Monday, November 10, 2003

Dean & Dixieland FEATURED ARTICLES - Look away, Dixieland, by Sidney Blumenthal, - Confederate Flap: Stand Firm, Howard Dean, by Constance L. Rice - Democratic Demolition Derby, by Tom Hayden QUOTE OF THE DAY "The whole problem with the world is that fools & fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." - - Bertrand Russell KNOW YOUR HISTORY - NOVEMBER 1950 -- Canada: US Air Force B-50 bomber carrying an H-bomb develops engine trouble over Canada. The crew members detonate the bomb (with its plutonium core removed), scattering 45 kg of highly enriched uranium into the atmosphere only 2,493 feet over Riviere du Loup, Quebec. http://www.anesi.com/bomb.htm 1956 -- Billie Holiday returns to the New York City stage at Carnegie Hall after a three-year absence. The concert was called a high point in jazz history. RHINO HERE: Watching Howard Dean ward off attacks by his fellow Democratic Presidential candidates with doses of grace & humor has been something to see. He seems to have formidable intestinal fortitude. The latest scrap has been over Dean's comments about his desire to be the candidate of choice for the pick-up driving, confederate flag waving, Southern good ol' boyz. Now having lived in the woods of Dixie for 13 years, The Rhino is no fan of the confederate flag or what it stands for, so at first glance I thought he'd made a serious blunder. Most of the other candidates criticized him in one way or another; not the least of which was Al Sharpton who came front & center in the recent "Rock The Vote" debate in a lambasting tone I'd not heard from him during this campaign. Now comes an outpouring of support for the Governor, not commending him for his eloquence on the topic, but, for his courage in hauling the issue of race into the center of the debate. Here are 3 important viewpoints on the controversy, including a behind the scenes look by Tom Hayden, at some telltale bad feeling between Sharpton & The Jessie Jacksons.   TOP OF THE WEEK TO YOU! Look away, Dixieland US Democrats won't win in the South while they keep quiet on race Sidney Blumenthal, The Guardian , November 8, 2003 Everything seemed to be going so well for Howard Dean, the frontrunner in America's contest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Then he made a throwaway remark that changed everything: he wanted, he said, "to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks". Dean's error was to evoke the divisive Confederate symbol, hated by black Americans as standing for slavery and still upheld by many Southern conservatives as representing their "heritage". Because he was the frontrunner, other Democratic candidates seized on the opportunity to create a controversy, implying that Dean is racist. The immediate effect was to slow his momentum. But, as with many so-called gaffes, his comment alluded to a fundamental political truth: the Democratic and Republican parties have traded places after decades of struggle over civil rights. The solid South of the old Confederacy, which once voted uniformly for the Democrats, is now the bastion of the Republicans. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1080537,00.html Confederate Flap: Stand Firm, Howard Dean By Constance L. Rice, LA Times, November 7, 2003 Howard Dean wants to represent angry white Confederate flag-wavers. He even quotes Martin Luther King Jr. in doing so. And in a televised debate Tuesday he refused to say he was sorry for starting this tempest. Well, Dr. Dean, you may have clumsily launched this issue, but keep at it and keep quoting, because you're right. No, this is not a missive from a Southern rebel driving a Confederate flag-festooned F-150 half-ton to a Civil War reenactment. It's from the great-granddaughter of slaves - and slave owners. A civil rights lawyer, no less, who knows full well the toxic pain and pride tangled in all symbols of the slavocracy known as Dixie. Dean is right for three reasons IT'S ALL AT: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID?138 7:35:50 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Democratic Demolition Derby Democratic Demolition Derby By Tom Hayden, AlterNet, November 7, 2003 Rev. Al Sharpton succeeded in drawing first blood this week as Democratic presidential candidates entered a new phase marked by greater assaults on the frontrunner than on President Bush. In media and political commentary on the Faneuil Hall clash so far, Dean is described as provoking the bloodletting himself with his comments about "guys with Confederate flags."  But the unspoken story is also about the dynamics of black politics in the Democratic Party, and specifically about the conflict between Sharpton and the two Jesse Jacksons. Up until this week, Sharpton has been a constructive, almost benign, presence in the primary debates, calling on his competing colleagues to focus on the Bush Administration. Even Rev. Jesse Jackson had noted the value of Sharpton (and Carol Mosely Braun) in keeping the Democratic candidates from backsliding on the race issue. When it came time for Sharpton to take off the gloves, however, it was Jackson who would receive the glancing blow with an unprepared Howard Dean as his proxy.  It began two Mondays ago: READ THE REST AT: http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=17139 "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. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 6:41:09 AM    comment

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