele, Steve Turre, Chocolate Armenteros, Linda Tillery, Omar Sosa, and Charlie Hunter. He is also widely respected as one of the top writers, teachers and historians in the field and is currently a member of the Latin Jazz Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian Institution.
RHINO HERE:
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae.The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh!
The American public can rest easier now that Tommy Chong is behind bars and people like Brianna Lahara, a 12 year-old girl who lives in subsidized housing in New York, has been stopped from her lawbreaking. She was one of 261 Americans sued recently by the Record Industry Association of America for downloading. Brianna downloaded more than a thousand titles including theme songs from TV shows Family Matters & Full House.
Music industry hails $2,000 win over child
By PAUL WALDIE, Globe and Mail, 9/10/03
Twelve-year-old Brianna Lahara's love for TV theme songs, Christina Aguilera and the nursery song If You're Happy and You Know It made her a target of the multibillion-dollar U.S. recording industry. Yesterday, the seventh grader became the industry's first legal trophy in a massive crackdown when she promised never to share songs over the Internet again and her mother agreed to pay $2,000 (U.S.).at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030909.ucdcd0910/BNStory/Front
Shrub Gang Concerned About Unseemly Image
When asked why the American taxpayers should pony up another 87 Billion bucks to rebuild Iraq, when we were told that Iraq's oil revenues would pay for all the expenses, the shrub gang has said that it would be unseemly, that it would make it look like the U.S. had invaded Iraq for oil. (Rhino snorts & rolls his eyes.) Unseemly? Rhino thinks unseemly was the so deemed "Shock & Awe" weapons display over Iraq, provided by the military equipment industry (i.e. arms dealers) who hope to sell them now that they've been test proven. Unseemly is the no-bid contracts with the infrastructure builders who will get the infamous taxpayer BILLIONS to rebuild Iraq. Unseemly?
Wanna Call The "Do Not Call" Judges
You say you don't like people (or machines) calling you at home at dinner time? You say you thought the FTC "Do Not Call List was a good idea and you joined the 50,000,000 other Americans & signed it?
These are the judicial bench covers who last week knocked down the "Do Not Call" regulations.
Phone numbers provided in case you want to speak with them. Maybe call 'em during supper.
Senior United States District Judge Lee R. West
Western District of Oklahoma , U.S. Courthouse
200 N.W. Fourth St. Oklahoma City, OK 73102
Chambers Telephone: 405-609-5140 , Chambers Facsimile: 405-609-5151
District Judge Edward W. Nottingham
United States District Court , U.S. Court House
901 - 19th St. , Denver, CO 80294-3589
Phone: 303.844.5018 , Fax: 303.335.2155
The WEEKEND BOTTOM LINE is: Weasel Tracks: Day 951, 09/22/03
"Outfox him, ferret him out, and hound him 'til he drops."
-the weasel hunter
In the interests of public safety, the weasel hunter will follow the weasel, George W. Bush, Jr., his regime, and the path of its coup d'etat with Weasel Tracks, periodic dispatches from the field.
-the weasel hunter
8:25:23 AM 
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Weasel Tracks: Five Easy Pieces
We live in a post-modern world. There is no past, no future, only the present. Reality is sampled digitally and, although it lacks the authenticity of cause and effect, it has great advantage in its accessibility and speed. So, in the spirit of our post-modern culture the weasel hunter offers Five Easy Pieces. A tip of the hat to Michael Moore.
- the weasel hunter
***** EASY PIECE ONE: The Gift
Denver - When the President was here on July 4 [2001], I had the opportunity to shake his hand. I said to him, "Mr. President, I hope you only serve four years. I'm very disappointed in your work so far."
He kept smiling and shaking my hand but answered, "who cares what you think?"
Spokesperson for Wellington Webb, Mayor, Denver Colorado
***** EASY PIECE TWO: A Barrel of Laughs
Peggy Noonan (the interviewer): You were separated on September 11th. What was it like when you saw each other again?
Laura Bush: Well, we just hugged. I think there was a certain amount of security in being with each other.
George W. Bush: But the day ended on a relatively humorous note. The agents said, "you'll be sleeping downstairs. Washington's still a dangerous place." And I said no, I can't sleep down there, the bed didn't look comfortable. I knew I had to provide strength and comfort to the country, and so I needed rest in order to be mentally prepared.
And the agent comes running up and says, "We're under attack." I'm in my running shorts and my T-shirt, and I'm barefooted.
Laura Bush: I don't have my contacts in, and I'm in my fuzzy house slippers.
George W. Bush: Then the guy says it's a friendly airplane. And we hustle all the way back up stairs and go to bed.
Mrs. Bush: [Laughs] And we just lay there thinking about the way we must have looked.
Source: Ladies Home Journal, October, 2003
http://www.lhj.com/lhj/story.jhtml?storyid=/templatedata/lhj/story/data/BushInterview_08252003.xml
****** EASY PIECE THREE: Dizzying Dive to Red Ink
NYTimes 09/14/03
"President Bush informed the nation that remaining in Iraq next year will cost another $87 billion. According to Michael Moore, many of those who will actually pay that bill were unable to watch. They had already been put to bed by their parents. "Administration officials acknowledged the next day that every dollar of that cost will be borrowed, a loan that economists say will be repaid by the next generation of taxpayers and the generation after that. The $166 billion cost of the work so far in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has stunned many in Washington, will be added to what was already the largest budget deficit the nation has ever known."
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70917F9355F0C778DDDA00894DB404482
***** SIDEBAR: $87 billion is:
+ More than the combined total of all state budget deficits in the United States.
+ Enough to pay the 3.3 million people who have lost jobs under George W. Bush $26,363 each!
+ More than double the total amount the government spends on homeland security.
+ 87 times the amount the federal government spends on after-school programs.
+ More than 10 times what the government spends on all environmental protection.
***** EASY PIECE FOUR: Stretched Thin, Lied to & Mistreated
Christian Parenti, The Nation, 10/6/03
BAGHDAD - Trapped in the polluted heat, poorly supplied and cut off from regular news, the GIs are fighting a guerrilla war that they neither wanted, expected nor trained for.
Here, the high-tech weaponry that so emboldens Pentagon bureaucrats is largely useless, and the grinding work of counterinsurgency is done the old-fashioned way--by hand.
It is noon and the mercury is hanging steady at 115 Fahrenheit. Like most frontline troops in Iraq, the majority are white but there is a sizable minority of African-American and Latino soldiers among them. About 65 percent are college students--they've traded six years with the Guard for tuition at Florida State. They have no sure departure date.
http://truthout.org/docs_03/092303A.shtml
***** EASY PIECE FIVE: Ignorance is [Never] Bliss
Bush Shrugs Off Democratic Race, Attacks
By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer, 9/22/03
WASHINGTON - President Bush says he is paying virtually no attention to the Democratic race for his job, even as the candidates sharpen their criticism of his performance. "Well, occasionally it blips on my radar screen, but not nearly as much as you would think. I've got a job to do. I'm occupied," Bush said in a taped interview for the Fox Broadcast Network. He said he knew who the candidates are, but had not watched a Democratic debate.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/bw-wh/2003/sep/22/092203571.html
***** Ignorance born of deprivation is tragic and unjust. Ignorance born of denial is pathetic. Ignorance born of fear is dangerous. Ignorance is never bliss. George Bush is ignorant. George Bush is deprived. George Bush is in denial. George Bush is in trouble. George Bush is afraid. He should be.
--the weasel hunter
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6:35:14 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
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