| |
 |
Wednesday, January 7, 2004 |
FEATURED ARTICLES
- The Search for Iraqi WMD has Become a Public Joke. But I, for One,
Am Not Laughing
by Scott Ritter, Independent / UK, 1/4/04
- Rebuilding in Baghdad
by Kathy Kelly, CommonDreams.org , 1/5/04
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"Peace is not only the absence of military conflict, it is also
a powerful force that is nurturing, harmonious, and without limitations for growth.
Peace generates stable feelings of trust and safety between people and requires
responsibility to self and others. Peace fosters maintaining the health of the
planet and those who live on it and allows the Earth to provide enough for all.
Peace necessitates cooperation and problem solving, rather than blaming and judging.
Peace is active rather than passive, courageous rather than fearful, and consistently
and firmly opposes violence in all its forms. The voice of peace will not be
silenced..."
- - From The CODE PINK Peace Platform 2003 ( http://codepink.utne.com )
KNOW YOUR HISTORY - JANUARY 7th
1943 -- Romanian-born scientific genius Nicola
Tesla dies, New York
City. Tesla out Edison-ed Edison & out Marconi-ed Marconi. He is responsible
for modern society's use of 110 volt alternating current systems (Edison promoted
the use of direct current) and he envisioned creation of a global electrical
field which would have facilitated the wireless transmission of electricity,
allowing anyone with the proper antenna (and without a meter) to tap into the
grid from their backyard. Mr. Westinghouse, Tesla's investor, didn't like the
no meter idea so those plans were trashed & upon Tesla's death, disappeared
along with hundreds of other amazing blueprints of Tesla's inventions. Tesla
died a financial pauper, but rich in wisdom & experience. For more on the
amazing life of Nicola
Tesla, read the book, "Nicola Tesla; Man Out Of Time."
Nicola Tesla; Man Out Of Time
RHINO HERE:
Monday's edition of the website "People Of Wisdom For Dean" named
yours truly the "Person Of Wisdom" of the day. It should be said
that while Rhino has much respect for the Doctor / Governor & do support
his run for the Presidency, I also harbor reservations on some of his positions.
Also duly noted, I've been an outspoken supporter of Congressman Dennis Kucinich's
campaign & am so grateful for his unwavering navigations.
With Rhino's Blog, I've meant to amplify both of their efforts to put real issues
in the limelight & will continue to do so. I consider both of them People
Of Wisdom & heroes of mine.
That said, I was pleased to be recognized that way & in scrolling down the
website entries through the previously deemed people of wisdom, the Rhino was
surely in good company.
People Of Wisdom Mission Statement
...to honor the presence of Quiet Leaders among us - People of Wisdom,
exercising quiet moral leadership on a multitude of issues, in ways large and
small, individuals who embody values, which reach to the heart and soul, people
who exemplify the ideals of peace, justice, equality, brotherhood & sisterhood
for All. We seek such quiet leaders in all communities, tribes, races, ethnic,
social or religious groups, people who belong to or work on behalf of the marginalized,
the disenfranchised, the poor, the disabled among us. It is our mission to find
and honor people of wisdom, and to invite them to join us in renewing our society.
People Of Wisdom Entry, January 5th, 2004
Gary Rhine (Rhino's Blog) - Wisdom Person for this Day - 1.5.2004
People of Wisdom are pleased to draw your attention to Gary Rhine of Rhino's
Blog. His efforts to expose problems within the Bush administration and to further
the overturn of Bush (the theme of Rhino's Blog for 2004!) deserve wide attention.
He promotes the kind of wisdom people and readings we ourselves have suggested
here. Gary Rhine is another example of the kind of grassroots people who have
exerted quiet leadership and who are working with us for renewal in our nation
and our world.
See http://www.rhinosblog.info and
put this in your Favorites!
POSTED AT: http://demsjapan.typepad.com/dean
Today I offer essay's from 2 more hero's. A couple of the most courageous
people around & surely People Of Wisdom. The 1st - former U.S. Marine & former
U.N. Weapons Inspector, Scott Ritter, writing on the travesties of shrub gang
lies about Saddam's WMD's & the U.S. Congress' lack of outrage & investigation
of those lies.
The Search for Iraqi WMD has Become a Public Joke. But I, for One,
Am Not Laughing
by Scott Ritter, Independent / UK, 1/4/04
President George Bush, in his State of the Union address in January last year,
told the world that Saddam Hussein had promised he would disarm his weapons of
mass destruction, and that this promise had not been fulfilled. Bush spoke of
the Iraqi president retaining massive stocks of chemical and biological agent,
as well as an ongoing nuclear weapons programme.
On 20 March 2003, Bush ordered American military forces, accompanied by the armed
forces of Great Britain, to invade Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein from power.
In hiding since the fall of Baghdad, Saddam was finally run to ground in December.
On his capture, he is reported to have said that WMD was an issue created by
George Bush to justify the invasion of Iraq. This is a claim that has increasing
validity.
Tony Blair had already been embarrassed by a growing recognition that his own
intelligence-based estimates regarding Iraqi WMD were every bit as cooked up
as the American president's. He faced further ignominy when Paul Bremer, the
head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, publicly mocked his assertions that
David Kay, the former UN weapons inspector turned CIA agent who headed the so-far
futile search for WMD in occupied Iraq, had found "massive evidence of a
huge system of clandestine laboratories". Dismissed by Bremer as a "red
herring", Blair's discredited comments only underscore the sad fact that
the issue of Iraqi WMD, and the entire concept of disarmament, has become a public
joke. The misrepresentation and distortion of fact carried out by President Bush
and Prime Minister Blair is no joke, but rather represent an assault on the very
fabric of the concept of a free and democratic society which they espouse to
serve. The people of the United States are still waiting for a heavily divided
Congress to break free of partisan politics and launch a genuine investigation...
MORE AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0105-01.htm
2nd & the Midweek RHINO'S
BOTTOM LINE; activist extraordinaire Kathy
Kelly of Voices In The Wilderness ( http://vitw.us ) & Code
Pink ( http://www.codepink4peace.org ),
reporting from Baghdad, on families living amid the bombed out wreckage of Saddam
city, renamed Sadr City.
7:06:02 AM 
|
|
Rebuilding in Baghdad
by Kathy Kelly, CommonDreams.org , 1/5/04
BAGHDAD - January 1 - Oral traditions eventually recorded in the Book of Exodus narrate the tales of the ancient Israelites' escape from bondage in Egypt. A cruel Pharaoh was ruthless in his murderous demands. Already crushed by the work of building monuments to their oppressor, they were then ordered to also gather the straw to make the bricks that would be used for building. It was the last straw. The Israelites began to heed revolutionary calls for escape.
Today I visited the former Iraqi Air Defense Camp in Baghdad. Under Saddam Hussein's regime, now legendary for ruthless repression, military officers and their families were given decent housing. In this camp, they even had two swimming pools. Heavily bombed during Operation Shock and Awe, the compound's main buildings are now massive heaps of rubble, with a few long, grey tubular US missiles scattered on the debris
Following the US led invasion of Iraq, at least 400 families moved into this camp. It's one of several similar vacated and bombed areas that have been "squatted" by desperate families who prefer eking out an existence amid the wreckage to whatever misery they left behind. Before the Occupation, in poor neighborhoods such as the oft-cited Saddam city, renamed Sadr City, several families would inhabit one hovel. I can well imagine the infighting over scarce resources that would inspire a young couple to pick up their meager belongings and move.
READ THE REST AT: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0105-04.htm
"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.
6:37:57 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2005 Gary Rhine.
|
|
